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

Noelle’s sobbing got louder. We’d been safer in the woods on our own, even with the forest preying on our fears, than we were with the Grimaults. I sat huddled against the wall for a long time, thinking about how hopeless the situation was when I heard the faint sound of snoring.
    “Trent’s asleep,” I whispered.
    “So?” Holly said. “He’s blocking the entrance.”
    She was right, but we couldn’t stay here and wait for whatever it was Morgan was going to do to us. I stared at Trent’s bed, thinking the enchanted forest could actually help us for the first time.
    “Holl, I’ve got a crazy idea.”
    “I’m listening, but I’m warning you I’ve had my fill of crazy in the past few days.”
    “I think we might be able to use the forest to help us get away from Trent.” Holly and Noelle looked at me like I’d completely lost it. “His bed is a bale of hay. Maybe we could make it change into something that’d hold him back long enough for us to run away.”
    “But it’d be blocking the doorway, too,” Holly said. “We’d have to fight our way around it.”
    “It’s worth a try. Trent will use his knife to hack up the hay, and even if we don’t get away, we’ll be right back where we are now. No matter how mad Trent gets, he won’t do anything to us until Morgan wakes up.”
    “I guess, but does that mean we’re going to leave Dad here?” Holly asked.
    “No,” I said without hesitation. “We’re going to search for him. Garret’s supposed to patrol all night for intruders. Maybe Dad’s on patrol, too.”
    “That would explain why he wasn’t in any of the tents,” Holly said.
    “We’ll keep looking for your father, too,” I said to Noelle. “These guys are thieves, and I’ll bet they’re also liars. Who knows if they’ve really met your dad?”
    Noelle looked at me through swollen eyes. “Thanks.”
    I took a deep breath. My plan had the potential to backfire badly, but it was the only thing I could come up with. I chose my words carefully and pointed to Trent’s bed. “Trent’s bed looks like a—” I looked at Holly and silently communicated an apology, “big yellow bear wrapping him in a hug.”
    Immediately, the hay bent and twisted into the form of a large bear. It wrapped its arms around Trent. The bear growled in response to Trent’s snoring, and Trent startled out of his sleep. Holly, Noelle, and I jumped up and ran for the tiny space between the tent door and the bear-hugging duo. I grabbed Trent’s bandana and shoved it in his mouth to keep him from screaming. We burst out of the tent and sprinted into the woods.
    “I hate to say it, but we’re going to have to get back onto one of the paths if we want to find our way through these woods in the dark,” I said.
    “If you want to find your dad, our best chance is to get back on the trail that circles the camp,” Noelle said.
    Holly slowed to a stop. “No way!”
    Noelle and I stopped, too. I couldn’t hear the thieves or the growling bear, so I figured it was safe to take a second to think. “She’s right, Holly. Look, we’re getting the hang of this forest, and we’ve gotten away from the thieves more than once. We can do this. Dad would do it for us. It’s probably why he’s in Braeden Forest in the first place.”
    “Are you sure about that?” Holly asked, crossing her arms. “Can you really forget about how he’s never around anymore? And what about the secrets he’s been keeping? Why would seeing him here make you forgive him all of a sudden?”
    “That’s not what I’m doing. I’m still mad at him. It’s just—” I couldn’t explain how I felt because I didn’t understand it myself. “Let’s not argue. We need to move before the sun comes up and someone sees us.”
    “I think the path is somewhere over there,” Noelle said, pointing to our right.
    We managed to find our way back to the path. After about ten minutes, I began to move more confidently through the forest.
    “Hold