It took the four of them another ten minutes to go the approximate location marked by the closest cross. There was nothing particularly remarkable either about the location or the path to it. Initially none of them even saw anything out of the ordinary. There was just miles and miles of trees surrounding them on all sides.

It was Leo who spotted it.

At first glance it was easy to miss. It was a small, weathered stone structure, barely taller than Leo's waist and half-hidden by creeping vines and moss that had claimed it over the years. The only reason it even came to Leo's attention were the glowing words on it.

"What is that?" Sophie muttered, when Leo brought it to the attention of everyone. His mother stepped forward, and slowly removed the weeds and vines that had accumulated over the stone. Initially when it was covered, Leo thought it was written in some exotic foreign language, but when the vines disappeared, he saw it was written in plain English.

THE THIRD CROSS LIES HERE

TAKE THE LEFT IN FRONT

It wasn't even a cryptic message or anything like that. It seemed like....

"Simple instructions." Elizabeth said frowning, almost disappointed that there was nothing further there.

Leo however felt a growing sense of apprehension.

Margaret, on the other hand, seemed to grow more cheerful by the second. She bounded up forward and waved at them impatiently.

"Come on, we don't have all day." She said irritatedly, before disappearing off to the left.

Elizabeth sighed and ran after her, clearly not willing to let her sister go off alone in the woods. Leo and his mother followed close behind.

All of them came to an abrupt halt after going to the left.

In front of them there was a giant rock cliff stretching out to the sky. The cliff was so huge that it was a wonder that none of them had spotted it through the trees and bushes, but Leo guessed that was because the forest was so dense. On the wall of the cliff there were intricate carvings, seemingly meaningless.

"That's it?" Margaret said, the disappointment in her voice unmistakeable.

"Maybe this is just one of Father's pranks." Sophie said softly, trying to cheer her up.

Pranks for who? Grandfather lived on this island alone no? Leo thought but he didn't speak.

He casually stepped forward, running his hands over the carvings without thinking much about it. The carvings emitted a faint light, and Leo peered closer trying to find the source of it.

A big creaking noise made him jump. He looked back towards the rest of the group and they seemed just as shocked as he was.

"Leo, what was that?" His mother asked quietly, looking at him.

"Why are you asking me?" He answered, and then immediately realized why.

The sound was coming from his hand.

Or rather where his hand was touching the cliff wall.

Leo turned back towards the cliff wall and pushed, slowly at first and then more forcefully. Initially nothing happened, but then in a flash the wall swung around like a revolving door and Leo was on the other side, or rather inside the cliff.

Darkness

Complete Darkness

Coming from the bright sunlight outside, Leo almost felt suffocated by the darkness inside the cliff. Then slowly he could see that it wasn't completely dark. Up high in the ceiling, though he couldn't be sure just how high the ceiling was, there were a few twinkling points of light. They gave the impression of stars, but Leo was sure that the material used to make them was the same as he had seen on the carvings outside.

There was another creaking sound, and Leo looked behind to see his mother coming through the same revolving wall.

"Leo?" She called out immediately, concern and fear etched in her voice.

"I'm here Mom." Leo called out from infront of her. Sophie's eyes hadn't yet gotten used to the darkness so Leo leaned back and tapped her on the arm to indicate his location. She nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't disappear on us like that Leo." She chided.

"I didn't know there was some where like this hidden in the cave." Leo said, but his attention was already elsewhere. The lights in the ceiling seemed to be almost pointing the way forward.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Soon after Sophie, Margaret and then finally Elizabeth came in through the revolving wall. Once both of their eyes were accustomed to the darkness illuminated by the twinkling lights, Leo suggested they move forward.

"Of course! After all whatever Grandfather has hidden on this island must be there." Margaret said enthusiastically, almost jumping up and down on the spot.

"Easy Margaret." Sophie said with a small laugh as Elizabeth just shook her head in exasperation.

They began moving forwards, gingerly checking for any obstacles or sudden gaps in the floor. As before Sophie moved in front. Leo protested this, but his mother had simply smiled.

"It's the duty of adults to protect their children. And all of you are still children to me." She had said and she had brook no argument to the contrary.

Thankfully however, the path was simple and straightforward. There were no unexpected holes or places where the path suddenly ended. Eventually they found themselves in a sort of small hall, where the path and the cliff ended.

In the middle of the small hall there was what appeared to be a table. And on that table was an object that shone brightly even in the darkness.

"The gold!" Margaret said in hushed whispers as she ran ahead before Sophie could object.

To be honest, Leo had never seriously believed in Margaret's assertions that there was gold on the island. He always believed that it was too good to be true.

But now, the proof was in front of his eyes.

As he stepped forward, he looked at the golden bar that Margaret was now cradling wonderingly. It shone brightly and Leo was sure that this was surely worth a lot of money.

Something fluttered beneath the gold and Leo frowned. He looked closer. There seemed to be a paper which was underneath the gold.

A gold paperweight, Leo thought with amusement as he took out the paper.

"What's that?" Sophie asked looking at him.

"Don't know. Seems like Grandfather's writing though. It's too dark to make out what it actually says."

Sophie nodded. "Let's go out and read it then."

After Margaret had finished admiring the gold bar, all of them made their way back through the path they had come out towards the gate. When they reached the wall, for a second Leo was afraid that it was one way only, that the wall wouldn't open when pushed from the inside.

But his fears were unfounded. With a now familiar creak, the wall swung around depositing Leo back into bright sunlight, where he squinted at the sudden assault on his eyes.

After the remaining three had come out as well, Elizabeth was the first to speak.

"What do we do about the gold?" She asked, her voice serious.

"What else? We should show it to everyone else! This proves that there is gold hidden on this island." Margaret replied, still excited beyond belief.

However Sophie had caught onto what Elizabeth was suggesting.

"You are worried about the twins." It wasn't a question, just a statement.

Elizabeth nodded gravely.

"I am afraid that they may not be above trying to steal this gold and keep it for themselves." She said

"We should keep it within ourselves then." Sophie said, looking at each of them in turn.

"To be honest, even I am apprehensive about them. I will keep the gold hidden from them, until we reach back to the mainland. Then we can decide how to equitable divide it among Father's heirs." She continued.

Margaret nodded, albeit somewhat sadly, and handed over the gold bar to Sophie, who put it in the pocket of her jeans. It bulged unnaturally there, so she took it out and then put in in her jacket instead, where it was unnoticeable.

"Now let's go over the letter." Sophie said, taking the paper from inside the cave out. She was about to read it aloud, when she stopped frowning. Then she folded it and kept it back in her jacket again.

"What's the matter Aunt Sophie?" Elizabeth asked puzzled.

Sophie didn't answer straight away. Leo saw that she looked quite troubled.

"I think it's best we read it aloud in front of everyone else once we go back. The others, even the twins, need to hear this, I feel." She said grimly. Leo had rarely seen his mother troubled or in panic, but now she certainly was.

Elizabeth must have identified the same for she didn't argue at all and immediately acquiesced.

"It's almost sundown." Leo said pointing towards the horizon. Part of it was due to his concern that they not be out in the forest after dark, but a more major part of it was a bid to help his mother by changing the subject.

"Yeah we should hurry back." Sophie said, snapping back to attention, even though it was clear that her mind was elsewhere.

On the way back, Leo led the way with Sophie behind her. Usually his mother would never allow anyone but her to be infront, but it was an indication of her state of mind that she didn't protest against this arrangement. Margaret followed behind her with Elizabeth at the end.

During the return journey, for the first time Leo was thankful for the existence of the huge mansion. He was sure he would be lost like a needle in a haystack.

When they finally returned to the doorsteps of the mansion, the sun was already almost behind the horizon. The twins were already there, and they seemed to be discussing something intensely in hushed tones when they saw Leo's group approach and immediately stopped.

"Hello there Leo." Charles said with a smile. "Hope you guys had a productive search?"

"Indeed we did." Elizabeth answered icily.

Charles raised an eyebrow as if to ask them to volunteer further information, but none of them spoke further.

"Well, " Charles said eventually, "so did we. Let's call over cousin William and discuss over dinner shall we?"

None of them objected, and this time Sophie stepped forward and opened the door. The door itself was unlocked, and there didn't seem to be any mechanism to lock it even from the inside, even though individual rooms had locks of their own.

As Leo milled into the hall with the others, his eyes went back to the two portraits hanging on either side of the huge hall. He had noticed them the first day, but still he couldn't figure out the faces in them. It must be Grandfather and Grandmother, but both their faces had been scratched out for some reason, and Leo was hardly able to make out any features of the same.

"Elizabeth, call your brother down please. We have much to discuss." Sophie said, taking charge of the situation again. Elizabeth nodded and immediately went up the stairs to the second floor.

Leo looked towards the twins who stood by one side of the hall. Charles smiled and waved at him, while Henry looked sullenly. The latter's mood however seemed much improved from today morning.

I wonder what they were discussing....

His thoughts were broken by a bloodcurdling scream.

From the second floor.

"Elizabeth!" He realized out loud and then ran up the stairs, his mother and the twins following closely behind with Margaret at the end.

As he came up on the second floor, he saw Elizabeth collapsed on the floor outside William's room pointing in shock inside.

"I.. don't....I....." She sputtered, not able to even make a full sentence.

Leo ran up, and before his mother could stop him, went in front to see what Elizabeth was pointing at.

And immediately wished he didn't.

William's room was a bit smaller than his own. There was no fireplace and even the windows were fewer. The ceiling however was much much higher, stretching up till the roof. However the major source which caught all of their attention was none of this.

It was William's body lying on the floor beside his bed, blood pooling around beneath him.

With a knife sticking out of his throat.