A Boy Called Duct Tape (18 page)

I crawled to the entrance and pulled the space blanket aside. I climbed out of the Graveyard, the damp, 56-degree air slapping me in the face. The flood had lost its punch, and the water was now no more than knee-deep. It was moving at a snail’s pace. In another hour, maybe less, we could begin looking for a way out of the cave. I had lost all interest in finding the treasure.

Then I saw something strange. At my feet, lit by the beam from my flashlight, was a tiny pool of water no larger than a dinner plate. At first I thought it was just my imagination, and I leaned down for a closer look. No, I was right the first time. The pool of water was rippling. The tiny waves began in the middle and moved out to the edges in a steady circular pattern.

I stared at the pool of water for the longest time. I placed my hand on the wet cave floor, but felt no vibration. And yet the puddle continued to wrinkle almost as if it was being shaken by some giant underground beast.

“How long have I been asleep, Pablo?” Kiki asked, blinking herself awake.

“About two hours,” I said, looking at my watch.

“I remember the flood taking me,” Kiki recalled. “Not much else.”

“How do you feel?” I tossed a bone into the flames, and studied her face.

“Okay, I guess,” Kiki said in a throaty voice, sitting up and looking around. “Where are we?”

“The place called the Graveyard.”

“Yes, I can see … I can see that,” Kiki said in a halting voice, her eyes sweeping over the piles of bones. “It’s sort of spooky.”

“But warm,” I said.

Kiki flashed a thin smile. “Uh-huh.”

In a few moments Pia was awake.

“Pablo,” Pia said, rubbing her eyes. “The flood … is it gone?”

“Yeah. Long gone.”

Pia nodded. “I was afraid I’d drown, Pablo. I was afraid I’d go unconscious”—she had mangled the word—“and drown and you wouldn’t be there to save me.”

“You’re safe,” I said. “No more floods.”

“Promise, Pablo?”

“Promise.”

Pia sat up and looked at Kiki. “Are you okay?”

“Uh-huh, thanks to Pablo.”

Pia crawled over on all fours to where Kiki sat before the fire and gave her cousin a hug. “I was so scared you were.…”

“Yeah, me too.”

Pia turned and squinted at me through the flames. “I want to go home, Pablo. I miss Mom.”

“Yeah, I miss her, too,” I said.

It was the first time since we had begun our treasure hunt that I’d thought about Mom, and the idea that I might never see her again filled me with a heavy sadness.

“I’m with Pia,” Kiki said in defeat. “I’m ready go home, too.”

“As soon as the water drops we’ll head out,” I said.

“Which way?” Kiki asked.

I hesitated. “I’m not sure.”

“Is there anything to eat?” Pia said.

I fished around in each backpack and tallied our food: two energy bars, half a jar of peanut butter, two bagels, and a package of beef jerky. I divided the energy bars into three portions and we had a quick snack.

“We should save the rest of the food,” I said.

“Agreed,” Kiki said, her voice wrung out. “Something tells me we’re going to need it.”

I wondered how we would ever find our way out of the Bear Mountain cave.

“What are you burning?” Pia asked, inspecting the bone fire.

“Bones.”

“Animal … bones?”

“No, not animal bones.”

“You mean—?” She gagged. “People bones?” Her forehead pleated and her eyebrows knitted together. “Gross, Pablo!”

“These bones saved our lives, Pia,” I said.

Pia flinched with a sudden realization. She looked at me gravely. “Pablo, what happened to Mr. Huff? Did the flood get him? Is he … is he okay?” Her bottom lip began to quiver.

“I … I don’t know.”

“But he told us he couldn’t swim,” Pia reminded me, her eyes bubbling up with tears. “R-R-Remember?”

“Yeah,” I whispered, staring into the fire. “I remember.”

“Maybe we should go search for him,” Kiki said.

The thought of Monroe lying face down in some dark corner of the cave tugged at me. One side of my brain said we should look for a way out, the other side told me we should look for Monroe.

“First we need to find a way out of this place,” I said. “Maybe we’ll … you know, run into him.”

“That’s not a very good plan, Pablo,” Pia said.

I heaved a big sigh. “I know.”

I unscrewed the top from my canteen and poured water into a small indentation in the cave floor a few feet from the bone fire, which continued to burn warm and bright. The smoke twined its way through the ceiling of the cave-within-a-cave.

“Why are you pouring water on the floor, Pablo?” Pia asked. She was sitting in front of the fire with her legs crossed, and chewing on a piece of beef jerky.

“A little test. I saw something crazy earlier.”

I leaned down and looked at the tiny pool of water. It was still rippling.

“What kind of test?” Kiki asked. She was lying on her back near the fire, her head resting on her backpack.

“Look at the water,” I said.

Kiki rose up and craned her neck. “I don’t see anything.”

“Me, neither,” Pia reported, crawling over to the small puddle.

“Look closely,” I said.

The water quivered with tiny rings that formed in the middle and moved out to its edges.

“Oh, boy,” Kiki whispered. On her hands and knees, she had moved closer to the puddle. “Is that … ? What is that?”

“Remember that little tremor last week?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Pia said. “It was the day we went to the Outlaw Days Festival.”

“The waitress in the café said they have little tremors like that all the time around here,” Kiki said. “She said the worst earthquake to ever hit the U.S. occurred right here in Missouri.”

“I think it’s time we got the heck out of this cave,” I said. “A little tremor outside this cave will be a big tremor inside it.”

“What about Mr. Huff, Pab—?”

Before Pia could get my name out of her mouth, the burial chamber vibrated softly for several long seconds. Shards of rock sprinkled down on us from the roof of our tiny shelter.

“Like I said, it’s time we got the heck out of here,” I said, exhaling a big rush of air.

We were gathering up our things and getting ready to leave the Graveyard when the voices came out of the darkness.

“Is that Monroe?” Kiki asked, straining to hear. She was on her knees folding her space blanket.

“Uh-huh, I think it
is
Monroe,” Pia said in an excited voice, fumbling with the straps to her backpack, which had become knotted.

I couldn’t tell if it was Monroe. And I couldn’t tell what was being said. All I knew for sure was that there were two different voices. I put a finger to my lips, and then crawled over to the narrow entrance of the burial chamber. I peeled back one corner of the space blanket, then peered out. Two shafts of light were bobbing toward me in the darkness.

“Is it Monroe?” Kiki whispered.

“If it is, he’s not alone,” I replied.

I could see the two figures more clearly as they approached. It was Monroe and one of the Blood brothers. Probably Earl, I guessed. Monroe was trudging through the ankle-deep water at the point of Blood’s rifle.

As they drew near, I could make out what they were saying.

“I’m telling you again, Blood,” Monroe said as they sloshed toward our little cave-within-a-cave. “I don’t have a clue where the treasure is located. I don’t have the map.”

“You’re lying, Huff,” Blood grunted, turning his head and spitting tobacco juice. “Why else would ya be down here iffen you didn’t know where that treasure was hidden? Answer me that.”

“There may not even be a treasure,” Monroe insisted. “Did you ever consider that?”

There were a few long moments of silence as they trudged through the shallow water.

“You’d shore enough better hope thar’s a treasure,” Blood said, jabbing Monroe in the back with the barrel of his rifle.

I had to think fast. I had two choices: I could reveal my presence—and that of my sister and cousin—or I could remain hidden. Remaining hidden was safer. But what about Monroe?

Kiki was on her knees beside me. “Are you going to do what I think you’re going to do?”

“If we lead Blood to the treasure,” I said in an urgent whisper, “maybe he’ll let Monroe go. Maybe he’ll let us all go.”

Monroe and Blood were within a few yards of the yawning black mouth leading out of the cavern. I couldn’t waste another second.

“It’s like Monroe just said,” Kiki said in a soft voice. “What if there isn’t a treasure?”

I turned my head and looked at Kiki through the flickering shadows. “We have to help Monroe.”

“Pablo’s right,” Pia said, crawling over to us. “We have to help him.”

Kiki looked at Pia, nodded, and managed a thin smile. “I know.”

I sucked in a big breath, yanked the space blanket away from the opening, and tossed it aside. “Blood!” I cried out. “Over here!”

Blood and Monroe by now were at the mouth of the tunnel. Blood wheeled around and shone his light in my direction. “Who’s there?”

“It’s the kid with the treasure map!” I shouted.

“Who?”

“Are you deaf, dude? I’ve got the treasure map! Come take a look!”

“Pablo!” Monroe called out. “Are Pia and Kiki with you?”

“We’re all safe!” I boomed.

Blood muttered something to Monroe, and then splashed toward our cave-within-a-cave. He waded onto the rocky shore, then turned and lit Monroe with his flashlight. Monroe stood motionless in the shallow water.

“Ya stay right thar, Huff,” Blood ordered, waving his rifle. “Ya hear?”

“I hear,” Monroe said in a bored-stiff voice.

Blood kept moving forward. When he was within a few feet of the portal, I sank back into the cave. I removed the treasure map from my backpack, and held it over the fire.

In the next moment, Blood’s bearded face appeared at the opening. He poked his flashlight beam into the cave. He shone it on me, then on Pia and Kiki, and then back on me.

“What’s that you’re holding, kid?” Blood asked in a gravelly voice.

“It’s the answer to all your prayers,” I said, trying to keep the fear in my voice under control. Flames licked the bottom of the map, which was shaking in my hand. “It’s a map. It shows the way to the Jesse James treasure.”

Blood turned again and found Monroe where he had left him, then shone his light on me again.

“What’s your game, kid?”

“It’s simple,” I said. “I promise not to burn the map and give it to you if you promise not to hurt anyone.”

“You can’t trust him,” Kiki whispered.

Kiki was right, of course, but it didn’t seem to me that I had much choice. I had to help Monroe the only way I knew how. I had to gamble that Blood would honor any deal we made. An old saying popped into my mind. It was something about “a deal with the devil.”

“Maybe I’ll just come in there and take the map,” Blood warned, blinding me with the flashlight beam and poking the barrel of his rifle inside. “How’s that sound to ya?” He laid one hand on the stone rim and began to crawl inside.

I turned away from the bright light and lowered the map over the fire. One edge ignited immediately.

“I’ll burn it, Blood!” I announced. “I swear I’ll burn it!”

The flames swept up one side of the map.

“Stop, kid! Stop!” Blood cried, moving back and making a sweeping, chaotic gesture with his free hand. “Ya gotta deal!”

I hurriedly dropped the map onto the cave floor and stomped the flames out with one duct-taped sneaker. Parts of the route to the treasure had been blackened by the fire, but the good part—the part showing the network of tunnels leading from the Graveyard to the Magic Rock and from there to the Cathedral—was still legible.

“Do you swear on your mother’s grave that you’ll honor our agreement?” I asked, looking at Blood.

Blood shook his head. “She ain’t dead.”

“Okay, on your father’s grave?”

“Sure, kid, on my father’s grave.”

Blood had answered too fast, too easily, but I said, “Shake?”

“Sure, shake.”

I stepped over to the entrance and took Blood’s outstretched hand, which was cold and slithery. I was certain that I’d just made a deal with the devil.

“Okay, kid,” Blood said, turning to spit, “give me another look-see at this here map. Lay it down and step back.” Blood motioned me away with the barrel of his rifle.

Monroe and Blood had spent some time inside the Graveyard warming themselves and drying out—Blood had given the map a quick look—but everyone was now gathered outside the small cave. Our backpacks lay nearby. The flood had been reduced to a trickle of water.

I moved back, and Blood dropped to one knee and studied the dog-eared map. Blood kept one eye on the map, the other on his four hostages.

Monroe nudged closer to where Pia, Kiki, and I stood. “I’m sorry to say I watched helplessly as the flood swept everyone away,” Monroe said, his gloomy expression showing guilt.

“There was nothing you could have done, Monroe,” I said.

“Quit your yapping!” Blood ordered, waving the barrel of his rifle at us. He turned back to the map, his eyes tracing the route to the Jesse James treasure. “Glory be,” he muttered. “I always knowed thar was a treasure.” His eyes dancing with greed, Blood continued to study the map, looking up occasionally to make certain the four of us remained at a safe distance. His finger found its way to the Graveyard.

“Is this here the place called the Graveyard?” Blood asked, training his light on the small entrance to the burial cave a few yards away. “All them bones and such. Gotta be the Graveyard.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s it.”

“Then the treasure ain’t far,” Blood said with a hungry grin. “Let’s go find it.”

Everyone slipped into their backpacks and headed out at the point of Blood’s rifle.

Fifteen minutes after leaving the Graveyard, we arrived at the next destination on the map: Magic Rock.

The formation resembled a huge seesaw, one that had been created after a large, thin slab of ceiling rock had pulled away from the roof centuries earlier and was now balanced on a raised shelf beneath it. The Magic Rock lay beneath the ceiling scar left by its fall, resting there as if by magic.