I blinked at Seb. “Under their noses.”
“‘Under their noses,’” he repeated, nodding as a smile ghosted over his face. “It’s the next clue, people. Fuck yes!”
“But what does it mean?” Benny said, taking the key from Seb. “No noses in this cave but ours.”
“Let me see,” Lulu said eagerly. “This looks really old. Nothing inside this cave that it would fit into, right?”
“The first clue got us here, to Pinemoon Cave,” I pointed out. “Maybe this clue takes us somewhere else.”
“Where?” Jazmine asked, snatching the key from Lulu’s fingers. “To another place where you can jump in some weird water? We don’t even know who left these clues, or where they lead. Probably to you drowning again!”
“No one drowned,” I pointed out. “Wealmostdrowned.”
Seb snickered, which only further irritated Jazmine.
“Both of you could be dead right now, you know?” she said, sounding agitated. “And Benny has a point. Whose noses? This could mean anything. I mean, come on. Get real. We didn’t really come here today thinking we’dactuallyfind treasure. Do we really believe that Nana Malone has been hanging on to this all her life—the solution to one of the biggest lost treasures in the US? And that it was passed down through the family from Wyrd Jack himself? Not to mention that it’s a terrible clue.”
“All clues are terrible until you figure them out,” Seb said, taking the key back from Jazmine. “Why are you getting so worked up about this?”
“Maybe because I thought you idiots were going to die and Icouldn’t do a damn thing to help you,” she said, tucking her hurt arm tight against her side.
“Jaz—”
“The Wags were nothing but an excuse to do stupid things when we were younger,” she argued. “Think about it. When’s the last time we were out here? Oh, wait. I remember. It was the week before two idiots drove a stolen car off a pier.”
“Which idiots?” Lulu asked brightly.
Benny groaned.
“You haven’t told her, Ben? Don’t blame you,” Jazmine said. “If I’d stolen a Ferrari from one of the biggest assholes in town as a joke—”
“How many times do I have to say that we didn’t ‘steal’ the Ferrari,” Benny insisted, getting agitated. “It was just a prank. A joy ride!”
Jazmine’s eyes narrowed. “Were you experiencing joy when you couldn’t distinguish forward from reverse and backed that Ferrari off a pier?”
“Jesus, Jaz,” Benny said, darting a nervous glance at Lulu. “Can you not do this now?”
“Why?” she asked. “Are you embarrassed that you let one of your oldest friends take the fall for the stunt, even though he wasn’t the one driving? People who have important parents in this town can’t do jail time. And who cares if Seb gets sent away to boot camp, right? Everyone just assumed he was a loser anyway.”
“To be fair, I kind of was...” Seb said.
“Benny?” Lulu asked, squinching up her face at him. “What is she talking about?”
“Don’t take this out on him,” Seb told Jaz. “You guys alwaysgive Benny shit for the Ferrari incident, but it took two to tango, you know? Benny wouldn’t have even dreamed of taking the Ferrari on his own.”
That much I believed was true. After Seb and I stopped speaking in high school and the Wags fell apart, Jaz and I got closer while Seb started hanging with Benny again... something we weren’t made aware of until we saw them goofing around in front of a fancy steak house along the harbor front, both in uniform, working as valets part-time after school.
The boys were on duty the night the Ferrari rolled up to their valet stand. Whose idea was it to take the car for a spin around the block? That was up for debate. But thanks to some panicked driving on Benny’s part, putting it in reverse instead of forward, that’s when everything went so wrong.
“None of this matters,” Seb insisted, “because it’sin the past.”
Jazmine turned on Seb. “Then leave it there! Stop doing dangerous shit! I came here today wanting to have a good time and reconnect with old friends, not drive them to the ER.”
“I think we all did, Jaz,” I said, hoping to calm her down. She was so upset. “No one’s going to the ER. My ankle’s sore, that’s all.”
“Every time we did these treasure hunts, someone got hurt,” Jazmine insisted. “Even when we’re not hunting treasure, the Wags attract disaster—like that dumb Ferrari stunt. Nothing was the same for all of us after that happened, you know that, right?”
“I know,” Seb said very seriously. “Trust me, Jaz. I know.”
