The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2 by Walter Scott (fantasy novels to read .txt) 📕

splotchy, and her neck was turning purple from the knife hands. Makeup streaks were everywhere from the tears. Scorpia left the room and headed to the bathrooms.

“And wash that shit out of your hair.”

Scorpia nodded as she walked away. Angelica saw the two ladies had already stripped their beds and had armloads of their stuff ready to switch over.

“Thank you ladies,” Angelica told them, not quite sure what she was thanking them for.

“I think… I’m going to like having you around after all,” Jill said with a smile.

A commotion in the hallway made Angel pause putting her bedding on when a pair of female guards came rushing in, pistols out. Jill and April made eek ’ing sounds but Angelica turned to them with her hands up.

“What happened?” the one on her left asked.

“What? I’m making my bed, duh!”

“No, I’m talking about the other lady that was in here,” the second one said.

“Oh, she went to take a shower,” Angelica told her. “Is there a chance of getting a late-night snack here, and turn down service?”

“Oh, we got a smart one, huh?” the first asked. “It looks like Scorpia really got worked over. Did you three put a beatdown on her?”

“No,” Jill said quickly. “Not me.” April said. The whole room looked at Angel, who smiled at them sweetly. “No, the three of us didn’t put the beat down on her.” It wasn’t a lie, it had only been Angel.

“Then why was she upset?” the second guard asked.

“Because she tried to welcome me to 4C with a hug and a kiss. I told her that her body odor could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. Besides, I’m not into girls. I guess I hurt her poor feelings, bless her heart. Told her we might be best of buddies, but she had to shower first. That’s the end of the story, really...”

Angel was smirking, but nobody said anything for a long few moments.

“No fighting,” the first guard said, holstering her gun. The second followed, and they walked out.

“Your best friend? I thought you said you were going to make her your bitch?” Jill asked, almost giggling.

“I mean, without my husband around to open jars for me, and reach things up high, it’ll be good to have my little bitch do the heavy lifting for me.”

April snickered and soon they were all laughing.

Twenty

Harry, Luis, and Goldie joined Leah after the workers had gone home. They had another ammo can that the metal detectors had found. It hadn’t been as simple to get that one out as it had been the other. They’d dug, then had to go get a hatchet to chop roots, then dug some more. A big rock had worked its way up next to it at some point, denting the can and making it hard to get out, so Luis had eventually gotten a pickaxe and broken it apart. It took them until after dark when the workers had gone home to finally be able to bring their find out.

“Who should open it?” Anna asked.

“I think it should be Harry,” Leah told them. “He stumbled on the first can of gold and silver coins, and if it hadn’t been for him, we never would have figured out the map.”

“I’m fine with that, I think it’s a great idea. Dante?”

“I’m good. Steven, Anna?”

“We’re good, now get going!” Steven said excitedly.

“Wait!” Luis said, then walked over to the fridge they had put in there.

He grabbed a case of Budweiser and brought it back. He tore the cardboard on the top and started passing out bottles. Everyone but Leah and Harry got one.

“Go ahead little Harry,” Luis said, popping the top off his beer.

Harry worked on the snap holding the ammo lid closed and was about to give up when it popped open. Carefully, he undid it and then opened the lid.

“Bingo,” Dante yelled loudly, startling them.

“Shit, I just spilled beer down my shirt,” Anna said, then smacked his arm with her free arm.

Dante made a motion to the table. Everyone turned as Harry started pulling out bundles of old canvas cloth. They made an odd clinking sound.

“Oh, this is good,” Anna said, taking a long drink of her beer. “You going to open yours, Hun, or do I need to get a nipple for you?”

“Huh?” Steven said, then popped the cap on his beer. “Yeah. Sorry, this is exciting stuff.”

“My mouth is all dry,” Harry complained, “and I don’t want no yucky beer. I’m just…”

“Nervous,” Goldie said, watching as he pulled the last cloth wrapped bundle out.

“Can you untie that, or do you want to borrow my pocketknife?” Luis asked Harry.

Six bundles sat in front of the ammo can. It had been enough to fill the can all the way up, but it wasn’t loose gold and silver coins like the last can had been, judging by how easy it had been for little Harry to pull them out.

“I can untie it, I think. Daddy says I can’t play with knives yet.”

The group drank beer and watched as Harry struggled with the knotted cloth. Finally, he found a tear in the side and just pulled it apart. The old canvas ripped easily, and something shiny fell out and rolled under the table.

“I got it,” Anna said and reached down. “What the…”

She held up a ring. It was gold, with a diamond and emerald inlay.

“There’s more,” Harry said, dumping the cloth bag out.

The familiar looking gold and silver coins came out, but so did other jewelry.

“Oh wow,” Goldie said, holding up a decorated brooch pin.

“I don’t think this is buried treasure anymore,” Anna said, walking over and picking up some jewelry from the table.

“How can you tell?” Luis asked.

“What lady would have more than a few wedding rings?”

They all looked in. The ring that Anna held was one of half a dozen that had spilled out of the cloth bag with the coins.

“What are we looking at?” Leah asked Anna.

“I don’t know, but I’m starting to