Chapter Nine
Holly whipped her head around, looking everywhere for me. She knew I was hiding nearby. When she got close enough, I reached out and pulled her behind the bush. This time, she didn’t scream. She threw her arms around me and squeezed me harder than I’d ever been hugged. Normally, I’m not the hugging type, but I was relieved Holly’s plan had worked and she was free from Garret.
As soon as she let go of me, I put a finger to my lips. I heard Garret and Edward’s voices before I saw them, and I motioned for Holly to stay still.
“Which way did they go?” Garret said.
From where I crouched, I could only see their boots, but that was enough to make sure Holly and I stayed out of sight until the coast was clear.
“They couldn’t have gone far,” Edward said.
“Exactly, so why haven’t we spotted them yet?” Garret practically screamed. I expected thieves to be a little stealthier than these two. Who didn’t know that screaming was not a good idea when you’re trying to sneak up on someone?
“They must be hiding,” Edward said.
A lump formed in my throat. Edward was no dummy. He was probably searching the bushes.
“We can’t look behind every tree for them, but we also can’t let them escape and tell people we’re here.”
“Relax, Garret. They won’t make it out of this forest alive with all the wild animals in here. Not to mention the creatures this place creates,” Edward said.
“Yeah,” Garret growled. “They don’t even have any weapons.”
“Let’s head back to camp. I need to take a look at this burn on my foot.”
“I should probably wash my arm. Who knows what diseases that little twerp has. I can’t believe she bit me!”
Holly squeezed her hands into fists, but I covered her mouth with one hand and held her arm with the other. When I couldn’t see Garret and Edward anymore, I stood up and sighed with relief. “I didn’t want to leave you, but when I saw the look on your face, I knew you’d thought of your own way to escape.”
“I can’t get the taste of that dirty, disgusting thief’s arm out of my mouth,” Holly said.
“Here, you can rinse your mouth with some of this water.” I grabbed the canteen I’d also hidden behind the bush.
Holly’s eyes widened at the sight of food. She was so happy you would’ve thought I was handing her a large sack of money. “I can’t believe you held on to the bread and water through all that. I would’ve dropped them.”
“My stomach wouldn’t let me. I’m starving!”
“Me too! Break off a piece of bread for me.”
“It’s kind of squished because I was gripping it so tightly, and it feels like it’s getting stale.”
“I don’t care,” Holly said, shoving the food in her mouth.
While we sat in our hiding place eating the stolen bread and drinking water, I tried to decide what to do next. I wasn’t sure how Noelle was managing on her own. I hoped she didn’t run into Garret and Edward. Before I knew it, Holly and I had devoured the food, and we still didn’t have a plan. To make matters worse, I felt another vision coming on. I turned away from Holly. Luckily she was too busy eating crumbs off her shirt to notice me sweating. I splashed some water on my face, hoping to shock myself out of it. The vision came anyway, but it was calmer. I didn’t shake as much, and my head felt clearer afterward. I started to make sense of the weird things that had happened.
“The crazy guy in the park kept saying ‘knife’ and ‘grim,’” I said, testing my idea out on Holly.
“Garret had a knife.”
I nodded. “And ‘grim’ was supposed to be Grimault.” I was sure the Grimault thieves had driven that poor man insane. Garret and Edward were young, but the rest of their family was in the woods, too. I hoped we wouldn’t meet them.
“Do you still want to search for the Granville fortune?” Holly asked.
As much as I didn’t want to be anywhere near the Grimault thieves, I knew the fortune was the answer to ending the curse. “Yeah,” I answered. “But we have to find Noelle, too.”
“What? Why?”
“She’s all alone in here. She could be in trouble, and we’re the only ones who know she’s here.”
Holly grunted and threw a rock at the tree behind me. I ducked as it ricocheted off the peeling bark and just missed hitting me in the head. “She walked away from us, remember? I’m not about to get killed trying to save her.”
“She was upset. She thought we weren’t going to help her find her dad. How would you feel if it was Dad or Mom who went missing in this place? You’d be out of your mind, too.” Holly bit her lip and refused to look me in the eye. That usually meant she was thinking about what I’d said but didn’t want to give in. I continued. “What if Garret and Edward or any of the other Grimault thieves find her? The others could be much bigger and stronger. She wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Holly finally looked me in the eyes. “I guess we have to try to help her.”
“Thanks, Holl.” I couldn’t fight back my smile.
“So, now what?” she asked.
“We try not to run into any more Grimault thieves.”
“How do we do that?”
“They walked that way,” I said, pointing to the right. “So we’ll go the other way. I saw a path back where Edward and Garret caught us.”
It didn’t take long to find our way back to the path, but it did take longer than it should have since I kept pulling Holly behind trees at the smallest sound. And since the forest was full of squirrels and other little creatures, that was often. I knew I was being overly paranoid, but it was hard not to be.
“I thought we finished all the water,” Holly said, pointing to the empty canteen in my hand.
“We did, but I figured we should hold on to it in case we find that stream. We could refill it.” I looped the strap of the canteen around my neck so I had both hands free to help maneuver through the forest.
“Good thinking, but I’m hoping we get out of here soon enough that we won’t have to worry about finding more water.”
“That’s a nice thought, but we probably won’t be that lucky. We’re cursed, remember?”
“Yeah, but this path seems different than the others. We’ve been on it for a while, and it hasn’t split into two like the rest of them.”
“That is strange. Now that I think about it, the path has been curving to the right. But that means—” I stopped, afraid to finish my thought.
“We’re heading right back to the thieves’ camp!” Holly said.
“We have to get off this path!” I grabbed Holly’s arm and pulled her into the trees to the left of the path.
As we ducked behind a large tree, I heard voices. Garret and Edward. That explained why they were able to cut us off earlier. The path looped around their camp. I couldn’t believe I’d led Holly right back to the thieves.
Through the trees, I could see the campfire. Garret and Edward were standing by it. Garret had his arm wrapped in a white shirt. A smile crept across Holly’s face when she saw it. I didn’t move a muscle as I watched another thief join Edward and Garret. Even though I could only see his back, the moment he spoke, I knew nothing I’d faced in Braeden Forest was as frightening as the realization of who the figure was that stood before me.
My fear was instantly replaced with a complete feeling of desperation. “It’s Dad!”