The Elusive Treasure
Chapter Thirteen
A Ghostly Recollection
Lou was sleeping peacefully in room 226. It seemed that he has gotten used to the sounds the electrical equipment made all over him. A small bubble was coming out of his nose as he breathed. It was a very serene scene.
Soon however, a slight squeaking nose and the sound of voices were heard in the room. Being unable to sleep due to the noise, the kid's bubble popped. He groaned slightly as he opened his eyes. He saw a couple of nurses and a doctor walk past his bed, pushing along a stretcher that had a familiar-looking brunet lying on it. Unlike earlier this afternoon, the boy's eyes were closed. His arm was lowered to his side. His fist was still clutched, however.
'Hmmmmmm...? Isn't that one of those brothers?' He thought, waking up fully.
His question was answered when he saw Izzy and Oliver pass him. The brunet in the blue bucket hat and the redhead in the glasses were in the middle of a conversation. Because of how low they were speaking, Lou couldn't make out too much of what they were saying. He did hear some words clearly, such as "sub," "dive," "cave," and "treasure." His ears perked up at the last word. He turned his head to his right, where a curtain was drawn. Judging by the silhouettes, Iggy was picked up off the stretcher by the nurses and placed onto the nearby bed.
"Hey! Be careful with him!" Izzy told the nurses. "He's fragile!"
"Sir, please keep it down!" The doctor whispered. "There is another patient in this room that needs his rest."
To that, the brunet scoffed. "Pffft! Like I care."
"Well anyway, we've done all we can for your brother." The man said, starting to walk out of the room, followed by the nurses. "Now it's all up to him." And with that, they left.
Lou focused his attention on the curtain. He saw the taller silhouette walk to the side of the bed and sit down.
"Iggy..." He heard Izzy sigh mournfully.
"I'm sure he'll be alright." Oliver's voice said. "Now about that treasure—"
"That is the last thing on my mind at the moment." The taller shadow cut off the shorter one.
"Iggy has to get better."
"But if we don't hurry, Sam and the others will get there first."
"I'm well aware of the situation, thank you very much!" Izzy hissed. "I know I have to beat Blondie and those other guys to the treasure, but in case you haven't noticed, my brother is unconscious and he's currently holding my mushroom."
'Mushroom?' Lou repeated. 'Wonder what's that all about.'
"Hmph, since when did you care about your brother?" Oliver asked with a hint of a smirk. Lou grinned slightly when he heard Izzy stutter to find an excuse.
"Ahem! I can care less about him." He scoffed, causing the other brunet to glower slightly. "Like I said, he still has that mushroom clasped in his hand. I gotta get it before I make my next move, which means he has to wake up first."
"Who are you trying to fool, Lopez?" The redhead challenged.
"Whaddya mean?"
"Heh, I can't believe you don't see it." Oliver said. "You may say that you only want the mushroom, but you want him to wake up."
"Hmph! I think you've been underwater too long, Van Rossom." Izzy retorted, crossing his arms. "The only other reason, aside from the mushroom, that I want Iggy to wake up is so that I won't have to worry about getting in trouble with my mom."
"That cheap excuse won't work on me. You love him. Admit it."
"What are you talking about? I want that treasure! Nothing else matters!" Lou smiled knowingly when he heard the uncertainty in the younger brunet's voice.
"Whatever you say." Oliver smirked, crossing his own arms. "The time will come someday when you admit that you may actually like your brother."
"When pigs fly."
'Hmmmm... Does he really have to deal with this every day?' Lou asked himself, referring to Iggy. 'Poor kid.'
He didn't have much time to contemplate this for an ear piercing scream was heard seconds later. The brunet's eyes widened when he saw a form sit up in the bed on the other side of the curtain. Izzy and Oliver's silhouettes turned towards the bed.
"Iggy!" The former shouted, shooting up. He stood by the bedside as Iggy continued screaming. Tears rolled down the sides of his face as his eyes were screwed shut. Izzy grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Come on! Wake up!"
"AHHHHHH! GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!" Iggy shrieked as he thrashed around in the bed. Izzy held on tight as he continued trying to wake up his brother. Oliver, recovering from the shock, joined in the effort and grabbed the younger Lopez Brother. Lou looked at the scene in utter confusion as the two older boys tried to calm Iggy down
"NO! STOP! HE'S GONNA GET ME! AHHHHHHHHH!"
"Iggy! Wake up!" Izzy tried desperately as he continued shaking his brother.
"You're just having a nightmare!" Oliver supplied.
"WAKE UP!" They both roared.
Seconds later, Iggy's eyes fluttered open as he stopped screaming.
"Huh...? Wh-wh-where...am I...? Wh-what happened...?" He said as he panted.
"Whew!" Both Oliver and Izzy wiped their foreheads.
"Anyway, you're in the hospital." The former answered.
"Th-the h-h-h-h-hospital...?" Iggy asked.
"Yeah, you were knocked out after you grabbed the mushroom." Izzy confirmed, causing the younger boy to blink in confusion.
"Mushroom? Wha...?" He opened his left fist, only to find to his horror, the golden mushroom, which was no longer glowing.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! GET IT AWAY FROM ME!" He screamed, dropping it. The trinket rolled along the bed for a few moments before Izzy grabbed it.
"About time ya dropped it!" He snapped, pocketing it. "What the heck happened!"
"W-w-w-w-well..." Iggy started, looking down. "After you left the room to yell at Oliver—" The boy in question glared at Izzy, who chuckled nervously. "—I heard this weird voice. It came from your backpack. It kept telling me to come closer and closer until I reached the bag and stuck my hand inside. When I pulled out that mushroom..."
"Yeah...? Go on." Izzy prodded.
"I-I had this weird dream..." The other sibling trembled. "I was in this dark field and that same voice kept telling me this really weird thing."
"And...?" The older one sighed impatiently.
"He s-s-s-said, 'Do not let the pirate with the missing tooth reach the treasure...'" Iggy shuddered at the memory. Meanwhile, Oliver, Izzy, and Lou all raised an eyebrow at him.
'"The pirate with the missing tooth?"' They all thought.
"H-h-h-h-he told m-m-m-m-m-me that the pirate's that Lars guy..."
'Ok... This has officially gotten weird!' Lou thought with wide eyes. He then blinked. 'Hey... Didn't Rod say something about Lars and his bunch dressing up like pirates?'
Lou thought with wide eyes. He then blinked."An-an-an-and then..." Tears were coming to Iggy's eyes. "He s-s-said that we can't let Lars reach the-the..." He held his chin as he tried to remember.
"Yeah, yeah...?" Izzy asked anxiously.
"We can't let him reach the Cajon de la Esperanza because there's a dark thingy in there that can destroy the earth."
Izzy's eyes widened when he heard that name. It was the same exact name he heard in the dream he had.
"'Cajon de la Esperanza?'" Oliver repeated, holding a hand to his chin. "Now where have I heard that name before...?"
Lou, meanwhile, was as pale as the sheets on his bed. He was trembling slightly as he listened to the boy's story.
'The Cajon de la Esperanza is haunted?' He shook his head. 'No way! It must've been a really bad dream.' He gulped. 'I hope...'
He shook his head. He gulped."An-an-and then..." Iggy wiped his eyes as he struggled to continue. "That was when the worst part of the whole thing happened... This really scary monster popped out of nowhere. It was a giant skeleton thing that had swords like that one bad guy in that game." He held his chin. "Hmmmm... The name's on the tip of my tongue. You know who I'm talking about, bro."
"C-C-C-C-Cortez...?" Izzy supplied. He was shaking dangerously. All of the color left his face as he tried to make sense of what was going on. Nearly word for word (aside from what the spirit said) Iggy's dream was exactly the same as his! But how can that be!
"Yeah! That's it!" Iggy grinned as he nodded. He then returned to his somber mode.
"That was when he attacked me! And then, and then, and then..." He shivered.
"Then what...?" Oliver asked, starting to get scared himself.
"...I died..." The younger boy answered. "But the dream wouldn't end. It would always repeat itself. That guy would tell me not to let Lars reach the treasure and then kill me. Over and over again, the same thing happened. I thought I'd never wake up!"
The other three boys were silent as they tried to process this information. Apparently, Iggy saw a vision in which some monster told him about the dangers of the treasure, only to repeatedly kill him until eventually, he managed to wake up. But still, one question remained
"Iggy... I had almost the same exact dream." Izzy said with a stone-faced expression. Iggy and Oliver gasped at this. Lou would've too, but he covered his mouth for fear of getting caught. "I saw Cortez too. He told me that the Cajon de la Esperanza is haunted too. He also popped out and..." He gulped. "Killed me." Iggy gasped. "But the weird thing is I was able to wake up before I actually got killed while you obviously got killed multiple times, only to come back to life, be told the same warning, and die again in an endless loop until you managed to wake up." He held his chin. "The question is why was I able to escape while you didn't?"
"Maybe you were able to resist the power of the mushroom, if it really did possess you." Oliver spoke up.
"Now that I think about it, there was one crucial difference between what happened to us." Izzy started. "When I had my dream, the mushroom was on my desk in my room while I was in bed."
"But Iggy grabbed the mushroom." The redhead added.
"Ummmm... I don't get it..." Iggy said, blinking in confusion.
"Oy..." Both of the older kids slapped their foreheads.
"It means that because you actually held it while it was far from Izzy suggests that its hold on a person is strengthened by how close the mushroom is to that person." Oliver explained.
"Uhhhhhhhh..."
Both boys fell over.
"You were holding it! I wasn't!" Izzy shouted as he stood up. "Meaning that you were stuck in a coma while I had a simple nightmare!"
"Oh! Ok then!" Iggy grinned. His expression then turned grim. "But there was something else... The voice of that spirit... It sounded really familiar... Like I heard it before..."
"Hmmmm... Now that ya mentioned it, the voice did sound strangely similar to some kid's. But whose?"
"Oh! I remember now!" The younger brother exclaimed. "It was that one kid. You know. The one that has the same name as Tails' airplane."
Izzy and Oliver held their chins for a moment.
"Tornado?" The redhead broke the silence after a few moments. "That's his name?"
"Uh-huh." The younger brunet nodded.
"Oh please!" Izzy slapped his forehead. "No one would name anybody Tornado! Something like Cyclone or some other name for it, I'd understand, but Tornado?"
"That's his name!" Iggy fought back.
"No it's not!"
"Is to!"
"Is not!"
Both Oliver and Lou sweatdropped as the exchange continued.
"You think that kid that would be named Tornado?" Izzy asked calmly, trying very hard not to attack his brother.
"Yep." Iggy answered defiantly. "That's what everybody calls that guy with the camera." The older brother growled in response.
"If I may interject!" Oliver shouted, getting their attention. "Would the name you're looking for be Twister?"
"Oh yeah! That's it!" Both brothers answered cheerfully, causing him to sweatdrop.
"So let me get this straight." The redhead began, holding his forehead. "You two know Sam, but not the others?"
"You got it." Izzy answered with a thumbs-up.
"And dare I ask why?"
"Aw man!" The elder Lopez Brother slumped forward. "Do we have to break the fourth wall again?"
"Anyway, it's pretty simple." The younger brother started, rolling his eyes. "Because our dad hasn't written a story that doesn't involve a romantic relationship or something unrealistic, there's no continuation between each fic. Therefore, we can't have any memory of any character when we do a new story. The only exception is Sam, who for some reason he hates." He pointed at Izzy, who gaped at him along with Oliver. Iggy blinked in response. "...What?"
"Y-Y-Y-You just broke character, you know?" Izzy replied.
"I did?" The smaller one shrugged. "Oops?"
Izzy and Oliver fell over again.
"Ugh... I hate being a fan character..." The elder brother muttered, standing up again.
"So, getting back to the strange mushroom..." Oliver started, dusting himself off. "Are you two sure it was Twister's voice you heard?" Both brothers nodded.
"It was crystal clear." Izzy answered.
"Yep! I know it was him!" Iggy replied with a nod.
Meanwhile, Lou was a jumbled mess of feelings. First, he was scared out of his wits because of Iggy's story. Next, he was confused by the exchange that just went on. Finally, he was a little weirded out by that part about Twister.
'This doesn't make an ounce of sense!' He thought. 'That ghost thing sounds like Twister? Lars is possessed? What's next!'
"Attention, visiting hours are now over." A female voice was heard over the intercom.
He thought. A female voice was heard over the intercom."Hmmmm... Guess I better go home." Oliver said, walking away from the brothers. The teen's eyes widened when he realized that he could get caught. Thinking fast, he laid back on the bed and feigned sleep. When the redhead was about to leave the room, he looked to his left and gasped when he noticed the sleeping form of Lou! He paled as he made his way back to the Lopez Brothers.
"Uhhhh... Izzy?" He whispered.
"What?" He hissed. Oliver gulped as he prepared to answer.
"I don't know if you noticed, but Lou Crumpacker is lying in the bed right next to your brother's!"
"Who?"
The redhead slapped his forehead
"A friend of Sam's." He answered in a "You're such an idiot!" voice.
"A friend of..." Warning bells went off in the brunet's mind as he pushed past him and looked at Lou, who was still sleeping, though it seemed like he was sweating. Izzy sighed with relief.
"Whew..." He said, turning back to Oliver. Lou let out a relieved breath. "Man, don't scare me like that. I thought for a second there, he was eavesdropping on us."
"Well there's still a present danger." The redhead replied, looking at Iggy. Izzy immediately understood as he too faced his brother, who gave them both a curious look.
"Now listen, ya little brat!" He started, grabbing the boy's shirt collar. He gave Iggy a cold glare. "I'm going home right now. Under no circumstances are you to talk to the guy that's next to you. Got it?"
"Ugh! I got it." Iggy said, struggling against his brother's grip, but Izzy was too strong.
"I mean it! Say NOTHING about you-know-what or what we just talked about! I'm coming back first thing in the morning but if anything happens and you're surrounded by Sam and his pals, keep your trap SHUT!" He shook Iggy to get his point across. "Don't say a THING until I get here! Got it?"
"Uh-uh-uh-uh-huh..." Iggy said fearfully. He trembled and shuddered in his older brother's grip.
"And just to make sure you don't say anything, here's the deal." Izzy smirked evilly. "If I find out you said anything to them, you won't get your cut."
"WHAT!" Iggy protested. He clammed up when he saw his sibling's icy stare. He nodded weakly. "I understand... I won't say anything to anybody..." He looked to the side, tears building up in his eyes.
"Good." The older one dropped him. "And if Mom asks, you're sleeping over at a friend's house." He turned to walk away. "I'll be back to pick you up first thing in the morning. The doctor's should allow you to check out since you woke up."
"O-O-O-Ok..." Iggy sniffled as he laid back on his bed.
Izzy was almost out of the room when he sent the "sleeping" Lou a menacing glare. He then looked out into the hallway.
"I'm counting on you, Iggy." He said almost to himself. "It'll only be ten or so hours. Just last til then." He then left with Oliver to go home.
When he was sure Izzy was gone, Lou sat up and tried to absorb all that happened.
'I think we're in over our heads on this one.' He thought. 'Every single one of us.' He turned towards Iggy, who was crying softly as he tried to get to sleep. 'Poor kid...' He looked up at the ceiling as he tried to think things through.
He thought. He turned towards Iggy, who was crying softly as he tried to get to sleep. He looked up at the ceiling as he tried to think things through.After Izzy had departed the hospital room, Lou stared at the ceiling, ruminating over what had just transpired. He was appalled that someone had treated their brother - their brother - in the way he had just witnessed.
In the hockey matches he had been in as a relief with the Green and White, he was aware of the way Lars had behaved around Twister, of course, but there was a clear malevolence in the way Izzy had addressed Iggy just a few minutes earlier. After Iggy had quieted down, he found himself able to think. Maybe he'd done too much thinking, because Lou had started to feel rather sorry for himself. The stakes and the pressure had clearly been hiked in the contest for the treasure, and the fact that his crew had been deprived of his strength and courage right when they would both be most useful somewhat rankled him.
Well, thought Lou to himself, they might be deprived of my courage and strength, but I've still got my wisdom and compassion. Maybe that can still provide an edge. He reached for the bag at the side of his bed containing his belongings that the gang had brought, and fished out his cell phone. He rang Scott's number; the connection rang about three times before being picked up.
thought Lou to himself, He reached for the bag at the side of his bed containing his belongings that the gang had brought, and fished out his cell phone. He rang Scott's number; the connection rang about three times before being picked up."Hello?" answered a voice he didn't expect to reach there, notwithstanding the hour.
"Otto."- Lou recognized. "This is Louie, what's going on over there?"
"Oh hi Lou. We're having a sleepover at the Sanchez's," answered Otto. "How ya comin' along, bud?"
"Much better, thanks. Say, can I talk to Scott? I need to ask him something."
"Sure. I'll go and get him. Hang on," answered Otto. The gang staying at Scott's, under the protection of a dog and an alarm system, eased his conscience. Especially with a deluded pirate out there who was up to God only knew what.
"Hey Lou. Wassup," said Scott from the other end.
"Scotty, this is something for us to think about," Lou replied. "That guy they brought in while you guys were coming up here - Iggy Lopez - I heard his brother Izzy threatening him. It might be wise to arrange some sort of covert action - both to protect Iggy and to gain whatever insight he has about our...objective," Lou stated cryptically.
"Yes, me and Sam were talking some about those two. I'll take it under advisement, and will discuss this immediately with my associates," replied Scott with an air of official confidence.
"Good", replied Lou. "Whatever you decide on, be careful. This conversation did not take place," answered Lou with a big grin.
"Understood," Lou heard Scott say from the other end. "Sanchez out."
From the other side of the curtain, Lou heard a voice gasp with relief. "Thank you," it whispered.