Page 118 of Wayward
“Oh, we’ve got a surprise for you.” Zane raises his head to Easton.
“That’s today?”
“Yup, today’s the day. The equipment arrived from the mainland an hour ago.” Zane’s back in the bedroom, rummaging in my drawer. “This should work.” He holds out one of my swim shirts and trunks. The big ones I use when we go snorkeling, when the water’s a little rougher.
“Snorkeling?” I ask, taking them from him. I pull off my pajamas, forgoing a shower if I’m going out into the ocean.
“Something like that.” Easton wiggles his eyebrows.
“What’s the equipment that arrived?” I turn to Dante in the hard-sided tender. Because there was nothing on the beach. We’re all here. Calvin’s piloting the boat, and we’re pointed in the direction of chicken and pomelo beach. “Is it something to do with pruning the trees again?” We had a small crew out last spring to shape them up and teach us how to do it.
“Nope, nothing about the trees. But we could stop by there and get some fruit after if we have time.” Dante kicks his legs up on the bench in front of him. One hand is on my leg, and with the other he holds on to the side of the tender.
We pass the sheer cliff, and when the bay where theRock Candywas anchored for so long appears, I see the equipment. It’s the flatbed barge they used for laying our pier. It’s anchored near the mouth of the cave. A large crane is attached to it.
“The box!” I cry out. “We’re going to bring up the box?” My breath catches. That box was the ghost of everything weendured, searching for Easton and Calvin. And now it’s going to rise like something out of a dream.
“You ready?” a man with a British accent calls out from the barge. “We’ve got it all hooked up.”
“Ready whenever you are,” Zane says. “You’re sure I can’t film it from underwater?”
“Not when we’re moving it. I’ve got my diver down there, though. He can tape it if you’re willing to let him use the camera. If you don’t mind helping? I’ve only brought my long-time diver and myself, as you requested.”
The diver surfaces and gives us a wave. Calvin, Sam, Easton, and Zane move over to the other vessel, following the barge captain’s directions like they’ve been working together for years.
The box erupts from the water, a reinforced net supporting it, and when it’s slowly placed on the deck of the barge, the barge sinks a good six inches into the water. I catch a look on Calvin’s face. Could it really be treasure?
I grab Dante’s hand. “It must weigh a lot to displace that much water.”
“Gold weighs a lot. Though, so do rocks.” Dante laughs.
“Come on over, we’re going to open it,” Sam yells with cupped hands.
I jump in and swim the short distance to the barge. The memory of arriving here and having theRock Candygone washes over me with each stroke. The horror of thinking I’d never see either Easton or Calvin again shook me into realizing what I wanted. It was a real turning point in us becoming a family. Calvin leans over the barge. I take his hand, and he pulls me out of the water.
Forty-five exhausting minutes later, the crowbars and the guys’ muscles finally beat the box.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” the barge captain says. “I’ve heard the legend. I just never thought it was true.”
Thayer had told me the legend. More than the island being unlucky or cursed. He said,“The villagers who lived there years ago were massacred. Apparently, one of them went to the mainland and got drunk. Said they found treasure, and they were set for life as soon as the elders divided it up. Instead, a horde of greedy men attacked the island, killing them. But no treasure was found.”Until now.
I shudder. I haven’t thought about Thayer in a long time. While Susan landed in a Swiss jail, nothing happened to Thayer or his dad. Their lawyers got them cleared.
“Ready to watch?” Zane sits next to me with a bowl of popcorn on his lap.
“Ready,” I say. Even after being there when they brought it up, it gives me goosebumps. Our house isn’t extraordinarily large, but we did splurge on a movie room. We’re all snuggled on a large sofa.
Calvin hits play.
A crowbar creaks against the waterlogged wood, and the camera zooms into the golden glowing box. We now know most of the artifacts are from the Zheng empire. Calvin’s voice booms on the recording as he tells everyone not to touch anything.
The barge captain left it for a week but then arranged secret transportation back to the mainland, where a museum is curating and preserving it.
The video switches to the museum curator, talking about the major pieces. He stops at the handful of coins from 1972. Whoever sunk the box had a good idea they weren’t going to open it again. The video has the curator talking in detail abouteach piece in depth. Dante’s snoring, his head in my lap, when the video turns off.
“Wake up,” Calvin growls, and he slaps Dante’s foot.
“I wasn’t asleep.” Dante sits up, his eyes flicking to the drool spot on my shorts. “Sorry, Sassy.”
