Page 10 of Whispers of Fortune (Golden State Treasure Book #1)

T EN

“We have to go back.” Thayne rolled onto his back and stared at the sky.

“Brody ruined everything, so if we do, we’ll never get another chance to find MacKenzie’s Treasure.” Lock enjoyed calling it that, as if the treasure were a known and sought-after king’s ransom.

“We had to make him feel real bad running off two days after he showed up.” Thayne ran both of his hands deep into his dark hair. Thayne looked like Brody and Ma with his blue eyes and height. Lock took after Pa—shorter and with blond hair. Lock had Pa’s love of treasure hunting, too. He pitied Brody, who seemed to want a boring, quiet life.

“You know he was worried about us,” Thayne went on. “He wants us to live together. It’d be nice. And I liked that he searched for us and found us. He loves us, Lock.”

Lock shoved aside the twinge of guilt. Yes, Brody loved them, just like Ma had loved them. But Lock could almost taste that treasure. He knew Pa had done them wrong by abandoning them, but Lock knew that longing for adventure. And he knew Pa had loved them ... he just knew it. It had to be true. A father loved his children. But Pa knew how to dream. He wanted more for them than a small apartment and living hand-to-mouth. Pa had gone treasure hunting for his family, not just for himself. “He’s never going to give us that journal back. And if he drags us back to Boston, we’ll lose our last chance. Even in the doctor’s office at the ranch, it’s going to be next thing to impossible to sneak out. It was hard enough before, but we managed it.”

“Twice.” Lock smiled to think of it. It wasn’t easy slipping out of the school. They’d tried a dozen times and managed it only twice.

Add in a big brother who was probably a light sleeper, just because that was how their luck ran, and it would be impossible.

“I’m hungry, and we didn’t bring enough food. I can snare a rabbit, but it takes a long time. You know Brody is hunting us by now.”

“I’ve been practicing spearing fish. We won’t starve out here, Thayne.” Lock got his pocketknife out, unfolded it where he sat cross-legged on the ground beside his stretched-out brother, and stabbed the knife into the dirt. “I reckon we did hurt Brody’s feelings, though. Why can’t he help us instead of making things harder?”

“I don’t know. We’ve got directions to a hoard of gold or maybe a mine.” Thayne sat up, his eyes shining with excitement. “You’re right. We can’t go back, not yet. We’ve got to keep hunting for the treasure.”

“What do you think the treasure is exactly?” Lock looked at his brother, and the two of them smiled. It was their favorite topic, guessing at what the treasure was Grandpa had found.

“A pirate’s treasure. Pirates hiked inland and buried it out of reach of other pirates. Then they got killed in battle, and there it lay until Grandpa found it.” Lock stabbed the ground again with the knife, sharpened by his own hand. He’d earned the knife by helping around the ranch. None of the students were required to work, but they were required to explore what interested them.

Lock liked horses and cattle well enough, and he had gained some cowboy skills, yet they didn’t grab his attention the way geography and cartography did. Cartography was the creation of maps. Josh Hart was the teacher for that subject because he’d been at sea and traveled all over the world.

How could he stand to travel all over and then give it up just to settle in the wilderness of California? Lock was fascinated by Josh’s stories.

Mrs. Hart, Michelle, was the one who urged them all to explore different jobs and study different things to find out what was the most interesting to them. She was an inventor herself, and Lock was interested in that, too.

“I think it’s a diamond mine.” Thayne was partial to that theory. “The weird way he talks about it in almost a puzzle that we’re meant to put together. Diamonds would be something he’d never dare write down. If the journal had fallen into the wrong hands, it would need to be sneaky.”

Lock liked the theory. He wasn’t sure it was right, but it gave him a thrill that sent shivers up his spine. “But if it was a mine, why didn’t Grandpa just chisel the diamonds out and bring them home? He took a lot of time writing his journal. In that time, he could have gathered enough money to bring us all to California.”

“I wonder what happened to Grandpa?” Thayne sat up, his eyes flashing with impatience. They liked talking about the treasure, but both of them hated talking about Grandpa. His disappearance seemed to rob their whole family of a fortune. And in the end, with the journal, it robbed them of their pa, too.

Brody and Ma had been disgusted with Pa and his treasure hunts. Lock and Thayne had been hurt. As very young boys, all they’d known for years was that Pa was gone and not for the first time.

“Let’s go. You took notes from the journal, right?” Thayne clambered to his feet, and Lock knew their rest was over. And they were both still hungry.

“Yep, but I didn’t have time to write out everything. I never expected Brody to find us. But once he arrived, I knew he’d want the journal, so I wrote everything I could. I think the last time we went too far north. This time we go west.”

“There’s a mountain in the way.” Thayne turned to look at the peak looming ahead. It had snow on top.

“Do you think that snow stays up there all summer? Or is it just too early in the spring?”

Lock had no idea if the snow would melt or not. Did it last all summer? “It’s already June, full summer to my way of thinking. If it doesn’t melt soon, it isn’t going to. But one of the reasons we went north last time was because we let that mountain turn us aside. This time we tackle it. Let’s go.”

Thayne fell in beside him, peering ahead. “How far is it to the mountain? And it’s huge. What do we look for when we get there?”

Lock swept one arm at the monster ahead. “When we get there, then we’ll decide where to look. And it’s right there. It can’t be far.”

Josh shoved his Stetson to the back of his head and turned to Ellie with a strange expression on his face. “No, they’d never go that far.”

“What is it?”

Josh pointed at the ground. Ellie was no champion tracker, but even she could see two sets of footprints heading... “Oh no. They’re going straight for the mountain. What can they be thinking?”

She whipped her head around to Brody. “That’s a cold mountain. If they press hard all day, they’ll manage to get into high ground about nightfall.”

“It’s June.” But as he said it, she saw Brody’s brow furrow with worry as he stared at the white peak ahead. Brody brought up the rear and was leading two horses. “And the mountain is right in front of us.”

“Distance is deceiving when it’s as big as Big Windy Mountain.” Ellie hoped they’d catch those boys. When they did, the two of them would need a ride back to the ranch, which was why they’d brought along spare horses.

Josh sounded ominous. “It’s summer down here, but up there it can be full winter all year long and bring cold right down on your head any time it takes a mind to. If you get up on that mountain in the daylight, you’d better be heading down before nightfall. It’s nowhere you want to spend the night.”

It was still early in the day. And the days were long in June. But then a cool breeze washed over her. “You could survive up there overnight if you knew what you were doing. If you could find shelter and start a fire and you wore the right clothes and brought blankets. Your brothers don’t know a lick about wilderness living.”

Ellie was no hand at it, though she reckoned she was better suited for it than Brody, and for sure his two half-wit brothers. And good or not, none of them had packed for cold weather.

Josh added, “That pleasant little wind you’re feeling right now? It gets ice-cold on the mountaintop. It draws the heat right from your bones. This trail is straight up that mountain. Plenty of side trails, so we can’t just go galloping after them at top speed, and for a fact I hope they turn aside. Those two scamps are heading for Big Windy Mountain. It’s a long day’s ride and exhausting because of the slow climb. You don’t really realize where you are until you find yourself climbing out into a treeless, white wasteland with night coming down fast. It can snow up there year-round, and it’s no place for a tenderfoot. Which describes your brothers right down to the ground.”

“It’s no place for anyone. Let’s go, Josh. No time to fret about it. We’ve got to catch those boys before we all find ourselves lost up there.”

Josh kicked his horse into a fast walk. “I know where the trail divides. I’ll push hard and slow when I need to and hunt for sign.”

With a worried look at Brody, Ellie fell in behind Josh. Brody brought up the rear. She focused on keeping up with Josh’s increasingly fast pace and prayed God would protect two foolish children—who were a little too old to be involved in such nonsense.

“They’re still heading straight for Big Windy.”

A gust of icy wind carried Josh’s terse words back to Brody, almost as if it were laughing at them.

Brody only now realized that welcome cool breeze at the lower levels held the chill because it was coming off a snowcap. Dreading how miserable his brothers must be by now, he was glad when Josh picked up the pace. They’d trotted as much as they could, but the trails didn’t always allow it. Mostly they’d held to a fast walk.

The boys were on foot, though. Josh had to be closing in on them. They’d ridden steadily, eaten beef jerky and drank from their canteens, all while staying put in the saddle. Taken only absolutely necessary breaks.

Now the sun was setting behind their backs, and the wind had picked up and whistled between the rocks and trees, finding them even when Brody would have thought they were in a sheltered spot.

They’d left the ranch in eighty-degree weather. Brody hadn’t even considered a coat. Ellie had changed into a riding skirt, and her blouse had long sleeves. But it was all lightweight.

And now it was near freezing.

He imagined his brothers in this weather and shuddered from fear more than cold.

Josh cut through a narrow gap in a jumble of boulders, with trees growing out of every crevice. The path was shady. The sun would have been welcome. It was a beautiful place if Brody could put aside his worry long enough to enjoy the view.

One of the spare horses tugged at the rope tied to the back of Brody’s saddle, hard enough it drew Brody’s attention. He looked across the backs of the two horses and was stunned by the sun setting over the hills and valleys they’d crossed. The woodland and crags of rock, all painted orange by the approaching dusk. He drew in a slow breath at the beauty and at the sheer size of it all. The sunset seemed to stretch on forever, with the ranch hidden somewhere far below them.

He had no idea they’d come so far. How had the boys kept ahead of them? What time had they set out? Right at bedtime? They have to be this far on the trail by now.

Josh said over his shoulder, “We’ll hunt for as long as the light lasts. If we don’t find them, we’ll find a place to build a fire and shelter through the night. We can’t survive out here riding.”

“What about them?” asked Brody. “Why should we be comfortable when my brothers might be freezing to death?”

Josh and Ellie both looked over their shoulder at him, their expressions grim.

Ellie said, “We won’t give up easily, Brody. But it does them no good if we die out here searching. We won’t be able to save them if we don’t take care of ourselves.”

Brody fought down the angry retort that sprang to his mind. This wasn’t the Hart family’s problem, and both of them were probably tougher than he was. They could go on for a long time in the cold. He’d be the one to fold first.

The shadows lengthened as the sun sank lower. The orange had settled to gray when the first flutter of snow came down on a rush of wind.

Brody couldn’t believe it. He lived in a cold state. New York had harsh winters. But never once in all his years living there had it ever snowed in June. Mountains apparently made all the difference.

“They’ll be easier to track in the snow,” Josh said. “But once we lose the light...” He shook his head. “Not much chance of seeing a footprint in the dark.”

“There, look.” Josh jabbed a finger at a rock.

Brody didn’t see anything.

“You boys get out here right now.” Josh’s voice thundered and echoed.

Brody’s heart sped up to think Josh had found his brothers.

Ellie’s voice cracked like a bullwhip. “We’ve got to get off this mountain now, before we lose the light. People have been known to freeze to death when they get caught out in the cold overnight.”

Lock stuck his head out of a scrub pine, shivering, his lips blue. “Miss Hart?”

“Get out here now and mount up! Let’s get out of here before the snow falls any faster.”

“Brody?” Thayne stood, stumbled forward, caught himself, and hurried toward the closest horse. “We’re freezing. We never thought it would get so c-cold.”

Brody should have dismounted and boosted his brothers up. They both looked close to done in. Cold, hungry, exhausted, disheveled. They were both shaking in the swirling snow.

Thayne paused as he walked past Brody’s horse. He looked up, his cheeks so cold there were white patches on them. He rubbed his hands together and looked as sheepish as possible considering his face wasn’t exactly mobile. “I’m sorry we ran off, Brody.”

“We’ll talk later.” Brody heard the harsh tone, much of it caused by his throat being chilled, but there was anger and hurt there, too.

Thayne flinched and looked down at his hands.

“Mount up. Both of you. Let’s get back home.” Except they didn’t have a home. Not really. Everything they had was thanks to the Hart family, and his little brothers had returned all that generosity by sending the Hart family into the cold for a long, hard day.

Lock passed Brody with his head down and didn’t even bother to apologize.

Brody chose to look on that lowered head as shame when it was probably something else. Lock was probably planning their next getaway, next time with warm coats and a better supply of food.

They reached their horses and struggled to drag themselves into the saddle. In the time that took, Josh turned his horse around on the narrow trail. He rode past Ellie, then Brody, and without being overly helpful, managed to boost Thayne into the saddle of the horse he was trying to mount. Then he reached Lock, who’d managed to climb up, and steadied the nervous horse. With a few swift moves, he untied Lock’s horse and got the critter turned around. Then they all set out for the ranch.

Ellie passed Brody next and got Thayne’s horse. Brody was bringing up the rear again.

He was glad of it. The boys were now surrounded. There was no chance they could run off again. Not that they looked apt to do that. Not today at least.

Instead, they looked purely relieved. A slightly wider spot in the trail came along. Brody rode up beside Thayne and handed over his canteen, then shoved a few strips of beef jerky into his brother’s hand.

When their hands brushed, the icy chill of Thayne’s fingers worried him. Brody had riding gloves on, and Thayne had none. Thayne drank deeply, then handed the canteen back.

Brody handed his gloves over. “You can wear them for a while. Then we’ll give Lock a turn.”

Ellie heard Brody talk and looked back. She shouted, “Josh!” Her brother looked at her. “Give Lock your gloves—their hands are dangerously cold.”

Josh stripped off his gloves and handed them back to Lock. Then, seeing what Brody was doing, he gave his canteen and some jerky to the boy as well.

They were back heading down the trail in seconds. Brody’s hands were freezing, and he could only imagine how bad his brothers’ hurt.

It crossed Brody’s mind that the boys were too big for a whupping. Ma had handed out such years ago, but she’d given it up when she’d thought they were old enough to be reasoned with.

Except the youngsters had never really reached that age, and Brody was sorely afraid they never would.