"Steve, how long have you been living in town?" Cherry asked as they hiked the incline, both panting a little as they kept an even pace.

"I was born there," Steve said, glancing at her, "raised there, went away for tertiary education and then returned."

"Why did you return?" Cherry asked, "most people would want to experience the big city and stay there once they had gotten into it."

"I'll admit that was what I wanted growing up. Being a typical teenager, I believed life was greener on the other side. Not understanding the gem of humanity our town holds, I wanted to be anywhere else. After studying away from home and finding work, I realised the city life was not all it was made out to be, and everything I wanted was at home," Steve said. "It may sound corny, but I found city life void of substance. I missed my family ... badly. I missed the people I'd known all my life, the small-town ideals and morals where everyone takes care of everyone else. Before, I thought everyone was nosy, but after living in the city ..." Steve shook his head, "I wanted people around me who cared enough to ask. The city was every man for himself, whereas our town was everyone for everyone, and people genuinely cared."

"I can understand that," Cherry said, "it was like that with my parents. They helped anyone who needed it. What I can make out from my rather sketchy memories," Cherry sighed, "my mother was raised in this town, and my father came from the city, so I recall. He preferred the cabin to the house in the suburbs."

Cherry frowned as her memories began to filter into her mind, slowly recalling things about her parents she previously couldn't.

"What did your parents do?" Steve asked.

"I..." Cherry frowned, "I don't know. I never asked them, and they never really told me. Suppose that sounds silly, but we never spoke about what they did while away from me. We spoke of many other things but never that ... well, I think we never did."

"That sketchy memory, huh? Didn't you see them doing anything to work on after hours?" Steve asked.

Cherry stopped as they crowned the climb, looking out at the view and breathing hard, "My parents believed in life-work balance. In fact, they believed in it so much that I only had two hours to do any homework or projects from school each day. After that, it was family time. I don't recall ever seeing them bring home work from the office, nor did they spend time at work during the evening. They were big readers, not just contemporary books but ancient languages and other heavy reading materials; that's probably why my name is an acronym."

"Yeah, never heard names like that put together," Steve said, "how do you remember each one and their meanings?"

"My mom would tell me every night how special my names were," Cherry whispered, "before reading to me from books that were way too advanced for my age, she would make me recite each name and the meaning of each name. I was exhausted when I fell asleep, but I never forgot my names or what they meant. I think it made them more special."

"Really? What did your mom read to you?" Steve asked.

"I remember one month it was .... uh ... Aristotle," Cherry said, laughing at Steve's expression. "Yeah ... not really something a child would want as a bedtime story, but I loved the time with my mother. There were other books ..." Cherry paused, "all advanced ... all about something specific and from ancient inventors or philosophers."

"Sounds like you were being trained for something or having family history handed down," Steve said, looking out across the valley below, "wow, look at the view."

"Oh, I haven't seen something like this for a long time. It's amazing," Cherry said, "how much further do we need to go?"

Steve pulled out a map, opened it and found their position, "Still think it would have been easier with a phone or an electronic device to find the place."

"No, remember if we have anything GPS-related, anyone who wants to cause trouble can track us," Cherry said. "The last thing I want to do is lose my heritage to people who think it equates to gold and silver instead of what it really is."

"Huh, where did that come from?" Steve asked.

"I don't know," Cherry whispered, looking at Steve as confusion blossomed, "I have old bedtime stories running through my head," she shook her head, "maybe it's this place ... I don't know."

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"Maybe those foggy memories are coming back. Do you remember coming here?" Steve asked.

"Not sure," Cherry whispered, "it's as if I remember a lot, but certain things are just out of reach, and I feel as if it's important. It's really frustrating."

Steve nodded, "That I can understand. It's been years since you could remember your childhood. Whoever took you did something to you and fed you that medication all those years. They manipulated you into believing something was wrong with you and whatever they wanted to feed you. Perhaps as we get closer to the pass, you'll be able to remember."

"I hope so," Cherry said, "I feel as though I'm running out of time ... to ..." making a frustrated sound, she turned from the view, "I really don't know why I'm running out of time. Let's just get there and see what happens."

Nodding, Steve followed, remaining silent while Cherry set a quick pace. Looking around, Steve recognised areas where his father had brought him for camping weekends. Remembering places he had hidden while playing with his father and lessons he had learnt around the campfire. Questions arose in the wake of what Cherry had learnt.

Was he being trained as well?

For what?

Why?

Was it something to do with Cherry and her heritage?

The area he was heading into was well known to him. He knew shortcuts, back-end trails connecting the roads, places they could hide undetected. Catching up with Cherry, his sigh drawing her attention.

"What is it?" Cherry asked, glancing at him as she strode on.

"Oh, nothing," Steve said, "just looking around remembering the camping trips Dad and I took up here."

"That must have been nice," Cherry said, smiling, "how often did you take trips?"

"Often," Steve said, smiling, "sometimes as often as twice a month. It dropped to once a month as I got older, and before I went to college, we came here to celebrate my getting into my chosen institute. That was when he said we wouldn't be able to camp here due to the danger."

"Danger?" Cherry asked, looking around.

"People were going missing," Steve said. Investigations would be opened, but the people were never found, or the police would simply stop looking. Their best phrase was, "no further leads at this time" ".

"Oh, I know that feeling," Cherry said, "they look at you with pity and say that ... it makes me want to wallop them and tell them to care about something other than their doughnuts and coffee."

Steve spluttered before doubling over with laughter, "That is brilliant!"

Cherry stopped, watching his face light up as the smile spread and he mopped at his wet eyes.

"You should smile more often," Cherry said, transfixed, "it lights up your face."

Steve met her eyes, nodding before slipping past her, and the smile slid from his lips, "We need to hide."

"What? Why?" Cherry tried to look over her shoulder, but Steve grasped her hand, pulling her to the side of the path and pushing her into the thick mix of shrubs and trees, "what are you ..."

The rest of the sentence was muffled against his hands, covering her mouth, "Shh," he whispered near her ear, "someone is coming."

Cherry frowned at him over his hand but snapped her gaze to the path as heavy tread could be heard approaching their hiding place. Her gaze returned to Steve's as she tugged on his hand. He raised his finger to his lips, and she nodded. Taking his hand away, he waved her to sink lower. Together they watched three men walk past.

"Report in," a voice came from a radio on one man's belt, "who is out there?"

"Don't see anyone," the second man spoke into his radio, "must have been an animal tripping the sensors again."

"Animals don't trigger three alarms within a few minutes and all heading this way," the voice said. "If it's a bear, I'd understand, but we haven't seen any in months ... it has to be a person or persons ... find them."

Cherry looked at Steve, worried, but he focused on the men as they passed by again. She frowned as his eyes widened, and he sank lower to the floor. She copied him, bewildered by what was going on. Finally, he exhaled, resting his forehead on the floor and quietly groaning.

"What just happened?" Cherry asked.

"Two of those men are the Tenderhook cousins," Steve whispered, "the third is the former mayor of our town, who apparently was among the first to go missing around this area."

"Well, he doesn't look missing," Cherry said, "the Tenderhook cousins ... the same men we ran off my lands?"

"No, the other cousins," Steve said, "a generation up. One is the father of the current brothers, and the other is the cousins' father. They must have been living up here trying to carry on the family feud and finding the legend of the Bassett treasure."

"What kind of treasure did they think they would find?" Cherry asked.

"Who knows," Steve said, looking around, "we cannot go this way now that we know they have motion sensors ..." Steve frowned. "I think I know a way to get to where we need to go ..." he looked at Cherry, concern in his eyes, "it's not going to be an easy journey. Are you up for it?"

"Of course, I'm going to be okay," Cherry grinned, "lead the way."