Secret Sleuths : Thrilling Mysteries and Heart-Pounding Adventures

By Prabir Rai Chaudhuri

Are you ready to embark on heart-pounding adventures and crack thrilling mysteries? Then join the Secret Sleuths!

 

This exciting collection of stories is packed with puzzles to solve, secrets to uncover, and challenges to overcome. With each case, you'll develop your critical thinking skills, sharpen your observation powers, and experience the thrill of the chase!

 

Secret Sleuths: Thrilling Mysteries and Heart-Pounding Adventures offers:

 

Engaging mysteries: Each story presents a unique puzzle, waiting to be unraveled by your sharp mind.

 

Action-packed adventures: Explore hidden corners, overcome obstacles, and embark on unforgettable quests alongside the Secret Sleuths.

Suspenseful twists and turns: Every page will keep you guessing as the detectives follow clues and uncover startling secrets.

Empowering stories: These tales encourage bravery, curiosity, and the joy of problem-solving.

 

This book is for young readers who:

• Love a good mystery.
• Enjoy using their imaginations.
• Thrive on challenges.
• Are eager to develop their detective skills.

Get ready to put your detective hat on and join the Secret Sleuths on their exciting adventures!

• Language: English
• Publisher: RC PRABIR
• Release date: Apr 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9798223780205

Book preview

THE GREEN LAKE TOWER. NADIA (PART 1)

Every evening, before slipping into bed, Zareen opens her window wide and waits for her owl. This owl, which she has called Chachou since her early childhood, once revealed to her an extraordinary gift, that of knowing how to talk to animals and understand them. He taught her how to use it.

Since that time, the bird comes every night to give her news of the forest, before she falls asleep.

Our friend, that evening, received some curious news from Chachou. He surprised her by announcing the presence of a ghost in the forest! And according to the owl, this ghost wandered at night near a small lake with green waters, located next to an old abandoned tower.

Zareen, very curious, asked a few questions.

-What does this ghost look like?

He's all white, replied the bird.

-Did you see it yourself?

-I saw it as I see you, at the foot of the green lake tower. You know, we owls only move at night. During the day we sleep. But our night vision is excellent.

-And this tower, where is it? asked the girl.

Chachou gave him the explanation. First we had to go to the big lake, the one Zareen knows, and in the center of which is an island covered with flowers. The green lake is higher up. It is easily recognized by the weeping willow which dips its roots there.

The owl flew away, and our friend, intrigued, thought of this ghost again as she fell asleep, torn between the desire to see it and the fear it inspired in her.

THE NEXT MORNING, SHE received permission from her parents to go to this tower of the green lake.

Zareen indeed, does not go to school. She lives in the middle of the forest. The village and the school are two hours on foot, a little less by bike, on a bad dirt road, often muddy. If she went to class, she would have to walk two hours in the morning to get there and two hours every evening to come back. So she studies at home with the help of her mother.

Sometimes she works with father, a lumberjack, to help him load logs onto trailers or line them up along the road. They are not very rich at Zareen's and dad cannot afford an assistant. Our friend gladly does this work with her father, because she adores him, and then at her age, just ten years old, we understand that sometimes we have to help our parents. You can't ask them everything.

So our friend that day was not supposed to work with dad or write homework or study lessons. She put on her old denim overalls, faded by the rains and swimming and well worn, but which she refuses to part with, and a t-shirt. She laced up her gymnastic sandals and rediding her braids, which she undid for the night, she went down to lunch.

After her slice of bread and her glass of milk, she prepared a second which she wrapped and put in the front pocket of her overalls next to the penknife she always carries with her. Then she slipped a belt around her waist and hung her water bottle on it. Thus equipped, she left for the forest, with the consent of her parents.

She first followed a long dirt road, dotted with numerous puddles of water, sometimes deep, often muddy, and on the surface of which mosquitoes swarmed. Then she left this path for a path that went through hills and valleys.

Twice she had to cross a stream or a small torrent. The water came up to his knees both times. His sneakers and the bottom of his overalls were soaked. As usual... Finally, after a grove of fir trees, she arrived at the edge of the large lake she knew. She had already been there with her dad.

She approached the wooden wharf where a boat was tied up. She remembered the promise she had made to her parents not to go canoeing alone. She observed the place. The island was in front of her. To the left it climbed gently into the undergrowth. On the right, the tall grass invaded the flat ground under the sun.

She set out to explore to the right, but the further she went in search of the Green Lake Tower, the muddy the ground became. In addition, clumps of nettles, brambles and sometimes fallen trunks that rotted, obstructed the passage. Progress became impossible. Zareen gave up and turned around, hoping that this green lake tower would be accessible from the other side.

Back near the boat, she sat down against a tree, unwrapped her sandwich and ate it. Then, as she was still a little hungry, she approached a tree covered in small red berries that looked like currants. She picked a bunch and tasted it. She found them a little safe but not bad. She ate a few more and then, lulled by the sun and the lapping of the lake water, she closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them, she saw a young girl sitting in the boat. She had long blonde hair. Our friend immediately suspected that she was dreaming. The girl had no legs, but a fish tail. A mermaid !

The strange little girl beckoned him to come closer. Zareen, curious, intrigued, got up and walked towards the tray in which the mermaid was sitting. She gave him another sign, inviting him to get on the boat. Our friend stepped over the edge of the boat to sit down. Strangely, her foot only encountered emptiness and she found herself in the water of the lake.

Zareen opened her eyes and awoke from a dream. She had fallen asleep! Getting up and then walking while sleeping, she had fallen into the water. The boat was actually ten meters away. Our friend emerged from the lake, soaked from head to toe. The sun was going to set soon, we had to hurry back before nightfall. She returned home, thinking she would dry up on the way.

As she was leaving she heard a bell ring to the left. The bell rang three times.

The mystery of the green lake tower and its ghost remained intact...

THE NEXT DAY, ZAREEN worked all day with her dad, with courage. She picked up logs and piled them along the path.

This work does not seem very hard to you, but when you carry logs all day, you get tired. You get splinters in your fingers, you get dirty, and in the evening, you come home exhausted and your clothes full of mud.

As night fell, our friend told her owl that she hadn't discovered the green lake tower. The bird of prey explained to him that it was necessary to go up by the left. He could have said it sooner, the girl thought. She promised herself to go back another time.

ON THE SEVENTH DAY of our adventure, Zareen was able to set off again towards the green lake, firmly promising this time not to eat any unknown berries on the way.

A tower appeared to him between the trees on the left, erected a few meters from the green lake. All in gray stones and cracked in some places. It must have been the dungeon of a very old castle which has now disappeared.

Zareen approached it. A thick, black wooden door barred entry. It was locked with an old rusty padlock.

Above, our friend saw narrow windows designed to barely allow a weapon to pass through, loopholes. Higher still, on the second floor, a large opening probably corresponded to an old window. Inaccessible.

The girl circled the square building, but found no other entrance. She thought about climbing the facade but she quickly gave up her plan. It was far too dangerous.

A little disappointed, she looked around. She noticed a fairly large, very wide oak tree about a hundred yards away. Zareen then remembered the rest of her owl's story. As you turn around, you will see a hollow tree. The ghost seems to come out of this old oak tree.

Our friend walked towards the tree and climbed from branch to branch. Fortunately, it was quite easy to climb. Reached the top, she discovered that it was hollow and in the hollow was hung a rope ladder which allowed to descend there.

IT WAS PITCH BLACK in there. It was impressive ! This hollow oak, no doubt struck down in the past, still stood very green. Torn by curiosity, Zareen clung to the rope ladder and descended into the shaft of the trunk.

She put her feet down in a corridor, probably an old castle underground. The walls of old stones and bricks supported a rounded vault. It was all cold, damp, covered in moss and lichen, some of which gave off a tiny bit of phosphorescent light.

On one side, on the right, the underground had collapsed. On the other side, it continued quite a distance. At the end, our friend distinguished a ray of light, at ground level. Heavy curtains hid the opening. She walked in that direction. She had gone halfway, when the fringe of the draperies parted to let a little girl pass.

She looked ten years old like Zareen.

Afraid of being surprised in her audacious exploration, our friend leaned against the cold wall of the underground passage. That's all she could do. Unfortunately, it remained perfectly visible. Impossible to hide in this place.

The girl with long blond hair, dressed in a white dress and white sneakers stained with mud, advanced towards Zareen.

Our friend felt her heart racing. She was very scared. His icy hands were shaking. The little girl dressed in white walked past Zareen without looking at her! She reached where the rope ladder was and groped to grab it.

Our friend thus understood that this little girl who had just passed in front of her was blind.

The little girl climbed the rope ladder with great agility, despite being blind. She descended from the oak tree, going from branch to branch, and headed for the tower. Zareen followed her from a distance.

Arrived at the foot of the ruins, the little girl sat down on the ground, leaning against an old wall, in the sun.

Zareen slowly approached the smiling little girl. She wanted to meet him.

- Hello, whispered our friend, what's your name?

The little girl seized herself and turned her head towards Zareen.

-I seemed to have felt a presence, but you are awfully discreet. My name is Nadia. And you ?

- Zareen. I'm just ten years old.

Me too, answered Nadia, with a small smile.

- Do you live around here? asked our friend.

- Yes, under this castle.

- What castle?

-But the one against whom I lean. We are in the garden surrounding the ruins. And you, where is your house? 

Far enough from here, replied our friend. In the middle of the forest. My dad is a lumberjack.

AT THIS TIME, A DONG sounded three times from the top of the old tower. This same bell had awakened our friend a few days earlier.

Nadia was silent. She sat up.

-I have to go home. Mom calls me. Bye.

The girl walked away in the direction of the oak tree.

ZAREEN FOLLOWED HER for a moment with her eyes, then she decided to follow in her footsteps. She climbed the tree in silence, then descended the rope ladder, trying to make as little noise as possible. Fortunately crows, installed on the tower, croaked to who better better. Then she walked down the dark hallway.

The girl disappeared behind the curtains. Our friend arrived at these same hangings a moment later. They were very thick velvet and fell to the floor.

Zareen risked sticking her head out. She saw a few stairs, then a large, well-furnished room. Tables, chairs, a clock, armchairs, rugs, frames on the wall, a beautiful lighted chandelier, all this confirmed a dwelling place.

To the left, through an open door, she saw a kitchen. To the right began a hallway. Above, there was a small terrace and