The Secret of the Skeleton Key by Penny Warner

it?” Jezebel growled at them. “We know you have it.”
    â€œYeah,” Jasper added. “We were watching you from across the street.”
    â€œWhere’s what?” Luke asked, pretending ignorance. Cody knew he was stalling for time.
    â€œYou know what I’m talking about,” Jezebel shouted. “The will! Give it here!”
    Quinn shook his head. “We…We don’t know what you’re talking about. We don’t have a will.”
    Jezebel looked at Jasper, who’d remained standing quietly behind her. He stepped forward and grabbed Quinn’s arm, holding it behind Quinn’s back. “You better tell us, kid,” Jasper squeaked, “or Jezebel here will sit on you. And you don’t want that.” Jasper grinned, until he caught a sharp look from Jezebel, who apparently didn’t like the reference to her size.
    Meanwhile, Cody tried to think. The bump on her head Jezebel had given her had made her mad, and she was determined to outwit these money-hungry creeps.
    â€œOkay, okay, I’ll tell you!” she said. The others shot her a look. She rubbed the bottom of her chin sideways, and the kids relaxed a little. She’d just given them the American Sign Language sign for “lie.”
    â€œThat a girl,” Jezebel said. Jasper let go of Quinn’s arm.
    â€œWe … hid it,” Cody continued. “In a cave … in the forest.” She pointed up the hill where the Code Busters had gone exploring one day and found an abandoned cave.
    Jezebel frowned at her suspiciously. “Where exactly?”
    â€œI’ll draw you a map,” Cody said. She got out a sheet of paper and drew a map, labeling landmarks along the way—“ G o O ut. T urn uphill. go A round P it. L ook for A N atural cave.”
    Code Buster’s Solution found on p. 207.
    She showed it to Jezebel. “Just follow this map. The will is hidden inside the cave.”
    Jezebel snatched the map out of Cody’s hands, glanced at it, and threw it on the ground. It landed facedown.
    â€œForget the map. You’re going to show me. Let’s go,” Jezebel demanded.
    Perfect, Cody thought, as she knelt down and flipped over the paper so the others could see the coded map. She’s following my plan. Cody stood up, leaving the map lying on the floor in plain view.
    â€œI said, let’s go,” Jezebel repeated. “You’re going to show us.”
    Cody glanced at the others, then nodded to the map that lay on the floor. Quinn looked at it, then smiled.
    He’d figured out her message by reading the capitalized letters.
    â€œJasper,” Jezebel continued. “Stay here and watch these brats. If I don’t come back with that will…well, you know what to do.” She sneered at Cody.
    Jasper nodded.
    â€œNow tie them up,” Jezebel added.
    Jasper pulled a long rope out of the backpack he’d been carrying and began to tie up the other three. He turned them back-to-back-to-back and looped the rope around their torsos, then tied their hands. Cody watched in horror as her three friends were made helpless in front of her eyes. M.E. had begun to cry but was trying hard to blink back the tears. Cody saw Luke whisper something to comfort her.
    â€œDon’t worry, guys,” Cody said to her friends. “I’ll show her where the will is and be right back. Then they’ll leave us alone.” She turned to Jezebel. “Won’t you?”
    Jezebel ignored her. Instead, she tied a piece of rope to Cody’s thin wrist and tied the other end to her own. Then she gave Cody a shove out the door and followed her.
    Moving slowly, Cody headed up the hill toward the cave, wondering if the mountain lion had made it his home. She hoped the walk would give her time to think of a way to get out of this mess. Otherwise, she’d either end up in the hospital like Skeleton Man, or worse—as a snack for a