The Treasure Hunters

by Beth D. Carter

  Merridie followed him since she had the map and journal, trying to make heads and tails of their surroundings. Ruby was next, followed by Eden. Asia brought up the rear.

  They hit a slight incline and Eden’s foot hit some loose gravel. She stumbled, waving her arms to get forward momentum and before Ruby could grab her hand, Asia threw up his hand to steady her but managed to hold her up via her posterior. Ruby’s eyebrows shot up just as Eden giggled and Asia’s dark skin flushed even darker.

  On and on they walked, the sun rising higher in the sky and with it came grueling humidity. Ruby could’ve sworn she was breathing in liquid. Her hair, her skin, her clothes, everything was wet. She also had bits of plants on her face from Sin’s hacking ability.

  It was sometime after noon when Sin halted all of a sudden. Merridie bumped into his back before he held up his hand, indicating they needed to stop. The jungle gave way to a clearing.

  “Are we still going the right way, Merridie?” he asked.

  “Looks like it.”

  He only took a couple more steps before a long decorative staff landed in front of him, the deadly blade sticking in the ground. Sin tensed and brought his sword up but it was too late. As they all looked around, Ruby realized they were surrounded by island natives. They were painted in colors of white and red, and feathers stuck all over their bodies wrapped in vines and leaves. They were unfriendly looking people who held spears and posed in threatening positions, tensed as if waiting for one of them to move. The only sound Ruby heard was her own heart beating frantically against her rib cage.

  Oh, my god…

  One of the natives came forward and pulled his sharp staff out of the ground. He said some words, followed by grunts, and various hand waving but since none of them spoke his language it only angered him more. Another warrior came forward and grabbed Sin’s machete before pushing him. Ruby realized they were supposed to follow their leader.

  “All right,” Sin told the leader, holding his hands up non-threateningly. “We’ll follow.”

  The leader turned and, escorted by about fifty of his closest friends, Ruby knew they didn’t really have a choice.

  “The map mentioned protectors,” Merridie said quietly. “I just thought they’d be dead after a hundred years.”

  “Vouleigh probably had a relationship of some type with the natives,” Sin replied, keeping his eyes alert as they continued walking through the clearing, now surrounded by the wary and fierce people.

  “Looks like they’re still keeping to the pact,” Ruby replied.

  “This means we’re on the right path,” Eden announced happily. “How lucky!”

  A spear nudged Sin’s side.

  “Yes,” he said sarcastically. “Extremely lucky.”

  The natives led them from the clearing, back into the jungle, and then out to a village where women, children, and older people watched them with dark mistrustful eyes. Clothing seemed optional, since most women had bare breasts hanging out and children were naked. The women were painted with bright colors and beaded necklaces. Homes were huts made from mud and foliage. The men of the village, the warriors, prodded them along, and soon they left the village behind to enter another clearing. The sound of water could be heard and Ruby saw that several large stone slabs had been pushed together to form an altar, complete with a sacrificial stone table with a suspiciously dark brown stain. Not too far past the stone area, the cliff abruptly ended.

  The warriors pushed them onto the slab, depositing them while they all, and the whole village, enclosed the three open sides, eliminating any hope of escape.

  “Holy fuck,” Sin muttered.

  “Look,” Merridie said, grabbing Ruby’s arms and pointing to the table. “On that stone base. It’s the eye the map talked about.”

  Eden poked her head over Merridie’s shoulder. “Where?”

  Merridie dug into the bag and pulled out the journal. “Proceed through the eye and you shall fly,” she read.

  “What? Fly right off the edge? I think we’re too high up.”

  “It’s part of the code,” Merridie told him.

  Just then a native jumped onto the slab with them, holding Sin’s machete.

  “Wonderful,” he muttered, eying the large sword. “What do you think he wants?”

  “Taking a guess by that table behind us, probably nothing to do with helping us,” Ruby said.

  “After we fly we’re supposed to float down a river until we see some dragon teeth,” Merridie added. She held up the journal, pages facing out, as if she needed to validate her words.

  “So we do jump,” Asia stated. “Right?”

  Sin shook his head. “We’d never survive from this height. Any other suggestions?”

  The native with the knife took a step toward them as Merridie slid the journal back in her bag. Ruby grabbed Merridie and Eden’s arm as she backed up until the stone table halted her retreat.

  “Listen,” Merridie said, pointing to the eye symbol on the table base. “That eye has got to lead to something or it wouldn’t have been on the map.”

  Sin suddenly squatted down and his fingers traced some old scrape marks gouged into the stone.

  “This table has been moved before,” he said.

  “A covering?” Ruby asked. “To the river?”

  “We need a distraction while Asia and I push this table.”

  Eden nodded in agreement. “All right,” she said and before anyone could stop her, she stepped away and clapped her hands. The native’s eyes widened and he stumbled back a few steps.

  “Oh my god,” Merridie groaned.

  “Hello, all you native island people,” Eden said loudly. “I’m guessing you haven’t heard all the latest ditties from New York City, so I’m going to sing one of them for you. A song originally sung by Helen Kane in Good Boy.”

  She spun, turning her back on the native to clear her throat. She subtly gestured with her hands to start moving the table. Then, spinning again as if on a stage, Eden began a slow dance of the Charleston.

  “I’m not one of the greedy kind, all of my wants are simple. I know what’s on my mind!” she sang in a loud, off-key voice.

  Merridie placed her hand over her eyes in an, I don’t believe this is happening gesture. Ruby looked around and saw the native people captivated by Eden’s singing. Sin and Asia didn’t waste time and began to push the stone table.

  “I’m not resting until I find, what would make your eyes glisten with joy. Listen, Big Boy!” Eden sang as she moved around in front of the others.

  Ruby saw Sin and Asia shake their heads at her, telling her without words that the stone table wouldn’t budge. As she moved to help, she saw that there was a concave center to the eye.

  “I wanna be loved by you, just you, and nobody else but you, I wanna be loved by you alone! Boop-boop-a-doop!”

  Ruby saw another native jump onto the slab and she pointed him out to Merridie. Merridie shrugged her shoulders and Ruby did another gesture toward the native. Merridie rolled her eyes and slid close to the second native.

  “I wanna be kissed by you, just you! Nobody else but you! I wanna be kissed by you, alone!” she sang, taking over from Eden.

  Eden grinned and gave Merridie a thumbs-up.

  Ruby pushed the concave center of the eye and the table slowly shifted, producing a hole wide enough for a body to drop through.

  Sin grinned at her. “Come on!”

  “What do you think is down there?”

  “Who the fuck cares?”

  “I do,” she said. “What if there’re snakes?”

  He blinked at her. “Fine. Asia, go first, to make sure there are no snakes.”

  Asia raised an eyebrow but didn’t hesitate to go into the hole.

  “Merridie, Eden!” Ruby called out. “Come on!”

  Merridie waved at the native that she was dancing for and turned, rushing toward Sin who helped lower her in.

  “Go,” Sin told Ruby.

  But Ruby shook
her head. “Eden first.”

  “Boop-boop-a-doop!” Eden sang and then blew kisses before dancing over to Sin and Ruby. Down she went.

  “Okay, now you,” Sin told her.

  Ruby took his hand. “Don’t leave me in the dark,” she whispered.

  He bent his head and kissed her. “I’m right behind you.”

  She nodded, took a deep breath and dropped down. Her stomach gave a quick unsteady heave as she fell down into god knows what before landing with a painful jolt at the bottom. Mud squished between her fingers as Sin fell on top of her a second later, pushing her further into the grime.

  “You know, I’ve had fantasies about being slimy with you, but not like this.” He moved off her.

  The unmistakable sound of a river could be heard, but upon trying to stand up and move, the muck was almost impossible to walk through.

  “Is everyone here?” Sin called out.

  A chorus of yeses came and he took a firm grip of her hand.

  “This way!” Asia called from somewhere up ahead. “The river!”

  And that was the last thing he said as Eden gave a yelp before everything fell silent again, except for the rushing water.

  “Eden!” Ruby cried. “Merri, take my hand.”

  Merridie took her other hand as they moved forward and then water hit her, knocking her off balance. Ruby lost her grip on both Merridie and Sin as she was pitched forward. She pushed up through the water and broke the surface, sputtering as the current quickly swept her forward.

  “Sin!” she screamed when she had the briefest second.

  “Ruby!” he yelled back and she was so grateful she wasn’t alone.

  The dark tunnel suddenly lightened a bit, enough to let her know some type of opening was ahead. Then Ruby saw the river split from a divider.

  “To the right!” Merridie called, her voice ringing over the water.

  Even though she didn’t have much control over where the water tossed her, Ruby struggled to go to the right, not knowing if anyone else was able to follow.

  Chapter Nine

  Eden and Asia were thrown to the left of the stone teeth, and after bobbing in the high-speed current the light began to grow bigger. Suddenly, they were hurled out of the hole and over a waterfall.

  Eden’s heart stuttered as she went airborne and she screamed as she plummeted down. Seconds later her scream was cut off as she plunged into the lagoon below. She kicked to the surface, gasping for air, and looked around. Asia’s head bobbed to the surface. She swam to him and they both made their way to the shore.

  When they hit grass he flopped onto his back, breathing deeply, and she saw relief in his eyes. She looked up at the waterfall, unable to believe they’d fallen so far and survived. Sin, Merridie, and Ruby weren’t anywhere to be seen and she figured they went down the other path. All she could hope for was that they were okay. She didn’t know how she could possibly stand losing one more person.

  ****

  Sin, Ruby and Merridie floated as the current calmed down. They drifted into a cavern that had high walls but no roof, which Ruby realized had been the source of light. She counted heads and came up two short. She twirled in the water, looking for them, but they weren’t there. Panic shot through her.

  “Where’s Eden and Asia?” she asked.

  “They must have taken the other side of the divider,” Sin said. “Don’t worry, Asia will take care of her.”

  The current began to pick up again and Ruby saw that the river was going back into the mountain. A set of stalactites touched down from the ceiling, coming into the water and she knew these had to be the dragon’s teeth that Merridie had mentioned.

  “Look!” Merridie said, her eyes trained on the large stones. “Grab those!”

  Sin, who was ahead of her, wedged himself on one and reached out toward her. Ruby grabbed his hand and swung out to grab Merridie. Merridie fought the current until she too swung around, to land on the rocky path next to the river. She anchored herself and pulled Ruby’s hand, and like a chain of dominoes, Ruby and Sin followed. They collapsed, both for the moment safe.

  Some time later, after her heartbeat had returned to normal, she sat up when Sin held out his hand. She scooted over to him. He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her, right there in front of Merridie. His lips were cool but when his tongue slipped into her mouth, her chilled skin heated right up. One of his hands slid up her neck, holding her in place, and she couldn’t help but remember how he said he liked sex:

  Hard.

  Hot.

  Often.

  It made her body quiver and her pussy throb, and just when she began to go a little light-headed, he pulled back and pressed his forehead against hers.

  “I want you,” he whispered. “But not with an audience.”

  Ruby remembered Merridie’s presence, and her face flooded with heat.

  Shit. How’d she forget her best friend?

  Ruby turned her head and saw Merridie gawking at her with her mouth open.

  “I see now that Robert was really the wrong man for me,” she said and Ruby thought about jumping into the river and letting it wash her away. “You wouldn’t happen to have a twin brother, would you, Sin?”

  He chuckled and shook his head as he pushed to his feet. When he quickly turned away from them, Ruby realized he must have been trying to hide his erection. She’d felt it against her thigh. Oh yes, she had definitely felt how much he wanted her. Hard, hot, and she was more than willing for the ‘often’.

  “Look,” he said and pointed.

  She and Merridie looked and could see an old torch wedged in some boulders. He stood and walked toward it, removing it from its holder, and that’s when Ruby realized a tunnel lay built into the rock.

  “I guess that’s the walk of night,” Merridie replied. “Seriously, this Vouleigh must have thought he was a poet.”

  Sin squatted down and inspected something on the ground. “Huh. Flint. Thank fucking god.”

  In a few seconds they had the torch lit and they stood hesitantly at the mouth of the tunnel. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling and they couldn’t see more than a foot or two in front of them. Ruby’s stomach clenched with fear.

  “Do we really want to go in there?” Ruby asked. “We could climb those rocks and be out of here.”

  “We’ve come this far,” Sin said.

  She looked up at him. Yes, they’d come that far and if they didn’t find the treasure then all of this had been for nothing. She took a deep breath, reined in her wayward nyctophobia, and nodded. Sin held out his hand and she took it, clinging tightly, as he led the way.

  ****

  Eden and Asia sat by the lagoon, drying off. The jungle surrounded them and without the map, or Merridie, she was hesitant which way to go. The last thing she wanted to do was run into the native population again.

  “They must have gone the other way.”

  “Sin will take care of them,” Asia said in a deep gruff voice.

  “I know,” she replied. “Sin is a good man. I just worry a little too much when they aren’t with me.”

  Asia didn’t reply and she didn’t expect him to. She knew he thought she was odd. Most people did, and that was okay. Truth was, she wasn’t all that innocent or dumb, but it was easier to play along. When people underestimated her, she was able to discover so many interesting things.

  “The lagoon trickles that way so we’ll follow it,” Asia said as he stood and looked down at her.

  “All right.”

  She was glad he was with her. Had she been alone she probably would’ve been okay, but she wasn’t ashamed to say that the jungle intimidated her. As she followed, she looked him over from head to toe. He was such an interesting man: quite different from all the other men she’d known in New York, and she didn’t mean his skin color. Of all the people she would’ve thought to be a sailor, Asia did not seem the part of a man at one with the sea. In fact, he seemed more a big ball of tightly coiled energy.

  “How
did you ever wind up sailing with Sin?” she asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

  “It was in the Caribbean.”

  “Okay. That’s the where. What’s the how?”

  “Got into a fight. A man behind me had a pistol. Sin stepped in and knocked him out. Been sailing with him ever since.”

  Eden rather thought there was more to the story. His answer was far from satisfactory for her curiosity. “Why were you in the Caribbean?”

  He didn’t answer and that’s when she knew there definitely was more to the story.

  “My father was in business with Ruby’s,” she said, hoping to get him to open up more. “That’s how I met her. My mother died when I was two, so I spent a lot of time with Ruby, and Ruby spent a lot of time at the docks. I’ve seen a lot of things, Asia.”

  He paused and she came up to his side. He looked down at her and she smiled benignly at him.

  “You’re a little funny, aren’t you?”

  Eden stared at him, maintaining her ‘wide-eyed innocence’ façade, but something about Asia made her hang back. So she straightened her shoulders and lost the ditzy girl persona. Her eyes narrowed a bit, as she looked him up and down. Their eyes met and for a moment, she allowed all the intelligence she possessed to shine through. Then she lifted a finger and held it up to her mouth, as if to shush him.

  Asia pursed his lips and winked, silently letting her know he’d keep her secret. Then the moment died and Eden slipped back into the role she felt comfortable in.

  Asia turned, leading the way through the jungle. The trickle of water was wider now, more like a brook that snaked its way through the island. Eden followed, glad she’d shown him a bit of who she really was, and could only hope that he felt as trusting with her.

  “I had to leave New York,” he said, about ten minutes later. “I––I hurt someone.”