Chapter Eighteen
The creature wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen before—even in this place. The Grimaults had their knives drawn, ready to fight, but I could tell they were scared. Beads of sweat streamed down Garret’s face. I hoped the thieves wouldn’t take off running for their lives, leaving Holly, Noelle, and me unarmed and helpless against the beast. Noelle stared wide-eyed in horror. Her entire body shook. As the creature got closer, I heard a strange chittering sound and then a loud squawk. Large wings rose up from the creature’s head. Some sort of slime dripped off the beast’s body, leaving a gooey trail on the ground.
“Ew!” Holly covered her eyes.
A man’s face appeared beneath the wings. It wasn’t a giant hairy beast at all. It was a man, about forty years old, with a vulture perched on the back of his neck and squirrels covering him from head to toe.
“Well, if it isn’t Sticky Fingers Sam, or should I call you Sweetcheeks?” Garret said, stepping out from behind an oak tree.
Noelle sobbed uncontrollably. She’d gotten really upset when Trent told us what Morgan had done to Sam. Seeing him in person now must have been too much for her to handle.
Morgan stormed up to Sam with his knife raised in front of him. “We left you for dead, and believe me, you’re going to wish you were!”
As soon as Morgan came near Sam, the vulture swooped down from Sam’s neck and landed on Morgan’s head. It pecked furiously at his hat.
“Ow! Get it off!” Morgan yelled.
Garret ran to his father and swung his knife at the vulture. Morgan’s eyes widened, and he ducked each time Garret swung at the vulture.
Sam threw his head back and laughed. He whistled loudly, and the vulture returned to his shoulder. “It looks like my friend here doesn’t like the tone you’ve taken with me, Morgan.”
“Don’t talk to my father like that,” Edward said. I was startled by the forcefulness in his voice. He’d been unusually quiet for a while now. “You’re not one of us anymore. You’re a thief and a traitor!”
“Ah, yes, I am a thief, but who here isn’t?” Sam asked. His eyes lingered on Noelle for a moment, and then he glanced at Holly and me. “Recruiting them a little young aren’t you, Morgan? Looks like you could use me back on the team.”
“You can’t seriously think—” Garret began.
“Silence!” Morgan shouted. He stepped between Garret and Sam. “How did you escape? We left you tied to a tree and these animals were feasting on you!”
“That’s where you’re wrong. These animals were feasting on the honey you covered me in. You see, some of the honey dripped onto the ropes you used to tie me to the tree, and when the squirrels nibbled the honey, they chewed right through the rope. And my watch incidentally.”
“Even if you were free from the ropes, you still had hungry animals to get away from,” Garret said, keeping his distance.
“I didn’t need to get away from them. They liked me. I was giving them food. All I had to do to keep them from turning on me was continue feeding them. So, I kept taking sap from the trees and rubbing it on my clothes, and the next thing I knew, I had loyal protectors.”
“Why didn’t you leave the forest?” Garret asked.
“Because I provided you with information about the Granville fortune, and I want my reward. I’m not leaving here without it.”
“You’re not getting any of that fortune! It’s ours!” Trent yelled.
“Still got quite the temper, huh, Trent?” Sam said. “But the fact of the matter is I know these woods better than all of you. While you’ve been staying at your campsite, I’ve been living out here. I know my way around in the dark. You need me.”
Morgan scratched his chin. “You think you know where the fortune is?”
Sam shook his head, and I swore the vulture shook its head, too. “No, but I’ll easily recognize the clues on your maps. Plus, the animals in this forest love me. I’ll keep them out of your way.”
Morgan stared at Sam, contemplating what to do. No one moved, but I thought I saw Dad and Sam exchange a quick look.
I leaned close to Holly and whispered, “Why would anyone want to rejoin a group of thieves? Especially after they tried to kill him?”
She shrugged.
Before I could say more, Morgan spoke. “Fine. You’ll help us. Now, let’s go. I want my fortune.” He motioned for Sam to lead the way.
Garret walked slowly to Morgan. “Dad, are you sure about this?”
“I have no intention of sharing my fortune with that traitor, but I do like the idea of having Sam’s help to locate it. I’m going to let Sam think he’s part of the team again until the fortune is found. Then I’ll dispose of him,” Morgan said.
“Morgan’s desperate to find that fortune,” I whispered once we were heading to the next location on the maps.
“Sam must know Morgan’s not the type to forgive and forget, so why is he doing this?” Holly asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered, “but I almost feel sorry for Sweetcheeks.” Noelle sniffled. “Don’t worry. He’s probably not as scary as he looks,” I tried to reassure her, but she kept her eyes locked on Sam.
“This is ridiculous! Why are we allowing him back on the crew? He doesn’t deserve any of the fortune!” Trent complained.
“If he can help decipher the clues on the maps, then we need him. You’re the one we could do without, so I’d be careful about giving my father any ideas about who doesn’t deserve a share of the fortune.” Garret picked up his pace to catch up with Morgan.
“He’s just as ungrateful as Uncle Morgan,” Trent mumbled.
“Trent’s mad because Sam made him look bad,” Edward whispered to me.
I jumped. Why would he tell me this? We didn’t exactly like each other, and my name wasn’t Grimault. “How?” I asked.
“Trent’s the one who introduced Sam to my dad. They met at the pool hall downtown. Trent must’ve been running his mouth about the fortune, and Sam said he thought he could help. Sam did have some useful information for us, so Dad let him tag along. But after only a few hours, Garret caught Sam stealing from us. Dad blamed Trent for bringing Sam here. It’s been downhill for Trent ever since.”
“That explains a lot,” I said. “But why are you telling me this?”
Edward shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, it can’t hurt to tell you. It’s not like Dad’s going to let—”
“You figure we’re dead meat, so why not tell us what’s really going on?” I asked.
Edward shook his head. “I was trying to be, you know, nice. I think Dad should let the three of you go. There’s no reason to keep you hostage. We’ll be out of here as soon as we find the fortune.”
Holly scrunched up her forehead. “You really don’t want your dad to hurt us?”
“No,” Edward said.
“Then why’d you try to catch us earlier?” I asked, remembering how mean he had seemed when I’d first met him.
“You stole my food, and I burned my foot because of you. You would’ve been mad, too.”
I couldn’t argue. I would’ve reacted the same way in his place.
“He doesn’t want to be here,” Noelle said, joining our conversation. “That’s why I’ve been talking to him. He doesn’t want us to get hurt. He’s just following his dad’s orders.” She smiled at Edward.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trent reach toward his belt. He took a piece of bread from his pocket. Just as it touched his mouth, two squirrels leaped off Sam and stole the bread from Trent’s hand. “Hey! Get your syrupy paws off me!” As if they were offended, the squirrels clawed at Trent’s hand a few times and jumped back onto Sam. “Ow!” Trent wiped his hand on his pants. “You better keep those retched creatures to yourself or so help me, I’ll—” He didn’t get to finish his threat because the vulture on Sam’s shoulder turned and squawked at him.
Sam laughed as Trent stepped away from the vulture. I smiled again. I was starting to like
Sam.
As it turned out, Sam really was helpful when it came to finding the clues on the maps. The search went much quicker. Before long, we came to a large tree in the middle of two paths.
Morgan cleared his throat. “This is the final map, so he location of the fortune is hidden somewhere on it.” He studied the map for several minutes. “This doesn’t make sense. All of the other maps indicated which paths to choose by adding something that didn’t exist in the forest to the correct path. But I can’t find what was added on this map.”
Sam took a turn studying the map, but even he couldn’t decipher it. “There isn’t anything added to either of the paths on the map. Are you sure this map isn’t a fake?”
“This map was drawn by my father. I know for certain that it’s authentic. Keep looking!” Morgan yelled. His patience with the search had obviously run out.
“Maybe all the honey is blurring his vision,” Trent said, and the look on Morgan’s face said it was not the time for jokes.
Edward and Garret didn’t have any luck reading the map either, so they let my dad take a turn. No one could find any difference between the paths in the forest and the ones drawn on the map.
“I want my fortune!” Morgan yelled, his face purple with rage.
“J.B. is good at figuring out things like that,” Holly said.
“What?” Why had Holly said that? Now I was going to have to figure out where the fortune was buried, and Morgan was going to kill me if I failed.
“I bet he could help you, if you promise to let us go,” Holly said.
It wasn’t her best idea, but I couldn’t think of any other way to save us. I stared Morgan in the eyes. “Yeah, I’ll help, as long as you let Holly, Noelle, and me go once you’ve found the fortune. You’ll be able to leave the forest, so you won’t have to worry about us telling anyone you’re here.”
“You don’t get it, do you? I’m in charge here! I make the demands, not you!” Morgan growled. “Now, we’ll see how good you are at solving puzzles, but the only reward you’ll get is being able to live long enough for me to get my hands on the fortune!”
“Why should we help you if you’re going to kill us anyway?” I asked.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll kill you sooner.” Morgan paused and pointed his knife at Holly. “I think I’ll start with her.”
“No! I’ll help you. Just leave her alone!” I said, putting my arm up in front of Holly. I looked at Dad standing there, not doing a thing.
“Here!” Morgan shoved the final map into my hand.
Everyone stared at me, and it made me even more nervous. I compared the drawing to the forest. There was a difference. “I see something.” I had to be right about this. Otherwise, we were done for.
“Where?” Noelle asked, looking over my shoulder.
“Here.” I pointed to the base of the tree in the drawing. “The map shows three big roots from the tree going into the ground, but the tree in front of us only has two roots. The fortune must be buried where the third root is in the drawing.”
Edward smiled at me. “We’ve been focusing on the paths since that’s where all the other clues have been hidden, but since this is the final map, the clue is where the fortune is buried, not which path to take.”
“J.B., you’re a genius!” Noelle said.
“Give me that map. I want to see what you’re talking about.” Morgan yanked the map from my hands and examined it. A smile spread across his face. “Dig!” he ordered. “Right there, in the middle of those two roots.”
“We don’t have any shovels,” Garret said. How hadn’t I noticed it before? The thieves must not have had any faith in finding the fortune. Otherwise they would’ve brought shovels.
“Use your knives to dig up the dirt. I don’t care how you do it. Just get me my fortune!”
I wanted to get the fortune and end the curse, but there was no way the Grimaults would let me do that. I grabbed Holly’s arm and took a step back. This was our best opportunity to escape. The thieves were on their hands and knees digging up the dirt beneath the tree. Holly read my mind and nodded. I tapped Noelle on the arm and motioned for her to come with us. She shook her head. I didn’t want to leave her, but I couldn’t waste time either. I had to get Holly out of this place. Besides, I was sure Edward would do his best to protect Noelle.
Holly and I tiptoed backward, trying not to make a sound. Once we were about twenty feet away, I took off at a sprint. I didn’t think anyone was paying attention to us, but I was wrong. Just as we came to a bend in the path, someone grabbed us from behind. Without looking, I knew it was Dad.
“What are you doing?” Holly cried. “Why won’t you help us, D—?”
Dad covered Holly’s mouth with his hand, and she sobbed in our father’s arms. “It’s all right, Morgan. I’ve got them. Keep digging.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. I’d been defending Dad to Holly since we’d first seen him with the thieves. Now, I wondered if Holly had been right all along.
Curse of the Granville Fortune Page 18