beatrix bobbit's family vacation pt 3

"This is the game," Sybil said, keeping her ear bent over the pair of gemstones. "Bea listen!"

Beatrix felt the vibration in the air, and stood next to her sister, bending her own ear towards the stones. She wasn't sure what she expected, but it certainly wasn't to hear the sound of gemstones singing as clearly as the wind that beckoned her.

The tilted house is not what it seems

Hastily built to cover a treasure that gleams

Retrieve it from where it is hidden

Do as you are bidden

And you shall claim a prize

Larger than your eyes

"Oooohhhh," Sybil squealed. "There's a treasure beneath that house! Come on, Bea, we have to start looking now!"

"What if it's a trick?" Beatrix's mind was sifting through the various possibilities.

While the lure of the treasure was tempting, her witch sensibilities sensed something amiss with the shape shifting creature.

"It'd be a bit much for a trick, don't you think?"

"No," Beatrix sighed the sigh of a weary thirteen-year-old witch. "But I don't have a better plan. Let's get back, then we can figure out what to do."

"And get another chocolate bar?"

Beatrix's stomach rumbled, "At least two."

After untying her cloak from the rusted ladder, Beatrix and Sybil climbed the grassy hill away from the water. Once they were overlooking the gemstone covered beach once more, both their eyes turned from the blinks of jewels to the water.

It was a deep, still blue. No sunlight bounced off of the waves, today. There was no sign of a green skinned creature, either.

But Beatrix imagined her there, watching beneath the water, grinning her sharp shell teeth as Beatrix and Sybil walked into her trap.

The sandy hill that led to the beach was more treacherous going down than up. Their feet kept sinking downward, causing them to trip and scrape their knees with sand.

After their third tumble, they decided to lean in to the fall, and roll the rest of the way down.

"That was AMAZING!" Sybil swayed, spitting sand from her mouth.

Beatrix's cloak had taken the brunt of the sand, and was entirely covered. But the little sand that had gotten stuck to her skin was itchy and uncomfortable.

Beatrix glanced out to the water, and lifted an eyebrow at Sybil. Sybil shivered, then shook her head, bobbing her ponytail.

"I guess we won't be allowed inside covered in sand," Sybil admitted.

"Can you imagine how the sand would stick to Penny?" Beatrix giggled.

"Together?"

Beatrix grabbed her sister's hand. They held their breath, and sprinted towards the water. It was icy on their feet, but also wickedly exciting.

The shock of cold, the empty beach, the treasure and the mysterious green skinned creature.

Beatrix felt, that maybe, this was her first big adventure.

The sisters splashed around in the waves, as the cold settled deep into their bones. Once their teeth were chattering too loudly, they ran back to the beach, searching for a sliver of sunlight to dry in.

When none was found, Beatrix pulled her sister in close, and whispered a warming spell. Heat bloomed on their skin immediately as the cold water dried, and was replaced with a warmth as enveloping as a cozy fire.

"That is my new favorite spell ever," Sybil said, staring down at her now dry clothes and warm body.

"Is that Mom and Dad?" Beatrix asked, squinting down the beach.

Sybil whipped her head around and began prancing in place, "Yes! It! Is!"

Then, she took off running towards the two figures wearing extremely large white sun hats. Beatrix followed, enjoying the salty wind blowing through her cloak.

"Beatrix, Sybil, why are you running?" Mr. Bobbit asked. He was holding a small half deflated flamingo float in his hands where Penny was perched.

"Are you hungry?" Mrs. Bobbit shouted as the wind picked up then sneezed with such force her umbrella sized sun hat toppled off her head. "Oh no, the sun!" Mrs. Bobbit held her hands in front of her face to shield it from the thick gray clouds overhead.

"Yes!" Beatrix and Sybil answered in unison.

Mrs. Bobbit sighed, and began digging through the large striped tote on her shoulder. After rummaging through the odd assortment of belongings, Mrs. Bobbit handed Beatrix and Sybil each a large carrot wrapped in plastic.

"Could we have a candy bar instead..." Beatrix turned her nose up at the carrot.

"You could, Beatrix, dear," Mrs. Bobbit sighed. "But the candy bars are all gone."

"They can't have carrots, Judy! Those are for Penny, she's on very strict rations," Mr. Bobbit grunted.

"Jack, dear. We're going to the store soon," Mrs. Bobbit sighed and sneezed again. "What were you two doing anyway?"

"We're going on a treasure hunt!"

"Treasure?" Mr. Bobbit turned and tilted his head.

"Yes!" Sybil sang. "It's beneath the house. If we find it, and bring it to Gemma -- she's the green-skinned creature that lives in the sea -- then we get a prize!"

"What sort of prize? The treasure? Is the treasure the prize?" Mr. Bobbit's face was turning very red. Usually, that shade of red signaled frustration. Rarely, did it signal this level of excitement.

"We didn't ask," Beatrix held back a laugh, then nodded to Sybil to hold out the gemstones for Mr. and Mrs. Bobbit to hear.

After listening, Mr. Bobbit's eyes lit up and he shook Penny inside her lopsided flamingo float so much that Beatrix braced herself to catch the rabbit should she fall.

"I suppose we could do the treasure hunt before the store," Mrs. Bobbit turned her nose up at the sandy beach. With her distaste for all things dirt, it was a wonder that she'd ventured this far.

"So we're all going to look for the treasure?" Beatrix confirmed.

When everyone nodded, Beatrix led the way back to the house that appeared to be more tilted than it was the previous day.

The stairs protested as they all climbed to the front door, but once inside, they looked around, unsure where to begin.

Then, quite suddenly, Mr. Bobbit set Penny down in the rocking chair, and dropped to his knees, putting his ear to the splintered floorboards.

"It's down here!"

"Jack, dear, how do you know for sure?" Mrs. Bobbit asked.

"I can hear it."

Beatrix listened very closely, tuning out every other noise, and realized she too could hear it. A faint hum.

"I hear it too," Beatrix dropped to her knees beside Mr. Bobbit. "Everyone get to the kitchen, I'm going to make a hole."

"A hole! But Colin!"

"Could not possibly notice a hole among the thousands of holes. In fact, the fact that there is no hole here is more suspicious than not, Jack, dear," Mrs. Bobbit shuffled Sybil, Mr. Bobbit and Penny away from the floorboard in question.

"Ready!" Beatrix called before pulling her wand from her cloak and tapping the floorboard until a hole formed in the middle that grew larger and larger until it was big enough for her to wriggle through.

Without consulting anyone, she shoved herself through the hole and dropped to the ground below. It was sandy and damp.

And it was pulling her under.

"Uh oh," Beatrix gasped as the sand swirled around her feet, and she disappeared through it.

"Beatrix, dear!" She heard Mrs. Bobbit calling.

Beatrix expected the sand to sting her eyes and cover her face, but it didn't.

It was almost as if it hovered around her as she slid down, until she landed in water.

Gasping, Beatrix kicked until she surfaced and looked around this place beneath the sand.

The pool of water was surrounded by sandy walls that were covered in treasures. Brightly colored stones and jewels and pearls. The sand was filled with all of it.

How was she supposed to know which treasure Gemma wanted?

Then, Beatrix heard a succession of shouting followed by three consecutive splashes.

"IT'S OKAY PENNY," Mr. Bobbit shouted.

"Beatrix, dear, where are you?!" Mrs. Bobbit called.

"Treasure," Sybil said in awe.

"I'm right here," Beatrix paddled over to her family. Mr. Bobbit was bobbing so chaotically in the water that Penny looked motion sick from the effort. Wordlessly, Sybil reached for the rabbit, and placed her on top of her head, which was completely still as she glided through the pool.

"What are we looking for?" Mrs. Bobbit whispered.

"We should take all of it," Mr. Bobbit declared.

"NO!" Beatrix and Sybil yelled in unison. "We're looking for a particular treasure, and that's the only one we're taking."

Beatrix swam to the walls then, and began placing her hands on various items. Using the entrenched gemstones for handles, she swung and climbed from one to the next.

"What are you doing, Beatrix, dear?"

Beatrix ignored Mrs. Bobbit and continued touching and listening until she saw an ugly gray rock among the treasures. Softly, she placed her hand on it, and watched it transform.

Into a stone that shifted colors seamlessly from red to pink to purple to gold to green all in quick flashes.

"Found it!" Beatrix yanked the gleaming stone from the sand and fell back into the water, clutching it tightly in her palm.

"Well done, witch," Gemma's voice spoke. "Let it go, I'll catch it, then you can claim your prize."

"Is our prize all of this treasure?" Sybil yelped.

"We don't need it," Beatrix cut in.

"Beatrix, are you mad?" Mr. Bobbit grunted.

"Really, Beatrix, dear, of course we need it," Mrs. Bobbit's eyes were dazed.

"Why do you not want the treasure you earned, witch?"

"Because I want pancakes instead," Beatrix tried to make her voice sound firm and sure.

"Oh pancakes. Remember pancakes, Penny?" Mr. Bobbit muttered.

"I am quite hungry..." Mrs. Bobbit tore her eyes from the gemstones.

"Me too," Sybil sighed.

"Strange, indeed," Gemma said. "Enjoy your pancake treasure then."

Suddenly, the water began swirling around all of them and rising higher along the sandy walls. Beatrix grabbed Sybil at the last moment, catching her before they were deposited in the tight space below the tilted house once more.

"So pancakes then?" Beatrix laughed.

"I saw a diner on our way in," Mrs. Bobbit sighed.

"Better make sure they allow rabbits, Penny's diet has really taken a toll on her," Mr. Bobbit muttered.

Then, they climbed out from beneath the crooked house, and walked to the car, with Sybil trailing behind.

In the driver's seat, Mr. Bobbit touched the pocket of his khaki pants, where a handful of snatched treasures now resided. He gulped, unsure if he should be excited or terrified.