I wake up to my phone ringing. Of course I did. I groan and lift up my head to see who was calling me. Brodie. I pick up my phone and place it to my ear after answering.
"Hello?" I ask, my voice croaking.
"Hey! How are you? You ran off after the rampage broke out. Are you ok?" he asks.
"Oh, um, yeah I'm ok. Are you?" I ask, sitting up.
"Yeah! Um I just needed to know that you were alive and shit." he laughs.
"Alive and well." I laugh.
"Ok, well I gotta go. But uh have a good time, wherever you are."
"Ok. Bye." I say, hanging up.
✵
"Add that to the list of things we need to save up for in the house." JB says, laughing with me.
"Please! If we had a list we wouldn't be able to see the end." Kie adds, making us laugh even more.
"Starting with your bed, John B." I say, laughing at the memory.
"That wasn't my fault!" He defends.
"Pretty sure it was, dude." JJ says, smiling.
"Um, correct me if I'm wrong but didn't I tell you both that jumping on his bed was a bad idea?" I say, crossing my arms.
"It was our first time drunk!" JB defended.
"Doesn't mean you jump on your bed like a maniac!" I say, laughing.
"Well, what about the time when you got drunk and climbed the tree an-" JJ's cut off by me leaping forward and putting my hand over his mouth.
"Lets save that for another time." I say.
"Well, what about the time you got high and took The Pogue out for a joy ride when you didn't even know how to drive it." John B says.
"It wasn't that bad." I defend sitting back down and pulling my blanket back over my legs.
"I had to swim out in the middle of the marsh to get you." JJ says. "You were sobbing on the floor, when I found you." He adds, making everyone laugh.
"Ha ha. Make fun of jade, right?" I say, throwing a pillow at them all.
Our laughing is cut short when the porch door opens revealing Sarah. "Well, hello there princess." JJ says.
"Shouldn't you be on Figure 8 with all your polo players?" JB asks, earning a kick in the shin from me.
"We're just friends." She says.
"You have a lot of friends, Sarah Cameron." JB says.
"Yeah, it seems like you do too." Sarah says.
"All right what are you doing here?" JB asks, getting out of his seat.
"I'm here for Pope." She says, surprising us all. "I think I found the Island Room." She says, smiling at him.
We all sit up instantly dropping the blankets off of our bodies.
✵
"Guys, listen to this. The diary says the cross holds the most holy relic in all of Christendom, the Garment of the savior." Pope reads off the diary.
"So wait, he's saying there's a holy garment inside the cross?" Kie asks.
"Yeah. It says the garment is capable of healing the sick from an malady." Pope says.
"Yeah. 'If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.'" JJ says, surprising every one in the van probably himself included. "What? I went to Sunday school." JJ defends.
"No you didn't..." I say, my face scrunching up. "Anyway, so the garment is why Limbrey wants it so much?" I ask aloud.
"She thinks it can heal her." Pope says, smiling in agreement with me.
"What else does it say?" Kie asks.
" Um, 'Many feel that we have sinned to steal such a sacred thing, and god will strike his vengeance on us.'" Pope reads looking up at us all, with his eyebrows furrowed together.
"The wreck of the Royal Merchant." I say, looking at Pope with a look of realization. "God had his vengeance, the ship sunk to the bottom of the ocean because of a hurricane. Only Denmark survived." I say.
✵
"This place still creeps me out." JB says, looking up at the Cameron Residence.
"No need to worry, my dad's still dead." I say, going to walk in to the house.
"Jade." Kie warns.
"What? It's true. Besides, I hate this place too." I say, following Sarah in to the house. We walk through the rooms, Sarah ahead of us.
"Here." She says, stopping in front of the dining room and opening the door. She reveals the once blue walls, now covered in drawings, obviously from tearing the wall paper off the wall.
"Oh my god." Pope says, walking around the room.
"It's been here the whole time." I say in amazement.
"No freaking way." John B mutters.
"This definitely means something." JJ says.
"This is a map of the whole Island." John B says.
"A hand painted map." I say, running my fingers along an old farm house.
"Guys, look it's the well." Kie says, standing in front of a drawing.
"So if that's Parcel 9 and that's Rixon, then that must be Masonbow." John B says, pointing to the edge of the Island.
"Right, Pope come here. That's definitely Tanny's hand writing." JJ says, pointing to black cursive on the wall.
"The drawings, they match up." Pope says, holding up the photos of the diary to the wall.
"Holy shit." I say, amazed.
"Denmark, you genius!" Pope exclaims. "He painted this whole room."
"Question is, why?" Kie says, confusion pestering at her.
"It has to have something to do with the key." JJ says, walking up to where I'm looking.
"Yeah, but what?" I say, walking away.
"How did you know to uncover this?" JB asks Sarah.
"I didn't. It was like this before I got home." She says, walking to me.
"Ok, then who did it?" Kie asks.
"The freaks." A new voice says, making us all turn around in fear.
"Wait, what freaks are we talking about, Wheeze?" JJ asks.
"Uh, that sick lady and her attack dog. They showed up last night, and they wanted to talk to Rafe." She explains.
"Pale, blonde lady, with crutches?" I ask.
"Uh-huh." Wheeze says.
"Limbrey." Pope hisses.
"What happened?" JB asks.
"First, they searched the whole house looking for something, then Rafe told me to go up stairs, but I didn't wanna miss out, so I listened through the grate. They started ripping off all of the wall paper saying they found 'it'. They said that they needed to get across the sando damingo." She says.
"That's code. That's code for something." JJ concludes, backing away.
"We're not Russian spies, JJ." I say, shaking my head with my eyebrows furrowed.
"The cross. The cross of Santo Domingo?" Pope asks, looking at Wheezie for confirmation.
"Yeah! They were talking about angels. Lots of angel talk."
"Guy, Denmark's famous last words. He buried the real treasure at the foot of the angel." Pope says, smiling.
"We have to find the angel in the room." I add, going to look at the paintings on the wall.
"Angel! There's a church over here." Sarah say, walking up to it.
"Check the church."
"This could be an angel!"
"Angels have wings, right?"
"Hey, yo, guys! I think I found something!" JJ yells, standing across the room near a large tree. "Come here." He says, watching us all rush over to him. "This humungous tree is still on Goat Island. You know what it's called?" He asks, smirking.
"Angel Oak." Pope realizes.
"Look, right there. There's the key hole." JJ says, tracing his finger over it.
"He buried the the treasure at the foot of the angel. That must be where he put it." I say, smiling at JJ and ignoring the butterflies that are flooding through my system as we smile at each other.
"We have to go, now." Pope says, pulling JJ with him.
"Yo, I think I'm Sherlock Holmes or something!" JJ yells, making me laugh.
"Come on, Sherlock." JB says.
✵
"Guys, that's Freedman's church. Denmark built it for all the slaves he freed." Pope says, pointing at the old building from the window as we drive past it.
We continue driving for another 20 minutes or so before we arrive to Goat Island. "Oh, shit." I say, looking at the now risen swamp. "The tides pretty high." I say, poking my head betwee the front seats to talk to JB.
"Wait. Look." Pope says, pointing it tire tracks in the mud. "Those have to be Limbrey's tire tracks. Guys, we gotta go." Pope begs.
"What do you think, Chief?" JJ asks JB.
"I think it's looking a little dicy." JB says, looking at the road.
"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with that statement." JJ says.
"Ok, well clearly they made it, no?" Kie says.
"In a two-wheel drive? I don't know about that." I say, looking back at her.
"Yeah." JJ says, looking at me.
"They probably have a land cruiser." I say, talking to him.
"Yeah and we have this crappy old van." JJ nods.
"No offense, JB." I say.
"Not me you should be saying that too." JB smirks.
"Ok, well..." I start looking at JJ for him to join in. "No offense, Twinkie."
"No offense, Twinkie." We both say at the same time, tapping a different part of the car, laughing.
"Why are y'all acting like you're not gonna do it anyways? Like when have y'all ever done the safe thing?" Sarah asks, smiling at us.
"She has a point." I say, nodding my head and facing the front.
"Speed is your friends." JJ says, agreeing with me.
"Put it in second gear and just gun it." I say.
"All right. Hold on to something." He instructs. We all grab on to a sturdy part of the car, mine being JJ's seat. I ignore his little smirk and side glance when he sees my hand close to his head and focus on the road instead. "Here we go." JB says, stepping on the pedal.
"Hurry up, JB." I say, grabbing on to his seat for support as well.
"I'm going!" JB snaps.
"It's gonna slide." Kie says.
"Relax!" JB yells, watching as we safely make it to the other side.
"Let's... let's not push our luck again." I say, taking a deep breath.
"Yeah. I think that's a good idea." Pope says.
"Just a heads up, gators have nests back here so watch where you step." JJ says, opening the car door for us. "Don't wanna step on a mama gator. That's the last thing you want."
"Seems like a good place to park." Sarah says.
"All right. You don't wanna be a Pat Womack." JJ says, picking up a giant stick. "She had her calf chewed off by a gator. You know that, right?" He says, looking back at me.
"I think it was a car accident..." I say, frowning.
"Live in ignorance then, I guess. But she was attacked by a gator. Barely made it out alive." He says, walking up to the swamp edge. "Wait. Hold on. I think I see something." He says, smacking a large stick in to the water.
"Right wake them up. That's smart." Sarah says.
"I was just making sure it wasn't a gator, that's all." He says, before continuing to walk.
"Hey, shhhh." Pope says, ducking his head over a bush to the clearing of angel oak.
"I don't see shit." Rafe says, looking at Limbrey. "You sure this is the right spot?"
"It's there. The garment will be in the cross and the cross will be at the foot of the tree." She states, not even helping them dig.
"All right, well, whatever we find, I get my cut." Rafe says, greedily.
She then mutters something to Renfield and proceeds to follow after him. A crunch soon follows and Limbrey springs to her feet.
"Hey, Stop! Did you hear that! Hey, get in there, boys. Do it by hand." She demands, grabbing her crutches. Rafe and Renfield lift up whatever is in the hole and pull it out.
"They got the cross. What do we do? What do we do?" JJ says, grabbing people's arms in panic.
"Wait, JJ." I hiss, grabbing his flailing arms.
"It's a corpse!" Rafe laughs, throwing his tools to the ground making me flinch at the sudden sound. "Of course it's just a dead body! Jesus!"
"We have to go back. We missed something." Limbrey says, slowly standing up from the ground.
Rafe glances our way and we all duck, slowing our breathing down. The workers and Renfield, Rafe and Limbrey all slowly clear out of the area leaving the coffin deserted.
Pope walks out from behind the bush and begins walking over to it. "Pope. Pope, wait. Wait! Shit." JJ hisses, watching him run towards the coffin with us on his trail.
Pope stops in front of the coffin and looks at the body on the inside with a sad face before crouching down. "Cecilia Tanny, Denmark's wife." Pope says, standing up and looking at the tree. "He wasn't talking about the cross. He buried her at the foot of the angel." He says, looking back at me.
"The true treasure." I say, wiping my thumb over the dirty name pendant on the coffin.
"His wife." John B nods.
Everyone crouches next to the coffin and watches Pope carefully. "Denmark was hung for burying his wife, and now they defiled her grave." He says, a tear slipping down his face as we comfort him.
Sarah picks up something from the coffin and cleans it off while smiling. "This must of been from Denmark." She says, holding up a gold wedding ring. "Her wedding ring." She glances at JB, before putting the ring back safely.
"We can't leave her like this." Pope says, looking around the group.
"We won't." I say, rubbing his back.
JJ and JB pick up the lid of the coffin and carefully place it back on, while I hammer the nails back in to place. Pope goes and grabs some pretty wild flowers to place them on top. JB and Kie slowly lower the coffin into the hole where JJ and I are standing and hand it to us. "I shouldn't have worn light blue." I say, frowning at my now brown jeans while putting the coffin on the ground next to me and hold my hand up for someone to pull me out of the hole. We fill in the hole and flatten the dirt down.
"I just don't get it." Pope stutters, "I mean, you guys saw the map. He hides his gold so no one finds it for 170 years. And then he sends a message to his son Robert to come here to his mother's grave, but the message never gets to him. Denmark wanted him to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot. It just feels like-"
"Like we missed something?" JJ says, standing next to The Twinkie -which I was sitting on. He looks up to the tree before pulling himself up and on to the twinkie as well. He puts his hand out to me smiling for me to take it. I take it and slowly stand up. "That looks like..." JJ starts, pointing to a hole in the tree. The key whole from the Island room!
"The painting from the Island Room." I finish, smiling at him.
"It's worth a shot, right?" He says, looking to the others who were on the ground.
"Yeah."
"Go for it." He says, nudging me forward by my hip.
"No chance." I say, scoffing at him.
"You do it." Sarah says, frowning at him.
"Yeah! She went in the storm drain." Kie yells.
"I did go in the storm drain."
"She did go in the storm drain." Pope and I say at the same time.
"Yeah, no I'm gonna do it. It's just..." He says, pulling his sleeve up and bracing himself.
"Oh, he's scared." I whisper to the others, tapping my head as if I shouldn't be surprised.
"What? I'm not scared." He says, puffing up his chest.
"Testosterone." I say in a sing song voice.
"Oh come one. That was weak." JJ snaps, turning back to me.
"JJ! Hurry up." I snap.
"Jesus, relax." he says, showing his hand in to the hole. "Wait, there's something in here." He says, feeling around in it. He chuckles lightly, "Wait." He says, before screaming and trying to pull his hand out of the hole desperately.
"JJ!" I yell, grabbing his torso and trying to pull him free, while everyone else begins climbing up the van. "JJ! Come on!" I yell, pulling my hardest. He stops struggling and just begins laughing.
"Oh, you asshole." Pope says. I let go of him and shove him back.
"Oh man, I got all of you on that one." He says, laughing before turning to me with fake puppy dog eyes and a smirk "You still care." He taunts, placing a hand on my face.
"Shut up." I say, pushing his hand away.
"Wait but seriously there's something in here." He says, still smiling and pulling out what looks like a telescope from the hole and handing it to Pope.
"Holy shit." Pope says, examining it before getting it rudely stolen from him and used as a toy by the one and only JJ.
"It's a spy glass." JJ says, looking through it and jumping off the van.
"There's something on the ends." Kie says, looking at it.
"An inscription." I say, pointing to it for Pope.
"What does it say?" JJ asks, helping me down from the Twinkie.
"'You've come this far, do not falter. The cross is in the freedman's alter.'" Pope reads, confused.
"Freedman' alter?" JJ asks, with a frown.
"Freedman church." I mutter in realization. "Holy shit! Pope, Tanny's church. Freedman's church!" I yell.
"The cross is at the church!" He yells, in realization before grabbing us all and putting us in the Twinkie where we start our journey.
We get to the Swamp and look to see the tide has risen so far that it covers the tracks. "Oh, crap the tide!" Pope says, looking at the window.
"This isn't looking good." I say, poking my head through the front two seats. "The first trip was dicy, this is like dicyyyyy." I say, glancing at the pair.
"How high are the spark plugs?" JJ asks JB.
"They're fine. It's good." He says.
"How high are they?" I ask, sternly.
"Just above the taillight." He says, looking out the window to check.
"That's what three feet?" Pope asks.
"The water can't be three feet deep." Kie says.
"Except for the part where it can be." I say, leaning back.
"No negativity. Please, Jade." JJ says, looking back at me.
"If it gets bogged, your fault, not mine." I say, putting my hands up in surrender.
"Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen. We're going into hyperdrive." JB says, putting the car in second gear. "3, 2..." He hammers his foot on to the accelerator and we stay in the position for about 5 seconds just getting out of the mud before plummeting through the water.
"Oh my god!" I yell, grabbing on to Kie for support after hitting my gunshot wound on a chair.
"We're gonna make it." JB says.
"No, Oh shit!" Pope yells, getting thrown around the back. We almost get to the other side but fly off the road and into deeper water.
"Oh, fuck." I say, opening my eyes and trying to ignore the excruciating pain on my stomach.
"I think we miscalculated." Pope says.
"JJ." I say, very fucking angry and in a lot of pain. They don't mix well for future referencing.
"Y... Yes, Jade." He says, hesitantly.
"I fucking called it, but do we listen to Jade? No, because God forbid that I'm actually right. Which fyi I was and-" I'm cut off from my yelling rant when he places his hand over my mouth.
"You done?" He asks.
"NO." I say into his hand.
✵
"Maybe we can walk from here." Pope suggests, now that we're out of the car and in knee deep swamp water.
"And leave the Twinkie?" JB argues.
"So, what are we supposed to do?" Sarah asks.
"Not stay here." JJ say, holding me on his back as I try not to pass out from pain.
"Amen." I groan.
"I can take my dad's truck." Kie says.
"Kie, are you sure?" JB asks.
"How much worse can it get, you know?" She says.
"That's a stupid idea and you're gonna get in to- Ow!" I groan, leaning my head on JJ's shoulder.
"She's fine." JJ says, shutting down everyone's concerned looks. "We're gonna need something to pull it out with. There's a winch at the Chateau." JJ adds. "That's, like, two miles. I'll get some pain medication, ok?" He says to me, softly only getting a grunt in response.
"Yeah, that's a good idea." Sarah says.
"If you're gonna do it, go, ok?" JB says, slowly lifting me off of JJ's back and on to his.
"You smell like shit." I complain, my face mushed on to his back.
"Ok." He says, treading toward the van to lay me down.
✵
"Where the hell are they?!" I groan, basically rolling around in pain.
"How long does it take to go two miles and back in a car?" Pope whines. "Why do we gotta send JJ and Kiara, the slowest people on earth?" He yells.
"They're probably... getting lunch for all we know!" I yell, gripping my stomach.
"Ok, ok, so there is something I think we can do." Pope says, standing in front of the Twinkie. "We can find something to leverage the Twinkie, and you can drive it out." Pope says.
"Honestly, if it gets us out of here quicker, let's do it." I say, climbing down into the water.
"Let's do driftwood." JB says.
"Driftwood will work." Pope says, us all separating in the swamp to find large bits of wood.
"Be safe." JB says.
"Ok." I say, walking off in the opposite direction.
"All right." Pope says, doing the same.
"Nothing under 3 feet." JB yells.
I clunk through the wump, softly groaning with every move, trying to find any type of goddamn wood big enough to hold the Twinkie.
"Gross." I yell, throwing away some old moss. "John B!" I yell, making my way back to the Twinkie.
"Yeah?" He asks.
"There's nothing big enough here." I say, walking in to eyesight.
"Shit." He says. "Hey, wait. Come help me here." He says, walking up to a large log floating in the water. "Pope! Come help us out!" He yells, walking towards it.
"Give me a second. I'll be there." Pope says.
"Give me like two seconds." I say, basically swimming towards him.
I hear a large splash and stop to look up instantly.
"John B?" Sarah yells, from on top of the Twinkie.
"Help!" He yells, splashing in the water. I push aside the pain and grossness of the water and begin swimming and running as fast as I can towards where JB is.
"Pope!" I yell, still trying to get there. I was the closest meaning I would get there first but it was good to know that Sarah and Pope would both be there to help save John B with me.
"What's happening?!" Pope yells, looking our way.
"Jade!" Sarah yells, throwing a large knife to me from about 20 feet away. I catch it and get to the clearing we last saw John B at. "A gator has him Pope!" Sarah yells, fighting her way through the water at a slow pace her obviously not comfortable with the water conditions yet.
"John B!" I yell, looking at the calm water. A sudden disturbance in the water makes me turn around and see John B literally wrestling a gator. I stab the gator being very careful not to hit JB in the process. "No!" I yell, watching it go for John B's head. I stab the ugly thing at least four more times before Sarah and Pope get there. I reach into the water, not my smartest move, and grab JB pulling him behind me and next to Pope and Sarah. I hold the knife in front of me looking at the murky water, for any sign of the gator. A splash goes next to us making me turn towards it and see the gator angrily swimming towards us. "Get back!" I yell, pushing Sarah, Pope and a very much in pain, John B back. I stab the gator in the back twice before it slowly retreats.
"Get... get to the Twinkie." Pope yells, grabbing John B and pulling him towards the van with Sarah while I back away my front still facing the retreating gator.
"Go!" I yell.
✵
"Ok, be careful, I'm pretty sure that'll get infected." Pope says, looking at the very disgusting gator bite on John B's leg.
"Yeah, you're lucky it didn't cut into muscle that much." Sarah says, observing the cut.
"Yeah, lucky he got bit by a gator." I say, laying back on the car. We just sat on the Twinkie after JB nearly died from an alligator. We don't want any more bites which is completely understandable.
"Do you have something to wrap it with?" Sarah asks.
"Yeah." He says, handing her his bandana. She looks at it for a second before taking it.
"What? That's dirty! It's gonna get infected." Pope says.
"Yeah, well it's either that or him bleeding to death." I say, helping Sarah.
"Speak of the freaking devil. The tortoise and the tortoise. Just a couple hours late." Pope says, watching Kie's dad's car pull up.
"Where the fuck were you guys?!" I yell, sitting up, beyond my anger limit.
"Paternal complications." Kie says.
"Luke was at the Chateau." JJ says.
"Are you kidding me?! While you were catching up with your insane father, JB got bit by a gator!" I yell, pissed off that he ditched us for his wasted dad.
"Wait, for real?" JJ asks.
"Does it look like we're joking?!" Sarah yells.
"Ok, what the hell happened?!" Kie asks.
"What happened?! John B got bit by a gator!"
"JB got bit by a gator!"
"I got bit by a gator!" We all yell at the same time.
"I don't know why I'm being yelled at, I put my ass on the line for this!" Kie yells.
"Well, you two took forever! What were you even doing?! Making a fucking child?!" I yell, in so much pain and filled with rage and anger.
"I just stole my dad's truck!" She yells.
"You said it would take twenty minutes!" I yell.
"Three hours later, plus a gator bite and you arrive!" Pope yells.
"We got here as fast as we could!" She yells.
"As fast as you could?! I could have done that in ten minutes!" I yell.
"Well, you weren't even there!"
"Yeah, because you two fucking idiots took ten years to do a ten-minute job!" I scream.
"Shut up!" JJ suddenly yells, breaking up the screaming battle we were all having. "Seriously guys, I can't take it anymore, all right? Everyone just cut it out for a second." He says, leaning against a tree. "Look, I just helped my dad leave this Island for good. Like, he's not ever coming back. He's straight up like the Spanish, just 'Bon Voyage.'"
"That's not the right language." Sarah whispers.
"All we got, and I know for a fact that all I got is you guys." He says, turning his head to look at me before continuing. "You're it." He says, smiling. "And I've come to close to losing you, all of you. I mean, shit, Kie you nearly drowned, Sarah you were shot, Pope you were freaking kidnapped, JB you were almost dinner for a freaking gator and Jade, Barry got to you, among a lot of other life-threatening other things." He laughs, making us all laugh slightly as well. "So, this blaming each other is some kook-ass bullshit, all right? We don't do that, ok? We're pogues. Sorry, that was a lot right now." He says, shaking his head.
We all look at each other and begin to clap while laughing. "Well done" I laugh.
"I gotta be honest. That was the best freaking speech you have ever given. Also you should think about a Rosseta Stone lesson, cause your French and Spanish are flip-flopped." JB says, earning both middle fingers from JJ.
"We should bon voyage out of here." Sarah says, making us all laugh.
"Let's get the Twinkie out of here!" JJ yells, interrupting our laughing. We slowly make our way to the other side of the swamp with the help of Kie and Jay and get the Twinkie out.
"She lives!" Pope yells in victory.
"JJ." I say, pulling him behind the Twinkie to talk.
"What's wrong?" He asks. I cut him off by placing my hands on his face and pulling him in for a kiss. He reacts almost instantly and pulls me in by the waist so our bodies and flushed against each other's. It stops becoming an 'I still love you' kiss and more of a 'I haven't kissed you in so long and I miss having your lips on mine' type of kiss very quickly.
We continue kissi- making out until we hear wolf whistles and claps from the others, making us smile into the kiss and reluctantly pull away and laugh at the others who were looking through the window of the Twinkie, clapping.
I turn back to JJ and kiss him again, this time only enough so I can grab the pain medication from his back pocket. "Thanks." I say, smiling and getting in the Twinkie. "Wait a minute! Are you kidding me? You got me Ibuprofen for a gunshot wound!" I yell in disbelief, shoving my head out the window to scowl at him only to find him stunned.
"JJ! Let's go!" Pope yells.
"Yes sir." He says, getting in next to me and pulling me on to his lap, while I laugh lightly.
"Can you give me some of that?" John B says, pointing to the medicine.
✵
We open the doors to the church and look inside scanning for the cross.
"Ok, you're telling me Denmark Tanny decided to hide the cross here?" JJ asks, still gripping my hand. He hasn't let go of me since we 'got back together' because, and I quote, 'you're just warm.'
"Everybody, just spread out." Kie says.
"Ok." I say, going to walk in a different corner but end up being pulled into JJ's chest.
"Stay with me." He whispers, making me smile.
"If I was a cross and I wanted to be hidden in an old church, where would I hide?" John B thinks aloud.
"Are you sure that Denmark his the cross here, Pope?" JJ asks. "Like are we at the right church?"
"It's gotta be here somewhere, guys." Pope says, standing in the front of the church.
"What if someone found it all ready? There isn't much space to hide the cross in here." I say, stating the obvious.
"What if we have to push a secret button or, like, play, like, a... certain chord, and the floor beneath us opens up to reveal the catacombs or something on which we stand?" JJ says, dragging me to the piano.
"Jay, we're not in a movie." I say.
"I can't see where they would hide a giant cross in here." JB says.
"No, no. There's no way he would set us up on a freaking goose chase that would lead us to the church that has nothing." Pope yells, obviously freaking out.
"OK, Pope, relax. We get it." I say.
"The clues led us here. The cross is in this church." Pope says, sitting down in the chair.
"We've had setbacks in the past. We're gonna find it." JB says.
"He's right." Kie says, sitting next to him. He pulls out the telescope and begins looking through the room but stops suddenly and puts it down looking at the roof.
"What?" JJ asks.
"Pope?" I ask, my eyes following his. On the roof is two wooden crosses looking like beams. "Holy shit." I say, standing up.
I look back at Pope only to find him climbing up the wall. "Pope." Sarah says, cautiously.
"Hey, no!" JJ yells.
"Now, Pope's climbing the wall." JB says.
"Hey, dude! You're not spiderman!" I yell, walking up to the wall.
"Pope, this church is old!" Kie yells.
"Pope! Get down!" I yell, watching as he steps on to the beam to the wooden cross shapes.
"Pope! Be careful!"
he bangs his fist against the first one and looks at us again. "All right, this one's solid wood." he says, climbing over to the next one.
"Be careful of the wasp nest!" I yell, looking at the swarming clump sitting next to his head.
"Pope, I hate to break it to you, but that's wood." JJ says, watching as he bangs his fist on the next cross shape.
He frowns and moves on to the last one. He kicks his foot against the cross knocking some wood down in the process.
"Hey, Pope! Watch out!" JJ yells, pulling me back.
"God!" Sarah yells, nearly getting hit.
"This one's hollow." Pope says, smiling as he knocks on the second one. "Go get me something to break it with." He asks, looking around.
"Ok." Sarah says, running off to the Twinkie.
"Pope what's the plan, here? I don't want the whole church to collapse on top of us." I say.
"Find the cross and bring it back to the Chateau." He says.
"Here!" Sarah says, running back into the church.
"Throw it." Pope says.
"Wait, what?" I say, backing up.
"For real?" Sarah asks, positioning herself to throw.
"Yeah, come on." Pope says, holding his hand out.
She throws it up and we watch as Pope catches it from one throw.
"Wow." I say, clapping lightly as everyone follows my actions.
"Not bad." JJ says.
"Hey, Pope. Be careful of the wasps nest. Right above your head." John B warns.
We watch as Pope positions his body to straddle the cross and begin hacking at the wood.
"Yo, stand back." JJ warns everyone on the ground, watching as the wood falls harshly against it.
"What is that?" Sarah asks, looking at the sliver of gold visible.
"Do you guys see that?" JB asks.
Pope cuts off a very large chunk of wood revealing a very pretty golden cross underneath. "Holy shit." Kie says, us all smiling.
He continues hacking at the wood while we all celebrate. "Oh my god." I say, grabbing my face, smiling.
"Yes, Pope!" JJ yells, jumping up and down.
"You did it P!" I laugh, grabbing Sarah as we both jump up and down.
"Yes!" Pope yells, laughing at us from above and causing a dramatic explosion of laughter and cheers.
"Whoo!" JB yells, gripping on to JJ.
"We're gonna be rich for real this time!" I yell, laughing with my friends.
Pope hacks the rest of the wood off showing a fucking gorgeous 7 foot ross with jewels plated on.
"I thought you were crazy!" Kie laugh, us all watching Pope laugh.
"Yes!" JJ yells, gripping my arm.
"Ouch, they're stinging, now." Pope says, making us all turn our attention to him. "Ow!" He yelps.
"Pope! You can get down now!" I yell, watching him swat around his head.
He drops the crow bar and continues hitting his neck in pain. He groans in pain again, before losing his balance and slipping. "Pope!" I yell, watching him cling to the beam by his fingers.
"Holy shit!"
"Cushions!" I yell, moving to grab the pillows on the chairs, hoping to break his fall.
"Move the pews!" Kie yells.
We dump as many pillows as we can underneath him and move the benches. "I can't hold on!" Pope yells, groaning in pain.
"Hang on!" JJ yells, getting the last of the pillows on to the ground.
"I can't!" He yells, dropping from the beam and on to the pillows with a thud.
"Oh my god!" I yell, running over to him.
"Shit." Kie hisses, following after me.
I crouch down next to him and scan his face for any serious injuries. "Pope, are you ok?" I ask, gripping his arm.
"Dude, you good?"
"You did not tuck and roll for sure."
"Broken anything?"
"You feeling ok?"
He ignores us all and instead looks up in horror. "What?" I ask, looking up as well. I see the huge, fucking cross tilting it's way forward and right on path to all of us. Well shit.
✵
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