Waypoint: Cache Quest Oregon by Shauna Rice-Schober[thriller] Read Free Book Online Page B

Lacey pointed to the excerpt as Ben looked over her shoulder. He pulled the GPS unit out of the top of the dress he was wearing and entered the numbers.
    “Great,” he said with an overwhelmed and exhausted tone. “Looks like this one is back on the coast.”
    “Well, shoot…it doesn’t say clue, so maybe this is the last one, and since it is on the coast that would make sense, to start and end on the coast.” She said reassuringly. “What do you think?” She asked Ben. “I mean we have already done so much what if this is the last one, we can’t just, not go.” She paused for a second, “Right?”

7
     
    B en felt the late morning sun warming his face. He was beyond exhausted, but also so excited that it really didn’t matter. He and his aunt were sure that this would be the last geocache; it made sense to have the game begin and end at the coast. A smile came to his face as he thought about holding his share of the ten thousand dollars, within a few hours that would be a reality.
    “Well look at that.” Lacey said as she nudged Ben to full consciousness. She was pointing to a brown sign on the side of the road; in bold letters it read “Devil’s Punchbowl.” “Looks like we only have 10 more miles!” She beamed.
    Ben yawned loudly and stretched his arms, hopefully finding this cache would be a little less stressful, he knew that at least it wouldn’t be nearly as embarrassing as his performance last night at the Shakespearian festival.
    They pulled into a small parking lot, the coast was windy as usual, and as they stepped from the car they could taste the salt in the air.
    Ben made his way over to the cyclone fence first; Lacey remained at the car, searching for her bright blue sweatshirt. He was too excited to be cold. He heard the waves crashing as he looked over the cliff’s edge. He was amazed at the site. The waves over thousands of years had created a huge bowl shaped formation in the cliff wall, as the tide went in and out the bowl would fill. The waves crashed against the outer edge, and then water made its way into the bowl through a tunnel like hole. It was absolutely amazing.
    He looked at the clue one more time, the coordinates were definitely correct, but what did in the grains of the devil’s drink mean? Lacey approached him from behind and hollered, “Hey, you find it yet?” she patted him on the shoulder as she pulled the sweatshirt over her head. “This place is pretty amazing isn’t it?” she leaned on the cyclone fence, staring at the ocean. “I wonder what time the tide goes out, as soon as it does we need to get down to the bottom of that bowl and start digging.”
    “Digging?” Ben asked.
    “I’m guessing, ya know ‘cause it says in the grains, ya know, grains of sand.”
    Ben blushed with embarrassment, why didn’t he figure that out? “Well I bet they would know when the tide goes out,” he said as he pointed to a restaurant on the side of the parking lot.
    They both headed toward the restaurant; as they entered the overwhelming scent of clam chowder hit them, welcoming them through the threshold.
    “Excuse me?” Lacey said to an old woman that was slouched behind the counter. The woman made eye contact with her. “Do you know when the tide will go out?”
    “It’s a half moon.” The woman grumbled, then she pointed to a chart on the wall by the door. “You gonna order something?”
    “No we already ate.” Lacey replied matter-of-factly, not even considering the fact that they were in a restaurant.
    “So?”
    “We’ll just check the chart and go, thanks for your help.” She said politely.
    “What does the moon have to do with the tide?” Ben asked as his aunt read the chart.
    “Hang on, let me look at this, then I’ll tell you once we get out of here, that woman is a real piece of work.” She said as she concentrated. “Okay, looks like it won’t go out until around two this afternoon, and then we’ll have a few hours until the tide starts