Treasure Hunt by Titania Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

help you find your gran’s ring, because it might get her out of the Doldrums.’
    Twink stared at her. ‘But Bimi – if that’s true, then the answer to where the ring is has to be in the journal somewhere!’ she cried. ‘The ring wouldn’t have bothered leading us to it otherwise.’
    Bimi nodded. Quickly bouncing on to Twink’s bed, she grabbed the journal up from Twink’s bedside mushroom. ‘Come on, let’s look through it now – we must have missed something!’
    But no sooner had they opened the journal than there came a screech from below. ‘ Bimi! ’ called Sili. ‘Your stupid cricket’s got under the floorboards again – I can hear him scuttling around down there!’
    A quick glance at Chirpy’s empty cage showed that Sili was right. With a groan, Bimi flitted down to the main floor.
    Twink followed, rolling her eyes. Chirpy was becoming very tiresome with his new hobby! Ever since they’d returned from the tuck shop, Bimi’s cricket had crept off at every opportunity to explore under the floorboards of Violet Branch.
    Bimi crouched in the corner, where the floor didn’t quite meet the uneven wall of the tree. ‘Chirpy!’ she called into the hole. ‘Chirpy, come out of there!’
    Pix shook her head. ‘Crickets love dark places,’ she said. ‘Once they get a taste for them, they always want to return. And you know how forgetful crickets are. Sometimes they even forget the way out again!’
    â€˜Well, he’d better not forget the way out while he’s crawling about under my bed,’ said Sili crossly, tightening the belt of her dandelion-fluff dressing gown. ‘He kept me awake for hours last night!’
    Twink stood very still as several ideas crashed together in her head. Crickets loved dark places, and always wanted to return to them. Gran and Aurora had taken Aurora’s cricket with them when they sneaked down into the roots. And Aurora’s cricket had been a trickster, who liked to hide things . . . and then forgot where he had put them !
    â€˜Ha! Got you!’ said Bimi, dragging Chirpy from the hole. The cricket chirped in protest, kicking his long dark legs.
    â€˜Bimi, listen!’ hissed Twink once they were back in their loft. Quickly, she shared the thoughts that had occurred to her.
    â€˜So maybe Aurora’s cricket took your gran’s ring for a prank,’ said Bimi slowly, latching Chirpy back into his cage. ‘And he went back to the roots with it, because he liked it down there.’
    â€˜Yes!’ cried Twink. She snatched up the journal, leafing hurriedly through its pages. ‘Because look at this – Aurora’s cricket went missing around the same time Gran noticed her ring was gone! He came back the next day, but everyone was so upset that they didn’t make the connection. Bimi, I bet you anything that he took the ring down there and then forgot about it!’
    Bimi nodded eagerly. ‘It all makes sense. Your gran first noticed she’d lost the ring in the tuck shop, but that doesn’t mean it’s actually where she lost it! It could have been gone for hours already, couldn’t it?’

    On Twink’s mushroom table, the drawing of Gran – which Twink had framed with some pretty, polished twigs – seemed to smile at them. Twink grinned back at it. They were right – she just knew it!
    â€˜We’ve got to go down there,’ she said, shutting the journal with a snap. ‘It’s brilliant that we’ve got the day off tomorrow – we can go really early, and –’
    She stopped. Bimi had suddenly sunk on to her bed, looking almost green. ‘Twink, I – I can’t,’ she whispered.
    â€˜You won’t help me? But . . .’ Twink trailed off, a hard lump filling her throat.
    â€˜Oh, Twink, you know I would if I could!’ wailed Bimi softly. ‘But I