Page 140 of Sweet Dominion

Rose glanced at me. “I’m just as confused as you, Moni.”

Next suddenly, TT let out a high-pitched shriek that startled everyone.

My heart jumped and I instinctively stepped forward, my protective instincts flaring up. “TT, what is it?”

But TT didn’t answer.

“Here it is.” She rushed to another dagger lying a few feet away and snatched it up. “They’re not daggers. The Bandit just wanted them to look like daggers so no one outside of her people would know. Outsiders would think it was a stupid piece of wood. A kid’s toy maybe. Or like you all said, relics. But not something of value.”

I held out my hands. “O-kay.”

Then. TT held both daggers in front of her and moved her hands with a sense of urgency that made my pulse quicken.

“You see.” She held the two daggers side by side, her breath coming in quick, excited bursts as she studied them. Then, slowly, she began to fit the daggers together, like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

"Oh shit.” I stiffened.

The two daggers easily clicked into place, the strange lines and grooves on each blade aligning perfectly with the other.

Everyone around her froze.

She really did figure it out.

“The key is a big puzzle.” TT carefully placed the two bound pieces down, picked up another dagger and began searching for its fitted piece. “And the puzzle is the map to the Bandit’s treasure. The one her and her rebels collected from going into the surrounding towns and stealing.”

Dima beamed at TT as if she was his child. “And the Bandit wanted everyone to have a piece of the map so that they would have tocome togetherto solve it. Instead ofoneperson just taking all the treasure for themselves.”

TT nodded and just like that she found the new dagger’s matching piece. And just like the other pair, these two new daggers easily clicked together.

Holy fuck.

Chen placed his hand on his forehead. “You mean to tell me that. . .all this time. . .we’ve been holding onto puzzle pieces to a treasure map. No wonder the Bandit was always so damn urgent about Lei digging one up.”

Rose took it all in. “So. . .she drew a map on a huge piece of wood and then cut out different shaped daggers?”

TT giggled. “Yeah. She was so smart. She liked codes and logic games so this makes sense.”

Lei muttered in disbelief, “That’s why they all look so odd and insane.”

Dima’s eyes widened, his notebook momentarily forgotten as he stared at the daggers in TT’s hands. “We’ve got to put the puzzle together.”

TT placed the new pair of stuck pieces together and didn’t stop to bask in our reactions. She was too absorbed in her task, her mind racing ahead of us all. She just kept zipping around and connecting daggers here and there. “I don’t think that we have all the pieces to do the full puzzle.”

Dima looked to Lei. “Then, we’ll have to go back to the West and get the missing ones. After tomorrow’s battle of course.”

TT clicked more daggers together, but Lei and Dima were still staring at each other having a silent conversation.

Fuck. Tomorrow’s battle. Lei vs. Leo.

My heart ached.

TT whispered to herself again, “I hid it all. . .gave them each a piece. . .no one would be able to find it by themselves…”

Another dagger clicked into place and then suddenly, TT bent down and was able to put two pairs together and the shape grew more complex, more complete.

Rose put her view on me. “But what is the Bandit’s treasure. Do we know?”

TT crawled over daggers, searching for more that would fit. “No one knows. They just know it’s stolen stuff from some of the White people that came down to Crownsville to kill them, but. . .”

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