The Haunted Lighthouse

By Penny Warner

An infamous prison may hold a secret only the Code Busters can uncover.

Cody, Quinn, Luke, and M.E. may all have different talents, but they share one thing in common: they love playing around with codes. In fact, they love codes so much, they have their own club, with a secret hideout and passwords that change every day. When Cody and her friends get a mysterious e-mail hinting at a treasure on Alcatraz Island, they can't wait to get started on their clue hunt. Luckily, a class trip to the prison is the perfect cover to start their search. During the tour, the club members learn that a jewel thief kept at Alcatraz may have hidden his biggest haul on the island and left a series of coded messages to find it. And solving puzzles is what the Code Busters do best! This interactive mystery features more than fifteen codes and puzzles for you to decipher along with the Code Busters, including Morse code, the tap code, LEET, and zigzag code. Answers are in the back, if you ever get stuck.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Aug 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781606843628

Penny Warner

Penny Warner has published more than 60 books for both adults and children. She teaches child development at a local college in California. You can join the Code Busters Club at www.codebustersclub.com.

Book preview

page.

Guys … look at this!" Cody Jones said to her fellow Code Buster Club members, who were spread out in her upstairs bedroom doing homework.

Quinn Kee, the self-appointed leader of the club and math whiz, lay on the floor composing a sudoku puzzle for the others to solve. His ever-present aviator sunglasses rested on top of his spiky black hair.

Code Buster’s Solution found on this page.

Luke LaVeau lay sprawled across the bed on his stomach, studying his spelling words. MariaElena Esperanto—M.E. for short—took up her usual spot in Cody’s red beanbag chair, writing a poem. Sitting at her desk, Cody pointed to her computer screen. The cryptic message she’d just received had caused the back of her neck to tingle.

To: [e-mail]

From: [e-mail]

Subject: Treasure Hunt

Message:

In darkness yon,

A shrouded night covers island mists.

Those hallowed, sunken, tired souls,

Lively ghosts hope you’ll see …

Alone a local treasure.

—Z

Luke and Quinn sat up to see the computer screen. M.E. rolled over to view it. Cody read the message aloud and then turned to them. Did one of you guys write this? she asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow. The Code Busters were known for writing and sending coded messages to each other. That’s why they’d formed their club. They had recently solved a real crime involving Cody’s former neighbor, Mr. Skelton—the man they used to call Skeleton Man.

I didn’t, M.E. said, her dark eyes wide. She glanced at the two boys.

Me, either, Luke added, leaning back, his tall, lanky body melting into the comforter.

Don’t look at me! Quinn said, when Cody turned her attention to him. He scrunched up his face and studied the message again.

"You’re sure none of you wrote this?" Cody stared at each one of her friends, her red-haired ponytail swishing behind her as she moved her head.

Uh-uh, Luke said.

No way. M.E. shook her head.

Quinn? Cody asked again when he didn’t respond.

No, I’m telling you! I didn’t write it or send it, Quinn said, standing up to get a closer look. Read it out loud again.

Cody turned back to the screen and read the message once more.

"In darkness yon,

A shrouded night covers island mists.

Those hallowed, sunken, tired souls,

Lively ghosts hope you’ll see …

Alone a local treasure.

Z"

Sounds like a poem, M.E. said. She was somewhat of a poet herself, always making up riddles in rhyme. She’d memorized The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe—and loved reciting it when they had sleepovers, hoping to scare Cody, but she always ended up just scaring herself.

Dude, if it’s a poem, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, Luke said, putting aside his study sheet. Cody glanced at his homework and saw a list of unfamiliar words:

ushoe

holocs

knomey

grande

grifen

grooft

pliglens

macres

Code Buster’s Solution found on this page.

Even though the list looked as if it was written in a foreign language, she knew they were anagrams. Luke’s grandmother always made a game of his spelling words by scrambling them up. Luke had to unscramble the letters, which helped him remember how to spell the word correctly.

Luke saw Cody checking out the list and said, I’m stuck on the last one.

It took her only seconds to figure it out, but instead of blurting out the answer, she gave him a hint. Try starting with the last letter and ending with the first letter.

Got it! he said. Thanks!

Great, now can we get back to this weird message on my computer?

She read it aloud again. " ‘A shrouded night covers island mists … Lively ghosts hope you’ll see … Alone a local treasure.’ "

So who’s this Z dude—the Shadow, or whatever he calls himself? Luke asked.

I don’t know, but it sounds old-fashioned, M.E. said, wiggling her knee-sock-covered feet. Today her socks had Hello Kitty designs that in no way matched her tie-dyed shirt and denim skirt. Who knew what she’d be wearing tomorrow. Cody and I are studying poetry in class. That was the way they spoke back in the day.

We are, too, but not gibberish, Luke argued.

Quinn laughed. My dad thinks I speak gibberish. Half the time he doesn’t know what I’m saying when I speak pig Latin.

M.E. nodded. Y-may arents-pay o-day, oo-tay! she said.

Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on this page, this page.

I have a feeling we’re missing the point here, Cody said.

The others looked at her, waiting for an explanation.

I think it’s a code. After all, someone sent it to us at CodeBustersClub.com, so they obviously know we’re into deciphering codes and puzzles.

So let’s decipher it, Quinn said. "M.E., you’re good at poetry. What does, ‘In darkness yon, / A shrouded night covers island mists,’ mean?"

M.E. frowned. Uh … there’s an island in the dark or the fog?

Quinn nodded, then continued. "What about, ‘Those hallowed, sunken, tired souls, / Lively ghosts hope you’ll see’ …?"

I don’t know, M.E. said, shrugging. I’m not an expert.

Sounds like dead people, Cody offered. Souls, ghosts …

And a treasure, Luke added, noting the last line, "Alone a local treasure."

Maybe, Cody said. But what about those letters in bold?

Yeah, Quinn said, leaning toward the screen. What’s up with that?

Let me try something. Cody highlighted the message and copied it to a new document. She deleted all the letters that weren’t in bold. When she was done, she tried to read the message aloud, but it came out in one long word:

IdareyoutovisitThehauntedLighthouseonalcatraZ.

She tried again, reading it more slowly.

Code Buster’s Solution found on this page.

Alcatraz? Luke asked, with a hint of his Louisiana accent. That’s weird. Our class is going there tomorrow on a field trip.

We all are, Cody said. All four Code Busters were in the sixth grade, but the girls were in a different class from the boys. The whole sixth grade was heading for the prison island the next day on a class trip.

Cody stared at the translated message and was caught by the words haunted lighthouse. She knew there was a lighthouse on Alcatraz. Her teacher, Ms. Stadelhofer, had spent a class on the island once known as the Rock, which had held many notorious prisoners but was now one of the most popular attractions in the Bay Area. She’d never been there, but she’d heard many stories about the prison, including that it was haunted by prisoners who had died there. Although she didn’t believe in ghosts, Cody shivered at the thought. If there was such a thing as spirits returning to haunt a scary place, Alcatraz, with its violent history, would be perfect. But she was sure these were legends, told to attract more tourists to the Rock.

So who had sent them an e-mail about the lighthouse being haunted? What was behind this mysterious message? And who was Z, aka The Shadow?

I say we keep an eye out tomorrow for this mysterious ‘Shadow’ and see what’s up.

I agree! M.E. said. This is going to be fun! I can’t wait for tomorrow. Maybe we’ll see the ghost of Al Capone.

Who’s Al Capone? Luke asked.

He was a big gangster in Chicago, M.E. said. They called him Scarface. He was a bootlegger back when there was Prohibition.

What’s a bootlegger? Luke asked.

Someone who sold alcohol when it was illegal, M.E. answered.

Cody’s younger sister, Tana, who was deaf, appeared at the door and finger-spelled to Cody:

Cody nodded at her sister.

What did she say? Luke asked, watching Tana.

Cody showed her friends the signs.

Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on this page, this page.

The kids copied each of the signs with her.

Cody turned to her friends. Well, I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Quinn packed up his IRONMAN backpack. M.E. gathered her things into her I’M A PRINCESS backpack. Luke stuffed his spelling words into his sports bag and picked up his skateboard before pushing himself up from the bed. They followed Cody down the stairs and said a polite good night to her mother. Cody knew her friends were a little intimidated by her mom, who happened to be a Berkeley police officer. But they also knew Mrs. Jones would be there for them

Reviews for The Haunted Lighthouse

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Solving an Alcatraz-related mystery through codes.