Chapter 4
“It was lovely meeting you two,” Thora said to Ronin and Mason as she motioned for her family to move along.
“Bye, Aunt Tempi!” Alden shouted. “We’re going to find the treasure first!”
“No, you’re not!” Emory yelled after him. “We are!”
“That’s my cue,” Mason said. “If you will excuse me a moment, I told the mayor I’d stand next to him.”
Lucinda Toweck stepped up to the microphone and waved to the crowd.
“Good morning. I grew up hearing the story of my distant relative, Captain DuBois, since I was old enough to understand what a pirate was.” She paused.
“The vampire is said to have loved two things in his life...the sea and the Crimson Heart. As most of you know, Captain DuBois sailed these waters more than three hundred years ago aboard his ship, The Crimson Tide. He was feared by many, and hated by most.”
“Arrrh!” a costumed pirate shouted. “I hear that!”
Lucinda smiled and waited for the crowd to stop laughing.
“But he was loyal to the ocean, and to finding his one true love...the Crimson Heart. The largest red ruby crystal ever recorded. Some claimed it had belonged to royalty. Others insisted it was stolen from a powerful witch. No one knows for sure. What everyone does know is that DuBois would stop at nothing to find it.”
“Sounds like my husband,” a middle-aged witch called out. “Except he’s always trying to find his car keys.”
The crowd laughed again.
“According to one story passed down through my family,” Lucinda said, “Captain DuBois finally found the Crimson Heart shortly before his death. Around that same time, The Crimson Tide sailed into Moonlight Bay.” She stopped talking, and the crowd leaned in.
“DuBois was gravely ill. Moonlight Bay’s physician examined him and believed he had only days to live.
The doctor recorded the visit in his personal ledger, which still exists today. ”
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
“Then one morning, Captain DuBois and The Crimson Tide were gone.” Lucinda let the silence stretch.
“Sailors claimed they saw him leave Moonlight Bay alone sometime during the night. No crew. No passengers. Just a dying pirate captain sailing out to sea aboard his beloved ship.” She lifted her hands in the air.
“Neither Captain DuBois nor The Crimson Tide was ever seen again.” Another pause. “And neither was the Crimson Heart.”
Ronin grinned. This was exactly the reaction he’d hoped for when he’d suggested the treasure hunt theme to Tempi.
“So the question remains,” Lucinda said. “Did Captain DuBois really find the Crimson Heart?”
Several people from the crowd shouted yes.
Lucinda laughed and lifted one hand in the air. “And if he did, what happened to it?”
“Maybe it’s still out there!” Alden yelled, hopping up and down.
“Maybe it is,” Lucinda said.
Ronin leaned toward Tempi. “Your nephew is going to spend the rest of his childhood looking for that ruby.”
Tempi laughed. “Good. The kid could use some unstructured playtime.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “That surprises me, coming from you. I thought you loved organization and structured time.”
“For me,” she said. “Not for my niece and nephew.”
Lucinda stepped back from the microphone, and Mayor Huntington took her place.
“Today, you’re going to get your chance to follow Captain DuBois’ trail.
Every team will receive three clues. Some of you will go north, some south, some of you will stay near Crescent Park.
Eventually, every route leads to Crystal Cove, where your treasure is buried and waiting for you in a specific location. ”
Cheers and whistles went up through the crowd.
Mason stepped forward. “Quick reminder before anyone starts running, flying, teleporting, swimming, or doing anything else that might end with me filling out paperwork.” He crossed his arms and looked menacingly at the crowd.
“Don’t destroy, burn, eat, or otherwise alter any clue you find.
Don’t hurt each other over a fake ruby. And don’t think I won’t arrest you over it.
” He paused. “Ask my girlfriend how we first met last month. I arrested her and threw her in jail.”
Since most of the townspeople already knew the story, they just laughed and nodded their heads.
“You can arrest me, Chief,” a cute mermaid called out.
Adeline’s head whipped around. “Who said that?” she hissed. “Was that Zena Starman? She’s getting a hexed box of sweets the next time she comes into my bakery.”
“Easy, killer,” Emory said.
Mason nodded once more to the crowd before stepping back from the microphone.
“Are we ready?” Mayor Huntington called out.
The crowd erupted into cheers and whistles again.
“I said, are we ready?” Mayor Huntington yelled.
This time, the response was deafening. Swords shot into the air, children screamed, and another magical light orb exploded overhead, raining Happy Birthday, Moonlight Bay! confetti over the crowd.
Mayor Huntington laughed. “Witches, do your thing!”
Grandma Draven and Mrs. Abernathy stepped away from the crowd and raised their arms into the air.
A second later, hundreds of small folded maps appeared overhead.
Ronin recognized them immediately as the clues Lucinda had created.
They hovered above Crescent Park for several seconds, twisting and turning in the air as people shouted and pointed.
Mayor Huntington lifted a flare gun above his head. “Go!”
The flare shot into the sky and erupted into even more confetti as the clues dropped from the air.
Supernaturals laughed and jumped for the little maps as they floated toward the ground.
A witch levitated herself and snatched one out of the air before anyone else could reach it, and Herschel jumped up and grabbed a clue for himself, cackling in glee as he started to read it.
“Needs a daily Soother Scone my foot,” Adeline said. “Did y’all see how high Herschel just jumped?”
Ronin reached up and caught a clue as it sailed past his head. At the same time, Emory jumped and grabbed another.
“I got one!” Emory exclaimed, waving it in the air.
Mason rejoined them as people began gathering around their teammates. Within seconds, groups were already taking off across Crescent Park and Tide Street.
Cassie glanced around. “Guess I should start my patrol. Deputy Dixon is watching the Crystal Cove area.”
Mason shook his head. “You can join in on the fun, Cassie.”
“Nah. I’d rather stand back and watch everyone scramble around looking for a fake treasure.” She laughed as she rocked back on her heels. “That’s way more fun. I can even send some of them in the wrong direction.”
“You do that, and I’ll arrest you,” Mason said, waggling a finger at her.
Cassie grinned. “Wouldn’t be the first time a Casswell spent a night in jail. This Casswell in particular.” She grinned at Adeline. “Right, ladies?”
“Right,” Tempi, Adeline, and Emory said simultaneously.
“I would love to hear that story,” Ronin said.
Cassie smiled at him. “Maybe Tempi will tell you.” She turned and headed across the park, whistling as she went.
“Weird. We all have the same clue.” Emory looked at Ronin. “How did that work?”
Ronin shrugged. “Not sure, to be honest.”
“Let’s see what our first clue says.” Mason rested his hands on Adeline’s shoulder as he read aloud.
“Where stone houses guard the dead, and pirates sleep beneath your tread, seek the place where laid to rest, and find the path that leads to the chest.” He turned the paper over.
“Looks like there’s an image of a vase or something on the back. ”
Adeline and Emory looked at each other and screamed as they jumped up and down.
“Tempi!” Adeline grabbed Tempi’s arm. “We know the first clue.”
“We sure do,” Tempi said. “The five of us hung out in the cemetery practically every day after school when we were in high school. Adeline, Emory, me, Cassie, and Princess Muffin Top.”
Ronin stared at her. “You hung out in a cemetery? For fun?”
“We were teenagers,” Emory said. “That’s where we did our best plotting.”
“Come on.” Tempi motioned for everyone to follow her. “It’s this way.”
They hurried across the street and down Tide Street, Princess Muffin Top trotting alongside them. Several other teams ran in the opposite direction, while others disappeared into shops or side streets.
“You really spent every afternoon in a cemetery?” Ronin asked Tempi.
“Not every afternoon,” Tempi said.
“Four days a week,” Emory added.
“Sometimes five,” Adeline admitted.
Ronin laughed. “Why?”
“It was quiet,” Tempi said. “We could just...be.”
“And nobody bothered us,” Emory added.
Princess Muffin Top looked up at Ronin. “They were juvenile delinquents.”
“We were not,” Adeline said.
“Oh, please,” Princess Muffin Top scoffed, “you all had a two-page arrest sheet by the time you were a sophomore.”
Ronin stopped walking. “You all were arrested multiple times?”
Adeline pointed at Princess Muffin Top. “Stop telling our secrets.”
“Chief Dawson arrested all of you?” Mason asked.
Tempi laughed. “Yep. All the time.”
“We were protesting,” Adeline said, as though that explained everything.
Mason shook his head and smiled. “Of course you were.”
“We even once chained ourselves to the cemetery gate,” Emory said. “The one we’re going to now.”
Ronin glanced between the three women as they crossed the street. “How old were you?”
“Sixteen,” Tempi said.
Princess Muffin Top snorted. “They told Chief Dawson they couldn’t be arrested because they were acting as official representatives of the dead.”
Ronin burst out laughing. “That’s a good one.”
“That was Adeline,” Tempi said. “I wanted to tell the chief we were conducting a séance and interrupting us could cause the dead to follow him home.”
Mason shook his head. “I can’t believe Chief Dawson lasted as long as he did here in Moonlight Bay. I’ve seen pictures of him. Were all those gray hairs from you girls?”
“Yes,” Emory said.
“Absolutely,” Adeline added. “And proud of it.”