ChapterSeventeen
“Do you think there are bats?” I trailed after him into the dim, confined space, just about wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Thick tree roots ran along the edge of the floor and crept up on the walls.
“I don’t know, but watch out for this.” Hunter tapped on a low-hanging rock, ducked, and passed under it. With my height I didn’t have to worry, so I walked right under it.
A sharp blast of wind whipped between us, sending shivers down my body. Light curved around the bend about twenty feet deep, and we came out in a vast enclosed grotto.
The majestic dome inside of the mountain was like nothing I’d seen before. Directly across from us, the daylight filtered through a large natural skylight high above the water. The ocean surged through an opening to the outside at the bottom, where, I had no doubt, during a low tide a small boat could easily travel through. This was the perfect location to hide treasure.
“In nature’s fortress wade into deep before you seek,” I said. “Hunter, this is one of the riddles. We cracked it.” By sheer luck, but who cared.
“We sure did.”
Steps, some organic and others hand-chiseled, led to a narrow sand and rock beach. Monday weaved between our legs and ran down the path as if he owned the place. On the last step, he paused and scratched his ear. He and Tuesday probably roamed over this area all the time; those cats probably knew every inch of the island. Too bad they couldn’t tell us what they knew. Hunter held out his hand for me, and I took it. We descended the stairs and walked along a bank where the waves gently kissed the sand. His hand still held mine. I was fully aware he hadn’t let go.
My eyes traced the stone fortification that encompassed us until they stopped on a cleft about four feet long and shoulder-width wide, a foot above the waterline.
I pointed. “Do you think that leads somewhere else? ‘Wade into deep’ could mean go deeper into the mountain.”
“Wait here.” Hunter relaxed his grasp on my hand and trod water knee-high to the crack in the wall. He carefully stepped on slimy rocks coated with algae, grabbed the edge of the rock and planted his right foot on the wall. Pulling himself up, he slipped into the dark hole without a care, obviously not worrying about what creepy-crawly could lurk inside.
“See anything?” I called out.
Hunter reappeared. “Too dark to see. We need to bring flashlights with us.”
“Seriously? You have flashlights? I could have used one on my way to the outhouse at night.”
Hunter lowered down on his ass as he eased back toward me, his foot slipping on a rock, but he kept his balance. “It’s only for emergencies.”
Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night was an emergency in my book. “Where do you keep it?”
“In a wooden container on the porch.” He raised his eyebrows. I blinked at him. I had no idea what he was talking about. “Closer to the kitchen… where my hammock is. I use it as my nightstand.”
I raised and dropped my hands in surrender. Evidently, I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings. Not the best quality for a person on a treasure hunt.
Standing in the shallows, Hunter checked his watch. “It’s after six. We pack tonight and return here at first light,” he said. “If Captain William Thompson hid something here, it would be deep in the water.”
With the first flush of the morning Hunter and I returned to the cave, bringing a rucksack stuffed with fruits and boiled eggs, two bottles of water, and a prybar. Fitted with flippers and masks, we explored the waters while bright sunlight fell through the openings in the grotto’s ceiling and the gap out into the ocean. The tide was low, making the sea passage large, letting in more daylight.
Below the surface was a thriving underworld as deep in some places as the cave was high. Closer to the surface, a vivid rainbow of colored and striped fish broke up and darted away from us as we snorkeled. Some larger fish swam unbothered, watching us investigate the area bejeweled with aquatic plants and barnacles. In the rainforest of the sea Hunter passed between rocks, diving deeper between the long kelp strands. I followed him, checking out thick beds of seaweed, marine growth, and anything resembling wooden cases or manmade objects while carefully avoiding anything that could sting, bite, or eat me.
After a half an hour search, Hunter and I agreed to fan out in separate directions to cover more of the ocean floor. As Hunter was a much more experienced diver than me, he went down much deeper, studying the undersea outcrops, while I tackled the shallower sections. Soon, we parted far enough that I lost track of him in the serene sway of tall seaweed. Wearing an inflatable yellow belt pack, I explored the waters slowly, floating on the surface, pedaling with my flippers, each of my breaths in the snorkel sounding like Darth Vader. Through the semi-fogged mask, my eyes examined the magnificent spectrum of color below, searching for anything out of place in color or shape. Colorful starfish neighbored the urchins tucked in undersea rocks. Fish sparkled and glimmered where they caught the light, and rich oceanic life changed from dark to bright green as it waved at me.
I worked my way closer to the portal that led out. Hunter had warned me to stay away from here and not chance getting sucked out into the open ocean. The undercurrent pulled on me with an invisible force, but not to the point where I couldn’t fight it, yet my breathing labored, and I kicked faster, giving my lungs and legs a good workout.
The sun came out from a passing cloud, and the waters became clear, exposing plants and coral growth. In two hundred years many plants, corals, and vibrant sea anemones had taken root and reclaimed every hard surface, masking everything from my untrained eyes. We were looking for trunks, but by now the chances were the wood had disintegrated and the chests could have fallen apart, the treasure inside them drifting out into the open water and forever lost to any treasure hunter.
I stopped swimming and pulled the mask off, rubbed the skin where the rubbery skirt left its mark, then spat into the glass.Gross. I know.It was the old trick to keep it from fogging up. With mask back on, I traveled in the direction we hadn’t explored yet. I was close to giving up when a group of stacked rocks of the same exact sizes, with distinct right angles, came into my view. My heart skipped a beat.
I tried to dive deeper to check it out, but the belt yanked me back. I finned fast to the shore. Once my feet found ground, I unbuckled the orange strap and flung the floating device onto the dry, rocky beach. Hunter’s head popped out of the water on the opposite side of the cave.
“Hey! I found something,” I shouted. He twisted in the water so fast I had no doubt he felt a whiplash.
“Where?”
“Maybe thirty feet to the left from that opening.”
Without waiting for Hunter, I swam to the spot, took a few deep breaths, and dived. Whatever it was was at most twenty feet down, and reaching it took little effort. My eyes rounded with excitement when I recognized the outline of wooden cases coated with barnacles and algae, their braces eaten through with rust. I moved deeper for examination, my fingers pushing seaweed threads out of the way and my face coming close to the ill-fated skull. I drew away as a scream erupted from my throat, bubbles rushing in front of me. In an instant, saltwater pooled into my mouth, and I swallowed it. My stomach revolved as I floundered, my arm and leg working out of sync as I desperately pushed upward.
