Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt (1)

Book II of the Triplicities Trilogy. I am pretty excited about this book, so I hope you enjoy it :D

Chapter 1

Rebecca Nelson

The dim light from the flashlight gave the room an eerie glow. The curtains were drawn together, refusing to let in any of the light from the night sky. The ceiling lamp was turned off, a sweater shoved underneath the doorway to hide the light from the flashlight.

If she was caught, she would definitely be in trouble.

Rebecca Nelson skimmed through the piece of paper she had recently been writing on. Underneath it was a stack of other papers.  Rebecca had been reading it through twice now. She wanted to be sure she had written it correctly.

Her eyes moved up to the leather book that lay beside her in the bed. It was turned to the page halfway through. With only a few hours every night, translating the book took a lot longer than it would have if she had the entire day.

Footsteps on the other side of the door made Rebecca quickly turn of the flashlight. She pushed the book underneath her pillow where it had been hidden during the day for the past month. The footsteps stopped right outside her door.

Rebecca held her breath, praying that it was one of the nights her aunt wouldn’t walk into her room. Rebecca had been caught with the flashlight one time before and she had been locked inside her room for days, the only company she got was when her uncle would come up with breakfast and dinner.

Though she didn’t have the most exciting social life, it was good to be able to walk wherever she wanted to. But after she had been forced to move back in with her aunt and uncle a few days after she returned home, the freedom to walk away were refreshing.

Rebecca had been home from Oregon three days. She hadn’t left her apartment, except for one grocery shopping. The money she had stacked under her mattress was still there, and she didn’t want to risk calling her aunt and uncle. They wouldn’t be pleased with her for disappearing for a month and a half.

But then, her aunt had locked herself into the apartment with the spare key they had and seen Rebecca sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal in her lap. Her aunt had exploded, and given Rebecca one day to pack down the apartment before she was to move back in with them.

It had been absolute hell to be back in the house she had despised ever since she was a little girl. Her aunt had gotten more vicious than before, and her uncle didn’t give her any sympathy. They were disappointed in her, and the little care they may have had in their bodies had completely disappeared.

Rebecca had been in the house for one month. Today was the one month anniversary for escaping from Niall. She hadn’t kept in contact with the other three, like the promised. She didn’t have much choice either though. Her aunt had confiscated her cell phone, and the house phone was forbidden.

The computer she had had in her apartment had been locked up in a cupboard, and all of Rebecca’s belongings from the apartment were stacked in boxes in one of the cots in the house.

Rebecca’s birthday had come and gone. She was finally sixteen, yet she couldn’t find any pleasure in it. She wasn’t allowed to take her license, so why be happy about it? Getting one year older didn’t give her much.

She also realized why Jennifer hated her birthday. After all, when you had no one who cared for you, nor anyone who wished you a happy birthday, it was hard to be happy about it.

Rebecca’s aunt passed by the door when she was satisfied with the lack of sound coming from the room. It was nearing midnight, and she would be damned if any kid living in her house was awake after that.