Chapter Twenty
I didn’t fully remember leaving Braeden Forest or saying good-bye to Noelle and Sam, but I woke up in the morning safe in my own bed. My thoughts were so cloudy I wondered if it all had been a bad dream. Something my overactive imagination had cooked up. I threw on clean clothes and went to check on Holly. She was sound asleep when I walked into her room, but the worn-out look on her face told me Braeden Forest hadn’t been merely a nightmare. It had been a real-life horror Holly and I had lived through for several long days.
“How are you feeling, pal?” Dad asked from the doorway.
I turned to face him, unsure if I even recognized him after all I’d been through. He looked completely exhausted. Exactly how I felt. “I don’t know. Are you asking as my dad? Or as Bruce, the thief? Or how about as a private investigator?”
Holly moaned and opened her eyes. “What’s going on? Where am I?”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re home now,” Dad said. He walked over and brushed the hair from Holly’s face.
“No, it’s not okay!” I exploded. Everything that had happened left me questioning who my dad really was. I felt betrayed and couldn’t hold back my feelings any longer. “Why didn’t you tell us about the family curse? Why did you go after the Grimaults by yourself? Why did you pretend you didn’t know us?”
“Whoa! Slow down. One question at a time,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender.
Holly sat up in bed, and I sat next to her so we were both facing Dad, who slumped down at the foot of the bed.
He took a deep breath before he began. “First of all, I’m not a lawyer. I work as a private investigator.”
“Why the secrecy?” I asked. “You could’ve at least been honest about your job.”
“Sam and I only take on special cases, and Sam uses a fake name to conceal his identity as a member of the Granville family. Our primary goal has always been to recover the stolen Granville fortune and break the curse that’s plagued our families for years. We had to be secretive so the Grimaults didn’t discover who we were or what we were doing. If Morgan heard about two private investigators in the area, he would’ve gotten suspicious. So we told everyone we were lawyers. It’s all been kept very secretive to stay off of Grimault’s radar. It’s not a great life, but we have the curse to thank for that.”
“And what exactly is the curse?” Holly asked.
“You saw what the forest could do. Well, the curse was helping fuel that power. Our biggest fears come to life. Holly’s fear of hospitals. My fear of not being able to provide for and protect you. Your mother’s fear of things falling to pieces.” Dad looked at me, probably wondering how the curse affected me. I turned away. I couldn’t admit to my fear—that I was losing my mind.
I thought about how this had all started. “You were at the park when that guy came wandering out of the forest. That wasn’t a coincidence. You knew he’d be there.”
Dad lowered his head. I could tell he was sorry for betraying us. “You have to understand I was trying to protect our family. Sam and I had to make sure the forest was cut off from the public. We didn’t want any innocent people to get hurt wandering into the forest and coming across the Grimaults. Sam has a connection at the police station, so he was able to get released even after he’d convinced everyone he’d lost his mind.”
Sam had been the crazy man at the park. I hadn’t even recognized him underneath all the dirt.
“But why did Sam go looking for the Grimaults on his own?” I asked.
“He insisted on it. He thought it would be best to get on the inside and help Morgan locate the fortune. I was to come in and help Sam recover the fortune and break the curse. I felt awful when he didn’t return. If anything had happened to him, it would’ve been my fault.”
“Something did happen to him. They tortured him! They tied his hands and left him to be eaten!”
Dad put his head in his hands. I knew this had been tough on him, too, but I needed to understand what had happened in the forest, no matter how difficult it was for him to talk about.
“Noelle went into the forest to search for him. She could’ve been killed! All because you and Sam lied to us!” I couldn’t control my anger. I knew Dad and Sam had thought they were protecting their families, but they’d ended up putting us in more danger.
“I didn’t have a choice. Only your mother knew the truth. The Grimaults have been coming here for generations to search for the fortune. They’re greedy people. They knew the fortune would be difficult to find without all the maps, but that didn’t stop them from trying.”
“Where did you get a map?” Holly asked.
“I drew it. Sam and I had been in the forest numerous times, and we chose a place to use as the setting for a fake map. It was a long shot, but I had to bring Morgan something that would make him accept me as the son of his father’s friend.
“It wasn’t until much later that I discovered I really did possess a piece of the treasure map. I knew Aristede made the painting of the forest,” Dad said, looking me in the eyes. “The one from our living room. But I had no idea it was part of the treasure map until Edward showed me the other maps back at the campsite. After talking to Edward, I went back to Bradley Park, intending to head home and retrieve the painting, but I found the painting on the merry-go-round where you’d left it. That’s when I got your mother’s panicked voicemails on my cell. She said you two had taken the painting and were missing. I knew you’d gone into the forest, so I had to find you and the fortune. When I came across the Grimaults holding you captive, I had to pretend I didn’t know you so Morgan wouldn’t harm you.”
“So, you did wink at me?” I asked.
“Yes. I wasn’t sure if you saw that, but I wanted to give you a sign I was there to help. Luckily, you played right along.”
“We weren’t playing along. We thought you were really a thief. We were terrified!” Holly said, squeezing the sheets in her fists.
“I’m sorry, honey. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t chance Morgan hurting you.”
“Why did you stop us when we tried to escape?” Holly asked.
“You saw what that place is capable of creating. It was too dangerous to let you wander through the forest alone.”
My mind was racing, trying to make sense of it all. I nearly kicked myself for forgetting to ask about Noelle. “How’s Noelle? And Sam?”
Dad laughed. “So is this your first crush, or did I miss one along the way?”
Man, I thought one girl was pretty and everyone had to get on my case about it.
“Noelle is fine, J.B.,” Dad said. “I spoke with Sam this morning. You can call her later if you’d like.”
I wasn’t even sure she’d want to talk to me after all that had happened, but I was glad she was safe. One question still bothered me. “Why did we have that old painting in our living room?”
Dad folded his hands in his lap. “Jean Beaumonte helped steal the Granville fortune, as you now know.” He gave me a stern look and added, “By the way, I want my journal back.” I swallowed hard, expecting a lecture on stealing, but Dad continued with his explanation. “Everyone in our family has tried to find the Granville fortune and return it so we could break the curse. We discovered Aristede’s painting, and it’s been passed down with each generation of Beaumontes as a reminder that we had to stop the Grimaults from stealing the Granville fortune again.”
“So this is a family business, just like the search for the fortune was in the Grimault family?” I asked.
“Yes. I was hoping the curse would be broken before you were old enough to join the search. But now that the Grimaults got away with the fortune—”
“Anyone hungry?” Mom walked into the room carrying a tray of blueberry pancakes and milk. She placed the tray on Holly’s nightstand.
“Mom!” Holly cried. She jumped up and hugged her. I tried to hold back and act tough, but I couldn’t fight the urge to hug my mom.
??
?I’m so happy you two are all right. I was so worried about you,” Mom said. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“We’re sorry we lied to you,” Holly said.
“I think your father and I are partially to blame. We shouldn’t have kept this from you,” Mom said.
We all sat on the bed, and Holly and I dug into the pancakes.
“How are you part of this, Mom?” I asked with my mouth full.
“I worked with your father up until you were born, J.B. Then I upgraded to a better job.” She squeezed my hand and Holly’s. I wasn’t sure I’d consider being a mom an upgrade, but she sure did seem to love it.
“What about the journal? You wrote it,” I added.
“I still help out a little, doing research, keeping notes, things like that.”
I still wondered about one thing. “Why did you let us hang out at the park if the forest was dangerous?”
Dad sighed. “All your friends hung out there. It would’ve been too difficult to stop you without telling you about the curse. Plus, the Grimaults used the seaside entrance to the forest, and they never would have exposed themselves to a park full of people, so the park itself was safe.
“Understand that we can’t tell you everything about my job, especially since finding Morgan now will be more difficult than ever. He knows Sam and I will be looking for him so we can return the Granville fortune to its rightful owners.” Dad shook his head, obviously not wanting to think about that right now. “But I’ll try to be more honest with you.”
I appreciated him explaining all of this to me, and I wanted to promise to be honest with him, too. But I couldn’t. Especially since I was about to go back into Braeden Forest.