The revelation about the coin’s possible connection to Eldritch Gosling had planted a seed of adventure and, more importantly, a glimmer of hope. If the coin was part of a pirate’s fortune, there had to be more coins hidden out there, waiting for him. And maybe, just maybe, he could change things for his family.
Ever since his father, Benjamin Creed, had been lost at sea, life had become a constant struggle. The small fishing income his father once brought in had been their lifeline, and his disappearance had left a gap that his mother, Carina, was forced to fill alone. Carina worked long hours in the local bakery and took on extra shifts at the diner when she could. Despite her weariness, she always kept a brave face around Rowan, encouraging him to focus on school and enjoy being a kid. But Rowan was old enough to see the strain in her eyes and the quiet sacrifices she made every day.
Rowan had tried to help in small ways. He’d taken odd jobs around town, mowing lawns, running errands, anything that might bring in a few extra coins. But what he earned was never enough to make a real difference. He couldn’t stand seeing his mother work herself to exhaustion, and he knew she would never ask for help. That was why finding this coin felt like fate. If he could discover more coins like this, he might be able to do something truly meaningful to support his family.
His thoughts kept returning to the hidden beach, the secluded stretch of sand where he’d found the coin. The place was difficult to reach, nestled at the edge of the forest and cut off from the more popular spots where other metal detector hobbyists searched. Rowan was almost certain that nobody else had scoured it for anything valuable, which made it the perfect place to return. If there was more pirate treasure buried there, he was going to be the one to find it.
After breakfast, he packed his metal detector and a small canvas bag and headed out, waving goodbye to his mother. Carina paused from scrubbing the kitchen counter to watch him go, giving him a tired but warm smile.
“Be careful, Row. And don’t go too far, alright?” she called after him.
“I won’t, Mum,” Rowan replied, returning her smile. “I’ll be back before lunch.”
With his bike and gear in tow, he pedaled out of town, taking the winding road that led to the edge of the forest. As he neared the path to the hidden beach, the trees thickened around him, casting deep, cool shadows over the ground. The sounds of the town faded, replaced by the rustling of leaves and the distant caw of a seagull. Rowan pushed his bike along the narrow, overgrown path, weaving through dense patches of ferns and bushes until he finally emerged onto the secluded beach.
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As Rowan stepped onto the hidden beach, he froze. His eyes went wide, and his heart skipped a beat. Where there should have been nothing but sand, rocks, and waves, there now stood a massive, ancient castle. The stone walls rose from the sea like the spine of a sleeping beast, weathered and scarred from centuries of crashing waves. The castle was connected to the beach by a crumbling stone bridge, slick with seaweed and worn down by time. Water sloshed against its foundation, and parts of the structure looked barely intact, as though a strong enough wave might knock it back into the depths.
Rowan rubbed his eyes, half-expecting the castle to disappear as quickly as it had appeared. But there it remained, looming over the water like a specter from another world. He felt a chill crawl down his spine. This beach had been completely empty the last time he was here; he was sure of it. The area where the castle now stood had been nothing but an uneven pile of rocks, battered endlessly by rough waves. He’d always thought the waves were strongest there, pounding against the stones as if trying to bury something beneath the water. Now, staring at the towering walls, it felt as though the sea had simply been hiding this strange fortress from view.
Rowan took a cautious step forward, his shoes sinking slightly in the wet sand as he approached the stone bridge. Every instinct told him to turn back and pretend he hadn’t seen anything. But something about the castle drew him in, an eerie allure that he couldn’t ignore. He’d grown up around the sea and knew all about stories of sunken ships, hidden coves, and lost islands. But a castle, appearing from nowhere? It was like something out of a fairy tale, or one of the old legends his father used to tell him on quiet nights.
He took another step, then paused. Was this even real? Had finding the coin somehow triggered this strange sight, revealing something that had been hidden for centuries? He reached into his neck, pulling out the coin he’d found earlier and clutching it tightly in his palm. The runes carved into its surface glinted faintly, catching a shaft of sunlight that broke through the clouds. It almost seemed to pulse in his hand, as though it were responding to the presence of the castle.
“What… is this place?” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.
Rowan glanced around, half-expecting someone else to appear and confirm that he wasn’t imagining things. But he was alone, just as he had been when he first arrived. He took a few deep breaths, trying to gather his courage. Part of him wanted to turn back, to bike home and pretend that he’d never seen any of this. But a stronger part of him—the part that had driven him to buy that metal detector, to spend hours combing beaches in search of treasure—knew that he couldn’t just walk away. Not now.