“With exploring the city,” Cam says quickly. “We didn’t have that map before, when you and I went out looking. But now we do. And I don’t think the majority of markers on it are going to be as easy to spot as the freaking Golden Gate Bridge. I think we have to get outside—boots-on-the-ground style—and start looking around.”
All the memories of us outside before, of circling trees, knocking on bricks, lying in the grass under the afternoon sun, curl around me like a warm towel straight out of the dryer. But there’s something dangerous mixed in too. I’ve worked so hard to shape that summer of my life into a bruise that doesn’t ache at the touch. It’s a good memory because it’s a distant memory, a fuzzy one, ambiguous and open-ended. I can’t justgo backto working with Cam the way I did before. The only way, for us, has to be forward.
“What about the agreement?” I ask, drawing myself up straighter.
“What agreement?”
“No treasure hunting until Monday,” I say. “We’re taking a break.”
Cam holds up his index finger. “As agroup,” he says. “Julia said that if anyone had any ideas, we could share them on Monday after school. Well, maybe by then you and I will have an idea. Maybe we’ll have an exact place to look. Maybe…”
“Don’t say it,” I warn him.
“Maybe we’ll even have a treasure.”
I rise off the bench, suddenly hot and itchy. “That would be cheating.”
Cam laughs. “Cheating? On who?”
“Not on a person,” I say, feeling hotter by the second. “On the hunt, I mean. We all agreed on it.”
“Okay. Okay.” Cam stands and ushers me back down onto the bench next to him. His arm stays wrapped around my shoulder, and I’m extremely aware of the fact that I’m sitting much closer to him this time.But not so close that it would mean anything, I remind myself.
I’ve fallen into that trap before.
“No treasure,” Cam says, assuring me. “But some more clues. We could have the whole map figured out for the group. Maybe Sunny would even start to like me.”
I roll my eyes. “Why do you care what Sunny thinks?”
“I don’t care whatshethinks,” Cam says. He falters for a moment. “You’re— The four of you are all— It would be nice to not have anyone wanting to bite my head off.”
He pulls his arm back and shifts away from me. “Well? Is it a deal?”
“Fine,” I say. I hold out a hand. “But only if you bring me the flyerandthe book.”
Cam furrows his brow. “Why the book?”
“It had the key to the substitution cipher, right? Maybe it will have some other clue we need too.”
My hand hovers between us. Cam stares down at it.
“Unless you don’t want to,” I add. I start to pull my hand back. But he catches it, his fingers clasping tight over mine.
“We’ll start tomorrow,” he says. “Union Square. Nine a.m. You bring the box. I’ll bring the book and flyer.”
“No shovels,” I warn him.
Cam flashes me his wide, boyish grin. “No shovels,” he says.
He offers my hand an extra squeeze before letting go. My heart throbs for a moment, tight and unsure. Being alone with Cam like this, looking for the treasure again, feels risky. There’s too much history between us. Our past is practically a minefield.
It’s only a bruise, I tell myself.A mostly healed bruise.
But as I look at Cam, I can’t escape the feeling that, even without shovels, we’re about to dig into something neither of us signed up for.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I creep onto the Judah line the next morning like a cartoon detective, back pressed to the brick town house on the corner. I can’t imagine why any of the other yearbook crew members would be here on a Sunday morning, but still…just the thought of being seen alone with Cam makes me nervous.
