Curse of the Granville Fortune (6 page)

“You don’t have our mother held prisoner?” Holly asked.

“She brings up a good point. Kidnapping could make us a fortune. It’d come in handy if we don’t find—” Garret stopped himself. He obviously didn’t want to mention the Granville fortune in front of Holly and me, and I wasn’t going to tell him we already knew about it. Something told me it’d be the end of us. “Where did you say you lived?” he asked.

“Let us go! We aren’t going to tell you anything!” I struggled to break free from Edward’s grasp, but it was no use.

“Let’s take them back to the camp and figure out what we’re going to do with them,” Edward said.

I wasn’t about to go without a fight. I looked at the burn mark on Edward’s right boot, and I got an idea. I raised my foot and with all my might, I stomped on Edward’s wounded foot.

“Ow!” Edward let go of me and grabbed his foot. I reached for Holly’s hand and tried to pull her from Garret’s grasp, but he was too strong. The only thing I succeeded in doing was getting Holly’s hair pulled.

Holly yelled. Then she looked me in the eyes. “Run, J.B.!”

I stood there staring at Holly. I didn’t want to get away if it meant leaving her behind.

“Go!” she insisted, giving me a look I knew well. She’d come up with a plan of her own. I turned and ran.

I had to trust that Holly’d figured out how to get free from Garret. Still, I didn’t want to run too far, so I hid behind a bush just close enough for me to keep an eye on her. Garret stood with his mouth gaping open, caught off guard by the fact that I’d left my sister stranded there. Holly didn’t waste any time. She angled her head, which couldn’t have been easy since Garret still had a grip on her hair, and she bit down on his free arm. Garret yelled and let go. While he rubbed his arm, Holly took off.

I smiled so wide my molars were probably showing. That was Holly. A biter since birth.

When she got close enough, I pulled Holly 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?” 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 hidden behind the bush.

Holly’s eyes widened at the sight of food. “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, we’d devoured the food, and I 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 afterwards. 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 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.”

“Why?”

“She’s all alone. 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?”

“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. “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 at me. “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. Since the forest was full of squirrels and other little creatures, that happened often.

“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.

“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.

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.

“It’s Dad!”

Dad talked to Edward and Garret like he’d known them for years. He’d kept things from me before, but this went way beyond any little white lie. There was a huge difference between being a lawyer and being a thief.

“What’s Dad doing with the Grimault thieves?” Holly asked.

“Shh!” I leaned in as close as I could without being seen. Dad handed Garret and Edward some silver coins.

Garret flipped one in the air and smiled. “Hopefully, we’ll have the rest soon. We’ve been living off practically nothing, but that will change once we find the Granville fortune.”

Dad removed a piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to Garret, who looked very happy. “It was given to me by my father, a very dear friend of your grandfather.”

Dad and Grandpa both knew the Grimaults? Was Dad working with them to scare that poor guy and get the park closed so they could search for the fortune?

“Edward, go get Dad,” Garret said. “He’ll want to see this right away.” Garret led Dad to the big rocks surrounding the campfire, and they sat down.

I turned to Holly. She was frozen in disbelief, and I knew exactly how she felt. I couldn’t believe the man I’d known all my life was a thief. He’d been sneaking around behind our backs and lying to our faces. Did Mom know about this?

Why would Dad want to steal the Granville fortune if it had to be returned in order to end the curse? I had to find out what was going on. I turned back to the camp and saw Edward returning with another thief in his early twenties. Definitely not their father.

“What do you think those coins are?” Holly asked. Garret was still flipping his in the air. “And where did Dad get them? We’re practically broke.”

“They’re part of the Granville fortune,” came a soft voice behind us. “Silver coins with the family crest imprinted on them.” Noelle looked like she hadn’t slept in days.

“Look who it is,” Holly said, sounding as unfriendly as possible.

“Lay off!” I said. I was so happy to see Noelle and not just because I’d been worried about her being alone in the forest. I felt different when she was around. I felt like Noelle and I were supposed to be together somehow.

“Looks like a party,” Noelle said, pointing to the group of thieves. The three boys were sitting on the ground listening to my dad like they were one big happy family. It made my stomach turn. Dad couldn’t even make time to share a meal with
me
.

“Where have you been?” I asked Noelle.

“I found this camp after I left you guys. I’ve been staying close to it. I thought maybe my dad would show up here looking for help. He hasn’t.” She lowered her eyes.

“Noelle, I feel awful about what happened. I didn’t mean we weren’t going to help you.”

Noelle raised her eyes to mine. “My dream was so awful. I had to find my dad. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad when I left.”

Holly tapped her foot. “What is
with
you two? We’re in a freaky forest that preys on our fears and is full of thieves—and one of them is our dad. Who cares who hurt whose feelings?”

She was right. We didn’t have time for apologies. I had to figure out what Dad was doing with the Grimaults.

“Wait a minute.
Your
dad’s here, too?” Noelle looked accusingly at me.

I shook my head. “We had no idea he was here. He’s supposed to be on some big court case. He’s a lawyer. Or at least that’s what he told us.”

Noelle touched my shoulder. Again, we shocked each other. “Sorry,” she said, staring at her hand. “And you don’t owe me any explanations. We don’t even know each other.”

“That’s right. We don’t,” Holly chimed in. “It’s really hard to hear what they’re saying with you two chatting away.” She flipped her head around to watch the camp again.

“Maybe I can help,” Noelle said. “I’ve been watching them, and I’ve figured out a few things.” She peeked through the branches. “Trent is the really muscular one. He’s twenty-two. I know because he’s constantly reminding Garret and Edward that he’s older than them. Trent’s their cousin. He likes to pretend he’s in charge, but no one listens to him.”

“How old are
you
?” Holly asked.

“Almost ten.” Noelle looked like she was about to say more, but she changed her mind.

“So, they’re one big happy family of thieves, huh?” I asked.

“Not quite. Edward and Garret get along pretty well, as long as Edward listens to Garret. Garret thinks he’s like second-in-command or something. Trent hates it when Garret tells him what to do, so they fight a lot.”

“What about their father?”

“Morgan Grimault. He makes the kids work day and night while he does who knows what inside that tent.” Noelle shivered.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Morgan’s scary. I’ve heard the others talking about some of the awful things he’s done to people who’ve come near the forest.” Noelle choked on the words, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. Morgan was responsible for her father’s disappearance. I stared at my dad. He didn’t look like he was in any danger. I wasn’t sure if I felt relieved that he didn’t have to worry about the Grimaults hurting him or if I was terrified that he seemed to belong with them.

“Dad’s the scary one,” Holly said. “He’s been lying to us about all those business trips. I bet this is where he’s been going. He’s a thief!”

I’d always resented the fact that Dad was never home, but I couldn’t believe he was a thief. On the rare occasions when he did stay home, he was the greatest father ever. That was why I hated his job so much. It took him away from me. “They’re going to hear you,” I warned Holly. She wasn’t being loud at all. I just didn’t want to listen to her talk about Dad like that.