I must have fallen asleep at some point on the jet because I awoke to Mitch dropping into the seat in front of me.

“What do you know about the history of leprosy?” he asked, his eyes shining with excitement.

“Nothing,” I said, blinking the sleep out of my eyes and looking around the jet.

The scrap of yellowed, old paper that Mitch had retrieved from the shaft of the key was still on the table but now, it was squished between two pieces of glass. His computer had been pushed back and his notebook was tossed down on the keyboard. An empty, crumped can of energy drink lay next to it.

“What about leper colonies? Lazar houses?” he prompted sounding incredulous.

I shook my head wordlessly.

His mouth dropped open in mock distress.

“What about leprosy? Hansen’s disease? Nothing about the transmission? Have you never even read the Bible?”

“Nope,” I said. “It’s mentioned in the Bible?”

He dropped his head back against the seat heavily.

“Alright, that does it. As soon as we land, I’m calling Betty. We’re having health and disease, infectious disease and epidemiology added to your syllabus. Classical studies too!”

I nodded, fascinated by the concept of all of those.

“Are they necessary to learn to be a treasure hunter?” I asked, kind of hoping they were.

“Of course! You’d be surprised how often people hide gold and other good stuff when they think there’s a pandemic or the world is ending. Oh, wait! How’s your knowledge of religion and previously predicted end times?”

“Umm… not good?” I said, truly having never considered it.

Mitch shook his head and leant across the aisle to grab his notebook, flicking to the back page and scribbling something down.

“Going to need to do something about that. Religious fanatics have some great relics and artefacts,” he said with a grin. “Anyway, as I was saying, the history of leprosy!”

He stopped talking and cocked his head at me.

Wariness washed through me, accompanied by a gentle amount of panic.

“What?” I asked.

“You were sleeping,” he said like he’d only just realised. “Do you need to go back to sleep? How many hours have you had recently? Not enough, right? Oh, damn. I need to do better. Alright, we’re stopping in France in an hour or so. Go back to sleep and I’ll walk you through it then.”

“What?” I asked, completely taken aback. “I’m fine! I’m awake! I want to know now!”

Mitch examined me carefully.

“Alright but you’re getting an early night tonight, you hear me?” he said, his eyes still narrowed.

I nodded, unable to help the grin that grew on my face.

He continued to watch me for a moment before heaving a heavy sigh and beginning his explanation.

“So, turns out I was wrong. I thought we’d be headed to a church or cathedral or some other religious building but boy was I wrong! Spinalonga. Dante’s gate. The clues were there from the beginning and I missed every single one of them!” Mitch slapped his knee and leaned back again with a grin.

I had no clue how any of it was connected even though it was my brain making it up. I must have heard scraps of information from television shows or movies and stored them away. Either that or it was all nonsense and Spinalonga didn’t even exist. I wasn’t sure.

“I don’t get it,” I admitted finally. “How are they connected?”

I was worried that Mitch would get annoyed or angry at my question but he just grinned even wider, happy to explain what he’d worked out.

“So, I knew it was somehow connected to Dante before because of that place in Italy but I didn’t know anything more than that until this.” He stood briefly to grab the pressed piece of paper and held it out to me.

I took it, the glass covering the paper making it surprisingly heavy, and examined it closely.

The scrap of paper had clearly been ripped off of a larger piece, the bottom edge was jagged and torn. The writing was elaborate, cursive and hard to read but I squinted at it nonetheless.

“Know what that is?” he asked.

I shook my head, not even sure where to start working it out.

“That is a ship’s log. Well, part of one. Detailing the delivery of Hydnocarpus wightianus oil to an island. Spinalonga. It must be.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Hydnocarpus wightianus oil or chaulmoogra oil was grown in India and used as a treatment of leprosy,” he said.

“Okay?” I said slowly, things were becoming somewhat clearer in my head but I was still lost. “But, how does that connect to Spinalonga? You said something about Dante’s gate?”

His face lit up.

“Yes, I did! So, I’m going to assume you know nothing about the island?”

“No, sorry,” I said with a shake of my head.

“Don’t apologise, kid!” he cried. “I don’t think many people your age would know about it. Or even my age actually…”

He trailed off looking thoughtful for a moment.

“So… Spinalonga?” I prompted finally.

“Yes! So, the island was one of the last active leper colonies in Europe! I think there are a few still going in the world to this day but none in Europe anymore, according to my research. Leprosy as a disease has existed pretty much forever. I mean, they’ve found significant evidence of it in skeletal remains from five hundred AD but there are descriptions of it even further back,” he explained, his eyes alight as he spoke.

“What even is leprosy? I mean, I think I’ve heard someone say something about it making your fingers fall off, right?” I said, scraping the depths of my memory to find that scrap of information.

Mitch grinned at me.

“It can do! It’s known as a long-term infection which causes nerve damage, rashes and a bunch of other bad symptoms. But, because people with it often lose feeling in their fingers and toes, they can get injured or get an infection, not notice and then end up losing parts of those extremities because of it. Sometimes they don’t even realise they’ve lost it until they spot the missing part lying around!” he explained a little too happily.

“Oh,” I said quietly, trying to ignore the horrifying concept of losing a finger or a toe and not realising it.

“Yeah, pretty horrifying disease really.”

“How do people get it?”

I just wanted to know if we were risking catching the disease by going to the island. Surely, we weren’t. The island was probably abandoned now… right?

“That’s an interesting question with a pretty varied answer. I think they traced an outbreak back in the medieval times to the trade of red squirrel fur but generally, it’s transmitted through extensive contact with someone who has the disease. I think it’s something like ninety percent of those who get the bacteria don’t even end up developing leprosy but for those who do, the incubation period can be massively different. I mean, some people can have the disease for up to twenty years before it makes itself known.”

I shuddered at that idea.

“You can have leprosy for twenty years before knowing it?” I asked, my tone horrified.

Mitch nodded, looking grim.

“Yeah, I think that’s one of the reasons it’s so stigmatised to this day. That and how visible the disease is. People get pretty twitchy and cruel whenever someone has an obvious or visible sign of being different. And, you know, the Bible isn’t too kind about it, like a lot of other things. If I remember correctly, it’s described as a ‘physical embodiment of sin and uncleanness’ but I might be paraphrasing. Either way, people are dicks when it comes to the disease.”

“But it isn’t even that contagious?” I asked.

“Nope, and nowadays it’s treated pretty easily. Just six months to two years of medication and then people with leprosy are no longer contagious and are only at a really low risk of relapse.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty simple! I think medication is generally given for free by the World Health Organisation too nowadays but that doesn’t stop people with the illness from being shunned and cast out. I like to think it’s better now but it’s probably still pretty bad. Back at the beginning of the twentieth century, it was definitely worse though.”

“Really?” I asked.

As horrific as Mitch’s explanation was, it was also fascinating. I’d never learnt about it in school so I thought leprosy was an old disease. One that didn’t exist anymore, like the plague.

“Yup. People were shipped off to Spinalonga and other leper colonies around the world and any trace of them was erased from history as much as possible. I mean, they had their property and assets taken, their citizenship revoked and their names erased from the registries of their hometowns.”

“Oh, wow. What happened when they got to Spinalonga? Was it just an empty island or were there, like, hospitals and stuff for them there?” I asked hopefully, trying to push the image of a completely bare island from my mind.

Mitch gave me an almost sympathetic look.

“Kind of,” he said carefully. “Well, once Epaminondas Remountakis arrived on the island some were built but before that, it was more of a… empty island where people waited for death. I mean, there were some houses and settlements there. Quite a lot was left over from the earlier days on the island where it was a military base and then a trade settlement but… they didn’t have running water for the first thirty years or so.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a cold answer but not enough people cared. Greece as a whole was struggling financially and was involved in quite a few different wars at the time so looking after people who they tried to pretend didn’t exist wasn’t exactly a high priority. I mean, they didn’t even give the people there enough supplies to grow their own food so they were stuck relying on people from the nearby village who had set up a daily market on the island. But, of course, they weren’t given enough money to afford adequate food or medicine.”

“That’s horrible. So, they were basically just expected to just suffer?” I said, disgusted.

“I mean, yeah. But, Spinalonga wasn’t the only place with horrific conditions like that. Pretty much every leper colony was a dark place and every government liked to pretend they didn’t exist. At least some people tried to help on Spinalonga and when Epaminondas Remountakis and some other highly educated individuals arrived on the island, things took a turn for the better.”

“Oh, really?” I asked, my heart feeling a little lighter.

“Yeah. Epaminondas Remountakis started the Fraternity of the Sick and spent the rest of his life making things better for the people on the island. You know, sorting out the water situation, fixing up the houses and making sure they had access to food, medicine and entertainment. From what I’ve read, it became less of a prison and more of a community where kids who were born there could go to school and leave once their parents were cured.”

A smile came over my face.

“I’m glad. But wait, where does Dante come into this?” I asked, finally remembering how we got onto the topic. “Also, why would whoever left the key in Scotland go to Spinalonga if they probably didn’t have the money to pay for the oil?”

Mitch leant back in his seat, his eyes distant as he thought quickly.

“I meant, the first question is easy enough to answer. There was a tunnel onto the island for the lepers to use that is known as Dante’s gate but I assume that the sailors who left the ship’s log and delivered supplies to the Spinalonga must have had a reason for doing so. Probably a contract from someone who knew someone on the island. Rich people got leprosy too so it would be possible that some wealthy merchant’s kid or wife was sent to the island so they did what they could to make sure they were okay,” he said finally.

“They’d be split up from their families?” I asked.

“Yup, pretty brutal situation all around. I’m sure some people tried to help those who’d been taken but generally, they just tried to forget that person existed.”

I nodded, my mind distracted.

“That makes sense. So, you reckon it’s linked to some rich family or something? Like, that’s how the sailors got access to Spinalonga?” I asked.

“Maybe. It could have been a few different things though. Maybe the sailors were just really good people who didn’t like that people were suffering on the island with no help. They might have heard whispers of what was going on there or had personal connections to the people there or… more often than not in this job, it’s linked to an underground ring.”

I stared up at Mitch, taken aback.

“An underground ring?” I asked.

“Yeah. A hidden agenda, secret society, a goodhearted or maybe evil group of people doing something they’re not meant to,” Mitch suggested lightly.

“Do you come across a lot of them?”

Mitch laughed uproariously.

“Oh man, if I had a pound for every group I came across I wouldn’t have to keep doing this job! I mean, I would, I love it, but I wouldn’t have to,” he said, finally, wiping his eyes.

“Huh,” I said quietly.

Maybe there were groups like that in my world, like in reality. It made sense, really. There were always hidden agendas, people doing things they shouldn’t or going against what people think they should be doing. It would make sense.

“We’ll probably find out more once we get the treasure before we have to hand it over to my client.”

I nodded.

“When do you think the treasure was put on Spinalonga? I mean, do you think that whatever we’re looking for was on the island before the leper colony set up there? Or could it have been before then?” I asked eventually.

Mitch’s face stretched up into a smile.

“Good catch. It could have been. Truly, we have no idea how old the key is, when it was put in the Kirkyard or when it was used last. I mean, the key might have been passed down through families and then the ship log could have just been put in it at the beginning of the twentieth century, replacing whatever they used before then as a clue but we’ll see when we get to the island,” Mitch said.

I nodded.

“So, are we flying right onto the island? How big is it? Is there an airport?” I asked, aware that I was bombarding him with questions.

“I wish we could but alas, there is no airport there. Closest is Crete. Heraklion airport. Luckily, they allow private planes to land there and there’s a hotel very close to Spinalonga,” Mitch said with a self-satisfied grin that I didn’t quite understand.

“Oh, yeah?” I asked uncertainly.

“Oh, yeah. A luxury hotel. You ever stayed in a room with a private pool attached to it? And four other public pools on the property?”

I shook my head.

The idea of a private pool attached to my hotel room felt so… luxurious. There was no other term for it.

“Oh, you’re in for a treat. Just wait until you try the food too! It’s so good. We’re going to have a great time.”

“Do we have time to relax and try the food and everything?” I asked somewhat reluctantly. “Do we not just have to get to Spinalonga and then leave again?”

Mitch smirked.

“I mean, technically yes but we need to scope out the island, make sure that Sterling’s assholes aren’t already there and waiting for us, work out transport, safe ways to get in and out, and so much more. We’re going to be there for about a week before we can go to the island, I estimate. As long as we’re there alone, we got time to be cautious but if Sterling’s people appear… we might need to speed things up a little. Should be fine though.”

“So… we get a week at a luxury hotel?” I asked, just needing to be sure because it sounded so incredible.

“We absolutely do. And, don’t get me wrong, we got some work to do whilst we’re there. Monitoring the island, making sure that we’ve not been followed and you’ve got some school work to do but… a lot of that can be done from next to the pool. We’ve got to blend in and not draw too much attention to ourselves because, if this goes tits up, they’re going to be looking at hotel guests so we need to be perfectly normal and not stand out in any way. Everything we do needs to make us seem not like the type to go… treasure hunting, got it?”

I nodded.

“So, how do we do that? How do we blend in?”

Mitch grinned at me.

“Well, first step is clothing. We gotta look the part which is why it’s good we’ll be stopping to refuel soon enough. We’re going to go out and grab a new wardrobe for both of us whilst Lauren sorts out the plane. Then it’ll be a case of lounging around the pool, playing into our characters and making sure that no one suspects anything. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get us a room or two that overlooks the island so we can set up monitoring equipment from there. You know, some telescopes and whatnot. I think they’re still doing tours of the island too so I’ll get us booked on those which should be helpful. Gives us a nice, legitimate reason to be there and have a look around.”

I nodded.

That made sense. It would be good to see the island and try to work out what the key could open or if there was anything that stood out as suspicious. I wasn’t even sure what that would be but I liked to think that Mitch would be able to spot something. I mean, he’d been working as a treasure hunter for years, he had to be able to.

“Alright, any other questions?” he asked.

About a million but I couldn’t quite form them into actual questions that would make sense. Plus, I didn’t want to annoy him. I’d already asked a bunch of questions, too many. I didn’t want him to get sick of me.

I shook my head.

“Awesome. We should probably grab a computer for you when we land too. Gotta get started on those lessons,” Mitch said. “You can use my iPad for now if you want whilst I book us some rooms. They better have some space.”

“What if they don’t?” I asked quickly.

The idea of lounging around a pool, eating glorious food and just experiencing the hotel sounded so, so good. I didn’t want that to be snatched out from under me so soon.

But, surely, in my own fantasy that wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t. I mean, I could just make there be some spare rooms, right?

Mitch grinned at me as he stood, stretched and settled in the other seat.

“Well then, there might be a server issue at the hotel. What a shame it would be if someone’s room was cancelled and rebooked under our name.”