The Book of Spells (Private 0.50)

As soon as the door had banged shut behind the maid, Eliza opened the box, her hands shaking with excitement. Inside was a folded piece of dusty, frayed velvet. Quickly Eliza removed her gardening gloves and unfolded the scrap of cloth. Tucked within was a large, perfectly round gold locket. Etched into its face was the same swirling circle design as on the box’s lid.

“A buried treasure!” Alice announced excitedly.

Theresa and Eliza reached for the locket at the same time, but Catherine grabbed Theresa’s hand.

“It’s Eliza’s. She found it,” Catherine said.

Theresa clucked her tongue. “What’s gotten into you today? You’d think she’d been your best friend for the past two years.” Eliza half expected Theresa to walk away for a pout, as many girls in Eliza’s and May’s small circle back home would have done, but surprisingly, she stayed put.

Eliza scanned the hillside leading down to the campus lawn. Helen’s empty chair sat beneath the huge elm. Down the hill, Mrs. Hodge was busy yelling at Bia for eating one of the apples. A hawk swirled overhead. No one was paying the four girls in the garden any heed.

Eagerly, Eliza lifted the necklace and opened the locket. A piece of parchment paper, creased into a tiny square, dropped to the ground. Theresa seized upon it hungrily. She dusted the dirt off the square and unfolded it.

“It’s all in Latin,” she said, frustrated. “Does anyone read Latin?”

“I do.” Catherine reached for the parchment, but stopped. “Wait. There’s something else in the box.”

Eliza looked down. A warm breeze tickled the back of her neck, and even in the heat, she shivered. Sure enough, another piece of parchment peeked out from beneath the velvet covering. She tugged it out and opened it. The other girls leaned in around her shoulders, and Eliza felt the same rush of anticipation she’d had as a child whenever May had proposed a new scheme.

“What is it?” Catherine asked.

Crude illustrations of structures, streets, and bodies of water covered the page. There were also short lines of handwritten text indicating paths to a series of various destinations. Right near the center of the page was a big, dark X.

“It’s a treasure map,” Eliza said.

The four girls looked at one another, a sizzle of excitement rushing between them.

“Look. This must be Crenshaw,” Theresa said, grabbing the map out of Eliza’s hands. She pointed at a drawing of a square building at the top of a hill.

Suddenly Eliza wished Theresa had been anywhere but here when she’d found the box. Clearly the girl was going to try to dictate this situation, just as she did all others.

“X marks the spot,” Catherine said, pointing to the middle of the page.

Theresa opened her mouth as if to speak.

“I say we follow it. Tonight,” Eliza announced quickly.

Theresa shot her an annoyed look, and it was all Eliza could do to keep from preening. Clearly she’d stolen the words out of Theresa Billings’s mouth.

“But we’re already under probation,” Catherine said, glancing over her shoulder at Crenshaw House, as if she expected Miss Almay to be standing in the doorway.

“But we must,” Eliza said. “Imagine what we might find!”

Theresa’s eyes shone. “It could be gold or diamonds or—”

“I don’t know. What if we get caught?” Alice said fretfully.

“Oh, grow up, Alice. We’re going,” Theresa said, folding up the map. “Besides, Miss Almay can’t forbid you from the dance again.”

Just then, the front door to Crenshaw House slammed, and out walked Helen with a tray of water glasses, the ice cubes clinking together loudly in the stillness of the afternoon.

“Hide it!” Theresa instructed, lifting up Alice’s wide skirt. Eliza stuffed the locket and map back into the box and shoved the whole thing toward Alice’s feet. Alice dropped her skirts down to cover the box, then sat on her gardening stool again and grabbed her trowel. Catherine, meanwhile, folded the small parchment inside her fist.

“If you two won’t go, Eliza and I will go without you,” Theresa hissed.

Eliza clenched her jaw at Theresa taking charge once again—and so offhandedly ostracizing not only Alice but also Catherine.

“No. We were all here when we found it. Either all four of us go or none of us go,” Eliza said. Helen was only fifty feet away now.