Trapped in Stormy Seas: Sailing to Treasure Island
Where’s Uncle Dan Carter Lewis tilted the game remote to the left to send his cow galloping through a row of scarecrows He mowed them down then twisted the remote backward so the cow sailed over the fence His buddy Matt’s cow took another wild run off the road since Matt was laughing so hard he couldn’t steer Cow racing was the goofi est video game either guy could imagine but they loved it Carter’s cow galloped over the fi nish line well ahead of Matt’s Carter gave his friend a cheerful whack on the back I win he said Again I can’t help it Matt said fl opping backward onto the couch Those cows crack me up 4
Just then the ominous tones of Darth Vader’s March rang out from Carter’s hoodie pocket He rolled his eyes My cousin is calling Grinning Matt began the deep gasping sounds of Darth Vader as Carter put the phone to his ear What do you want Izzy Meet me at Uncle Dan’s Now I’m a little busy Izzy hung up Carter growled and threw his phone down on the couch It bounced once and ended up in Matt’s lap You know Matt said as he handed back the phone you really shouldn’t let Isabelle get to you like that Besides she’s not that bad Not that bad Compared to what Matt shrugged Some guys might even think she’s kind of cute he mumbled Crazy guys Carter sighed I guess I better go It might be something important I’ll talk to you later The bike ride to Uncle Dan’s was a little farther from Matt’s house than from Carter’s It 5
gave him a chance to think about what Isabelle might be worked up about The last message from their uncle had said he was closing in on the hacker who was after his invention Uncle Dan had created the coolest possible way to read a book Instead of looking at words on a page Uncle Dan’s invention let you actually go inside the world of the story and live it He’d made virtual reality suits that let you see smell hear and feel the book Sometimes the result was scary but it was always cool Unfortunately a hacker called Storm had gotten in Uncle Dan’s system Storm added scary stuff to all of the books Carter had almost been stabbed by a musketeer and bitten by a rabbit with steel teeth Maybe Uncle Dan had brought Storm back to his house Maybe he had the creep tied up in the basement and wanted Izzy and Carter to help him get the guy to talk Not very likely Carter muttered as he pedaled faster Still you never know 6
Finally he raced onto Uncle Dan’s driveway and hopped off his bike He stowed it behind the trash corral next to Izzy’s His uncle was a little paranoid about people knowing his business He always had Izzy and Carter hide their bikes from spying eyes Carter didn’t even bother checking for the spare key Izzy never put it back if she made it inside fi rst He huffed with annoyance and rang the bell The door fl ew open and a skinny arm reached out It grabbed the front of his hoodie and jerked him inside Carter yelped He stumbled a little when his cousin let him go so she could slam the door behind him What’s with you he demanded Is Uncle Dan back Izzy turned and shook her head Carter noticed she was even paler than usual and her eyes were red Had she been crying He took a step back He totally didn’t know what to do with a crying girl Uncle Dan is missing Isabelle whispered 7
