Your Questions Part 4 and Reverse Q&A!

/ C. R. Hedgcock

Hello everyone! 🙂

It’s been a while since I did a Q&A post here (sorry about that). Many of you were intrigued by the idea of a reverse Q&A, where I ask you things I’m curious about. So after tackling a few of your questions, I’ll ask you some of my own!

 

1) Will the Predzels be in any future books?

I’m not sure yet. I haven’t planned to include them, but they may appear in a future story if they could help the main characters.

 

2) Did Sigurd get Gleym back?

Yes, definitely. 🙂 I love the fact that you remembered to ask about her!

 

3) Do we know what happened to Jigson’s parents?

Oh, I can’t wait for you to read Hunting in the Highlands! The answer is yes!

 

4) How much of the Hrein Orka in Iceland Intrigue is based on real science, and how much is fiction?

It’s mainly fiction … but who knows? Maybe there are principles of it that someone has yet to discover 😉

 

5) What is the significance of ‘Twelve Lemons’?

It’s a phrase with quite a personal meaning for Jigson and Detective Mortimer – otherwise it wouldn’t have guaranteed Jigson’s identity in Iceland Intrigue.

Is it part of a big mystery? Or is it something more innocuous? Will they spill the beans in Book 8? … Maybe!

 

6) When you wrote Hunting the Highlands did you plan out the whole book before you started writing?

Yes. I did make a careful plan so that the book would progress with logical structure and so I would know where the story was going – it had the potential to be quite confusing with characters splitting up and traipsing all over Scotland.

But the need to be flexible arose when I reached the end and realized that the climax was not right for the story … so a whole new ending had to be written!

Do you have burning questions for a future post? Send them via the contact page!

Now … here are my questions for you! 🙂

1. Who are your top 2 favourite male characters?

2. Who are your top 2 female characters?

3. Who is your favourite villain? (Miss Verton, Lewis Nickel, Bud Larone, Rolf/escaped convicts, Dainn, Herr Klaus, or someone else?)

4. Which is your favourite title in the series, and why?

5. Should one of the characters be in a relationship/courtship? Who and why? (I’m not promising anything by asking this 😉 I’m genuinely curious! 🙂 )

I look forward to finding out what you think! 🙂

4,874 thoughts on “Your Questions Part 4 and Reverse Q&A!”

  1. Something else really funny: My younger brother is terrified of the tornado siren by our house. Whenever they test it, he gets really scared. Just now, the test came on but my mom turned on some really loud music and told everybody to dance around. Then my younger brother yelled “Dance party with the siren in the backround!” Surprisingly, he seemed to enjoy it!

    Reply

  3. Ok, I’ve decided that I /am/ going to write a fan-fiction story, so SOMETHING is going to get posted here sooner or later! Get ready1

    Reply

    • Not sure, but here’s the first scene of mine!

      Andy sat on Sergeant and looked out over the hill. In the distance, he could see the Wilburs’ farm. His mind started to wander, and he found himself thinking about the adventure their families had shared three years ago. Images of the ruby ring, the helicopter, Matthew James, and even Bud Larone and Vince flashed through his mind. “That was one of the worst adventures, with our fathers being kidnapped,” he said aloud. He remembered when, on a hill very similar to this one, he and Phil had first spotted the men with the helicopter, and the adventure really began. Andy sighed and turned Sergeant towards the stables, but he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he saw someone run out behind from a nearby tree.

      Reply

  7. Andy stared after the fleeing figure, thoroughly confused. He was sure he recognized the man, but couldn’t remember where. Suddenly, a shock went through him. It couldn’t be, but his mind told him it was. That man was Bud Larone. He could clearly remember Mr. Larone’s features, and also had seen the man behind the tree full in the face for a split second. Andy spurred Sergeant into a gallop, racing to the house. As he rode, he wondered how long it would be till he found out what Mr. Larone had been doing there and why.

    ************************************************************************

    Phil sat at his desk in his room, thinking about the International Invention Competition. His last entry had been the reverse oscillator that worked with Sigurd’s Hrien Orka machine. The judges had been impressed with the technology behind both machines, and thankfully had accepted Phil’s because it was only based on Sigurd’s machine, not part of it. He wondered what his next entry would be, and then heard the doorbell ring. He strode down the stairs and opened the door, wondering who it could be. Almost instantly, he was struck by the strange familiarity of the man’s face. “Hello Phil,” the man said. “Um, hello,” Phil said, a puzzled look coming over his face. “How do you know my name? Have we met before?” “Yes, can you remember where?” the man asked. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. Where did we meet?” Phil replied, more puzzled than ever. “Think of a night deep in a forest, two or three years ago, when you were hiding in the mountains with Jigson and your sister got bitten by a rabid wolf.” Phil thought for a moment, then his eyes went wide. “Garth! How in the world are you here?!” The rest of the family heard Phil’s words, and rushed to the door. After hellos and exclamations of surprise had been said, Mr. Baker turned to Garth. “Well Garth, why are you here? We all thought you were in a different country.” Garth smiled. “Actually I lived only thirty minutes away from your farm. But that’s not important. What is important is this.” His voice became serious. “I’m here to warn you.”

    Reply

  10. Ok, part two!

    Mrs. Baker gasped. “Warn us?” “Of what?” Tom almost whispered. “I’m not exactly sure yet, but Jigson told me to tell you that someone is probably after you.” Garth replied. “Who would be coming after us and why? Does Mr. Jigson know?” Abby asked. “I’m not sure, but I believe he does,” Garth answered.

    *************************************************************************************************

    Andy dashed up to the barn, and quickly put Sergeant into his stall. “I’ll take care of him later,” he thought. “This is more important right now.” He ran into the house, paused to catch his breath, and then called, “Father! Phil! Everyone! I just saw-” His words were cut off by surprise. “Garth?! What are you doing here?” “There you are, Andy,” Phil said. “He said he’s here to warn us of someone possibly coming after us.” “Really?” Andy asked, thinking that there was some connection between Garth’s message and Mr. Larone being on their farm. “I think I might have an idea of who that person is,” Andy said slowly. “Who?” Abby asked. “Mr. Larone! I just saw him while I was out riding Sergeant! He was hiding behind a tree and seemed to be spying on our farm or something like that!” “Now, are you sure it was him?” Mr. Baker asked. “I thought he would still be in prison.” “Well, he either got out or broke out, because he was just on our farm!” Andy insisted. Everyone was quiet, pondering Andy’s news. Abby broke the silence, “Well, the only sure way to find out is to wait I guess.” “Or we could call Detective Mortimor and see if he knows, which I believe he does. He might even be the one who told Jigson about this someone who’s after us in the first place,” Phil suggested. “That’s a good idea,” Tom agreed. “Well then, we’ll call him right after dinner,” Mr. Baker decided. Since it was dinner time, the family sat down at the table, and Garth joined them. “I can’t tell you any more than what you already know, because it’s all I know too,” Garth said in response to the family’s further questions. “That’s too bad,” Abby said. Everyone seemed to become involved in their own thoughts as they ate, so soon the table became pretty silent. After dishes had been cleared away, everyone settled in the living room to call the Detective. “Hello, Detective Mortimor,” Mr. Baker said into the phone. “Hello Charles,” came the response. His voice was slightly fuzzy, as the phone was on loud speaker. “Did you get the message from Garth?” “Yes, we did. Actually he is here now, and we were wondering if you could tell us more about this person. Who do you think it is?” “We aren’t sure yet, but I believe it is most likely-” “Mr. Larone?” Andy burst out. “Yes, Andrew, how did you know?” “I just saw him on our farm! He was hiding behind a tree and ran away when he knew I had seen him. I think he was spying on us or something similar.” “Well, that helps to prove our theory that is IS him,” Detective Mortimor said. “What could he be after?” Phil asked. “Jigson thinks Bud may believe that you have the artifacts from his grandfather.” “Didn’t he hear that they went to a museum?” Tom asked. “Yes, but they are no longer at the museum, so he thinks you have them,” the detective replied. “You don’t, I hope?” “No, we don’t have them,” Phil responded. “You said the artifacts are no longer at the museum, you don’t mean they’ve been…” “Stolen? They were!” Detective Mortimor announced.

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  12. Another scene:

    “By who?!” Tom burst out. “I’m not sure,” Detective Mortimor admitted. “I’m doing my best to find out.”
    “Detective,” Mr. Baker broke in, “Why is Bud Larone not in prison? Did he escape or serve his time?” “He escaped…through Oakwood Reserve.” “What?!” Mrs. Baker exclaimed. “I thought that the police caught all those criminals.” “They caught all the ones you met,” The Detective clarified. “The first few were not re-caught, including him. That is why you met Miss Verton in Iceland, she was the second to escape.” “Well, what should we do?” Abby asked. “Just be ready for anything,” Detective Mortimor said. “Could you be a little more specific, Detective?” Andy asked. “How could we be ready for ANYTHING? Do you or Mr.Jigson know any of his plans?” “We only know that he thinks you bought, or stole, the artifacts from the museum,” came the reply. “Well, I have some work to do, I’ll code-email any updates to Phil, rather than phoning. Stay safe.” “Bye Detective,” everyone said. “I guess you should just keep a careful eye out for anything suspicious,” Garth suggested. “I suppose so,” Mrs. Baker said.

    Later, Andy came up to Phil and said, “Maybe we should go out to where I saw Mr. Larone earlier, what do you think?” “I can’t help but feel you’re right. It’s not dark yet, so let’s go,” Phil said. As the brothers walked out into the evening air, Andy said, “I was at the other end of the farm, so we should probably take the horses.” “Alright,” Phil agreed. Andy walked over to Sergeant’s stall. “Oops, I left him tacked up!” “I guess that is fine now,” Phil laughed. He grabbed a bridle, put it on his horse, and decided to ride bareback. Andy swung up on Sergeant. “Off we go!”

    Reply

      • I think your biggest problem is formatting. though I know that doesn’t work well with this site. You need a paragraph everytime someone else talks. You may have stressed the characters’ personalities, but I see you know exactly how they are. This will improve as you write more.

        So far, you are doing a great job. I can’t wait for more. Isn’t this some of you first writing recently? No matter, it’s very good!

      • It is hard to format it correctly, and yes, this is only my second time writing something other than school assignments and my first story! Thanks for the help!

      • Wow! You are very good for that being the case. Don’t think for one second that I’m better than you.

      • for formatting: try doing it the way Miss Hedgcock does with an empty space in between paragraphs. It might help…

  14. Third scene today, I can’t believe it!

    The brothers rode along, talking about Garth’s message and the phone call to Detective Mortimor.

    “I wonder why Mr. Larone thinks we have the artifacts,” Phil said.

    “I don’t know either. I wish we could find out,” Andy agreed. “Phil?”

    “Yes?”

    “Do you ever get tired of all the adventures we go on?”

    “Well, that would be hard to say,” Phil responded. “It can be tiresome, especially when we’re in the middle of one. But at the same time, God is the one who lets us get into the adventure in the first place, and we always end up helping someone of furthering his plans. It’s like Jeremiah 29:11, ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’
    So, I can’t really say that I don’t like adventure, but I don’t appreciate it either. What about you?”

    “I don’t really get tired of adventure, I actually kinda like it. Although, I don’t like when someone is in serious danger.” was Andy’s reply.

    Soon, they came to the spot where Andy had seen Mr. Larone a few hours earlier.

    “This is where he was, right behind that tree,” Andy said. “Do you think he might have hid something here?”

    “There’s one way to find out,” Phil replied as he dismounted. Andy copied him, and tied the horses to a nearby tree. As Phil walked around the tree, he noticed a small crevice in the bark with something white in it.

    Andy pulled it out. “What is this? Looks like a note.” He unfolded it, and started to read it. “Phil! Read this!”

    Phil took the note and started to read it aloud. “I know you have the artifacts from your friends farm. Put them right here for me to take, unless you want big trouble. Bud Larone” Phil stared at the slip of paper, then at Andy. “He really thinks we have the artifacts! This is bad.”

    “I know, but how can we tell him? He’s not exactly going to walk up to our door so we can talk to him,” Andy said. Neither one spoke for a minute. Then Andy exclaimed, “I know, we could write another note and put it on this tree! He’ll probably be back here to see if we put out the artifacts, then he would find the note.”

    “I doubt he will believe it, but it’s worth a try. Do you have any paper?” Phil asked. Andy handed him some, and Phil quickly wrote a note and handed it to Andy.

    “Mr. Larone, we do not have the artifacts from the Wilburs’ farm. If we did have them, we would not hand them over. Sincerely, the Bakers,” Andy read. “Sounds good,” he told Phil. “Now lets get home before it gets to dark out here.” Andy shoved the paper into the crack the other note had been in, then he and Phil rode home.

    *********************************************************************************************

    Abby sat on the couch, playing Tom’s favorite game with him, Eye Spy. Suddenly, she heard a strange scratching sound at the back door. Getting up, she walked to the door and opened it.

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  15. Abby looked out into the darkening night, wondering who or what had made the sound. She was about to close the door when she saw a dog standing about ten feet away.

    “So you’re what made the sound,” she said. “I wonder where you came from.”

    Tom heard her and came over to the door. “A dog?” he asked, reaching out to pet it. “Why is it here?”

    “I’m not sure, lets see if it has a collar.” Abby replied. She started to walk over to the animal, but was distracted by Phil and Andy riding up. “Where did you two go?”

    “To the tree where I saw Mr. Larone,” Andy responded. “You’ll be surprised to see what we found.”

    “You’ll be surprised to see what I found too,” Abby said. “It’s a dog.”

    “A dog? Where?” Phil asked.

    “Over by the door, Tom is with it.”

    Phil, Abby, and Andy walked to the back door where Tom was still petting the dog. “I think it’s a German Shepherd,” he announced.

    “Does it have a collar?” Phil asked.

    “I didn’t check,” Tom said.

    Andy knelt down and felt around the dog’s neck. “There is a collar, but I can’t read it,” he said. “Do you think Father and Mother will mind if we bring the dog inside where there is more light?”

    “Well,” Phil hesitated. “I think it would be fine.”

    Andy and Tom coaxed the German Shepherd into the kitchen, then gave it a piece of turkey while Andy tried to read it’s collar. “There is a piece of paper attached to the collar. It says, ‘My name is Scout, and I am a boy. My owners can’t afford to keep me, and I need a new home.’ That’s it.”

    “At least we know his name now,” Phil said. “I wonder if we could keep Scout. He sure would be handy if Mr. Larone starts sneaking around here.”

    “It’s too bad his owners couldn’t keep him, he’s a really nice dog,” Abby said.

    “I’m going to go ask Father if we can keep Scout!” Tom excitedly declared, and ran off to find his parents.

    A few minutes later, Mr. and Mrs. Baker came in to the kitchen, following Tom. “Where is the dog Tom was just telling us about?” Mrs. Baker asked.

    “Right over here,” Phil replied, pointing in Andy’s direction.

    “Can we keep him Father? Please?” Tom begged.

    “We will see, son. We aren’t sure what this dog is like, or who he belongs to.” Mr. Baker responded.

    “On his collar, there was a piece of paper that said his owners couldn’t keep him anymore. Here it is,” Abby said, handing to paper to her father.

    “Well, we might be able to keep him. Why don’t we try him for a week, and see how he does?” Mrs. Baker suggested.

    “Alright,” Mr. Baker agreed.

    “Yahoo!” Tom exclaimed, dancing around the room.

    “And this is perfect timing too,” Phil mentioned. “We could use a good watchdog around here, especially with Mr. Larone being around here.”

    “I didn’t think of that,” Mrs. Baker said.

    “Okay, now lets find Scout somewhere to sleep,” Mr. Baker said.

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  16. The next morning, Phil and Andy told everyone the story of the note in the tree, since they had forgotten it in the excitement over Scout’s appearance. “So you put your note back where Mr. Larone’s had been?” Abby asked.

    “Yep,” Andy replied. “I wonder if he has found it yet.”

    “You could go back and check,” Tom suggested. “Maybe he’ll reply!”

    “He might, but I doubt it,” Mrs. Baker said.

    “It’s worth checking though,” Phil said.

    “Yes, I suppose it is. Phil, why don’t you go back to that tree after lunch? That might be to early, but we’ll see,” Mr. Baker agreed.

    After breakfast, Phil decided to email Detective Mortimer and tell him about the note. As he opened his laptop, he wondered how to code the message. “I could use the code with the first letter of each word,” he muttered. “No, that would take way to long. How about Aigy Paigy? That is too easy to break. How can I code this message?”

    Reply

    • Just then, Tom skipped into the room. “Hi, Phil! What are you doing?”

      “Emailing Detective Mortimer,” Phil answered.

      “Why haven’t you written any thing yet?” Tom asked.

      “I’m trying to figure out how to code it. If anyone hacks into either of our accounts, we don’t want them to be able to read it.”

      “I see. Hey, look! You just got a message from the Detective, maybe he sent you a code!” Tom exclaimed.

      “Lets see,” Phil said. He opened the message and started to read it.

      Tom watched as a confused look came over Phil’s face. “Is there a problem?”

      “Yes, the problem is that I can’t understand Detective Mortimer’s message,” Phil replied.

      “What does it say?”

      Phil started to read the email aloud, “MD. Luferac eb dna efas yats. Gnihtyna tuo dnuof uoy evah? Meht steg eh nehw Notrev Ssim ot stcafitra eht lles ot gninnalp si Dub taht tuo dnuof evah ew.
      Pilihp olleh,”

      “Excuse me?!” Tom exclaimed.

      “That’s what it said. I can’t understand a word!” Phil said.

      “Wait,” Tom said. “I think I’ve got it!”

      “Got what?” Phil asked.

      “The code! Is says, ‘Hello Phil, we have found out that Bud is planning to sell the artifacts to Miss Verton when he gets them. Have you found out anything? Stay safe and be careful. DM’ “

      Reply

  19. Phil stared at Tom, completely surprised. “How…how did you do that so fast?”

    “See at the bottom?” Tom asked. “Your name is spelled backwards, and also it says MD instead of DM. That gave me the idea that the other words might be backwards too. It looks hard to break, though.”

    “Well, you did a very good job of figuring that out! I’ll reply with the same code.” Phil said, and quickly started typing.

    “What are you going to say?” Tom asked.

    “I am going to tell him about Mr. Larone’s note and that we will check the tree later.” Phil answered.

    “Could you tell him about Scout?” Tom asked.

    “Alright,” Phil responded.

    Tom ran back to where he and Andy had been teaching Scout tricks. “He’s a really fast learner!” Andy exclaimed to Tom. “In an hour, we’ve taught him to army crawl, search, and play dead.”

    “I REALLY hope we can keep him,” Tom said.

    “I do too!” Andy agreed.

    Later, Andy rode over to the “note tree,” as they called it, with Scout tagging along. He investigated where the note Phil wrote had been, and saw that it was gone, but another slip of paper was at the base of the trunk. “I suppose Mr. Larone put it there,” he thought. “Lets see what he says.” Andy picked up the paper and skimmed its contents. “This is no note!” he exclaimed. But before he could mount up on Sergeant, Scout started growling firecely. Andy looked up, and was terrified at what he saw.

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  20. Ok, it would have been twenty minutes, but my mom called me to do something that took a while. Otherwise it would have been twenty minutes.

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  22. Um, Aubrey, I think you have just made three people go unconscious. The penalty for this could be rather *clears throat* severe.

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  25. Andy stood frozen. Right in front of him was a man, dressed in complete black, holding a gun.
    “Who are you?” he asked shakily.

    “None of your business!” the man snarled. “Drop that paper!”

    Andy immediately did so, at the same time realizing who this man was. “You…you’re Vince!”

    The man looked up quickly. “How do you know that?” he snapped.

    “I…I recognized you from a while back.”

    “Where-”

    At this point, Vince was interrupted by a ferocious snarl coming from Scout, who jumped at Vince and knocked him down. When Vince fell, he dropped his gun, which went off with a bang. Andy was quick to snatch it up. “Scout, back off!” he yelled.

    Scout was quick to obey, and ran to Andy. Vince stood up, his face a mixture of anger and fear.Then Andy wasn’t sure what to do. “Dear God,” he prayed silently, “help me know what to do!” Then, almost in an instant, he knew. “Scout! Go to Abby, go to Abby boy!” Andy commanded.

    Scout barked once, which sounded like a “Yes!” and ran in the direction of the house. Andy hoped that Scout would remember the trick he had learned, and that Abby would understand that something was wrong. Turning his attention back to Vince, he took a deep breath and said, “Don’t you dare move, or I’ll shoot.”

    Vince’s response was only an angry look.

    *****************************************************************************************************

    At the house, Abby was plucking tomatoes from the garden near the back door. Suddenly, she heard a gunshot. Startled, she ran in the house to tell her parents what had happened. Phil and Mr. Baker came back outside with her. “Which direction did it come from, Abby?” Mr. Baker asked.

    “The back part of the farm,” she replied. Then she gasped. “That’s where Andy said the tree was, and he’s back there now!”

    As she spoke, Scout came running up, barking crazily. “Scout, what is the matter, boy?” Mr. Baker said.

    “Maybe Andy sent him!” Abby exclaimed. “He and Tom were teaching him to go to different members of the family, and he caught on really well.”

    “We better go check on Andy,” Phil worriedly said.

    “Yes, lets go now!” Mr. Baker agreed. Both he and Phil ran to the truck and drove off.

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  26. I forget who wrote the scenes that Rolf and Herr Klaus got shot in,
    but whoever you are the suspense is killing me!!!!

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    • Yeah, sorry:) My characters sometimes have nasty personalities that don’t allow me to stay away for too long. XD Besides, I’d have to think about where I’d go.

      …maybe I could pull another one…maybe. We’ll see. I need to make sure my characters won’t kill me first or that they won’t do anything reckless and kill themselves in my absence. *shakes head and mutters something incoherent*

      Reply

      • You don’t have to make it super long, just a couple scenes that sort of finish everything up, such as Rolf getting out of the hospital, Herr Klaus and Miss Verton going to prison, and maybe Miss Verton being influenced by Jigson and their parents letter. You can do what ever you want, these were just ideas. 🙂

  28. Ok, well I am not really in this battle, but for your info, I live in a sunken castle under the ground, with stones that have thermal imaging devises in them, and among my staff are, the worlds best computer hacker and coder, an agent yet to be discovered by those above my hide-out, a personal assassin (ok, that might be a little overboard, but I have enemies. Maybe a personal glow ray activation assistant)

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  29. After watching Phil and Mr. Baker drive away, Abby went back inside. She went upstairs to her room, closed the door, and sat on the bed. Abby hoped Andy was ok, and decided to pray for him.

    **************************************************************************************************

    Phil directed his father to where the tree was. As they drove, he asked, “Should we call the police?”

    “No,” Mr. Baker said. “There are two options. It could have been some of our neighbors hunting on their property, or it could have been someone else.”

    Phil knew who the “someone else” was, and wondered which option was the most likely. “Well, at least it won’t be long until we find out,” he thought.

    **************************************************************************************************

    Waiting for help to arrive was hard for Andy. Every minute seemed to pass slower and slower, and being unsure of what Vince would do made it even harder. Andy turned his head to see if anyone was coming yet, and Vince saw his chance. He started to run at Andy, hoping to surprise him and get the gun back, but Andy was too fast for him. Andy saw Vince running at him, and he sprang back just as the man lunged for him. Hoping to scare him, Andy aimed for a pile of dirt near Vince. As he pulled the trigger, the bullet shot into the pile of dirt and sprayed it everywhere. Vince looked up, alarmed.

    “I didn’t think you would really shoot,” he said.

    “Don’t try anything again, because I will,” Andy said. “And I won’t shoot the dirt next time,” he added threateningly.

    Vince was about to make an angry reply when there was the sound of a car door and running feet.

    **************************************************************************************************

    “What was that?” Phil asked, listening to the strange hissing sound coming from the back of the car.

    “Sounds like a flat tire,” Mr. Baker responded.

    “Oh no! Now what will we do?” Phil exclaimed.

    “We’ll have to walk the rest of the way. Come on, lets go!”

    Reply

    • Andy wondered if he should turn around or keep watching Vince. “If I turn around,” he thought, “Vince might take the gun from me. On the other hand, I don’t know who this person is!”

      As he was still thinking, a voice called out, “Andy!”

      Andy recognized the man’s voice. It was Garth! Garth came up behind him and asked, “What’s going on here?”

      “This man was trespassing on our farm, but our dog helped me get his gun,” Andy answered.

      “I see. Why don’t you use my phone to call the police, while I take over here?” Garth asked.

      Andy willingly exchanged to gun for the phone, and had just finished talking to the police when Mr. Baker and Phil came up. “Are you alright, Andy?” Mr. Baker asked.

      “Yes, and Garth helped me.”

      “How did you get here, Garth?” Phil asked.

      “I was driving to town when I heard a gunshot,” Garth explained. “Then I looked over and saw the situation here, so I decided to see if there was anything I could do.”

      “Well, I’m very grateful for your help,” Andy said.

      Soon, a police car came. After hearing the story from Andy, they arrested Vince, asked a couple more questions, and drove off.

      “Since everything is taken care of, I’ll be on my way,” Garth said.

      “Bye, and thank you again!” Andy said.

      “No problem,” Garth said. Then he went back to his car and was on his way.

      “Andy, you said you found something here?” Mr. Baker asked.

      “Yes, it was this piece of paper. What do you think it is?”

      Phil took it from Andy and looked at it. He looked up, his face pale. “This is not good.”

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  30. “What is it?” Andy asked, concerned at his brother’s face.

    “It’s a type of blueprint,” Phil replied.

    “A type of blueprint?” Mr. Baker repeated. “Let me see it.”

    Phil handed the paper to him and asked, “Is it what I think it is?”

    “I believe so, son.”

    “What is it a blueprint for?” Andy asked.

    Phil looked at Andy, and said, “It’s a blueprint for the Hrien Orka machine.”

    “The one that made the earthquake in Iceland?!”

    Phil nodded.

    “Andy, you said that the paper was about here?” Mr. Baker asked, pointing to an area at the base of the tree.

    “Yes. And that is about where the notes went too. Do you think it fell out of his pocket?” Andy asked.

    “I was thinking maybe he put it there on purpose to scare us,” Phil replied.

    “How would he get the blueprint? He wasn’t in Iceland,” Andy said.

    “Well,” Mr. Baker said, “Detective Mortimer said Bud was going to sell the artifacts to Miss Verton, so he apparently has some connection with her. That might be how he got this.”

    “I’m going to email Detective Mortimer about this,” Phil said.

    “Good idea,” Mr. Baker agreed, “And I am going to figure out how long it takes to build a machine like this.”

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  32. The next day, Abby found her father in his workshop, studying the blueprint Andy had found the day before. “What are you doing?” she asked.

    “I’m calculating how long it would take to build this machine,” Mr. Baker replied.

    “Do you know yet?”

    “I’m not exactly sure yet,” he said, “but I think anywhere from two to five weeks, depending on who builds it.”

    “Do you think Mr. Larone has or is making one of these?” Abby asked.

    “He could be, or he might have just been trying to scare us, like Phil said.”

    “I hope he doesn’t have one! Well, I need to go feed the horses now,” Abby said. “Bye.”

    “Bye Abby,” Mr. Baker said.

    *************************************************************************************************

    Phil walked out the back door and through the fields. He was going to change the tire that had gone flat on the truck the day before. It was a long walk, but he used his time to think. “What makes Mr. Larone tink we have the artifacts?” he thought. “Does he really think we stole them? What was Vince doing on our land?” Then an idea came into his mind, and he gasped. “Of course! He probably came back to get the blueprint! Since he didn’t get it, Mr. Larone might send another person to get it back.”

    As he pondered this thought, he came to the truck. He gathered the tools and spare from the back, then went around to the ruined tire. He had just jacked up the car, when he noticed that the tire looked burned. “How could…wait, what’s this?” he said, and picked up a metal object from under the tire. He inspected it closely, trying to figure out what it could be. After a few minutes, he realized what it was. “This is…a small bomb?!” he exclaimed.

    Reply

  33. Phil stared at the object in his hand. Yes, it was a bomb. “Hang on,” Phil said. “This is an explosive. If it blew up under the car tire, it wouldn’t still be intact like this!” The bomb had been under the tire, but looked undamaged. This made Phil wonder if something else had punctured the tire, so he looked around a bit more. Suddenly, about five feet behind the car, he discovered a underground stash of more bombs. “Whoa, look at this!” he exclaimed.

    “Look at what?” said a voice.

    Phil spun around, and then recognized Andy. “Oh, you startled me!’

    “Sorry, I didn’t know you didn’t hear me coming. Father sent me to see if you needed any help.”

    “Alright. Lets quickly change the tire, then figure out what to do with these,” Phil said, motioning towards the small hole.

    “Wow! How did those get there?” Andy asked.

    “I’m not completely sure, but I believe Mr. Larone had something to do with it. Come on, Father is going to think he needs to come help us if we don’t get a move on!”

    Andy agreed, and he and Phil made short work of the flat tire. In five minutes, the tire was changed, and all the tools and the flat put back where they went. When they got home, Andy told Mr. Baker what happened while Phil called the police for the second time in two days.

    Reply

  34. Later in the afternoon, after the police had left, Abby went outside to exercise Arrow. She tacked him up and went for a ride by the lake. As she rode, she thought about all of the things that had happened over the last few days, and wondered when it would all end. “Why are we getting into adventure again?” she thought. “I hope it ends soon, without anything serious.” Then she prayed, “Lord, I don’t know what Your plan is, but please help me to accept it, whatever it may be.”

    Sorry that was so short, but I’m figuring out the next scene. It’s kinda tricky since I’m not sure how to make it happen or include the characters I want.

    Reply

  35. Anyone know Morse Code?

    Long, short short short, short short, short short short. Long short, short, long short short long, long. Short short short, long short long short, short, long short, short. Short short, short short short. Long short long, short short, long short, long short short, short long. Short short short short, short long, short long short, long short short. Long, long long long. Short long long, short long short, short short, long, short

    Wow, way more shorts than longs! Commas separate letters, and periods separate words. 😉

    Reply

  37. How is this code:

    Only living lice eat happily. Iguanas, eating kale in london, endlessly hop trains. Smart rats eat kale and bananas.

    Reply

  38. Tom wandered around outside, looking for Scout. They had been playing together, when suddenly Scout had run off. Tom had tried follow, but soon got left far behind, for Scout was very fast. “Scout! Scout, where are you?” he called. Not knowing that Scout had long before returned to the house, Tom kept up his search. After a good half-hour of searching, it began to grow dark. Tom decided he had better get home quickly, or his parents would start to worry. He looked around, then exclaimed, “Wow, I think I’m at the other end of the farm! I’d better hurry then,” and he began to run. Soon, he came within sight of the place where the bombs had been hidden.

    Tom stopped running, and stood very still. He thought he saw someone doing something by the pile of bombs. “Who would be here?” he barely whispered. “Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is that a man?”

    Reply

  39. Tom, realizing that it was a man, wondered what to do. “If I run past him,” he thought, ” he will hear me. Maybe I could sneak by him, or wait until he leaves. But I don’t know when he will leave! He could stay here for another twenty minutes.” He weighed up the options, and decided to sneak by the person. Tom stepped forward very, VERY slowly. Carefully putting each foot down, he managed to start making a wide half-circle around the man. However, when Tom was about halfway around, the man finished whatever he had been doing. He stood up, turned around, and looked straight towards Tom. Tom was unsure if he should run or stop.

    “Stop right there!” The man cried, pulling out a gun.

    Tom’s eyes widened, and he froze.

    “What are you doing out here?” the man demanded.

    “I’m…looking for my dog,” Tom managed to say. Then he gasped as he recognized the man to be Mr. Larone.

    “What?” the man said, hearing Tom’s gasp.

    “I just realized…who you are.”

    “Who do you think I am?”

    “Mr. Larone.”

    “Well, since you know who I am, I can’t let you go now. Come on,” the man said, grabbing Tom’s arm.

    Tom was about to try to run, but he remembered Mr. Larone had a gun. He unwillingly followed Mr. Larone to a car, where the man instructed him to get in. “And no funny business,” he added. Tom quickly climbed into the back seat, but he was ready to escape at the first chance, However, no chance came. For as soon as Tom had buckled his seatbelt, Mr. Larone sped away.

    ******************************************************************************************

    “Where is Tom?” Abby asked Andy. “Weren’t you two playing with Scout earlier?”

    “Yes, but I came in an hour ago. Tom wanted to play with Scout some more, so they stayed out. He said he would be in before dark, though, ” Andy replied.

    “It’s already eight o’clock, and Phil let Scout in half an hour ago,” Abby said. “I wonder if he’s looking for Scout.”

    “He could be,” Andy agreed. “Maybe we should go and check.”

    Abby thought that was a good idea, so they went outside to look for Tom. Scout tagged along. They looked in all of Tom’s favorite places to play, but found no sign of him. “I know!” Andy exclaimed. “Lets tell Scout to go to Tom. Then he’ll find Tom’s scent and lead us to him!” Andy bent down and said, “Go to Tom, Scout! Go to Tom!” Scout immediately started sniffing the ground, and in a few minutes found the scent.

    Abby and Andy followed, “We’re getting pretty far back here,” Abby said. “Do you think he would have gone this far?”

    “I’m not sure,” Andy admitted. “Tom normally stays close to the house.”

    “Well, lets keep looking,” Abby said.

    After five more minutes, they came to the spot where the bombs had been. “We need to be really careful,” Andy said. “The bombs are around here somewhere, and we don’t want to step on them. Let me get my flashlight.”

    Andy pulled his flashlight from his pocket and shone it around. As the light fell on Scout, Abby cried, “Look at Scout! He looks like he’s upset about something!”

    Sure enough, Scout’s fur bristled and his lips were curled back. A low growl proved that he was angry. “Is he growling at us?” Andy asked, backing up a little. In another second it became apparent that Scout was not angry at the twins, for he gave a fierce bark and dashed off into the dark.

    “Scout! Come back!” Abby yelled. At that moment, Scout started barking rapidly and loudly.

    “Come on!” Andy said, breaking into a run. Abby followed close behind until they had reached where Scout was. When he saw them coming, he ran, jumped up on Andy, then ran back to where he had been standing, barking all the while.

    Abby looked at the ground. “Tire tracks!”

    Andy came up behind her. “You don’t think Tom was…” he trailed off

    Abby gasped. “I sure hope not!” she exclaimed.

    **********************************************************************************************

    Tom looked out the window as the car pulled to a stop. He couldn’t see very well in the dark, but it looked like they were in front of a large house. He followed Mr. Larone up the porch steps and into the house. Mr. Larone led Tom down a set of stairs and though a hallway. At the end of the hallway was a picture frame on the wall. Tom wondered why there was no picture in it, when Mr. Larone tapped on the glass in the middle of the frame. There was a sudden scraping sound, and part of the wall slid away, like a sort of hidden door.

    Mr. Larone and Tom proceded through the “door”. They walked down another hallway which sloped down, and was much longer than the last hallway. At last, they came to the end of the passage. All that was at the end was a door. Mr. Larone took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. He pushed Tom in and closed the door behind him. Tom waited until his footsteps died away, then slowly tried the handle. It was locked. He looked around the room, which was a sort of basement. He couldn’t see much, except a few mattresses and blankets in one corner, and something else in another. Suddenly, there was a shuffling sound, and the thing in the corner moved. Tom was frightened, but he wondered if it was another person.

    “Hello?” he timidly said.

    There was a response. “Tom? Thomas Baker?”

    Surprised and confused, Tom said, “Yes, that’s me. Who are you?”

    “Rolf Klaus.”

    Reply

  43. Andy looked at Abby. “We’d better go tell Father,” he said.

    “Oh, I hope Tom just wandered off, and that he’s not kidnapped!” Abby exclaimed.

    “I know, but the tire tracks? It’s just normal for the worst scenario to be the one that actually happened in these situations.”

    The twins turned towards the house, running as fast as they could. Scout ran alongside them, easily keeping up. When they got there, they rushed to their parents.

    “Oh no!” Mrs. Baker exclaimed, when she heard the story.

    “Do you really think Tom has been kidnapped, Father?” Phil asked.

    “Well, that is what the evidence points to,” Mr. Baker said.

    “We looked everywhere for him!” Abby added.

    Andy said, “Should we call the police?”

    “Yes, I suppose we should,” Mrs. Baker answered.

    *******************************************************************************************

    “Rolf?” Tom said. “What are you doing here?”

    “I was ‘working’ for Mr. Larone,” Rolf replied. “But he found out.”

    “Why?” Tom asked. “Were you undercover?”

    “Sort of. Jigson needed some information about him, so he asked me to help.”

    “Oh.”

    “Why are you here, Tom?” Rolf asked.

    “I saw Mr. Larone doing something on our land. When he knew I recognized him, he kidnapped me.” Tom responded.

    “I see,” Rolf said. He was about to ask Tom another question, but there was a sudden buzzing sound.

    “What is that?” Tom asked. “It sounds like one of the Morse Code devices.”

    “It is,” Rolf said, putting his hand on his watch. “Detective Mortimer is sending me a message.”

    Tom waited until the buzzing stopped, then asked, “What did he say?”

    Rolf grinned. “He asked me if I know where you are. He just got a call from Phil saying they couldn’t find you. I’m going to tell him that you’re with me now, so he will know where both of us are.”

    Rolf proceeded with sending a message to the Detective. When he had finished, he asked, “So what did you think Mr. Larone was doing?”

    “I don’t know,” Tom said. “He might have been burying something. At least, that’s what it looked like he was doing.”

    Reply

  44. Ok, here is the answer to the code I left earlier (Not the one Tom figured out) It said “but we all like the bakers.” I used the code where you take the first letter of each word.

    Reply

  45. Detective Mortimer, after receiving the message from Rolf that Tom had also been captured by Mr. Larone, emailed Phil to tell him the news. When that was finished, he picked up the phone.

    *****************************************************************************************************

    Jigson sat on the couch in his apartment, thinking about why Bud Larone thought the Bakers had stolen the artifacts. That thought made him think of Rolf, who had tried to find that out for him and the Detective. While he was thinking, his phone rang. Jigson picked it up. “Hello? Oh, hi Detective,” he said. “Really? Yes, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” “Why was Tom kidnapped by Bud?” he wondered. He walked outside to his car, started the engine, and drove off to Detective Mortimer’s house.

    Reply

  48. Rolf thought about Tom’s answer. “You think he was burying something?”

    “That’s what it looked like he was doing,” Tom replied. “How long have you been in here Rolf?”

    “Oh, about a day, so not very long,” Rolf replied. “But it’s been long enough to give me an idea of how to escape.”

    “Really? How? Pick the lock on the door?”

    “You see that window up there?” Rolf asked.

    Tom nodded. He hadn’t noticed it before in the dark.

    “That window leads to another part of this house. If we can get through it, I’m sure we could find our way out of here. Then once we are out, we’ll find a way to get to your house, or Detective Mortimer’s, or somewhere we can meet them.”

    “I think that will work,” Tom said.

    “I do too,” Rolf said.

    Tom leaned against the wall and started to think about everything that had happened over the last couple of days, trying to find some sort of connection. He was tired, for it was pretty late. Tom walked over to where the mattresses were, pulled one of the pile, grabbed a blanket, and was soon fast asleep.

    Reply

  49. “Tom, Tom! Wake up!”

    Tom slowly opened his eyes, and realized that Rolf was trying to wake him up.

    “What’s going on?” he mumbled.

    “Now is our chance to escape,” Rolf replied.

    “Oh! I’m awake now!” Tom exclaimed. “What time is it?”

    Rolf checked his watch. “2:30 A.M.”

    “Well, lets go before anyone else wakes up,” Tom said.

    Rolf agreed, and they went over to the window. The window, or rather opening in the wall, was small, but large enough for a person to climb through. It was about six feet above the ground, two feet tall, and two feet wide. Rolf helped Tom up the wall and through the hole, then pulled himself up. When they were safely on the other side, Tom asked, “Where are we going now?”

    “To find the way out of here. Be as silent as possible, we don’t want to make any noise if we can help it.”

    Tom followed Rolf as quietly as he could. The two made their way down several hallways, and finally came to the front door of the building.Under one of the widows, Rolf pulled on a section of the windowsill, opened a secret compartment, and pulled something out. Then, he took a tool from his pocket and started doing something with it. After a minute of doing, he could open the door. Silently motioning for Tom to follow, Rolf darted outside and around the building. Tom stayed close behind.

    Reply

    • After making sure no one was around, Rolf quietly whispered, “Good job Tom, now lets run to those bushes,” and he pointed to a clump of bushes about five yards away.

      “Alright,” Tom replied. They ran behind the bushes and stopped for a minute. “What did you get from under the window?” Tom asked.

      “A gun,” Rolf answered. “There are secret compartments all over that building, and most of them contain weapons.”

      “Oh. How did you open the door?”

      “I picked the lock.”

      “I didn’t know you could do that,” Tom said.

      Rolf laughed a little. “I can do a lot of things, Tom.”

      “Well, what are we going to do now?” Tom asked.

      “First, I’m going to tell Detective Mortimer we’ve escaped,” Rolf responded, and started fiddling with his watch.

      Watching Rolf gave Tom the idea to use his own device, which he hadn’t thought of before. He unclipped his wristband and flipped open the secret panel on one of the buckles. He wondered what to say, then decided to just see if anyone was listening.

      HELLO? ANDY? There was an almost instant reply.

      YES? WHO IS THIS?

      TOM. He replied.

      TOM! WHERE ARE YOU?

      DONT KNOW. IN A FOREST?

      WHAT HAPPENED? Andy asked.

      CAPTURED BY MR LARONE. FOUND ROLF THERE TOO. ESCAPED WITH HIM.

      ARE YOU OKAY?

      YES. Tom said.

      PLANS?

      NOT YET. WILL TELL YOU WHAT WE DO.

      BE CAREFUL.

      I WILL.

      Tom closed the panel and looked over at Rolf. He also had finished his conversation with Detective Mortimer. “Do you have a plan yet?” Tom asked.

      “We are going to head away from here, and hopefully the Detective and Jigson will be able to find us using the trackers,” Rolf said.

      “Ok,” Tom agreed.

      With that, the two headed out.

      Reply

  50. What is a character you want to be included (or mini-mystery you want cleared up) in the eight book? I would like Rolf to be in it and I REALLY want to know if he’s a Christian!!

    (This doesn’t include Garth or Twelve Lemons, I think all of us would choose those 😉 )

    Reply

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