Curse of the Granville Fortune by Kelly Hashway

trust him after all. She was so difficult to read. Trent was on guard, walking around us in a big loop. He had his knife out in front of him, but he wasn’t swinging it around this time. He looked serious. I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. I heard Trent’s footsteps on the gravel. After a few minutes, I opened my eyes just enough to peek at Trent. He wasn’t circling the camp anymore. Maybe he’d heard something and gone to check it out. I nudged Holly.
    “We have to get away from these guys.”
    “We can’t walk around with our hands tied,” Holly said.
    “We need to steal a knife to cut off these bandanas.”
    “Definitely.”
    I looked around. Out of Edward, Garret, or Morgan, my options weren’t good. I decided Edward was my best bet. The other two flat out scared me. Edward was lying on his back with his arms behind his head. The knife on his belt was exposed.
    Holly nodded and mouthed, “Go ahead.” I was about to ask why I had to be the one to steal the knife, but I didn’t because I knew Holly was too clumsy to do it. She’d probably fall face first into Edward’s armpit.
    I took one last look around for Trent, and I scooted on my knees over to Edward. It wasn’t going to be easy to get the knife with my hands tied behind me. I couldn’t see what I was doing. Holly tilted her head to the left, so I scooted over, feeling for the knife. As I wrapped my fingers around the handle, Edward stirred. I froze. I was leaning awkwardly over Noelle, and I was afraid I was going to fall on her. Her body shook for a moment, and she opened her eyes. I was shocked she didn’t scream. Instead, she sat up and effortlessly slipped the bandana from her wrists. Then, she removed the knife from Edward’s belt loop and cut me free. We tiptoed over to Holly, and Noelle cut her free, too.
    “How’d you get yours off so easily?” Holly asked Noelle.
    “I told Edward I wanted to help them find the fortune, and that it wasn’t necessary to tie me up because I wouldn’t run away. I guess he believed me,” Noelle said.
    “I saw you shake. Are you okay?” I asked.
    “I do that when I dream sometimes.” Noelle looked away like she was embarrassed, so I took the knife from her and returned it to Edward’s belt. Having a knife for protection was probably a good thing, but I’d never be able to use it.
    I decided we should keep following the path we were on before we’d camped. We tiptoed around the side of a large tree and heard a rumbling sound.
    Holly gave me a look, as if to ask, “What is that?”
    “Wait here,” I whispered. I peeked around the tree. In the moonlight, I could see Trent slumped on the ground, sound asleep and snoring. I waved the girls on, and we passed with no problem.
    “Wait until Morgan finds out he let us escape again,” Holly said once we were too far away to wake Trent.
    “Forget Morgan. Garret will kill Trent long before Morgan gets to him,” Noelle told us.
    “Why aren’t you staying to help them find the fortune? You told Edward you would,” Holly said. Her voice was full of attitude. “It’s not like you even cared that I almost died in that stream. You haven’t said two words to us in hours.”
    “Sorry, but I’ve been trying to figure these guys out. Like Edward,” Noelle said. “He’s—odd. One minute he’s all wrapped up in his dad and the search, and the next he’s being nice to me.” She kicked a pebble on the ground. Did she feel bad about breaking her promise to Edward by escaping with Holly and me?
    We walked for a few minutes in silence. I hoped we were heading toward the park, and the familiar sight up ahead let me know we were. Unfortunately, it was a familiar sight I didn’t want to see. About twenty yards in front of me were the three green, leafy bears Holly had accidentally created on our way into the forest days ago. I froze, hoping the bears wouldn’t be able to see us in the darkness, but I heard them snort. They’d picked up our