CHAPTER 7

Finally, up ahead, near the summit of the mountain, we saw Mom, Dad, and Tommy.

They were standing outside a cave. Our awesome family was about to be reunited again—and none of us had been bitten by a poisonous snake or had our brains bashed in by a giant cat.

Mom saw us first. “Rebecca? Bickford? Stephanie?”

(Yep, Stephanie is Storm’s real name. And Mom and Dad are the only ones allowed to use it.)

“What are you guys doing here?” asked Dad, who was holding some kind of golden crown topped with three gold-plated feathers.

“Chya,” said Tommy. “What’s up, dudes?” He held an ancient staff, also made of gold. It had a tomahawk-shaped head. He kept twisting the rod so he could check out his reflection in the flat part of the shiny golden blade.

“We thought you guys might need us,” I told Dad, who was giving us one of his very serious, pinched-eyebrow looks.

“We did need you,” said Dad. “To stay on board the ship and guard the Lost.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “Beck made sure the Door was locked.”

“Um, actually,” Beck mumbled, “I thought you made sure it was locked.”

I guess that’s another twin thing: thinking your twin did the stuff you were supposed to do.

“Sooooo,” I said, hoping to change the subject, “did you guys find the long-lost Treasure of Lima?”

“Yes,” said Mom proudly. “And we’ve already hauled out the most important pieces.”

Luckily, they were so excited about the treasures that they didn’t give us any more grief about abandoning the ship. Not right then, anyway.

“That’s an ancient Incan priest’s headpiece,” said Tommy, gesturing at the glimmering crown Dad held in his hands.

“And,” said Mom, “Thomas is holding the high priest’s golden staff—a very powerful image in Incan mythology.”

“Check it out,” said Tommy. “There’s a golden ear of corn at the top!”

“And why is that?” asked Mom, who’s our homeschool history teacher on board the Lost.

Tommy got a pained expression on his face. It happens every time he tries to think. “Um, in case the priest wanted to make microwave popcorn?”

Mom laughed, shook her head, and turned to the smartest Kidd in our class. “Storm?”

“Maize, or corn, was the chief crop of the ancient Incas,” she answered. “Without it, their civilization would have vanished long before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Peru.”

“Too bad there’s an empty hole at the top of the corncob,” said Tommy. “Probably where an oval-shaped emerald or ruby or something used to be. Guess it popped out on the boat ride up from Lima.”

It was pretty amazing to think that Dad and Tommy were holding relics from a long-lost civilization. I could just picture the Inca high priest performing rituals with the gear. Fortunately, Beck could picture it even better!