So had I, frankly. Jazmine had always been the voice of reason in the group when the rest of us were too giddy with harebrained ideas to stop and think of the consequences.
“Mother, may I hunt for treasure?” Seb said to Jazmine over the top of my head.
“You may,” she answered, laughing. “As long as when we find it, I get my fair cut.”
“Let’s do this, then! Come on, Wags. Follow that clue!”
Silly, I know, but his words gave me a thrill. Just as it was when we were kids, the prospect of finding hidden treasure still felt wildly exhilarating. Seb used his paddle to push away from the docks, and we glided across the water. It was disorientating, being crammed in the canoe with him, so close that his knees eventually settled against my back and the scent of his soap wafted when the breeze blew.Is he staring at the back of my neck?
My nerves jangled at that thought, so I distracted myself by concentrating on paddling. With Jazmine’s arm in a sling, all she could do was hold on to Punkin, who was remarkably calm in a boat. Maybe calmer than me. It took a while to get into the rhythm of paddling with a partner, but then it all came back. And other than Seb whistling random unidentifiable tunes, a companionable silence settled over all three of us as Seb and I pulled the canoe through the water, squinting into warm sunlight.
The scenery on this stretch of the Little River was beautiful, green banks dappled with morning sun shining through pines that dotted the banks. A dozen private docks extended on either side, but we didn’t see anyone outside this early.
At a sharp turn in the river, the McMansions disappeared andwe headed into wilder territory. Blueberry bushes lined one bank, train tracks on the other. And at the point those tracks turned away from the river, we paddled past downtown—the back of it, anyway. Three blocks of old brick buildings sat along the river with their fronts facing the road and their backsides lining the banks. A couple of businesses had small river docks, but for the most part, bramble and underbrush blocked our view of downtown. We paddled past it, listening to morning traffic for several minutes. But downtown wasn’t big, and eventually the traffic noises faded away. We passed a motorboat speeding in the opposite direction, and after that, it got much quieter.
Jazmine continually glanced back at the other canoe, first with curiosity, then with daggers in her eyes. I rotated on my bench to see what was bothering her so much. Benny and Lulu were now lagging a little behind us. Benny was doing all the paddling, clearly trying to impress his new girlfriend, who was dragging her hand through the water and laughing.
“Go faster, Benny-boo-boo,” Seb said in a high-pitched, breathy voice behind me, imitating Lulu. “You’re so strong, my favorite oarsman.”
“Just don’t understand what he sees in her,” Jazmine said, unable to stop watching the couple.
“Not that hard, Jaz,” Seb replied. “She worships him. Simple as that.”
“Is that what you want, Seb?” I asked, tossing a look behind. “To be worshipped?”
Pale blue eyes blinked back at me. “By you? Hell, Paige. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
I quickly faced the front of the canoe, feeling thunderstruck, until I realized that he was just giving me grief. Naturally. It’swhat Seb did. He teased. He used words as weapons while playing dumb, like some verbal agent of chaos. But even though I knew this, I was caught off guard by long-dormant, unidentifiable feelings that now gripped my chest.
Maybe somewhere deep down I wanted what he’d said to be true.
Or maybe my brain was overloaded with everything that had happened since I’d gotten home, and I just needed rest. Whatever it was, I tried my best to ignore Seb’s chaotic energy behind me and leaned forward in my seat to prevent bumping into him again.
See? Problem solved. You’re just tired.
“Look, guys. Not far now,” Jaz said, pointing with her paddle. “There’s the big hill.”
Seb chuckled. “Remember when I tumbled down that hill and nearly fell into the water?”
“Never knew Old Man Keller could run that fast,” I said, smiling. “Thought there was a real chance he might kill you for stealing all that meat.”
“I’ll never understand people who leave hundreds of dollars of food in a carport freezer, right in the open, where any criminal can walk up and stock up.”
“Youwere that criminal,” I pointed out.
“Still am. We should hit up Keller’s freezer after we’re done. I could use a steak.”
Jaz laughed from the seat in front of me. “All those steaks you stole the first time ended up in the river anyway. If you dive, you might still find ’em.”
“I was ten at the time,” Seb argued. “What was I going to do with an armful of steaks? I couldn’t even boil water. It was the thrill of being able to nab them, that’s all. Hey, there’s thefinal twist in the river. Almost there. Aww, lookie—a little duck family.”
While he whistled at a mama mallard duck and several ducklings that glided near the riverbank, our canoe rounded the final bend in the river. I spotted our tiny island, along with the small sandy area near the cave where we used to park our canoes.
My heart fluttered. It had been so long since I’d been out to the island, but nothing had changed. The tiny island wasn’t even big enough to have a proper name—what with it being uninhabited, about an acre in size, and mostly covered in trees. But we never cared about that, because what itdidhave was Pinemoon Cave, the perfect hideout for four adventure-loving kids.
“Land ho!” Seb called out, one hand cupped around his mouth.
We paddled toward the stretch of sand and guided our boat onto land. We jumped out, Jaz grabbing the front of the canoe while Punkin splashed onto shore, then we all hauled the boat onto the little island “beach” and waited for Benny and Lulu to do the same.
