Ghosts ⚔️ Blackbeard's Treasure

Chapter 27

"It's been excavated," I exclaim. There's scuffling in the dark as Jack steps out of the shadows. He walks forward into the beams of our head lamps. "Jack! What are you doing in these tunnels?" I sneeze as the dirt he has stirred up enters my nostrils. Behind him, I see how he entered the cavern. There's a crumbling hole where pneumatic equipment must have broken through the opposite wall. That must have been the noise Paco complained about hearing during the last few weeks. While his crew was working on the lot next door, he was down here secretly searching the tunnel system.

"I found this bell a week ago." He kicks it with his boot. I cover my eyes with my hand as his flashlight shines into our eyes, temporarily blinding us.

My headlamp illuminates the bleached bones of a delicate skeleton that's been thrown into a corner. "Oh my God, you unearthed Delamar?"

Blair whispers in my ear, "He really is the devil."

"Quiet, witch. I'll deal with you, later." His eyes glitter in the dark with an unnatural light. "There was no treasure under her, or the bell. It should be right here." His flashlight points to the sandy floor. I want to know what you're both searching for with my tritone bells."

"Maybe someone else found the treasure already." I have to buy time. Blair and I can't both both escape through the narrow tunnel. He would shoot us like fish in a barrel.

"That's not what Nathan told me before he died."

"You monster—you killed him."  I can't stop my voice from shaking.

"Obviously, something went wrong and you had to silence him." Blair takes a step forward. "This ancient curse," she points to the skeleton and the bell, "this was personal. Mary Ormond didn't do this by herself. Maybe Blackbeard wasn't willing to deal with you, but she was."

Jack spreads his hands, benevolently. "Vengeance opens the heart to evil. She was a scorned woman and pride goeth before a great fall." The demon's eyes shine like burning coals. Jack throws down two shovels. "You're a clever witch. Now both of you start digging."

My blood runs cold. I'm not digging my own grave.

As if he can read my mind, he points to the smooth section of the floor with the muzzle of his gun, indicating where we should dig.

I grab a shovel, hoping to buy time. "Dylan and Rolan are back at the entrance. They're going to call the police once they realize what's happening."

He laughs. "How convenient. They can arrest your boyfriend when they arrive, since I framed him for Nathan's murder. They'll find all the evidence they need inside the U.S.S. Constitution." I grit my teeth, remembering Dylan's visit to the historical ship while Blair and I met with Roy.

"You bastard!"

"Pray those two don't follow you down here. Otherwise, precious little Delamar will have three bodies to keep her company." He grins, his mouth stretching impossibly wide. "The witch I'll keep to do my bidding." I imagine this vile creature defiling Delamar's tomb and flinging her bones aside like flotsam and jetsam. She was lovingly laid to rest here, either by Blackbeard or his fellow Pirate Gruchy.

Blair raises her chin. "I understand what happened. Mary cursed the ship's bells as revenge against Blackbeard. She didn't place a hex on his innocent daughter. That was you. She accidentally opened some underground annex to hell."

"I point at Jack. Whatever you are, you were behind the soul entrapment, not Mary Ormond."

"Blackbeard wouldn't give me his soul. He also wouldn't leave this plane without his bastard daughter. That's why the weak mortal's earthbound. I knew he loved Delamar more than his treasure."

"Devil possessed or not, you're still flesh and blood." Screaming like the Hobbit, I slash his wrist with the shovel's blade. The rapport of a bullet sounds. The large church bell makes a dull gong as the bullet ricochets off its side and onto the carvern's wall. Jack's head snaps back as his temple stops the bullet. He crumples into a heap on the floor.

Dylan and Roland start yelling. I hear scrambling as they both try to fit down the shaft.

Dazed, I sit up. Delamar's withered bones are scattered over sandy floor. I must have fallen on her remains and scattered her skeleton apart. I'm sorry, Delamar. The scent of roses fill the cavern.

Blair's headlamp is dead. I panic not knowing where she is. "Lizzy!" She steps into my headlamp beam and points to the apparition of young girl in a satiny pink, baroque dress, with wide sleeves hovering next to me.