The Mystery of the Missing Pint (A Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys FanFiction)

Chapter Five: Treasure Hunt

She didn't say it, but Elizabeth had been listening in since Hannah left. She was overwhelmed with pride for the children. They had all worked together to solve their problem. She wanted to reward them for it, and she knew how to do just that! "I'll tell you what," she knelt beside Nancy, kissing her forehead, "I'll hide the secret treasure and draw a map to lead you to it."

"What's the treasure going to be?" Ned asked.

"That will be a surprise. You'll have to find it to figure it out," Elizabeth smiled, "Now, you all get what you need to be pirates while I go draw your map and hide your treasure."

Twenty minutes later, Elizabeth brought down a small chest and a rolled up piece of tan colored construction paper. "I'm going to go hide this chest now. Here is your map, but you can't open it until I'm ready for you to, okay?" All the children nodded their heads eagerly. Mrs. Drew walked back up the stairs and closed the door behind her.

Nancy and her guests rushed about finishing their costumes for their game. Ned had found a pirate hat in Nancy's dress up box, an old glow-stick sword in her toy box, and a pile of bandanas in her dresser. Nancy put a new glow stick in his sword for him. George took the blue bandana, Ned the purple one, Brenda the red one, and Bess the pink one. Bess and Deirdre wrapped themselves in shawls that were in Nancy's dress up box. Nancy found an old pair of high heels that her mother had given her to play with and some toy jewelry in her jewelry box. Deirdre picked the high heels and ruby ring while Bess picked the necklace and matching bracelet. George searched through Nancy's toy box. She found a toy tool kit and an old clock that had run out of batteries. She planned to use the tool belt to repair the imaginary ship and the small clock as a compass. Brenda used Nancy's foam sword and brown vest to mark her position as captain of the ship. Nancy put the small, plastic magnifying glass that her father had given her for her last birthday in her belt. Then she found a mostly blank notepad and a dark blue gel pen to keep her notes in. She tore out an old picture of a butterfly that she had drawn a week ago. Carefully, she placed the picture on her dresser. She was saving it as a present for her mother.

"Now we're ready," Nancy beamed.

"As soon as your mom comes back down, we can start, right?" Deirdre asked.

"Yup! And here she comes!" Nancy bounced to the stairs, waiting for her mother to get to the bottom.

"Wow," Elizabeth smiled, "You all look like fearsome pirates. I'm very frightened!"

"We're not fearsome pirates, mom!" Nancy giggled.

"What does fearsome mean?" Brenda asked.

"Fearsome means terrifying or frightening," Nancy's mother answered, "If you're not fearsome pirates then what are you?"

"I'm a fearsome pirate!" Ned announced with another slash of his sword.

"We're friendly pirates," Nancy laughed.

"Oh," Ned said, "I could do that too." He smiled, "Yeah, we're the friendliest pirates that anyone ever met!"

"Alright, let's go get that treasure!" George headed up the stairs.

"Wait!" Bess called, "George, we haven't opened the map yet. We don't even know where to go." She turned to Nancy's mother, "You said not to open the map until you were ready for us to."

"That's right I did, Bess. You're a very good listener," she smiled, "You can look at the map now. Here is the list of instructions and clues to follow." She handed Nancy another tan colored piece of construction paper, "Now go find that treasure."