The Creepy Caves Mystery Read online

  The Creepy Caves Mystery

  This book belongs to:

  Warrior_____________

  will, God’s Mighty Warrior™

  series includes:

  Will, God’s Mighty Warrior™

  The Mystery of Magillicuddy’s Gold

  The Creepy Caves Mystery

  And just for girls:

  gigi, God’s Little Princess™

  series includes:

  Gigi, God’s Little Princess™

  (in book and DVD formats)

  The Royal Tea Party*

  The Perfect Christmas Gift

  The Pink Ballerina*

  The Purple Ponies

  Gigi’s Hugest Announcement DVD

  (*indicates stories that appear on this DVD)

  WILL, GOD’S MIGHTY WARRIOR™: THE CREEPY CAVES MYSTERY

  Text © 2008 by Sheila Walsh.

  Illustrations © 2008 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

  Thomas Nelson, Inc., books may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

  Will, God’s Mighty Warrior™ is a trademark of Sheila Walsh, Inc. Used by permission.

  Scripture quoted from the International Children's Bible®, New Century Version®, © 1986, 1988, 1999 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee 37214.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Walsh, Sheila, 1956–

  The Creepy Caves Mystery / Sheila Walsh ; illustrated by Meredith Johnson.

  p. cm. — (Will, God's mighty warrior)

  Summary: When young Will, seeking adventure while visiting his grandparents, hears strange noises coming from a cave and leads “Detective Ralph,” his dog, to investigate, even though Papa said to wait for him, he comes to understand more about God and being obedient.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4003-1125-5 (hardcover)

  ISBN-10: 1-4003-1125-X

  [1. Obedience—Fiction. 2. Caves—Fiction. 3. Grandparents—Fiction. 4. Dogs—Fiction. 5. Christian life—Fiction.] I. Johnson, Meredith, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.W16894Cre2007 [E]—dc22

  2007029354

  Printed in China

  08 09 10 11 12 MT 5 4 3 2 1

  This book is

  dedicated to Christian

  Walsh and to Chase, Cole,

  and Tate Trammel—if there

  is a mystery to be

  uncovered, these boys

  will find it!

  “Ralph and I were born for adventure,” Will announced to his grandparents, Nana and Papa, on the first day of his summer visit.”

  “We are SO ready.

  First, we’ll chase sand crabs and look for jellyfish . . .

  then we’ll swim . . .

  then we’ll look for clues to any unsolved mysteries . . . and then we’ll have lunch.”

  “I brought everything I need to solve a mystery.”

  “Ralph, you will need to learn to creep very quietly,”

  Will said, and he proceeded to show Ralph what creeping quietly looked like.

  “Well, let’s start at the beach where you can play in the ocean or build sandcastles,” Nana said.

  “Sandcastles!” Will said, horrified at the very idea. “That might be Princess Gigi’s idea of fun, but Ralph and I are here to meet adventure and danger face-to-face.”

  “Ah,” Papa said, “I know just where to take you . . .

  “Did you say . . . Creepy Caves?” Will asked, hardly able to contain his excitement.

  “Yes,” Papa replied. “Legend says that Creepy Caves used to be a hideout for robbers and that sometimes at night you can still hear noises and see light coming from the largest cave.”

  “Detective Ralph and I are on the case!” Will said.

  “Listen, Will, Creepy Caves can be dangerous. You need to wait for me to go with you. You and Nana go to the beach this morning, and I will come at lunch to take you and Ralph to Creepy Caves. Now, don’t go into the caves without me.”

  All morning Will and Ralph splashed in the water and chased sand crabs on the beach near Creepy Caves.

  “The caves don’t look very creepy,” Will whispered to Ralph.

  “At least not to a fearless detective like me.”

  Ralph agreed with a happy woof.

  “I can’t believe we can see Creepy Caves and have to wait for Papa to go inside them,” Will muttered.

  Suddenly Will heard a strange noise coming from inside the caves. It sounded like something scratching across rock. “That must be the robbers hiding their treasure! There is something mysterious going on in that cave.” Will looked through his binoculars and gasped when he saw footprints at the cave entrance. “Ralph, we are fearless detectives! We must investigate.”

  “I have my camera. I could take a photograph of the robber, and we’ll turn him in,” Will said in a tough voice. “Papa said to wait for him. But if we wait, the robber might get away.” Ralph growled at the thought.

  Will crept up to the cave. Ralph crept close behind just like Will had taught him.

  “It’s dark in there,” Will whispered. “I wish I had my flashlight.”

  “We’ll just take a quick look inside. It wouldn’t really be bad if we just went in a little way,” Will reasoned.

  Will was wrong about that!

  Inside the cave, the path quickly turned to the left. It was very dark.

  Ralph whined.

  “Do not fear, Detective Ralph,” Will said in a shaky voice. “I’m right here, boy. . . just stay close beside me.”

  Will heard footsteps and began to think that this had been a very bad idea. The robbers must be coming after him! He turned to run.

  Suddenly he tripped and fell onto the jagged rocks. Will scraped his hands and knees. He couldn’t see a thing. Something fluttered in the air right by his face.

  Detective Will screamed. He thought to himself, Papa told me not to come in the cave without him, and now I’m lost, it’s dark, robbers are chasing me, and there’s a ginormous bird that’s going to eat me!

  Will heard footsteps coming right toward him. A light shone in his face. Then he saw Papa kneeling down to him.

  “Papa!” Will cried.

  “I am right here, Will,” Papa said.

  From farther inside the cave, a voice called out, “Hey, who’s there?”

  “Run, Papa, run! It’s a stinking, rotten robber and his killer pterodactyl,” Will cried out.

  Just then a young man appeared.

  “Don’t be scared! I’m Mike Stone,” he said. “I’m a college student studying the life of bats! Lots of them live in this cave.”

  “Wow! Bats! That must be what swooped by my head! But what was that weird noise?” Will asked.

  “I scraped against the cave rocks with my ladder,” Mike answered.

  “Now it all makes sense!” Will exclaimed. “The Creepy Caves Mystery is solved!”

  Mike told them lots of fun things about bats like the fact that they have fur all over their bodies. He asked Will and Papa to come back the next afternoon to watch him work.

  After Mike left, Will and Papa headed for the picnic lunch Nana had waiting for them on the beach.

  “Papa, I’m sorry that I went into the caves when you told me not to,” Will said.


  “I forgive you, Will. Let’s give it another try. But this time we’ll go together and meet Mike to see those bats. Now there’s another mystery: How did God make something as amazing as bats?”

  “God is SO cool!” Will said with a grin. “And I am SO on the case.”

  That night after his Creepy Caves adventure, Will prayed . . .

  Dear God, thank You for today. Thank You that Papa was there when I needed him. I’m glad You’re always with me too. I’m sorry that I disobeyed.Please help me see some bats tomorrow. And it would be great if they were friendly and didn’t poop on my head.

  Amen.

  Children, obey

  your parents the way

  the Lord wants. This is

  the right thing to do.

  Ephesians 6:1

 

 

  Sheila Walsh, The Creepy Caves Mystery

  Thanks for reading the books on GrayCity.Net