Page 58 of Ruined Wolf
“What are you looking for?” Lucas asked after a few moments. He leaned against the wall and lowered himself back down into a sitting position.
“You’re going to think I’m insane,” I replied, continuing my search.
“Try me.”
I sighed but kept on scanning the walls slowly. “You know how Jaxon came here looking for treasure?”
Lucas shook his head. “Yep, you’re insane.”
“I don’t think there’s treasure here,” I told him quickly.
“Oh good, I was beginning to think you’d hit your head too.”
“I think there is part of a treasure map hidden somewhere on the walls.”
“What?” Lucas stared at me as if I’d grown another head.
Giving up for the moment, I flicked the torch off and moved carefully over to sit by him. He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me into his warmth, and I leaned my head against his shoulder.
“Jaxon was studying the island. He discovered that there was a very real chance that a Spanish explorer somehow travelled all the way from Central America and hid a great load of treasure that he pirated from tribes in Central and South America. The explorer was executed for treason, along with four of his friends, and the gold was never recovered. At least, there’s no mention of it.”
“Go on,” Lucas said, sounding intrigued.
“When Jaxon died, I found his journal. He’d often spend time writing in it, but when I asked about it, he’d just tell me it was a little history project, nothing important, and that was it. I flipped through it and found all this information about this explorer and his life, but also weird messages and symbols copied down from somewhere. Tucked in the back was a printout of an auction lot in Panama City, where this explorer was from. It was a fragment of an old map of an unknown island. I think Jaxon left Desolation to go to Panama City and find this artifact, but for some reason, he either never got there, or he couldn’t purchase the map. I never found it anyway. When I was working at the tourist centre, I realised the map showed part of Desolation, and there was a symbol on there that marked a location—Standing Bear Rock. Asher and I went there, and I found the second engraving of the map. The third was at that clearing where we... at the claiming...”
“And you think the fourth part of the map is here, in this cave?” Lucas asked, his voice steady but revealing nothing about what he might be thinking.
“Yes, I’m fairly certain it is.”
“So that’s why we came out here that day? To try to find the rest of the map? And that’s why you risked your freedom by coming back?”
I sighed. “Lucas, when Jaxon died, I had nothing left except his journal and his child inside me. My pack refused to give me sanctuary and hunted me across their lands. All I wanted was a fresh start somewhere safe, someplace where I could raise my child. Even a small amount of treasure would give me the chance to do that comfortably.”
There was silence for a few moments.
“You’d have to find a way to fence the treasure,” Lucas mused suddenly.
“I suppose.”
“And you couldn’t go to a normal pawnshop or gold dealer, because the treasure wouldn’t belong to you, and that would be obvious.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, if treasure is found around here, the law would state that it belongs to the provincial crown. And, naturally, treasure of that age would also be defined as an archaeological discovery, which would make it even more valuable, and the site itself in which it was discovered would be valuable too, in a cultural sense. It would probably be protected by law, like some of the ancient tribal areas on the island. Random Spanish treasure turning up? They’d track you down to find out where you got it, and I doubt they’d let you keep the money either. I’m afraid your plan was rather risky, my little omega.”
I stared off into the darkness, my mouth hanging open. Disappointment bloomed inside me, and I had the strongest urge to punch something.
“So it was all for nothing?” I asked bitterly. “Everything I did when I was here to try and track the damn treasure down, it was for nothing.”
“I’m sorry, Nova. You might have managed it, but I would guess you’d have been arrested for theft.”
“Shit,” I grumbled, leaning my head back against the rock wall.
“What made you think you’d be able to even find the treasure, let alone fence it?” Lucas queried.
I sighed. “Jaxon had everything worked out. He even managed to dig up some details about the place where the treasure is actually hidden. I just needed a location. He knew everything. I thought he was going to come back and find the treasure then use the money to get the two of us a new life together. We weren’t exactly well off in the city.”
“But Jaxon would have known about these rules,” Lucas replied, sounding confused. “He wouldn’t have dreamed of selling off something that important to the history of the island to the highest bidder. At least, the Jaxon I knew wouldn’t. Maybe I really didn’t know him at all.”