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Twenty-Two

Benny

Present Day

The thing Benny always loved about games was that there was always a resolution. A person won. Others lost. Occasionally the game ended in a tie, but the rules were always clear. Scores were kept. Riddles were solved. Obstacles were overcome.

But Evelyn’s game wasn’t like other games. This game seemed to be changing. As Benny stood on the balcony in her room watching the fog roll in, she tried to make sense of what Evelyn was telling her.

She looked back at her first letter again: Save them. All of them , she’d written.

Now Benny understood what Evelyn meant. Evelyn didn’t just want her to find the island. She wanted her to rescue her friends. Aggy, Zara’s ancestor, and the others—Thomas, Laurel, and Gil, maybe even Axel—who had been trapped for two hundred years.

Was this really possible?

I have to believe it is , she told herself. Evelyn put her faith in me, and I can’t fail her now.

At first winning had just been for her and Mom. The security of this house, of Wally cooking downstairs, of the inn and vineyard providing financial security. After so many years of feeling adrift and packing and unpacking, her stomach rolling as she thought about rent payments, she wanted a place to call home. And money to make sure she’d always have that home. Maybe Evelyn knew—without even knowing anything about Benny’s life—that Benny wouldn’t be able to walk away from all this.

But now?

I have to find Evelyn’s friends in time , Benny thought, watching lightning flash across the sky. If they’re out there. If I don’t find them in time, they’ll be trapped for another two hundred years.

The question was, would the island reveal itself when she went through the tunnel underneath Hooked, having cracked Evelyn’s last riddle? What if she was wrong? Benny sighed. Why hadn’t Evelyn given her the final piece of the puzzle—her last journal entry? As of now, she had no idea how Aggy and the others went from receiving coins meant to save them to getting trapped on the island. Axel was reported missing, but why weren’t Thomas, Laurel, and Gilbert? And where was Captain Kimble now? Was he on the island with them? Somewhere on Long Island? Or halfway around the world? Did it matter? Maybe finding Kimble wasn’t the key to finishing the game.

“Why me, Evelyn?” Benny said, her voice carrying on the wind. “Why did you think I could win your game?”

She didn’t expect an answer, but one would have been nice. Instead, a gust of wind blew the balcony door shut behind her. Benny opened it and hurried inside, watching as the wind blew her Post-it Notes about the game off her wall.

Her phone buzzed moments later, and she found herself in a group text with Zara and Ryan titled Operation Island . The two were freaking out over Evelyn’s journal entries.

She doesn’t care about the island. She did all this because her friends are probably ALIVE! Aggy is ALIVE! Zara wrote, while Ryan wrote, I can’t believe this. Can you believe this? Do you know how much this treasure is worth if it’s real?

Benny heard a knock at her door and found her mom standing in the doorway, hair in curlers, wearing sweats and a silk top. “This is some weather!”

“Yeah, the wind is really picking up,” Benny told her.

“Wally left flashlights downstairs for us in case we lose power,” Mom said. “We have a generator, but it’s always good to be prepared. I’m having dinner with Harris if the whole town doesn’t blow away.”

“Are you going like that?” Benny teased.

“Very funny,” Mom said. “He’s picking me up in an hour. We’re going to one of his restaurants over in Southold. We were going to go back to Hooked, but he said the restaurant called and there was some flooding. They’re not doing dinner service.”

Benny froze. Hooked was closed? She had to text the others. They could meet earlier.

Her mom’s smile faded. “I thought it might be nice to get out tonight in case you don’t…well, you know.” Her mom’s smile was sympathetic. “Peter called me this afternoon, and I wasn’t sure what to tell him.”

“He texted me,” Benny said, her stomach twisting again at the thought of their lawyer.

She’d seen the text and ignored it till she got home. How’s it going? Peter had written. Just checking in since the deadline is tomorrow and we will need to discuss further actions if the game isn’t completed.

I bet Vivian Rudd’s team is circling like vultures , Benny thought . I’m close! she’d written back. And she was.

But close wasn’t enough. You have to win. You have to find the island. Should she tell Peter about the immortality and Evelyn’s friends’ disappearance? No , she had decided. And she didn’t want to tell her mom either. It sounded ludicrous, and it wouldn’t help matters now. She had Zara and Ryan. “Don’t worry. I told him I was close, and I would check in with him after tomorrow.”

Her mom walked over and hugged her. “I’m not worried. No matter what happens, we have each other, right?” She looked at her. “Win or lose, I get to keep you, and that’s all that matters. Who needs all this house and land anyway?”

Benny felt her shoulders tense. We do. We would take care of this place and love it the way Evelyn did . “I’m going to win the game, Mom. I know I can do this.”

“I do too,” her mom said, and pushed a strand of Benny’s hair behind her ear. “So fill me in. Where is the island?” Her mom looked to the windows, where a thick fog had obscured the view. “Was it a tiny little island that was misnamed or something?”

“Something like that,” Benny lied. She couldn’t get into it now. She didn’t want to risk her mom talking about this with Harris. He was bound to ask her tonight with the deadline tomorrow. She’d tell her mom everything later. “Ask me again after I’ve won.”

She grabbed her phone and texted the others: Hooked closed early! Let’s go NOW!

“Tomorrow then,” her mom said, her voice sounding lighter. “I’ll ask Wally to make us something extra special tomorrow to celebrate the fact we’re staying!”

Benny felt her stomach swish. I will win. I can finish this, Evelyn. For you and me and my mom and your friends. “Yes,” she said, managing to keep a smile on her face and not give away her fears. “We’re not going anywhere.”