Chapter Eleven
Holly, Noelle, and I were no match for a gang of thieves. Still I couldn’t sit there and do nothing, so I took a deep breath and tried to gather all the courage I could. Then I led Holly and Noelle through the trees surrounding the camp and started searching for Dad.
“He’s not in there,” I whispered after peeking into a tent.
“We saw Dad go in there with Edward. We only turned our backs to the camp for a minute. Where could he have gone?”
I didn’t get a chance to answer Holly’s question because a heavy hand slammed down hard on my right shoulder. I turned my head to meet Trent’s evil stare.
“What do we have here? Garret and Edward said they found two kids wandering around earlier, but it looks like we have another now.” Trent grinned eerily at Noelle.
“Let go of him,” Holly said. She was trying to sound brave, but her voice was shaky.
Trent grabbed Holly by her ponytail. “I heard what you did to Garret, so don’t get any ideas about trying to bite me. I’m much stronger than he is.”
Holly winced as Trent yanked her hair.
I squirmed, trying to get free, but Trent was even stronger than the others. His muscles were so huge they looked like they were going to burst right through his shirt. What was Morgan feeding these guys? They definitely didn’t get this strong off bread and water.
“Trent? Is that you?” Garret asked. He yawned as he walked out of his tent.
“Yeah. I found those two little snoops you were talking about earlier, and they’ve got another one with them now,” Trent said.
Garret grabbed Noelle’s arm and turned to Holly and me. “Not very bright, are you, stumbling into our camp twice in the same day? You don’t really think you’re clever enough to escape again, do you?”
“We were clever enough to steal your bread and water,” Holly said.
Garret’s face reddened. He stormed over to me and ripped the canteen from around my neck. It felt like my head was going to come off with it.
“I’ll show you what we do to thieves around here!” he said, throwing the canteen on the ground.
“Aren’t you all thieves?” asked Holly.
I didn’t know where Holly’s newfound confidence was coming from, but I was worried she was going to get us killed.
“What did you do with my father?” Noelle asked. “He came here yesterday.”
Garret and Trent exchanged glances and laughed. “Sweetie, nobody comes here and lives to tell about it,” Trent said.
“No!” Noelle slumped forward like she was in pain. Garret had to hold her up. I wanted to reach out to her, but Trent’s grip was too tight.
“What are you going to do to us?” Holly demanded.
“I’ll let my father decide that in the morning,” Garret said. “In the meantime, you’ll spend the night in Trent’s tent.” He turned to Trent. “I’m on patrol tonight, so you’ll have to keep an eye on them.”
“Fine,” Trent said through gritted teeth. I could tell Trent resented having to take orders from his younger cousin, especially since he’d been assigned to babysit for the night.
Once we were inside the tent, Garret made Trent repeat his orders back to him three times before he was satisfied enough to leave. The only things in the tent were a duffle bag and a bed, which was actually a bale of hay. Immediately, Trent moved his bed to block the entrance to the tent.
“Sit over there against the far end,” Trent said. He removed his boots and sat on the bed. “I’m staying right here, so don’t get any ideas about trying to escape. You’ll never get past me.”
I walked across the tent and sat against the canvas. Noelle rested her head on her knees and continued to cry. Surprisingly, Holly put her arm around Noelle’s shoulders. Even she sympathized with Noelle’s loss. I glared at Trent. “We’re kids. Can’t you let us go?”
“That isn’t my decision, not that I would anyway. I suggest you get some rest. Who knows what Uncle Morgan will do with you in the morning.” Trent started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, not sure I really wanted to know.
Trent lay back on his bed. “I was thinking about what Uncle Morgan did to Sticky Fingers Sam. He said he had some information that might help us find the fortune, but Garret caught him stealing from us. When Uncle Morgan found out, he covered Sam in honey and left him tied to a tree near the seaside entrance to the forest.” Trent was laughing so hard I could barely understand him.
“What happened to him?” I asked, my words getting caught in my throat as I imagined what else Morgan might have done to poor Sam.
“Don’t really know, but Uncle Morgan nicknamed him Sweetcheeks because the squirrels and vultures were eating the sweet honey off Sam’s cheeks when we left him.”
I didn’t see how anyone could find that funny. They’d left that poor guy to die. These thieves were getting more horrifying by the minute.
Noelle sniffled and wiped her face with her sleeve. “You guys killed him!” She jumped to her feet and lunged at Trent.
Holly grabbed Noelle’s arm, but Noelle was fueled with hatred and easily broke free. I put her in a bear hug from behind. She fought me, swinging her arms at my hands. A spark surged between our skin. We’d shocked each other again, and luckily it snapped Noelle out of her attack. She slumped into my arms. Holly got to her feet and helped me sit Noelle down.
Trent sat straight up on his bed. “I’d keep her under control if I were you. We wouldn’t want the little sweetie to get hurt.”
Noelle scowled at Trent. I was afraid she was going to pounce again, but instead she asked in a weak voice, “Why did you do it? Why couldn’t you just send him away?”
“We couldn’t take a chance of letting him get out of these woods alive. This camp is a secret. No one who comes across it ever gets out alive.”
I gulped, and Noelle sobbed. We’d been safer in the woods on our own, even with the forest preying on our fears, than we were with the Grimaults. I sat huddled against the wall for a long time, thinking about how hopeless the situation was when I heard the faint sound of snoring.
“Trent’s asleep,” I whispered.
“So?” Holly said. “He’s blocking the entrance.”
She was right, but we couldn’t stay here and wait for whatever it was Morgan was going to do to us. I stared at Trent’s bed, thinking the enchanted forest could actually help us for the first time.
“Holl, I’ve got a crazy idea.”
“I’m listening, but I’m warning you, I’ve had my fill of crazy in the past few days.”
“I think we might be able to use the forest to help us get away from Trent.” Holly and Noelle looked at me like I’d completely lost it. “His bed is a bale of hay. Maybe we could make it change into something that would hold him back long enough for us to run away.”
“But it’d be blocking the doorway, too,” Holly said. “We’d have to fight our way around it.”
“It’s worth a try. Trent will use his knife to hack up the hay, and even if we don’t get away, we’ll be right back where we are now. No matter how mad Trent gets, he won’t do anything to us until Morgan wakes up.”
“I guess, but does that mean we’re going to leave Dad here?” Holly asked.
“No,” I said without hesitation. “We’re going to search for him. Garret’s supposed to patrol all night for intruders. Maybe Dad’s on patrol, too.”
“That would explain why he wasn’t in any of the tents,” Holly said.
“We’ll keep looking for your father, too,” I said to Noelle. “These guys are thieves, and I’ll bet they’re also liars. Who knows if they’ve even really met your dad?”
Noelle looked at me through swollen eyes. “Thanks.”
I took a deep breath. My plan had the potential to backfire badly, but it was the only thing I could come up with. I chose my words carefully and pointed to Trent’s bed. “Trent’s bed looks like a—” I looked at Holly and silent
ly communicated an apology, “big yellow bear wrapping him in a hug.”
Immediately, the hay bent and twisted into the form of a large bear. It wrapped its arms around Trent. The bear growled in response to Trent’s snoring, and Trent startled out of his sleep. Holly, Noelle, and I jumped up and ran for the tiny space between the tent door and the bear-hugging duo. I grabbed Trent’s bandana and shoved it in his mouth to keep him from screaming. We burst out of the tent and sprinted into the woods.
“I hate to say it, but we’re going to have to get back onto one of the paths if we want to find our way through these woods in the dark,” I said.
“If you want to find your dad, our best chance is to get back on the trail that circles the camp,” Noelle said.
Holly slowed to a stop. “No way!”
Noelle and I stopped, too. I couldn’t hear the thieves or the growling bear, so I figured it was safe to take a second to think. “She’s right, Holl. Look, we’re getting the hang of this forest, and we’ve gotten away from the thieves more than once. We can do this. Dad would do it for us. It’s probably why he’s in Braeden Forest in the first place.”
“Are you sure about that?” Holly asked, crossing her arms. “Can you really forget about how he’s never around anymore? And what about the secrets he’s been keeping? Why would seeing him here make you forgive him all of a sudden?”
“That’s not what I’m doing. I’m still mad at him. It’s just—” I couldn’t explain how I felt because I didn’t understand it myself. “Let’s not argue. We need to move before the sun comes up and someone sees us.”
“I think the path is somewhere over there,” Noelle said, pointing to our right.
We managed to find our way back to the path. After about ten minutes, I began to move more confidently through the forest.
“Hold up, J.B.,” Holly said. “I don’t think we’ve been on this section of the path before.”
Something tightened around my ankle, and I was swept upside down. I looked at Holly and realized I was dangling from a tree, caught in some sort of rope netting.
“Are you all right?” Noelle asked.
“I’m fine. The thieves must have placed traps along the trail so no one would find their camp.” I struggled to sit up in the netting. The rope was rough, and it dug into my arms and legs.
“Garret mentioned something about traps when he caught us earlier,” Holly said. “How are we going to get you down from there?”
“We need something to cut the rope. Look for a sharp rock.”
Holly searched the ground, feeling along the grass and dirt. “It’s still kind of dark. I can’t really see well, but I don’t think there are any sharp—” Holly screamed and grabbed Noelle’s arm.
I watched helplessly as they both were scooped up into another net. I closed my eyes and tried to pretend I was anywhere other than dangling from the trees with no way to get free.