CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
( love is the true treasure )
THEA joined the hangover squad that morning, the first thing she did when she woke up on the couch bed was flee to the bathroom to rid her stomach of the alcohol she had the night before. When she finished and had nothing left to throw up into the porcelain bowl, she pushed herself to her feet and flushed away the bile.
Then she stood at the sink and furiously scrubbed her teeth, not satisfied until the acid taste was gone. She spit the foam into the sink, and gargled some mouthwash for extra measure before she exits.
She walked into the kitchen and her stomach rumbled, this time from hunger and not from nausea. She makes herself some toast and lathers it with strawberry jam, then she picks up the plate and heads out the front porch where she heard the voices of her friends.
"That was epic." She heard Pope express to the others as she walked out the door.
Kie craned her neck to her, she smiles softly. "Morning, Thea."
"Hi, Thea." John B greeted her.
"Hey, T." Pope said, smiling at her.
She waves at them, wordlessly.
JJ's brows furrowed, observing her sluggish nature. "You okay, shortcake?"
"Yeah," She mumbles, sitting down on the couch with Kie. She picks up her toast and takes a bite of it, "Just hungover. Anyway, what are y'all talking about? Pope mentioned something epic."
"Oh, just last night." Pope confirmed, she simply nods as she takes another bite of her toast.
"Did you guys see Kelce's face?" John B brought up, eagerly.
"Mm, I never got to say it, but nice punch, Pope."
Pope shot her a grin, "Thanks, T."
"Bomb drop!" JJ drops himself into the other couch, it breaks almost immediately from the impact.
John B groans in annoyance, "Another broken couch."
Thea rolls her eyes, "Nice going, babe."
"You gotta sleep there tonight." Pope tells JJ, as he stands up and walks back to the railing where he once stood.
"I always sleep there." JJ replied, shrugging his shoulders. Then suddenly, he whistles in John B's direction as the porch door opens, Sarah apparently has decided to swing by. "Well, hello, princess."
Thea sits up slightly, "Hey, Sarah."
"What's up?" Kie asked her.
"Shouldn't you be on Figure Eight with your little group of polo players?" John B questioned as she walked froward, fiddling with her hands. "Did you break up with Topper?"
Sarah shot him look, "We're just friends."
John B doesn't look convinced, "He's just a friend. You have a lot of friends, Sarah Cameron."
Sarah spins to face him, fed up with his passive aggressive comments. "Yeah, and it seems like you've got some of your own, too."
"All right," John B pulls the lever of the La-Z boy and he sits up as it folds forward, "What are you doing here?"
Sarah heaves a sigh, "I'm here for Pope." And that immediately gains piques everyone's interest, their gazes all zeroed in on her as she looked at the boy in question who's bundled up in a patterned blanket, "I think I found the island room."
After she revealed that, the Pogues all quickly took turns showering and getting dressed. Thea was wearing a cropped red and black striped crop top, with matching plaid skinny jeans, a The Nightmare Before Christmas cardigan, and she also decided to swap her converse sneakers for black Doc Martens.
Since she didn't have time to do her hair, she hopped into the back of the Twinkie with the others and Kie just styled her hair into two Dutch braid ponytails as they headed into Figure Eight on their way to Sarah's place.
"Guys, listen to this." Pope calls upon them, Thea looks up from her phone as Kie finished up her hair behind her on the floor. "The diary says the cross hold the most holy relic in all of the Christendom, the Garment of the Savior."
"So wait, he's saying there's a holy garment inside the cross?" Kie questioned.
"Yeah." Pope answered, "It says the garment is capable of healing the sick from any malady."
"So, it's like Jesus, then?" Thea mentions, "Only an object and not a person."
"Mmm, yeah. " JJ agrees, "'If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.'" He recited from the bible, everyone shoots the duo puzzled looks. "What? I went to Sunday school."
Thea shrugs them off, "That was one of the few bible stories I remember when I was a kid."
"Sure." Kie murmured.
"Well, that explains why Limbrey would want the cross so bad." Pope figured out, "She thinks it can heal her."
"It's definitely sad, but that doesn't make her any less of a lunatic in my eyes."
"What does it say?" Kie asked him.
"'Many feel that we have sinned to steal such a sacred thing, and God will strike His vengeance on us.'" Pope relayed to them.
"Thing is, God did have his vengeance." Kie uttered.
Pope glanced at her, "He sent a hurricane to sink the ship. Only Denmark survived."
After that was said, no one else spoke a word for the rest of the drive, the wrath of God having stunned them all to silence.
John B pulled into the Figure Eight neighborhood, and finally they had arrived at Sarah's house. The Pogues all climbed out of the Twinkie, and they made their way inside of the huge home.
"Whoo!" JJ hollered, amazed by the digs that the Cameron girl had grown up in.
"This place still freaks me out." John B murmured, referring to the time that he had lived here for a couple days.
"Yeah, same." JJ agreed.
Sarah walked up to the door to the room, and she opened it and lead them all inside. "Pope, look." She gestured to the walls of the room.
Thea's eyes grew in awe as she realized what she was looking at. It was an entire map of the OBX from from wall to wall, not one spot was left untouched by the design.
"Whoa!" Pope marveled, "You've got to be kidding me."
Sarah chuckles softly, "Yeah, I know right. It's the island room."
"Holy shit." Thea murmured, slowly entering further into the room.
"Incredible." Pope mumbled, coffee brown eyes wide with astonishment.
"It's been here the whole time." Sarah stated.
"No fucking way." John B mutters, wide hazel eyes traveling around the room.
"This definitely means something." JJ comments, ocean blues lingering around the room as he comes through the threshold.
"Wow." Kie said, breathily.
"This is incredible." John B says, walking through the room. "Yo, this is a map of the whole island."
"Yeah, John B, I think you're right because this is Rixton's right here." He points to the painting on the wall, "There's the lighthouse." He pointed out the window where it stands just a few miles ahead outside. Referring to the lighthouse being the same one in the painting.
"This is so insane." Thea murmured, gently skimming her fingers against the wall beside her. The art work on the wall seems to be two huge houses with two ships floating on the water nearby it. "It's all so beautiful. The artist in me is screaming right now."
"Guys, look, Parcel 9 and the well." Kie brushes her fingers against the painting on the wall, where she stood across the room.
"So, if that's Parcel 9, and then if that's Rixton's," John B points to the different spots in the room, trying to work it out. Thea glanced at the painting infront of her. And like a lightbulb flickering on, it suddenly came to her. "Then that's gotta be—"
"The surf break!" She cuts in, eyes widened in realization. "At the Mase, right?"
John B nods as he and JJ walk over, "Yeah, has to be."
"Right, and look." JJ begins to say, standing beside her. "Pope, come here." The Heyward boy does so accordingly, looking over his shoulder as JJ holds up a copy from the diary. He points to the strikingly familiar writing on the wall, "This is Denmark's handwriting, for sure."
"The drawings," Pope's eyes widened as he glanced down at the copy, "They match up."
"Holy shit." John B muttered.
"Denmark, you genius!" Pope praised him, no doubt gaining brownie points with his departed long lost relative in the after life. "These are all his drawings. He... he painted this entire room."
"Yeah, the question is why." Kie wondered, "What's he trying to tell us?"
"It's gotta have something to do with the key, right?" JJ questioned, "Right?"
"Yeah," Kie replied, "But what?"
John B walks over to Sarah, who's reaching up on the wall. "How did you even uncover this?"
Sarah shook her head, "I didn't. It was like this when I got home."
"What?" JJ's head swiveled to her, features stunned with confusion.
"Okay, then who did?" Kie asked her.
"Who else in your house would know about this?" Thea counter-questioned.
"I don't know." Sarah responds, cluelessly.
"The freaks." An unfamiliar albeit youthful voice piped in, they all gasp and whip around to find Wheezie Cameron standing in the room. When the hell did she get in here? And how did they not hear her come in?
"Wheeze!" Sarah rushed over to her.
"What freaks are we talking about, Wheezie?" JJ asked her.
"Uh... that sick lady and her attack dog." The brunette in glasses answered. So, looks like Thea isn't the only one who calls him a dog. "They-They showed up last night, and they wanted to talk to Rafe."
"Wait. Pale blonde lady?" JJ asked her, for clarification.
"She have crutches?" Kie questioned.
"Did she look like a raging lunatic?" Wheezie shot Thea a weird look, but she merely shrugged. "Just saying."
Wheezie nods her head to all their responses, "Uh-huh."
"It's gotta be Limbrey." Pope muttered.
"Wh-What happened?" John B grilled her.
"Well, at first, they searched the whole house looking for something," Wheezie began to explain to them, "And then Rafe told me to go upstairs. But I didn't wanna miss out, so I listened through the grate. Then I heard them start ripping off the wallpaper, and they were all excited and talking about how they found something. I'm assuming it was what they were looking for. And then they were talking about getting across the sand flamingo."
"That's code." JJ stated, "That's code for something."
Thea shook her head, "Babe, that's not a code. She just heard it wrong through the vent. She probably means the cross."
"The Cross of Santo Domingo?" Pope questioned the younger Cameron girl.
"Yeah, that's it." Wheezie nods, "Oh, and they were talking about angels. A lot of angel talk." She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know.
"Angels?" John B murmured.
Thea scoffs, "Are you guys really this dense? The angel. The foot of the angel." She turns to the Heyward boy, "That's it, right?"
Pope's eyes widen, he nods quickly. "Yeah, I think so. Because it was Denmark's last words. He buried the real treasure at the foot of the angel. They're looking for an angel. We have to find the angel in the room."
"Start looking, start looking." JJ tells them.
"Spread out." Kie demanded.
Everyone begins their search for the angel in the art work, scattering around the room and looking for anything that could even slightly resemble an angel.
"There's a church over here." Sarah said as she walked over, pointing to the wall.
"Yeah, check the church." John B replied, and she did so accordingly.
"Looking for an angel." Pope mutters to himself, crossing over the room to the wall.
"Wait," JJ points high on the wall with Thea beside him. "Could this be an angel?"
John B turned to see what he was pointing to, "Maybe... Maybe."
Thea shook her head, "I don't think it is, let's go find another wall."
JJ nods and the both of them walk to another one, meanwhile Wheezie is confused as all hell as she stands in the middle of the room, watching everyone at work.
"Wh-What's going on?" She asked of them, "Are you guys gonna tell me?"
Thea looks back at her, "Trust me, Wheezie. You don't wanna know."
"Dosia, hey." JJ gently tugs her wrist, "Come look at this with me. Cause I need to know if I'm seeing shit or not." She nods her head and easily walks up to the wall, then she stood next to him as her eyes scanned the painting. It seemed to be a giant tree with thick and wavy branches and boughs. JJ points to the middle, "Is that a key hole, or am I tweaking?"
Thea walks closer to where his finger is, and her eyes widen when she sees it too. "Holy shit."
"So you see it too?" He asked, she nods quickly, "Okay, cool." He turns to the others, "Hey, yo! Hey, guys, I think I found something. Come here." Everyone rushes over to the both of them. "This humongous tree is still on Goat Island. You know what it's called?"
"Angel Oak." Pope answered, coffee brown eyes widened slightly.
JJ points to the keyhole on the painting, "I had Thea make sure I wasn't seeing shit. Look there. There's a keyhole."
"Wait." John B utters softly.
"That means the cross is buried at the foot of the angel." Pope's eyes are wide with realization, thanks to JJ's genius discovery. "Wow, that must be where he put it. That must be where they are right now! We have to go!"
Thea grins, throwing her arms around JJ from behind. "Nice thinking, babe!"
JJ smiles smugly as he holds onto her arms, "I think I'm Sherlock Holmes, all right? You're welcome by the way."
Thea snorts, pushing him forward towards the door. "Come on, Sherlock. We gotta get going."
"Yeah, hurry up, Sherlock." John B said, rushing him.
The Pogues all rushed out of the Cameron house and made their their leave out the front door, Wheezie complained about not being able to go of course, but there was no way that they were bringing a kid into this shit. And so, Sarah said goodbye to her and hopped into the Twinkie to get going.
Obviously, the older Cameron girl kept her sister oblivious to what actually goes on in their house. She didn't blame her, if she had a little sister she wouldn't want her to know about half the shit that she's been through since the summer.
IT was a long drive to Angel Oak, and as they were halfway there Pope notified them of their arrival to the church that was painted in the island room. "Guys, we're coming up on Freedman's church." He told them, "It's the church Denmark built for all the slaves he freed."
Then, as they headed down the one way road to angel oak, Kie noticed the huge ass tree up ahead of them. "There it is," She observed, "Angel Oak."
John B drove cruised through a thicket of trees, then he began to slow down as he saw the ground starting to flood from the water coming in. "Oh, shit! Tide's coming in." He lets out a groan of annoyance as he goes to stop.
"Hey, wait a second. They already came through here." Pope detected, "Those have to be Limbrey's tire tracks. Guys, we gotta go."
"Mmm," JJ looks to John B, "What do you think, chief?"
"I'm thinking it's looking a little dicey." John B murmured back.
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to agree with that statement." JJ replied back.
"Okay, clearly, they made it. No?" Kie stated.
"Yeah," Thea nods, "or else we'd see their car trapped, but obviously they're not here."
"In a two-wheel drive?" JJ shook his head, "I don't know about that."
"Why are y'all acting like you're not gonna do it anyway?" A grins forms on Sarah's lips as John B and JJ turn back to her, "Like when have y'all ever done the safe thing?"
Thea chuckles, "She's right. We're Pogues. No risk, no reward."
"She's got a point." John B says, turning back around and facing forward.
JJ turns around as well, "Speed is your friend, here, okay? So, put her down in second and hammer down, brother."
"Stick to the high ground in the middle, John B." Pope advised him.
"All right, ready? Here we go." John B murmured.
He put the car in two wheel drive, then he slams his foot on the break and the van lurches forward as the van's speed accelerates and trudges through the muddy tide.
"Come on, bro. Come on, speed is your friend." JJ told him, "You're not going fast enough."
"I'm in second." John B replies.
Thea leans over to see the window, and her eyes widen slightly as she sees the van sliding a bit. "Oh shit. This can either go really good or really bad, guys."
"It's gonna slide." Kie mentions in warning.
"You're fishtailing already." JJ notifies him.
"I know." John B confirms, trying to keep the van steady as he goes as fast as he can.
"Not to put any more pressure on you," Pope goes to say, leaning between the two seats. "but if you don't make it through, we'll be stuck here forever."
John B reached back and pushed his face away, "Put your head back, okay?"
Thankfully, the tide was no match against the stubborn determination of the Pogues and the Twinkie, and they made it to the other side on dry road. Naturally, the group cheers in triumph.
"I told you we'd make it." John B stated, a confident smile on his face.
JJ pats the dash. "That's my girl."
Thea gasps in a joking manner, "I thought I was your girl?"
JJ cranes his neck to face her, a cheeky grin on his lips. "Sorry, shortcake. You're my girl, but the Twinkie will always come first."
She scoffs playfully, "Unbelievable. This relationship is over."
Kie shakes her head, a small smile on her lips. "You two make me sick."
"I know, right?" Sarah joked, smiling along with her.
"All right, all right. Right here." JJ informed John B, the Routledge boy pulled the Twinkie to a steady halt and pulled out the keys. The tousled blonde hopped out of the van first, "Angel Oak is right through here." He opens the back door, and it slides open allowing the others to climb out. "All right so, words to the wise, definitely know that gators nest back here, so, keep your eyes peeled, okay? You don't wanna step on a mama gator. That's the last thing you want."
Thea's eyes widen as she joins at his side, "Right, copy that. Stay away gators nest."
"They have nests?" Kie questioned.
"Seems like a good place to park." Sarah mumbled, sarcastically.
JJ picks up a branch, holding it in his grip. "All right. You don't wanna be a Pat Womack."
Thea frowned, her pale features etched in confusion. "Who the hell is Pat Womack?"
"She's this woman who had her calf chewed off by a gator, right? You've never heard of her?" JJ asked, glancing her way.
Thea shook her head, her eyes growing bigger in paranoia of being in the fucking wilderness where there are gators. Fuck. "No, and I wish I never fucking asked now."
"Don't worry, Thea." Kie assured her, "It's not true. Pat Womack was injured in a car accident, but I hear you."
"Okay, just live in ignorance." JJ replied, "But like, she had her calf chewed off by a mama gator. I know that for a fact."
Thea could feel goosebumps running down her arms at this point, she was not trying to lose a limb by a gator attack in the middle of the woods. "JJ, can you just... stop talking about gators and how they tear people's limbs off? You're giving me anxiety."
"Okay, I'm done." He walked forward to the body of water just a few feet infront of them, "They like the brackish water." As they stop walking, he crouches down at the edge of the water bank. "Hold on. I see something."
"Jay, why are you down there near the water?" She asked him, worriedly. Then he takes the stick and stabs the end into the water and makes a big splash, her eyes grow big. "Jay, no!"
"Right. Wake them up. That's smart." Sarah comments, sarcastically.
JJ stands up straight again, "I was just making sure it wasn't a gator." He assured her, noticing her rattled state. "That's all, all right? He holds out his hand for her to take, and she heaves a small sigh and eyes the water cautiously before taking his palm in hers and letting herself be led forward by him.
"Hey, Jay?" He turns his head to look at her, as they walk hand in hand. "Would you still be with me if a mama gator ripped off one of my limbs?"
JJ snickers softly, "Okay, well, that will never happen because I will literally wrestle a gator for you." He takes his arm and wraps it around her, pulling her closer to him. "But yes, baby. I would still be with you, even if a mama gator ripped off one of your limbs. You'd still be just as amazing and beautiful as you've always been."
A rush of crimson colors her pale skin, and she leans up on her toes and kisses his cheek. She smiles softly at him, "Okay, just checking."
After walking through some really leafy trees, she starts to hear the sounds of what could only be construction work. But why would there be construction workers out here? As she pushed past the last big leaf, Pope was standing there and waving she and JJ over. The both of them rushed over to him and hid behind the bush, as she looked ahead of her it was clear now why she was hearing the sounds of construction. It was Limbrey, her guard dog, and Rafe.
And by the looks of it, they've got a whole team to hep them look for the cross.
"I don't see shit." Rafe says to Limbrey, "You sure this is the right spot?"
"It's there." Limbrey answered him, "The garment will be in the cross, and the cross will be at the foot of the tree."
"All right, well, whatever we find, I get my cut." Her guard dog notified her as he opened the trunk of her car.
Limbrey turned to him, "The actual garment. You understand the significance."
Guard dog closes the trunk, and he has a folded chair in his hand. "I do, Carla." Carla? Her name is Carla? "Completely."
"One touch of it, and I'll be healed, and this long nightmare will be over." Carla declared, her tone light with hope.
"Your lips to God's ears." Guard dog replies, not believing his own words.
Carla crutch walked behind him, "I know you don't believe it, but countless stories over millennia prove that—" She trails off as she sits down in the green fold seat that he opens up for her, "miracles happen."
Thea shakes her head, whispering softly. "Does someone as horrible as her even deserve to be healed? Is she even worthy of a miracle after all that she's done?"
"Short answer to that," Pope whispers back, "No."
A loud clanging catches all of their attention as the Pogues watched silently behind the bush, and Carla begins to yell at the workers.
"Stop! Stop. Please stop. Did you hear that?" Guard dog helps her stand from the chair, "Hey, get in there, boys. Do it by hand." The excavator backs up, and the workers jump down into the hole they made in the ground. Carla leans over the hole, "Oh. This has to be the cross. It's smaller than I thought." She chuckles, "It looks like a—"
"Casket." Rafe cut in, gaining looks from Carla and the guard dog.
"He put it in a casket." Carla chuckles, "Denmark put in a casket. Get it up."
"Let's go." The guard dog tells the workers, on her command.
"They got the cross." JJ panics, "What do we do? What do we do?"
"What can we do?" John B replied, grabbing ahold of his shoulders as an attempt to calm him.
Thea frowns as she watched them pull up the casket and set it down, "Guys, this can't be it." She whispers, "You saw the picture Kie showed us, and Denmark's drawings. The cross was taller than all of us."
Carla is crouched down next to the casket as Rafe and the guard dog pried it open with crowbars, "Don't touch anything inside! Don't touch anything inside!" She leans forward and looks inside, but Thea can't see her face from this angle.
But considering she's not screaming for joy about being healed, she's gonna assume that the cross isn't in there.
"It's just a corpse." The guard dog observed the inside, "Sorry, Carla."
"See?" Thea smiles, glancing at her friends relieved faces. "I told you guys that wasn't it."
Carla struggles as she gets back to her feet, "We must have missed something."
"Of course. Of course, yeah." Rafe muttered in frustration, "Of course it's just a dead boy. Jesus!"
Carla crutched walked towards the car to the guard dog, "We just got the wrong place. We'll go back to the island room." She turns to the workers, "We're going back! We're going back!" She shouts to them, "It's not over!"
And after that, the construction men pack of their things, get into their trucks, and drive away. And Carla, her guard dog, and Rafe follow right behind them, making their way back to the Cameron's household, supposedly.
Once they're gone, Pope is the first to make his way out of their hidden spot behind the bushes. JJ quickly rushes after him, "Pope. Pope, wait. Wait! Shit." The others trail behind the two, following them to the casket that they just left there. "Wait, wait. Yo."
Pope stops at the casket, and he stands there taking it in. Then he slowly walks closer, observing it closely. "Cecelia Tanny, Denmark's wife." He read from the plaque inside the inner wall of the casket.
Thea's eyes widened, her hand softly cups over her mouth. "Oh, my god."
Pope glanced skyward towards the huge tree, then he stands up from his kneeled position and walks to it. "He wasn't talking about the cross. He buried her at the foot of the angel."
"The true treasure." Kie murmured in realization.
"His wife." John B uttered softly.
Pope walks back to the casket and he crouched down, he sniffles a little and Thea sees the tears gathering in his eyes, and that triggers tears to brim in hers too. Knowing that he needed support, they all crouch and sit down to the casket on the ground with him.
"Denmark was hung for burying his wife, and now they defiled her grave." Kie gives Pope's arm a gentle squeeze, and JJ rubs his hand along his back. He reaches inside of the grave and pulls something small out of it, then he wipes his eyes with his free hand as he dusted whatever it was that he grab off so he could see it clearly.
It looked like a small charm, and Cecelia's name was inscribed on it.
"This must have been from Denmark." Sarah spoke gently, Thea moved her attention to the Cameron girl and a tear slides down her cheek as she realized what she was holding in her fingers. "Her wedding ring."
"This is so fucked up." Thea sniffles, taking her cardigan sleeve and wiping her face as Pope puts the charm back into the casket, Sarah doing the same with the ring.
"We can't leave her like this." Pope insisted.
"We won't." John B replied, earnestly.
JJ nods to John B, and the two boys grab the lid of the casket and pick it up as everyone gets up from the ground. They place the lid back onto Cecelia's casket, and they hammer the nails back into it to close it back with the tools that were left behind. While they did that, Thea walked with Pope to grab some flowers that were nearby.
They pick some nicely bloomed white ones, then they go to head back to the group. But not before Thea can stop him and throw her arms around him. He curls his arms around her waist, and she tucks her face into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry that they did that to your family, Pope." She whispers to him, "They should've never dug up Cecelia and just left her like that." His arms tighten around her slightly at her words, then she pulls back and meets his eyes. "We're gonna get that cross, okay? We're gonna take back what is rightfully Denmark's. What is rightfully yours."
Pope smiles genuinely, "Thank you, Thea. You're a really good friend."
She shrugs and smiles back at him, "Yeah, I try. Now, come on. Let's go give Cecelia some flowers. Because what girl doesn't love flowers, right?"
They made it back to the others, and Pope kneeled down and placed the flowers ontop of the casket as JJ finished hammering in the final nail to seal it shut. "There you go, Cecelia." He murmured softly, "We fixed your grave back up for you, hope you don't mind."
Thea smiles, but it's a bittersweet one. "Rest easy, Cece." She pauses, "I hope it's okay that I called you that." She quickly added.
Thea is sitting sitting on the ground next to Kie as JJ and John B finish up, they put Cecelia's casket back into the hole that Carla had her men dig up, then they used the shovels left behind to fill the hole back up. All the while, Pope was airing out all his frustrations about the confusing location of the cross.
"I just don't get it." He stammered, "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 cuts in, Thea moved her gaze from Pope over to him and she sees him walking towards the tree, his sights set skyward to the tree. "Guys." He walks over to the Twinkie, "Come here." Thea quickly rushed over and followed him as he climbed up to the top of the van, he gave her hand to the top and she stood next to him. He points to the hollow in the tree, "That looks like—"
Thea's eyes widen in realization, "The painting we saw in the island room." She cuts in.
JJ glanced at them all, he shrugged his shoulders. "It's worth a shot, right?"
"Yeah, do it." John B answered.
Thea glimpsed at the hole, she was unsure about the idea of JJ sticking his hand into a hole in a tree... but if there was something in there, then yeah. It's worth a shot. She nods at him, "No risk, no reward, right?"
JJ nods, "Okay." He goes to put his hand in, then he decided against it. "I'm gonna do it." He tells himself, but he doesn't and Thea smiles softly before wrapping her arms around his waist from behind.
"You scared, Jay?" She asked him, perching her chin on his shoulder.
"What? No." JJ replied quickly, which only made him sound more scared.
"You seem scared." Kie teased him, back on the ground with the others.
"It's okay if you are, you know." Thea assures him, she pressed her lips against his shoulder. "Take your time."
"Thanks, shortcake." JJ murmured, then he takes his hand and eases it into the tree. For a moment or two he just shoves his arm further in, reaching inside. "There's something in here." He chuckles softly, "Wait." Then suddenly, he starts screaming bloody fucking murder.
Thea panics and her eyes grow big as she grabs at his shoulder, everyone down on the ground screams for him. "Jay, pull your arm out!" She tugs and tugs, but then she hears him laughing. She goes from panic mode to I'm gonna fucking kill you mode in 2 seconds flat. "You bitch!" She shoves him as he resumes cracking up.
"Oh, you asshole." Pope tells him off.
"Oh, man!" JJ laughs, loud and unashamed. "I got all of you on that one."
Thea huffs in annoyance, "That's not funny."
"Yeah, real original." Pope said, sarcastically.
"Wait, but seriously, there's something in here." JJ notified them, then with a small grunt he pulls something out of the hollow of the tree.
Pope reaches up, "Let me see it." JJ hands the object to him, and he takes it. The tousled blonde then jumped down from the roof of the Twinkie, Thea sat down on the edge and dangled her legs over the side, she kind of enjoyed staying up there. "HMS Royal Merchant."
JJ took it back, "Give it to the captain. Here we go." He opened it up and looked through it, "It's a spyglass."
Her eyes caught something on the ends of the spyglass from where she sat, "Guys, there's something written on it, I think."
John B turns it, and a smile comes to his lips. "An inscription right there." His smile only grows as he lets Pope take the spyglass, "Look at that shit." He exclaims, excitedly.
"Oh, what does it say?" JJ asked.
"'You've come this far. Do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's alter." Pope recited, his words filled with hope as a huge smile splits his face. "'Freedman's altar.' The cross is at the church!"
"What are we doing here, guys?" JJ questioned rhetorically.
"Come on!" Pope enthused, "We got it!"
JJ walks over to him and they do their handshake, Thea smiles big as she watches the two of them celebrate. "Woogity-woogity!"
—micaela speaks
Yo.
So, I'm only gonna say one thing. When Thea asked JJ would he still be with her if a gator ripped off her limb, that was the equivalent to "Would you still love me if I were a worm?" LMAOOO
Yeah, I can be funny sometimes.
But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you all in the next one!