Adam scrambled over a pile of stones, dislodging one. “Look out,” he yelled.
She darted aside and the stone rolled past her.
He sat down and waited for her. His sun-bleached hair and dusty khakis made him look as much a part of the desert as the dirt and rocks. He belonged here. She’d never known anyone like Adam. It wasn’t just because he was her only friend. She felt something for him that she couldn’t explain. Not love. Ten-year-old girls didn’t fall in love. Maybe it was awe. He was two years older, and she was sure that other than her father and Uncle John, Adam was the smartest person in the world. He scrubbed a hand through his hair. It needed cutting, but there were too many things to explore to waste time getting a haircut, he said.
“Hurry,” he called. “We’re almost there.”
“We’ll never get the shoe back,” Kendall said when she caught up. “The hole’s too deep. Besides, I didn’t like those shoes anyway. They were ugly.”
“I’m not worried about your shoe.”
“Then why are we going back to the hole?”
He put his hand over his heart, their private sign for trust me. She did, so she followed him to the hole.
“I was afraid your dad would be mad. He paid good money for those shoes. So after I took you home, I went back again to see if I could get it, and I saw something when I looked down in the hole.”
Her dad hadn’t complained about the shoe, a good, sturdy expensive one, which he made her wear since she was always exploring. Her dad didn’t notice much anymore. He was always distracted. Always worried.
“What’d you see?” Kendall asked. They’d reached the hole now. It was near the top of the cliff.
“Something shiny.” Adam squatted on the other side of the hole.
“Shiny,” Kendall said, feeling her heartbeat kick.
Adam gave her one of his wild grins, and his whole face lit up. “Careful,” he said. “I think the ground is stable, but lie down flat.” He demonstrated, lying down and crawling slowly toward the hole.
Kendall copied his movements, crawling on the opposite side.
“Shine your light down there and tell me what you see.”
It was dark inside the hole. The opening was too small to let in much light. Kendall aimed her flashlight. At first it was hard to see, and then she made out a shape. “I see my shoe.” She inched closer. “It’s a long way down.”
“Shine your light a few feet to your left.”
“OK.” Kendall did and she saw a glint. “I see it. What do you think it is?”
“Treasure.” Adam looked up, dark eyes glinting. “I think it’s a tomb.”
He had been right. It was a tomb. Her father and Uncle John had been shocked, and then excited, but not as excited as they should have been. Something was wrong. The next day, her father had taken her and Adam to Italy. An important matter to attend to, he said, while Uncle John was on a business trip.
That’s where they’d had the fight.
“You can’t,” Adam said. “We’re supposed to stay put. This is serious.” They were in a small bedroom on the third floor of the castle they were visiting. Kendall’s father had gone to meet with the owners. Strange men. They looked like monks. Uncle John was attending to business in Rome. He was getting the jet ready to move his collection. People were always trying to steal Uncle John’s collection. It was the best in the world. She’d never seen it, but because she and Adam had never been allowed to see it, they had decided it must be the best. And they’d seen a lot of treasure over the years. Adam suspected it was hidden on their estate. He promised to show Kendall the next time they were there.
“I’ve never seen any place like this,” Kendall said. “I want to explore. I’m not going to touch anything.”
“No. You’re not going.”
“You can’t tell me what to do. You’re twelve, not twenty.”
“I’m older than you. It’s my job…,” he broke off. “I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“Daddy won’t even know we’re gone. I’ve got to look at those statues. There’s something strange about them.”
“I know,” Adam said, frowning. “That’s why I don’t want you to go. Something’s not right about this place. It feels… odd.”
“Then let’s figure out why that is. I want to know what’s so important here that my dad would interrupt the plans to move your dad’s collection. And make them ignore the hidden tomb we found. I think this place has something to do with why they’re both worried.”
“Your dad’s going to be even more worried if we go tramping around this place.”
“We worry them all the time. You never let that stop you from sneaking off before. What’s wrong with you? You’re never scared.”
“We don’t know these people. They might be bad. Your dad locked the door from the outside. I’d say that means he’s serious.”
Kendall grinned. “We don’t need the door. There’s a secret entrance in that wall.”
“Is that one of your hunches?” He scowled, but he wasn’t questioning her claim. Adam was the only person she could be honest with about her gift. He just thought it got her into too much trouble. “You see too much.”
“I can’t help it. So come on. We’ll just go peek at one of the statues.”
He scratched his head. He still hadn’t cut his hair. “Just to the statues, then back.”
Kendall pushed a circle in the wall and a hidden door slid inward. “I told you.” They stuck their heads into the dark interior. It was like a tomb, and just as tricky to maneuver. They got lost more than once, and Kendall could feel Adam getting mad. “Stop it,” she said when they’d reached their second dead end.
“I’m not doing anything,” he muttered.
“I can feel you shouting at me.”
“It’s not my fault you can read minds.”
“It’s not mine either. I didn’t ask for this stupid gift.”
“We should go back,” he said.
“No. I want to know what’s going on. There’s something wrong with my dad. He’s scared. I don’t like seeing him scared. There’s something wrong with your dad too. There has to be a way out of here,” she said. “We just haven’t found it. You’re good at finding hidden entrances. You try.”
Adam grumbled under his breath and ran his hands over the wall above her head. He was several inches taller than her. “I feel something.” He pushed and a door swung open. Fresh air. They were in a garden with fountains and a maze.