ANOTHER CLUE
-Dis/Claimer- x x x Also, before you read this chapter, you may want to read a little background on the Oak Island mystery. This sitecovers it all, and you will absolutely be intrigued after reading to learn more! Great site with all you’d want to know. x x x . Chapter Nineteen . Oak Island is a 140-acre island off the coast of Nova Scotia, and it is one of 360 small islands in Mahone Bay. It is so close to the shore that a construction bridge has been built from Nova Scotia to Oak Island for excavation on the Money Pit, but Riley was not so lucky to simply cross the land bridge and walk up to the Pit with his friends. To play it safe, Ian had them board a small fisherman’s boat about ten miles down the coast around ten that night, and they would come to the island in that fashion. For the past nineteen hours, he had been a restless jumble of nerves with an anxious twisting in his stomach. He still was as he paced around the top deck of the ship in the cold North Atlantic wind, waiting for their destination to present itself. He was fighting with himself. He was trying to win. He was losing. All day long: Carolyn. He fought to believe that she never really became his friend, his someone during the passed few days, but his conscious just egged him on every time he thought it. Of course it felt real, but what did he know? Everything had conveniently deteriorated in a matter of seconds the morning before, and he still felt tired, laggy, and drained. He hated her still for being so pretty, for being so persistent, for being so stubborn because she wouldn’t – leave him – alone… Riley leaned over the side of the top deck looking down at the lower one, eyes right above a silent, undisturbed Carolyn staring out at the cold water. All day long: he had to talk to her unless he wanted to go crazy. He stalled as long as possible, but it was too hard to now; he at least had to say something sarcastic to her. He knew Ben was more than likely right about her situation (like he always was), but he was in denial and openly admitted it to himself. He could be just as stubborn. He’d show her… The wind remained steady as his boots clunked heavily down the metal stairs, and Carolyn kept her eyes on the dark water despite the uneasiness suddenly creeping up her spine. Riley eventually appeared out of the corner of her eye and came closer, leaning against the wall of the ship beside her. Her heart pounded with guilt as his gloved hands clasped together over the ships edge. She braced herself; his silence was painstaking. “So…” She closed her eyes and sighed silently through her nose as if he had finally stabbed her and released her from her discomfort. She opened them slowly as he continued. “Where did ‘Fairholm’ come from?” he asked with a bitterness she had expected and deserved. “Did you get it out of the phonebook or something?” “It was my mother’s maiden name,” she confessed quietly, looking down at her folded arms. Riley nodded with an apparent scorn. He expected something more creative from a lawless mastermind, but his Ben Logic (as he had come to call it over these years) told him it was a nice personal touch. He blinked angrily, wanting to know more. From beside him, he could almost feel her insides contract violently. He was a little surprised but proud of the effect he had on her at that moment. “You don’t paint, either, do you?” Carolyn heard a hint of disappointment present in his tone and sighed. “Yes,” she said. “I do. I’ve loved to paint since I was fifteen.” “Oh,” he said, the bite ever-present in his voice. “Make a few innocent bucks on the side then, huh?” She was stung by the comment, but he was suddenly flustered. “Aside from… breaking people out of federal prison…” Her stomach dropped, and tears came to her eyes. He was picking out all of her flaws, though she supposed he should thank him since it needed to be done. Instead, she heaved a tearful sigh, slightly turning her head towards him. “Riley-“ He stood and went to take off before she could make eye contact and ruin his assault on her emotions. To her own surprise, she caught the sleeve of his coat with a strong grip. Riley looked back at her as her own eyes became angry. “I tried to tell you,” she said, her voice wavering although she was trying to make her point in a low, meaningful tone. Riley just looked at her a moment. His Logic: She did not. She lied. Lied about everything. She deserves everything unfortunate possible to happen to her. She deserves every single bit of it! Ben Logic: Yes. She did. She was double-crossed by Ian and was almost killed by him. Maybe in other ways than just words she tried to tell you… His mind drifted to the unread note she had given to him that night at Patrick’s house, but he pushed it out of his mind, determined to ignore it as long as possible. Why the hell was he listening to his Ben Logic? This was his problem… Because Ben was usually right… about everything… Riley looked down through her eyes, not sure what he was seeing. She had tried to tell him. He couldn’t ignore the fact. Sadly, almost regrettably, he nodded and whispered hoarsely, “I know.” His bull-headed self refused him to stay and make amends by forgetting their situation for a moment just to lean down and kiss her like he was so tempted to do. Riley turned around and jerked his arm out of her grasp before walking away briskly, mind ablaze. He knew she had tried to tell him, but she still lied. Why did she have to break him in two like this over a lie? Carolyn slowly recoiled her hand as he left, certain she would never receive an inkling of forgiveness from him. He headed downstairs into the boat, but her eyes still followed him mournfully. The horn suddenly sounded above her, and she looked out over the water, making out a horizon littered with trees and several cranes. They were here. x x x Riley kept his fast walking pace all the way down into the boat until he came to his cabin. He burst inside, looked around for a second, and lunged forward at his pile of discarded clothes on the floor he hand changed out of a few hours ago. He shook out his casserole-stained jeans wildly, shoving his hands into the deep pockets. Nothing. Where was the note?! He had it! He knew he did! He had to know what it said… He picked up his blue and white button-down shirt with the vertical stripes and shook it so hard the stripes could have fallen off. No, it wasn’t rolled up in the shirt anywhere. He threw it to the side with his pants in frustration before grabbing his hair and groaning. “Where are you?” he said, spinning around quickly. He then saw his dark blue suit jacket hanging on the edge of the bed and seized it, shaking it out as well. A few pieces of dried casserole flew off in the process. Finally, he began shoving his hands into the pockets. Nothing in the inside pockets… Or the left side… “Hey, Riley, we need to go fit our equipment,” Ben said, suddenly appearing in the room and going through his duffle bag. Riley’s heart skipped somewhat as he touched the crisp folded paper in his right pocket that had been untouched since she gave it to him. He swallowed a reoccurring lump and slowly pulled it out, looking it over in a stupor. He was almost afraid to read it for the fact that his Ben Logic would be right. “Riley, Ian needs us down in the-“ Ben stopped, turning and seeing Riley’s gaze on the tiny folded paper. He brow furrowed. “What’s that?” Riley’s breath caught a moment, but he swallowed it away again. “I think I know what it is, but I’m not sure if I want to,” he replied monotone. His dry eyes looked over at Ben. “Maybe you were right,” he admitted quietly. Ben immediately knew what he had meant and sighed as his friend looked at the floor. He was glad at least something was beginning to register with Riley about her being a victim as much as they, but he seemed to be taking a hit with accepting the fact. Ben smiled lightly despite it, though. At least he was getting to him. At least Riley was slowly realizing that he was wrong. “Riley,” - Ben took the note from his hand and stuffed it in the pocket inside his coat as Riley took in a deep breath – “time to go.” Riley finally nodded, and Ben was happy to at least get that much out of him. He clapped him on the back with a smile. “Good. Let’s go.” x x x “She stays.” “She goes.” “God damn it, Ian! She’s not coming!” Ben said, beating his fist off the wall of the ship. Riley and Carolyn looked up from farther down on the deck, both loading up harnesses with supplies (at the command of Walt; otherwise they would be at opposite ends of the ship from each other). Ian’s men were quite calm at Ben’s outburst, and Ian outright laughed at him. An angry surge in Ben lashed out as he shoved Ian threateningly. “Abigail is staying on this boat,” Ben said dangerously, officially fed up with Ian having total control over every situation. “You’ve dragged her along for almost a week now, quite unnecessarily I might add, and I am not going to let you hurt her or my kid. She has no reason in going anyway. In fact, she’d probably just delay the process of you getting to your treasure. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want that.” Ian rocking back and forth on his feet a moment, looking over at Abigail and Patrick. They both threw him dark glares. He considered bringing her for the fact that she would deserve it, but slowing down his gain of treasure? The weight of that was unsurpassable. Ben was right; she would be more of a hurt than a help in the end. Besides, contrary to popular belief, he had something or the other of a heart. Ian nodded. “Fine. She stays. But you’re father will join us. Carl.” The balding man went to take Abigail away, but she threw him off as Ben ran over to her. Her head was shaking, and her eyes were pleading. “I don’t want to stay here,” she said quietly. “There’s nowhere else to go,” Ben said regrettably. “And I don’t want you to come. I promise, I’ll be back.” “Ben-“ “Listen, you’re not allowed to go into labor til I get back,” he said, putting a small smile on her face. “We’ll save that for when all this is done. I want to be here when Ben Jr. is born.” Her smile grew a little more accompanied by a nod. “Okay,” she said softly, not having the heart to argue over their baby’s name instead of its life. “I won’t go anywhere.” “Good. Cause if you do, I’m going to kill Ian.” He kissed her quickly as the gangplank lowered and Ian began shouting for him. “I gotta go. Make sure they let you have whatever you want!” he called back to her. “Come on, Riley.” “Just a second!” Abigail laughed as Riley came running up to her, taking her hand as he panted. “If… I don’t come out… tell Charlie… to take care of Bill.” She laughed more freely, thinking of the Egyptian statue in his room he had claimed from the Templar treasure in New York. ‘The big bluish-green man with a strange-looking goatee.’ “I won’t have to,” she assured him with a lingering smile. “Yeah, but you know,” Riley shrugged, “just in case.” Abigail nodded with immense fondness and understanding as he suddenly dashed away. She wanted so badly to go. She could go. She should go. She- “Ah! Ahh…” The others wheeled around, eyes going wide (even Ian). “What?” Ben bounded over to her with Riley in the follow. “What?! Is it a contraction? I though we were saving this until afterwards?!” Abigail opened her eyes, hissing out her breath. “It’s okay. Just a… good kick…” Ben heaved a great sigh, rubbing his forehead. Riley rolled his eyes. “Don’t do that again,” he moaned in exhaustion. “Well… I can’t exactly… help it sometimes…” Abigail said. “All right, I want her downstairs under a nice warm blanket with as many pillows and ridiculous foods she demands now,” Ben said, pointing at Carl. “If she wants a coconut with a little blue umbrella, she gets a coconut with a little blue umbrella. Am I clear?” Carl gave him a scorn. “And what if it’s not blue?” he asked sarcastically. “You better hope to God it’s blue…” “Ben!” “What?!” Ian took a step back in surprise as Ben whipped around at him. “No need to have a short fuse, Ben,” Ian said. He held up a harness. “Are you ready to go now?” x x x Their entire surroundings were cold. The white stars contrasted with the charcoal sky and black trees, and the wind only swirled them all together for a painful blast of cold right below the eyes. Riley covered his face more with his hands as they walked toward the Money Pit, jingling, jangling, and clinking with every step their party of seven took collectively. Carolyn was walking right in front of him, scanning the ground with a small maglite steadily despite the increasing winds. He looked down at his feet as he kept walking, but the note inside his coat was burning at him under his layers. It was heavy. It was hurting. It wasn’t going away until he ripped his glove off, dug his hand inside, and read it – and he was about to do it. Until Ben grabbed the hood of his parka. Riley gagged, backing up immediately. When Ben let go, he rubbed his throat and threw Ben a look. “What gives?” he asked. “Did you want to walk right into the giant hole in the ground?” Riley looked down at the dark black circle before him, taking a few cautionary steps back. He was taken aback by its size. “That’s one big hole,” he said, craning his neck a little. “And it doesn’t even go to China,” Ian mused humorously, clipping a series of cords and straps to the front of his harness. He took a secure line from Fischer and slowly backed down into the Money Pit, turning on his helmet light as he looked up at Ben, Riley, and Patrick. “Hurry along now.” Eventually, as Ian disappeared over the edge and began to descend, Ben and Riley assisted one another in securing their harnesses for the 230-foot trip downward. Ben even had his diving gear, certain he might need it at some point. Soon, all of them were rappelling down the muddy clay walls of the famous Money Pit at a snail’s pace, carefully examining all the way down. Well, maybe not Riley. He was way too concerned with the fact that he couldn’t see the bottom of the Pit. What was even better, he remembered the last things found on record were three treasure chests, crude tools, a dead body, and a severed hand. He cringed at the thought of falling in the water where a body had been decaying for god-only-knows-how-long. He turned back to the wall feeling contaminated at the thought. From beside him, Carolyn was making skilled moves down the shaft, placing her footing carefully and firmly all at once. He looked over feeling like an amateur, even though this was apparently her first time doing this, too. Then, to his surprise, she suddenly slipped. “Carolyn!” He grabbed her, pressing her against the wall as she clung to the rope and repositioned her feet. The two of them looked down, listening to the rocks and clay fall soundlessly and then splash into an unknown amount of water two hundred feet below. Carolyn closed her eyes, letting out a sigh as Riley eased away from her. “You okay?” Ben asked her from across the circular wall. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said reflexively, stabilizing her footing so she could continue down. Ian huffed out a laugh with Walt. “Easy does it, Carrie,” Walt chided. “Don’t want to fall down in the big dark hole.” Carolyn’s heated gaze was wasted in the dark, so she turned back towards the leaky mud and clay, starting to lower more into the Pit again. After a few steps, however, she noticed a steady stream of light on her face and looked up at Riley. She allowed the smallest of grim smiles before muttering, “Thanks.” Riley looked back at the wall inches from his face. A sudden burst of desire pulsed through him, warming his skin in a feverish sort of way. He exhaled quietly. “Your welcome,” he whispered to the wall. Slowly but surely, foot after foot, the circle of charcoal sky above their heads shrunk. Ben told them every so often where in the Money Pit they were – from sea level, to where the coconut fibers were found, to the inscribed stone that kept the dig alive. Patrick was amazed – he had survived the first 110 feet of their expedition. He looked up and then down, still no closer to seeing the bottom than he was at the top. Shakily, he went to move his foot lower on the side of the Money Pit, but he felt air. Nothing was there. The wall was gone. “Ah!” “What is it?” Ian asked, looking over at Ben’s father. “I don’t have any wall right here…” All the heads turned in Patrick’s direction, revealing a giant gaping hole in the side of the shaft. Riley and Carolyn planted their feet as they stared at it’s vastness. Carolyn began to feel uneasy. “It’s Smith’s Cove’s flood tunnel,” Ben said with a growing smile. “It’s huge,” Carolyn said pointedly. “What if that collapses? We wouldn’t get out.” “Especially if it decides to flood again,” Ben said, regarding it’s danger in his gaze now. “It hasn’t flooded for years, but it is still highly unstable.” “We keep going,” Ian immediately said, thinking Ben might try to call it off. “I know,” his rival replied irritably, sharper than what Ian would have expected. “I’m just saying that it’s unstable and you probably will die. Is that okay with you? No, you know what? I don’t care,” Ben said before Ian could answer. “Let’s go.” Blind with anger, Ben took another step lower, only to have his foot slip into a very muddy portion of the shaft. In a state of unbalance, he lost control of his footing entirely and began to fall. “AHH!” “BEN!!” His harness began whizzing down the cord at an unbelievable rate, and his stomach was plummeting with it. All of the voices above him echoed his name loudly, though the reverberations were getting weaker around him. Wind was rushing up from below him as he dropped. Ben tried to grab the cable, but his velocity ultimately ended up slicing his palms, issuing another scream of pain. He was hurtling toward the bottom of the shaft faster than he could think. “BEN!! BEN!!” Riley’s heart pounded as he stared into the blackness that had swallowed his friend. He continued shouting for him while frantically trying to look through the darkness beyond the light his helmet provided, eyes wide with fear. “BEEEEEEEEEN!!” A splash. Riley’s heart stopped in half a second. His breath hitched in his throat, the distance between him and the sound of the splash too far for anyone to survive. Carolyn stole a glance over at him as his chest began to heave with fear. “BEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!” Nothing came but a cold, empty echo. Riley shook his head in denial. No. He can’t be dead. What about the treasure? What about us? What about Abigail?! “What about Abigail?!” he suddenly cried out to everyone’s shock. His voice went hoarse. Carolyn began to feel her throat tighten. “What about your wife and kids, Ben?! Huh?! WHAT ABOUT THEM?!” “Riley…” He panted from his screaming, a feeling of defeat beginning to break him down. He looked over at Carolyn, and her solemn eyes only penetrated him more. He put up a defense and looked away, peering back down in the Pit desperately. He wasn’t willing to accept that Ben was gone that fast. He just wasn’t. “Ben… just say something…” he whined pathetically to the darkness. When there was still no sound, Riley became angry and turned to face the wall. If Ben wasn’t going to answer, he was going down to get him, and- The sound of water sloshing against the walls lightly caught his delicate ear. He spun around, looking down again as a surge of a splash rose up the Pit followed by a deep gasp for air. His eyes doubled dramatically as a smile worked onto his face rigidly. “BEN! BEN, WE’RE COMING!” Riley said, already moving down the wall at twice his earlier speed. “We’re coming! Hang on!” Ben coughed continuously as he pulled himself onto a boulder jutting out of the wall (that he had somehow miraculously missed during his fall). In the unknown depths of the water he had just emerged from sank his harness, slowly gravitating down through the dark pool. Ben shivered violently as he sat soaked in frigid water on the rock, waiting for the others to come down. Aside from warding off thoughts of hypothermia, Ben looked around, trying to wring out his dripping clothes the best he could given the shivering that racked his body. Riley, Ian, and the others called down to him every so often to make sure he was still there. “Ben!” Suddenly, in the dim light, he saw another hole in the side of the shaft. He thought it was another flood tunnel. “What?” he called back distractedly, taking a step closer to the hole next to his rock. “Are you hurt?” The tunnel was small. He chanced a look inside, and to his bewilderment, the tunnel went down instead of up. At this, he leaned inside of it, seeing that the bottom of it was roughly lined with rocks. It seemed too civilized to be just a flood tunnel. “Ben!” “I’m fine!” I yelled back with some annoyance. “I think I found something.” Suddenly, Ian landed on the rock right next to Ben, startling him. “What did you find?” “This tunnel,” he explained as the rest of them began to arrive at the bottom of the Pit with him. “It goes down, below this water line.” “Wouldn’t there just be more water?” Carolyn asked. “I’m not sure. That’s why we’re sending in someone with a light to investig-“ Splash. Carolyn stepped back as a rock fell inches in front of her face and dropped sharply into the pool. They all looked up, a few more rocks falling. A small one hit Walt’s helmet before a shower of them began to fall. Riley pressed Carolyn back against the wall as more and more fell, a rumbling growing around them. “It’s the flood tunnel!” Ben shouted. “Hurry! Get in there!” He pushed Fischer towards the tunnel he had just discovered, followed by Ian. “Won’t we be trapped?!” Ian yelled. Ben grabbed a stick of dynamite and lighter from Ian’s harness, earning a confused look from the man. “Go back in as far as you can! Don’t stop! Go, Riley!” Riley pushed Carolyn in front of him, and he scrambled into the tunnel right after her. Ben waited for his father and Walt to go in as the rumbling within the walls of the shaft became deafening, rocks falling in steady amounts now. When there was enough room, Ben dived into the tunnel with the rest of them. “How much farther can you go?!” he bellowed. Someone said something, but he couldn’t hear it. Finally, Fisher turned around and said, “The tunnel gets a lot wider.” “Then keep going! Go!” As the others left, Ben saw water start to fall in front of the tunnel they were in. It was coming. They were going to drown, but only if he didn’t have anything to do with it. He held up the lighter, bringing the wick of the dynamite to the tiny flame. It caught, a fast spark running towards the explosive core. Ben gave a smile before tossing it out of the tunnel and onto the rock they had just occupied and scrambling back into the tunnel as far as he could before it detonated. He looked back, seeing that he had successfully sealed off the entrance to the tunnel. With a sigh of relief, he kept crawling, now wondering how they would ever get out. Eventually, as Fischer had said, the tunnel got bigger. Ben could soon crouch and then full stand as he came to the company of his group again, standing in a loose circle. He looked around as he joined them, seeing that they had found a small cavern. “What did you do?” Riley asked him as he came to them. “I saved us all from drowning and dying horrible deaths,” Ben replied somewhat sarcastically. He sighed, tuning his tone back to normal. “The tunnel’s blocked off; we have to find another way out.” Riley’s body suddenly slumped as he walked away, groaning. Ben paid him no heed save for a glance as Ian rounded him. Riley fell onto a rock, leaning back against another with his eyes closed. Carolyn looked over at him, a ghost of a smile in her eyes. She couldn’t help it. “Is there another way out?” Ian asked. “I don’t know,” Ben answered honestly. “If there is treasure somewhere here, there would be another way out,” Patrick said, “Just like with the Templar treasure in New York.” “Given pirates are skilled architects, which I highly doubt,” Ben said. The conversation continued to float in and out of Riley’s mind from across the small, dank room. He heard Carolyn say something at one point, and she instantly took over his mental picture. She pushed him in the pool. They read the message on the back of the First American Flag etching. They lost a screw to the patio door. He woke up in a camper with her watching him sleep. She kissed him in the doorway of her bedroom… He surged with warmth from the memory of her lips touching his. He would gladly forget about all of this for a few minutes and pretend things were fine again just to hold her hand or smell her hair or something… Suddenly, he sat up and opened his eyes. Riley hastily removed the glove from his right hand and unzipped his jacket, pushed his hand inside, and found the pocket with the note in it. “Ben! Look!” His head shot up in the direction of the others. Suddenly, a short blast of water sprayed out of the tunnel, and then a fast flow of water began to fill the cavern. Riley jumped up on the rock he was on as the others panicked (the dynamite ultimately failing to cut the water off), but he wasn’t going anywhere yet. He wasn’t putting this off any longer. It was a surreal moment. The water rushed in at a mind-blowing rate. Ian, Ben, Patrick, Carolyn, Walt, and Fischer were screaming at one another to find another way out. The first eight inches of the cavern were suddenly missing under the brown water. But still, the note held all of his attention. Finally, he opened it. It was short, sweet, and simple. I’m Ian’s sister. I’m sorry. I love you. The words hit him harder than anything he had ever felt before as he slowly looked up at her across the flooding cave. I love you. . Please Review .
Just Google 'oak island' and click the first link (or the second, if you just want to read the history on the treasure). This first link will give you a small map and background, followed by links that take you to the Story of Oak Island, Objects Found, Stone Translations, Stats, and Theories on who's got treasure there. Site is called 'Active Mind.' Hope you like it!
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