campers to be wandering around posted property.”
“Think Mister Foster knows about it?”
“I?d bet not. He doesn?t seem to take much interest in his land. No one?s ever seen him. For all we know, he?s dead.”
“Then who?s posting all these no-trespassing signs?” Eddie said.
Jack and Weezy answered in unison. “The Jersey Devil!”
“Fine,” Eddie grumbled. “Be like that.”
Weezy said, “No big deal to hire someone to post signs.”
Eddie looked at her. “Y?think we should tell anyone what we found?”
“Don?t even think about it!” Weezy cried.
“Why not? Maybe some experts can come down and figure out what it really is.”
“I?ll tell you what they?ll come down and do.” She was talking through her teeth and Jack could sense the fury building in her. “They?ll dismantle it and ship it off to the Smithsonian or something. You saw what they did to our mound. What makes you think they?ll have any more respect for that pyramid?”
“?Our? mound?” Jack said with a smile, trying to cool her down. “When did it become ours?”
She gave him an annoyed look. “
That triggered a thought. “Foster … they?ll have to get his permission first.”
Her voice rose. “Those guys who dug up our mound didn?t have his permission! They just came in the middle of the night and did whatever they wanted to do, then left. They?ll do the same with the pyramid!”
“Easy, Weezy.” He seemed to be saying that a lot lately. “We?ll keep our lips zipped.”
She gave him a pointed look. “That means we don?t tell
Jack figured Mr. Rosen could be trusted, but agreed about the professor. They?d lost the baby pyramid because of him.
“Mum?s the word.”
“Good.” She looked at Eddie. “You with us, dear brother?”
Jack tried telepathy:
“All the way, dear sister.” He shrugged. “Besides, who?m I gonna tell anyway?”
“It?s like a duty,” she said. “The Barrens are special. They?ve kept secrets for ages. We can?t go messing things up just because we got lucky. We—”
“Goddamn you little bastids!”
The shout came from off to their left and Jack was surprised to see they?d reached the spong already. The source of the cursing was a skinny man wearing an Agway gimme cap and bib-front overalls. He was hurrying their way, weaving among the traps Mrs. Clevenger had sprung. He snatched an upright stick from one of the traps and began waving it in the air.
He looked furious as he shouted, “I warned you „bout messin? with my traps!”
They?d run into this piney before. He claimed he was Mr. Foster?s son but Jack had a feeling Old Man Foster wasn?t a piney.
“We didn?t touch them!” Eddie called back, then spoke under his breath. “Least not this time.”
“Hell you didn?t! This is the second time now I find you here with all my traps sprung! I?m gonna teach you bastids a lesson you?ll never forget!”
He broke into a run, whipping the stick back and forth ahead of him.
Eddie let out a wail and hit his pedals. His rear tire fish-tailed and kicked up sand as he accelerated. Jack and Weezy were close behind. As they raced away, a fist-size rock sailed through the air, narrowly missing Weezy?s head.
A blast of rage blazed through Jack. He felt his lips pulling back from his teeth in a snarl as he looked back at the piney. The skinny man had stopped running and was screaming something incoherent as he waved the stick.
What if that rock had hit Weezy? What would he have done?
“Jack?”
Weezy?s voice.
He looked and found her staring at him with a worried look.
“What?”
“You … you looked kind of scary just now.”
“Didn?t you see that rock? It just missed you.”
“I know. But the important word is „missed.? You looked like you wanted to kill him.”
For a second there, Jack realized, that was exactly what he had wanted to do.
“Just don?t like people throwing rocks at my friends.”
She kept looking at him. “We
“We are. Old friends.”
“I like that.”
The fading rage was replaced by a warm glow that hung on until they found the lost man.
6
Eddie had sped on ahead, racing back to town while Jack and Weezy took their time,
talking. Or rather, Jack listening to her rattle on about the two pyramids and wonder how they fit into the Secret History. She glowed with excitement and vindication. She started talking about finding a way into the Lodge to retrieve their little pyramid. He might have said that they didn?t even know if it was in there, but didn?t want to interrupt her flow. She seemed happy just fantasizing about it.
Something else stopped her—a voice shouting from a distance.
“Help! Help! Don?t leave! Please don?t leave!”
They stopped their bikes and saw a disheveled man stumbling their way out of
the trees, waving his arms. “Please!” he cried in a dry, cracked voice. “I?m lost! I?ve been wandering around in circles for three days.”
Jack looked at Weezy. “What do we do?”
“Do? We help him back to town. What else?”
Good question. That pyramid and the tracks, plus the piney, had left him jumpy. Now this stranger wandering out of nowhere. He didn?t like it.
And the guy was getting closer.
“What happened, mister?” he called.
“Lost. I?ve got a Land Rover somewhere. Came out to do some bird-watching and got turned around and couldn?t find my car.”
Bird-watcher? Yeah, a lot of bird-watchers in the Pines, but usually in groups. No binoculars around his neck. He could have lost them, but …
Jack was liking this less and less. He studied the man, closer now, and could see he looked maybe forty, fifty tops. He needed a shave, his shirt was torn, and his pants were filthy. His longish brown hair was all tangled.
Jack looked at Weezy. “Be ready to ride.”
“What?s the matter, Jack? You?re acting all strange.”
“Just being careful is all.”
Her expression turned concerned as he unlocked his bike chain and unwound it from the seat pole.
“He?s in trouble, Jack. We?ve got to help him.”
“We will. But of all people, you, the Queen of Conspiracies, should know things aren?t always what they seem.”
The man stumbled onto the firebreak trail. He had a wild look in his blue eyes.
“Thank God! You don?t know what I?ve been through!”
Keeping a tight grip on the chain, Jack said, “You must be thirsty.”
