Cannons boom as 16-year-old Corey navigates the Bicentennial festivities with an object someone would kill for. He must disprove a humiliating legend and find answers: Why did Mom disappear into the St. Lawrence? Who is the woman he saw wearing her earring? Is Samantha really his friend? He thinks so, until he sees her with Auger Hart. Corey must save someone he loves, but can he do it without her? Harts Landing was built during the War of 1812, but the real threat is here and now. COREY is not a typical local teen. He does NOT share their pride in the Battle of Harts Landing. Everyone else has an ancestor who risked his life battling the British in the War of 1812. Corey's ancestor deserted them and made off with the gold that no treasure hunter has ever found. But...a disappearing journal, Mom's earring, and an abandoned scuba tank raise the questions: Why does the privateer's diary disappear before Corey can decipher it? Why would someone hide tanks underwater? Is hockey player Auger Hart just nasty when he threatens Corey's dog, or does he have something to do with the missing journal? The bicentennial puzzle seems too complicated to solve until... Samantha helps Corey figure things out. Or does she have another motive? When Corey stumbles upon evidence of a 200-year-old truth someone would kill for, can he protect it without Sam's help? While patriots threaten redcoats in the bicentennial celebration, Corey must find his way out of an underwater cave before running out of air--and save a loved one from murder. It's a tall order for the product of a deserter. Can Corey change minds--especially his own--to set the record straight and rewrite local history? FACTS BEHIND THE FICTION: The War of 1812 in the 1000 Islands Pirates and privateers in the St. Lawrence River? Yes, the Thousand Islands-with its varying depths and river currents, hidden shoals, and hundreds of small islands and coves-has provided a backdrop for mystery, trickery, and treachery throughout American history. Real life pirates, spies, and privateers have used the maze of river channels and islands to accomplish missions both selfish and patriotic. During the War of 1812, British ships carried supplies and military pay across the Atlantic and then upriver on the St. Lawrence to Montreal. (Yes, on the St. Lawrence, upriver is southwest.) Then the cargo was carried in flat-bottomed boats farther upriver, past the rapids (and possibly offloaded again west of Prescott to a lake-sailing ship) to Kingston in Upper Canada. On its way, the cargo would pass through the Thousand Islands before entering Lake Ontario; British gunboats protected these vessels from ambush among the maze of islands and coves where an enemy could hide.