For the Thrill of It | Nathan Drake

[ 006 ] don't be a spain in the butt

"Mmhmm. Bye."

Chloe makes it about five feet before stopping the car and heaving a sigh of relent. It's as much of a confession as they'll get.

Tate leans against the passenger door and raps her knuckles on the window. "Should've let him keep talking."

"If it's not a tree, then what is it?" Chloe asks.

Nathan trades a victorious look with the other two before answering, "At the auction house, Moncada called it an 'altar crucifix.' I didn't think about it then, but something Tate said made me realize that the cross was originally made to stand on an altar. In a church."

"Which church?" both Chloe and Sully question at the same time.

"God, you guys never stop, do you?" Nathan asks.

Tate shrugs as she comes around to his side of the car. "You really do have to start being more specific."

"Look, if we wanna get the gold, we're gonna have to figure out a way to trust each other." He holds a hand out to Chloe. "So give me the key."

"Like you had it last time, only for it to get stolen?" Tate approaches Chloe's open window and holds out her hand as well. "Give me the key."

The girl hovers the cross over Tate's palm, repeating her question to Nathan, "Which church?"

The Santa Maria del Pi is a Gothic-style church in the city's Barri Gòtic district. Like many parts of Europe, it has withstood bombings, collapses, and anarchy, standing tall and proud above the stone streets of Barcelona.  Tate cranes her neck to take in the beautiful rose window in the building's front façade. It's obvious now that she thinks about it- the church's name literally translates to "Saint Mary of the Pine".

The placard to their left has the same image of the tree that was in the captain's book. Tate doesn't know whether to be impressed by Nathan's thought process or angry that she hadn't realized this first.

"This has to be it," Sully says. He sounds impressed as he smiles at Nathan and rifles through the journal. "You might just be a genius."

"I wouldn't go that far," Tate says. She's jarred away from the intricate carvings in the stone by the point of his elbow digging into her ribs.

"It is a stretch," Chloe agrees.

"Oh, yeah?" Sully asks. having located the page in question, he holds out the tattered book so she can see the painted image of the tree. "Look at that. Now you know why I brought him."

Nathan smirks at Tate. "It's zero to one."

"I didn't realize we were keeping score," she replies.

"You mean you weren't starting a tally?"

She was. And she curses her competitive nature for being so obvious. It's fine when she's winning, but when she has yet to score a point... it stings. No, more like it burns, festering within her and igniting a spark of rage that churns in her gut, making her feel antsy to prove herself. Prove her worth. That she's not some ditzy airhead who gets too distracted by birds to realize she's been stolen from.

When Tate doesn't answer and instead glares at the ground, Nathan's smirk grows into a knowing smile.

Chloe hums as she examines the drawing. "Okay. Good work." It sounds like it pains her to compliment him. "I'll go see when we might have a private look inside."

She heads over to speak to two nuns who stand outside the main entrance. Their habits and veils are all white, but their shoes are black and their ankles are showing. Tate wonders if this is considered scandalous for the Lord.