"Arnold, Gerald, Helga, and Phoebe, I want to talk to you," declared Mr. Simmons.

"What's wrong, Mr. Simmons?" asked Arnold.

"What you suspected may very well be true," answered Mr. Simmons. "I saw some pirates on that ship. I got good view of the captain. He looked like he had dark hair. He looked like he had dark skin, about like an Indian."

"That must be Eduardo!" gasped Arnold. " He must be with them or he could be driving the ship. Remember he was my parents' closet friend."

"Arnold, I don't know about that," warned Gerald.

"Arnold, Gerald is right," answered Mr. Simmons. "We just got here and I hoped that we could have some fun. But, I want all four of you to go."

"Go where?" asked Phoebe. "We don't know our way around here."

"Phoebe, I realize that," answered Mr. Simmons." We have to keep Arnold safe. Arnold, I want you to get the map out of your back pack."

Arnold unzipped his back pack and pulled out the map. He looked Mr. Simmons in disbelief. What about the rest of the class? What would happen to them?

"Mr. Simmons, what do you want us to do?" asked Arnold.

Mr. Simmons looked at the map. He had a smile on his face. All the kids knew that he was happy about something. But what could it be?

"Why are you smiling?" asked Helga.

"Kids, I believe that you are at the starting point, where the map starts. I want you to follow it. Try to get to the Green Eyed People's city. If you can do that, maybe they will help you." suggested Mr. Simmons.

"What if they don't know who we are?" asked Arnold.

"I saw in the journal it said when you were born the volcano stopped and they learned who you were. They'd remember who you," reassured Mr. Simmons.

"So I guess, we will be following the map," stated Helga.

"Yes, you will," answered .

" Mr. Simmons, what if you and the class are caught by the river pirates?" asked Gerald.

"That is why I didn't say anything. I thought it would be better if they could honestly tell them that they didn't know anything," replied Mr. Simmons. "Get going now, before the class realizes anything."

"Mr. Simmons, we love you, and want you all to be okay," stated Arnold.

"I love all of you too. I love everyone in my class," replied Mr. Simmons.

All of the kids hugged him good bye and they took. They headed toward the mountains. Helga got out her compass to help them out. When they walked up the mountain, they looked down below. They saw Mr. Simmons catch up with the class.

" Arnold, look!" cried Gerald.

Arnold, Phoebe and Helga looked down to where their classmates were. They saw the steam boat was getting near them. It was if captain of the boat knew where the class was going. They continued to follow the map. Arnold just hoped that they made the right choice and he tried make the best decision for his group. He looked at his map, and saw they were in the unknown area.

"We need to quickly get down this mountain," stated Arnold.

"Then were will we go?" asked Gerald.

"The map only has areas that go towards the north. So, I guess we are going to travel up north," stated Arnold. "There is a rainforest and farm land. The rest is hard to make out. But we are going to have to avoid if all possible, traveling near the river."

"So have you decided where will go?" asked Phoebe.

"I'd say our best bet is to go through the rainforest," replied Arnold.

"Football head, our class was getting ready go into the jungle and they are about to be caught. Or they may already be caught by now," declared Helga.

"What other choice do we have?" asked Arnold.

"Arnold does have a point," pointed out Phoebe. "Arnold lead the way."

They walked down the mountain and towards the rainforest. It started raining and the sky was getting dark. Gerald suggested that they found a place to set up camp. They found a cave close to a water fall.

"I'd say this would be the perfect place to rest for the night," declared Arnold.

"I'll get out the tent and make camp," stated Gerald.

Gerald got out his tent and set it up. Arnold had his sleeping bag out. He unzipped it completely so they wouldn't have to lay on the hard floor. They all got out their emergency blankets and hygiene items. They took turns washing up near the water fall. They used their duffle bags as pillows. They all took turns during the night to make sure no one was coming.

The next morning, they got out their food and water. They decided to use a little bit of everyone's food for one meal, so it would last longer. After Gerald packed up the tent they started walking through the rain forest. They saw all kinds of animals. They all wondered about the rest of their class, Mr. Simmons, Principal Wartz, and Olga.

"I wonder where the rest of the group is?" asked Arnold.

"I don't know, but the last time we saw them, they were being followed by the steam boat!" added Gerald.

"I wonder why they were being followed?" asked Helga.

"Maybe, it was a trap?" suggested Phoebe.

"What do you mean?" asked Arnold.

"Maybe they knew something about the essay contest? added Phoebe. "Or maybe they knew about Arnold?"

"Are you saying Eduardo is in on this?" asked Arnold.

"Well, yes," answered Phoebe. "You heard what Mr. Simmons said. He told us what the captain of the steam boat looked like."

"So what do we do now?" asked Arnold.

"We will watch very closely. If we see or hear any sign of movement, we hide. Then we'd have to travel by night fall," suggested Phoebe.

"I have to agree with Phoebe," stated Arnold.

Gerald and Helga agreed with her too. They continued to travel through the rain forest. Meanwhile, the rest of their class was at a camp site. They were caught by the river pirates. Mr. Simmons tried to keep the class in order. They met La Sombra. He had mask on where they couldn't see his face. He questioned all of the kids if they knew anything about the Green Eyed People. All of them honestly were able to act innocent. The adults were able to pull it off too. Mr. Simmons knew they wouldn't be going any where for awhile.

He thought about his four other students. He wondered if they were okay, where they were, and if they were safe. Mr. Simmons wondered about Miles and Stella. Little did he know they were close by. After La Sombra questioned all of them, he took them down to a large dark hallway. There were many room down there. The class was split up and were put in different rooms that were empty. Mr. Simmons was placed inside a room with a man and a woman. They looked like they had been there for a really long time.

"Look, someone is here to join us," stated Miles.

"What are you doing here?" asked Stella. "We seldom see other people. I can't remember the last time we saw someone who wasn't with La Sombra."

"Who are you?" asked Miles.

"My name is Robert Simmons. I am a fifth grade teacher at PS 118," answered Mr. Simmons.

"PS 118 sounds familiar," answered Miles. "Why did you bring your class to San Lorenzo? It isn't safe out here."

" I wasn't aware of it at the time. At the beginning of the year, there was an essay contest. They winner got to take their class on an educational field trip to any place in the world. One of my students won the essay contest and he chose to come to San Lorenzo," answered Mr. Simmons.

"Which student was that?" asked Stella.

Mr. Simmons looked all around to make sure that no one could hear him. He didn't know who the two people were. He wasn't about to tell them about Arnold.

"I'm afraid I can't say!" Mr. Simmons answered . "He isn't with us. The boy and three of his other friends are out their somewhere. I can't say anymore I am sorry."

He saw Stella reach into her pocket. Mr. Simmons noticed that she had been carrying a piece of paper in her pocket. The paper looked old, torn, and had many folds in it.

"What do you have in your pocket?" asked Mr. Simmons.

" It is a picture of our little boy," answered Stella. "We haven't seen him for years."

"It has been nine years since we last saw our son," said Miles. "Before we had our son we saved the group of people many times. They were called the Green Eyed People. After our son was born, we moved back to my hometown. After we had been gone from San Lorenzo, an old friend of ours told us the Green Eyed People were sick. We left our son with my parents. Our plan was to be home in a week, but it never happened. We didn't have my journal or the map I drew. We were lost because we didn't know our way around San Lorenzo really well. We got caught by La Sombra and his henchmen stole our plan. We've tried to escape many times, but we always manage to get caught again."

"I'm sorry to hear that," answered Mr. Simmons. "Would you care if I looked at the picture?"

"Not at all," answered Stella.

She handed him the picture. Mr. Simmons was beginning to piece everything together. They told him the same story Arnold had told them. Were they his parents? He unfolded the piece of paper. It turned out to be a picture of a little boy with a football shaped head. He looked like he was learning to walk. Mr. Simmons realized who those two people were after seeing the picture.

"By any chance, would you be Miles and Stella?" asked Mr. Simmons.

"How do you know our names?" asked Stella.

"Well, I know the boy in the picture. He is a student in my class," answered Mr. Simmons.

"Arnold is here?! cried Stella. "Where is he, what does he look like, what type of person is he?

"Well, he is a good student. I was his 4th grade teacher last year. He is very likeable, he hasn't changed much in his looks," answered Mr. Simmons. "He was the student who won the essay contest. He wanted to go look for his parents. I promised his grandparents that he'd be safe. So I paired him with three of his friends. They had the map, and I told them to follow it to try to find the Green Eyed People. I thought maybe they could help."

"We don't know where their city is," stated Miles. "So Arnold is out their some where."

"I promise that I'll try to help you escape so you can go look for him," promised Mr. Simmons.