“Zoey!” an eerie voice echoed through the rustling leaves.
I broke the kiss and turned in the direction where I’d heard the voice coming from. “Did you hear that?”
He squinted. “Hear what?”
“I swear I heard somebody called my name.” My heart fluttered as I started to walk through the vegetation.
“I didn’t hear anything. I was too caught up in this amazing kiss with this gorgeous girl.”
I glanced over my shoulder and smiled, then held out my hand. He reached for it, and we walked for about a mile, until the sound of a river suddenly caught my attention. “Hear that?”
“Yeah, I definitely hear that,” Hunter said, peering through the vegetation.
We followed the sound of rushing water until we caught sight of a huge cement pipe that emptied a giant stream of water into the river.
I bit my lip as I pondered his words. “Do you think this is the waterfall Mr. Geo was talking about?”
Hunter shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”
I scrambled down the rocks beside the drain and squeezed through the vertical metal bars of the grate and into the round concrete pipe. A rotten-eggs-and-garbage smell assaulted my nostrils, and sewer-like water soaked through my socks and tennis shoes. I brushed the dirt and cobwebs out of my hair. We walk down the rounded, ten foot high tunnel. The fading walls are comprised of dark concrete and the floor is scummy, slippery, and treacherous to race along which meant we’d have to take our time. “It’s gross down here. Next time you’re planning a trip like this, remind me to bring some rubber boots and a hat.”
“You don’t think they’d make this easy on us, do you?”
“If this pipe runs under the city, does that mean we’re off castle property?”
“Not necessarily,” Hunter said. “I read in the history book that the king owned acres and acres of land. Back in his time, I bet this land belonged to them.”
We walked for about thirty minutes, and I jumped at the thump-whack of cars running over the manhole directly above us. Sunlight streamed in through holes spaced every sixty feet. Getting lost in the sewer was the last thing I wanted, whether I was with Hunter or not.
“We must be some kind of lunatics, coming down here. We need to find a map, something showing the property lines in ancient times, just so we know how far to go,” I suggested.
“Yeah, that might help,” Hunter said, swatting a huge bug out of his face.
I saw a tiny tunnel to the left. “Look! That one’s dry. Let’s check it out.”
“Yeah, I guess we could use a little break,” he said. We moved into the dry tunnel, and he kicked an empty water bottle. “Guess we aren’t the first ones who’ve been here recently—at least within this century.”
I pointed to the green, blue, and red skulls on the walls. “Definitely.”
We sat down next to each other, and he smiled widely. “Even in the sewer, I couldn’t be happier, as long as I’m with you,” he said.
I shot him a hesitant smile. “What?”
“It’s the only place I ever want to be—with you.”
I brushed my hair from my damp cheeks. “You’re the sweetest. No matter where we are, I love spending time alone with you.”
He wrapped his arm around me, and I snuggled into his warm embrace. I felt my heart pitter-patter. “Tell me, Hunter, what do you want to do with your life, besides being a famous musician?” My voice echoed in the confined space.
He let out a sigh. “I should know what I want by now, but I guess I don’t. My father is so controlling and has my whole future planned out for me. He wants me to take over the family business, a successful law firm in New York City.”
“Is that why you came here? To get away, if only for a year?”
“Among other reasons. I wanted a year of freedom, without him breathing down my neck. Why can’t I do what I want? I’m tired of him telling me how stupid my rock-star dreams are. Sometimes, I just want to scream at him and tell him to get off my back.”
I blinked, interested. “Are you in a band?” My heart skipped a beat at the thought of him jamming away on his guitar, even though I wasn’t a groupie of any sort.
He pushed a stray strand of hair from my face. “I’m the lead singer in a band called Storm, but I don’t play the guitar like Pam.”
I inched closer, beaming. “Are you any good?”
His entire face lit up. “I don’t know. Not bad, I guess. You want me to sing you something?”
I couldn’t hold back a smile. “That would be awesome.”
Gazing into my eyes, he began to sing: “You’re so beautiful…I love the way you smile at me…You’re so beautiful…and your hazel eyes so bright…I love to gaze into them…You’re so beautiful…You’re so beautiful I just had to let you know…”
For a moment, I was speechless, staring silently into his eyes. “Wow. That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard, and no one has ever serenaded me before.” I’d always heard there’s one special person out there for everyone, and I was pretty sure I’d found mine.
“Pretty romantic for a sewer, huh?”
He took my face in his hands and kissed me on the lips ever so softly. I sweetly ran a hand thorough his dark tangle of hair and deepened the kiss. He slid his hands around the back of my neck. After that intense kiss, he gently broke my embrace, and I smiled.
“What?” he asked, flashing me his pearly whites.
“You’re so…talented.”
His eyes lit up. “I’ve been known for my kissing skills.”
“I was talking about your singing.” I laughed.
“Oh. That too.”
“You’re an awesome kisser though,” I said.
He cupped my face. “You’re not so bad yourself, Zoey.”
“Thanks,” I said, my head reeling from the compliment.
He squeezed my hand.
I grinned up at him. “Your voice is amazing.” I could barely contain my excitement at how talented he really was. As a musician, I was sure he already had an ego as big as a house, and I imagined fan-girls were swooning all over the place, always knocking on his door. I didn’t want to be one of his entourage. I wanted to be special, to be his girl. “Look, there’s no way you should keep that voice bottled up,” I said. “I don’t care what your dad says. You need to be heard.”
“Thanks, Zoey.”
We walked back to the main tunnel, and our feet sloshed in the water as we walked down it to the next junction, where the path branched off to the left. As we entered a new stretch of tunnel, we walked upstream. I heard the echo of rushing water, and we followed the drain until we saw a fifteen-foot waterfall.
“Is that it?” I asked, and the two of us exchanged a shocked glance.
Chapter 22
“Sure looks like a waterfall to me,” Hunter said over the Niagara-like crash of roaring water.
I snorted. I had imagined a strong stream cascading down ragged cliffs, and what we were looking at was nothing as majestic and mysterious as that; all I saw was a trickle of reddish-brown sewage that made me cringe. “It looks just…gross. It’s like someone is draining their washing machine or something.”
“It’s red because of rust,” Hunter said, getting on his hands and knees feeling around in the water.
I didn’t want to, but I joined him. We searched the entire area but found nothing.
I ran my hands along the sandy granite. “Maybe this whole thing is a pipe dream,” I joked.
“Love the pun,” he said, then dived back into the nasty water. I leaned up against the wall behind the makeshift waterfall and noticed a loose brick. “Hunter!” I called. “Come here!” I dug my fingernails into the crumbling mortar around the loose brick and pulled the stone out.
“I see something, Zoey,” Hunter said in an excited tone. “Pull it out!”
Peering in, I was shocked to see a silver-plated object with intricate designs. I reached around the box with both hands, then slowly
wiggled it out. It was heavy, at least ten pounds. I couldn’t stop staring at the ancient box. “This has to be hundreds of years old.” I shot him a look. “Should we open it?”
Hunter ran his fingers over the Celtic sword and shield that was decorated with four tiny rubies. “Man, this is an antique. I bet it belong to somebody in the royal court.” He bit his lip, then looked at me. “We need to know what’s in there. I say we open it. What do you think?”
“What untold secrets do you think this old box holds?”
“We’ll never know if we don’t open it,” he said, smiling.
I nodded and took a deep breath. The curiosity was killing me. My heart thumped a million miles a minute as slowly opened the lid to reveal something swaddled in red velvet. I picked it up and carefully unwrapped the material. The next thing I knew, I was holding a glimmering blue stone in my hand. I gasped. “It’s a sapphire, the size of my palm.” It was delicately beautiful, shimmering, and, I assumed, very rare.
“Jackpot! It’s The Lady of the Lake,” Hunter said in a stunned voice. He shined his flashlight, and I held the stone up to the light, marveling at the facets of light reflecting off of it. “In a million years, I never would have guessed they were talking about a gemstone,” Hunter said. “We were so off base, looking for some priceless painting.”
“I don’t believe it,” I whispered, still in awe. I wrapped the sapphire back up and put the lid on the long-forgotten jewelry box.
Hunter spun me around, and I shouted out in victory as I held him tight. I gazed into his eyes as droplets clung to his eyelashes and dripped from his hair. His face just hovered inches away. He brushed his lips softly across mine in a kiss.
He cupped my face in a gentle touch and stared deeply into my eyes. “We make a great team, Zoey.”
I pulled him close, and my lips crashed into his. It was an exciting moment, kissing the guy of my dreams after finding an ancient treasure—like something right out of an Indiana Jones movie. I’d been thrown into a fairytale adventure, complete with my own hunky sidekick. But even more fantastic, I felt like I could help the trapped spirits, and nothing felt better than that.
“Hey!” a voice echoed from behind us. “What are you kids doing down there?”
I turned my head sharply and gasped, then hid my newfound treasure behind my back with one hand. Strong beams of light made me blink. I held up my hand, and they waved their flashlights around. Five guys in their early twenties approached us, all dressed in dark clothing.
The one I assumed to be the leader was wearing a white t-shirt and baggy pants with split cuffs, and he was holding a knife. A heavy gold rope chain adorned his neck, and the gold rings on his fingers were gaudy and hideous. He adjusted his black knit cap; the others had bandanas tied around their heads. “Did you pay the admission fee?” he asked.
I couldn’t help but stare at the huge diamond stud in his ear, and I tried to keep my voice from wavering. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know we were trespassing. We were just having some fun exploring the drains.”
“Gentlemen, if you’ll please step aside, we’ll kindly be on our way,” Hunter said, gripping my hand tight.
“Give us whatever you’re hiding, and we’ll let you go,” the guy said.
I gripped the box, refusing to let it go. I should have been glad they weren’t trying to kill us, but it pissed me off that we’d gone through all of that work just to have the treasure snatched away from us by a bunch of thugs. I opened the box and slipped the stone into my pocket.
“Hand it over!” the guy said.
I held out the box and the leader snatched it from me. When he saw it was empty, he wasn’t fooled by my trick.
Hunter loosened the band around his wrist and slid his watch off. “Take this.” He suddenly dropped it into the puddle of water. “Sorry, buddy. At least it’s waterproof.” As the guy reached down to grab it, Hunter took a step back and pushed me toward the tunnel to the left. “Run!”
I bolted down the passageway, splashing through the water like a madwoman. I could hear shouts and curses from behind, but I didn’t dare stop or look over my shoulder. There was no way we could outrun five guys, so when I spotted a steel ladder going up to the surface, I didn’t hesitate. Light glared through the round openings. I clambered up the rungs two at a time, with Hunter right on my tail.
At the top, I heaved the manhole cover with all my might, and it finally slipped loose. I had some incredible, unbelievable strength, but I attributed it to adrenalin. I peeked out and realized I was in the middle of the street, and after I made sure no cars were coming, I scrambled out. Three runaway poodles with dangling, long leashes ran over barking at me. Their anxious owner frowned at me, then called her precious Fluffy, Tiffany, and Vicky back.
“Hurry, Hunter!” I shouted.
“Ain’t happening!” said one of the thugs.
Hunter let out a gasp as the gangsters grabbed him and dragged him down the ladder. My heart leapt in my chest. The leader held a knife to his neck. “Give me whatever was in the box, or I’ll slit his throat.”
Hunter stared up at me, his eyes wide and terrified. I hoped Hunter wouldn’t do anything stupid, like try to fight back against armed thugs; there was a five-to-one ratio.
“No!” I screamed. “Don’t hurt him!”
“Last chance!” he shouted up at me.
I decided then and there that I had to give him the stone. There was no way I was going to watch Hunter get murdered right before my very eyes over some lost treasure. I reached in my pocket, ready to hand over my glittering prize, when Hunter elbowed the guy. Everything happened in slow motion, like a movie. The gangster retaliated by thrusting the knife toward Hunter’s gut. A horn blared, and screeching tires made me jump. I looked up to see a truck, just inches away from running me over.
More adrenalin flooded through my veins, and I held up my hand and screamed, “No!” In the next instant, a jolt of electricity ran up my spine and spread out to my hands. To my surprise, everything stopped and froze in place, except for me and Hunter. The knife was hovering in midair, less than an inch away from Hunter’s stomach.
“You…you saved my life!” I heard Hunter say through the haze, but for the life of me I thought I was in some kind of dream.
After counting to ten, I let out a long breath and glanced around. No, this isn’t a dream. The dog was frozen, his mouth open, as if he was stopped in the middle of a bark. Birds had stopped midflight. Shoppers on the street were glued to their spot. The driver of the truck looked as if he was screaming for me to get out of the way.
Hunter scurried up the ladder and climbed out. Running a hand through his hair, he glanced around, then put the manhole cover back on. “Zoey, what did you do?”
“I dunno.” I grabbed Hunter’s hand and crossed the street. Then, as quickly as it had happened, the world started moving again.
Shaking his head, Hunter stared at me with wide eyes. “What the heck just happened?”
The dog was yapping at my heels, and the owner was still frowning at me.
“I should call the police,” the owner of the dog said.
“We were checking out the sewage system,” Hunter replied. “It’s all in working order, but there are quite a lot of rats down there.”
“And gangsters too,” I added, pulling Hunter down the street.
We cut through a few alleys and made our way to the outskirts of the city.
Suddenly, he pressed me against the brick wall. “I couldn’t bear if anything happened to you.”
I stared into his eyes. “I thought they were going to kill you.”
He softly kissed my lips as he cupped my face. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I still can’t believe this.”
Hunter shook his head. “Zoey, how did you do that? You stopped the very fabric of space and time.”
My lips pressed into a grim line. “I dunno. I-I can’t begin to explain it.”
He cocked a brow. “Maybe that
sapphire has some kind of powers.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I guess that would make sense, since I was holding it.”
“Wait,” he said. “You’re right. I don’t remember ever touching it.”
“You didn’t.”
“If this thing has unspeakable powers, we have to make sure it doesn’t get in the wrong hands.”
I felt my pocket and was relieved that the stone hadn’t fallen out in the chaos. “I shouldn’t have messed with an ancient stone. That was just stupid.”
“You couldn’t just let those guys have it. You had no choice but to take it out of the chest and stuff it in your pocket. You had to touch it.” He wrapped his strong arms around me. “The important thing is that we’ve got The Lady of the Lake. We can figure out the rest along the way.”
I reached for his hand, and he smiled. I’d captured Hunter’s complete attention, and for the first time in my life, I felt special.
“Wouldn’t Mr. Geo flip if he knew you were holding a priceless piece of treasure in your hand?” Hunter asked.
“We have to make sure he never finds out,” I said.
“Right. We don’t know what he’s up to, but I’ve definitely got some bad vibes about the guy.”
“I think your instincts are spot on.”
He smiled as I grinned.
Let’s get outta here,” I said, pulling him back toward the castle. “We got some spirits to free.”
Chapter 23
We ran into Shantel on our way back. We knew she was trustworthy and was trying to figure out what the heck was going on herself, so we filled her in on everything we knew. We grabbed Eric and Pam, then took off into the woods to talk. It was a tad chilly, but the sun felt good on my face. It was around three p.m. Hunter took us to his favorite spot, and we all sat on the huge, flat boulder in the middle of the stream, discussing our theories and ideas and what we should do. We had to make sure no one heard us or saw our discovery.
I held the stone in the sunlight; it was breathtaking as colors sparkled from the sapphire.
“That’s the real deal,” Eric said. “It must be worth millions.”
“I can’t believe you found treasure,” Pam squealed.
My Haunted Fairytale - Book 2 (The Enchanted Castle Series) Page 16
