The treasure test hide a.., p.1
The Treasure Test (Hide and Geek #2), page 1
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2023 by Working Partners Ltd.
Cover art copyright © 2023 by Chris Danger
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jagger, T. P., author.
Title: The treasure test / T. P. Jagger.
Description: First edition. | New York: Random House, [2023] | Series: Hide and geek; 2 | Audience: Ages 8–12. | Summary: After eleven-year-old Gina Sparks and her fellow GEEKs, Edgar, Elena, and Kevin, save their town of Elmwood, New Hampshire, someone from the next town says the GEEKs are frauds, but the GEEKs are determined to prove their puzzle-solving skills.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022031038 (print) | LCCN 2022031039 (ebook) | ISBN 978-0-593-37797-0 (trade) | ISBN 978-0-593-37798-7 (lib. bdg.) | ISBN 978-0-593-37800-7 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Rumor—Fiction. | Best friends—Fiction. | Puzzles—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | LCGFT: Novels.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.J38445 Tr 2023 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.J38445 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23/eng/20220923
Ebook ISBN 9780593378007
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Acknowledgments
For Ramona and Lincoln—
because Mom got the dedication in the first book
The Elmwood Tribune
Friday, April 1
CEREMONY TO SIGNAL BAMBOOZLELAND’S RETURN
BY GINA SPARKS
Did you ever zip through the dips and drops of the Log Mill Run wooden roller coaster? Did you knock into other dinosaur riders at Bump-a-Saurus Wrecks? Or did you simply enjoy gazing across Fair Valley from the top of the Ferris wheel? No matter what your favorite Bamboozleland rides used to be, come out on Monday, April 4, and celebrate, because those rides are about to return!
The discovery of the Van Houten fortune in Elmwood last September brought much-needed tourism to the town. And the business community took notice! Soon Deepsight Development Enterprises purchased the Bamboozleland property, planning to restore and reopen the park. This additional source of income stemming from the publicity surrounding the fortune will provide a more significant, long-term boost to the local economy.
The entire town is invited to the ground-breaking ceremony at Bamboozleland amusement park. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at one o’clock in the park’s amphitheater. See you there, Elmwood!
Six months ago, after my friends and I nearly got ourselves killed in a secret treasure vault hidden in an abandoned amusement park, I thought things would go back to normal. I’d return to being plain old Gina Sparks, freckle-faced and fact-loving journalist—the girl with a notebook in her hand and a pencil in her hair bun. My three best friends—Elena Hernández, Edgar Feingarten, and Kevin Robinson—would settle back into their normal routines. I figured the treasure-hunting excitement was over.
Man, was I wrong.
Really, the only thing that returned to normal was middle school lunch. The French fries were still soggy, the milk was still fresh from the cows at Feingarten Family Farms, and—of course—Sophina Burkhart still couldn’t leave us alone.
“GEEKs!” Sophina called, though not in the mean way she used to do before she and Kevin became sixth-grade class co-presidents.
I looked up from jotting notes in the leather-bound journal I always carry with me. I’d pretty much gotten used to the GEEKs label, but, well, it was kind of unfortunate that Sophina had figured out that putting the first letter of my name together with Elena’s, Edgar’s, and Kevin’s spelled out GEEK.
Sophina sauntered over to our table, followed by her typical pack of minions—Kyesha Killman, Bella Ronelli-Compelli, and Mandy Sykes. Sophina’s usually straight, shoulder-length blond hair had been curled on the ends and bounced with every step, and her lips glittered with pink gloss. She eyeballed us. “I must admit, you all clean up pretty well. Not as well as me, of course, but still…” Sophina patted down one of Edgar’s loopy red curls and smoothed the collar of Kevin’s polo shirt. I reflexively ran my hands down the front of my brand-new sweater, which my mom had given me as a special surprise that morning. “At least you look better than usual.” Her eyes flicked over Elena, who wore a red hoodie with a cartoonish Albert Einstein on the front. “Well, most of you.”
Elena scowled and tugged on her braid, which was a sure sign she was about to launch a French fry at Sophina’s head.
“Stay focused,” she whispered to herself. “Bamboozleland. After lunch.”
She loosened the grip on her braid. But her other hand twitched near the pile of fries on her lunch tray.
“Anyway,” Sophina said, “I just wanted to stop by and tell you that when we get to Bamboozleland for the ground-breaking ceremony, you’d better not trip on the stage or anything. I don’t need you GEEKs ruining my big moment. I heard Annalise Richardson from Channel 6 News will be there, so I figure I’ll get a live interview.” She flipped the ends of her perfectly styled hair and gave her best beauty-queen smile. “It will be my time to shine! Toodles!”
Sophina gave a tiny finger-wave and pranced off, her minions trailing behind her.
FACT #1: The special ground-breaking ceremony was to celebrate the soon-to-be redone and reopened Bamboozleland amusement park.
FACT #2: Bamboozleland was only getting reopened because we (the GEEKs) had saved Elmwood by finding the Van Houten fortune. So…
FACT #3: The GEEKs were being honored during the ceremony. But…
FACT #4: Sophina was also being honored, even though she hadn’t actually helped find the treasure. All she’d done was call the police to come investigate, hoping to get us in trouble. The Elmwood chief of police—who happened to be Elena’s dad—found us in the secret treasure vault, sitting on a bad guy.
As soon as Sophina was out of sight, Elena groaned and said, “Oh, sweet Einstein! That girl drives me bananas!”
Edgar shrugged. “At least she’s nicer than she used to be. Thanks to her endorsement on the morning announcements, drama club’s up to four members.”
Kevin nodded. “Yeah, and she’s not a bad sixth-grade co-president. My approval rating is higher than ever.” He patted the tight curls of his high-top fade. “I know a lot of that is because we hunted down the Van Houten fortune, but it’s also thanks to Sophina’s support for my schoolwide calculator initiative. Ninety-five-point-two-four percent of sixth graders now believe we’re doing a good job, and Gunner Bradley only disapproves because I wouldn’t give him my strawberry Jell-O cup yesterday.”
“Fine,” Elena said. “You guys win. Sophina’s not as annoying as she used to be.” She crossed her arms. “But she’s still annoying.”
I kept quiet, but I knew none of us really had anything to complain about. It wasn’t just Kevin who was doing great. Edgar was pretty much a shoo-in to get the lead role in Oliver!, the first play scheduled for the newly renovated Elmwood Theater. Elena had started a YouTube channel where she shared wild science experiments, and she’d topped fifty thousand subscribers after launching a video series called Cool and Sometimes Dangerous Science Stuff You’ll Never Learn in School. And me? Well, thanks to my blog posts chronicling the GEEKs’ search for the Van Houten fortune, I’d won the New England Youth Journalist of the Year award. That had given me a spot in the exclusive New England Journalism Mentorship Program, which included an all-expenses-paid two-day trip to New York City in July, where I would get to shadow a journalist from the New York Times. Incredible, right? I was still pinching myself.
But even with all that, I wouldn’t have minded things going back to at least a little bit of normal. Sure, all the attention had benefits—it was way more fun going to school now that everyone liked us. But I was used to seeing my name in print, not my picture. As a journalist hunting for scoops, I found it tough to blend in and observe when everyone recognized me.
But a return to normal would have to wait, because right then the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.
The cafeteria filled with the noise of sneakers stampeding across the tile floor, trash being tossed into garbage bins, and excited voices calling out things like “Field trip time!” and “Bamboozleland, here we come!”
As we left the cafeteria, classmates gave us fist bumps and friendly “Hey, GEEKs!” as they headed for the school buses that would take us to Bamboozleland.
Gunner Bradley zoomed up and threw an arm across Kevin’s shoulders. “Dude, this field trip gets me out of math class. Any day without fractions is a day I approve!”
Kevin looked so happy, he didn’t seem to mind Gunner’s poor view of math. As Gunner zipped away and bounded onto one of the buses, Kevin beamed. “One hundred percent sixth-grade approval rating!”
Edgar thrust his arms into the air in celebration. “As Shakespeare never wrote but should have—’tis a fine day for thou to be a GEEK!”
And, at that moment, it seemed like Edgar was right. But we would soon learn how quickly things could change.
Bamboozleland is laid out in a large circle, the paths like spokes in a wheel leading toward the carousel in the park’s center, which is where we’d discovered the hidden treasure vault six months earlier. However, for the special ground-breaking ceremony, the park’s center would have been too crowded, so the ceremony was being held in the amphitheater at the eastern edge of the park.
The amphitheater was a semicircle of crumbling cement steplike seating that descended in tiers toward a stage at the bottom. Schoolkids and townsfolk and news crews were settling in, waiting for the ceremony to begin. A microphone stand had been placed in the center of the stage, and a pair of large speakers faced the audience. A curtain hung from a steel frame along the back of the stage, and the other GEEKs and I gathered behind it.
Kevin smoothed the front of his shirt. “Do I look presidential enough?”
“Seriously, Kev?” Elena said. “You’re the Elmwood Middle School sixth-grade class co-president, not president of the United States.”
“I know,” Kevin replied. “That’s why I didn’t wear a tie. Though, maybe I should’ve worn a suit coat. It’s kind of cold.”
“It’s April in New Hampshire,” Elena said. “What did you expect?”
Elena had a point. The sun was shining, but it was still barely above fifty degrees—a pretty typical early spring afternoon in the Fair Valley. I was glad for the fuzzy, extra-thick sweater my mom had given me.
While Kevin and Elena continued to debate clothing choices and the weather and Edgar hummed songs from Oliver!, I opened my notebook and plucked the pencil from my hair bun, ready to jot notes if I noticed anything newsworthy.
As I scanned my surroundings, I spotted my mom at the other end of the backstage area. She’s the owner, editor, and do-it-all journalist of our town’s weekly newspaper, the Elmwood Tribune. She and Kevin’s mom were talking to two men. The first was a tall, thin, middle-aged man with glasses—our friend Max Van Houten. The real Max Van Houten—not the con artist who’d impersonated him and almost swindled our town out of its finest treasures. Max had inherited the Van Houten Toy & Game Company after his aunt Alice had died.
The second man was a beak-nosed guy with perfectly groomed gray hair, dressed in a tailored black suit, complete with a baby-blue tie and matching pocket square. Thanks to an article my mom had written in the previous week’s Tribune, I recognized him as Lambert J. Schoozer—the businessman preparing to restore Bamboozleland. Kevin’s mom, who’s on the Elmwood select board and was emceeing the day’s ceremony, seemed to be listening intently. As Mr. Schoozer spoke, I saw her eyes widen and her smile suddenly waver.
I headed that way, my reporter radar pinging.
I’d only made it a couple of steps before I got attacked.
“Rah-oo!” A stubby-legged cannonball shot toward my kneecaps, long ears flapping.
“Sauce!” I knelt and let myself get tackled by my dog.
Sauce—part basset hound, part Scottish terrier—slurped his tongue across my face. I laughed as his long Scottish-terrier mustache tickled my cheek. I was glad my mom had brought him. I figured Sauce deserved to be honored at the ceremony too. After all, it was Sauce’s keen hearing and sense of smell that had kick-started our search for the Van Houten fortune in the first place.
I gave Sauce a quick scratch between the ears and stood up. “Come on, boy. Let’s go see if Mom’s getting a scoop!”
Sauce gave a happy bark and followed me.
I eased in behind my mom, eavesdropping on her interview. She held her phone out, recording Mr. Schoozer as he spoke.
“So,” Mr. Schoozer was saying, “when we get done with it, Bamboozleland will no longer be just another tiny, outdated amusement park.” He pointed across to the western section of the park, where an old wooden roller coaster called Log Mill Run climbed into the sky. “We’ll tear down that splintering mess and replace it with the looping, lunging Space Spiral!” He gestured toward the center of the park. “Instead of a slow, boring carousel, our central attraction will be the Death Drop, where harnessed riders will plummet toward the ground, free-falling for over a hundred feet. And we won’t just have better rides. We’ll also expand, creating space for more rides. Bamboozleland will grow from a dud to a destination!”
Wait a second…. Grow? No wonder Kevin’s mom had looked surprised!
It was my mom’s interview, but I couldn’t keep quiet. “Hold on.” I stepped forward. “You just said Bamboozleland will expand. I thought the plan was just to restore the original park.”
As a journalist, I knew I should have phrased that as a question, but I was too shocked to think straight.
Mr. Schoozer winked and flashed a white-toothed smile. “If a baby Bamboozleland is good, a big Bamboozleland is better! With all these woods around”—he swept out his arms—“the growth potential is phenomenal!”
I blinked, stunned. “But the woods are—”
“Excuse me.” Mr. Schoozer held up a finger and pulled out his phone, which buzzed in his hand. He glanced at the screen. “I need to take this call.” He turned his back and drifted away.
I looked at my mom, then at Max. “They can’t expand!” I said. “The money from selling Bamboozleland was supposed to be used to buy more of the woods to extend the nature preserve, not the amusement park!”
“I know, Gina Bean.” My mom put her hand on my shoulder. “Let’s not worry about that right now, though.” She smiled. “Today is a day to honor you and your friends.”
