Chapter one
It was freezing cold and all the crew members were bundled up. Even though I was going to help my best friend Ben find the Charlotte. I brought my closer to my body as I watched my other best friend, whom was my brother Riley Poole work on his laptop.
"You know I was thinking about how the people would use dogs and sleighs to travel out here" Ben said.
"It's extraordinary" Ian Howe said.
"So if Ben's theory is correct we should be getting there very soon, and don't go by me I broke a shoe lace this morning" Riley said.
I looked at him and so did Ben.
"What? It's a bad omen" Riley said seeing our strange faces.
"Should we turn around and go home" Ian asked.
"Or we could just stop and throw him out here" Ben said.
Riley gave a sarcastic laugh before saying "Ok."
"Say Riley you're not missing that small windowless cubical we found you in are you?"
"No, no, absolutely not" Riley said.
But then his computer started beeping and we stopped the car. We got out into the freezing cold Arctic. I was from Miami not Alaska. My long forearm length red hair blew in front of my face. As the guys unloaded I went over to Riley and one of Ian's goons, whose name I believed was Shawn.
"How could a ship wind up way out here" Shawn asked.
"Well I'm no expert, but if the ship was sailing in freezing temperatures it would freeze, then when the summer came it would melt, and then refreeze landing it somewhere out here" Riley said.
"You are such a dork, and I'm your sister" I said.
Riley rolled his eyes. That's right my name is Elizabeth Melody Poole, sister to Riley Poole. I then looked around for my best friend, and long time crush Ben Gates. I saw him kneeling in the snow digging at something. I went over.
"What are you doing" I asked.
"I think I might have found Charlotte" he said.
I just stood there shocked. I knew how stupid I must have looked. I saw him staring at me and I was lucky it was cold so he couldn't see me blush.
"What?"
"Can I borrow your water" he asked.
"Oh yeah here" I said handing it to him.
It wasn't until then that I noticed that there was a small piece of wood that was covered in ice and snow sticking to it. He opened the water bottle and poured water on it. I bent down and saw that there was a name engraved in it.
"Charlotte" I breathed reading it.
"Hello beautiful" Ben breathed excitedly.
We both looked at each other filled with excitement. We then managed to dig it out and the ship was beautifully intact and preserved.
"Oh my goodness, it's so preserved" I muttered.
"For the most part" Ben said also admiring her beauty.
"Alright let's go! Its time to find ourselves some treasure" Ian called.
Ben, Riley, Ian, and I along with three other men followed us as we entered the ship. I turned on my flashlight. We then entered a room filled with barrels. Just then Riley gasped and said "Oh god!"
I turned around flashing my light and realized that he had jumped at the sight of the skeleton.
"You handled that well" Ben said with a smirk.
"You didn't handle your first dead body well either" I muttered to him defending my brother.
I watched as Ian went over to the barrel and opened it sticking his hand in.
"Gunpowder" Ian said.
"You think it's in the barrels" Riley asked.
I went over to Ben who was standing by a skeleton.
"Why would the captain be guarding this barrel" he asked himself.
"Because he's hiding something."
He then opened the lid and dug around in the gunpowder. He then pulled out a package.
"I found something" Ben called bringing it over to a table.
"What is it" Riley asked as everyone crowded around him.
Ben unwrapped it and picked it up.
"Is it thousand dollar pipe" Riley asked.
"No it's a clue."
"Is it a billion dollar pipe?"
"No it's a Mea Shaw Pipe, gosh it's beautiful" Ian said looking at it.
After smearing some of his blood on the pipe Ben rolled it out and read it as the words appeared. We then continued to guess what it meant until Ben said "-the Declaration of Independence."
I looked at him in shock.
"Well we'll have to arrange a way to examine it" Ian said.
"Look this is one of the greatest documents in all of history they're not just going to let us waltz in there and run chemical tests on it" I told him.
"Then what do you propose we do?"
"I don't know!"
It went quiet for a moment.
"We could borrow it."
"Steal it" I asked him.
"No" Ben immediately objected.
"I understand your bitterness Ben I really do. You should be able to rub this in their arrogant faces, but this is stopping you" Ian said tauntingly.
Ben glared at him.
"How?"
"Just leave everything to me; I'll make all the arrangements."
"No, I'm not going to let you steal the Declaration of Independence."
"Tell me what I need to know Ben."
"I don't know."
"He's bluffing."
"We've played poker together Ian you know I can't bluff."
"Tell me what I need to know Ben, or else someone you care about will get hurt" Ian said, I noticed he was looking at me.
Suddenly Ian grabbed me, locked my arms together behind my back, and loaded and locked a gun to my head.
"Hey" Riley shouted alert.
"Quiet Riley, your job is finished here" Ian shouted.
"Lizzy, leave her out of this" Ben said, he was clearly pissed.
"Do you care for the girl, then tell me what I want to know" Ian said.
Just then Ben bent down and grabbed a flare and lit it.
"Look, there where you're standing, on all that gunpowder, you shoot her, I drop this, and we all go up."
"Ben" Riley said fear in his voice.
"What happens when the flame goes down" Ian asked.
"You have to know, if Shaw can catch" Ben said before throwing the flame at Ian.
Ian, while still holding me, caught the flame.
"Nice try though" Ian said.
But then his hand caught fire and he pushed me forward. Ben bent down and helped me up as the flame hit the gunpowder on the ground, instantly lighting it.
"Get out Shaw" Ian shouted.
They backed out of the door and locked us in. Ben started searching the ground. He bent down and opened a small door.
"Riley get over here" Ben shouted.
Riley walked over to us and asked "What is it?"
"Smugglers hole get in" Ben said.
Riley went in first, then me, and last came Ben who shut the door. We quick ran to the other side of another door where Ben shut and bolted.
"Get down" Ben shouted at us.
Riley bent down and ducked covering his head. I did the same and Ben covered me by pushing my head against his chest, and I could feel his fast heart rate as we waited for the explosion. The explosion came and I couldn't help but scream as the ship exploded around us. Then suddenly the explosions stopped and we dug are way out. Riley and Ben were coughing and got up.
"Is everyone alright" Ben asked as everyone got up.
"What are we going to do" Riley asked.
"Start making our way back home" Ben said obviously.
"No, I meant about Ian. You know he's going to try and steal the declaration Ben."
"So what are we going to do about" I asked.
"We stop him."