Chapter 10- X Marks the Spot!

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Humphrey was careful to follow the woman's instructions. He took a left, though very curious as to what the right led to. He reached the bridge that stretched across a beautiful pond, and continued to travel, now strutting with his head held high and a spring in his step.

His head held so high, in fact, that the first thing he saw of Aspen Forest was the tree-tops. The branches wove in and out of each other, forming a lovely knit canopy. The leaves were vibrant green, bursting with energy and scattered all over the forest floor.

Instead of a bed of pine-needles, it was decorated with countless yellow buds of flowers, all warm and soft and inviting Humphrey to jump into them like a leaf pile during the fall. Humphrey was sure that if he did jump into them, they would catch him with their delicate petals and lift him back into the air. The trees had white, beautiful trunks and were arranged in no particular order, yet they were absolutely perfect to Humphrey.

Partner gave in to the idea without a second thought. He immediately sprinted into the forest, rolling around in the flowers and snapping at the butterflies. As tempting as that was to Humphrey, he knew that there was enough time to find the treasure before the sun set.

For the first time, the map came in handy. Humphrey located the entrance of the forest, and determined which way would lead them to the 'X'.

"C'mon, Partner!" Humphrey shouted with a whistle that echoed out into the void.

Partner, though very hesitant, obeyed, and galloped after Humphrey.

They ventured into the beautiful forest, taking a series of lefts and rights, twists and turns, reverses and backwards tracing.

When they became hungry, they sat down and ate some squirrels, only having enough patience to set off minutes afterward. They continued, their only motivation through the physical pain was the prize.

Humphrey looked up from the map. The 'X' matched up to where he was standing, except for nothing was there. No rock, no treasure, no nothing. Could the rock have been removed? Could they have gone the wrong way? Could someone have gotten to it before he did? Humphrey pondered over the situation for a while, in severe frustration. He had come all this way for nothing.

On top of that, dirt was being pelted towards him. Through the mess, he saw Partner clawing the ground, sending dirt in between his hind legs.

"What is it, boy?" He asked, walking in Partner's direction.

He peered over at the hole. It was a mixture of mud worms, and dirt, but peeking up at him was the corner of a wooden piece, unmistakably the treasure that they had been searching for all along.

Partner continued to dig like it was no big deal, but Humphrey was overwhelmed with shock, excitement, and disbelief. He quickly joined in with Partner, digging around the object until he could finally heave the chest out of the hole.

It was much heavier than he had expected, and took a great amount of effort to haul it out of the pit. Once it was finally on the ground, Humphrey examined it. It was wooden all around except for silver siding and decorations. On the front, it had the inscription 'Charles Patrick Walter'.

Humphrey's hands fumbled with the padlock. He could hardly breathe, he was so anxious.

...

HEY YA'LL!  How has your weekend been so far?  I'm too tired to type a lot because for the past hour I have been writing my new story: Severus and the Squid!  If you are interested in Harry Potter FanFiction, this is for you!  It is is a snily otp, but also has a little jily in it.  In addition, I know it sounds kind of wierd BUT IT WORKS, I am also pairing Severus and the giant squid briefly, hence the name.  Check it out once my first chapter is up!  Until then,

-Gean Parkins

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