Read Online Curse of the Granville Fortune by Kelly Hashway - Free Book Online

asked.
    “They’re initialed in the bottom right-hand corner.”
    Dad picked up the map Morgan had thrown. “This one has the initials GG. That means it was drawn by…” he looked at the list of names, “Gerard Grimault.”
    “But we already found his map. See, it’s checked off,” Edward said.
    “So, one of the maps with the initials GG is a fake.”
    “You better hope it isn’t the map you brought,” Edward warned. He led my father into one of the tents.
    “Let’s go,” Holly whispered.
    “Dad may be in trouble. Didn’t you hear Edward? The map Dad brought must be a fake. I knew he wasn’t really a thief.”
    “What are you talking about? You saw the look on Dad’s face when Morgan said the map wasn’t the last piece they were looking for. Dad was as surprised as the rest of them.”
    “There must be some explanation we aren’t seeing. I’m not leaving here until I find out what’s really going on!”
    “What do you plan on doing? You can’t storm into those tents and tell Dad to take us home. Those guys would kill you!”
    “I’m not going to talk to Dad or any of those other thieves—”
    “ Other thieves? I thought you said you didn’t believe Dad was a thief?”
    “I don’t. That’s not what I meant!” I balled my hands into fists. “If Morgan thinks Dad’s map is a fake, he might hurt him. I’m not going to let that happen.”
    Holly threw her arms in the air. “You can’t fight a group of armed thieves.”
    “I’m not leaving Dad alone with these guys. If you don’t want to stay and help me, then leave. Find your own way home!” Tears burned my eyes. Noelle stepped away, giving Holly and me some privacy.
    “Do you really want to risk our lives for him? He’s never there for us.”
    She was right. Dad had missed so many important events in our lives. But what about the good times? I had to hold on to those, no matter how angry I was with him.
    “We’ve been focused on Dad, but this isn’t just about him,” I said. “It’s about the curse. We need to end it, with or without Dad’s help.”
    Holly nodded. “You’re right.”
    With or without Dad’s help. Why did I have a feeling it’d be without?

Chapter Eleven
     
    Holly, Noelle, and I were no match for a gang of thieves. Still, I couldn’t sit there and do nothing, so I took a deep breath and tried to gather all the courage I could. Then, I led us through the trees surrounding the camp and started searching for Dad.
    “He’s not in there,” I whispered after peeking into a tent.
    “We saw Dad go in there with Edward. We only turned our backs to the camp for a minute. Where could he have gone?”
    I didn’t get a chance to answer Holly’s question because a heavy hand slammed down hard on my right shoulder. I turned to meet Trent’s evil stare.
    “What do we have here? Garret and Edward said they found two kids wandering around earlier, but it looks like we have another now.” Trent grinned eerily at Noelle.
    “Let go of him,” Holly said. She was trying to sound brave, but her voice was shaky.
    Trent grabbed Holly by her ponytail. “I heard what you did to Garret, so don’t get any ideas about trying to bite me. I’m much stronger than he is.”
    Holly winced as Trent yanked her hair.
    I squirmed, trying to get free, but Trent was even stronger than the others. His muscles were so huge they looked like they were going to burst right through his shirt. What was Morgan feeding these guys? They definitely didn’t get this strong off bread and water.
    “Trent? Is that you?” Garret asked. He yawned as he walked out of his tent.
    “Yeah. I found those two little snoops you were talking about earlier, and they’ve got another one with them now,” Trent said.
    Garret grabbed Noelle’s arm and turned to Holly and me. “Not very bright, are you, stumbling into our camp twice in the same day? You don’t really think you’re clever enough to escape again, do you?”
    “We were clever enough to