Cottage on Gooseberry Bay: Charmed Summer by Kathi Daley (big screen ebook reader txt) 📗

The ornament was worn on the man’s right hand and featured four small circles overlapping in the center. The way Carl described it, I pictured a Venn diagram. One circle, the one at the top, was gold and held no stone. The other three circles were silver. One of the silver circles had a small black stone, while one had a green stone, and the other stone was red.”

“So, if we can find the ring, maybe we can find the man,” I said.

“Sounds like a longshot,” Parker commented.

“It sounds pretty near impossible,” Jemma admitted, “but unless anyone has a better idea…”

We all agreed we didn’t, so Jemma got to work searching the World Wide Web for some trace of the man we believed had taken three innocent kids for reasons we could only guess at.

Chapter 15

Either by luck or by fate, Jemma was actually able to track down someone who recognized the ring once she’d posted a sketch in every relevant chat room she could think of. The man who hit her back told her that a man named Darryl Quinn, who lived on a private island off the coast of Oregon and spent most of his time gaming and attending gaming conventions, owned a ring that fit her description to a T. Apparently, he was also a guru of sorts who’d linked himself to the game through the software the man at the comic book and video game store showed us after he’d discovered that the game taught many of the same lessons in self-reliance and teamwork he tried to teach his followers.

Even though we’d figured out who the man was and where he could probably be found, we weren’t equipped to storm the island and rescue the kids, so Parker took all the evidence we’d managed to gather, along with the theory we’d worked up and once again went to talk to Deputy Todd. This time, he took things seriously and called in the FBI, which I thought he’d done in the beginning, but hadn’t. The FBI located the island, and by the end of the day, all three boys had been found.

The thing I found the most surprising was that all three boys had ended up voluntarily going with Darryl. Once he had them on board his boat, he made them see that the only way out of the pain they’d found themselves living in was to take back their power and learn to make their own decisions. Reaper used the lessons learned through the game to convince them that they had what it took to take care of themselves, even in a hostile environment.

Of course, even though the man had been able to talk the kids into voluntarily going with him, they were only fifteen, so he was arrested for kidnapping and would face trial at some point in the future. I still wasn’t sure why he’d targeted the boys or how he knew what was going on in each player’s life. I wasn’t sure why he insisted on having all three boys on board before making his offer of asylum either, but it did seem that teamwork was a big theme with him.

All of the other followers living on the island were adults who chose to be there, so they hadn’t proved to be a threat to Darryl’s freedom. The fact that he seemed to have targeted minors seemed odd to us, but I supposed he must have had his reasons. The boys all reported that they’d been treated well during their stay, but I supposed that might have changed if they’d been there longer.

Josie had to work today, and Parker had a story to file, so it was just Jemma and me who met to talk things over.

“The fact that this man sought out three fifteen-year-olds and then convinced them to go with him is super creepy, but after we identified the man, I took a look at exactly what he is doing on that island,” she said.

“And?”

“And in theory, the ideas he teaches are pretty functional. He’s big into the concept of being part of a team and the game, which he apparently helped develop, only allows for a team to succeed. If one member of the team goes off on their own, the entire team suffers, but if the team works together to make decisions and handle any work that needs to be accomplished, they flourish. Of course, the idea of teamwork and selflessness when interacting with a team isn’t a new concept. It’s been around for years, but there aren’t a lot of people who are really adept at putting others before themselves and working for the greater good rather than focusing on what is best for each individual.”

“I wonder what will happen to the colony on the island now that Daryl is in jail.”

Jemma shrugged. “I suppose if Daryl did a good job teaching teamwork and group survival, the men and women who live there will be able to figure it out. It is an interesting social experiment. Actually, I kind of like the part of the game that dictates that if one team member dies in the game, all the team members die. It seems like a good lesson in watching the back of your fellow man as well as your own.”

“Yeah. The man seemed to have insight, but he was crazy. Any stable adult would know you can’t just recruit a group of kids to join your little cult and not find yourself in a whole lot of hot water.” I paused and looked out the window at the bay. “Have you heard if the boys came home willingly, or were they upset to leave?”

“I’m not sure. I guess if the boys didn’t want to leave, their parents are going to need to keep an eye on them. It seems to me they might prove to be a