The longitude and latitude are very rough. Please excuse this. I'm not actually sure that the place I describe actually exists in the national park but you can imagine it does.

'"Forest dungeon; dragon's keep; a heart of stone; its secret deep." Have a look.' Hex passed his phone to Paulo, the person closest to him. Paulo glanced at the picture before passing it along. When the phone had made its way back to Hex, a defeated silence fell on the group for a few seconds. Holly gave a groan and slammed her fist into the grass.

'We're so close, I know it. How on earth are we going to figure that out?'

Amber couldn't help but smirk. 'Come on, Holly. I thought you were little Miss Treasure Hunter. Surely you know the answer.' Holly's shoulders slumped. She stood up and she walked further along the cliff. Hex watched Holly go before tuning angrily on Amber.

'What's your problem, Amber?' He glared at her. 'Since we met Holly all you've done is pick at her. You've been acting like a real spoilt brat.'

'I don't trust her. I told you that.' Amber folded her arms and looked haughtily at Hex, but inside she felt really upset.

'Doesn't mean you have to be so stuck-up!' Hex stood up and walked after Holly.

Amber felt tears prick at the back of her eyes and she quickly blinked them away. Li looked at her and seemed like she was going to say something but Amber got up and stalked off.

Li looked at Paulo and Alex. 'Well... Um. What do we do now?'

Alex looked to his left where Amber sat staring at the sea and then to his right where Hex was talking to Holly. 'We can try to work out the clue. That might ease the tension a bit.'

Paulo chucked Hex's phone towards Alex then shuffled to sit next to him. 'What have we got again?'

'"Forest dungeon; dragon's keep; a heart of stone; its secret deep." Not much to go on. Could be anything.'

Li flopped down beside Alex and plucked the phone out of his fingers. 'There must be something else.' She flicked back through the other four photos quickly, then scrolled through them again more slowly.

'Hold on.' Paulo peered over Li's shoulder and jabbed his finger at the screen. 'Go back one.'

Li obliged and passed the phone to Paulo. 'What is it?'

'I think I see something else there. Next to the inscription. We need Hex and his palmtop.'

'Amber didn't mean what she said and she I'm sure she didn't intend to be so horrible.' Hex looked at Holly.

'I'm sure she did. Ever since we met she's been so... bitchy towards me. Have I done something wrong?'

'No. Of course not. It's just Amber's personality. She's just used to getting her own way. She can dish out the same treatment to us as well. We just ignore her but it takes a bit to get used to.' Hex stared out at sea, watching a flock of seagulls diving for fish. Neither he nor Holly said anything for a few minutes.

'I have a question,' Holly said suddenly. 'How did you guys meet? You're all from different parts of the world, or so it seems judging by your accents and whatnot. Why are you all friends?'

'Well...' Hex was about to give Holly a very basic answer when Li slid to a stop next to them.

'Paulo found something on one of the photos that looks like it could be important. Can you use your palmtop to enhance it or something?'

'I'll see.'

They hurried back to Paulo and Alex. Amber had sauntered over and was sitting as far away from Holly and Hex as possible. She still couldn't believe he had sided with her.

'Paulo? Can you grab the cable in my backpack?' Hex grabbed his phone and palmtop and laid them out on the grass. Paulo passed him the cable and he quickly connected them. Within minutes, Hex swivelled the palmtop around and showed his friends the screen.

'Wow,' Li breathed. 'That's pretty cool.'

'It's a number- no two numbers.' Alex studied the screen. 'Looks like a longitude and latitude.'

'Exactly.' Holly grinned. '30 S and 145 E. That sounds like it would be around here somewhere.'

Hex took his palmtop back. After pressing some buttons he announced triumphantly, 'It's in Mornington Peninsula National Park.'

Holly clapped her hands. 'Well done. That's just up the road.' Her eyes shone with excitement. 'We're so close, I can feel it.'

'I can narrow it down to a kilometre or so. If we work out what the clue actually means it will get even easier.' Hex clicked away at his small computer, glancing at the screen every now and then. 'There we go. It's in the GPS and should be fairly easy to find.' He shut the palmtop down and turned to Holly. 'The first line of the clue reads "forest dungeon", right?'

Holly nodded. 'So what are we looking for?'

'Dungeons are underground, made of stone, damp, cold...'

'A cave?' Holly titled her head to the side.

'Exactly!' Hex grinned.

'So we're looking for a cave in that one kilometre or so that you narrowed it down to?' Alex decided that it was time for him to remind Hex and Holly that they were still there.

'Right. The cave is most likely to be in a rocky area so that could narrow it even more.'

'I think I know where it could be,' Holly said. 'A few years ago I went to this national park with my dad. We had wandered off the track a bit and came across this big area full of boulders. There was this crystal clear, deep pool in the middle that was perfect for swimming in. It's a really beautiful place and is in the area that you said it should be in, Hex.' Holly had started to look wistfully out to see, a sad smile on her face.

Hex reached out and squeezed her arm. 'We'll book a cab and go there straight away.'

Paulo looked shocked. 'Hex. Just in case you haven't noticed, it's lunchtime.' He glanced at his watch. 'No. Wait. Make that past lunch time.'

Hex was already ringing the cab company. 'We have a bit before the cab will get here; we can go get something from the lighthouse shop.'

Paulo, Li and Amber crossed the grass back to the lighthouse to buy lunch while Hex finished calling the cab company.

'We have about an hour or so before it gets here. Then we can get back on the trail!'

'This is where our treasure is?' Alex sounded doubtful. 'All I see is rock.'

'Perhaps it is hidden,' Paulo suggested.

'Perhaps.' Li scaled up a seemingly unblemished boulder, her strong fingers finding impossibly small cracks.

Holly followed Li with her eyes, an envious look on her face. 'How does she do that?' she muttered.

Amber, delighted to have a chance to make Holly feel inferior, followed Li up. The two girls stood up on top of the rock and scanned the surrounding area.

'What's the clue again?' Li called down.

'Hang on.' Hex rummaged in his backpack and finally drew out his phone. '"Forest dungeon; dragon's keep; a heart of stone; its secret deep." I think we're looking for a cave.'

'I found something on the other side of this rock that looks like a carving. Come around and look.'

Alex, Paulo, Hex and Holly scrambled around the side of the boulder to join Li and Amber who had climbed down.

'Good job, Li,' Paulo praised as the six of them faced a dragon carved into the rock face. It was about three feet high and two feet wide, a hideous looking beast with huge fangs and talons. Its mouth was open in a silent roar and two beady eyes glared down at them. Despite the fact that it wasn't the prettiest carving on earth, someone had done a remarkable job.

'Not too subtle, are they?' Alex remarked.

'That's good. For our sakes I mean.' Hex studied the carving and frowned. 'I bet that there's a concealed latch we have to press. It'll open the door.' He started to feel all over the carving. Holly shrugged and joined him. After a few seconds they heard an audible click. Hex grabbed Holly's arm and froze.

'What did you touch?' he asked urgently.

'Um.' Holly tapped her bottom lip as she concentrated. 'Maybe the left eye?'

Letting go of Holly's arm Hex touched the right eye. The rock seemed to sigh as the dragon slid sideways, opening up a dark passage leading deep into the heart of the rock. The six of them all peered inside.

'Hex and I can go,' Holly announced.

Amber hurriedly stepped forward. 'Oh no. We're all coming.'

Holly smirked. 'That's not necessary. We only need two people.'

'Why Hex and you then?' Amber wasn't backing down. 'What if Alex goes instead of you?'

Holy shook her head. 'No. I'm going.'

'Why is it crucial that you go?' Amber glared at Holly.

'Because we have two parties here. Party one is me. Party two the rest of you. If two people of the same party go down then they could make off with the treasure or clue. Whatever's down there.' She saw Amber open her mouth again and guessed what she was going to say. 'Hex has to come in case there is a clue there.'

'I'm pretty sure you can decipher it all by yourself. If you can't, Hex can figure it out up here.'

'What if it leads deeper into the cave?'

'We can all go in!' Amber was starting to sound a bit hysterical.

Li stepped forward and put a restraining arm hand on Amber's arm. 'She's right, Amber.' Amber glared at Li. Alex and Paulo shifted uncomfortably in the background.

Hex didn't seem to have noticed the exchange between Holly and Amber; he had been peering at the carving with interest. 'No one touch this. There's probably a lever that can make the door slide across again.'

Holly gave Amber a triumphant look. 'Come on, Hex.' She skipped towards him and pushed him gently towards the entrance. They were quickly swallowed by darkness as their torch beams got further away from the entrance. Amber wrenched her arm free.

'Thanks for siding with me,' she said sarcastically. Paulo tapped Alex's arm and they scurried around the boulder.

'What Holly said made sense.'

'Doesn't mean it was right.'

'Yes it does.'

They stared at each other, Li calmly and Amber furiously.

'I just don't think it was a good idea.'

Li made an exasperated sound. 'Amber. What are they going to do down there? Just because you're jealous-'

'Jealous?!' Amber nearly shrieked. She lowered her voice and pitch. 'Jealous? Why would I be jealous?'

'Oh come off it. You and Hex are really close. Any one can see that. Since Holly showed up she and Hex have been spending nearly all their time together. That's gotta bug you just a bit.'

Li looked at Amber but her eyes were staring at the ground. 'Ok. Fine. You're right. I am a bit miffed that she can just waltz in here and... But there's something else about her that, I don't know, doesn't feel right. I don't trust her.'

'Whew. At least I'm not the only one.'

Amber looked at Li in surprise. 'You don't trust her too?'

'Hell yeah. That's why we're going to sneak down there and find out what's going on.'