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Leaves crunch under my shoes as we enter the wooded area behind the Hawksley Manor.. The birdsong coming from above and the rustle of gentle wind in the trees contrast my beating heart and sweaty palms. I rub my hands against my jeans and glance ahead at Austin, who’s looking more at the map in his hand than where he’s going.
He squints at the paper and steps over a protruding root. “I think we’re almost there…”
I duck under a branch. “Have you thought this through? I mean, what are we going to do when we get inside? There could be servants everywhere. We have no excuse for getting caught inside.”
“Relax, we’ll be fine. As long as we’re quiet, we can slip right under their noses.”
“But what if we come out of this mythical tunnel right into their quarters?”
“Then we’ll…wait until they’re sleeping. I dunno. We can improvise. Isn’t that a music word?”
I internally roll my eyes at this. When improvising music, not every idea that comes to mind actually works. It’s no big deal in a song—just try something else. But here, one bad idea might mean jail time.
I shake my head and resume thinking of contingency plans, but the analogy sticks with me. If this whole adventure is comparable to a song, who is the composer? Something tells me it’s not us. Our attempts to improvise new verses may not go over so well.
A cry and thump come from ahead. I blink rapidly, shaking myself from the musing. “Austin, did you hear that?” A quick glance around shows no sign of Austin. “Where did you go?”
“Oh, don’t mind me. I just wanted to trip into this hole.” I sigh and hike a few steps forward to the source of the voice. A sudden drop-off leads to a shallow pit—only a couple of feet lower than the ground—in which sits Austin, rubbing the back of his head. “I didn’t know dirt hurts so much.”
I can’t help but grin, releasing some of my tension. “It must be some tough dirt to stop the fearless treasure hunter.” I drop into the ditch and offer my hand to help Austin up. Face still scrunched in discomfort, he stretches up his own hand and grips my wrist.
Something clicks in my mind. The sound Austin made when he fell wasn’t the sound of hitting dirt. My mind spins. Could it be?
He yanks on my arm to pull himself up, and I slam into the ground with a sharp crack. I wince and freeze. It would really be bad if I broke a rib out here.
Austin, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to notice. He crosses his arms—finally taking his hand from his head—and glares at me. “What was that supposed to be?”
I remain still for a few seconds, waiting for the pain to kick in. But everything feels normal so far. I slid my finger along my chest, and all the bones seem in place. Inching upright, I twist back and forth with no pain. So it’s not a rib.
I turn around and kneel, studying the ground where I fell. Other than the fleeing insects, the area looks just the same as the rest of the pit, covered in plant life and decaying leaves. The sound of my fall replays in my ears. What’s down here that could crack?
“Hey, what are you doing? Bugwatching?”
I sweep my hand across the ground, uncovering the dirt underneath. Not just dirt, though. Something hard. “Come over here. You might want to see this.”
Austin’s footsteps come close behind me and he lets out an exaggerated sigh. “We’re not here to be anthropologists. Or Egyptologists.” He pauses. “Whatever those digging people are called. We’re here to find the—“
“Tunnel?” I gesture to the square of ground I just uncovered and glance over my shoulder.
Austin’s eyes are wide. “Woah. You’re good.”
Under a layer of scattered dirt and weeds rests a wooden trapdoor. A splintered dent near the middle shows the location of my fall.
He kneels beside me and pokes the wood. “I’m a natural at this. Even though my brain didn’t know the tunnel was here, my head did. It’s a magnet for treasure.”
I roll my eyes. “If you say so.”
The trapdoor has no handle and is half-covered in the dirt that holds it closed, but the wood is wet and rotting. I push it with my palm before standing. One good jump should do the trick.
Austin holds his hand in front of me. “I don’t think so. Treasure magnets first.” He stands on the trapdoor, crouches, and leaps into the air. Just before landing, he kicks down.
The trapdoor splits in half and falls into a hole, taking Austin with it.
“Not this again.” I walk to the edge and look down. The tunnel is pitch black, with no sign of Austin. “You okay?”
“Okay? Are you kidding? This is awesome! Come down!”
I sit and dangle my legs over the edge. “How far is the fall?”
“Not that far.”
Sliding off the edge of the opening, I plunge into the blackness.
Austin lied. The fall is “that far.” I fall for a solid second before my legs hit the ground. I compress like a spring and roll onto my side. “Ow.”
Austin snickers. “Now, who’s the fearless treasure hunter?”
With a hand at my side, I stand. The tunnel is still dark, eerily like the Hallway of Darkness from the Hawksley Manor, but I can sense a path heading forward. I feel around the sides of the hole and confirm this; one wall seems to have some kind of wooden shelf. “There was a ladder down here this whole time?”
“Actually, I had no idea. I can’t see a thing. But if I knew, I wouldn’t have told you. Watching you fall was pretty funny.”
“Whatever. Let’s go.” I reach into my pocket, pull out my phone, and swipe through settings until finding the flashlight. White light illuminates the tunnel. A hall of dirt, supported by wooden beams on the side, stretches a dozen yards forward and fades into darkness. Dust dances in the light and a stream of dirt floats from the ceiling as a support beam groans.
I look at Austin and we both nod. And we trudge forward to meet whatever awaits us.
“What are you going to do with your cut of the treasure?” Austin trudges along behind me. While according to my phone clock we’ve only been walking for ten minutes, it feels like much longer. The dank tunnel stretches on and on, perfectly straight, with wooden pillars as the only landmarks. The flashlight beam reaches a few yards ahead and stops, leaving our destination still shrouded in shadows.
“I’m going to pay some bills. Then I’ll use what’s left to go on a vacation with Eva.”
“Bills? Boring. That’s what jobs are for. I’m going to buy a Ferrari, a beach house, and a private jet.”
I look over my shoulder. “You think a third of the treasure will pay for all that?”
“Maybe. But I’ve been meaning to say we need to discuss our deal. My terms have changed.”
“Let’s just find the treasure first, then we’ll talk.”
Austin sighs with exaggerated exasperation. “Fine.”
Something at the edge of the flashlight’s reach catches my eye. I slow, squinting and craning my neck to see what it is. It’s identical to the ladder at the beginning of the tunnel, stretching up to what appears to be another trapdoor.
Austin brushes past me and looks up. “It’s about time.”
“Maybe we should stop and listen for a minute. We don’t want to open it while someone’s walking on it.”
He climbs to the top of the ladder, his shoes level with my head, and presses his ear to the door, staring at the wall for several seconds with expectant eyes. “Nothing. It’s quiet as a graveyard.” Pushing the door, Austin creeps up the ladder and peeks into the room above. “I can’t see anything. Gimme that flashlight.” I hand up my phone and its beam circles the room. “Empty.”
A minute later, we both stand in the room. I gently drop the trapdoor back into place, making it nearly indistinguishable from the floor. “I hope we can find it again to get out.”
Austin shrugs, handing the phone back to me. “We’ll be fine. As long as we can find a way out of this room.” I give him a questioning look, and he gestures around. I swing the beam around and take in our surroundings. It’s much the same as every other room, with one notable exception.
There’s no door.
I tilt my head. “I was not expecting that.” Walking close to a wall, I run my hand across the dusty wood. “Does the map have anything?”
Austin stares at another wall and crosses his arms. “Nope. It doesn’t even show what room the tunnel takes us to.”
“Why would he go through all the effort of a secret tunnel just to make it come into an empty room with no doors? He obviously had more than enough doors to spare.”
Moving to another wall, Austin shrugs. “Why did he build such a weird house?” His eyes run across the wood panels and catch on something. Leaning close, he claws at something with his fingers. “Bring the light over here.” I comply, shining the light over his shoulder.
He points at two holes in the wall, one a few inches above the other. “I don’t think they go all the way through.” Sliding his finger down the wall, Austin traces a paper-thin line that runs from the floor to about seven feet up the wall. “And this is like the secret door to the safe.”
Door? My gaze follows the line up until it turns ninety degrees to the left, running parallel with the floor. After continuing a few feet, it dives back to the ground. “I think those holes are for a handle.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. You’re as smart as I am.” I shove Austin’s shoulder and he laughs.
“How do you plan to get this door open?”
He reaches into his pocket and withdraws an open pocketknife, dangling it between his thumb and forefinger. “Same way I got the other one open.” He tosses the knife into the air, snags the handle, and stabs the door outline. A few minutes of wiggling later, the crack widens and the door swings open.
The hinges groan in protest and dust filters down from the door’s top. I wince from the sudden noise and point the flashlight into my chest. Everything around us goes dark, but I catch a split-second glimpse of the area beyond the door. It has the same wood walls and wood floor of every room, but a dark shape in the middle of the doorway blocks part of the view. Labored breathing comes from the shadow.
My heart leaps into my chest, and a hundred thoughts fly through my mind in the space of a couple seconds. If we weren’t about to get arrested, I would glare at Austin and say I told you so. But then, if Eva were here, she might do the same. She warned me to stay away from the treasure. Now I have been surprised, but not in the way I expected.
Thirty seconds pass with nothing but labored breathing from the form ahead. I can’t take the suspense anymore. With heart racing and hands trembling, I turn the phone and shine the light at our discoverer.
A German shepherd stares at us, teeth showing, eyes glowing.
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