Curse of the Granville Fortune

by Kelly Hashway

Chapter Eight

  I covered Holly’s mouth with my hand, but it was too late. Edward stopped stamping his boot against the ground and looked in every direction. I pushed Holly into the cover of the trees, and as I turned back to see what Edward was doing, my eyes locked with his. Neither of us moved.

  Holly tugged on my arm. “Let’s get out of here!”

  I stayed frozen in place. Thoughts of fortune, curses, and Noelle all jumbled together in my mind. Chills ran down my spine. I knew I should run, but I was strangely drawn to the camp. Something about Edward seemed almost familiar. Like I’d met him before. I didn’t have time to explain this to Holly because the other thief, Garret, came running into the center of the camp, holding a large knife.

  “Who screamed?” asked Garret.

  “They—” Edward stopped and stared at the fire still burning through his boot. He stomped so hard on the ground that enough dirt kicked up and put out the flame. “They went into the trees. Two of them.” Edward pointed in our direction. “They stole my food!”

  I pushed Holly through the trees. “Run!”

  Holly swatted at the tree branches. “Why are we running through all this? It’s slowing us down!”

  “Those guys live in this forest. They know the paths better than we do. This is our only chance of getting away. But we have to stop talking or they’ll follow the sound of our voices.”

  I ran so fast I could hardly speak, but I managed to whisper, “This way,” between all my huffing and puffing. Holly and I ducked under the branch of a large elm tree. I looked back to see how close Edward and Garret were, but I didn’t see them. “Where did they go?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to keep up with—” Holly didn’t finish her sentence. She screamed instead.

  I whipped my head around and saw Edward and Garret blocking our path. Holly and I ran right into their arms. I felt like a fool for not realizing the thieves probably knew all the shortcuts through the forest.

  “Gotcha!” Garret yelled.

  I didn’t even try to scream for help. It would’ve been useless. The only other people around were more Grimault thieves.

  “What were you doing at our camp? And how did you get by the traps we set on the paths?” Garret asked. He was still a teenager, but Garret seemed very mature. Everything about him was older—his voice, his speech.

  “We’re lost. Please don’t hurt us,” Holly said in a shaky voice. Garret held her by her ponytail, and she was craning her neck to look at him.

  “You expect us to believe you’re lost?” Garret said. “No one in their right mind comes into Braeden Forest. This place will eat you alive if you don’t know how to get around its enchantments.”

  “What did you do with our mother?” I demanded, trying to sound tough. It wasn’t easy considering these guys were totally terrifying. Edward looked normal enough, but I got this weird feeling around him—like my skin was crawling or something.

  “Your mother’s here, too?” Edward said, squeezing my arms. His hands felt unusually warm through my shirt.

  “So you found the painting before our mom did,” I said, more as a statement than a question.

  “What painting?” Edward and Garret asked as they exchanged a puzzled look.

  “I saw you looking at it back at your camp.”

  “A painting, yeah, that’s what we were looking at!” Garret laughed, and I could tell he was being sarcastic. I really didn’t like him.

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

  “She brings up a good point. Kidnapping could make us a fortune! It would 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 would 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. We weren’t evenly matched after all.

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

  There was definitely no reasoning with these guys, but 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.