𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘴 ☼ 𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘯

𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦〔 𝘯𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 〕

"Go for it" JJ tells Kiara.

"No chance" Kiara scoffs.

"You do it!" Sarah tells JJ.

"Sorry. I... I went in the storm drain so..." Kiara shrugs.

"So did I" I add.

"They did go in the storm drain" Pope backs us up.

"Yeah. No, I'm gonna do it. It's just..." JJ hesitates, shaking his hands out.

"He's scared" Kiara whispers, making me snort.

"I'm not scared, dude" JJ argues.

"You seem scared" Kiara grins in amusement.

"That's because he is" I tease.

JJ ignores our comments and sticks his hand into the hole, his whole arm being swallowed by the tree.

"There's something in here" He states with a nervous chuckle "Wait"

My brother abruptly starts screaming and thrashing around frantically, causing all of us to panic. Sarah, John B, Pope and I all try to scale the van in horror as we scream while Kiara grabs onto him and tries to pull him away from the tree in concern.

"Come here!" Kiara shouts, yanking his jacket.

The blonde boy bursts out laughing and we all deflate, breathing out in relief and annoyance.

"Oh, you asshole" Pope spits.

"Oh, man! I got all of you on that one" JJ laughs to himself.

"Oh, yeah, real original" Pope scoffs, irritated with his boyfriend.

"You're such a douchebag, JJ" I groan, leaning against the van.

"Wait, but seriously, there's something in here" He replies, pulling out a cylinder shaped object.

"Let me see it" Pope perks up.

JJ hands the object down to Pope and I stand up straight, looking over the Heyward boy's shoulder to see what he's looking at. He wipes the dust off the wooden part of the cylinder to reveal words carved into it.

"HMS Royal Merchant" Pope reads out.

"Give it to the captain" JJ declares, jumping down and snatching it from Pope "Here we go. It's a spyglass"

He extends the cylinder, proving that it is in fact a telescope and he lifts it to his eye, looking through it with a proud smile on his face.

"Way to go, dork" I pat his back and he turns his head to me, smiling as John B inspects the scope.

"There's something on the ends" Kiara points out.

"An inscription right there. Look at that shit" John B shows Pope.

"Oh, what does it say?" JJ perks up excitedly.

"'You've come this far. Do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's altar.'" Pope reads aloud before looking at us in disbelief "'Freedman's altar.' The cross is at the church!"

"What are we doing here, guys? Come on!" JJ hollers as Sarah spins to me and wraps her arms around me with an exited squeal, making me laugh.

"We got it!" Pope cheers

"Woogity-woogity" JJ and Pope celebrate with their signature handshake.

☼ ☼ ☼

"Ah, crap! The tide" John B curses, the van slowing to a stop.

"Oh, this doesn't look good" Pope comments.

I lean forward between JJ and John B in the front seats to get a better look at the flooded road.

"How deep is that?" Kiara questions.

"I dunno. The road's gone" John B answers

"The tide rose a little faster than I thought it would" JJ states.

"Just a little bit" John B scoffs.

"Uh, John B, how high are the spark plugs?" My brother asks.

"They're good. We're fine" The Routledge boy shrugs.

"How high are they?" Pope presses.

"Oh, um..." John B drawls off, sticking his head out the window to look back for the spark plugs "Uh, just above the taillight"

"Okay, so that's, what, three feet?" Pope calculates.

"That's three feet. Yeah" JJ confirms.

"That water can't be three feet deep" Kiara reasons and Sarah gives me a doubtful look that I share.

"Then what's the problem?" John B counters.

"Not a problem. No, we're good. We're good. She'll make it" JJ mutters out, although I'm not sure if he's trying to convince us or himself.

"Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts. Hold on to something. We're going into hyperdrive" John B announces.

"I'll say a quick prayer" JJ declares, blessing himself.

"Oh, we are so fucked" I groan, clinging onto the back of JJ's seat.

"Three, two, one" John B counts down before slamming down on the accelerator.

The van struggles to get through the mud and we all starts panicking, praying to all the gods we know of.

"Okay. You got this! You got this!" JJ hollers as the van speeds forward into the water "Faster! Faster!"

"Whoa! Whoa!" John B yells.

"Speed is your friend. Speed is your friend, John B" JJ warns his best friend and we all cheer as we near the end "You got it! You got it!"

The van abruptly swerves into the swamp and we all scream in fear.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Sarah screeches "Ah! shit! Oh!"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no" John B repeatedly mutters out in disbelief.

"I think we miscalculated" Pope declares.

"No fucking shit, Sherlock!" I retort as Sarah gives the Heyward boy a sarcastic look, showing him an in of space between her thumb and pointer finger.

"I knew I should have driven" JJ snaps.