Chapter Twelve
It was bad enough that I’d gotten caught in a net, but I didn’t think things could get any worse now that Holly and Noelle were dangling beside me. If I’d had even a little luck, Holly would’ve found a sharp rock before she reached headfirst into the trap. Or, at least she wouldn’t have pulled Noelle into the trap with her so one of us would’ve been free.
“Ow! That’s my foot!” Holly whined.
“At least you’re not upside-down!” Noelle said, squirming in the net.
“Would you two knock it off?” I was sick of their arguing.
“Quit moving around!” Holly yelled.
“I wouldn’t be stuck up here if you hadn’t grabbed me! So lay off!” Noelle said.
The only time they’d gotten along was when Garret told Noelle about her dad. Holly must have forgotten all about that because she was back to her usual self. “Fighting isn’t helping. We need to find a way out of here.”
They stopped squirming. Holly blew a few strands of hair out of her face. “How do you suggest we get down from here, big brother?”
“I don’t think getting down is going to be a problem,” Noelle said.
“Did you think of a way to get out of these nets?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Noelle’s voice shook. “I’m pretty sure he’ll cut us down.” She pointed down the path.
I shifted my weight and saw a shadowy figure walking our way. “Please be Dad,” I muttered, but deep down, I knew the person walking toward us wasn’t my dad. And the panic in Noelle’s voice meant she knew it, too.
“Garret,” I mumbled as he walked up to the traps.
“You? How did you get away from Trent?” Garret asked, his face twisted in a combination of confusion and anger.
“I guess we were clever enough to escape again!” Holly said, using Garret’s words against him.
“Wait until I cut you down from there!”
“You can’t hurt us. You can’t do anything without your father’s orders,” I said, hoping it was true.
“Not a problem. I’m dying to see what he has planned for you.” Garret yanked the knife from his belt loop and swung it at the rope tied around the tree trunk.
I landed hard on my back. “Ouch!” I thrashed around for a minute, trying to get out of the net, but I couldn’t find an opening anywhere. I looked up at Garret, and the smirk on his face said it all. He hadn’t cut us free. He’d only cut the nets down from the tree.
“How are we supposed to go with you back to the camp if we’re stuck in these ropes?” I asked.
“Simple.” Garret grabbed hold of the two nets and dragged them behind him.
“Ow!” Holly winced. “Great, where was that sharp rock when I needed it?”
“What was that about not being able to hurt you?” Garret asked. He laughed like a crazy person as he dragged us back to camp. He struggled to pull our weight, but apparently causing us pain was worth the struggle.
Luckily, we hadn’t gotten far before we were captured, so Garret didn’t have to drag us for long. I was grateful I was wearing long sleeves and jeans. Otherwise, I would’ve been cut to shreds by all the gravel and fallen tree branches Garret pulled us through—no doubt on purpose.
Edward walked into the camp from the other direction the same time we did. He stared directly at us. I was about to tell him to stop staring when Trent came running out of his tent. His clothes were torn to shreds, and his hair stuck out in all directions. He yanked the bandana out of his mouth and rushed over to us. “I’m going to kill you little brats!”
Garret stepped in front of him, letting the ropes fall to the ground. “You were supposed to guard them!”
I had to smile, even if only for a second. At least I’d succeeded in getting Trent in trouble. It wasn’t as good as getting away, but it was something.
“My bed attacked me while I was—” Trent stammered.
“While you were what?” Garret didn’t wait for an answer. He shoved Trent in the chest. “You fell asleep!”
“Maybe I would’ve been able to stay awake if you and Edward hadn’t kept me up all day yelling and finding stupid ways to prove who’s tougher!” Trent yelled, regaining his confidence.
“What’s going on out here?”
Morgan stood in the entrance of his tent. One look told me he wasn’t a morning person. He squinted against the sunlight and scowled at me.
“I caught these kids snooping around last night,” Garret began.
“You caught them? Don’t you mean I caught them?” Trent said.
“Yeah, that’s right. You caught them and then let them escape! I found them in one of the traps!” Garret yelled.
“Enough!” Morgan’s voice echoed through the trees. “Who are these children? Cut them free.”
Edward rushed over to help Noelle to her feet. I stared at Morgan, wondering what he was going to do to us.
“Don’t even think about moving,” Morgan said. “If you want to live, you’ll do as I say. I’m a very busy man, and I won’t have three kids getting in my way.”
“Uncle Morgan, I’d be happy to take care of them for you,” Trent said. I suspected he was trying to suck up so he wouldn’t be punished for letting us escape.
“That won’t be necessary. We won’t be staying here much longer. We’re only missing one piece of the treasure map. We still don’t know the exact location, but I think we might be able to begin our search. It seems that one of the maps drawn by Gerard is a fake. I’ve come to the conclusion that our new friend Bruce may not be a friend after all. The map he brought is different than the others.”
“No!” Holly had tears in her eyes.
“Shh!” I warned her. “Don’t say a word.”
Luckily, Morgan was so caught up talking about the fortune he didn’t hear Holly. “The only remaining piece of the puzzle is the map drawn by Aristede. I had a feeling it would be more difficult to find since it’s the oldest,” he said.
“Let’s look at all the maps together. Maybe we won’t need Aristede’s if we can figure out the clues in the rest,” Garret suggested.
Morgan took six maps from his pocket and laid them on the ground in front of the fire. I watched as the thieves studied them. The only one who wasn’t looking at the maps was Trent. He was keeping a close eye on Holly, Noelle, and me. And that meant there was no way to escape. I wasn’t really upset that I couldn’t get away because I wanted to know more about the fortune. It was the key to ending the curse.
Finally, Morgan spoke. “In each map, one part of the forest is drawn incorrectly. The clue is in which path to take. A large tree blocks this path in Bernard’s map, but there is no such tree in the actual forest. Therefore, that’s the clue. We must take that path.”
“That’s just what your father told you,” Trent said. “We don’t know if it’s true.”
Morgan glared at Trent. “What was that about my father?”
Trent gulped. “Uh...I, I just meant that we don’t really know where the clues are hidden in the maps. We need to see that part of the forest before we can be sure.”
“I hate to agree with Trent,” Garret said, “but we can’t be sure where the clues are until we see them for ourselves. Like you said, no one, aside from Aristede himself, knows the true location of the fortune.”
Garret was defending Trent! Things were getting weird, and I wanted to get out of here. Having the maps would make it easier to find the fortune, but these guys were crazy.
“I see your point,” Morgan said. “Though I’d be more careful how you say things about our family in the future, Trent.” Morgan placed his hand on his knife. The message was clear. Another comment like that and Trent would find himself at the sharp end of a knife.
“Yes, sir,” Trent said, looking as surprised as I was that he’d escaped punishment.
“Now, we do know that each map contains something that is not present in the forest and that’s the clue,” Morgan said, returning his atten
tion to the maps.
“Hey, that’s like our painting,” Holly said. “There were two paths, but when we entered the forest, one of those paths was overgrown with trees.”
“What did you say?” Morgan asked as if she’d said the most interesting thing in the world.
Holly grabbed my arm and stepped closer to me.
“They thought we had a painting of theirs when we caught them earlier,” Garret said.
“But you didn’t. It was one of your treasure maps,” I said. Noelle stared at me so intently my cheeks got warm.
“We were trying to locate the part of the forest drawn in Bernard’s map,” Garret told his father. “In case we weren’t able to recover the final piece of the treasure map.”
“Why did you think we had your painting?” Edward asked me.
I didn’t know if I should tell them the real reason, which was that the painting and the maps looked very similar. The last thing I wanted was to help the guys who were holding us captive and who may have hurt Dad. But then I thought of something. If the thieves wanted the painting, they’d have to help us find our way back to the entrance of the forest where I’d left it.
“We’re waiting!” Morgan stomped his foot in the dirt.
I took a deep breath. “We thought you had our painting because the maps you’re trying to gather look like it.”
“What part of the forest is illustrated on this painting?” Morgan spoke so fast I had trouble understanding him.
“It’s the entrance by the park,” Holly said.
Noelle smiled, and I couldn’t make sense of her sudden interest in the fortune.
“The entrance,” Morgan repeated, looking over all six maps. “Of course! That’s the missing piece. We need to know where to begin the search!”
“We’ve been assuming the search began by the seaside entrance,” Garret said. “That must be why we couldn’t locate any of the areas drawn on the maps. We have to start at the park.”
“Yes! It makes sense now,” Morgan yelled.
“But, Dad, why would one of the pieces be a painting?” Edward asked. “Why is it different from the others?”
“Because Aristede was a painter!” Morgan said, grinning so wide he looked insane.