Page 35

Present Day

Benny could feel her hands shaking. Aggy, Evelyn’s best friend, the one she’d been reading about in Evelyn’s journal all this time was standing in front of her. She was alive. She was still thirteen and had been for the last two hundred.

The idea was mind-blowing.

Every step Evelyn had taken to make sure Benny got to this moment had worked.

We did it, Evelyn, Benny thought, getting emotional. I found Aggy. I’m here.

“People call me Benny,” Benny told her. She noticed her own voice was barely a whisper.

“As in Ben ?” asked Gil, confused.

Benny just smiled. So much had changed since 1825. She needed to be gentle in how she explained things. “As in Benedict . Benny is my nickname.”

“And I’m Zara,” Zara chimed in. “As in Zara Dabney , and I’m—” She looked at Aggy then and paused. “I’ll tell you later.”

Aggy took Zara’s hand and squeezed. “I know who you are.”

Zara opened her mouth and closed it again. She snuck a glance at Benny. “Oh-kay. We will just unpack all that later.”

“And I’m Captain Kimble,” Ansel interrupted, the gruffness in his voice returning as he stepped into the circle. “And you kids have cost me a lot of time and—”

“We know who you are,” Gil butted in. “Aggy explained some things about what’s going on with this island. But what I want to know is where is Sparrow? I thought for sure she’d be the one who came for us.”

“There are some things I still need to explain, Gil,” Aggy said, linking her arm through his. “To all of you, but time isn’t on our side. The Blood Orange Moon waits for no one.”

“That is for sure, kid,” Kimble agreed. “We need to move and fast.”

“I don’t care about the Blood Orange Moon or where Evelyn is?” Axel snapped. He looked at Benny and Zara. “I just want off this island so lead the way. My father must be worried sick about me.”

“Our families too,” said Thomas. “We should get back and let them know we’re alright and then we can talk.”

Aggy gave Benny a pointed look.

Benny inhaled sharply, remembering something she’d read in Evelyn’s journal. When Evelyn met Kimble for the first time, he seemed confused about the year. He said something about losing time. Could it be Gil and the others didn’t know how much time had passed? Was that possible? Aggy had the gift of sight. Maybe however this island worked, she’d kept that knowledge to herself about the time that had passed.

“And may I ask who is the boy asleep on your shoulder, sir?” Laurel piped up, concerned as always for everyone else instead of herself.

Kimble put Ryan down on the sand, where he stirred for a moment and closed his eyes again. “No clue. And I don’t care. What I do care about is this treasure. Now all of you kids stop talking over each other and let me talk,” he grumbled. “You’re going to make my head explode.”

Laurel’s eyes widened. “Explode?”

Benny bit her lip. This was going to take some explaining. Maybe the best thing to do was get them all off the island, let them take a hot shower and have a good night’s sleep and—wait. Did they even know what a hot shower was? How was she going to explain these people to her mother? To Wally? Did she need to tell Peter she’d found more than an island—she’d found Evelyn’s friends? Was her word enough proof to win the game? How had she forgotten her camera? Benny’s head was spinning. “We can show you the way off the island and then we’ll talk,” Benny said and turned back the way she’d come down the beach. “If you’d just follow us.”

Aggy coughed.

“Yeah, uh, kid? That’s not going to work.” Kimble pointed to Benny and Zara. “You? Your friend? You can go whenever you want, but them—” He motioned to Aggy and the others. “They’re not going anywhere.”

“Why not?” Zara demanded. “They have waited a long time for Benny to break this curse.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you!” Kimble groused. “Everly Benedict didn’t break the curse.” He looked at Benny. “I’m not saying you can’t, but nothing has changed. Yet . The curse is very much still alive. And none of us”—he motioned to Aggy and her friends again—“are going to be free till we find it and return the treasure to its original resting place.”

“Find what?” Gil demanded.

“The missing piece of treasure!” Kimble said, exasperated. “Evelyn found it, and she wouldn’t tell me where it was.”

“She did?” Benny did a double-take. “She didn’t mention that in her letters or the journal. Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.” Kimble looked affronted. “She told me. On more than one occasion over the years.” He looked out over the water. “Was quite smug about it too.”

“Are you saying we can’t leave the island?” Thomas sounded panicked. “We have to go home.”

“My father will have your head for this! And Evelyn’s,” Axel yelled over him, lunging at Kimble, who held him back (he was way bigger obviously). Everyone was shouting now and Benny felt the tension escalate fast.

“Hey, you are more than welcome to leave this island, but guess what?” Kimble shouted. “You’re still cursed. You will never age. You will never be able to leave the area around Greenport. So if you want to break the curse, you need to help me find the treasure or we’re all doomed to do this for another two hundred years till the next Blood Orange Moon.”

“What do you mean we won’t age?” Gil demanded now. “You are not making sense.”

“If you’ve done something to us,” Axel threatened Kimble, “my father will see to it you are done away with.”

“Everyone calm down,” Benny jumped in and looked at everyone. “If there is treasure still to be found, we can find it together, right?”

“There is no treasure on this island, girl!” Axel roared. “If there was, I would have found it.”

“Don’t talk to her like that!” Gil shouted back.

Zara looked at Benny while the boys argued. “Evelyn wouldn’t have left the game half done, would she? Does this mean you didn’t win? What is going on here?”

“I don’t know.” Benny felt ill. Had she missed something? A clue? A riddle? Why wouldn’t Evelyn have mentioned there was more treasure out there they needed? How was she supposed to save everyone if the treasure was missing?

Benny felt someone grab her leg. She looked down. Ryan stirred and sat up, looking at them all in confusion. “Where are we?” he asked before his eyes widened. “Are we on the island? Are you all…? Is this real?” he asked before his eyes rolled back and he passed out again.

Kimble whistled loudly. “Everyone quiet! I can’t think!”

“Kimble is right,” Aggy told the group. “It’s going to take all of us working together to figure out how to find the missing treasure so we can all be free.”

There was a meow and everyone looked down.

“Winks!” Aggy exclaimed, picking up the cat. “You’re back again.”

“How do you know my cat?” Kimble exclaimed.

“He’s my cat too,” Aggy said calmly. “Clearly there are things about this island you don’t understand yet either, pirate. Now, are you going to give Everly—I’m sorry, Benny —the letter or do I have to take it from you?”

Benny stiffened. “Letter? There’s another letter?” She looked from Aggy to Kimble. “From Evelyn?”

Aggy nodded. “Yes.”

Kimble grumbled. “I forgot she said you knew about them.”

Benny didn’t stop to wonder how Aggy knew about the letters. Her heart started flurrying, so fast she was afraid it would pop out of her chest.

Kimble sighed and pulled a yellowed letter out of his pocket. He handed it to Benny. “Kid, take a breath, okay? Yes, Evelyn wrote you more letters and she left this one with me for safe keeping with loads of instructions on when I was supposed to give it to you.”

“What is this about?” Zara demanded.

Kimble ran a hand through his hair and huffed loudly. “Something about another game.”

“ Another game?” Benny asked, her voice jumping with excitement and trepidation.

That meant there was more at stake.

More riddles to decipher.

The game was still going.

Or in overtime. (Or whatever sports people said about long games.)

The point was, she wasn’t upset to think there were things she didn’t understand. That there was mythology and curses and treasure still to find and learn from. Her work wasn’t done yet.

Benny stared at the envelope in her hand and smiled at the familiar handwriting. Hi Evelyn.

Everyone crowded round the envelope (everyone but Ryan who was still passed out).

“Go ahead, Benny. Read it.” Aggy’s smile told Benny she knew what the letter was about.

“What does it say?” Gil asked, and Benny read the words aloud.

“‘Everly Benedict,’” Benny read. “‘First let me say, I’m sorry I tricked you. The game is far from over. In fact, it’s only just begun.”

Benny and her friends will return in Cursebreaker, Isle of Ever Book 2.