One of our 13-year-olds wrote this piece about a mysterious engraving! Read below to find out what it’s about.

It was a normal Friday for Nia. She first went to school, which was raging with excitement, for tomorrow was the Violet Hill Highschool graduation ceremony. Nia was only in grade 10, but she was a member of the Party Committee, which planned all of the big events for Violet Hill Highschool. Because graduation was the next day, the halls were buzzing with excited students. For some, tomorrow would be the day they graduate highschool, and for others, today was the last day of school. Even though everyone was excited, Nia was beginning to get anxious, as she was the decoration leader. This meant that she was the person that decided what decorations go where, and she had to have the auditorium decorated by the end of the day today for graduation the next day. 

Nia ran to the supply closet to find all of the things that she had got to decorate the auditorium. She found streamers, banners, and so much more. She had even found plenty of old photos and paintings of the school on graduation day from years before. As she was taking all of the things down to the auditorium, her friend Macy came up to her.

“Are those the decorations for graduation?” asked Macy.

“Yeah, do you want to help me set up the auditorium? I need all the help I can get!” replied Nia. 

“Sure, that will be fun!” said Macy. 

Nia and Macy walked down to the auditorium and started to set up the decorations. As they were setting up the decorations, Macy took one of the paintings that Nia had found and started to hang it up. 

“Hey Nia, do you want this painting here?” asked Macy.

“No, actually. I think it would look better over there.” said Nia as she pointed to a different wall. 

As Macy was taking down the painting to go put it on the other wall, she noticed something odd engraved on the back. 

“Hey Nia, look at this. There is something on the back of the painting.” 

“Whoa, it looks like directions to something.” replied Nia

The engravings said:

Start at the location in the painting, and follow these directions . . . 

Left, straight, right, straight, left, up, right, straight, up, left, straight. 

Go into the room, and open the one vent that is there.

The girls were so confused. They both decided to finish up decorating the auditorium and then follow the engravings. They hung up all of the other paintings and photos, but made sure to check the backs of them to see if there were any other directions. They found nothing, and concluded that there was only painting with engravings on the back. 

The girls finished quickly, because they wanted to figure out the mysterious riddle on the back of the painting. They started from the first step of the riddle. Start at the location in the painting. To the girls, it looked as if the painting of the large oak tree right in front of the school, so they started there. They followed the first 4 directions, left, straight, right straight. This brought them to the doors of the school, which they walked into. The next directions were left then up. Fortunately, once the girls turned left after the doors of the school, there was a staircase. They walked up the staircase, and they were now on level 2 of the 3 levels there were in the school. The next directions were right, straight, and up. They took a right, went straight, and sure enough, there was another set of stairs. At this point, the girls started to get very excited. The last directions were left and straight. They took a left and went straight. 

They looked at the next direction. “Go into the room, and open the one vent that is there.” And again, sure enough, there was a room right in front of the girls. This was a janitor’s closet. They went into the closet, and looked for the vent. It was on the ground. 

“Do you think we should open it?” asked Nia.

“Yeah! Of course! What if it is prize money or something?” replied Macy excited. 

So, of course, the girls opened up the vent, and inside, there was an envelope. The girls opened the envelope, and inside, there was a note.

 The note said:

Hey people who opened this envelope!

This whole scavenger hunt was a big PRANK! This was the senior prank of 1997. We hope you had fun, but there is no big prize to win. Sorry, not sorry!

• Seniors of 1997

“Well,” said Macy, “I’m surprised that nobody found this before us, this was like 15 years ago. Anyway, that was disappointing.” 

“Yeah it was,” replied Nia “But you know what we can do?” she asked Macy.

“What?”

“We can create our own prank! We should write the same directions on the back of a different painting, and prank some other people!”

“Haha! Yeah, that sounds like fun!”

Nia and Macy went on to make their own little prank for some other poor students. They had fun making it too, but it was getting very late, and they had to go home. They said bye to each other and left, and hoped that their prank would be as funny as the one that they went through.

The Cases of S.C.S.D

Book 1: Clues

The Plan

“ Captain Russel please, I ‘ll make sure that no one can get the paper. Don’t you think that one of your most trusted agents is adept enough to at least carry a single note?”, I pleaded. I couldn’t believe Captain Russel, the person who gave ME the most responsible position in the group, thought that I couldn’t handle a single paper.

“ Not to be bleak here but I can’t put your life at risk. It’s my responsibility to safeguard all of you, As the most trusted agent we need you at all times, no one can replace you. The last four times an agent was assigned a project that involved security of confidential information, with them, they were murdered and by the time we reached the crime scene, the note was gone.  We only have one chance left to find the theft of the Briana gem or our agency will go under suspicion. We want to be the safest we can,  Agent Libenson. Do you agree?” he asked, as I looked at all of the agent’s faces. They all looked like they really liked the plan, or they just didn’t want to risk any chance of our agency’s reputation. I smiled and nodded my head. I didn’t like the plan but it’s the safest go. 

On the Plane

As the cap wished me good luck I waved goodbye to all of the spies. I safely got on the plane, I checked for the note which was kept under my seat. I took out the paper but I only got half of it. At first I thought that I ripped the paper while picking it up but I couldn’t find the other half anywhere. I tried to think of any ways to get the other half  of the paper to appear but, the only thing in my mind is, I AM DOOMED!!!

Inscriptions

I studied the paper carefully in case there is an important detail that can help me to go to my destination. I could have called the head agents or the Captain but I didn’t want them to be disgruntled that I lost the paper. Also, there isn’t any internet on the plane. I took out my IV light to see if there are clues of where to find the other half of the paper. Nothing, no hidden words and no clues at all. So, I tried to figure out what was on the note. The part of the paper I  have, had the words “art museum”. This helped me a lot because I knew that the destination won’t be outside the states. I also knew that the stolen gem is asian. The other half of the paper must  have had the word asian. The Asian Art Museum! The Pilot was headed to Montana but I went upfront near his seat and ordered, “ Change of plans mate, turn the plane around, We are headed to San francisco!”

“ Whatever you want boss”, he replied.

I thought to myself, “ Even if I didn’t find all the important information on the paper, at least I have the destination of the crime scene.”

The smudged handprints  

I finally got to the crime scene at 11 pm at night. I decided to take a rest and booked a hotel.  Of course it is a secret society hotel. I can’t risk being caught as a spy. I still have the note in my hand. Something suspicious is going on. I checked if there are any handprints on the paper. I looked at least five times and finally found a  handprint that isn’t mine. I couldn’t tell who it was because I could only see one portion of the hand print, the rest of it was taken off. I didn’t think a smudged handprint could do any help but my mind was still thinking about it. 

“ Wait, if another person’s handprint was on the paper, they ripped it and took the other half. But only spies in the S.C.S.D (Secure Council of Spies and Detectives) knew how to take hand prints of a paper. That means… there is a trader in the S.C.S.D! I need to find who is the trader and get the Briana gem back! ”, I thought. 

 Suspects 

Last night I went to bed at 4 am in the morning because I couldn’t go to sleep without finding out who the trader is. Like Russel always says, “Whenever you are trying to find suspects use a graph” .There was a key detail to start the graph of, the erasing handprint trick. Not all agents in the S.C.S.D know how to do this trick. Only “the power of 6” knows how to do it. The “power of the 6” is a name for the six most trustworthy agents. Of course I’m one of them, then there is Agent drake, Detective Madison, Agent Stella, Commander Aang, and Captain Russel. There is another key detail. Agents from our Corporate started to get killed 4 years ago, that could mean that the person who is the trader came to S.C.S.D about 4 years ago.  I crossed out me, Detective Madison, Commander Aang, and Captain Russel. There are Agent Drake and Agent Stela left on the graph.

Crime Scene

I woke up at 9:30, quickly brushed my teeth and got dressed. I’m in a rush because today I’m investigating the crime scene in the Asian Art museum. It was 10 o’ clock and I finally reached my destination. “I can’t waste a whole 30 mins driving!”, I was thinking to myself. Maybe I do worry too much, but the Thief could have left a clue in the Museum. I searched for anything that’s not in its place. I couldn’t find anything. Then, it hit me, The Bathrooms!  I checked in the Men’s bathroom And found nothing. I asked the manager if I could Go into the Women’s Bathroom. He mumbled, “ Yes you can. NO ones in the building… It’s closed now.”  

“Thank You”, I replied. I went into the bathroom and I saw something and I knew who the Trader was immediately.

The Purse 

“Isn’t that Agent Stella’s purse?”,I thought. I took out my phone and took a picture of the bag for evidence. It’s amiable now that Stella is the thief. This explains a lot of how stella was acting. She was very Obstinate. She says it’s indispensable for us to do the opposite of what the captain wanted us to do. She’s always so cynical. She probably wanted us to do the wrong thing so that her job is easier. I reported my evidence and my Exhilarating experience to the Captain and luckily, he thought that my evidence was Plausible!

Epilogue 

After that, Stella got fired. A little part of me felt bad for her, but if she didn’t betray us she would have been absolutely fine. Detective Fiana replaced Stella and everything was fine, Until…

One of our 10-year-olds wrote a great piece about a vacation with an unforeseeable twist! Read below to find out what it’s about.

The Unforgettable Vacation

I’m so excited! My parents told me that we are going to galveston beach for vacation! We are going to a resort next to a private beach. It will be so much fun building sand castles and watching the waves. I couldn’t wait! 

I packed my things and got ready for the trip. It was going to be a long one. It was more than four hours! Then I settled in the car with my parents and my brother as we left to galveston.

When we reached galveston the first thing I wanted to do was go to the beach. There were so many fun activities I could do there. Then we went over to the beach.

I started digging the sand so I could find some stable wet areas. I found thick wet sand that was perfect to hold together my wonderful sand castle! I dug out more sand until I reached a rich source of sand. 

Suddenly, I heard the sound of glass and knocking. I looked around to see if my family members were doing anything odd but they were just chilling out and enjoying the view. Then I had an idea. It might be coming from the ground! I dug up more sand to find a glass bottle that had a tiny bit of blue gas with eyes and a mouth. Then I cautiously opened up the bottle as an enormous genie popped out. I was so frightened to see a big scary genie.

“Thank you little girl. You have set me free. For this I will grant you a wish. Anything you want!“ said the genie.

“Who are you?” I asked

“I am a magical genie that can grant anyone’s wishes if they do something good.” replied the magical genie.

“Thank you kind genie, I have a wish for something I really wanted for a long time,” I said.

“What is it?” Asked the genie.

“Can I have a dog? Please?” I asked.

“ Of course! Your wish will be granted by tomorrow morning.

“Thank you genie!” I exclaimed

“It is my pleasure,” He replied.

Then I happily continued building my sand castle, anxiously waiting for the morning to come.

The next morning, I happily woke up to see my new dog but I felt weird as I was a lot shorter and was startled to find fur all over my body. I tried to look in the mirror and I was shocked to see that I turned into a dog! The genie must have messed up the spell!

I had to find the genie and make him reverse the spell or I would have to spend my life as a dog! I was so optimistic that I would find the genie if I go and search for him on the beach.

Without anyone noticing I ran down to the beach to look for the genie. I dug up the sand where I had originally found the genie but it was not there. I dug through pebbles and stones searching for the genie but he wasn’t there either.

The genie might have granted wishes to some other people as well so I thought I could ask around. 

“Have you seen a genie that grants wishes?” I asked.

“What a cute dog and why is it barking at us?” Asked a little boy.

I forgot I was a dog and everything that I say would be like I was barking.

I waited longer expecting that the genie would return. The genie did not return. I felt exhausted after waiting so long.

I spent the rest of the day looking at the waves and waiting for the genie to return. Once the genie did not come I felt upset and had to return to the resort. At the end of the day my mood got so sullen that I couldn’t find the genie.

Then I slept so I could take some rest and get ready to find the genie the next day. I had a timid feeling if I would find the genie or not.

In the morning, I tried to slip out of the resort to find the genie. I felt slightly taller and felt different. Then I looked in the mirror and was delighted to see myself again. I was so happy that the spell reversed! Then I realized that the spell worked only for one day.

I spent the rest of my trip happily playing around on the beach and playing games in the resort with my family. That was one unforgettable vacation!