✘QUEENIE✘ Maybank

Hawk's Nest

The five of them sat at Rixon's by the crackling fire in dresses and server wear, minus John B, after driving there in Twinkie. None of them had spoken until Pope took his hand off of his bouncing knee.

"Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already going to kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" He looked up to John B, who was staring at the fire. He shot finger guns at JJ, who was laying on Bailee's dress while she's in her dirty dress.

"Man, might as well tell them before we're gaffed," JJ said, not moving from his position yet. Bailee's other arm was away from JJ holding her lit lighter, flicking it on and off.

"You ready for this?" John B looked around at everyone's waiting faces.

Kie looked at him, confused, before answering. "Yeah."

"So... the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John B stated. Pope rolled his eyes before speaking up.

"Here we go again with this." He moves to get up before Bailee stops him.

"Hear him out, Pope. Let's see what he brings to us as table evidence. Support your cause, young explorer, or perish in the flame." Bailee says in a royal tone, still not taking her eyes off of her flickering flame. Her face was stone cold, which made John B shiver a bit before continuing.

"Very well, your majesty." John B smiles, going along with her antics. "It's been here the whole time. It's on the island."

Kie looked to Pope, then to John B. "Are you serious? Oh my God."

"I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope interrupts, to which JJ stops laying on Bailee's dress and sits upright on the log.

"I'm sure you would, Pope," John B counters as he stands and walks towards an opening in the path behind the fire. "but, can I present the Royal Court with my evidence first?"

"Proceed," Pope says, waving his hand in an awaiting motion.

"All right. So, in my backpack," John B pulls out an old piece of paper before setting his bag on the ground. "I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."

The proudness in John B's statement slipped away as there was no response. Bailee's lighter and the bugs outside, along with the fire, were the only noises until Kiara spoke up.

"Who the hell is that?"

John B snapped his fingers and pointed his hand at Kiara. "Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check it out."

Kie looked at the paper John B had given her. At this point, Bailee had become intrigued but continued to flick her lighter as she spoke. "He wasn't counted because he was a slave, right?"

"Yeah. How'd you know that slaves weren't counted?' John B questioned.

"I read about it. Slaves weren't classified as passengers because they served other passengers on the ship. It's like how cruises have a staff list and a guest list, which are now all defined as people, thankfully. But even then, slaves weren't recognized as crew members either."

John B stopped in his tracks, turning to Bailee. Pope, JJ, and Kie all looked up at her from their spots.

She felt the eyes staring at her so she turned and put away her lighter. "What? I have a Chapel Hill pass. I forced JJ to go a while ago, but that was only because I bought him ice cream and he didn't have to pay attention to anything in the museum. It took two weeks of convincing because I didn't want to go alone. We graffitied the side of it."

"Oh, I remember that. That was last year, right? That was good ice cream." JJ said, not recognizing the historical part of the trip.

"I'm sorry. You got JJ to go to a museum and have a Chapel Hill pass?" John B sighed, running his hands through his hair. "This would've been so much easier."