I resisted tackling him in a violent attempt to see it. “What does it say?” I asked, while trying to catch a glimpse at the mysterious note. He handed it to me. I read it carefully.

“Dearest Hector, our only son,

If you are reading this grim letter, it is likely we are already dead, or otherwise inaccessible. It is common knowledge that our family is cursed to be trailed by tragedy. This is not what we had wished for you, dearest son, but this carnival holds your heritage, and marks our tragic history. Only someone of our own blood can learn the truth as too what’s in this carnival’s core, and we trust you to save us all, darling Hector. Discretion is necessary in all messages from us and we trust you will soon learn why. Now, before we depart, take the one bit of wisdom your loving parents can offer you. We know much about hardship and despair, life can be cruel. It will throw you curveballs at every turn, and leave you to drown in a sea of uncertainty, but what we’ve found is, sometimes there is treasure in its depths. Farewell dear son, until we meet again.

With love,

Your mother and father,

Elaine and Berlin Swan”

I read it over again, then folded it back up. “Everything you hoped for?” Arlen asked. I nodded.

“Hector is my father,” I whispered. “It’s from them. It’s all them…” I paused, “This must be how we get out! They’re somehow related to the heart of the carnival and its history. We just have to figure out what’s going on with them and, somehow we can leave!”

He narrowed his eyes as though he was thinking, then looked down at me. “That’s a lead for sure,” he smiled. “But what do we do now? Any psychic visions from your grandparents?”

I shut my eyes in an attempt to humor the idea. “Nothing,” I laughed. “You’re the one who comes from a family of detectives here? Any hidden meanings behind the words? Any clues?”

“Let me see it again,” he extended his hand and I placed the folded paper in his palm. He reviewed it. “I have something…” he said, though it was clear he was still thinking. “So obviously there’s gotta be a hint somewhere right? That’s what the theme of it alludes to, but it’s obviously hidden because of discretion. It could be physically hidden, like invisible ink or some conditional trigger that makes it appear, or it could just be word double meaning,”

I was momentarily taken aback by how much he knew about secret messages. I immediately realized how lucky I was to have someone with knowledge of detection on my team. “Which one do you think it is?”

“For this letter, I think it’s a double meaning. Obviously it has to lead us to somewhere inside the carnival, and I’m looking at the words, “sea” and “treasure”. What does it make you think of?”

“Hmm,” I thought for a moment, “pirates?”

He smiled at me, “The pirate’s cove?” He pointed in a direction where there was a large attraction themed around pirates, a little ways past the hall of mirrors.

“Let’s go!” I jumped with joy and ran off in the direction of our first lead.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Based on the deep indent of footprints leading up to the pirates cove, I could tell it was a popular attraction. However, given that the sun was moments away from completely setting, now it was eerily barren. The main attraction was a large shipwreck shaped building with a tavern style restaurant inside, but to get to it you had to cross a bridge going over a deep, sea-like lake with fake treasures and props surrounding the whole scene. The smell of sea water burned my nostrils, adding authenticity to the area. Arlen walked up to the water, then began to remove his shoes and heavy coat. He stared at me standing above him. “Are you coming?”

I pointed to a sign at the base of the body of water. “No dipping. We’re not allowed,”

He laughed. “I’m not exactly a rebel, however, at this point Mabelle, do you really still think it necessary to follow every rule? No one is around, and even if they were, well, I think we have worse problems than an angry employee. Besides, all of them are… strange, I’m sure you’ve noticed. I certainly have, but that’s a theory for another time, for now, I’ll just assure you we will be perfectly fine,”

I hesitated, “I guess you’re right,”

He nodded and gestured for me to sit with him. “I would remove your shoes and corset. I know it’s improper, but they make for terrible swimming,”

I smiled at him, “I’m sure you know from experience?” I teased.

“Of course,” he laughed along, “What man doesn’t wear a corset every now and then?” he winked.

I laughed and removed the troublesome articles, then walked with him to the water’s edge. I could feel the freezing water flow over my exposed toes and I knew that this would not be fun. “What’s the plan?”

“Just look around the bottom of it, see if you can find anything unordinary,”

I nodded. “On three. One, two, three,” I stated and we both ran into the body of water after taking deep breaths. The sharp chill of the water instantly put my body into shock, but I powered through, and started to dive to the bottom. It was nearly impossible to see, with the low light of night and the salt water stinging my eyes. I felt the bottom of the lake floor with my hands and brushed some sand up. Other than some larger rocks, there was nothing of interest as I searched the small area, and eventually I had to come up for air.

When I reached the surface, I saw that Arlen had done the same. He was treading water and his hair was slicked onto his skin by the water. “Did you find anything?” he yelled seeing me rise.

“No!” I returned, and looked around the lake. “It’s impossible, this lake is huge,”

“There has to be something around he-” He was cut off by the deafening noise of creaking metal. We looked to its source and found it to be coming from where the lake met the carnival wall. We could see a large rusty iron gate slowly rising up to be just above the water.

My heart was practically beating through my chest, wondering what could possibly be behind me, and eventually my own curiosity got the best of me. I continued swimming, but looked over my shoulder. Arlen was right. I wish I hadn’t. A gray fin was cruising above the water, racing towards us and gaining speed. A shark had been released with the gate, and Arlen and I? We were the bait.