Seizure(59)

“Thanks for nothing, you jerks! Tell your buddy Anne we don’t accept IOUs.”

Ben guffawed, reigniting the rest of us. We let the giggles flow, taking the tension with them.

“Do you guys have any idea how screwed I am?” Hi moaned. “My mother gets up in ten minutes.”

“I feel you,” Shelton said. “I’m just as toast.”

“No point worrying about it now,” Ben said. “We survived. We can take whatever comes next.”

Definitely. Kit was going to filet me, but at the moment, that seemed trivial.

“Let’s enjoy the fresh air for a while,” I said.

So we sat, side by side, and watched the sunrise.





“MIRACLES CAN HAPPEN,” I joked. “You just have to believe!”

Noon. Bunker. We lounged in our clubhouse, still beat from the previous night’s insanity.

The boys were sprawled about the room, idly tossing a tennis ball. I was on the bench. Coop was gnawing a Frisbee at my feet.

Impossibly, no one had been caught.

Five hours earlier, I’d tiptoed through my front door, prepared for the worst. Already grounded, I had no idea how Kit would react to my sneaking out until dawn. For all I knew, a cop could be sitting in our living room.

So I’d slipped inside, nervous that Coop would blow my cover. Instead, much to my surprise, I’d found a Post-It stuck to the banister.

Early trip to LIRI. Back by dinner. Don’t leave the house. Kit.

He had no idea.

After executing a few of Hi’s best dance moves, I’d collapsed on the couch. I was exhausted, emotionally drained, and smelled like sewage and sea scum.

Coop had hit me like a Patriot missile, tail thumping, his pink sandpaper tongue slathering my face.

“It’s okay, boy. Mommy’s fine. Just had a little scare, that’s all.”

Coop continued bathing my face. From that moment, he hadn’t let me out of his sight.

A foghorn sounded in the harbor, scattering the seagulls roosting outside the bunker’s window slit. Cruise ship, headed to the peninsula.

Sunlight glinted off the tranquil ocean. The temperature was well past ninety.

“My mom caught me downstairs, but she thought I was going out.” Hi laughed. “Like I’m getting up that early on a Saturday. Thank God she’s groggy before her first three cups of coffee.”

“My parents were still in bed.” Shelton lobbed the tennis ball toward Ben. “They never sleep past six. I must have a guardian angel.”

“Will your Dad get after you?” I asked Ben.

Tom Blue’s workday began well before sunup, even on weekends. By the time we’d docked Sewee that morning, his ferry had already set sail.

“I’ll say I went fishing.” Ben caught the ball and flipped it to Hi. “He won’t ask a lot of questions.”

The tennis ball arced across the room, was caught, arced back.

Then Hi voiced the question on everyone’s mind. “So … any guesses at who tried to kill us?”

“Honestly, I have no idea,” I said. “None.”

“It makes no sense!” Shelton spread his hands. “Who could’ve known we planned to break into the Provost Dungeon last night?”

“We didn’t know ourselves until a few hours before,” Hi said. “And what sane person would follow us down the rat hole we uncovered?”

“iFollow?” Ben ear-tucked his hair. “Maybe someone hacked our videoconference.”

“Is that possible?” The idea disturbed me.

Shelton shook his head. “We formed a new group with a new password. That program has tough encryption. Believe me, I checked. It’s extremely unlikely.”

“And why bother?” I said. “Who’d want to spy on us?”

“Kill us,” Hi corrected. “Whoever followed us underground was willing to create a pile of dead bodies. Chew on that for a second.”

“We sure know how to attract psychopaths,” Shelton muttered.

“It’s connected to Bonny’s treasure somehow,” Ben said. “That’s the only logical explanation.”

“There’s another possibility.” Hi sat forward, face tight with concern. “What if someone else knows about our flares?”

“What?” Shelton pulled his earlobe. “How?”


“I don’t know, but we can’t just discount it.” Hi avoided my eyes. “Not every move we’ve made has been private.”

I opened my mouth, but Shelton spoke first.

“You did the mind thing again, Tory.” Fingers tugging double time. “In the tunnels, underwater, I heard your voice inside my head.”

“Me too,” Hi said.

Ben hesitated, then nodded. “You flared a second time, too. How?”

“I don’t know.” Thinking back, I shuddered. “I was panicking. Couldn’t find air. Then something twitched in my brain and the flare exploded through me. It was more unconscious than anything.”

“How come only you can touch minds?” Shelton asked.

I shrugged. Of course I had no answers.

The room fell silent.

“Well, you saved our lives,” Ben finally said. “That’s all that matters.”