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The Elusive Treasure

Chapter One

A Call From History?

It was a very bright day in Ocean Shores. All of the people were busy, minding their own business. A certain group of extreme kids were surfing at the beach. Everything was just as usual, until something was washed on the beach by the waves.

Three boys and a girl were walking along the shoreline, carrying surfboards under their arms. They, the kids, were wet, sandy, and a little tired when they came upon the strange object. By all appearances, it was a small wooden box, about twenty by eight by five centmiters.

A hand reached down to pick it up. The hand that picked it up was pale and slightly tanned. The boy, who had blond hair and was wearing a pair of glasses with square-shaped lenses, examined the box carefully.

Decorating the box was a pattern. It seemed that various shapes covered the wooden container. The one symbol that appeared the most often was a crescent moon. There was a small rusted lock on the front, the boy tried pulling on it, but it didn't open. He looked up from the box to see that his friends hadn't stopped when he had.

"Hey wait up guys!" He shouted. He ran to catch up, still carrying the box.

"Whatcha got there Sammy?" A skinny girl with purple hair asked him.

"I dunno, Reg. I just saw this on the beach. Maybe it's an old Spanish jewelry box, or something like that!" said Sammy, very excited.

"It looks like a piece of trash to me, Squid!" said an auburn-haired boy with sunglasses, "Let's forget about it and go to the Shack. I really need some grub!"

"I'm with you, Ottoman!" said a tall, freckled boy.

"Sounds good to me!" agreed Sammy, though he continued to hang onto the box.

"Whatcha got there, Squid?" asked a tall freckled boy wearing a brown kangol.

Sam handed him the box. "As far as we know right now, Twist, it's an old wooden box. Maybe the Shack has some tools in the restaurant or the rental shop we can use to try to open it."

Twister studied the box intently, and suddenly began to smile broadly. Could this be the fabled Cajon de la Esperanza? The legend had spread far and wide over the decades. Battles had been fought over the right even to look for it; a lot of lead had flown and a lot of blood had been spilled, but "the box" did not decide to turn up until now.

The quartet continued on to the Shack. As they walked up the ramp, still dripping wet, Twister continued to study the box, confident that it was indeed the legendary Cajon de la Esperanza. He couldn't believe that he was holding a piece of history in his very hands. Who knew what could be inside this ancient container?

'Maybe there are jewels and lots of gold inside!' He thought gleefully. 'Maybe I can buy my own Whompmaster motorboard!' His grin widened as they entered the restaurant. Nobody was in the shack at the moment.

'Raymundo must be taking a break.' Otto thought. He went into the back of the restaurant, and came back a few moments later with a small screwdriver.

"Lemme see the box." He said to Twister. The taller boy handed him the box and Otto stuck the screwdriver into the keyhole, he wiggled it around a little and the lock clicked open.

"Funny how you know how to do that so well, Rocket Boy." Reggie joked.

"Yeah well I've had plenty of practice picking locks, like your bedroom and diary locks." He grinned.

Reggie shot him a dirty look and then returned her attention back to the box as Twister opened it. The four of them stared dumbfounded at the contents of the box. Contrary to what they thought (or hoped), the only contents of the box was what looked like an old glass vial.

"That's it? All this trouble for this piece of glass? This stinks on ice!" said Otto.

"Not so fast, O-man," said Reggie, "there's something inside the vial."

"Really? Let me see!" said Sam, taking the vial and opening it.

"It looks like...like...." said Twister - "like... a drawing"

The rest of the kids sweatdropped.

"It's not a drawing, Twist!!! It's a map!!!!"

It was a map indeed, and it appeared to have some relevance to the local geography of Ocean Shores, though with some marked differences. The area they knew as the Marina, for example, was a featureless marsh. There were some trails that roughly corresponded to the present courses of the California Incline and Highway 1, but there were some rivers visible that had no modern counterpart. Most of the area was open land, with an old Spanish mission in what was now Ocean Bluffs. The only other structure of note was a small fort, near the Secret Spot. But the most glaring anomaly was a large hill on the shoreline near a dense forest, with a large red Maltese cross on the up shore side of it.

"Wow! It's a treasure map!" Twister exclaimed.

"Gee, ya think?" Reggie muttered, crossing her arms.

"So I guess this piece of junk was worth something, after all." Otto commented, taking the vial from Sam.

"It looks we have a second chance at some treasure!" The one in the cap cheered.

"Hmmm..." Sam hummed, looking at the map. "It'll be hard to follow this. A lot of the landmarks have changed between the time this map was made and the present. Obviously, a lot of buildings were made right on some of these places, as well as other structures."

"So what?!" Otto shouted. "I say we go for it! We might even strike it rich!"

"Or it could be another dud." Reggie remarked, smirking at her brother, who narrowed his eyes at her.

"Come on! If we get this treasure, we'll be beyond rich!" The younger Rocket said, already getting dollar signs in his eyes.

"I'm right behind ya, bro!" Twister added.

"Come on! I think Raymundo has some old shovels we can use!"

And with that, Otto ran out of the Shack, followed by Twister. Reggie sighed and turned to Sam with an exasperated look.

"Guess we're going treasure hunting."

"Yep." Sam nodded.

And they ran after the two best friends. Reggie and Sam soon convinced the very anxious Otto and Twister to slow down and organize things a little bit.

"Okay how are we supposed to find this place?" Twister asked, looking at the map.

"Well, we just go to where that red cross is." Sam pointed on the map, "If this here is Ocean Bluffs, and this fort is the secret spot, then the hill would be Mondo Mountain."

"That's so far away." Twister whined.

"But think of the treasure!" Otto said, "Let's go!"

The four of them took off on their bikes towards the mountain. They arrived there about twenty minutes later.

"Now what?" Twister asked.

"Well," Sam took out the map and looked at it again, he looked around at his surroundings, "I think the cross is right here," he pointed to his left.

"Alright, let's start digging!" Otto said, shovel already in hand.

An hour later…

"Man, I'm tired of this!" Otto said throwing his shovel down, "There probably isn't even anything here!"

Just as he said that, Reggie felt her shovel hit something.

"Hey guys, I think I've got something here."

Twister reached down into the fairly deep hole, he picked up a box similar in size and design as the first and smiled.

"Look guys!" He took the screwdriver Otto had brought and opened it in the same fashion Otto had. "It's empty…" He said looking inside.

"Are you serious?! I wasted a whole hour of my life looking for nothing!" Otto said.

"Wait...what's this?" Reggie pulled a little string hanging from the inside of the box. The top part fell down, revealing a secret compartment, with another glass vile.

"Open it, open it!" Otto cheered. Sam took the vile and removed the paper.

Another map.

"Hey, that's not fair! Where's my treasure???" asked Otto, quite disappointed.

"Hum... It can't be..." said Sam. (Nobody listens to him)

"Seriously, Otto, I told you this could be a dud. We lost most of the morning looking for a nonexistent treasure!!" said Reggie, quite upset.

"Apparently this marks another site near the beach..." - continued Sam (still unheard).

"Hey, Reg! How was I supposed to know this was to be a fiasco?? It looked genuine!!!" - whined Otto.

"This shore looks very familiar..." continued Sam, unaware that the other three kids were arguing.

"Yeah, Reggie! Besides, you and Squid opened the vial..." said Twister.

"Hum...this inlet here......" added Sam.

"ME?!?! It was you who came up with the legend, Twist! Who's ever heard of a 'caja de la Esperanza,' anyway?" said Reggie.

"It's 'Cajon de la Esperanza,' Reggie!"

"Yeah, whatever... Who has ever heard of that before?"

"HEY, it's an old Mexican legend!"

"Yeah, right. As old as your memory, Twist." added Otto. The three kids were about to fight.

"Err...guys..." said Sam, shyly.

"I'll teach you a new legend, Twist!" said Reggie, narrowing her eyes.

"Guys..." said Sam.

"Oh, yeah? I'd like to see that, Regina," mocked Twister.

"Guys..."

"Hey, watch your mouth, Mauricio! You're talking to my sister!"

"GUYS!!!!!!"

"Whaaaaaat?!?!?" - said the three kids, turning to Sam. Squid sweatdropped and chuckled nervously, when he saw the angry faces of his friends.

"Errr.... I... just...deciphered the map..... I... know where the.... X is....."

"Oh, yeah? You better spill, Squid! I don't have all the day!" Otto shouted.

"Yeah, what Otto said. Where is it, Squid?" Twisted added.

"Right under the Shore Shack!" Sam answered.