The vines and branches of the wall scratched at Gavin's arms and face as he shoved himself into the gap. The opening was just over a foot wide, and it remained that way even as the path twisted and turned back upon itself. Behind him, Gavin could hear Jupiter quietly cursing as she, too, was ravaged by the thorns and prickles.
"Whoever built this didn't want anyone to find it," said Jupiter. "Even the secret entrance is a total pain."
"Must be something good at the end," surmised Gavin, excited.
"Unless the whole thing is a prank," replied Jupiter, sourly.
But Gavin knew, just knew, this wasn't a prank. Mrs. Gruber had something hidden in here. Something important. Something she didn't want anyone else to know about. He tried to guess what it could be, but came up empty. He supposed it could be some sort of weapon, which might explain why Maximilian wanted it. Maybe. That was if Maximilian was a bad guy, a fact of which Gavin was not sure.
In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized he had absolutely no idea what was going on. He tried to list the various mysteries in his head while absently pulling his body through the wall.
First, there was the question of who was attacking St. Hibbard's. Then there was the mystery around Maximilian--who was he, what was his game? Add to that the question of the lists they'd found in the bowels of Lord Thumbledown's and the unknown prize in the center of this hedge maze, and you had yourself a plethora of mysteries. And none of that included the strange behavior of Processing, such as Ambrosia's weird warning and the idea that somebody was keeping an eye on him for some reason.
It made his head hurt just thinking about it all. Or maybe that was the thorns digging into his scalp.
He had to admit, however, as bad as working through this passage was, it sure beat dragging yourself under the walls. That had been a nightmare. This was simply unpleasant.
"Are we there yet?" asked Jupiter, only half kidding.
Gavin was about to give a snarky reply, but he suddenly stepped into a wide-open space that took his breath away. A shove in the back from Jupiter managed to get him to move aside so she, too, could exit the path and discover what they'd come to find.
"What... what is this?" she breathed.
Gavin shook his head. "Treasure?"
They'd entered the obvious center of the hedge maze. It was a circular area with a running fountain in the center depicting a woman shooting rays from all of her fingers in all directions, the water pouring out of her stretched fingers. While interesting, that wasn't what had taken Gavin's breath away.
It was all of the gold.
Piled around the fountain were goblets and statues and gold bars and gold coins and various other golden goodies. Some large jewels were scattered about as well, in addition to sheets of silver. Precious artwork leaned against the rim of the fountain (but out of the way of any water). It was a treasure hoard fit for a king.
"I don't understand," said Jupiter. "Is Mrs. Gruber a pirate?"
Gavin was too stunned to chuckle at the outlandish suggestion. Why was Mrs. Gruber hiding a small fortune in the center of the hedge maze? Did this all belong to St. Hibbard's? Or was this Mrs. Gruber's personal stash? And if so, what on Earth was she doing with it?
"This, I did not expect," he admitted, circling around the pile in wonder.
There was no rhyme or reason to the pile, everything looked to have been just dumped onto the ground and left. Surprisingly, nothing showed any wear from the elements, no water stains or dust. It was as if the pile were hermetically sealed in a vacuum rather than sitting out in the open.
The two friends explored in silence, taking in the wonders. Both, however, refrained from touching anything. They shared an unspoken fear that if they so much as breathed on something wrong, a terrible penalty would befall them. Finally, Jupiter stopped and put her hands on her hips.
"I have a question," she announced.
"Just one?" replied Gavin.
"More than one, actually, but let's start with, do you think Maximilian knows what's in here?"
"You mean is he hunting this treasure or is he as clueless as we were as to the final prize within the hedge maze?"
"He seemed pretty purposeful when we saw him trying to get in a few weeks ago," noted Jupiter.
"OK, I have another question then," said Gavin. "Has he been back? Has he made it to the center? Was he after something in particular? Did he get it? Is there something important missing from this hoard?"
"That's a lot of questions," responded Jupiter.
Gavin nodded in agreement.
They spent a few more minutes admiring their find, before Jupiter sighed. "I guess we might as well head back," she said.
Gavin frowned. It all seemed so anticlimactic. Not that he'd had any idea what he'd find, but to discover that the closely-guarded secret of the hedge maze was something as ordinary as gold was a bit of a let down.
He took a closer look at the pictures. There were three of them, each in a golden frame. One looked to be a landscape of rolling hills and sheep, another was of a large, wooden sailing vessel caught in a storm, and the last depicted a rural, open-air market with vendors hawking wares to passersby who all looked like they belonged in a Shakespearean play.
"What's with the artwork?" he finally asked.
"What do you mean? People collect fine art all the time. Some paintings can be worth millions of dollars."
"You think these three are worth that much?"
"How should I know?" She scratched her temple. "They look like paintings you might find in a hospital lounge or something."
Gavin nodded. He'd been thinking the same thing.
Another mystery to be discovered, he thought. With a final deep breath, he nodded to Jupiter and headed for the slanted opening leading back to the outside world.
***
A large number of minor cuts and scrapes later, Gavin and Jupiter returned to the school, stopping for a moment in front of the section of the school that had suffered the worst of the damage. It was roped off with yellow caution tape, but even from a distance, the devastation was palpable.
"They really did a number on the classrooms," said Jupiter.
"You think that was on purpose? Like maybe the fire was set by someone from St. Hibbard's who wanted to get out of a test or something?"
Jupiter gave a very faint chuckle snort and nodded. "Right. It's just a coincidence that all these terrible things are happening to us."
"Maybe..." Gavin started, then stopped, chewing on his lip.
"Maybe what? Don't leave me hanging."
"What if..." He tried to formulate his thoughts into a cohesive narrative. "What if all that stuff in the hedge maze actually belongs to someone else? And they want it back and this is their way of letting Mrs. Gruber know they mean business?"
"You are going way down the conspiracy rabbit hole," she noted.
"Are you kidding?" He turned and pointed at the Aurelia tree. "That used to be a girl. Conspiracies have nothing on reality."
They continued into the school and parted ways in the entry hall. Upon reaching his room, Gavin took a moment to collect himself, then opened the door.
"The hero returns," joked Stanford.
Gavin sighed. "Give it a rest, OK?" He waded through the garbage and dropped down onto his bunk.
"Fine, but you've got my vote when it comes up."
Gavin closed his eyes and pushed Stanford's words to the side. He knew his roommate was only teasing, but he was uncomfortable as it was with what had happened. It had been an eventful day in all respects and the only thing he wanted to do was go to sleep, if that were even possible.
As he lay face-down on his bunk, he felt something under his hip. Curious, he rolled over to see what it was, only there was nothing there. That was when he realized it was something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled the object out. Opening his fist, he was shocked to discover a solid gold coin lying on his palm. It was roughly-hewn, as if very, very old. The face depicted some unknown old man with a crown. Flipping it over, the other side showed a massive snake coiled and ready to spring. The denomination read 10J, although what that meant, Gavin had no idea.
Holding the coin in his hand, his mind was consumed by a single thought.
How did that get in my pocket?