Lucie lay awake in her bed, blinking into the darkness. Jake's slow, steady breathing was barely audible across the room and Lucie said a silent thank you to God for letting Jake go to bed early that night. He had had plenty of time now to go into a deep slumber. Lucie felt butterflies dancing around in her stomach. Her nerves were going crazy thinking about the task at hand. She looked at the clock again- 3 minutes since the last time- and then glanced at the window. She had gone over her escape plan hundreds of times in her head since she had pretended to go to bed, but she decided she would once more just to make sure she had it down. The tiniest hitch on her part or any of the seven D-Tent boys' could mess up the entire plan. She had gone to bed in her blue jeans and Auburn University sweatshirt so she wouldn't have to fumble around in the dark looking for clothes, risking waking Jake up. Just outside the already opened window ("It's stuffy in here tonight…do you mind if I leave the window open?" she had said to Jake) was a stepladder for her to climb down and a shovel. Magnet had swiped the key to the "library" from Mr. Sir's office while X-Ray made up some lame story about a yellow-spotted lizard in the mess hall to get Mr. Sir away. Together Magnet and Squid had carried eight shovels out.

Lucie glanced back at the clock. Finally the glowing red letters flashed "2:00."

When the guys saw Lucie running toward where they were gathered just outside the tent area they gave each other silent high fives. Part one was complete: Everyone getting out unnoticed. She smiled at them and held up the flashlight she had been grasping under the covers since 10:00 earlier in the night.

"Only when we are down in the hole," she instructed and handed the flashlight over to X-Ray, the unspoken leader of the mission.

"Good job, Lucie," Zero said patting her back as they all headed toward the marked hole. She smiled, quite pleased with herself.

Squid slipped an arm around Lucie's back and said, "Jake didn't want to come?"

Lucie playfully punched him in the stomach. "You know I didn't ask him."

Squid smiled. "What do you think's in that treasure box?"

Lucie looked over at Caveman who had come up to walk on the other side of her. "I don't know, but whatever it is, I have a feeling it belongs to Stanley."

"My great grandfather."

"Huh?" Squid asked, looking over Lucie's head at Caveman.

"My great-grandfather was lost out in this desert for 16 days after Kissin' Kate Barlow took his box and everything that was inside. I have a strange feeling that's what this treasure out here is."

"If it is, it belongs to you and your family, Stanley."

Caveman smiled weakly and sped up to catch up with Zero who was at the front of the group.

Squid took Lucie's hand in his. "What's going on with your aunt and Mr. Sir?"

"I don't know. She was on the phone a lot this evening. I tried to listen in once on another phone, but she heard me pick up. She thought it was Mr. Sir, luckily, and yelled for him to hang up."

"Here's the hole," X-Ray yelled in a whisper, and held his shovel high in the air to make sure all everyone could see him. "Right here."

Everyone crowded around, both excitement and anxiety on their faces. They were silent for a moment as they all stood around the edge and stared down into the dark hole. Everything was so unsure from this minute on. Anything could be in that box. Anything could happen once they found out what was in there. What would they do with it? Where could they go? Could the warden take it from them? The same questions were racing through everyone's mind.

"Well," Squid said, and everyone nodded.

With everyone digging, it only took a few minutes to dig the chest back up. They had buried it deep enough to where no one could stumble upon it by chance. It took Zig Zag and Armpit together to hoist it out of the hole. Dirt crumbled off the sides when it hit the ground outside the hole with a thud.

Lucie bent down and ran her fingers over the "Stanley Yelnats" nameplate. "Shall we see what's inside?"

Huge grins spread across all eight faces. Magnet started laughing out of pure excitement, which caused everyone else to start snickering as well.

"Shhh," X-Ray finally said. "Who's gonna open it?"

"Well, it looks like we're gonna hafta break the lock…probably with a shovel." Squid suggested, and everyone decided he could do it.

With three swift blows to the lock, it popped off and the lid flipped open, revealing a mound of jewels, old paper money, and some yellowed sheets of paper.

"Holy shit," Zig Zag muttered with wide eyes.

No one made any kind of move to dig further in. There was more money in that little box than any of them had ever seen in their lives. Zero's eyes got especially wide. He had rarely seen anything of value at all. After a long few minutes, Lucie finally spoke.

"What are we going to do with this?" It was a question all of them had been contemplating. They couldn't let the warden know about it, or else she might claim it was hers and try to take it from them. Lucie felt a pang of guilt, knowing this is what her aunt had searched for her whole life. But she knew deep down that it didn't belong to her. As much as she loved Lou, she knew this camp was wrong. It was wrong how the boys were treated and it was wrong that all of this was to find someone else's treasure. As Lucie stood staring at it, surrounded by these boys she had come to love and trust, it all became clear to her. Why hadn't she seen it before? She had thought the camp government owned…or at least the government knew about it. But she had thought wrong. Now, as she pondered her own question in her mind, she knew that whatever they did with this treasure, it had to get these boys out of here.

"Who's gonna believe a bunch of juvenile delinquents that we just found this buried out here?" Armpit asked aloud, breaking the silence. "Who can we go to?"

"Maybe nobody will believe us," Squid said, "but somebody'll believe Lucie."

Lucie quickly ran over in her mind all the people in her life who could help them in this situation. But what could they do? What could anyone do?

"You know what guys?" Lucie said in a determined voice. "We're going to have to do this ourselves."

"But-"

"How can we-"

"We can't even leave-"

"She's right, guys." Everyone looked at Caveman. "We're going to have to figure something out."

After much consideration and arguing, they decided that for now, Lucie should hide the treasure in her room under the bed, surrounded by all of her stuff she brought along. No one invaded her private space, but Mr. Sir and Dr. Pendanski were constantly searching the guys' tent. They would surely find it. X-Ray and Armpit carried the chest back to the cabin and Squid went along to help lift it through the window. Lucie and Squid climbed up the ladder first, and then X-Ray and Armpit lifted the chest up onto the windowsill. It was hard for Lucie to help Squid move it from the windowsill to under the bed, but he took up most of the slack, his muscles bulging through the white t-shirt he was wearing. Lucie couldn't help but smile a little as she watched him struggle to shove the heavy treasure under the bed.

"I can't believe we did it," Lucie said whispered happily. Squid smiled at her and brushed a hair from her face.

"We couldn't have done it without you, Luc." He walked over to the window and looked down at his two friends waiting for him. "Y'all go ahead…I'll be back in a few minutes."

Lucie was still picturing his muscles as she watched him lean out the window. They flexed a little under his weight and she felt the same fluttery feeling in her stomach she had earlier that night, only this time it was a happier flutter. He walked back over to her and put his hands on her waist. She loved when he did this. His hands just fit so perfectly around her small waist, like they were made to rest there. She felt the space between their bodies get smaller as he softly pulled her toward him. No, he wasn't pulling her. Lucie realized her hand had grasped his shirt and was pulling his body to hers. She felt like someone else was controlling it. She kissed his chin and then his lips, ever so lightly. A loud snort from the corner made them both jump.

"Jake," Lucie whispered.

"Damn."

A tingling feeling spread from Lucie's fingers down her arms, into her abdomen and settled in the pit of her stomach.

"Now what?" Squid asked, his chin brushing her forehead.

Lucie looked past him to the open window. "We can go outside," she suggested. "We can…talk out there without Jake hearing us."

Squid helped her down the ladder and let her lead the way. She gestured toward a grove of trees in the back yard, thick grass growing around and between them. Squid nodded at the gesture and put his arm around her back, letting his hand slide down her back a little. A chill shot down her spine. They both stood wordless in the grove, surrounded by the noise of crickets and other night sounds. Lucie wasn't sure exactly what she wanted to happen now. She still had the tingling in the pit of her stomach and now her heart was racing. Squid, as if sensing her uncertainty, leaned in to give her a reassuring kiss. Lucie kissed him back, growing more and more hungry for the taste of his lips. He backed her into the tree right behind her, pressing his body against hers. His hands began to wander, and Lucie didn't stop them. She was becoming engulfed in his kiss, his passion, their passion for each other. She barely knew what was happening when they were both sliding down onto the soft bed of grass, nor did she care. On their own accord, her hands slid up under his shirt and lifted it over his head.

"Lucie," Squid whispered, his breath becoming labored.

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure about this?"