CHAPTER 3

“Mom and Dad told us to stay on board the Lost!” roared Storm. “It was a direct order. Stay on the ship, guard the Room.”

“But we’re treasure hunters!” I told her.

“So?”

“So we’re this close to the legendary Treasure of Lima and we’re supposed to just sit on the sidelines twiddling our thumbs while Mom, Dad, and Tommy have all the fun?”

“Yes,” said Storm, who can be as blunt as a hammer even when she’s nowhere near hammerhead sharks. She says exactly what she’s thinking, no matter what.

“But Mom and Dad need us,” said Beck.

“For what?”

“To help them figure out clues and junk!”

Storm raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Clues and junk?”

“You know,” said Beck. “Stuff.”

As you can probably tell, Beck’s talents are more visual than verbal. (Fine. She says my BO is extremely visual, too—it’s why she sometimes draws me with stink lines.)

“We have to help them,” I pleaded. “This island is teeming with treasure!”

Even though I was pretty sure Storm had already memorized the whole entire history of Cocos Island, I launched into a swashbuckling tale of pirates and plunder from days past.

“For centuries,” I proclaimed as dramatically as I could, “this island served as a buccaneers’ bank! One daring pirate captain buried three hundred and fifty tons of gold he stole off Spanish royal galleons! His crew had to dig a really, really big hole!

“Then,” I said, “there’s the treasure Mom and Dad and Tommy think they’ve found.” I took a long pause and sort of hoped there’d be an enormous thunderclap when I uttered my next words: “The long-lost Treasure of Lima!”

“Dun-dun-dun!” quipped Beck.

“We’re talking a whole boatload of Incan gold and artifacts the Spaniards shipped from Peru to Mexico for safekeeping, way back in 1823.