A Hunting We Will Go

They finished their adventure within the building and left, entering the bright sunshine. Conan leading, followed by Amy, Mitch, and George, while Amber and Sindey trailed behind. Synthia's anger had decreased significantly, which Amber was thankful for. Then again, she really didn't understand why Sindey was upset in the first place. What they were practicing had been Wiccan magic, and that was based off of control of mental processes and manipulation of energies. Whatever magic had taken them here wasn't supposed to exist. But, it did.

"Now that was fun," Amy said.

"I've never seen so much gold before," Mitch exclaimed excitedly.

Jimmy Kudo turned toward the two children, looking over his shoulder.

"You know there are still lots of undiscovered treasures in the world and most of it's gold bullion."

Amber looked up, and her green eyes met his blue as she continued to trail behind the group.

"What's gold have to do with bowling?" Sweat drops trailed down Conan and Sindey's face. The girl concentrated, preventing the emotions of joy and fascination to be revealed when she realized you actually could see it here.

"Bullion Amber, not bowling," Her friend looked at her, wondering why whenever Amber met someone new she insisted to present herself as a complete idiot. Jimmy Kudo, on the other hand, had probably just decided to disregard anything she had said and would say in the future.

"It's a bar," he commented.

"I'm not old enough to go to a bar," Amber stated. Frustrated, Conan slapped his forehead. It was at that point that she decided messing with him had officially become her new favorite hobby. The other children were too young to understand, but Jimmy was also older than them, even though he didn't look like it.

"Bar as in brick, not alcohol."

"Why did you wait so long to tell us, why don't we go find this stuff?" George yelled as thrust his fist into the air dramatically. He stopped mid step as a bit of parchment fluttered by him. Carefully, he bent down to pick it up. "Huh? Did one of you drop this?"

"What did you find, George," Mitch asked as he stopped and looked over the taller boy's shoulder. Everyone turned to examine the sheet in his hand. A series of drawings trailed vertically down the side, one of them accompanied by the word oro.

"There are no words on it," Amy's comment was followed by another from Mitch.

"There are just a bunch of stupid pictures."

"Wait! What if it's some kind of treasure map?" The brunette girl raised her hands into the sky enthusiastically.

"A treasure map," George repeated.

Jimmy laughed thinking about the likelihood of the situation. It was also entertaining to see the excitement in the children even though the odds were highly unfavorable. What he hadn't realized was that Sindey and Amber lacked the energy that the rest of the group possessed.

"Yeah, that would be ironic." The detective said.

"Alright Conan, there's no need to use that kind of language around a lady," George snapped.

"You really should apologize," Mitch crossed his arms over his chest.

The detective smiled nervously as the children reprimanded him. Amber giggled, but couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Kudo. He looked so confused as his gaze darted between the two boys.

"But, I didn't say anything bad." Conan claimed. He kept his hands up as if to shield himself from their fist.

"Do either one of you know what ironic means?" Amber interrupted. George glared, defensively.

"No but it sounds bad."

Amber stared at them. How quickly eight year olds jumped to conclusions and assumed they knew everything, then again, teenagers weren't much better. She sighed and ran her fingers through her long blonde hair. It felt like she was babysitting.

"That doesn't make it a bad word."

He was baffled. Who did this girl think she was? They remained in a stare down as the boy thought of a retort, anything to prove that he was more intelligent than her.

"Then what does ironic mean?"

"A contrary outcome that occurs to what was actually expected or intended."

She smugly crossed her arms over her chest. Conan's jaw dropped as he stared at her, mouth agape in astonishment. The tallest boy's expression changed from dumbfounded to just plain angry while he registered the remark in his mind.

"Nobody asked you!"

"You did!" Amber could feel her temper rising. She didn't understand why he was frustrated. Their eyes met and the tension could be felt by everyone around them. They began to argue and moved closer to the other with each remark.

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

The words burned with the intensity of fire.

"Nerd!"

"Moron!"

Their faces were nearly touching as the electrical shocks sparked between them.

"SHUT UP PIPSQUEAK!"

"WHY DON'T YOU MAKE ME YOU OVERSIZED GORILLA?"

Voices rose with each passing second. Mitch and Amy began to retreat behind Conan, afraid to be caught between them.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?"

"YOU HEARD ME!"

"Will you two break it up?" Jimmy Kudo shouted that the top of his lungs, infuriated. They dropped their arms and obeyed his command, becoming silent. The children sat there; quiet now that the arguing was over.

"Well, is it a treasure map?" Mitch spoke up, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Maybe," Conan responded, shrugging.

Amber turned and looked over her shoulder as her mind began to tune the kids out. But, three men kept her from leaving reality. She raised her eyebrows when she saw them. Men in black, dressed in suits, hats, and sunglasses, it was anything but inconspicuous. The hair prickled on the back of her neck as she nudged her sister. Her eyes followed the direction of Amber's finger. Sindey bit her lip in apprehension, knowing the girl's unspoken concerns.

"What about all the pictures on it?" George asked.

"Pictures don't necessarily mean that it's a treasure map; it could just be someone's doodles," Jimmy explained, attempting to rationalize the situation. Amy ignored him.

"I think it's a treasure map." She declared thrilled.

"Me Too!" followed by George.

"So do I!" and again, by Mitch.

"I just don't think you should jump to any conclusions." And there was Detective Jimmy Kudo, trying to be the reasonable once again. There were times that got on her nerves. And shouldn't he have realized that the pictures were too organized and structured to be someone's doodles?

"Great, then we have our first assignment as the Jr. Detective League." The tallest of the boys exclaimed while ignoring Conan. Sindey turned being pulled from her thoughts. Amber rocked back and forth on her toes still pretending that she had no idea what was going on.

"Jr. Detective League?" The younger blonde turned to her closest friend, who shrugged. Collins had a wide smile spread across her face but her eyes were bright and focused.

"And I George, as your fearless captain, will lead us to the treasure, any objections?

"Not at all," Amy and Mitch responded together. Each of the blondes considered raising their hands but neither reacted to avoid the unneeded conflict. That, and Jimmy already had his hands full with Amber when she wasn't trying to pick a fight.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Conan groaned as he slapped his forehead.

"Then off we go!" George took the lead, being the first to leave.

"Aye, Aye captain," His friends followed him, the three walking in a random direction. But, it wasn't long before they stopped and realized that they had no idea where they were headed. Sindey and Amber could feel the sweat running down the side of their head as Conan fell to the ground. Collins chuckled. Witnessing it in person was even better than seeing it on T.V.

"Why don't we start by looking at the map," Jimmy suggested after his recovery. He extended his hand offering to help.

"Uh, oh, oh yeah," George muttered, handing the paper over to him. He examined it, observing every detail before holding it toward the others so they could see the pictures.

"Now look at this symbol at the top of this page, doesn't it look like something familiar," Their faces lit up as they recognized the shape. Before long, three out of six of them were rushing toward the bus stop.

"I know that place," George shouted.

"Let's go," Amy called as she followed close behind, Conan sprinting to close the distance between them.

Amber and Sindey moaned as they followed in the back and tried to catch up. Together, they rounded the corner with the group, rushed down the street, reached their destination just in time, and quickly entered the vehicle taking seats in the very back. Amber panted as she sat down. She hated running. It was hard on the legs and made it difficult to breathe. Why children felt they always had to do it, she had no idea.

"Ha ha! I knew from the start it had something to do with the Toe Tum tower," George claimed. Amber snorted.

"The treasure's as good as found, we'll be famous."

Jimmy laughed at Mitch's comment, a long, flat, and drawn out laugh. But his reaction was accurate. Most treasure would not be recorded on a map. Even if it was, the paper would decompose and be unreadable by the time it was recovered in present day. That would mean that the directions would have been drawn recently since Amy was currently looking at the parchment in her hand

"I wonder what these letters down here mean, there's O-R-O."

"Or maybe the map's in pictures because he couldn't spell." George suggested.

The blondes rolled their eyes him. If it was directions to gold no one would be stupid enough to put them in a legible letters. Otherwise, everyone would be after it. It would be possible that the oro was a different language. Ora in Spanish was gold, so it was very likely that a country near a Spanish speaking community used oro instead of ora. That left Portuguese, French, Italian, and German. Eliminate German, since the sound did not follow the tendencies of the language, and there were three possibilities.

"I think I know what it means," Mitch piped up. His facial features brightened immediately, "the first O is for the O in the word oodles, and the letter R as in the word rich, and the second O, is for the O in the word ore. O-R-O is just another way to say oodles of rich ore."

"Wow Mitch, I never knew you were such a puzzle solver," he blushed at Amy's admiration and rubbed the back of his neck proudly.

"I know a thing or two."

"That is not what oro translates into," Amber grumbled as she slapped her forehead. It was remarkable how gullible some people could be.

"No, but he has the right idea," Sindey giggled.

"No, he was trying to make it fit, he didn't actually know."

Conan watched the girls as he listened to their conversation. He hadn't been paying much attention. That was until minutes later when the words began to sink in. That's when he took an interest and it began to intrigue him.

"Hey Amber-"

"-I'll tell you in the book store," she interrupted Jimmy and prevented him from finishing the question. He was about to push the matter further, asking about the supposed 'book store', but the detective dropped the subject. He didn't want Amber to revert back to the person she was earlier. The longer he could keep her in an intellectual mindset, the more he could discover about her.

"What are you gonna buy, Conan?" George laughed heartily. The three of them ended the private conversations that had been occurring without the other children knowing. They silently wondered how much of the previous conversation they had missed. At least they didn't have to ask.

"Nothing!" Jimmy responded, annoyed. He was losing his temper with the kids. Maybe because they had been over zealous about finding a piece of paper no bigger than a grocery list.

"Well I'm going to buy two pizzas from every pizza joint in town," George continued, too excited to listen.

"I'm gonna buy a plane and fly around the world," Amy continued and extended her arms as if she had become the aircraft.

"You do that, I'm gonna buy a rocket and fly to the moon," Mitch boasted.

"I'm going to hide so I don't get hurt when they crash," Amber stated while leaning closer to Sindey. She whispered and attempted to keep her voice down. Her friend nodded her head in agreement.

"Sounds good," Synthia added.

Unfortunately, they were too close to the others. Jimmy overheard, despite their attempts to keep the conversation between the two of them. He strained his ears in desperation to hear more. The detective wasn't sure what exactly was happening with them, but he knew they were different. But he didn't know how unusual the girls actually were.

"What about you, Conan?" Amy questioned him excitedly, leaning towards the boy. It interrupted his thoughts, lucky for the blondes, not as lucky for him.

"I guess I'll save it."

"You wouldn't want like books, or something," George pouted.

Apparently, he didn't appreciate Amy giving Conan all of the attention. Amber giggled at his ignorance. He had no idea how bad crushes could be once students left grade school. After middle school started, there was the gossip, the rumors, the jealousy, and the fear of rejection. Things were easier when everybody had cooties.

She turned around and looked out the window behind her as Conan muttered something about wanting taller shoes. What bothered her was that the men that had been at the museum where driving behind the bus. Once again, Amber felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. It was very suspicious, and not many people wore that style of clothing this time of year when it was fairly warm. The girl was positive that they were the one's she had seen earlier.

"They're still following us." She whispered under her breath.

"Who?" Sindey asked as she looked out the window. Amber pointed to the black car behind them. "You sure?"

The older of the two nodded as Synthia slid back down in the seat. Collins could feel her grip tighten on the back of the chair. Her stomach churned and she could feel her heart begin to race. She had a bad feeling, a very, very bad feeling.

The bus stopped and Amber felt her weight shift as she lost balance and fell on the floor. Conan stared but didn't say anything as she giggled nervously and stood on her feet. Maybe, the feeling was actually telling her to sit forward so she wouldn't land on her ass. It didn't matter. The rest of the group had begun standing up and moving to the closest exit. After they got off they walked down the street to the tower.

"This has got to be the starting point!" George declared.

"Now all we have to do now is break the code," Mitch announced.

"Umm, that's going to be hard because the only other thing I can recognize on this map is an umbrella." Amy said while looking at the piece of paper in her hand. Amber peered over her shoulder. She took the parchment and examined the shapes.

"Well, if it is a map, these are probably meant to symbolize specific locations," Collins explained while pointing at one of the individual pictures. Conan nodded his head, probably agreeing with her hypothesis. Amber smiled as she handed the paper back to Amy.

"Well that's it, that's the moon it's gotta be." George mentioned.

"The treasure's on the moon?" Amber inquired.

She could see the drop of sweat run down Sindey's head. It wasn't her fault. They had jumped from discussing locations to the moon. The group had set that one up. Amber just took advantage of the opportunity. Besides, Jimmy was going to catch on if she didn't keep the act up.

"No, the treasure is in that tower where you can see the moon just like it looks on the map." George corrected.

"The moon moves through so many positions at night and this map is way too simple to pin point something that exact." Mitch responded, laughing a little as he did.

The statement impressed her. He was right. The map was too simple for that. There were also the other symbols on the paper to take into consideration. If the treasure was in the tower, there would be no point drawing the other pictures.

"Fine, then what's your genius idea," George whined. Apparently, he didn't think that way.

"Have you thought of anything yet, Conan?" Amy questioned as she leaned over his shoulder. Jimmy was examining the paper. He must have taken it while Mitch and George were busy with their conversation.

"Hmm, maybe you see what I'm thinking is that these strange drawings may represent actual things you can see," Kudo explained. He pointed to one of the symbols on the paper. "For example, this first thing kind off looks like a hat, the second symbol, could be underwear, and the third of course, is the umbrella." Conan hesitated as he examined the images on the paper. "What they all have in common is the question that's bugging me."

His voice trailed off as he became lost in thought. For someone who didn't believe it was a treasure map, he was very engrossed in the activity. But, that may have been because Jimmy saw it as a puzzle instead of a map.

The three children bowed their heads as they considered the possibilities. A strong gust of wind blew from the east. It forced Amber's long blonde hair over her shoulder causing the golden strands to tangle. She was quickly reminded why she had cut it as she subconsciously turned in the direction it had been taken.

"A clothing store!" They cried in unison.

The words barely fazed her.

"Well, we don't know that for sure." Conan mentioned as he tried to get them to settle down. It was too late. The three of them had already darted down to the end of street. "Hey, wait up." Jimmy whined. He was about to follow them. That was until he saw Amber staring at something further down the road. Sindey began walking in the direction Amy, Mitch, and George had gone. But the other girl appeared to be frozen in place, a living statue in the sea of pedestrians. "You okay," he asked as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Those men." she hesitated as she examined the scene. "I think they've been following us."

Conan followed the direction of her gaze. He saw them. They did seem suspicious, but dark clothing didn't necessarily mean that the group was in immediate danger.

"Probably nothing to worry about," Jimmy took Ambers hand as he pulled her away. "Come on, let's go."