The wheels of Luca's bike crunched over gravel as he led the way down Stacyridge Drive. The afternoon sun beat down on his shoulders, warming the back of his neck. Behind him, he could hear the rhythmic squeaking of Maya's rusty chain and Lily's occasional giggles as she swerved to avoid cracks in the road.
"Are you sure your mom won't notice we're gone?" Jamal asked, pedaling up alongside him. His cousin's bike was the newest of the bunch, with shiny black paint that hadn't yet been scratched by adventure.
Luca shook his head. "She's working from home today. Conference calls all afternoon. As long as we're back before dinner, we're good."
The houses grew farther apart as they reached the edge of town. Tender Hollow wasn't big just a small dot on the map surrounded by woods and farmland but to Luca, those woods contained endless possibilities. Every trail, every creek bed, every odd-shaped rock could be part of a story they hadn't discovered yet.
"There it is," Maya called out, pointing ahead to where the pavement ended and a dirt road began. "Jeffries Road."
They slowed as they approached the turnoff. A weathered wooden sign, tilting slightly on its post, displayed the road name in faded black letters. Beyond it stretched a narrow lane flanked by tall pines that blocked much of the sunlight, creating a tunnel of dappled shadows.
"Looks kind of creepy," Lily said, but her voice held more excitement than fear.
"It's just trees," Jamal said, though Luca noticed his cousin's knuckles had gripped strongly around the handlebars
They turned onto the dirt road, their tires kicking up small clouds of dust. The temperature seemed to drop several degrees under the canopy of trees, a welcome relief from the summer heat. The sounds changed too the distant hum of lawnmowers and the occasional car passing faded away, replaced by the rustling of leaves and the calls of birds Luca couldn't name.
"Old Man Jeffries' place should be about a quarter mile down," Maya said. She'd pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket a hand drawn map. "Grandma Rosa helped me make this. She used to deliver groceries to him when she was young."
Luca was impressed. "You came prepared."
"Always," Maya replied with a small smile.
They rode in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds the soft whirring of their bike chains and the crunch of tires on dirt. The road curved gently to the right, and as they rounded the bend, the Wilkins property came into view.
The house itself sat back from the road—a two-story farmhouse with peeling white paint and shutters that hung crookedly from several windows. An ancient oak tree dominated the front yard, its massive branches casting the entire property in shadow. The 'For Sale' sign was exactly as Luca had described: so weathered that the realtor's name had faded to nothing.
"It looks haunted," Lily whispered.
"It's not haunted," Jamal said quickly. "Mr. Jeff isn't even dead. He's in Pine Haven Nursing Home."
"Where's the shed?" Luca asked, scanning the property.
Maya consulted her map. "Around back, near the edge of the woods."
They dismounted from their bikes at the end of the gravel driveway, leaning them against a rotting fence post.
"Maybe we should leave someone to keep watch," Jamal suggested, glancing nervously at the empty windows of the house. "You know, in case anyone comes."
"Who's going to come?" Luca asked. "The place has been empty forever."
"I don't know. Realtors? Trespassers? Ghosts?" Jamal reached into his backpack and pulled out a small first aid kit and a packet of trail mix. "I brought these. Just in case."
Luca tried not to smile. That was so typical of Jamal—always preparing for the worst while trying to sound like he wasn't worried at all.
"Smart thinking," Maya said, nudging Luca before he could tease his cousin.
"Lead the way, Map Master." Luca said to Maya
Maya's map guided them around the side of the house, past overgrown flowerbeds where only the hardiest plants still bloomed among the weeds. The backyard was even more neglected than the front—tall grass swayed in the breeze, and what had once been a vegetable garden was now a tangle of vines and wildflowers.
"Look," Lily whispered, pointing toward the tree line.
There, half-hidden by the encroaching forest, stood a small wooden structure. The shed. Its once-red paint had weathered to a dull rust color, and ivy crept up one side, almost hiding a narrow window. Unlike the house, which merely looked abandoned, the shed seemed to be merging with the forest itself, as if nature were slowly reclaiming it.
"Do you think there's a path?" Lily asked as they stood at the edge of the tall grass.
Luca squinted, studying the ground ahead of them. "Maybe." He took a step forward, pushing aside the grass with his hands. "Yeah, I think I see it. It's really overgrown, but there's definitely a path here."
He led the way, feeling like an explorer cutting through jungle. The grass reached almost to his waist in some spots, hiding dips and uneven ground that made walking tricky. Behind him, he could hear Lily complaining about the scratchy grass and Jamal warning everyone to watch out for ticks.
"Guys, check this out," Maya called from a few steps ahead. She had reached the beginning of what was clearly once a well-trodden path. Stone pavers, now cracked and shifted by years of freezing and thawing, marked a route from the edge of the yard to the shed door.
As they got closer, Luca could see that the shed was larger than it had appeared from a distance. More like a workshop than a place to store garden tools. A cobweb-covered wind chime hung from the eave, silent and still in the summer air.
"Should we knock?" Lily asked when they reached the door.
"Nobody's home, silly," Luca said, but he hesitated before reaching for the handle.
The door was wooden, with a small four-paned window at eye level—or at least, at eye level for an adult. Luca had to stand on his tiptoes to peer inside. The glass was so grimy that he could only make out vague shapes and shadows.
"Can you see anything?" Maya asked.
"Not really. It's too dark." Luca tried the door handle. It turned, but the door didn't budge. "It's stuck."
"Let me try," Jamal said, stepping forward. He put his shoulder against the door and pushed, but it remained firmly shut. "It might be locked."
"I don't think it's locked," Maya said, examining where the door met the frame. "I think it's jammed. Look, the wood has swelled around the edges. It happens to our shed door at home all the time." She ran her fingers along the edge of the door, then pushed at a specific spot. "Everyone push right here, all at once."
The four of them pressed their hands against the spot Maya had indicated, putting their weight behind it.
"On three," Maya said. "One… two… three!"
They pushed, and with a loud creak of protest, the door gave way, swinging inward so suddenly that they all stumbled forward a step. A cloud of dust billowed out, making them cough and wave their hands in front of their faces.
"Ow" Jamal said as he rubbed his head
"Gross," Lily said, wrinkling her nose. "It smells like mothballs."
"That's what happens when a place is closed up for years," Maya explained, already stepping inside.
Luca followed, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the dimness. The shed was indeed more of a workshop. A long workbench ran along one wall, cluttered with tools and jars of unidentifiable objects. Shelves lined the other walls, crammed with books, boxes, and what looked like scientific equipment, all covered in a thick layer of dust. Cobwebs stretched across the ceiling like delicate chandeliers.
"Whoa," Luca breathed, turning slowly to take it all in. Sunlight filtered through the dirty window and a skylight above, creating beams of light in which dust motes danced.
"Look at this stuff," Maya said, her voice hushed with awe as she approached one of the shelves. "These are star charts." She pointed to a roll of papers secured with a faded red ribbon.
"And these are compasses," Jamal added, examining a wooden box containing several brass instruments. "Really old ones."
Luca moved deeper into the shed, drawn to something hanging on the far wall. It was a painting, its frame tarnished and its canvas darkened with age. He wiped away some of the dust with his sleeve and leaned closer.
The painting showed a forest at night, trees silhouetted against a star-filled sky. But what caught Luca's attention were the strange lights depicted among the trees—not just one, but several, glowing in different colors. Some seemed to float between branches, while others clustered near the forest floor.
"Guys, check this out," he called, not taking his eyes off the painting.
The others gathered around him.
"Those lights," Maya whispered. "They look like what Grandma Rosa described."
"But you said she only mentioned one hidden light, not a bunch of them," Luca pointed out.
"Maybe the painting shows what happens after you find the first one?" Lily suggested, standing on her tiptoes to see better.
"Or maybe it's just a painting," Jamal said. "People paint weird stuff all the time."
"Mr. Jeffries must have known about the lights," Maya said. "Why else would he have all this stuff? The star charts, the compasses…"
"Maybe he was trying to find them," Luca suggested, excitement building in his chest. "Maybe he was looking for the hidden lantern too."
Lily had wandered away from the painting and was now exploring a dark corner of the shed. "There's a lot of junk back here," she called. "Old fishing poles, some boxes of… I don't know, looks like rocks? And there's something under this cloth."
Luca turned to see his sister pointing at what appeared to be a large piece of canvas draped over something in the corner. A ray of sunlight from the skylight fell directly on that spot, and Luca could see what had caught Lily's attention—a gleam of metal peeking out from beneath the edge of the cloth.
The four of them approached slowly. Even Jamal seemed to have forgotten his earlier caution, drawn by curiosity.
"Should we look?" Maya asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"That's why we came, isn't it?" Luca replied, though his heart was beating faster now. He reached for the edge of the canvas. "Ready?"
The others nodded.
With a dramatic flourish, Luca pulled the cloth away. Dust swirled in the beam of sunlight, momentarily obscuring what lay beneath. Then, as the dust settled, they all leaned forward to see.
There, sitting on an old wooden crate, was a lantern. But not just any lantern—this one was made of tarnished brass, its surface covered in intricate engravings that seemed to shift and change as the light played across them. Its glass panels were intact but clouded with age, and a heavy-looking handle arched over the top.
For a long moment, none of them spoke. They simply stared at the lantern, mesmerized by the way it caught the light despite its tarnished condition.
"Is that…" Maya began.
"The hidden lantern," Luca finished, his voice filled with wonder.
"But it's not hidden anymore," Lily pointed out. "We found it."
"Maybe it's not the right one," Jamal said, but he reached out tentatively to touch one of the engravings. "What are these symbols supposed to mean?"
Luca felt a shiver run down his spine—not from fear, but from the thrill of discovery. They had come looking for a legend, a story from long ago, and instead they had found something real. Something that might be genuinely mysterious.
"Should we take it?" Lily asked, looking to her brother for direction.
Luca hesitated. Taking something from someone else's property, even an abandoned shed, didn't seem right. But then again, the lantern had been sitting here for years, forgotten and gathering dust. And if it really was the lantern from Maya's grandmother's stories—the one that could be a doorway to somewhere else—didn't they have a responsibility to find out?
"We'll borrow it," he decided finally. "Just to study it. And if it turns out to be nothing special, we'll bring it back."
No one argued with this logic. Even Jamal, usually the voice of caution, seemed too captivated by the lantern to object.
Carefully, Luca lifted the lantern from its resting place. It was heavier than it looked, and the metal was cool against his hands despite the summer heat. The engravings seemed to tingle slightly against his fingertips, but he told himself it was just his imagination.
"Let's take it home," he said, cradling the lantern against his chest. "We can clean it up and figure out what those symbols mean."
As they made their way back across the overgrown yard, the lantern safely wrapped in the canvas cloth and tucked into Jamal's backpack (the only one big enough to hold it), Luca couldn't shake the feeling that they had just crossed some invisible threshold. That in finding the lantern, they had set something in motion that couldn't be stopped.
Little did they know how right he was.