The Ruby Hunt

The price of freedom

They kept walking deeper into the cave, the light getting dimmer with each step until—
"That's a dead end!" bellowed Rose, trying to find something behind it.
"Great! Now we came all the way inside this dirty, creepy place just to find a dead end!" uttered Peter, looking around in fear.
"Enter the cave, we said. There'll be treasure, we said. That's pathetic; this whole thing is pathetic," she said with disappointment.
Oliver went next to Rose to examine the back of the cave too. "There must be something here; I mean, where else would the treasure be?" insisted Oliver, looking extra hard for something.
"Aha! That's it—a keyhole! There must be something behind the wall!" cheered Rose, pointing to the keyhole.
"But where is that key?" Fletcher asked, getting closer to them.
"I... don't know," mumbled Rose, backing away from the wall.
"Did we miss something? Should we have found a key on the way?" wondered Oliver, still looking around.
Eddie stood to the side, his fingers deftly flicking his yoyo up and down, the rhythmic motion calming his nerves as the others bickered about the dead end.
“Seriously, Eddie, it’s not the time,” Oliver snapped, his eyes still scanning the walls for any hidden clues.
“But I play with it when I’m anxious!” Eddie replied, his focus still on the yoyo.
“Just leave it!” Rose agreed with Oliver, exasperation creeping into her voice.
“No, I want it!” he shot back, gripping it tighter.
“Leave it!” Oliver said again, frustration boiling over.
“I. Want. It!” Eddie countered, tugging on the yoyo as Oliver tried to snatch it away.
In the chaos of their tug-of-war, the yoyo slipped from their grasp, falling to the ground with a loud crack. The casing shattered, and as it broke apart, something small and metallic clattered to the cave floor.
Everyone froze, staring at the glinting object. Eddie knelt down, his eyes wide with surprise. “What the…?”
Rose leaned closer, her irritation forgotten. “Is that... a key?”
The others joined Rose, Oliver and Eddie kneeling beside the yoyo.
"Isn't that the yoyo you found at the cottage, Eddie?!" asked Peter, turning his gaze to Eddie.
"Y-yeah, but still, how did this key come here?!" wondered Eddie, picking up the key and examining it.
"Show me!" demanded Jade, snatching it from Eddie's hand and looking at it herself. "Are you... thinking what I'm thinking?!" Jade uttered with a knowing smirk on her face.
Then Fletcher took the key from her hand and quickly sprinted to the back wall, trying the key in the keyhole. Suddenly—
It clicked.
Everyone cheered, picking up their bags and torches, then hurrying next to Fletcher. He tried to push the door, but it was very heavy.
"Come on, kids! Everyone with me!" he ordered as the kids started pushing with all their might.
"One, two, three, go!"
Push!
"One, two, three, go!"
Push!
Finally, after a few minutes of hard pushing, they heard a scraping noise as the door slowly creaked open. A warm, golden light spilled out, illuminating their faces as the door swung wider. As their eyes adjusted, they were met with a dazzling sight—the shiny particles of gold they had worked so hard to uncover.
Without hesitation, everyone dashed toward the mountain of gold, eagerly grabbing pieces and stuffing them into pockets and bags. Jade and Rose, unable to resist the allure, adorned themselves with glittering jewelry, marveling at their reflections in the gleaming gold.
Fletcher, meanwhile, tugged at a heavy bag filled with treasures, a wide grin plastered on his face. “I can’t believe this is happening! Just think, if we even get 10% of this, we’re talking nearly a million dollars!” Rose exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as she played with her newfound riches.
Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted. A shadow fell over them as a chilling voice cut through the excitement. “Uh uh uhhh… Ya ain't takin' any of these!”
Everyone froze, their hearts pounding in their chests as they turned to see Aradia Hill.
But... where's Captain Godfrey?!
"Boys, get 'em and give 'em their ol' lady!" bellowed Hill as the pirates started grabbing everyone by their arms and pulling them to the shore after taking the gold they had on them first. But they were grabbing Wilson too—why?? What did she do? Did they fight? Clearly, someone owed them an explanation, but who?
"Edna, are you okay?!" asked Fletcher, his voice full of worry and concern. But why? Wasn't she the one who betrayed them and told the pirates about them? Now what happened? The kids didn't understand a thing, so they just kept silent, trying to free themselves from the pirates' hands, but it was impossible.
Soon, the pirates tied each and every one of them to a tree, leaving them in the hot sun, melting.
Everyone tried to get themselves out of the tying situation but failed after minutes of groaning and yelling.
"This is useless; we need a sharp object," complained Rose, still shifting in her place to get free.
"Since... when was Mrs. Wilson with us?!" wondered Oliver after staying silent for a while.
"Since the beginning, dear!" cheered Mrs. Wilson, giving the warm-hearted smile they used to love but now didn't trust. Everyone gave a confused look at both Fletcher and Mrs. Wilson.
"Remember when I told you I’d take a look around her phone again?" Fletcher began, while they were eager to listen to his explanation. Some pirates came holding a box each, then threw it onto their ship; they knew for a fact what was happening at this point.
"I left a message in my notes saying that I had edited the journal and led them to it, then took pictures of the original one and left my phone unlocked for you to find. I knew I couldn't refuse their offer because they would, for a fact, hurt us all. So I made them think I was with them, and I also made you think so too, so they’d believe it more. But when they figured out what I had done—well, here I am," explained Mrs. Wilson with a calm voice.
All the kids stared blankly at her words, probably not understanding a word.
"Edna's with us; that's all you need to know. Now we need to find a way to get out of here; they have our bags and gear. Does anyone have an idea?" demanded Fletcher after their weird silence.
"I... have a small dagger in my right pocket. Can you reach it, Oliver?" asked Jade.
"Why would you—fine, I’ll try," he agreed, trying to reach with his back hand to Jade's right pocket.
He reached it! Then he tried to cut Jade's rope first.
"Done! Done!" he cheered after cutting her rope, and she started stretching her hands before grabbing her small dagger and beginning to untie everyone.
"Come on now, everyone head to the ship; we have to get out of here!" ordered Fletcher, walking toward his ship
"Wait, seriously?! We're just gonna leave like that?! All that for... this?!" argued Eddie, stopping in his tracks.
"Yes now let’s go!" demanded Fletcher, irritation in his voice.

"No Eddie's right" stopped Oliver too. "I can call my dad to came here, and at this rate the pirates will finish after at least five hours." offered oliver trying to convince Fletcher and probably only Fletcher as everyone was staying with him.
Fletcher kept looking around at the kids, Edna and the island it self. "Well what are you waiting for, signal your dad quickly" he ordered. Oliver quickly got a strange looking walkie talkie and pressed a red button on it then they all quickly ran to their tying spot as they heard the pirates come for the second time to load their gold.
                      ●○       ●○       ●○
Time passed, though they couldn’t tell how much—definitely longer than expected. Soon, they spotted a few warplanes flying overhead, and that’s when they realized it was Oliver’s dad. If he had arrived this quickly, it must have been an emergency button. The pirates hadn’t even come for their sixth round yet.
As the planes landed, they rushed toward them, eager to share everything that had happened. However, Oliver’s dad seemed surprisingly unfazed by their tale of treasure hunting. His focus was solely on catching the pirates, the ones responsible for hurting his son.
Soon some soliders came back holding pirates and shoving them into the war planes and doing other important steps but they didnt watch it all his dad told Fletcher to take the kids and the old lady back to the borders.
They saw every pirate getting taken away then finally it was Hills turn.
"Bye bye braid head!" teased Jade waving her hand enthusiastically then blowing her a kiss. "Now, who wants pizza!?! On Peter"
"wh..what!?"