Chapter 1
THE TREASURE CHEST
Dan opened his eyes. The tent roof spread darkly overhead, just as it had before he’d fallen asleep. But when he rolled over, he saw a bright light glowing through the tent wall. It was from the dining room of the house.
Page moaned. “What’s wrong?”
“Looks like Mom and Dad are awake,” Dan said. “They must still be worried about us. Didn’t they ever sleep in their backyards when they were kids?”
Page shifted inside her sleeping bag. “What do Mom and Dad have to do with—er . . .” Page sat up. “What are you talking about?”
“The same thing you’re talking about. The light. It woke you up, didn’t it?”
“No,” Page said. “I woke up because my feet are tingling.”
“So?” Dan crinkled his toes. They were a little sore from running in the town race that day, but they weren’t tingling. “You probably just slept funny.”
Page reached beside her and grabbed her Sabatons of Peace. They were the foot armor she’d earned in the Hidden Kingdom yesterday before they’d whooshed back home to Utah. “My feet are tingling the same way they did when Mom showed us how our sabatons worked. She said if it happened again, I was supposed to tell her about it.”
Dan scrambled out of his sleeping bag. “Why didn’t you tell me they tingled then?”
“I just thought my feet weren’t used to wearing the sabatons.” Page put them on her feet and crawled to the tent door. She unzipped it. She poked her head through the opening.
“Hey! Look.”
Page turned back to him. “What?”
He pointed at her feet. “Your sabatons are glowing.”
Page scooted back inside the tent. She stretched her feet in front of her. “Wow! They’ve never done that before.”
“Maybe mine will glow too.” Dan shoved his feet into his own sabatons. He stared at them and waited.
Nothing happened.
Why didn’t his feet tingle? Why didn’t his sabatons glow? Mom had told him there wasn’t anything wrong with him. She said there were other kids who didn’t go to the Hidden Kingdom until they were nine years old either. Was she wrong?
“Let’s go,” Page said.
They climbed out of the tent and ran to the back door. Dan opened it.
“Mom?” Dan called.
When no one answered, Dan switched on the kitchen light. He waved for Page to follow him.
They walked to the dining room door. Dan pushed it open.
The first thing Dan saw was a black box that looked like a treasure chest. It lay in the middle of the table. Mom and Dad sat in the chairs on either side of the table.
“Dad?” Dan said.
Dad stood. “What are you two doing in here? Is something wrong?”
“The dining room light woke me up,” Dan said. “And then Page’s sabatons—look at them!”
Dan moved from in front of Page.
“I feel like something bad is going to happen,” Page said.
Dad’s eyes rounded wide. “Quick! Close the door!”
A shiver shot through Dan’s chest. Why did Dad look so scared?
Mom rushed over to Page and knelt next to her. “Are your toes tingling again?”
“Yes,” Page said.
Mom looked at Dad.
Dad placed his clenched fist on top of the treasure chest. “We better leave,” he said.
Suddenly, Dan’s feet began to tingle, and his sabatons glowed. But he didn’t feel danger coming. Instead, he pictured Cameron, the boy who’d taught them how to use their bows and arrows while they were in the Hidden Kingdom.
“They’ll warn you of danger,” Cameron’s voice said inside Dan’s mind.
Dan scrunched his eyebrows together. He stared down at his metal-plated foot armor, especially at the arrows along the upper rims. Had Cameron been talking to Page and not to him?
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Dan scrunched his eyebrows together. He stared down at his metal-plated foot armor, especially at the arrows along the upper rims. Had Cameron been talking to Page and not to him?
Purchase on Amazon.
