Stolen

Stolen is an adventure novel set in coastal Australia.

Sam, a 16-year-old Canadian, is spending a few days in the small seaside town of Warrnambool, Australia, before starting at a private school in Adelaide. His parents recently split up after his mother went on a journey of self-discovery, prompting his father to accept a job in Australia. Sam is lonely, misses his friends on Vancouver Island, and finds Warrnambool boring.

While kicking a piece of black driftwood along the beach, Sam hears a voice behind the dunes. He investigates and finds Annabel, a tall local girl with bright red hair, sitting cross-legged and reciting the digits of Pi, the mathematical constant, from memory. Sam, who is normally shy, finds himself at ease talking with her. When he dismisses local history as boring, Annabel angrily strides off. Sam catches up, apologizes, and learns that Annabel works at the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum. As they walk, she tells him about the Shipwreck Coast, including the wreck of the Loch Ard, which sank in 1878 and killed 52 people. A large porcelain peacock made for an exhibition floated ashore in its crate and survived. It is now the museum's centerpiece, insured for 4 million dollars.

As they talk, a large black dog named Percy snatches the driftwood and runs. Percy's owner appears: a plump, middle-aged man in a dark suit and city shoes that look out of place on the beach. When the man leaves, he heads away from town, which Sam notes as odd. Annabel retrieves the wood and examines it, connecting it to a local legend: the Mahogany Ship, an unidentified wreck reportedly seen in the dunes during the 1800s. Some believe this ship could prove that Europeans or Asians reached Australia before the Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed in 1606. Annabel suggests they take the wood to the museum for identification.

At the museum, Sam meets the staff. Pete, a twitchy young employee, asks Annabel to use her influence with her uncle, Bill Sturridge, the Director of Research, to get him assigned to the night shift. Annabel shows Sam the heritage village on the museum grounds, where a pond holds old vessels and a red rowboat tied at a dock. She then leads him to the Loch Ard peacock, a porcelain bird standing taller than Sam. Bill arrives, identifies the black wood as oak, and explains that wood turns black when buried. He keeps it for study and mentions a big storm forecast for that night.

The storm hits overnight, knocking out the museum's security system. Pete is organizing electricians at the museum, and Penny, the ticket seller, is helping keep watch. The next morning, Bill calls Annabel to meet him down the coast, where the storm has carved a large erosion gully in the dunes, exposing thick black timbers. Bill is there with Jim Kelly, Pete's father, who has spent 20 years searching for the Mahogany Ship. Kelly insists the timbers are the fabled wreck.

Annabel spots something near the bottom of the gully. Despite Bill's warnings about unstable sand, she slides down and begins digging. The bank collapses and buries her. Sam leaps in and digs frantically, tearing off a fingernail and cutting his palm. Bill joins him, and they free Annabel, who is alive but injured with bruised ribs and a bruised leg. She reveals what she found: a small clay pot. Bill pockets the pot without showing Kelly, and they drive to the hospital. On the way, Sam notices Percy's owner walking the coastal path, miles from town.

At the hospital, Annabel explains that artifact theft is a well-organized international crime, and the only piece in their museum valuable enough to interest a major collector is the Loch Ard peacock. Bill then bursts in and announces that someone has stolen the peacock.

Back at the museum, the peacock's glass case is shattered. Penny heard a crash half an hour after the electricians left. She found the front doors locked and the case smashed. Pete claims he was smoking on the balcony. A search of the property turns up nothing.

At a diner, Sam and Annabel work through the evidence. Annabel notes that the peacock's high-tech lock was found open and undamaged, meaning someone used a key before smashing the case to simulate a break-in. The thieves had a full half hour to remove the peacock quietly, and Pete likely smashed the case afterward as a diversion. Sam recalls that the red rowboat from the heritage village is now missing and proposes that accomplices carried the peacock through the village and took it by sea. He connects his observations about Percy's owner, who has repeatedly been seen miles from town in impractical clothes. Annabel identifies an abandoned shack in the dunes as the only structure in that area. They theorize the man is a wealthy collector storing the peacock in the shack until his yacht retrieves it.

At sunset, they bike to the shack and find the red rowboat hidden in the dune grass. Because Annabel is limping and Sam can run faster, Sam investigates alone. There is no cell service at this location. Inside, he finds the Loch Ard peacock on a couch under a blanket. Percy bounds in and knocks him over, and the suited man appears in the doorway holding a small pistol. The man insists he preserves art that museums neglect. Two large men arrive to transport the peacock to a yacht via Zodiac inflatable boat. Left alone with Sam, the collector prepares to tie him up.

Outside, Annabel begins reciting Pi to create a distraction. When the man moves toward the door, she throws sand in his face. Sam lunges at him, and together they overpower and tie up the collector with his own cord. On the beach, Percy interferes with the two men launching the Zodiac in heavy surf. The boat tips, and the bundled peacock rolls into the waves. Sam grabs it. Annabel fires the man's pistol into the air, and the two men flee toward the yacht. Earlier, Annabel sent a text to Bill from a spot with cell service, and a helicopter soon arrives. Annabel kisses Sam.

Four days later, Sam and Annabel learn the collector's name is Humphrey Battleford, an English billionaire released on bail the next day. His lawyers claim Battleford was an innocent bystander, and the two men escaped because the yacht reached international waters. Pete, advised by one of Battleford's lawyers, claims he simply lost the key and will likely face only negligence charges.

Rose MacAuley, the museum's preservation director, arrives with exciting news. While cleaning the clay pot, Rose discovered a Chinese coin inside with a hole in the center. The writing on the coin dates it to the reign of the Xuande Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1426-1435), who sent Admiral Zheng He's treasure fleet on its final voyage. The coin places the Mahogany Ship far earlier than any previous theory, providing evidence that Chinese sailors reached Australia almost 200 years before Janszoon and more than 300 years before Captain Cook. Sam and Annabel look forward to spending school holidays digging in the sand together, and Sam reflects that coming to Australia was the best decision his father ever made.