Page 25 of The Curse Breaker

Gil rubbed his arms. He needed to get a coat. Maybe Wally had one. He was suddenly so cold, as if he’d never be warm again. Don’t trust her. Should he tell them what he knew?

“Read the riddle,” Zara suggested. “Maybe it will explain who her is.”

Benny read aloud:

There is a story you must find

to reveal what I have in mind.

This tale, so very apro poe,

Sheds light on what you soon shall know—

the reason I committed my crime,

and why we’ve had to bide our time

till you could save what once was mine.

Benny looked at them both. “Well, I cracked one part of the clue already.”

“What’s that?” Gil asked, feeling more at ease now that there was no mention of her.

Benny folded up the pages again and grinned. “We need to go back to Evelyn’s library.”

Nine

Benny

Evelyn Terry’s library was one of Benny’s favorite rooms in the house. It was warm and cozy and filled with walls of books.

The rain had stopped again, and for the first time since Benny and her mom had arrived, sun streamed through the windows above the bookshelves and over a window seat that looked out on a garden. Outside, sun and clouds were still warring, thick black clouds in the distance threatening more rain. Better weather wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Kimble said they had about a fortnight till the island disappeared. Two weeks. Was he right? A mystical island reappearing and disappearing wasn’t an exact science. What if when they returned to the cave, the island was gone?

“This room feels like Sparrow,” Gil gushed, his hands running across the book spines on the shelves that covered the four walls. “I can picture her here reading.”

“This room is nice unless you have to spend hours in it searching for a book when you just did that a few days ago.” Zara flashed Benny a crooked smile.

“What are the chances that there is another book is in this floorboard where we found the first one?” Benny headed to the window seat first and removed a front panel they’d learned held a secret compartment. That’s where Evelyn had hidden Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island. Benny stuck her arm inside the dusty space. “Nope! There’s nothing else in here, which means we’ve got to search the stacks again.”

Zara groaned. “Ryan may have turned heel, but at least there are still three of us to search.”

“Heel?” Benny quirked an eyebrow.

“What?” Zara lifted a gold book off the shelf nearest her. “My dad and I watch a lot of wrestling. Makes we wish I knew some moves to pull on Ryan.”

The air between them was filled with tiny particles of dust brought to light by the sun. It grew thick and heavy at the mention of Ryan. Benny hadn’t known him long, but she was still confused about what had happened. She considered herself a good reader of people, and Ryan hadn’t seemed calculated.

“What book are you in need of?” Gil asked formally.

“We need a book about a bug or a dragonfly. Let me try searching for one first.” Benny pulled out her phone and typed in gold dragonfly books. That produced no results. Then she tried dragonfly books, and that gave her a list of insect encyclopedias. “I’m not sure any of these are right.”

Gil stood over her shoulder staring at her phone in awe. “It’s like a small genie lives inside that box giving you all the answers.”

“Yes, and that genie is called Google,” said Zara. “Read the riddle again.”

Benny pulled out the paper. “‘There is a story you must find to reveal what I have in mind. This tale, so very apro poe, sheds light on what you soon shall know—the reason I committed my crime, and why we’ve had to bide our time till you could save what once was mine.’”

“Maybe Sparrow isn’t talking about a dragonfly,” Gil suggested. “Maybe the dragonfly was just a tool to lead you to the plaque, and the book is about her ‘crime’?” He scratched his chin. “Not that I could ever imagine Sparrow doing something wrong.”