The Incredible Seed Crackers

By Melissa Davis, Erik Daniel Shein and Karen Fuller

Every Mystery starts with a seed of truth. In this story, our heroes, Pani and Omo, pride themselves on their ability to find the key to cracking any case. Pani, the older of the two detectives, is a pelican with a penchant for keeping order in the middle of chaos. Omo is a young, daredevil Peruvian seagull. The two have created an agency of private detectives called the Seed Crackers. They have recently decided to expand their practice by hiring a new sidekick seed cracker to train, Pepe, a Galapagos mockingbird. The only problem is they are all easily distracted whenever treasure hunting comes into the picture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: World Castle Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Nov 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781958336618

Melissa Davis

Born in Southern Illinois, Melissa Davis fell in love with reading from an early age, so much so that she started writing when she was in the second grade. From poetry, to short stories, she has a love for it all. When she was in high school she attended Illinois Summer School for the Arts at Illinois State University, which lead her to attend the university. After graduating with a Bachelors in Education, Melissa taught for several years until her children were born, allowing her to fulfill two dreams at once: motherhood and penning her first books.

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The Incredible Seed Crackers

A Galapagos Adventure

by

Melissa Davis, Erik Daniel Shein & Karen Fuller

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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World Castle Publishing, LLC

Pensacola, Florida

Copyright © 2022 Shein Partnership, LLC

Authors: Melissa Davis, Erik Daniel Shein & Karen Fuller

Smashwords Edition

Hardback ISBN: 9781958336595

Paperback ISBN: 9781958336601

eBook ISBN: 9781958336618

First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, August 16, 2022

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Smashwords Licensing Notes

All rights reserved. The Incredible Seed Crackers and universe are Trademarks of Shein Partnership, LLC. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means—electronic, Digital, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for the author or third party’s web sites and their content. Requests for information should be addressed to:

Shein Partnership, LLC

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CHAPTER 1 – The Missing Egg

The sun’s rays shone down on the ocean, creating a cascade of sparkling light. The beautiful brilliance of the early morning light on the island almost qualified as one of life’s natural wonders. The echoing calls from the seagulls were only topped by the roar of the waves crashing on the beach. Life would soon be bustling around the island shores as the animals all started their daily routines.

To say it was just a normal day would be putting it lightly. No day was normal in the life of the Seed Crackers, the two famous bird detectives that had solved many a mystery throughout South America. Pani and Omo were well known for their super sleuth skills. How they got to this point is a long story, filled with many dramatic twists and turns, but that is for another time. Since our heroes are the kind that never dwells on the past…well, that leads us to this moment in time, where the two detectives are enjoying a quiet morning before their next case takes over their lives.

Our first hero, Pani, was taking a morning flight, enjoying the cool air on his face. He was in pretty good shape for an old pelican and often spent his free time in the air. Pani swooped down and dove into the crystal clear water. Pani could feel the bubbles rising from his beak as he continued to go down all the way down to the sandy bottom. When he finally reached down as far as he could, he scooped up a shiny shell into his beak.

Pani looked up at the surface above him and saw the slant of sunlight make its path through the water. His exit was free and clear as he propelled himself up through the ocean around him. Pan shot out of the water and bobbed on the surface just long enough to shake the water from his wings. Then he flew to a large rock on the beach. The shell rattled in his mouth as he shook the rest of the water from his body.

Dropping the shell on the ground before him, Pani zoomed in on it with eyes that had worked much better in his youth. Maybe it was all the years spent super sleuthing with Omo, using his eyes to zero in on clues that other animals might miss. More than likely, it was just his age, although Pani would never admit that to anyone. If anyone asked him if he were ready to retire, the detective would wave away their words as if they were utter nonsense. Cracking cases was in his blood. He would do that until the day he died.

The sun’s rays hit the shell just right, reflecting it back into his eyes as he hopped down to the sand where the shell now lay. Pani squinted to protect his eyes, and when he did, he missed the fact that the shell was not quite what he first thought. Pani jumped as his foot was pinched by the occupant of the shell, a tiny crab with sharp pinchers determined to take a chunk out of his foot.

Hey! Pani hopped back a few steps.

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. The young dare deviling seagull on the rock next to him interjected. Omo was the other half of the Seed Crackers and Pani’s best friend. The two had become inseparable over the years.

Sorry there, buddy! I didn’t realize it was still occupied, apologized Pani. The pelican had simply wanted to collect another sparkling shell for his treasured collection, not kidnap a crab along the way.

The tiny crab held up his pinchers as if ready to attack. He sidestepped as he retreated to the ocean, keeping his eyes on Pani all the way. When the water rolled over him, the crab’s eyes were the last thing that could be seen. After a brief pause, one of the crab’s eyes popped up just to glare at Pani one last time before it finally sank back into the water.

Omo grinned at Pani. I’d watch my back if I were you, Pani.

What? Pani gestured to where the crab had sunk into the water. From that guy? Pa-lease!

Don’t let his size fool ya. He might have lots of friends. Omo lifted one of his wings and gestured to the beach around them.

Pani rolled his eyes. Sure he does.

Pani should have known better than to speak before thinking, for a Galapagos crab came scurrying up behind him at that moment. He was a crab of many colors, from the bright yellow, orange, and red of his legs, to the electric blue of his belly. The top of his shell was a bright yellow, which brought the rainbow of colors together. His eyes stood out from his shell just slightly as the blue and red orbs rotated left and right to view the world around him. The crab plucked one of Pani’s tail feathers straight from his bottom, and Pani yelped loudly. The pelican jumped into the air, holding his behind with his wings. In the midst of his misery, he saw Omo give the crab a high five.

Omo! You did that on purpose! Pani put his wings at his side and let out an irritated huff at his friend.

Omo feigned innocence. That wasn’t me!

Pani glared at Omo and the crab. That wasn’t nice.

Omo smirked and shrugged his shoulders. You shoulda listened. You know the crabs, they have a motto.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Revenge will do in a pinch, Pani answered reluctantly.

The crab pumped his claws in the air before scurrying off, as angry crabs often did. Not all crabs were cantankerous. Some of them were quite nice, like the ones they had helped off the coast of Peru. Quite a few king crabs could be found there, and despite the royal title in their names, they were some of the most down to earth crabs he had ever met.

As Pani and Omo started to walk up the beach, Pani was still grumbling at Omo. "I’m still sayn’ you