What’s inside the Twelfth Tower
Molly Francis Megan, Group 3: Fiction, Renaissance College
ell here we are!” Ellie’s dad said as he opened the hotel room door.
Ellie dumped her bag on the single bed that she thought must be hers. Ellie’s parents had to
come to Beijing for a conference and they had decided to bring Ellie along. Ellie’s parents
were both very important business men and they also home-schooled Ellie. Their hotel was
brilliant, right next to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.
“
Ok Ellie, tomorrow when we are at the conference, I have asked one of my friend’s daughters to take
you to the Great Wall,” Ellie’s mum explained. “Her name is Karen and she’s the same age as you.”
“
I’ve always wanted to go to the Great Wall!” Ellie shouted.
The next day, Ellie waited for Karen at the door of the hotel. At about 10 am a woman and a girl walked over.
“
Are you Ellie Clarkson?” The woman asked.
“
Yes, are you Karen?” Ellie asked the woman as she looked at the girl.
“
No, but my daughter is,” She said as she gestured towards the girl.
“
Ni Hao, whoops, I mean Hello!” The girl said.
“
I’m Ellie,” Ellie said as she held out her hand. Karen looked at Ellie’s hand as if it had a disease, but
then shook it.
“
So here are your bus passes and train tickets, and here is some money for lunch and snacks, and here is
some tokens for renting bicycles, By the way, my name is May,” May explained as Ellie took her tickets and
money and placed it into her wallet.
“
Bye, girls! Be careful!” May said.
“
The train station is quite far away, so we’re going to rent some bikes, hey wait, what’s this?” Karen
explained as she pointed to a billboard outside the forbidden city.
FORBIDDEN CITY’S ONLY GOLD STATUE STOLEN!
If found, please return to the police
HUGE REWARD!!!
“
Oh my gosh! We have to find it!” Ellie shrieked.
“
But how? That’s the problem, hmmmmm... But I might know someone who can help, We’re going to
Mr Tao’s box shop!” Karen shouted. The girls crossed the road and then walked into a narrow alley to find lots
of small stalls. Ellie grabbed Karen’s hand and started to walk a bit faster. They walked out of the alley and
into a small shop called ‘Mr Tao’s Box Shop.’ It was filled with boxes of all different shapes and sizes. Karen
walked over to the counter while Ellie started to look in them. Ellie spotted a large box with beautiful patterns
on it. Ellie opened it and found even more beautiful patterns but at the bottom there was a tiny piece of paper.
“
Karen, look what I found!” Ellie shouted.
Karen ran over and looked at the paper. It was all in Chinese so she started reading it.
“
It says: Bring the gold to the 12th light tower at the great wall, the code is right brick, left brick, left
brick, right brick. From Professor Chao,” Karen read out. “The thief must’ve came here before going to the
Great Wall. Can you ask Mr Tao if he saw anybody suspicious looking in the shop?” Ellie asked.
Karen walked back to the counter and asked Mr Tao.
“
He said that he did see a man carrying a sack, but he left the shop quickly,” Karen explained.
“
Thanks Mr Tao, that’s probably the guy. Come on Karen, we have to go to the Great Wall,” Ellie said.
After an hour of cycling and another hour of train riding they finally got to the great wall of China.
“
Now we have to find the 12th light tower” Ellie said as she counted the light towers.
“
Its all the way down there!” Karen exclaimed.
“
Hey wait whats that?” Ellie said pointing in the direction towards the first light tower.
“
Its a bike renting stall!” Karen said as she started running.
Ellie followed closely behind her until they got to the stall. They quickly payed and then chose their
bikes. The girls jumped on their bikes and started to ride up the wall. They quickly got to the tenth light tower
(
Well not that quick, it took half an hour) and wheeled their bikes to the twelfth tower. When they arrived there
were two guards guarding the tower.
“
I know what we’ll do, I’ll distract them and then you open the door, Once I have them distracted I’ll
sneak away with you,” Ellie explained as Karen nodded her head.
“
Lets do this!” Karen exclaimed.
Ellie walked over to the guards and asked them a few questions.
“
Umm, Can you tell me where this is,” She said pointing to the map.
“
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