Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 53081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
“Will it always be this good?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“No questions in your mind?”
“None. That was a good time to tell me you love me,” he said before cupping her face and kissing her again.
“I do.”
“I’m glad. Let’s take a warm shower and grab some breakfast. You need fuel before you climb around those caves with Rocco.”
“A shower before exercise sounds silly,” she observed, cuddling against his chest.
“But necessary unless you want everyone to know exactly what we’ve been doing in here.” He inhaled deeply as she watched. “I can smell me all over you.”
“Oh! I didn’t think of that. Let’s go shower.”
“One more kiss, and then we’ll go.”
“Okay. The keyword today is safety. Follow the way I go if we run into any tricky areas. No improvising,” Rocco warned.
“Got it,” Isla said, acknowledging his rules.
“And you, Little girl?” he said, looking at Sadie.
“Oh, I’m going to do just what you say,” she answered, rubbing her bottom with one hand.
“Good idea. Turn on your headlamps, and let’s go,” Rocco directed.
Immediately, the two women powered up the bright lights attached by a stretchy elastic band. Blinding each other by inadvertently shining the beacon of brightness toward one another, they gasped and turned their heads away from each other.
“Ugh!” Isla said. “Now, I can’t see anything.”
“It’s getting better,” Sadie told her before she started giggling at their mistake. That, of course, set off Isla’s merriment as well.
“Only Littles,” Rocco said. “All right, time to go. Concentrate on where I’m moving.”
Isla was careful not to look at him so she didn’t blind him as well. She really didn’t need to. His warm tone told her he was amused and not annoyed. She forced her mouth to relax from the wide grin as she pulled her focus back to the task at hand.
Once they got out of the main area of the tunnels where the lights had been strung years ago, the beams from their headlamps were the only thing illuminating their way. When they reached a section that had not been traveled frequently, Isla followed Rocco’s directions exactly as the smell of the seawater grew with every step they took.
This is so fun! Isla loved exploring the caves and could imagine all different types of people had trod on the same stones and touched the walls for stability as they’d walked. Pirates, smugglers, kidnapped damsels, daring teenagers. Who knew how many people had trampled through these passages?
“Hold up,” Rocco said, his voice crisp.
Isla leaned to the side to look around his broad shoulders and whacked her head on a hanging rock. “Oof,” popped out of her mouth.
“You okay, Isla?” Sadie said quickly.
“Yes. I just banged my head. Thank goodness it’s as hard as a rock,” she joked.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Rocco asked.
“Yes. Keep going,” Isla urged.
“We’ve reached the sea. Come and look,” Rocco invited and stepped forward into a wide section. He consulted the compass he had used to guide them to this point.
There was muted sunlight filtering through the water. It wasn’t enough to see clearly, but it was a relief after the stark darkness they had emerged from. The air was heavy with moisture, and the walls had lines indicating the water depth at high tide.
“So, someone could’ve brought a treasure chest in here when the tide was low,” Isla said as she looked around.
“Let’s spread out a bit and see what we can find. I want to leave before the tide starts coming in,” Rocco told them.
Isla chose to go to the left. Her head hurt a bit from the whack she had given herself, but she pushed the discomfort away as she concentrated on looking for a clue. Unfortunately, it wasn’t like the movies. No wicked-looking saber was stuck into the wall like an arrow pointing the way—just seaweed and the faint smell of decaying sea life.
“I’m not seeing anything obvious over here,” she reported. “Any clue what I should be looking for?”
“Same. I haven’t found anything here, either,” Sadie reported.
“Come look at this,” Rocco called.
The two women moved eagerly to join him, and Sadie asked, “What did you find, Daddy?”
“There’s a stain here on the wall. It looks like something metal was pushed against it for a long time. If you follow its path, the mark gets lighter, as if it didn’t stay there for as long as it did at the original site. It disappears under the water line,” Rocco said, pointing.
“There could’ve been something with a metal band here. It would’ve taken years for the iron to mark the wall,” Isla said.
“Definitely, but the walls are wet. Anything made of old metal would’ve rusted. Something had to be dragged along this side to make a straight line,” Rocco noted.
“Magnus was right. It looks like, over time, the water moved the treasure,” Sadie said.
“So, searching in the water is the only thing to do. We’ll have to use the projected paths Magnus came up with to help narrow down where to look. Even then, it’s doubtful we’ll just happen to run across it. We’d have to get really lucky,” Isla said, feeling the futility of the search.