Page 39 of The Curse Breaker

Gil pointed to the photo. “That’s also Connie.”

Benny’s heart thudded in her chest, and she leaned back against the doorframe. “They’re all the same person. I knew it. Kimble admitted she’s Grace, but refused to tell me anything else about her. He’s so stubborn!”

“He doesn’t have to. We already know for sure.” Zara pulled her arms into the sleeves of her sweatshirt. “Those pages Evelyn left you mention how Charlotte kept changing her name just like Catherine did to you tonight. She’s Grace. Kimble’s former love and now enemy, I guess, if he’s hunting her down. Though, how hard can it be? He said the treasure doesn’t let them go far, right?”

“No,” Benny admitted. “There must be a reason they’ve left each other be for so long.” Benny bit her lip. “And why the Cs if her name is really Grace?”

“No idea,” Zara said. “Kimble might know though.”

“He searched the beach for her,” Benny told them. “When he didn’t find her, he said I had to leave immediately. I think he was actually nervous.”

“If it’s the Grace O’Malley, I would be too,” Zara said. “He double-crossed her, and she apparently was a fearsome pirate in her own right.”

Gil held up a magazine with a pirate on the cover. “Zara’s grandmother allowed us to read her documents from the bookshelf. This one says Miss O’ Malley was Jonas Kimble’s captain.”

“Didn’t he introduce himself to Evelyn as captain?” Benny asked. “Was he lying?”

“Maybe!” Zara threw her hands up. “They’re pirates! They all lie!”

“And keep reinventing themselves,” Benny decided. “For centuries, Kimble went by Ansel in Greenport, and people thought he was his grandfather. Grace has kept changing her name so no one realizes she’s the same person. They’ve both been trapped here for four hundred years. The only difference is Kimble seems miserable, while Grace went off and became a movie star.”

“For the TV?” Gil asked, catching on. He looked at it lovingly in Zara’s living room.

“She clearly likes immortality,” Zara decided. “You read what she said to Evelyn. She’s after the treasure so she can live forever and be rich.” She dragged Benny away from the door and took her into the living room. Books were open on the coffee table, and Zara had been making notes. “My dad told me Kimble and Grace were sent on a quest to find a fountain of youth that could save Lady Adrienne’s life. She was their pirate queen and was very sick. She had a map that could lead them to a mythical treasure called Tesouro Eterno. It was said the island only appeared before a Blood Orange Moon. Adrienne had gotten coordinates about where the island would appear.”

“How?” Benny wondered.

“No idea,” said Zara, “but my dad said legend has it once they sailed across the sea to find Tesouro Eterno, they were supposed to alert Adrienne that they found it so she could come snag the treasure and get well.” Zara shook her head. “But that never happened. Grace and Kimble never sent word, and Lady Adrienne died in sixteen twenty-six.”

“A tragic tale,” Gil jumped. “Though, I would suppose getting word to someone in the Caribbean, say, would be hard to do in the sixteen hundreds. When my aunt and uncle sent word to Europe about me, it took months. In the sixteen hundreds, I would think word would take longer.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t seem like a great system,” Zara admitted. “Why didn’t Adrienne go with them to find the treasure?”

“Maybe she was too sick?” Benny guessed. “And if Lady Adrienne was that sick, then it seems like it would be an impossible job to get the treasure to her in time anyway when they found it.” Benny started to pace. “I bet Grace and Kimble had no idea once they stole the treasure, they couldn’t sail back with it. They couldn’t have gotten her the treasure if they wanted to. Maybe that’s when they fought over what to do with the treasure they had.”

“My dad is going to do some more digging on Lady Adrienne for us. He says there’s not much on Kimble and O’Malley. Legend has it the treasure was cursed and their ship went down at sea looking for it.” Zara smirked. “I so wanted to tell him that part wasn’t true, but I know we can’t say anything.”

“No, the fewer people we tell, the better,” Benny said as a gust of wind rattled the thin porch windows. “You know, Ryan said something weird to me earlier too. That his mom thought she could get on the island before the Blood Orange Moon. That someone told her it was possible. What if the Rudds are working with Grace? What if they’ve always been working with Grace and the Rudds have been after Evelyn’s inheritance this whole time?” She glanced out the front windows at the darkened street, half expecting Grace to be out there watching her. The street was wet, damp, and empty.

“If that’s true, wouldn’t Evelyn know? And if she knew, why would her inheritance be left to the Rudds if you can’t find the island in time?”

“I don’t know,” Benny said miserably. “That part made no sense at all.”

Zara placed her hands on Benny’s shoulders. “Let’s get some sleep and talk about this in the morning.” Benny exhaled. Sleep sounded good. “Deal.”

Zara led the way up the stairs. “Gil’s in my dad’s old room, so you can bunk with me.”

“The bed is wondrous,” Gil gushed. “And the room has a TV!”

“Do not watch movies all night,” Zara instructed as he turned to his door. “We need you fresh-faced for tomorrow.” She handed Benny a blanket.

“Good night to you both,” Gil said politely and turned in.

“We don’t have to go to bed right away,” Zara whispered as they headed into her room. “If you’re all worked up, we can eat nachos and prank call Ryan in the middle of the night.” She grinned wickedly. “That’s what sleepovers are for.”

Benny had never been to a sleepover. Before she and her mom started moving around, she’d been too young to have one. And after, she wasn’t anywhere long enough to be invited to a sleepover. Her mom had said yes tonight right away. (Go! Have fun! Just remember Peter is calling to check in tomorrow morning.)

Peter. Her lawyer. Her stomach swayed like the whitecaps she could see from her bedroom window in a storm.