SWEET NICOTINE | pope heyward

30, deals of confession

"It matches the one in the painting at Singh's house"

"Couldn't that just mean it's pretty common?" She questioned.

"Actually no. These glyphs are Kalinago" Pope said.

"Yeah, it's never been deciphered" AJ added.

"Never?" Kiara raised a brow and Pope shook his head.

"Never ever," Cleo said

"Never ever" Pope repeated and AJ laughed to herself.

"What they said"

"Some people believe that the captain of the San Jose actually found somebody who knew how to translate these glyphs because he found El Dorado" Pope explained.

"The priest that talked to Denmark Tanny, that was on the royal merchant?" Kiara asked, looking down at the letter and scanning it with her eyes.

"Exactly. Every glyph that is in this letter is in the artifact. This isn't just some random rosetta stone for kalinago, this, this is a direct translation key for the idol" Pope told her.

"And we can use this to save Big John" Cleo pointed out.

"Guys we have to get this to John B, like, yesterday" Kiara stood and the others stood too. AJ slid Kiara's phone back to her before giving Pope back the letter.

"Hey. where are you going?" Kiara's dad stood on the top of the stairs, looking over at them.

"Uh, to the break we're gonna go check out the surf. Can we finish this later?" She lied and her dad nodded before telling them to have fun.

"We just have one more stop first," Cleo said, looking at AJ.

"wait, what?" Kiara questioned and AJ sighed.

"We have to go see my brother" AJ answered the girl, waiting for a reaction.

"wait, didn't he just try to kill you?" Kiara looked at the girl like she was crazy.

"He says he can help us save Big John, it's worth the shot, right?" AJ looked between the three pogues, scanning for any sign this was a worse idea than she thought.

"Okay, where are we heading?" Kiara let out, waiting for AJ to lead the way.

"The house at the end of Farrow Drive"

"the one on the water?" Pope asked and AJ shrugged. She barely knew the island apart from the paths she took routinely.

The four pogues made their way across the island to the cut, Pope walking in front of them and leading the way. Cleo caught up to him and Kiara slowed next to AJ.

"Listen, I know we haven't gotten along the best but I wanted to thank you for helping me in Barbados, and for coming to look for me before you tried to find the pogues" AJ looked over at her with furrowed brows.

"Pope told me you tried to find me first, so thank you"

"Kiara, you don't have to thank me for that" AJ assured her, the girl's steps in sync.

"No, I do. I've been a bitch to you, and you didn't deserve that. And I've got your back." Kiara sent the girl a smile and AJ nudged her arm as they walked.

"thanks" AJ smiled, looking at the girl.

"so we're good, right?"

"yeah, we're good." AJ nodded and both girls sped up, catching up to Pope and Cleo.

"Okay, let me go in alone. If I need help, I'll let you know. And if I don't come out in a few minutes-"

"we'll come get you" Kiara finished, her and AJ sharing a look.