My Life In Ruins

32. And They Lived Happily Ever After...Until The Next Adventure!

Chapter 32

And They Lived Happily Ever After…Until The Next Adventure!

So you might wonder just who you’d call when you found an international treasure that had been hidden in an hidden cave for almost the last three centuries, right?

The answer:  everyone.

We called most of the museums in Mexico City, the Natural History Museum in D.C., and anyone else we could think of that was more than likely going to come out.  And after about an hour of going back and looking through even more of the stuff…

It was complete pandemonium.

There had to be hundreds of archeologists and other people from museums that came.  Most of them were yelling when they saw us sitting near the waterfall where the cave was hidden.  Helicopters flew overhead and dropped down supplies so that the excavation could begin.

A few hours later, a few of the people we’d met along the way arrived.  Dr. Charles Hammond from the Natural History Museum hiked his way up to us as his crew started talking with the others who had already gone down to see the treasure. 

After a few minutes of chatting with him, Dad pulled something form his pocket and handed it to him. 

“I believe this belongs to you,” he said, putting the little case that held the Aztec coin that’s we’d stolen from the museum the night of the gala. 

Dr. Hammond opened it and gapped when he saw the coin inside.  “So it was you,” he said, laughing.  “Well, I guess we can stop the investigation now.”

We all laughed. 

“Technically, it was us,” I said, pointing to myself and Max.  “But it was a group effort.”

“Besides, there are plenty more of them in there,” Max said, pointing toward the waterfall.

“Yes, of course,” Dr. Hammond said almost breathlessly, looking toward it.  “Well, I’d better go and…”

He didn’t say anything, just rushed toward the opening of the cave where everyone was going in and out of. 

After a few more minutes, Ronny and Jeff from North Carolina came running toward us.

“You did it, Landon!” Ronny yelled, hugging Dad.  “Damn, boy, you’re good.”

Dad laughed.  “I have these three, though,” he said, nodding toward us. 

I stepped toward Ronny, twisting Elizabeth’s ring off my finger and handing it to him.  “This was in Elizabeth’s jewelry box, the one I found in the wreck,” I said.  “I shouldn’t have taken it, but hey, it got us here.”

Ronny and Jeff both looked down at the ring in amazement, holding it up so it could sparkle in the sunlight.  He turned it over and they saw the code inside the band. 

“This is…”

I smiled.  “We can put it with everything that’s been found down there,” I said, nodding toward the waterfall. 

They both just looked at it for a few more moments before Ronny handed it back to me.

“You should keep it,” he said, smiling.  He looked around to make sure no one was watching us.  “You deserve to keep something of this adventure, don’t you think?”

I smiled again, slipping the ring back on my finger. 

It wasn’t until almost one in the morning that we were able to go back to our hotel to get some sleep.  We were going to go back to the treasure site after we did.  The crews that had been there were staying overnight.  There would be none stop excavation until everything was catalogued and out of the cave.  I had a feeling it was going to take a while, though. 

But when we got to the room, none of us went to our rooms.  We just sat down on the couch in the living room area and Dad flipped on the television. 

And there was a video of Edmund on the screen. He was in handcuffs and being put in the back of a police car. 

“Oh, my God,” I said, leaning toward it.

Dad turned up the volume so we could hear it and I had to translate for Max since the reporter was speaking Spanish.

“Apparently Edmund had criminal charges that spanned over a few countries.  I guess whenever he got out of the cave, he went back to the hotel he was staying at, only the detectives were there waiting for him.  They’re taking him back to England and are charging him there.”

I read off the list of charges on the screen…and it included murder. 

The guy was even crazier than we ever thought before. 

Once the story went to another, Dad put it on mute and looked at all of us.  Well, mostly at Max.

He grinned.  “So how do you like your internship so far?” Dad asked him.  “Is it all you expected it to be?”

Max laughed, putting an arm around my waist and pulling me toward him.  My cheeks flamed when he gave me a kiss…right in front of Dad and Brielle.  Did the guy want me to die of embarrassment?

“It’s more,” he said, nodding. 

“Good,” Dad said, laughing.  “But this isn’t going to be an internship anymore.”

My eyes widened and I was starting to freak out.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.  “Does he have to go now?  Why?  I thought you liked him!  Why are you…?”

“Callie, sweetie, let me finish,” he said, shaking his head.  He looked back at Max.  “What I was going to say next was that you can go with us on any treasure hunt that we’ve got.”

“Yes!” I said happily, and then smiled over at Max.  “You get to come on our next one!”  I turned back to Dad, eyes wide.  “So there’s going to be a next one?  What is it?  Where are we going?  Is it going to be…?”

Dad held up his hands in surrender.  “Hey, I just said the guy could come with us, not that we’ve got another one planned,” he said, and then looked at Max.  “But you’ll come with us, though, right?  You seem to round out our little exploration team.  Whenever we have another treasure, you’ll come with us, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said.  He looked over at me then.  “But we do have to do something.”

I snorted, rolling my eyes.  “And what would that be?” I asked.

Max grinned at me.  “We’ve just got to pick a treasure that will lead us to Antarctica.  You said that was one of the places that you wanted to go and I want to see some penguins.”

With a laugh, I had to totally agree.    

***Aww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1  I'm going to miss Callie and Max so effing much!  But...

I'm thinking about doing a sequel!  *squeals*  I know, right?!?!?  I know I'm going to have to throw in Antarctica in there somewhere so Max can go visit the penguins like he wants to!  :D  (The sequel is now up!  It's called My Life In Code, so go on my page and look it up!)

Birthday countdown:   4 days!  :D

Chapter countdown:  No more!  D:

And now I'm taking a teeny tiny break from writing just so I can study and (hopefully) pass all of my finals!  Wish me luck!  :P

So until we meet again (which will most likely be sometime next week!  Haha!)...

Comment, Vote, and Like!!!1***