DropZone

Finn Charles has a four-legged sidekick, a fascination with strange plants, and a not-so-secret desire to put a sign in her yard: "Abandoned girl needs Dad to come home." A slight exaggeration-she's almost twelve, old enough to have lived on three continents, curse in four languages, and brew poisons from garden-variety plants. But now she's landed in Weyanoke Falls, Virginia, waiting for her career-military dad to return from an unnamed-but-dangerous deployment. Finn is desperate for her father's return-and terrified this might be the mission he doesn't come back from.

Volunteering at a no-kill shelter leads her to adopt Dotty, a mixed-breed dog with excellent instincts. Then she meets Noah, a quirky neighborhood boy who believes in a local myth: a treasure hidden in the sealed-off rear of the divided house where Finn and her mother now live. Noah is sure the treasure exists-just not where, or what, it actually is.

Tempted by the idea of life-changing riches, Finn, Dotty, and Noah begin to search. But sneaking around under adults' noses brings only an attic full of bats, a box of rocks, and the sinking fear the treasure is pure fantasy. Still, ever resourceful, Finn and Noah-guided by Dotty's canine superpowers-race to solve the riddle before a raging fire threatens to destroy everyone, the house, and any treasure hidden inside.