Day 3

Donnie's P.O.V.

(ringing)

9:00 AM already? Man, that didn't feel like enough sleep.

"(yawns)"

(knocking)

"Donnie, Tigress? It's Po and Leo. You guys awake yet?"

Tigress was still sleeping soundly, so I walked to the door and opened it up.

"You okay, Donnie? We came by an hour ago and you didn't respond."

"Didn't hear you knocking."

"Did you get some sleep, like I've told you before?"

"Before?"

"Donnie has a tendency to study overnight, that he forgets to get some sleep time to time."

"Not true."

"Last time it happened, he was up until 3 A.M. and he didn't wake up until 2 in the afternoon."

"What? (laughing)"

"In my defense, it was an invention for science class back in school."

"Exactly my point, you work through every last detail."

"What's with all the noise?" Tigress said. I looked and saw her coming to the door.

"How long were you two up last night?"

"At least until 1 A.M. last night. But we got the cipher finally decoded by then."

"Well, once you two are wide awake and clothed, fill us in okay? This is our third day here, so we gotta get this case cracked."

"Got it."

So I let Tigress get washed up first, and then I freshened up after her. Once we got our gear on, we let Leo and Po in our room and filled them in on the code: 'First things first. Locate my secret hideout in the mountains. It's so secret, you'll probably never find it - but if you do find my rex bone and use it in the wall of my hideout. That'll open up my secret lock. Then, match my wits with the infernal slot machine. Use the duck counter to match up all 3 animals. It helps to first put the same animals in a column and work from there.'

"Not only that, but all this talk about 'Mary' is referring to his pet pig." I added.

"A pet pig? This guy made a lot of animal friends."

"No kidding, Po."

"By the way, we snagged a washcloth from Yanni's room and Lou's room while doing the laundry. That's three objects with different scents: Yanni's washcloth, Lou's washcloth, and Ollie's rag."

"Yeah, Isis can help us with this."

"That just leaves us to find an object with Bill Kessler's scent."

"Honestly, I doubt Bill Kessler would do anything to damage Icicle Creek Lodge."

"What do you mean?"

Po filled Tigress in on what Bill told the boys after being trapped in the sauna regarding the pictures they found, and his past.

"So he knew more than he said."

"Yeah, but the guy swears he wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Maybe, but we can't rule him out yet."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. I found this."

Leo pulled out a coin with a moose on it.

"A moose coin? Wait a minute."

Donnie pulled out a raccoon coin that they found last night.

"We found this last night. The raccoon picture had a hidden compartment."

"How did you discover that?"

"While everyone was asleep at night, we decoded that there were four coins: a moose, wolf, raccoon, and pig. The raccoon coin was hidden in the picture, and the fire necklace on the display was connected to it. The locks on the doors for the guest bedrooms, they were also connected too. We matched the colors of the locks to the colors of the fire necklace and the hidden compartment under the raccoon picture opened up. So far we found 2."

"We think the hideout may hold more clues. The cabin where we met Isis."

"Then, let's head there."

We got on our outdoor gear and made our way to the cabin as fast as possible so we didn't freeze. Surprisingly, Isis was in there and she was happy to see us. She still trust us.

"Hey Isis, can you help us please? We need to know who's scent is on this book."

We gave her the notebook with the dino bone notes and she held it in her mouth. First, we gave her Ollie's rag

(sniffs)

But she didn't drop the notebook like Julius' notebook said she would.

"Shouldn't she be dropping the book?"

"Only if the scent's match Po, and this proves they don't."

"So the notebook's not Ollie's. What about Yanni?"

We placed the washcloth down...

(sniffs)

Nothing.

"Not Yanni's either."

"That leaves Lou. If this doesn't work, the notebook will belong to Bill."

We placed Lou's washcloth next to Isis...

(sniffs)

Then she dropped the book.

"Huh, so the notebook belongs to Lou Talbot." I deduced.

"Thanks Isis, you were a big help." Po said and he gave her some petting. She was happy with it.

"Okay, we should talk to Lou about this."

"I'll stay here. See if I can find any clues here."

"If she's staying, i'm staying with her." Po said.

"Alright then, Donnie, you're with me."

"Got it."

Me and Leo then left to go talk to Lou about that notebook. What's he doing with notes about dinosaur bones? Is he digging for them here?

Third Person P.O.V.

Leo and Donnie went to go talk to Lou while Tigress and Po stayed at the cabin to investigate. When they arrived at the Lodge, they found something on the bench.

"Now what?"

"What are you talking about Leo?"

"This."

"A folder?"

"Usually, it means something is gonna happen in the near future."

Leo opened it up and it was information from Tino Balducci. It was about Lou Talbot and how he was arrested.

"Trespassing, vandalism, theft. Digging on private property... Dinosaur bones?"

"We need to have a word with him."

Leo and Donnie went and before going to the table, they stopped at the display cases. They found the same bone indentation there just like the one in the cabin.

"This is the same bone shape back at the cabin."

"Yeah, it's not here, but the shapes are the same."

Then, they saw Lou Talbot with Bill Kessler playing the Fox and Geese game like always.

"Hey Lou."

"What's up?"

"Think we can have the 'Rex bone' you borrowed from the plaque by the display case?"

"Dude. What makes you think I took some bone from some plaque?"

"Because you referred to it in your notebook, which we found out in the snow."

"Notebook?"

Leo then pulled the notebook out his coat.

"Someone who has a really good nose for such things is positive that it's yours."

"All right, here's the deal. There's a lot of people who collect stuff like fossils and dinosaur bones, okay? They pay big bucks for 'em, and it just so happens that paleontology's kinda my thing, so yeah, I collect bones and I sell 'em."

"So when you saw the stools over there, you knew they were dino bones and tried to unearth more out there."

"Except I haven't unearthed anything. I'm not the one making things go boom out there. I mean, I may've found a couple of good specimens in a couple craters, but I didn't make them. I don't know who did either."

He then pulled out the key to the closet in his room to prove his innocence and gave it to Leo.

"There. That's the key to the closet in my room. You want the bone from the plaque, go ahead and take it. Okay, dude. Excitement's over Whose move?"

Leo and Donnie went to Lou Talbot's room, used the master key to get in, and used the key Lou gave them on the closet door.

"Wow, look at all these bones Donnie."

"Lou's been one busy fox."

"Here's the one we're looking for."

They took the bone, locked the closet and the room. Then, they left the Lodge and went back to the cabin where Isis, Po and Tigress was.

"Hey guys, we got the bone."

"Really? Awesome!"

"How did you get it?"

"Apparently, Lou Talbot took it from the plaque earlier. He has some experience in paleontology and he's been digging for dino bones out here in Icicle Creek Lodge. But he swears he hasn't been blowing things up."

"We'll need more than just his word to prove that."

Leo went ahead and put the bone in the spot and a latch opened.

"What's this?"

"Now I understand what that meant from before?"

"What from before?"

"Trapper Dan's journal mentioned something about lining up animals in columns. These tokens are what it was referring too. If I move these tokens correctly and line up the fish, cats, and rabbits in the correct rows, we might discover another secret Trapper Dan mentioned."

Tigress rearranged the coins one by one, until eventually, she managed to crack it open. It revealed a secret passage filled with green lights.

"Whoa!" Everyone said.

"Let's see where it goes." Po said and went in first.

"Po, hold on!" Leo said and followed after him with Tigress and Donnie in tow.

"All these lanterns have rocks in them, but what's making them glow like this?"

"Man, my curiosity is getting the best of me. I wonder what's down here?"

Eventually, they reached what looked like a mine tunnel. There were mine carts, tracks, barrels, crates, the only thing missing was tools.

"Is this a mining tunnel?"

"Looks that way. You don't see mine carts unless you were mining something down here."

The Cluefinders came up to what looked like a panel and when they flipped the lid up, it revealed a maze.

"Looks like the map we saw back in the Journal."

Donnie pulled it out of his coat and flipped to the same picture in the journal.

"Yeah, this is a map of the vaults Trapper Dan mentioned from earlier. Of course, the vaults are too small for us."

"But not for Isis, look!"

The others turned and saw Tigress pointing to Isis, who was in the tunnels with them.

"She must've followed us in here."

"Well, she can definitely help us. She's the only one who can fit in that small space."

"Let me see here..."

Tigress studied the map and remembered the commands from Julius' diary. She then turned to Isis and said in a firm voice...

"Isis, Forward, Right, Left, Right, Jump, Go!"

Isis followed her commands, and the detectives watched the map. The green circles lit up to show where Isis was and where she was heading. She then reached the square with the up arrow on it and then...

(noises)

"What was that?"

"Sounded like something moved down here!"

They scattered to see what it was.

"Hey guys! Over here! There's a ladder down here."

Everyone followed Leo's voice and saw him pointing up to a ladder that went through a hole. They climbed up the ladder and followed the tunnel till they saw Isis and a rope pulley.

"Huh, wonder what this is doing here?"

When Leo had the rope in his hand, Isis came up and grabbed the rope. She then began pulling back on it as far as she could.

"Of course! 'Try pulling on the rope above the vaults.' Trapper Dan mentioned this." Donnie deduced

"What secret is it this time?"

"The pig coin. Pulling on this rope should reveal the coin's hiding place back at the Lodge and as long as Isis keeps pulling on the rope, I can get the coin."

"Go then. Head to the lodge and find it, we'll stay here. Once you find it, call us so we can let Isis know when to let go of the rope."

"On it."

Donnie ran back to the cabin as fast as he could, then traveled through the snow back to the Lodge and went to the pig head at the end of the hallway. The mouth was open and the coin was there.

"3 coins collected, just the wolf is left. That one's gonna be the toughest of all."

Donnie then used his T-Phone to call Leo.

"Found it Leo."

"Alright then, come back here. Let's see what else we can discover."

"Got it. I'll be there soon."

Before Donnie left, he went to pay Ollie a visit.

"Hey Ollie, thought I'd drop by and see how you were doing."

"Well, Lou Talbot's gone, case you didn't know. Just up 'n left."

"As in left Icicle Creek Lodge for good?"

Ollie nodded yes.

"Oh boy, Chantal's not gonna like that."

"The good news, you're friends don't have to do the cooking anymore. I can handle it from here on out."

"Ok, well thanks for the heads up."

He then left the basement and called the others.

"Leo, I got some bad news."

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review.