The sailor’s huddled against the bow of the ship as a sliver of land appeared on the horizon.

Their captain standing behind them wanted a better look so he pushed them out of the way. James Major a scruffy man of average height wore a white and blue captain’s hat and a purple pin on his shoulder that demonstrated he was the Royal Navy elite.  

“That’s it boys!” he exclaimed. “TREASURE AWAITS!”

Commissioned by the Royal Navy of England James was on a mission to meet with a foreign tribe for an exchange of goods.

The tall palm trees and the beach came into view, as their giant vessel rolled forward over the waves. About a mile offshore they dropped anchor and began filling their rowboats with supplies. Then they lowered them into the water and began paddling towards the shore.

“Sir,” James’s 1^st lieutenant interjected between grunts. “This looks different than the way the Royal Navy described. I believe they said there would be snowing.”

“Nonsense, can’t you see those old losers at the Navy got it wrong.”

“Yes sir,” he responded.

“LAND HOE,” he cried out as their rowboat touched down onto the rock and sand.

The pebbles sparkling under their feet the sailor’s covered their eyes and inspected the area around. Despite the captain’s optimism it seemed like something was wrong.

Or maybe it was the crew’s hopelessness. Only half of the crew had survived the journey. The voyage to the island had started out with high hopes. Now that the men had finally come across their destination though, their morale was all but empty.

Looking on the faces of his battered and beaten crewmates, James Major smiled though.

“Sir, are you sure this is the right place?” his 2nd lieutenant urged.

“Why are all of you so scared..” He replied, “there is no reason to be afraid. These are the exact coordinates that the Royal Navy gave me.”

James pulled a crumpled napkin from his pocket and displayed the nearly illegible writing that appeared to say 54.5 degrees South and 45.6 degrees West.

“But sir, it was only supposed to be a few days journey. We are almost three months into it.”

“I was told that a group would see us coming and meet us on the beach.”

As if on cue a group of men walked out from behind the trees and stood in front of the sailors, clutching sharp spears and hatches in their hands. A few with red war paint across their cheeks and wearing patchwork pieces of hide began to shriek. The sailor’s felt a chill pass down their spine.

“Hello my good men,” James called out to the group approaching them.

They pulled out more weapons and shouted in their native language.

“Good, that is wonderful, the company prepared me for this.” He replied, “Dangar Uktor Crock.”

As if the men suddenly understood, they smiled and put away their weapons. They grabbed his hands, and as his fellow navy men began to yell, James explained, “they said they would be rough. Nothing to be concerned about boys.”

“I was told to do the negotiations on my own…Just wait..with…the ship…boys.” He shouted as the natives carried him off.

The group of men carried him up the hill into a small circle of tiki huts. The entire village was made of a little less than two dozen people. The men dragged James into the middle of a group of women working around a fire pit. Standing there, the red embers began to feel warm under his feet.

“Dangar Uktok Crock?” He repeated as the group of people gathered around each other to discuss something.

“I believe that there should be a representative who speaks English.”

That is when a young woman emerged from the shadows.

She inspected him everywhere, pulling aside his cheeks to check his gums. Then ripping his clothes off and splashing some slimy red mud over his bare flesh.  

“Haha,” he announced, “this does seem quite forward.”

Some others brought out a large black cauldron.

“Oh, how wonderful you’ve prepared a bath for me. This is all making sense I heard you were extremely gracious hosts.”

The men pushed James into the boiling water.

“Oh, how hot this is,” he said as the entire group chanted. Dark words filled the air, and the energy began to shift.

“So, I hope eventually we will be able to discuss where the treasure is that you’ve discovered? Is there anyone amongst you who speaks English I was told there would be.”

That’s when the heat began to crank up.

“My goodness, this is quite hot would you mind turning it down?”

A man with feathers covering his body and wearing an elaborate head piece constructed of bones rounded the corner. His deep voice began to pierce the groups chanting.

The shaman’s black lips curled and flicked as their chanting grew louder.  He crossed behind James and held out his hands. One of the young boys walked up and placed a bucket full of a bubbling liquid in his palms. James screamed as a searing sulfurous liquid dripped down his body. “Awwwww, I see this must be one of those new age skin treatments I’ve been hearing about.” He huffed, “I’ve heard they are all the rage. I guess it’s true what they say beauty is pain.”

Then the man strapped him to a tall log and propped him over the firepit. The chanting continued as they all held hands around him. The shaman lighting the pile of wood on fire.

“I’m not sure I was told anything about this.” He says to them.

Finally, he began to sob, but not for the reasons you think. In fact, he didn’t feel much of anything. He cried because he would need to admit to his crew that he was lost.

After everyone had fallen asleep, he rose up from the ashes and walked back to the beach. As he began to pile their supplies back into the rowboat and while ignoring questions from his crewmates, he explained in a testy tone that seemed like a whisper, “I think we made a wrong turn.”

Ms. Frazzle was not completely concerned with the class’s reaction, which seemed to aggravate the students even more.

“Listen if you don’t join us on this emergency field trip, then you will fail the semester.”

Even for fourth graders, failing a single class in the prestigious Prep Terryville Academy could be devastating for their reputation. Naturally, they kept their mouths shut and listened as Ms. Frazzle continued.

“I think this is going to be the best thing that’s ever happened to you kids. We’re going to learn so much about Science.” She rubbed her puffy eyes as she pulled open the drawer behind her desk. She put her hands inside and flicked a small silver switch.

The hum of heavy machinery filled the room as the wall behind Ms. Frazzle lowered itself. Revealing a tiny staircase that descended into darkness.

The classroom of a handful of kids drew in close to each other.

“Are we going down there?” one of them asked.

“Of course, it’s the only way into the secret portal to the other side.”

“What’s on the other side?” another one of the girls inquired.

Ms. Frazzle shuffled towards the entrance, her black sundress with yellow flower print blowing past her as a loud ominous moan escaped the staircase.

“Okay kids, let’s go on a special adventure.” She yelled as she hurried down the steps.

 As the children fell in line behind her one of the young boys in the back whispered, “don’t we need to get a waiver signed to go on school field trips?”

Ms. Frazzle led the children past stacks of dusty boxes, to a tiny hole shining light through the wall. Standing on some boxes, she pulled the gateway open and explained. “This gateway will teleport us out of the school. Now go children.”

One by one they hopped onto the lawn outside Prep Terryville Academy.

When Ms. Frazzle had squeezed herself through the gateway she started leading the kids across the street.

“Here it is,” she announced as the group of children stepped up next to a wide yellow van. The kids piled into the back, all of them sitting on the shag carpeting, unrestrained by seat belts. “Alright, that looks like everyone,” she continued as she looked back, and then started up the car.

The freeway was crowded with jack-holes and so Ms. Frazzle was speeding along dodging in and out of traffic.

“Now, there are four states of matter, plasma, gas, solid, and liquid. Can anyone guess which state of matter is the fastest?”

Samantha the smallest girl in class raised her hand.

“Yes Samantha.”

Pulling her short hair behind her ears, she answered with a question, “gas?”

“Yes. -”

One of the boys up front interjected, “is lava plasma?”

“No, actually,” Ms. Frazzle giggled. “Although lava is extremely hot, plasma is even hotter than that. A good example of plasma would be lightning.”

The kids seemed interested.

“Now can anyone guess what could possible change the state of matter?” Ms. Frazzle asked as they swerved across the highway to barely catch the exit.

Everyone remained silent. “It’s temperature. That’s right you can make anything into a gas, if you apply the right amount of temperature.”

She suddenly slammed on the brakes, the group of kids fell forward smashing against the front of the van.

“I’m so glad to have you kids here today.” Ms. Frazzle explained, “me and my partner have been wanting do some experiments.”

“Oh like what kind of experiments,” Samantha asked.

“You know the fun kind.”

The kids in the back went from silence to holding their breathe. Then Ms. Frazzle answered the phone, “Hello This is Ms. Frazzle.”  As she started talking her voice sped up, and she started using words the children didn’t understand. Ms. Frazzle continued speaking with the person and she seemed irritated, but Samantha was the only kid to lean forward and listen intently to the conversation.  

“Anyone alive back there?” she asked, suddenly hanging up the phone.

Not for long, they all thought to themselves.

When they pulled up and stopped on the side of the street, the kids tried looking through the windows to understand where they were while Ms. Frazzle traipsed around the front of the van and swung the door open.

She reached in and grabbed Samantha, “okay let’s go.”

Samantha grabbed at the side of the van, screaming for her life. Ms. Frazzle reeled back and dropped her, Samantha falling like a bag of bricks to the floor.

“What are you so scared of?”

No one seemed like they were able to respond to her. Behind they could see a dilapidated structure, and some faces, moving blinds aside to see what was happening.

“Wow, well it seems I’m going to just have to leave you here.”

She slammed the door, and left the children huddled together in the dark van.

“Does she want to turn us into a gas?” one of the young boys asked.

“I hope not,” Samantha answered.

“We can’t do anything about it though,” he responded, “we’re trapped.”

“I’m going to make a break for it.”

“We wouldn’t even know where to run though.” Samantha pointed out.

When Ms. Frazzle returned she was alone. She got herself into the driver’s seat and started up the car. “That was really disappointing, I thought it would be cool for you guys to see their set up, but hey suit yourself.” She shrugged.

When they arrived back to the school, the kids were happy to leap out of the van. They ran around the school and snuck back into their room through the secret gateway. Ms. Frazzle had trouble keeping up with them. She counted them when they got back to the classroom to make sure everyone had made it back.

“I hope you had fun on that little trip she asked.

“So, can anyone tell me what they learned?” Samantha raised her hand, “An eighth should never be more than 50 dollars.”

“Exactly Samantha, alright, well the rest of the lesson plans for today, just to give you a taste for the exciting subject matter ahead…We’re going to be reviewing a brief history of drug warfare in this country. then moving onto safety first with officers, and wrapping up with a lesson about what your parents are going to do if they found out what we did…”