Lost In New Zealand

• Charlotte Wurtz, Grade 7, Ballajura Community College
• Short Story
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Top Secret 2016' competition

SPLASH! The water was loud as we jumped from the cliff into the lake. “Think we lost ‘em Tyler?” I asked as we climbed out.
“Yeah probably, you still got the book?” He asked sitting down.
“Uh yeah it’s right here….” I said searching my bag, “Hell it’s gone,” I cursed.
“Are you sure? I mean it might’ve dropped when we jumped,” Tyler said doubtfully.
“Or you know they might’ve gotten it before we jumped off,” I replied dryly.
“Damn it,” Tyler said shaking his head so that water flew from his dark brown hair.
“Don’t worry we’ll get it back, call Quentin will ya?” I said sitting down next to him.

Tyler looked out his window as we flew over one of the numerous beaches in New Zealand.
“He’s gone near the Franz Josef glacier in the Southern Alps,” I said leaning back on the seat.
“Really? Must be pretty cold over there,” Quentin said.
“Yeah, could you drop us off Mount Cook village?” I asked.
“You wanna go now?” Quentin asked in disbelief.
“Yeah,” I said.

The view from the helicopter was breathtaking. Rolling emerald green hills connected to the mountains by snow white sheets of snow and ice with grey rocks and boulders dotting the scenery.
“We’re nearly there,” Quentin called from the front. “You guys ready?” We checked our equipment while we slowly descended near the Mount Cook village. We landed a few metres away from the village and disembarked.
“I’ll be on standby if you need me,” He told us.

Tyler and I walked up to the path connecting the mountains and the village and started hiking up the steadily rising slopes. We kept our eyes peeled for anything that looked off while it grew colder as we climbed. Eventually, we found a rough stone carving in the rock with scattered footprints in the snow. I searched the wall while Tyler had a look around the ground.
“Jareth,” He called after a few minutes. I walked over and saw a small button carved out of stone on the floor. I pressed it with my boot and a trapdoor flew open beneath us.

I landed on a soft pile of snow and swiftly stood up helping Tyler as well. We looked at our surroundings and saw a soft golden light spill out from an opening. We crept over and saw Kale, our enemy’s boss leaning over a small pillar. He left through a gap and I walked quietly to the pillar, took the book and Tyler called Quentin to pick us up. We found a ladder and ducked outside. Quentin was waiting in his helicopter. Kale burst through the trapdoor shouting and ran into a hidden helicopter while we flew away.
“Hurry Quentin!” I shouted. But Kale was still making pursuit we flew around for a while and eventually lost him behind a mountain.
“That was close,” Tyler said grinning. And off Quentin flew us into the sunset back home.