The Treasure Hunters (8 page)

“Then what’s the matter?”
She sighed. “I’m embarrassed, because…my pussy is wet and I feel empty.”

“Jesus, where’d a good girl like
you learn that word?”

“I grew up around the docks. Sailors
talk.”

He chuckled. “You’re amazing. And
when we do have sex, Ruby, we’ll be a little less sandy. Okay?”

“Okay.”

It
warmed
her that he was positive they were going to be together. He settled against her
and pulled her snugly into his side. She slid one leg over his, and lulled by
his warmth and the sound of the waves breaking on shore, she fell asleep.

Chapter Eight

The next day they got an early
start, heading into the jungle, using the map to try and triangulate the best
path to go, although Ruby wasn’t sure how effective that was. Everywhere she
looked there was nothing but heavy green foliage: In front of her, behind her,
to the side. Sin had a machete that Asia had managed to get off the boat, and he
led the group, hacking their way deeper and deeper inland.

Merridie followed him since she had
the map and journal, trying to make heads and tails of their surroundings. Ruby
was next, followed by Eden. Asia brought up the rear.

They hit a slight incline and
Eden’s foot hit some loose gravel. She stumbled, waving her arms to get forward
momentum and before Ruby could grab her hand, Asia threw up his hand to steady
her but managed to hold her up via her posterior. Ruby’s eyebrows shot up just
as Eden giggled and Asia’s dark skin flushed even darker.

On and on they walked, the sun rising
higher in the sky and with it came grueling humidity. Ruby could’ve sworn she
was breathing in liquid. Her hair, her skin, her clothes, everything was wet. She
also had bits of plants on her face from Sin’s hacking ability.

It was sometime after noon when Sin
halted all of a sudden. Merridie bumped into his back before he held up his
hand, indicating they needed to stop. The jungle gave way to a clearing.

“Are we still going the right way,
Merridie?” he asked.

“Looks like it.”

He only took a couple more steps
before a long decorative staff landed in front of him, the deadly blade
sticking in the ground. Sin tensed and brought his sword up but it was too
late. As they all looked around, Ruby realized they were surrounded by island
natives. They were painted in colors of white and red, and feathers stuck all
over their bodies wrapped in vines and leaves. They were unfriendly looking
people who held spears and posed in threatening positions, tensed as if waiting
for one of them to move. The only sound Ruby heard was her own heart beating
frantically against her rib cage.

Oh,
my god…

One of the natives came forward and
pulled his sharp staff out of the ground. He said some words, followed by grunts,
and various hand waving but since none of them spoke his language it only
angered him more. Another warrior came forward and grabbed Sin’s machete before
pushing him. Ruby realized they were supposed to follow their leader.

“All right,” Sin told the leader,
holding his hands up non-threateningly. “We’ll follow.”

The leader turned and, escorted by
about fifty of his closest friends, Ruby knew they didn’t really have a choice.

“The map mentioned protectors,”
Merridie said quietly. “I just thought they’d be dead after a hundred years.”

“
Vouleigh
probably had a relationship of some type with the natives,” Sin replied,
keeping his eyes alert as they continued walking through the clearing, now
surrounded by the wary and fierce people.

“Looks like they’re still keeping
to the pact,” Ruby replied.

“This means we’re on the right
path,” Eden announced happily.
“How lucky!”

A spear nudged Sin’s side.

“Yes,” he said sarcastically.
“Extremely lucky.”

The natives led them from the
clearing, back into the jungle, and then out to a village where women,
children, and older people watched them with dark mistrustful eyes. Clothing
seemed optional, since most women had bare breasts hanging out and children
were naked.
 
The women were painted with
bright colors and beaded necklaces. Homes were huts made from mud and foliage. The
men of the village, the warriors, prodded them along, and soon they left the
village behind to enter another clearing. The sound of water could be heard and
Ruby saw that several large stone slabs had been pushed together to form an
altar, complete with a sacrificial stone table with a suspiciously dark brown
stain.
 
Not too far past the stone area,
the cliff abruptly ended.

The warriors pushed them onto the
slab, depositing them while they all, and the whole village, enclosed the three
open sides, eliminating any hope of escape.

“Holy fuck,” Sin muttered.

“Look,” Merridie said, grabbing
Ruby’s arms and pointing to the table.
“On that stone base.
It’s the eye the map talked about.”

Eden poked her head over Merridie’s
shoulder.
“Where?”

Merridie dug into the bag and
pulled out the journal. “Proceed through the eye and you shall fly,” she read.

“What? Fly right off the edge? I
think we’re too high up.”

“It’s part of the code,” Merridie
told him.

Just then a native jumped onto the
slab with them, holding Sin’s machete.

“Wonderful,” he muttered, eying the
large sword. “What do you think he wants?”

“Taking a guess by that table
behind us, probably nothing to do with helping us,” Ruby said.

“After we fly we’re supposed to
float down a river until we see some dragon teeth,” Merridie added. She held up
the journal, pages facing out, as if she needed to validate her words.

“So we do jump,” Asia stated.
“Right?”

Sin shook his head. “We’d never
survive from this height.
Any other suggestions?”

The native with the knife took a step
toward them as Merridie slid the journal back in her bag. Ruby grabbed Merridie
and Eden’s arm as she backed up until the stone table halted her retreat.

“Listen,” Merridie said, pointing
to the eye symbol on the table base. “That eye has got to lead to something or
it wouldn’t have been on the map.”

Sin suddenly squatted down and his
fingers traced some old scrape marks gouged into the stone.

“This table has been moved before,”
he said.

“A covering?”
Ruby asked.
“To the river?”

“We need a distraction while Asia
and I push this table.”

Eden nodded in agreement. “All
right,” she said and before anyone could stop her, she stepped away and clapped
her hands. The native’s eyes widened and he stumbled back a few steps.

“Oh my god,” Merridie groaned.

“Hello, all you native island
people,” Eden said loudly. “I’m guessing you haven’t heard all the latest
ditties from New York City, so I’m going to sing one of them for you. A song
originally sung by Helen Kane in
Good Boy
.”

She spun, turning her back on the
native to clear her throat. She subtly gestured with her hands to start moving
the table.
Then, spinning again as if on a stage, Eden began
a slow dance of the Charleston.

“I’m not one of the greedy kind, all
of my wants are simple. I know what’s on my mind!” she sang in a loud, off-key
voice.

Merridie placed her hand over her
eyes in an,
I don’t believe this is
happening
gesture. Ruby looked around and saw the native people captivated
by Eden’s singing. Sin and Asia didn’t waste time and began to push the stone
table.

“I’m not resting until I find, what
would make your eyes glisten with joy. Listen, Big Boy!” Eden sang as she moved
around in front of the others.

Ruby saw Sin and Asia shake their
heads at her, telling her without words that the stone table wouldn’t budge. As
she moved to help, she saw that there was a concave center to the eye.

“I
wanna
be loved by you, just you, and nobody else but you, I
wanna
be loved by you alone!
Boop
-
boop
-a-
doop
!”

Ruby saw another native jump onto
the slab and she pointed him out to Merridie. Merridie shrugged her shoulders
and Ruby did another gesture toward the native. Merridie rolled her eyes and
slid close to the second native.

“I
wanna
be kissed by you, just you! Nobody else but you! I
wanna
be kissed by you, alone!” she sang, taking over from Eden.

Eden grinned and gave Merridie a thumbs-up.

Ruby pushed the concave center of
the eye and the table slowly shifted, producing a hole wide enough for a body
to drop through.

Sin grinned at her. “Come on!”

“What do you think is down there?”

“Who the fuck
cares?”

“I do,” she said. “What if there’re
snakes?”

He blinked at her.
“Fine.
Asia, go first, to make sure there are no snakes.”

Asia raised an eyebrow but didn’t
hesitate to go into the hole.

“Merridie, Eden!” Ruby called out. “Come
on!”

Merridie waved at the native that
she was dancing for and turned, rushing toward Sin who helped lower her in.

“Go,” Sin told Ruby.

But Ruby shook her head.
“Eden first.”

“
Boop
-
boop
-a-
doop
!”
Eden sang and then blew kisses before dancing over to Sin and Ruby. Down she
went.

“Okay, now you,” Sin told her.

Ruby took his hand. “Don’t leave me
in the dark,” she whispered.

He bent his head and kissed her. “I’m
right behind you.”

She nodded, took a deep breath and
dropped down. Her stomach gave a quick unsteady heave as she fell down into god
knows what before landing with a painful jolt at the bottom. Mud squished
between her fingers as Sin fell on top of her a second later, pushing her
further into the grime.

“You know, I’ve had fantasies about
being slimy with you, but not like this.” He moved off her.

The unmistakable sound of a river
could be heard, but upon trying to stand up and move, the muck was almost
impossible to walk through.

“Is everyone here?” Sin called out.

A chorus of yeses came and he took
a firm grip of her hand.

“This way!”
Asia called from somewhere up ahead.
“The river!”

And that was the last thing he said
as Eden gave a yelp before everything fell silent again, except for the rushing
water.

“Eden!” Ruby cried. “
Merri
, take my hand.”

Merridie took her other hand as
they moved forward and then water hit her, knocking her off balance. Ruby lost
her grip on both Merridie and Sin as she was pitched forward. She pushed up
through the water and broke the surface, sputtering as the current quickly
swept her forward.

“Sin!” she screamed when she had
the briefest second.

“Ruby!” he yelled back and she was
so grateful she wasn’t alone.

The dark tunnel suddenly lightened
a bit, enough to let her know some type of opening was ahead. Then Ruby saw the
river split from a divider.

“To the right!”
Merridie called, her voice ringing over the water.

 
Even though she didn’t have much control over
where the water tossed her, Ruby struggled to go to the right, not knowing if
anyone else was able to follow.
 

Chapter Nine

Eden and Asia were thrown to the
left of the stone teeth, and after bobbing in the high-speed current the light
began to grow bigger. Suddenly, they were hurled out of the hole and over a
waterfall.

Eden’s heart stuttered as she went
airborne and she screamed as she plummeted down. Seconds later her scream was
cut off as she plunged into the lagoon below. She kicked to the surface,
gasping for air, and looked around. Asia’s head bobbed to the surface. She swam
to him and they both made their way to the shore.

When they hit grass he flopped onto
his back, breathing deeply, and she saw relief in his eyes. She looked up at
the waterfall, unable to believe they’d fallen so far and survived. Sin,
Merridie, and Ruby weren’t anywhere to be seen and she figured they went down
the other path. All she could hope for was that they were okay. She didn’t know
how she could possibly stand losing one more person.

****

Sin, Ruby and Merridie floated as
the current calmed down. They drifted into a cavern that had high walls but no
roof, which Ruby realized had been the source of light. She counted heads and
came up two short. She twirled in the water, looking for them, but they weren’t
there. Panic shot through her.

“Where’s Eden and Asia?” she asked.

“They must have taken the other
side of the divider,” Sin said. “
Don’t worry
, Asia
will take care of her.”

The current began to pick up again
and Ruby saw that the river was going back into the mountain. A set of
stalactites touched down from the ceiling, coming into the water and she knew
these had to be the dragon’s teeth that Merridie had mentioned.

“Look!” Merridie said
,
her eyes trained on the large stones. “Grab those!”

Sin,
who
was ahead of her, wedged himself on one and reached out toward her. Ruby
grabbed his hand and swung out to grab Merridie. Merridie fought the current until
she too swung around, to land on the rocky path next to the river. She anchored
herself and pulled Ruby’s hand, and like a chain of dominoes, Ruby and Sin
followed. They collapsed, both for the moment safe.