CHAPTER 1

Kyle and Anna pressed on through the thick, green forest.

"Come on!" Kyle ordered his younger sister impatiently.

Anna had been snagged by the wild underbrush. "I'm going asfast as I can," she insisted. "Why don't they have paths in thesewoods?"

"Because they're old woods, and nobody comes here anymore,"Kyle answered. "You remember what Uncle Bill said. Now hurryup!"

"Uncle Bill might have been pulling our leg," Anna said. Shebroke free from the underbrush. Old twigs snapped like firecrackersunder her feet. "Slow down, Kyle!" she called as she raced tocatch up.

Kyle slowed a little, but not enough for Anna to notice. He wasa stubborn 12-year-old who would never openly concede to doingsomething nice for his 10-year-old sister.

She puffed irritably behind him. "I knew this would happen,"she said. "I should have stayed with Grandma."

"And get bored stiff," Kyle reminded her.

Anna didn't respond. Kyle was right. Since they'd come to Odysseyto stay with their grandparents at the beginning of the summer,they'd been bored. As a couple of "city kids," they found it hard tocope with the slower pace and less-sophisticated pleasures of a smalltown. Their grandparents did their best to keep the two kids active,but there was only so much that could hold their interest. Kyle andAnna finally admitted to themselves that they'd made a big mistakewhen they let their parents talk them into going to Odyssey for amonth.

A glimmer of hope arose, however, when their uncle Bill cameto visit just last evening and told them about an old, mysterioushouse in the middle of the woods. He said it had been empty foryears. Some said it was haunted, others that it was magical, whilestill others claimed it once belonged to an eighteenth-century piratewho'd buried his treasure in the garden. "Whatever it is," Uncle Billsaid, "it might be a fun way to pass the time."

Both Grandma and Grandpa pooh-poohed the story. Neither ofthem could remember an old house in the woods. But Uncle Billinsisted it was there, not far from Darien's Creek in what they calledthe Black Forest.

Kyle was immediately intrigued and wanted Uncle Bill to drawa map. Uncle Bill scribbled directions as well as he could rememberthem—he hadn't been there since he was a child, he admitted.Kyle said he would go the next day if it was all right with hisgrandparents.

"Sure, you can go," his grandfather said. "But you won't findanything."

Anna didn't agree to go with Kyle until the next morning. Shedidn't really want to, but she thought it would be better than holdingGrandma's yarn while she knitted. Now—in the middle of thehot and humid Black Forest—she thought of that yarn and a tallglass of lemonade and wished she'd stayed behind in spite of theboredom.

Kyle tripped on a rock and fell, getting covered in dark mulch.Dead leaves stuck to his close-cropped, blond hair. Two circles ofwet dirt formed on the knees of his jeans. "I'll bet nobody's walkedthrough here in years," he said happily.

Anna didn't understand her brother. How could he be happy? Itupset her to discover that her white sneakers were now a spottedbrown. Her pants were streaked and smudged with dirt and decayingbark. She had torn the sleeve on her shirt. This expedition wasturning into a disaster as far as she was concerned.

And what would they do if they didn't find a house? Worse, shethought, what if they did find it and it was all the things Uncle Billhad said? Maybe that pirate still haunted the house, scaring awaystrangers who hoped to dig up his treasure.

"That would be cool!" Kyle said when Anna told him herworries.

No, she didn't understand her brother at all.

Half an hour later, she was beyond trying to understand himand openly complained that it was time to go home. "The housedoesn't exist," she said. "Uncle Bill was just teasing us."

Kyle wouldn't hear of it. "It's around here somewhere. It has tobe."

Another half hour went by, and Anna began to worry out loudthat they were lost.

"We're not lost!" Kyle snapped. "I never should have let youcome along. All you do is gripe, gripe, gripe!"

"I want to go home," she said and abruptly sat down right whereshe was. "I'm tired and thirsty."

Kyle towered over her with his hands on his hips. "Then gohome," he told her. "I don't care."

"I'll get lost," she said.

"That's not my problem."

"It will be if Mom and Dad find out you let me wander aroundalone in some strange woods."

He groaned.

"You know I'm right."

"You really get on my nerves," he said with a frown.

"That makes us even."

"Yeah, sure." Kyle glanced ahead longingly. He wanted to go on.But he had to admit—not out loud, though—that he was gettingtired too. He sighed deeply, then said casually, "Okay, let's go back.But first you'd better knock that bug out of your hair."

Anna had long, thick, brown hair and lived in horror that a bugwould hide in it somewhere. One night before bed, she had brusheda small spider out of it. She had screamed loudly enough to wakeup the neighbors. The police had come. She'd had nightmares for aweek.

If there had been any sleeping neighbors in these woods—orpolice—the situation would have repeated itself. She screamed outone long note, leaped to her feet, and danced wildly while flickingher hair with both hands. "Get it out! Get it out!" she shrieked.

Of course the bug flew away the instant Anna moved, but thatdidn't stop her from screaming, dancing, and flicking for a full sevenminutes.

As Kyle tried to calm her down, he caught a glimpse of thehouse through the trees.

* * *

"This is incredible!" Kyle exclaimed. "I told you we'd find it!"

The house stood awkwardly in an area so thick with trees thatthe sunlight couldn't break through. It looked completely out ofplace.

"What's it doing here?" Anna whispered. "It's like it got lostfrom all the other houses and died here. Why would anyone wantto build a house in the middle of nowhere?"

"I don't know," Kyle said breathlessly as he circled around tothe front. It was everything Uncle Bill had said: big, empty, andmysterious. Part of it reminded him of an English castle, with wallsmade of large blocks of uncut stone and a tower sticking up fromthe corner. It had round, arched windows leading up to a conelikeroof. Then it was as if the builder had gotten bored with that ideaand decided to do something else. The rest of the house lookedGothic, with decorative gables, ornamental shingles, and shutteredwindows jutting out of long walls. The porch was framed by intricatemolding on the rails between the slim posts. It surroundedthree sides of the house as if it were a belt meant to hold it alltogether.

Kyle's imagination went wild with images of pirates, secret meetings,and treasure. "Maybe Darien's Creek used to be a big riverthat led to the sea," he said. "I'll bet the pirates brought their shipsin and hid here."

"Pirates?" Anna asked with a loud gulp. She hadn't...