Dubonnet laughed, his body looming over them. He raised his sword high in the air. “No one steals my treasure!”
He let out a yell, and his sword plunged downward.
“Not so fast, Dubonnet!” A voice rang out from the tunnel behind the ghost.
Dubonnet fumbled, whirling around before the razor-sharp sword could strike them.
Celeste squinted through Dubonnet’s swirling form to see Mirabella standing behind him, her gleaming sword held in a fighting stance in front of her.
“You! I thought I took care of you centuries ago.” Dubonnet swished his sword through the air.
“Looks like we get another chance to fight.” Mirabella circled to the left, Dubonnet to the right, the two ghosts keeping two feet of space between them.
“You won’t win this time either,” Dubonnet sneered then leapt forward, jabbing out at Mirabella.
Mirabella lunged back then spun around, her sword slicing through the air at waist height.
Dubonnet slashed his sword down at an angle. Mirabella met his thrust, her sword clanking against his sword.
Mirabella slashed right. Dubonnet blocked it with his sword and spun left.
Sparks flew, and the tunnel was filled with the sound of metal clashing with metal as the two ghosts battled it out.
“Quick! We must do something to help her!” Jolene rubbed her hands together, producing a ball of blue energy that glowed in between her palms.
Celeste held out her arm to stop her sister. “Not yet. I think Mirabella needs to do this on her own.”
Dubonnet jabbed at Mirabella.
Mirabella lurched back. She raised her sword high over her head then lunged at Dubonnet, bringing the sword straight down and slicing it directly through the middle of his ghostly body. The metal blade of the sword glowed bright red as it cleaved through the ectoplasmic energy that made up Dubonnet’s ghostly form.
Two piles of misty goo fell to the floor.
Celeste held her breath. Would the two piles rise up and reconnect to form Dubonnet’s ghost, or was he gone for good? She had no idea of how to get rid of a ghost or how the effects of the energy from the rock tunnel would affect it, but she did know that separating the ectoplasm that made up his body as a whole might be enough to send him on to the next plane, whatever that might be.
As they watched, the piles melted to water and drained into the ground.
Dubonnet was gone.
Mirabella shoved her sword back into the scabbard on her waist. “I’ve been waiting three hundred years to do that.”
She turned to them, her eyes falling on the magenta-and-gold sash that Jolene held in her hand. “You found the relic.”
“We did.” Jolene opened her fist to show the relic nestled in the fabric.
Mirabella frowned. “It doesn’t look quite the same as it did when I put it in there.”
“Yeah, we kind of had to use it to defend ourselves. Don’t worry—it will be restored to its former potential.” Jolene looked Mirabella up and down. “This is cool. I’ve never been able to see ghosts before.”
“It’s the energy from the rocks that surround us.” Celeste pointed to the granite tunnel.
Mirabella nodded and clapped a ghostly hand on Celeste’s shoulder, causing a frigid sensation to drill directly into Celeste’s arm. Inside the tunnel, ghosts were a lot more solid. Normally, a ghost’s hand would pass right through her. Celeste shivered, and Mirabella pulled away.
“Good job. Now we must get this into the rightful hands before someone else comes and takes it away,” Mirabella said.
As they started toward the exit, Celeste sensed sadness in Mirabella’s demeanor despite her victory over Dubonnet.
“Why did you leave the cliff? You’ve risked your future with Constantine,” Celeste said. A few feet ahead, a round patch of light splayed on the tunnel floor, indicating the entrance.
Mirabella pursed her lips together. “I saw this one come in his boat and head toward the tunnel.” She pointed to Jason. “I know why he comes, and I know he is no threat, but I kept watch. Then, from my vantage point on the cliff, I saw Dubonnet swirling around the underwater caves near the cove. I knew you were close to recovering the relic and he would come after you. This time, I couldn’t sit back and let him do harm.”
“Even if it meant you wouldn’t be with Constantine on the other side?” They were at the entrance now, and Celeste glanced up just to make sure Bly hadn’t sent reinforcements who might be waiting outside. The coast appeared to be clear, so she grasped a rung of the gritty rusted metal ladder and started to climb.
Mirabella was right behind her. “It was the right thing to do. I regretted not stepping in before. Maybe Karma will see that Constantine and I are together.”
They reached the top, and Mirabella swirled uncertainly, nodding at Celeste. “Our journey is done. Thank you for recovering the relic. I thought once my mission was accomplished, I would be able to move on, but I don’t feel any different. Perhaps my fate is to stay on this island alone after all.”
Mirabella’s body was more transparent than normal. Something was happening. “No, I think something is different. You seem more faded. You might be going home now.”
“Faded?” Jolene climbed up out of the hole. “I can’t see her at all.”
“That’s because we’re out of the tunnel and the effects of the rock energy that allow her to manifest physically are gone.” Celeste turned to Mirabella. “Maybe you should hurry back to the cliff. It may not be too late to catch Constantine.”
Mirabella gave a curt nod and rushed off in the direction of the cliff. Coming over the horizon was another ghost. A tall, handsome pirate.
“Constantine!” Mirabella rushed to the ghost with open arms. He whirled her around. Mirabella’s laugh and the wide smiles on their faces warmed Celeste’s heart. They were fading together, and she could barely make out Mirabella turning to her with a wave.
Celeste felt more than heard Mirabella’s words. “Thank you.”
And then they were gone.
“What happened?” Jolene was squinting in the direction of the ghosts.
“I think things are going to work out okay for Mirabella and Constantine.” Celeste turned toward Jolene. Over her shoulder, Celeste saw Matteo rushing toward them, his eyes full of concern for Jolene.
A rush of optimism ran through Celeste. Her spells weren’t such a failure after all. She’d found the relic and managed to save it from Bly’s guys. She’d contributed to the mission instead of being just a useless tag-along, and as a bonus, she was going to be able to help Jason’s son get the treatment he needed. And, if her spells really did work, then maybe the charm she’d laid for Matteo and Jolene would help bring them together.
Matteo rushed to Jolene, pulling her to him. She didn’t resist. Celeste thought maybe she saw a secret smile on her sister’s face as she let Matteo hug her.
Celeste glanced down at the relic then nodded at Jason and then Jolene. “In fact, I think things are going to work out okay all around.”
Chapter Eighteen
Luke, Cal, Jake, Gordy, Buzz, Morgan, and Fiona showed up right behind Matteo. Cal rushed over to Celeste, slipping his arm around her.
“Are you guys okay? We got your text. Did you go in yet?” Luke asked.
Jolene stuck out her hand, showing them the relic, which was still nestled in the sash in the middle of her palm.
“Is that it?” Fiona ran her palm over the stone. It pulsed faintly with blue, purple, and red.
“Yep. We’ve got it.”
Luke ran his fingers through his short-cropped hair. “It’s great you retrieved it, but you guys shouldn’t have gone in there alone with Bly’s guys hanging around. That was risky.”
Jolene winked at Celeste. “We can take care of ourselves.”
“Yeah, but still, you should have waited for us.” Morgan turned a skeptical eye on Jason. “What’s with the getup?”
Jason’s shoulders slumped, and
he looked down at the ground.
Celeste cut in before he could say anything. “Jason was playing with Christian when he got your message calling him to the island. He rushed right over for us without even changing. Good thing too, because he helped us fight off Bly’s thugs.”
“Meow.” Belladonna sat in the sun, twitching her tail and glaring at Celeste.
“Oh, and Belladonna helped too,” Celeste added.
“Wait a minute. You fought Bly’s men in there? By yourselves?” Fiona’s eyes darkened with concern, and she turned to Jolene. “You know you’re not supposed to rush off and do things alone, especially if you might run into enemy paranormals. The four of us are stronger together.”
“It wasn’t Jolene’s fault. It was my fault,” Celeste said. “I saw Mirabella when we were packing up, and she gave me a hint that allowed me to decrypt the code.”
“You decrypted it?” Cal looked at her with a mixture of pride and curiosity.
“Yes. But we didn’t want to call you guys up from the dive in the cavern on a wild goose chase, so we figured we’d just take a quick look to see if we were on the right trail,” Celeste said.
“But then Bly’s guys must’ve been watching, or maybe they were coming here anyway. They cornered us,” Jolene added.
“We fought them but wouldn’t have won without Jason,” Celeste said. “Bly’s guys had strong negative-energy guns. Our amulets had absorbed the maximum amount of energy and were wearing out. We were almost done for when Jason selflessly jumped into the negative-energy stream with the relic. The relic boomeranged that energy back to Bly’s thugs.”
Morgan looked uncertainly at the entrance hole. “And where are they now?”
“They’re in there. Two piles of ash. I guess that relic really is powerful,” Jolene said. “And then we had some ghostly intervention.”
“You did? That ghost pirate that’s rumored to haunt the tunnels? Did he attack?” Fiona asked.
“Yes, and Mirabella rushed in to save the day. That ended in our favor too,” Celeste said.
“You guys were lucky, but I don’t want you to do that again. I guess it’s over with now, and we should focus on getting out of here and get that relic to Dorian as soon as we can.” Luke started walking back toward the cabins, and they all followed.
Cal clapped Jason on the back. “Thanks for helping out in there.”
“Yeah.” Jake shook Jason’s hand. “But how did you know to use the relic against the energy streams?”
“We told him about it. When he came upon us in the cavern and saw us with it, we explained why it was important,” Celeste said. “Which reminds me, Jason saved our lives, and now we owe him. You know how we always repay our debts.”
“Ummm, yeah…” Morgan slid a glance at Celeste out of the corner of her eye.
“Jason needs money for medical treatment for Christian,” Celeste said.
Morgan nodded. “We have plenty of that, but it’s all tied up in trusts and investments.”
Celeste nodded. She knew it would take a long time to free up their money, but she had a better idea. “How did the dive go? Did you find that box?”
“We did,” Morgan said. “But, as you know, the relic wasn’t in there.”
“What was in there?” Jolene asked.
“Some gold escudos, Spanish cobs, and an old gold cross,” Fiona said as they spilled out into the clearing where the cabins were. She pointed to the picnic table, where the domed box sat in plain view. “Check it out for yourself.”
Celeste stared at Fiona incredulously. “You left it right out on the table where anyone could get it?”
Fiona shrugged. “Since it wasn’t critical to our mission, we didn’t consider it very important, and we were in kind of a hurry after getting your text. Hiding it might have wasted valuable time. The last we heard was you were going into the tunnel, and we received no further texts, so we didn’t know if you had met with trouble inside the tunnel.”
Celeste flipped open the box. Inside was a cache of gold coins in two sizes, their edges clipped and uneven but the gold still brilliant in color. She picked up one of the larger ones—an 8 escudo about the size of a silver dollar—and ran her fingers over the stamped cross on the front. She threw it back in, and it clinked into the pile, landing next to a small gold cross with a few emeralds still embedded in it.
“This is worth a lot of money,” Celeste said.
Luke shrugged. “Sure, but it’s of no value to us. We can’t keep it. Nor do we need it.”
“Right. But it’s not a relic or anything paranormal, and I was thinking maybe we could use it to help Jason.”
Luke’s brows tugged together. “I’m not sure. We’re supposed to turn any additional treasure we bring back over to Dorian, even if it’s not part of our main mission.”
“Technically, we’re supposed to report anything we bring back. But what if none of us brings this back?” Celeste raised her brows and looked at the others.
Morgan nodded. “You mean someone other than us?”
Luke pressed his lips together. “Now that you mention it, in all the excitement, it’s hard to remember what we did find. The important thing is we found the relic. Who cares about anything else?”
“Right.”
“I don’t remember finding anything else.” Gordy glanced up from the large cooler where he was repacking the remaining food.
“Me either.” Buzz dropped his sleeping bag and duffel bag on the ground next to the other bags that had been placed there.
“I didn’t see any box. I’m going to pack my cabin.” Jolene turned toward her cabin.
“I’ll help you.” Matteo followed her.
Celeste flipped the lid shut on the box and slid it toward Jason. “I guess we better hurry and finish packing. I won’t have room for anything extra.”
“Me either,” Luke said.
“I don’t see anything extra,” Jake added.
“Hey, wait.” Jason had been standing back. He stepped up to the table. “I don’t want to get you guys into trouble.”
“Trouble? There’s no trouble,” Luke said. “We’re the only ones that know what was found here. And all I remember finding is the relic. Anything else is fair game, just like it always has been for anyone who comes to hunt treasure on the island. Now we’re going to finish packing up and then take this stuff to the boat. See you down there.”
They all turned from the table and headed to their cabins.
Cal caught up with Celeste.
“So you decrypted the code on the rocks? How’d you do that?” He shoved his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders. “I mean, I’ve been working on it for days, and then one little hint from a ghost breaks the code?”
“Sort of.” Celeste pulled the fortune out of her pocket and handed it to Cal. “Remember that day we went through the boxes?”
“Yeah.”
“I found this in there. I kept it for you since you like old weird stuff like this, but it turns out it was actually the key to decrypt the code. And the message on the rocks was coordinates. Longitude and latitude.”
“Not directions?” Cal asked.
“Nope. That’s why it seemed shorter than it should be. Mirabella said that she was sure LeBlanc had deciphered the code. At first, I thought the clue Dorian got that set us off on this mission was the key, but Jolene ran that through the software, and we didn’t get anything that made sense. Then I thought about that strange line at the end. My fortune is resolved. It always sounded awkward to me, and then I figured out why.”
“It was a hint that the key was hidden inside a fortune cookie.”
“Yep. Just so happened I had that fortune in my pocket still.” Celeste shrugged it off as if it were down to luck, but now she knew it wasn’t luck. It was her initial spell that had brought the fortune cookie to her.
“Well, I guess you solved it. You figured out where the relic was, and you retrieved it.” Cal put his arm around her and squeezed her shou
lders. “Don’t you think that maybe my lessons on deciphering code are paying off just a little bit, though?”
“Oh, definitely.” Celeste took his hand and led him into the cabin. Just before entering, she glanced over toward the cliff. No sign of Mirabella. Hopefully, she’d moved on with Constantine to wherever ghosts went. Pride rushed through Celeste. For once, she’d been instrumental in the success of their mission, and now both she and Mirabella could rest easy.
Chapter Nineteen
Celeste snugged her jacket around her as she stepped off the boat onto the dock at Jason’s marina. Behind her, Gordy, Buzz, Luke, Jake, and Cal were busy lugging their gear into the RV that Dorian had sent to meet them.
She watched Luke hand the relic over to Dorian. Dorian slipped it into a steel briefcase, which she snapped shut, spinning the cylinder locks on the front. Her eyes drifted out toward the dock where the Blackmoore sisters stood. She nodded at them before she slipped into the back of a black limousine and sped off.
“She never was one for small talk.” Morgan came up behind Celeste. Her eyes trailed the back of the limo as it turned into the main road. She turned and thrust her chin toward the RV. “At least this time she sent us a comfortable ride.”
Celeste hitched her backpack over one shoulder and started toward the RV. “Because she got what she wanted.”
“Yeah, thanks to you. If it wasn’t for you, we probably never would’ve found the relic. And Christian wouldn’t be getting the medical treatment he needs.”
Celeste’s heart warmed at her sister’s genuine praise. “Glad I could help.”
She glanced over at the house to see Cal slipping something into Jason’s hand. Behind them, Belladonna was busy rubbing her face against Christian’s ankles. The little boy leaned forward, grasping the arm of his wheelchair with one hand while petting the cat with the other. He had a wide smile on his face.
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