Fellowship & Fairydust

As soon as the Hardys and their friends returned from church Sunday morning, they quickly changed out of their Sunday best, ate the breakfast Phil had made, helped clean the kitchen, and jumped right into Tony’s van to head back to Willow Grove. There was a tense, nervous, and excited silence on the ride up to Willow Grove. Would Chet’s car be there? Would they find any clues on this search? Would they catch the culprit? Would they find out if the thief had any connections to whatever was going on at the Pollitt place? Joe sat in the far back and kept fiddling around with the objects in the box. 

Chet finally got frustrated. “Ugh, Joe! Will you stop tampering with the equipment? It’s driving me up a wall!” 

Joe slowly grinned. “Even though Tony’s the one driving you up the road?” 

There was a slight pause before everyone burst out laughing, the tension starting to evaporate. 

“Good one Joe,” said Biff, raising his hand. The two high-fived. 

“Well, now that he’s officially broken the silence,” said Jerry, “can we know the plan of action, Captain?” 

Frank blinked. “Um . . .” 

Chet, who was sitting next to him, grabbed his arm and began shaking him. “Please tell me you have a plan!” 

“Whoa, Chet, cut it out, will you? A guy can’t think when his brains are being shaken and stirred!” 

Chet let go and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.” 

Frank rubbed his arm. “Thank you. As for the plan of action, well, that’s going to depend on if Chet’s car is there or not. If it is, we call the police immediately before looking for clues.” 

“And if it’s not?” asked Jack. 

Frank shrugged. “Well, the only thing we can do, look for clues. Then we call the police and let them know we found the Queen’s last known location in the past twenty-four hours.” 

“Aren’t we going to check out the Pollitt place too?” asked Joe. 

Frank turned to Joe with wide eyes. “Joe! Dad didn’t ask us to!” 

Joe rolled his eyes. “I know, but we have to be sure it’s not in connection to our cases, right?” 

Frank let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. He knew what his brother wanted, even though he had a good point. Leave it to Joe to find the loopholes. “Fine, yes, we’ll check out the Pollitt place too.” 

Joe grinned, a grin Frank knew to mean he won. But Frank was hoping that everything with Queen would keep them busy long enough to either forget about the Pollitt place, or not have enough time to check it out.

“Well,” said Biff, “if we are going to check out the Pollitt place, shouldn’t we do that before the police come swarming Willow Grove?” 

Frank grimaced slightly. Well, there went that plan. “You do have a point Biff. But we’re going to have to make it quick at the Pollitt place, we don’t want to lose any vital clues concerning the Queen.” 

The others nodded solemnly. 

“So, then, what’s the plan for the Pollitt place?” asked Phil. 

Frank rubbed his chin as he thought for a moment. “I think we should split up in groups of two each, two take the cellar, two take the main floor, two take the second floor and the attic, and two check the area around the house. The two who take the main floor will make sure no one gets locked up.” 

Joe raised his arm. “Biff and I will take the area around the house.” 

Phil raised his hand. “I’ll do either the main floor or the second floor. I’m not going to get stuck in the cellar again.” 

Frank nodded. “Same here. But I want to take a look in the attic, so I’ll go to the second floor with someone.” 

“I’ll take the main floor with Phil,” said Chet. 

“I’ll go with you, Frank,” said Tony. 

Jack and Jerry glanced at each other before groaning. “We’re stuck with the cellar, aren’t we?” 

Joe shrugged. “Hey, someone has to do it.”

Jerry sighed. “Yeah, might as well be us.” 

Jack glanced at Chet and Phil. “You’d better not let us get locked up.” 

Phil grinned sheepishly. “Oh don’t worry. I wouldn’t want that for anyone.” 

“Provided that Joe and Biff don’t let anyone into the house,” quipped Chet. 

“Oh, thanks, you guys,” said Joe. 

“Hey, you were the one who volunteered to take care of the perimeter,” said Chet with a slight grin. 

Frank chuckled. “He is right, you know.” 

Joe rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. “Fine, whatever.” 

The others laughed. 

Chet glanced at his watch. “Alright, next question, how long should we be at the Pollitt place?” 

“Ten minutes should do,” said Frank, “unless we find something. But we’ll make those changes when we get to that point. The major focus today is the Queen’s whereabouts.” 

Chet nodded vigorously. “Yes.” 

Phil spoke up. “Shouldn’t we have some sort of signal to warn us of danger or to let the others know we’ve found something?” 

“Shouting at the top of our lungs, ‘WE’VE FOUND SOMETHING!’ usually works,” said Joe. 

Biff winced as he pulled his fingers out of his ears. “But you didn’t have to shout that loud now.” 

Joe shrugged. “Hey, needed to get some practice in.” 

Frank scoffed. “With those lungs of yours, I don’t think you need any practice.” Joe grinned. Frank turned to Phil. “But you do bring up a good point. What signals could we use?” 

“How about an owl’s hoot?” asked Chet before hooting like an owl. 

“That could work as one signal, we need another.” 

“How about a regular whistle?” asked Biff before putting his fingers into his mouth and releasing a sharp whistle. 

Joe rubbed his ears. “Now who’s the one being too loud?” Biff shot him a grin. 

“OK then, you whistle if there’s someone outside, or danger’s on the way, and an owl hoot to mean we’ve found something. How’s that?” The others agreed. 

“Good, because we’re here,” announced Tony.

The van pulled into the driveway of the Pollitt place. The boys piled out and split up into their groups, each heading to their assignment. Frank and Tony found the attic fairly quickly, and noticed with alarm that the place had been swept. 

“Someone’s been in here very recently,” whispered Frank as he quickly pulled out his phone and snapped a few pictures. 

Tony chuckled nervously. “Guess they figured nothing told the police there was someone up here like covering one’s tracks with a good sweeping of the place.” 

Frank chuckled nervously. “Right? But it certainly keeps us from getting the footprints.” 

“Right? So, um, what now?” 

“Let’s check for any hidden passages, false walls, or trapdoors. There’s got to be another way they get in here than using our home-made entrance.” 

“What if it’s not up here?” 

“The only other place it could be is in the cellar.” 

“And Jack and Jerry are down there.” 

Frank sighed. “Right, I know, which means they might not notice it. But we’re here, we can at least check the attic.”

Tony nodded. “Right.” The two searched the attic in silence, checking each section of the wall. A moment later, Tony called out for Frank. Frank rushed to his friend’s side. 

“What did you find?” 

Tony pointed, there was a trapdoor nestled away in the corner, tucked away behind some boxes. Frank opened the door to see a set of stairs. 

Frank excitedly patted Tony’s back. “Great work, Tony! Let’s see where they go.” Frank turned on the flashlight on his phone and led the way down the stairs. They ended at a wall. Frank found a button and pushed it. The two walked into a closet in the room across from where the attic ladder was. 

“Wowee!” said Tony. “This really seems like a haunted house now! There are secret passages!” 

“And we’ve only found one, so far,” said Frank as he closed the closet wall. He looked around the closet before simply pulling on the closet rod. The back wall swung open. “Oh, so that’s how it opens up.” He took a few pictures before closing the wall again. He turned to Tony as he pocketed his phone. “Well, I think we’ve done all we can up here. Let’s see if anyone else has had any luck.” 

“Good, the faster we get out of this house, the better. It gives me the creeps.” 

Frank shot him a grin. “But I thought you weren’t afraid of ghosts.” 

Tony scoffed. “Are you kidding? I think I’d feel safer knowing there was a ghost here than a criminal lurking in the shadows.” 

Frank chuckled nervously. “You have a point there.” 

“Hey, shouldn’t we close the ladder to the attic?” asked Tony, pointing at the room as they passed it. 

“Oh, you’re right.” The two dashed into the room and closed the attic door before dashing down the stairs. They met up with Phil and Chet. 

“Did you find anything?” asked Tony. 

“No, but the look on Frank’s face tells me you did,” said Chet. 

Frank grinned. “You know me way too well.” 

“You and Joe both, now, spill it.” Frank and Tony took turns telling them about the hidden staircase as Frank pulled out his phone to show them the pictures. Phil’s and Chet’s mouths dropped. 

“No way!” said Phil. 

“Man, you Hardys are just magnets for clues!” blurted Chet. 

“No I’m not, Tony found them,”  Frank insisted. 

“OK, being near you,” said Chet with a shrug. 

“Joe didn’t find that yesterday,” pointed out Phil. 

“He was concentrating on those footprints they found, not a trapdoor. And I wish they thought of taking pictures.” 

“Hey, they couldn’t have known that those footprints would get swept up,” said Tony with a shrug. 

Frank sighed. “True that.” 

Chet glanced at his watch. “Well, our ten minutes are just about up. Think we should call up Jack and Jerry and meet up with Joe and Biff outside?” 

Frank nodded. “Yes, we need to get to Willow Grove as soon as possible.” The four dashed to the cellar. “Jack, Jerry?” Frank called. The two boys came out of the cellar. 

“Yeah?” 

“Did you find anything?” 

Jack shook his head grimly. “No, nothing.” 

“I don’t think there would be any secret passages down there,” quipped Jerry as he pulled his collar close. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from you Hardys about secret passages, we should have felt a draft. It would have been nice because it was pretty chilly down there, and with such a warm day as it is today, we should have had a bit of warm air down there.” 

Frank wrinkled his nose. “Eh, I don’t think so. If it’s so far below ground, it wouldn’t get that hot.” 

Jerry shrugged. “Well, we certainly didn’t feel any air drafts, that’s for sure.” 

“Hey, you guys hear that?” whispered Phil. 

“What?” asked Jack. 

“No, sh, I thought I heard something too,” said Frank. Everyone went still as they thought they heard an owl hooting from somewhere. Frank smacked his forehead. “Of course, the signal! Joe and Biff found something!” 

“Come on then!” said Tony as he led the group towards the broken window and out of the house. They ran pell mell towards the owl hoots. They found them some feet away from the house at a shed. Joe and Biff were waving their arms at them, Joe beaming. 

“Look at what we’ve found!” he said with a grin. 

“Great!” said Jack. 

“Why is it so out of sight from the road?” asked Tony. 

“That’s a good question,” said Frank. “Maybe because they’re hiding it on purpose.” 

“Maybe because it’s hiding something,” said Joe with a twinkle in his eyes. 

Chet glanced at his watch. “Yeah, but, did you find anything?” 

“Well, yeah, there’s a trapdoor!” blurted Joe. 

“Really?” said Jack and Jerry. 

“Where does it go?” asked Frank. 

“Out to the cliffs,” replied Biff. “There’s a place where you could moor a couple of boats.” 

Frank nodded. “Good, we can come back in the Napoli later.” 

“What? Why?” asked Joe. 

“Time’s up, we have to get to Willow Grove. Besides, these secret tunnels aren’t going anywhere.” 

Joe sighed. “Oh, fine.” 

“What’s the matter? Don’t want to find Queen?” asked Chet, looking a little hurt. 

“No! That’s not it!” 

“It’s just that Joe is super stubborn, narrow-sighted, and super insistent on helping Dad on one of his cases,” said Frank. He glanced at his younger brother. “But, if we can solve Chet’s mystery and Slim’s, we can help Dad, remember?” 

“Right, then let’s go save Queen!” 

Chet cheered. “That’s more like it! Let’s go!” The group dashed back to the van and were on their way to Willow Grove. Frank showed Joe, Biff, Jack, and Jerry the pictures of the attic. The four were practically furious that the footprints were swept away, but they did laugh at Tony’s observation. He was right. Nothing said ‘there’s someone staying here’ quite like a swept floor. But the boys were ecstatic at having found something else that might help Fenton on his case. Now, they just needed a clue to help them crack the two they had. 

Once Tony parked the van, the group practically dived out of the van and raced towards the clearing, Joe and Biff in the lead. Frank and Phil had grabbed the box of supplies and ended up in the back of the group. They reached the clearing, and were nearly run down by everyone else. 

“Hey! What’s the idea?” blurted Phil as the others had to stop. Chet walked into the clearing and let out a whoop. 

“It’s the Queen! She’s alright!” 

“Yes!” cheered the others as they rushed forward. 

“Wait! We still have to look for clues!” shouted Frank as Joe dashed to him to open the box. They took out the box of gloves first and handed a pair to each boy. Once gloves were on, each person was given an assignment. 

“I’ll look for fingerprints,” said Joe as he took the fingerprint kit. 

“Good, Jack, Jerry, head to the road and see if you can find any clues there.” Frank handed them a magnifying glass. 

“Right,” they chorused before taking off. 

“Chet, call the police and make sure that nothing’s been tampered on the Queen.” 

“On it!” Chet pulled out his phone and placed the call. 

“Biff, I need you to check for footprints and tire tracks, especially if there might be any leading towards the Pollitt place,” said Frank as he handed a magnifying glass to Biff. 

“On it.” 

“I’ll go with you,” said Tony, and the two dashed off. 

“What will we do?” asked Phil. 

“We’re going to check the clearing itself for any clues,” replied Frank as he handed Phil a magnifying glass and took one for himself. He took out a few plastic bags as well. “If you find anything, put it in one of these, and keep each piece of evidence separate.” 

Phil nodded. “Got it.” The two split up from there, Frank going to one side of the clearing, and Phil to the other and began their search. Chet had finished his call by then and was checking over the Queen while Joe continued to look for fingerprints. There were a few minutes of overall silence besides the continuous rustling of branches by Frank and Phil before it was interrupted by a yelp from Joe. 

“Frank!” 

Frank dropped everything and dashed to the car. His eyes widened as his eyes fell on the thing Joe was holding. It was a fiery red wig. 

“Um, guys?” said Phil as he rejoined them. He saw the wig in Joe’s hand. “Wait, you found one too?” 

“Wait, what?” 

Phil held up a plastic bag. In it was a wig that looked like greying hair cut in an odd hairstyle. 

 

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