Product Description
Four best friends have the chance to find the ultimate treasure! But someone wants to take down the GEEKS. . . . An exciting new book in the puzzle-filled, action-packed Hide and GEEK series!
The GEEKs:
After a wild treasure hunt that almost got Gina, Edgar, Elena, and Kevin killed in a secret vault hidden in an abandoned amusement park, the GEEKs thought life would go back to normal. They’d saved their town from ruin and secured their friendship forever, right? Man, were they wrong. The only thing that returned to normal was middle school lunch.
THE PROBLEM:
A company wants to reopen the abandoned amusement park, Bamboozleland, and it’s just what the town needs! But a blogger from the next town over starts spreading vicious rumors that the treasure was fake and the GEEKs are a bunch of frauds.
THE TEST:
The GEEKs are determined to prove their puzzle-solving prowess, and what better way than another treasure hunt? A local bigwig sets up a new set of clues for them to follow, and this time the hunt will be documented. The GEEKs have already saved their friendship. Now they must prove that they are true treasure hunters!
About the Author
T. P. JAGGER is an author, an editor, and a teacher. He has over twenty-five years of experience in education, doing everything from teaching elementary school students how to write to teaching teachers how to teach writing. He helps writers write and teachers teach through his 3-Minute Writing Teacher series of how-to creative-writing videos and his free readers' theater scripts for elementary and middle school classrooms.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
Six months ago, after my friends and I nearly got ourselves killed in a secret treasure vault hidden in an abandoned amusement park, I thought things would go back to normal. I’d return to being plain old Gina Sparks, freckle-faced and fact-loving journalist—the girl with a notebook in her hand and a pencil in her hair bun. My three best friends—Elena Hernández, Edgar Feingarten, and Kevin Robinson—would settle back into their normal routines. I figured the treasure-hunting excitement was over.
Man, was I wrong.
Really, the only thing that returned to normal was middle school lunch. The French fries were still soggy, the milk was still fresh from the cows at Feingarten Family Farms, and—of course—Sophina Burkhart still couldn’t leave us alone.
“GEEKs!” Sophina called, though not in the mean way she used to do before she and Kevin became sixth-grade class co-presidents.
I looked up from jotting notes in the leather-bound journal I always carry with me. I’d pretty much gotten used to the GEEKs label, but, well, it was kind of unfortunate that Sophina had figured out that putting the first letter of my name together with Elena’s, Edgar’s, and Kevin’s spelled out GEEK.
Sophina sauntered over to our table, followed by her typical pack of minions—Kyesha Killman, Bella Ronelli-Compelli, and Mandy Sykes. Sophina’s usually straight, shoulder-length blond hair had been curled on the ends and bounced with every step, and her lips glittered with pink gloss. She eyeballed us. “I must admit, you all clean up pretty well. Not as well as me, of course, but still . . .” Sophina patted down one of Edgar’s loopy red curls and smoothed the collar of Kevin’s polo shirt. I reflexively ran my hands down the front of my brand-new sweater, which my mom had given me as a special surprise that morning. “At least you look better than usual.” Her eyes flicked over Elena, who wore a red hoodie with a cartoonish Albert Einstein on the front. “Well, most of you.”
Elena scowled and tugged on her braid, which was a sure sign she was about to launch a French fry at Sophina’s head.
“Stay focused,” she whispered to herself. “Bamboozleland. After lunch.”
She loosened the grip on her braid. But her other hand twitched near the pile of fries on her lunch tray.
“Anyway,” Sophina said, “I just wanted to stop by and tell y
