Hopeful Undertone

Chapter 13: Scavengers

I grabbed the first clue, a small scroll of paper tied with twine. I untied it, unfurled the clue, and read it aloud.

"Rough trail. Red line. Fish tail. Gold mine."

"Let me see that," Tyler murmured, grabbing the note and reading it for himself.

"Come on," I said, heading toward the woods.

He followed behind me.

"So 'rough trail' has gotta mean somewhere in the woods, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I've run two of the trails around the lake. The Red Trail is the harder of the two."

"Alright," he said. "What about 'Fish tail, gold mine?'"

"That, I'm not sure about," I admitted. "Let's just walk the trail until we figure it out. Maybe it'll be something obvious."

We walked for a little while until the noise of camp faded into birdsong and the tramping of our own footsteps. I looked around at the spring-green leaves beginning to grace the tree branches and the pinecones, old leaves, and fallen trees that made up the forest floor. I couldn't see anything that resembled a fishtail.

"Do you think it's something to do with the lake?" Tyler asked.

"If it is, we're going the wrong way," I pointed out. "Hang on, I brought a map."

I pulled out the crinkled paper map that I'd grabbed that first night when Lyla and I had gone running together. Tyler leaned in to look at the it with me. His unplaceable, irresistible scent surrounded me again, now tinged with sweat. I kept my focus on the task.

"Yeah, see, this trail doesn't follow the lake at all," he said, pointing at the map. "The Blue Trail touches it the whole way around."

"But it says 'red line.'"

"Yeah, you're right," he said. I studied the map for a minute.

"Wait, look," I said, tracing a finger along the Red Trail. "See how it loops around this hill? Then there's this little spot labeled Paul T. Codd overlook. Cod's a type of fish, right?"

"Yeah."

"And look at the shape of the trail as it loops back around the overlook."

"It looks like a fish."

"Exactly," I said. "And the spot where you cross back and take it back around-"

"Looks like a fish tail. Gosh, you're brilliant."

"Pshh," I said, nudging him playfully. We ran together through the woods until we reached the spot where the overlook loop started and the trail crossed back over itself.

"There!" I said, pointing to a random patch of wild daffodils growing densely around a fallen tree. "Gold mine?"

Tyler stepped into the flowers.

"Careful!" I shouted.

"What?"

"They're just so pretty."

"Jeez, I thought there was a snake or something." he said. "Here it is."

He reached down and picked up another scroll: our second clue.

"Nice!" I said. "What does it say?"

He held it out and read, "Green otter, go with the flow, deep water, must row."

"These are the worst clues I've ever heard," I said, racking my brain for possible double meanings.

"This one has to mean the lake," he said. "'Must row. I mean, that's pretty clear."