“Belongs to someone with a lot of money,” she answered.
“How do you know?”
“Well, it looks like a castle for one thing. Poor people don’t tend to live in castles, Sadie,” she smiled.
“Good point,” I nodded. “I didn’t see where the person went, did they go inside?”
“It looked like they ran around the back, but I couldn’t say for sure,” she replied. “Kate is gonna be pretty upset when she hears that she missed out on an adventure.”
“I’m sure she will be, but it’s hardly my idea of a good time,” I said. “Do we get closer and investigate, or do we hold off?”
“You want me to make that call? Jeez, pressure much?” Effie laughed. The peridot ring on my finger began to pulsate with light, a dull glow of green surrounded it. “Phew, it looks like the universe is deciding for us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your weird magic ring is telling us to go over there,” Effie said. “That is a legendary stone from a legendary treasure chest, everything that has been happening on this island must be connected. The ring is telling you to keep going, you must be getting closer to the truth.”
“Are you sure it isn’t a mood ring or something?” I suggested. “Maybe it’s just glowing because I’m scared, or hungry, or both.”
“Let’s not rule that out,” Effie laughed. “But yeah, we are breaking into that castle, Sadie. It’s been decided for us.”
“Shouldn’t we go back and get Miller, and Kate?” I said, hoping to delay the inevitable.
“I think you know the answer to that,” she replied, grabbing my hand. “Let’s go!”
We ran around the edge of the lawn, staying under the shadows of the trees and staring at the house for signs of movement. Who on earth could live in a house like this? There was a small door that led into the building, probably a service entrance.
“That’s our best bet,” Effie said, pointing at it.
“What if it’s locked?” I asked.
“Ha! Locked doors rarely stop me,” she laughed. We sprinted across the lawn towards the door. If anyone was looking out of a window then they would be able to see us, we were lit up by the floodlights and until we got to the wall of the house we were in full view. Effie immediately grabbed the door handle and started to rattle it up and down.
“I thought you were implying that you could use your magic to get us in here!” I whispered.
“I was planning to; this door isn’t responding. I don’t understand it,” she said, clearly confused. I heard something fall onto the grass behind us, a metallic thump. I turned to look at a cannister that was beginning to smoke at one end.
“Uh oh…” I said, reaching over to tap Effie so she would look at it too. The smoke plumed until it surrounded us and we both began to cough.
We were in big trouble.
15
“Sadie?!”
I opened my eyes slowly and found myself being lifted off the ground. Miller was talking to me, but I felt like I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. He was holding me close to his body and I was reminded of how Ryder had carried me like this not long ago.
I had no idea what was going on, but it seemed as if I was attracting the kind of hot guy that was strong enough to carry me around when I got into trouble. I wasn’t mad about it. My ex-boyfriend had needed a great deal persuasion to even help carry the grocery bags into the house from the trunk of the car, so this was definitely an upgrade.
I nestled my head against Miller’s chest and tried to take slow breaths through my nose, but I kept coughing. I remembered the smoke but nothing else. Effie and I had inhaled something and then woken up… where were we? Where was Effie?
“Ef… Effie,” I spluttered.
“She’s okay, you’re both okay,” Miller replied. I felt him start to run and I closed my eyes again. The cool air on my skin let me know that we were outside, but the sky had been too bright for me to keep my eyes open for long. I could hear other voices and the sounds of birds singing. The twittering from nearby trees felt comforting.
I must have drifted into a light sleep for a moment or two, because when Miller lay me down, I woke with a start.
“Sadie, it’s Brielle. Can you hear me?” she asked.
“Yeah. Where’s Effie?” I coughed.
“She’s here too, I’m taking care of both of you,” Brielle answered. “What happened?”
“We were…” I considered keeping our nighttime activities a secret as I doubted that it made us look good, but there was no use lying about it now. “We were trying to break into a house on the other side of the trees,” I admitted. “Someone set the lawn on fire, all around the pit. I saw them and I chased them, then Effie chased me—”
Brielle handed me a glass a water and helped me sit up enough to take a drink. The smoke in my lungs was making it hard to speak without coughing.
“Why did you go out there alone?” Miller yelped.
“Hold on, just wait until I finish telling the story before pointing out how dumb it all was,” I smiled. I took a few labored breaths and felt the tightness in my chest ease off. “We followed the person that set the fire and it took us to this big old house. We tried to open a side door when all of a sudden this gas cannister dropped down out of no where and next thing I know you guys are carrying me in here.”
“What time did you go to this house?” Miller asked.
“It was maybe half an hour after you went to bed,” I answered.
“I saw you both on the lawn when I went into the
