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He touched her face "No debt," he said softly "No one forced my hand--I chose to set off in your direction, and I think it’s going to be a great decision"

She nodded

"Let’s go!" Jaden urged

They walked on through to the workroo extremely carefully with crowbars, s back with Jay Her arms were crossed over her chest She tried to offer a cheerful s up, Vanessa, you haven’t even seen the piece you found the other day!" Jaden said

She went over to a wall safe and spun the lock She brought out a piece set in a bed of velvet and brought it to Vanessa to show it to her

Vanessa smiled and looked

It was the ht a copy the other day, the pendant that had hung around the neck of Dona Isabella

This one was, however, far more ornate Emeralds blazed froe and heavy, and the gold in the workmanship was rich and deep

"Here," Jaden said

"Oh, I don’t really want to touch it," Vanessa said "Sticky fingers--body oils, whatever!" she explained quickly "Funny thing--I purchased a copy from one of the pirate vendors the other day, and I saw the picture of Dona Isabella wearing the pendant"

"It really is a museum piece," Jaden said

They were all startled by a sudden jerking sound--and a very strange sound, an expulsion of air as soft as a sigh

Ricky moved back

A mist of time escaped the trunk, was visible for a split second, and then evaporated into the air

"Think there as?" Ted asked "Wow, sorry, a little late for gested "But I don’t think anything lethal just escaped"

"We can lift the lid," David said

"Go for it," Sean said

"Vanessa?" David said, looking at her He smiled "Your discovery"

She shook her head "You and Sean are leading the adventure"

Sean stepped forward and shrugged at David

They each reached for a side of the lid And lifted

They were both dead silent, staring doard into the chest

"Well, well, come on, what is it?" Ted de over and looked down, as well "Holy shit!" he exclaimed--his voice filled with horror, not wonder

"What?" Katie asked weakly

Jay walked up next He clapped his hand over his mouth and turned away

Vanessa knew from Jay’s reaction that it was bad She steeled herself and walked forward and looked down into a chest

At first she didn’t realize what she was seeing

And then she did

The chest contained the oddlyrele A hat still sat upon a skeletal head The skin was dark and stretched over the fra was stained, probably by the body fluids that had oozed from the corpse soon after death

The eye sockets were empty

And yet they seemed to stare and tear into Vanessa’s heart

All she could remember at that moment were Sean’s earlier words

The trunk, and its contents, are yours

9

"It’s Dona Isabella," Marty said knowingly

"It can’t be Dona Isabella She wasn’t killed until the pirates reached Haunt Island," David said "According to legend, at any rate Although, frankly, everything about what happened is legend--after the pirate ship attacked the Santa Geneva"

"We’ll have to wait, and that’s all there is to it--hope that the forensic anthropologist can help us," Sean said

"It wasn’t a treasure," Jay said ht on history, the find is a treasure," Sean said