Seizure (10 page)

“But I need to see it
now
.” Sharp. I immediately regretted my tone.

“Why now?” Chris’s eyebrows rose. “You plan on tracking down the treasure this weekend?”

“Who says we couldn’t?” Ben snapped.

Chris raised a hand in a placating gesture. “I’m sure you could. But it’s been almost three hundred years. What’s the rush?”

Patronizing? Ben’s face said that was his take.

“No rush.” I chuckled for effect. “I’m just the impatient type.”

“We’re big history buffs.” Shelton stepped in front of Ben. “Solving mysteries is our hobby. We’re good at it.” Big toothy grin.

“Let me know when you find it,” Sallie said dryly.

“If you guys like history, Sallie and I run a ghost tour downtown.” Chris pulled a flyer from his back pocket. “
Lots
of mysteries along our route. Pirate stuff, too.”

“Cool.” I accepted the handout. “We’ll have to check it out sometime.”

“Weeknights at seven sharp,” Sallie said, “Saturdays at eight and ten. All tours subject to having enough people to make the trip worth going.”

Chris’s phone beeped sharply. Repeated.

“That’s my cue,” Chris said. “Cole and I are reorganizing the colonial ceramics. He must think I skipped town. Nice to meet you guys.”

“Thank you!” I called to his retreating back.

Sallie closed the drawer, then the bureau doors.

“And
I’ve
left the front desk unmanned for too long.” Sallie clasped her palms together. “Anything else I can direct you fine folks to today?”

“No, you’ve been great.” I was reluctant to leave, but couldn’t think of an excuse to linger. “We’ll get out of your hair.”

“No, no!” Sallie waved both hands. “Stay. No one else is here. Just please unplug that extension cord when you leave.”

“Oh my gosh, thanks! We won’t be long.”

“No problem. I know what it’s like when you want to scope something with your friends, and the lame employee won’t leave you alone.”

The boys made protest noises.

“Sure, sure.” Sallie pulled at the curtains until a gap appeared. “Just don’t steal any artifacts. Or burn the place down.”

“Thanks again!” I repeated.

Sallie’s heels clicked down the hallway.

“And like that,” Hi snapped his fingers, “she left me. My life is so tragic.”

“My heart bleeds for you,” Shelton said. “But she was way more into me.”

“That guy was an ass,” Ben grumbled.

“She didn’t lock up,” I whispered.

They all looked at me. So?

“The bureau door.” I pointed. “The drawer. She didn’t lock them. Chris left first, and he has the keys.”

No change. So?

“We can examine the treasure map.” I gestured with annoyance. “The glass case is unlocked!”

“Yes.” Hi didn’t move.

“We can
examine
it,” Shelton said carefully. “In the case.”

Ben looked beyond dubious.

“What?” I may have sounded a wee bit petulant.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Hi said.

“Oh? Do you?”

“No.” Ben shook his head. “Not a chance.”

“No
what
? I just want to study the map.”

“We are
not
stealing that thing!” Shelton hissed.

“No way!” Hi echoed. “
Nyet. Nein. Non
.”

“Oh
come on
. I just want to look at it! Quit being so dramatic.”

Ignoring their disapproval, I opened the bureau, pulled out the drawer, and leaned close.

No good. Too dark. I needed better light and more time.

I glanced over my shoulder. Ben, Shelton, and Hi stood behind me, shoulder to shoulder. Scowling. A solid wall of opposition.

Deep breath.

“Guys . . .”

“Absolutely not!”

“Crazy woman!”

“I just got
out
of trouble!”

Okay. Bad start.

Hi ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I’m as excited about some girl-on-girl pirate action as anyone could be—”

“Oh, real nice!” I cut in, but Hi rolled right over me.

“—and would
love
to go treasure hunting all day, but you’ve officially lost it.
This is not a realistic idea!
”

“You’re talking about stealing an artifact from the Charleston Museum!” Shelton’s eyes darted to the curtains. “There must be alarms, cameras, motion sensors. We won’t get ten feet!”

“Look around.” I dropped all pretense of not plotting a robbery. “There’s no power in here! Just extension cords. No electricity, no security.”

It was true. The wall cameras were clearly down. Inside the glass case, the sensor lights were inactive.

“No one’s been in this room in months.” I ran a finger through the layer of dust coating a nearby case. “You heard Chris. This exhibit won’t reopen until
spring
. We’ll return the map before anyone notices it’s missing.”

“Chris will notice when he comes back to lock the bureau,” Hi said.

“Shelton can use one of his pick thingies and secure the drawer behind us,” I countered. “We only need the map long enough to copy it, or make some sense of it. Plus, Chris might not even remember.”

“No.” Ben stepped forward. “Too much risk, and for what? This isn’t a freaking Disney movie. We aren’t really going to find buried treasure. Grow up.”

“Then let’s all say our good-byes now, because I am out of ideas!”

Tears threatened, but I fought them back.

Right now, I needed to bully.

“This is it, guys.” One by one, I met their eyes. “Our parents can’t fix it. Money won’t fall from the sky. We either give this a shot, or call it a life. We’ll each have to deal with the flares on our own.”

Dead silence. Seconds. Minutes. Hours?

“Crap.” Shelton rubbed his forehead with one hand.

“Victoria Brennan, you are the worst influence in the history of high school friends.” Hi covered his face with both hands. “How many felonies are we up to now? Three? Six? Ten?”

Ben locked his eyes on mine for a long moment. Then, “How?”

“How do you think?”

I smiled, then slapped him full across the face.

“Ow!” Ben’s eyes blazed in the gloom. “Warn me next time!” he said with an inhaled breath.

“Then it wouldn’t work.” Hi’s irises flashed to yellow. “You’re not skilled like me.” But a sheen of sweat betrayed Hi’s bravado. He knew how unstable the powers could be. How easily one could lose control.

“
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
” Shelton trembled as the flare fired through him. “Fear still gets it done. Got plenty of that right now.”

I blocked the others out. Reaching deep, I tried to tap into my canine DNA.

Nothing.

Then . . .

Heat coursed through my body. My skin roiled with the torture of a thousand bee stings. Sweat burst from my pores. Teeth clenched, I grimaced as the wolf came out.

“You okay?” Hi asked.

“Fine,” I panted. “It was worse this time.”

“We shouldn’t be doing this!” Shelton whined. “It’s playing with fire!”

“More like Russian roulette.” Hi shuddered. “I’ll watch the door.”

“I’ll join you,” Ben said.

I quickly scanned the room, my gaze lasering through the shadows. The exhibit now seemed lit up like a Broadway show.

“Help me with the drawer case,” I said to Shelton.

“It’s a very simple lock,” Shelton tapped the side. “The key would go here. They must rely on high-tech sensors.”

“Let’s hope I’m right about the electricity. Open.”

Shelton popped the case with preternatural speed.

We froze. No screaming alarm.

I lifted the glass and removed the pins. Still nothing. Rolling the map as tightly as I dared, I reached to slide it under the back of my shirt.

Ben strode over and held out a hand. “Give it to me.”

“Why?”

He snatched the map from my grip. “No point in
you
getting busted if this fiasco falls apart.” Ben jabbed a finger at Shelton. “Bolt this thing up and we’re out of here.”

“All clear,” Hi whispered from beside the curtains. His voice boomed in my supersonic ears. “But hurry, my head is spinning!”

“Done.” Shelton pocketed his lock-pick set and rushed next to Hi. We waited as he cocked his head toward the hallway. Best ears.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s bounce.”

We hurried down the hall, trying to look natural.

My flare raged like a caged animal, barely in check. Was it adrenaline? Or was the virus wreaking havoc inside me? My steps quickened.

“Sunglasses,” I whisper-barked.

Four sets of shades went on. Screw how we’d look to anyone inside.

Luck was with us. We encountered no one. No guards. No gawking tourists. No Sallie manning the desk by the doors.

“Almost there,” I hissed.

Like theatergoers leaving a movie, we strolled into the fading afternoon light. Rounded a corner. Cool as cucumbers. Casual as Friday.

I’m not sure who broke first, but my money’s on Shelton.

We ran. It started slow, then spread like wildfire. A light trot became a full-on sprint. Pent-up energy surged through my muscles as I tore down the sidewalk.

We didn’t slow until we reached the dock, breathless, our flares extinguished. Together we flopped to the wooden planks.

“I had a future once.” Hi’s color was an alarming scarlet. “College. Ph.D. Nobel Prize. World’s Sexiest Man.” He waved one hand aimlessly. “Now I’m just a thief. A good one, at least. Thank God.”

“And a dog-boy.” Shelton used his shirt to wipe sweat from his glasses. “Don’t forget that.”

“Right. Genetic freak. Can’t leave that off the list.”

Ben popped both their heads. “Dorks.”

I ignored them. One thought ricocheted through my mind.

I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but today was progress.

Right?

Toward the west, the sun was sliding into the murky orange depths of the inland marshes. Lights were flickering on. Around us, insects were beginning their evening symphony.

Peaceful. Quiet. Calm made whole.

Tomorrow we’d take my reckless scheme to the next level.

Somehow, make it work.

We
had
to.

We had no other choice.

I
didn’t unroll the map that evening.

Too wiped out. After the day’s drama, treasure hunting went on hold. I conked out minutes after unlocking my front door.

We gathered the next morning in Shelton’s garage. Nelson Devers, LIRI’s tech director, had converted the small space into a computer repair station. Metal shelves lined the walls, jammed with plastic containers full of bolts, screws, circuit boards, and other mechanical bits. Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling. A large drafting table, the primary workspace, occupied the center of the floor.

“Time to work.” Switching on a handheld magnifier, I unfurled our stolen prize.

The treasure map was weathered and cracked, but well preserved. The paper had dulled to the color of Dijon mustard, and smelled of dust, must, and age.

Faded script flowed across the document’s top and bottom. At center, intersecting lines formed a vague image of some sort.

“Huh.” Hi scratched his chubby chin. “Hmmm.”

“What the frick?” I’d expected mountains, valleys, maybe a shoreline or rock formation.
Some
identifiable feature. Instead, I was seeing a confounding muddle of straight and squiggly lines, surrounded by a simple black border.

“Who drew this?” Shelton complained. “Monet? Picasso?”

“Three vertical lines, and seven or eight horizontal.” I frowned. “Then you’ve got this thick streak running from top to bottom, beneath the jumble.”

There was no recognizable topography or geography. Not even a directional indicator. The sketch looked like a child’s drawing, or superimposed games of tic-tac-toe.

“That’s a map?” Ben scowled. “Looks like a scribble of random lines.”

“Underwhelming,” I admitted.

“Focus on the writing,” Hi said. “The words might explain the drawing.”

A two-line stanza crossed the top of the map in bold, graceful calligraphy. Focusing the magnifier, I read aloud:

“A riddle?” I couldn’t believe it. “Seriously?”

The cryptic verse shed no light on the chicken-scratch design.

“Read the bottom,” Hi said. “Maybe the poem makes sense in combination.”

I ran the lens over the second verse. Same aggressive handwriting. New unfathomable message:

“Not very helpful.” A classic Hi understatement.

“Is that supposed to rhyme?” Shelton sounded unimpressed.

He got no answer.

I searched, but found no more writing.

No wonder museum security was lax, I thought. Without context, the map was useless.

“This could be a diagram of underground tunnels,” I said, gesturing at the mishmash in the center, “or possibly caves.”

“Maybe a coastline?” Hi ventured. “But it doesn’t say what island.”

“That mess could be anything,” Shelton muttered. “We don’t even know this
is
an island.”

“All the rumors point to an island.” Hi yanked a wad of folded papers from the back pocket of his shorts. “I spent hours online. Seabrook. Johns. Fripp. Some fishermen think the references point to Kiawah. But
everyone
agrees—Bonny buried her treasure on a barrier isle.”