“He what? How did you get it back?”
“One of Mr. Ironside’s men, this guy Anders, pulled a gun on Trent. He pointed it right at his head and—”
“No,” she whispered, covering her mouth with her hands.
“I had to do something, Mom. I hate Trent. I hate him so much—but I don't want him to die. He just looked so scared. I had to do something. I just had to. I tackled Anders and we went over a cliff—” Benji gasped and his eyes grew wide. “Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.”
“What is it, Benji? What’s wrong?”
He breathed hard and fast. “I killed him, Mom. I know I did. I killed him. The water, it was so fast and we swam so hard. There was a waterfall and I made it, but he—he went over the side. I killed him!”
Laura took her son’s hands in her own. “Shh,” she said, “just breathe. Nice and easy. Shh.”
When Benji’s breathing returned to normal and the panic left his eyes, she continued. “Benji, look at me. You didn’t kill anyone. What you did was so brave, saving Trent like that. All you did was knock that man into a river. Could that guy Anders have swum to the side?”
“Well, at first he could've, but he was trying to find the stone. He dropped it when we fell in. I got it first and we fought before he-”
“So he could have made his way to the river bank and walked away safe and sound?”
“I guess…”
“So then he made a choice. You didn’t make it for him. Besides, do you have any proof he’s not alive?”
Benji shook his head. “Is that supposed to comfort me?”
“You made it out, that must have took some hard swimming,” she said, changing topics.
“Actually...it was because of Trent.”
“What?” Laura said, astonished.
Her son nodded. “The side of the river was smooth rock and I couldn’t climb out. The water was going so fast and I was getting so tired…I thought I was gonna go over the edge, but then Trent grabbed my wrist and pulled me out.”
“Oh wow."
"Yeah. I guess it's because I saved him."
"You figure he was paying you back? And he let you keep the ruby?”
Benji gave a dark grin. He explained how he’d stolen the Land Rover, and the car chase that had followed and ended in his pursuer’s crash, the occupants crawling from the demolished vehicle.
Laura held up her hand for a high five. “And you managed to keep your hat through all of that.”
Benji grinned, then grimaced as he eased himself into the chair next to her bed.
“Are you hurt, Benji?”
“Ha! Mom, in the past three days I fell down a mountain and off two cliffs, got beaten up more than once, set off a bunch of booby traps, and swam for my life twice. My whole body hurts and I’m just plain beat.”
“I can see why. This has been one heck of a trip for you. Well, now we’ve got to decide what to do next. We can go home in the morning if you’d like, and put this trip behind us. Or…”
“What?”
“Or, our boat to the resort leaves at six tomorrow morning. You can tell me all about the rest of your adventure over massages and bowls of kava.” She paused to let him think. “So, Indiana Jones, what do you want to do? Plane or boat?”
He thought for a moment. “I could really go for a massage.” He leaned over and took the ruby from his mom. “But what do we do about this?”
47.
Promise
The next afternoon found Laura and Benji lounging in the sand, enjoying the warmth of the island sun. He read his grandfather’s book, Heart of the World, which had been in the luggage Josefa left at the dock on the off chance they made the boat.
His mom lay on her back with her eyes closed, soaking up the tropical sun. That was, until a big shadow fell over her. She opened her eyes and Benji looked up from his book.
Mr. Ironside and his son towered over them. Trent’s arm hung in a sling and his face was covered in bruises and scrapes. His father’s hands were at his sides, one balled into a trembling fist and the other gripping a terrifyingly large pistol. Laura and Benji both sat up, shielding their eyes.
“What do you want, Ironside?” Benji’s mom asked, obviously annoyed with her tanning interruption.
“What do you think I want, woman? The stone. Give it to me.”
“What? What is it you want? A stone?” Laura raised her voice, attracting the attention of some waiters half a football field away at the beach bar.
“What are you going to do, shoot us? With witnesses?” Laura taunted.
“Besides,” Benji chipped in, “we don’t have it.”
“Well, where is it then?”
Benji smirked. “I dropped it…in the ocean.”
“You’re lying,” Trent said.
“Where is it?” Mr. Ironside thumbed back the hammer of the gun.
“Oh, put that away, you idiot,” Laura scolded. “You won’t shoot us with a half dozen resort staff up the beach. Besides, he wasn’t lying.”
Benji nodded. Ironside’s face turned bright red. His two chins quivered in rage.
“I figured the only way to keep everyone safe was to put it somewhere no one would ever find it,” Benji said. “If I turned it over to the government or a museum, you would just find a way to get it and kill the villagers. If I gave it to the villagers you would kill them and take it. So, I threw it over the side of the boat on our way out here. Right now it’s probably under some sand and coral in a couple hundred feet of water.”
Ironside’s mouth moved like he wanted to speak, but no sound came out. Oddly enough, Trent’s face remained passive, his demeanor calm.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Laura said with a smile, her voice triumphant. “You lost. To a fourteen-year-old boy. Now please, we’ve got a few days left of our vacation and we’d like to enjoy them in peace.”
“You’ll pay for this, Stone,” Mr. Ironside growled as he pointed a finger at Benji. “No one steals from me and gets away with it.”
Laura got to her feet and was in front of the fat man so fast that he took a step back in surprise.
“No, he won’t pay for it,” she said in a cool voice. “You took my husband from me. I know you did. If anything happens to my son…” She made a point to look at both Trent and his father. “I swear I’ll hunt you down. There’s nothing, nothing, that will stop me.”
“Ha!” Mr. Ironside sneered and looked down at the gun. He waved it a bit to make sure Laura saw it.
“What are you going to do, you—”
In one smooth motion, Benji’s mom grabbed the barrel of the gun with one hand, and with the other she twisted the man’s wrist back. He howled in pain. She took a quick step back out of his reach and aimed the gun at his heart.
“If anything happens to Benji I will hunt you down. Do you understand me?” She looked back and forth from father to son.
Ironside stared at her silently. Laura held the gun level. Her aim never wavered nor did her hand shake with nervousness or under the weight of the heavy gun.
Like she’d done this before.
“Do you understand me?” she repeated.
He gave one quick nod and his son did the same.
“I think we’ll hold on to this for the rest of our stay. Now get out of here.”
Mr. Ironside glared at her a moment longer, then turned abruptly and walked away. His son started to follow.
“Trent,” Laura said softly so his father couldn’t hear, “thank you.”
They held eye contact a moment, and then Trent hurried to catch up to his father. Laura turned back to her spot in the sand. Benji stared up at her, eyes wide and mouth agape.
“I told you.” Her smile was mischievous as she sat down. “Your mom’s not quite as boring as you think. Now that we’ve had ourselves a bit of a rest, Indiana Jones, tell me all about how you beat the Ironsides at their own game.”
48.
Homecomi
ng
Benji walked into history class with his head held high and a new tan. He handed Heart of the World back to Mr. Edwards.
“Well look at you, Benji, all dark from the sun. And something else that I can’t quite put my finger on…”
Benji smiled. “The book was really good. Thanks for loaning it to me. I liked it a whole lot, especially how it was a real-life adventure plus a lot about the Tibetan culture. Super good.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I figured you’d have it finished already so I brought you another one. Into Thin Air. You read Into the Wild, right? The same author, Krackauer, wrote this one.”
Trent walked into the room and, for the briefest of moments, his eyes met Benji’s. There was no sneer, no comment, hardly even a hint of recognition. He turned and went to a seat three rows away from where he normally sat, far away from Benji. He cradled his arm, which lay immobilized in a sling. The injuries on his pretty face had started to heal.
Benji turned back to Mr. Edwards. The older man raised an eyebrow. Benji just grinned and went to his seat.
He sat down and listened to the conversation between the star baseball player and a crew of his biggest fans and cheerleaders.
“What happened?” asked a girl who spent more class time fawning over Mr. Popular than paying attention.
“Car accident,” Trent said, making a big show of grimacing in pain. “I already had one surgery. The doctors said I still need at least two more. Most of the tendons and ligaments in my shoulder were torn in the wreck.”
“Aw, man,” Aaron said. “And it’s your pitching arm, too. That suuucks. Do you know when you’ll play again?”
“They said I’m out the rest of the season. Next year, probably.”
The bell rang and the small crowd dispersed and headed to their seats. Trent and Benji once again made eye contact. Trent’s thoughts were loud and clear.
Don’t tell anyone.
But who would believe Benji, anyway?
49.
Not the only project
The bell rang again at the end of class and Benji gathered his things. Most of the older kids left right away, ready to be done with the day and go home. The one exception was Trent. As soon as the rest of the class was gone he stood to leave. He walked down the aisle and stopped next to Benji’s desk in a scene that had been played out over and over.
The popular guy would pretend to tie his shoe and as he stood would mutter something under his breath just to get a rise out of Benji. Today the action was the same. It was just the dialogue that changed.
“Don’t get too cocky, Stone. You don’t really think that was the only project we had going, do you?”
And with that Trent walked off and the scene came to a close, leaving Benji to his thoughts.
Not the only one...
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
About the Cover Artist
Amanda Mullins is an artist currently living in
Upstate New York working full-time in the video game industry. Her passion comes from illustrating anything
with characters or stories. You can visit her work at www.amandamullins.com.
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