The Lost Gold Page 4

Isabella’s heart sank. The island’s trees were home to so many monkeys. What if they got hurt?

  Lottie’s face turned as red as her curls. “We won’t give up!” she said fiercely. “There must be a way to stop them!” She took off her backpack and looked inside it.

  “What about these jewel-crafting tools?” Isabella reached into the backpack and pulled out a small chisel.

  “But I didn’t put any jewels in the backpack and there are only gold things in that treasure bag,” said Lottie.

  “How about the butterfly hair clip that Petro took from my mom’s room?” said Isabella, rummaging inside the backpack to find it. “It’s made from sapphires. Maybe we can use that.”

  There was a loud splash and a cheer from Amina and Rosalind as they managed to push the branch bridge into the water. The treasure hunters stood on the opposite bank, glaring angrily.

  Lottie took some scribbled instructions from the bottom of the backpack. “This tells us how to make a jewel glow or how to make it heat up, but that won’t help us.”

  Isabella put down the tools and picked up a tiny pot. “What does this do?”

  “It’s some kind of polish,” said Lottie. “I can’t see how that would help us, either.”

  Bang! An earsplitting noise made the girls jump. One of the treasure hunters was chopping down a tree right next to the river.

  “We’ll make our own bridge using this tree!” shouted Mr. Madelo. “Then we’re coming over there to get our treasure!”

  Suddenly, Isabella noticed a baby monkey clinging to the tree they were chopping down. “Stop!” she yelled to them. “There’s a baby monkey right at the top of that tree. You’ll hurt him if you keep going!”

  But the men ignored her, their sharp axes cutting into the trunk. The tree wobbled and the tiny monkey swayed with it. His eyes were round with fear as he held tight to his branch and looked down at the treasure hunters below. The girls gasped. They had to help him somehow.

  “The poor thing!” said Isabella. “He must have been left behind when the other monkeys got scared and ran away.”

  “How can we help him?” cried Lottie. “We’re so far away across the river.”

  “I don’t know!” Isabella stared at the jeweled hair clip and the jewel-making tools strewn around her. Desperately, she pulled the lid off the pot of polish and looked at the silver cream inside.

  She took some of the polish and smeared it onto the sapphire wings of the butterfly hair clip. It glittered for a moment before disappearing. Then suddenly, the hair clip began to feel incredibly light. The sapphire wings flapped gently and the whole hair clip rose up into the air and hovered just above her hand.

  “That’s amazing!” Lottie gasped. “Did the polish make it do that?”

  “Yes! All I did was put some on the jewels,” said Isabella.

  The butterfly hair clip flitted playfully from side to side, its blue wings fluttering.

  “Lottie! Let’s put all the treasure back into the leather bag,” said Isabella. “I have an idea!”

  “Really? What is it?” Lottie stuffed the gold statue, the coins, and the monkey mask into the bag, just as Amina and Rosalind ran back to them.

  “Wow!” Rosalind gasped. “The hair clip is flying!”

  “The polish I brought in the backpack made it do that,” said Lottie.

  “All we need to do now is fasten the hair clip to the bag,” said Isabella. “Then maybe it will carry the whole bag away.”

  “That is a really strange plan,” said Rosalind. “I like it! But do we have any string to tie it on with?”

  “Here! Use my hair tie.” Amina took it out of her pocket and handed it over.

  Isabella gently grasped the flying butterfly hair clip and looped the hair tie around it. Then she twisted the other end around the bag’s red beaded handle so that the butterfly still had space to flap its wings. The jeweled creature struggled for a moment, then it flew up, lifting the whole bag with it.

  “It’s magical!” Amina gasped.

  The bag soared up through the leaves.

  “It’s working!” Isabella bit her lip. “I wish it would fly right over to the baby monkey, then he could catch a ride… .”

  But just then, a furry brown shape came swinging through the branches. Petro had seen Isabella fasten the butterfly hair clip to the bag. His little eyes gleamed and he sprang forward, catching on to the bag and clinging on.

  “No, Petro!” called Isabella.

  But it was too late.

  The bag with the gold, pulled by the sapphire butterfly, went floating up. Petro dangled underneath it with a very surprised look on his furry face. It looked like he was holding on to a balloon. Up and up went the bag. It left the island behind and went flying across the river.

  The treasure hunters were talking among themselves and looking over at the island. None of them had spotted the flying bag of treasure.

  “Fly across to the baby monkey!” Isabella called softly, and the butterfly changed direction, heading toward the right tree as if it could understand her.

  “I think it heard you,” said Rosalind. “Try it again!”

  “Fly up a bit more! Fly right past the baby monkey!” called the princesses, more loudly this time.

  Mr. Madelo glared at them, as if he wondered what they were yelling about.

  The man swung his axe against the tree again. Bang! The tree shuddered. The baby monkey climbed to the tip of the highest branch, as if he was trying to get away from the horrible noise.

  “Why doesn’t he jump across to the next tree?” asked Amina, worried.

  “He doesn’t know what to do without his mother,” said Isabella.

  “Fly closer, butterfly hair clip!” shouted Lottie.

  “Go over to the little monkey,” called Rosalind, and the blue butterfly flew higher and higher.

  The tree creaked even louder and began to tip sideways. The princesses held their breaths, their eyes fixed on the little baby monkey. But just as the tree started to fall, the bag of treasure sailed right overhead with Petro chattering happily underneath it.

  “Petro!” cried Isabella. “Catch the baby monkey!”

  Petro called urgently to the baby, who held out one tiny arm. Isabella was scared that the treasure bag would sail away too fast, but the baby monkey managed to jump from his branch and cling to Petro’s back. The two monkeys floated away together above the treetops, underneath the bag of gold.

  The men yelled furiously when they saw the precious gold sailing away into the sky.

  “Fly away to the palace, blue butterfly!” Isabella called to the butterfly with the sapphire wings. “Fly to the palace right now!”

  “I hope it gets there before the magic wears off!” said Lottie, looking at the writing on the pot of polish. “It says here it doesn’t last for very long.”

  “Oh no!” cried Isabella. “Then Petro and the baby monkey would fall out of the sky with the bag of gold. They could get really hurt!”

  Isabella watched anxiously as the sapphire butterfly lifted the bag of gold away over the treetops. The baby monkey held on tight to Petro, looking much happier than before.

  The treasure hunters ran after the gold, shouting and arguing.

  “We have to get off this island and follow them!” cried Rosalind.

  “Come on,” said Isabella, stuffing the pot of polish back into the backpack. “I know a shortcut back to the palace that the men won’t know.”

  It took a little while to find a fallen branch long enough and straight enough to make a new bridge over the river. Amina swung across the water and helped them put the new branch in place. Then they crossed over as fast as they could. Ahead of them, they could hear the yells of the treasure hunters.

  “We have to get there first!” Isabella plunged through the trees with her brown curls bouncing on her shoulders.

  They rushed back to the palace of Belatina and ran through the tall gates just as Petro, the baby monkey, and the treasure bag sailed overhead. The bag was definitely lower now.

  “We’ll catch you, Petro!” called Isabella, running after him.

  “How did you get here before us?” growled Mr. Madelo as he and the other treasure hunters arrived at the palace gates, red-faced from running. “That gold is ours! You girls have no right to take it.”

  “I thought you said you were going to give half of it to my dad?” said Isabella.

  “Oh, we were never really going to give any to him,” replied one man before the others shushed him.

  The blue butterfly was dipping lower now, bringing the bag of gold with it. It flew across the palace gardens, only just missing the top of a statue. The princesses ran along behind it, their arms outstretched. The treasure hunters thundered after them.

  “Get the gold!” yelled Mr. Madelo.

  “Don’t worry, little monkey!” cried Isabella. “I’ll catch you if you fall, but please hang on if you can!”

  The leather bag floated down toward the white palace. Isabella ran up the palace steps so fast that she nearly tripped. She steadied herself. She had to catch the baby monkey safely. The sapphire butterfly gave one last flap of its blue wings and then turned into a normal hair clip again.

  Fixing her eyes on the little monkey, Isabella reached up for him just as the bag fell to the ground. She caught him and hugged him tight. He looked up at her with big black eyes.

  “That was an awesome catch, Isabella!” said Lottie.

  Petro leapt down from the bag and danced around as if he’d enjoyed flying through the air enormously. The bag of gold fell to the steps with a clunk just as the king came to the front door. The butterfly clip broke loose from the hair tie and landed next to the gold.

  “What is all this noise?” asked the king sternly. “Good gracious, Isabella! Is that you? What funny green clothes you’re wearing!”

  “Yes, it’s me, Dad!” Isabella kissed the little monkey on his head. His fur was soft and warm. He really was the cutest baby monkey she’d ever seen!

  “Hey! Where’s our treasure?” grumbled one of the men as they stumbled up the path behind the princesses. “How did they get that bag to fly?”

  “Did someone say treasure?” The king’s eyes lit up. “Is this the famous lost gold?” He hurried to open the bag and pulled out a handful of gold coins. “This is excellent! But who found it all?” He looked from the princesses in their ninja outfits to the treasure hunters.

  “We found the treasure!” said Isabella.

  “They stole it from us, Your Majesty!” said Mr. Madelo angrily, and the other men murmured in agreement. “It was supposed to be ours… . I mean, we were finding it for you!” He bowed.

  Lottie stepped forward. “We heard these men say that they didn’t really know where the gold was at all and that they would just chop down trees until they found it. So we had to find the treasure first and stop them.”

  “It’s true, Dad!” said Isabella. “This little monkey nearly fell out of a tree that they were chopping down. Then Petro saved him!” She showed him the tiny monkey, who was holding on to her thumb with one little hand.

  King Victor looked from the gold coins to the baby monkey and his face turned very red. “You princesses have been kind and caring. I’m sad to say that I’ve been thinking about the lost gold so much that I forgot what’s really important.”

  “Er, Your Majesty?” said Mr. Madelo. “I can see you’re busy, so we’ll just take our half of the gold and go.” He started to reach for the bag of treasure but one of the palace guards stopped him.

  “I am more disappointed with myself than with you, Mr. Madelo,” the king told him. “After all, I was the one who gave you permission to chop down the trees. But now I realize that I was wrong.”

  Mr. Madelo groaned. “But, King Victor —”

  “This gold,” the king continued, “will go toward starting a museum where everyone can learn more about the ancient people who hid it. And if you need to earn some money, you can come back first thing tomorrow to help me clear up the fallen trees and plant new ones in their places.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty!” The men bowed and trudged away to the palace gates, their shoulders drooping.

  The princesses grinned at one another in delight.

  “Can we plant some new trees in the forest, too?” asked Rosalind, her blue eyes sparkling.

  “Yes, we would really love to help,” added Amina.

  “That’s a marvelous idea. I am very pleased that you care about wildlife so much.” King Victor stroked the baby monkey’s head and smiled. “Now, why don’t you go and ask Josefina for some fruit? This monkey looks hungry to me!” He gave the monkey one last pat before he went inside.

  Isabella stooped to pick up the butterfly hair clip. Then two strong-looking palace guards came down the steps to carry away the gold.

  “We’d better put this hair clip back in my mom’s jewelry box right away,” said Isabella, wiping the last smear of polish off its sapphire wings. “If I tried to tell my mom how it flew through the air, I don’t think she would ever believe me!”

  The princesses took Petro and the baby monkey up to Isabella’s bedroom and got lots of oranges, bananas, and pineapple for them to eat.

  “Tomorrow morning when the sun comes up, we have to take this baby back to the rain forest and help him find his family again,” said Isabella.

  The other princesses nodded.

  There was a knock at the door and Queen Neva came in. “Princesses!” she said, looking shocked. “The king said you were dressed very oddly and now I see what he meant. What are those strange clothes you’re wearing?”

  Isabella thought quickly; she couldn’t tell her mom about the Rescue Princesses. No one else could ever know about that. So what could she say? Lottie gave her a warning look.

  Suddenly, Isabella knew exactly what to say. She picked up her camera from her nightstand. “Well, you see, in these dark green clothes we blend in with the leaves in the forest, and that means that we don’t startle the animals. Maybe I’ll be able to take a picture of the Blue Morpho butterfly now that I’ve got these clothes to wear.”

  The queen seemed to accept the explanation. “Make sure you get changed now and give your hair a really good brushing,” she said. “The banquet will be ready in ten minutes.” She smiled before closing the door behind her.

  Lottie picked up another piece of orange for the baby monkey. “It’s amazing to think that the clues to finding the lost gold were in your dad’s study all this time, Isabella,” she said.

  Rosalind stood up very suddenly, her blue eyes wide. “Do you think the lost Book of Ninja is in there, too, Isabella?”

  Isabella shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’m sure I would have seen it.”

  Rosalind’s face fell.

  “We have a really huge library in our palace in Kamala,” said Amina. “And we have a special section that tells you where important books from around the world are kept.”

  “Can you imagine how much we could learn from The Book of Ninja?” said Rosalind dreamily. “It tells you how to perform every single ninja move! You will look for it in your library in Kamala, won’t you, Amina?”

  “I’ll take a really good look when I get back home,” Amina promised her.

  There was the sound of dishes clattering downstairs and Isabella suddenly thought about the banquet. “We’d better get dressed quickly!” she said.

  The others rushed back to their own rooms. Isabella brushed her long brown curls and put on her favorite dress, a red one with wavy edges. Then she added her swirly gold tiara and a yellow topaz necklace to match her special ring.

  Carefully, she picked up the baby monkey, and he snuggled into her arms. Then she went to meet the other princesses in the corridor, with Petro scampering behind her.

  Amina was already waiting at the top of the stairs. Her stomach made a rumbling sound. She clutched it and giggled. “I’m glad it’s dinnertime,” she said. “I’m really hungry.” She swept her long black hair over her shoulders and the emerald ring on her finger sparkled. Her long turquoise dress swept down to the floor and a silver crown was perched on her head.

  “Me, too!” said Rosalind. “I hope there’s something good to eat!” She smoothed away the creases in her dark blue dress. On top of her blond hair, she wore a tiara with lots of tiny blue jewels that matched her sapphire ring.

  Lottie came out of her room last, wearing a crimson dress. A ruby tiara rested on her tight red curls, matching her ruby ring. “That was a really exciting day.” She grinned. “I think we’re getting better and better at animal rescues!”

  “I love being a Rescue Princess! I’m starting to think that princesses can do anything,” said Amina happily. “Oh, wait! What’s that funny noise?”

  Petro leapt up onto the banister right next to Amina. He fixed his big black eyes on her and chattered earnestly.

  Isabella laughed. “I think Petro wants you to remember it wasn’t just princesses who helped this time.” She smiled at him. “You’re right, Petro! You’re not a Rescue Princess, but you were really brave today!”

  “Sorry, Petro, I didn’t mean to leave you out!” Amina kissed the top of his furry head.

  Petro leapt across to Amina’s shoulder and nuzzled her ear, making them all laugh.

  “I’m so happy that we helped keep the rain forest safe,” said Isabella, hugging the baby monkey tightly. “I wonder what our next adventure will be!”

  Princess Amina tiptoed into the palace courtyard and peered out from behind a pillar, clutching her binoculars in one hand. Her long black hair hung loosely over her turquoise dress. On her arm she wore a bracelet with a golden-brown stone that shimmered as she moved.

  She looked around carefully. Rows of tables were laid out in the center of the courtyard, ready for the banquet tonight. There was nobody here. If she was quick, maybe she could reach the garden without being seen! She cast one last look around before darting out of her hiding place and running across the courtyard. She’d almost reached the other side when she ran straight into her cousin Princess Rani, and tumbled to the ground.

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