My Life In Ruins

29. Can't Catch Me...Oh, Crap!

“I have no clue,” I whispered back.  “I don’t get how they could have gotten out of Spain after what happened.”

Slowly, I peeked out the small window that looked from the kitchen out to the bar area.  My eyes widened at what I saw. 

Edmund was standing right in the middle of the room, staring right back at me with a smile on his face.

“Go!” I said, turning around, and started running.

Max followed behind me as we ran through the kitchen.  I knocked into one guy who was carrying a big box of something and made him drop it.  I was saying sorry as we continued to run toward the back door. 

“Where should we go?” Max asked as we ran down alleyway and toward the sidewalk.

“Marketplace,” I gasped.  “A lot of people.”

He nodded as we started back toward it.  When we crossed the street, I looked back behind us and saw Edmund and his men right on our tails. 

“Go!” I yelled, running into the crowd of people. 

It was a little harder to get through the crowd since there were so many people.  Everyone kept moving into our way and looking at us strangely as we pushed past, basically shoving them out of the way in our haste.  They didn’t know that we had a crazy man following us. 

As we tried to get away, Max’s hand let go of mine and, before I knew it, I didn’t know where he’d run off to.  I couldn’t see the top of his dark head anywhere. 

“Max!” I yelled, but I didn’t hear any response.

Not knowing what to do, I looked around frantically for him.

But the only person I saw was Edmund. 

And he was coming straight for me.

So I ran. 

I ran until I made it past a huge group of people who were just standing around talking and jumped behind one of the counters of a nearby shop. 

“Are you okay?” the man behind the counter asked me as I sat right beside his legs.  He spoke English, but his accent was strong, just like most everyone’s. 

I nodded, trying to catch my breath.  “I’m just…hiding,” I said.  “I’m...um…playing a game with some of the kids.  Hide-and-seek.  My…friend’s…playing, too.  He’s wearing a suit, so you’ll know who he is.  If he comes here and asks if you’ve seen me, tell him you haven’t.”

He smiled, nodding.  “Well, stay as long as you’d like until they find you,” he said, and then pretending like I wasn’t there beside him as he helped another customer. 

And just guess who that customer was.

“Have you seen a girl?” Edmund asked.  “She’s wearing a yellow shirt and shorts and her hair is up.”

I looked up at the man just as he shook his head.  “I haven’t seen her,” he told him.  “But someone ran past here a few minutes ago, dressed like that.”

“And where did she go?”

He reached his hand up, pointing in the direction that I would have gone if I hadn’t jumped behind his counter.  “That way,” he said.

“Thank you,” Edmund said.  I could hear the smile in his voice, though it probably wasn’t friendly.

I knew he was gone when the man looked down at me.  “He’s gone,” he said.  He looked a little worried.  “You shouldn’t be playing any games with that man.  He doesn’t seem like someone you could trust.”

I nodded, getting up slowly so I could peer over the counter.  “Thank you,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” he said, smiling. 

I ran in the complete opposite direction that Edmund had gone, hoping that his men weren’t anywhere near me.  What I had to do now, though, was find Max.  It didn’t take long because, before I knew it, he was in front of me, pulling me into a bone crushing hug.

“Where were you?” he nearly shouted.  “One second you were beside me and the next you weren’t!”

I laughed, hugging him back.  “I’m fine, but we need to move before Edmund figures out that the man whose counter I was hiding behind lied to him.”

Max nodded.  “Got it,” he said. 

He took my hand and we started walking quickly out of the market place and toward the street that led to our hotel. 

“So much for finding someone,” Max said.  “All we get is to be chased by crazy men.”

“Where did you go?” I asked, bumping my shoulder with him. 

Max snorted, rolling his eyes.  “I wasn’t too far from where I found you.  These crazy old women cornered me, talking to me in Spanish.  I had no clue what they were saying, but the blocked me from anyone’s view, so I just went along with it.”

I laughed.  Only he could do that. 

When we were close to the hotel, I pulled my phone out to call Dad, telling him where we were going.  Apparently he and Brielle had already made it back and were just about to call us with the news.  They’d found someone who could take us up into the mountains.

“We’ll talk about it more when you two get back,” he said.

So when we got back up to the hotel room, Dad and Brielle were in their bedroom, already packing stuff in their backpacks for our journey to find the cave that we’d been reading about on the internet.

“So what happened?” I asked, taking a seat on the corner of the bed.  “Did you find someone who will take us up?”

“That’s what I said,” Dad said, nodding.  “His name is Paco and he knows the terrain pretty well.  He’s agreed to take us as far as the fence that runs along in front of the area where the cave is.”

“At least you guys found someone,” I said, flinging myself down on the comforter.  “We just got chased by Edmund and his goons.”

Dad and Brielle went silent before talking both at the same time.

“What do you mean?” Brielle asked just as Dad said, “Are you kidding me?”

I nodded, sitting back up.  I explained what happened, going over everything up until we came back to the hotel.

“I can’t believe this,” Brielle said.  “How did he know to come here?  Better yet, how did he get out of Spain?”

“Who knows?” Max said, shrugging, from where he was leaning against the wall. 

Dad sighed, shaking his head.  “We don’t have time to worry about this.  We’re starting the hike at dawn tomorrow morning, so we’re going to have to wake up early.”

Great, another morning of waking up insanely early.  But hey, it was more than likely the morning before this expedition ended in us finding Blackbeard’s treasure, so I wasn’t going to complain.

Too much, that is.  

***Sorry for not uploading in forever!  I've been sick for the past week and felt like complete crap!  :/  I'm all better now, though!  :D

So I've got some news...

I want to try and finish this by Sunday.  Yes, I said Sunday!  The reason is I've GOT to start buckling down and studying for finals and I won't have the time to write.  And to finish when I want to, I've had to combine a few chapters.  So...

Birthday countdown:  9 days!  :D

Chapter countdown: 3 more!  D:  

I know!  Not that many left!  But the next chapter is the beginning of the awesome ending!!!1  :D  It's treasure hunting time!

Comment, Vote, and Like!!!1***