Chapter 1

The summer rain hit the roof loudly. Someone rang the bell and all the children of Musikili sat down in the pavilion. It was a surprisingly cool, dreary day, and everyone was shivering besides that one tough kid in the back that seemed to enjoy the coolness. Mr. Jackson came up and greeted the school. "Good morning Mr. Jackson and teachers and friends." chorused the school. Mr. Jackson stood silently and then announced; "Last night, without our knowledge, a few boys seemed to have snuck out of hostel, and have not been found yet. So if any one sees a child in their pyjamas, report to me." Mr. Weinrich is now going to read out lost property.

The children lined up outside their classes, waiting to go in. Mrs. Jackson came out and told the Grade fives to enter. They all went into the classroom carrying the treasures the pebble had bought to them. They sat down. 'I can see the pebbles have worked.' Mrs. Jackson smiled. 'But I need to ask, do any of you have information on the missing boys. As you can see, some of us are missing, and I am very disappointed that Grade fives are setting a bad example, sneaking out of hostel." The Grade fives looked around; seven boys were missing- Cuwien, Jemual, Zangi, Chate, Raiyaaz, Dominic and Gio. Everyone was surprised about Gio as he was usually very well behaved! No one said anything. Mrs. Jackson looked around, visibly concerned, and then started with the lesson.

Break was as miserable as line-up. The rain poured down and the kids had to stay inside. The missing kids had still not arrived back and Mr. Jackson was very upset. He phoned their parents saying that that he was not at all happy with their children's behaviour, and asked if they knew anything about their whereabouts. The parents did not know and were extremely upset. It was not until the next day that he had found something.