"just so I can get closer
to you in my
dreams."
ALL THREE GIRLS FACED their attention back to the other fight going on. Now Pope and JJ were also involved as they came to John B's defense.
"Guys! Come on!" Red begged, waiting for their tussle to finish up so they could leave. She turned to Pope, who still stood out of breath, "Where's Bennie?"
"The dance floor," Pope replied, pressing his hands to his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
"Shit." Red breathed, pushing back through the crowd over to where the other half of the guests stood gathered around her as she continued dancing to 'It's Getting Hot In Here' by Nelly. "Bennie!" She called, finally getting her attention.
"Hey! Red! Red Shoupe! Y'all gotta invite me to more of these." Bennie laughed, continuing to dance. "Speaking of, where the hell is JJ? He said he'd teach me the worm and he still hasn't done it."
"JJ is helping your brothers fight it out!" Red explained, grabbing her arm. "Let's go!"
"Again? Seriously?" Bennie groaned, following back through where John B and Topper still battled it out. Bennie pushed her way close to them, finally getting Topper's attention by using every ounce of her strength to pull him off John B. "What the hell is the matter with you two?!"
"Bennie stay out of this! You shouldn't be here!" Topper yelled back, being stopped by his sister before he could charge at John B again.
"Guys, go!" Bennie yelled back towards the pogues. "I'll catch up later, alright?"
The rest of the pogues ran away from the mess they had gotten into before Topper could get out of Bennie's grip.
The teens gathered in the Twinkie, laying down and thinking about what had just happened.
JJ burped and crushed his beer can as he approached the open door adjacent to where John B was lying. "Well, that was a little unexpected."
"Was it?" Kie retorted, not even a little surprised by the fight.
Red turned her head over to the girl, "Yeah, everyone okay? At least... physically."
She received a nod from both Pope and JJ, but pure silence from John B. Red looked over at John B with a raised brow.
"What, Red?" John B spoke, sounding a mixture of annoyed and sad. "Wanna say I told you so?"
"Yes, actually."
"Then do it."
Red sighed, picking up that it wasn't the right time. "I don't want to anymore. It's been a rough enough night for you. You don't need any more enemies."
"Hey." JJ voiced, looking over at John B. "Maybe she'll come around."
"It's like everything that happened to us didn't matter." John B sighed. Red gave him a pitiful look as she rubbed his shoulder with her thumb.
"Hey," Red spoke, trying to lighten up the mood. "Why don't we go back to the Chateau and try to make the most of tonight? I know we can't rewind, but we can set up the fire... make some smores. Move on."
"That doesn't sound bad." Pope agreed. "Yeah, let's do it."
"You up for that, JB?" Asked Kie, turning towards him. John B nodded in agreement, still not speaking.
Once the group arrived at the Chateau, they gathered around the fire as they did weeks earlier before stuff got worse and more complicated.
"I've had more black eyes in the past month than I've ever had," Pope stated, earning chuckles from the group.
"That was building up for years." JJ chimed, taking a seat over by Red. "Rumble in the jungle."
"Did you guys really stick up for Sarah?" John B asked.
Kie shrugged, "Of course I did... She's not a reak kook."
"Yeah, tell that to Topper." Pope shrugged, looking over at Kie.
"I think the real question is did you slap Josie?" Asked Pope, leaning forward in his seat to look at Red.
A soft smile appeared across Red's face as she wiggled her eyebrows.
"Wow." John B clapped, impressed. "Remind me never to cross you." He then faced his attention back to Kie. "I just want one bite, that-"
"What are you doing?" Kie asked, watching as her hotdog fell to the floor. "No!"
"Ha, you're not having any of mine." JJ chuckled. Red looked over at him, trying to hide the smile on her face.
"I spent the last of my money on that..." Kie exaggerated. "I'm stealing your marshmallow."
"I believe that's not even a fair trade," Pope replied, smiling softly.
"It's not at all." Kie chuckled, "Not even close!"
"Hey, hey!" John B shushed, still kneeling behind Kie's spot. The group turned their heads towards the chicken coop, where the chickens clucked. "Somebody's here."
"Maybe it's the marshmallow thief!" Red joked, dropping her marshmallow into the fire. "Aw..."
"Sh- Red." Pope hushed.
"You don't think that Topper would..." Kie questioned, the situation becoming more serious.
"I wouldn't put it past him," JJ replied, setting down his plate and standing up.
"Do you have your gun?" Asked Kie, looking over at JJ.
"Oh, so now she wants the gun!"
"So now you don't have the gun?"
"No!"
"Isn't that your 'secret weapon'?"
"Shut up!" John B hushed, walking further and further towards the coop in front of the rest of them. "Hey, who's out there?"
"You kooks better not try anything!" Kie yelled, cautiously following behind John B.
"How y'all doing?" A voice spoke, Renfield coming into their line of sight.
"You've got to be kidding me." Red breathed, taking a step behind Pope who stood in front of her.
"Lovely evening we're having." Renfield approached closer, holding his hands up. "Look, I- uh... I don't hold a grudge with any of y'all, alright?" Renfield spun in a circle, showing them he was unarmed. "But this could go hard or this could go easy... You know what I'm here for."
"A little context would be helpful." Red spat, Renfield scoffing at her words.
"Someone didn't get her beauty sleep." He retorted. "Let me give you a little demonstration, you see that swing right there? I got the best bow hunters in the army rangers with me. Yeah?"
"Mhmm." JJ hummed, grabbing onto the rope of the swing.
Renfield whistled, immediately an arrow coming from behind him, barely missing JJ as it barreled towards the tree behind him.
"Now... They're out there." Renfield nodded, watching as the teens froze as they looked at where the arrow hit. "They'll stick you just as soon as I say so."
Renfield approached Pope and Red closer. Red grabbed onto Pope's arm, preparing herself for the worst.
JJ tried to step behind Renfield's turned back to hit him with the long stick he carried. But Renfield whistled again, the arrow hitting just centimeters away from JJ's foot.
"Uh, uh, uh." Renfield smiled. "We clear? Now I'm not gonna give you a countdown or any bull like that I'm just gonna whistle."
Pope stared at Renfield blankly, soon reaching into his pocket, and taking out the key. He held it away from Renfield.
"This key belongs to my family," Pope spoke, his voice shaky and unsure.
Renfield turned around, looking around where the shooters could be. He let out a chuckle as he turned back towards the pair. "I'm losing my patience with you, Pope." Renfield rose his fingers to his face, as if about to whistle.
Pope exhaled sharply, handing the key to Renfield, who smiled coldly. "You did the right thing, kid. Knowing when you don't have a choice is underappreciated talent." Renfield faced his attention over to Red, who still clinged onto Pope. "And you little lady have yourself a lovely night."
"Piss up a rope." JJ sneered from behind.
"Easy there," Renfield spoke, walking past JJ and back into the hole he came from. Renfield whistled again, signaling the shooters that they were clear.
"I'm so sick of this shit." Pope breathed, finally allowing Red to let go of him.
Pope walked away, clearly a mixture of sadness and anger with the entire situation.
"Looks like we can add 'thief' to the long list of names we can call Renfield." Red breathed, placing her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, right next to Pedo and Psychopath." Kie scoffed, walking back into the Chateau.
"So much for making the best out of tonight." Red breathed, following Kie in.
JJ and John B talked quickly about some unknown thing outside before the pair walked back in. Red set up the guest bed, fluffing the pillow as she heard the front door close.
She knew she needed to resume the conversation she tried to have with JJ before John B and Topper had their brawl. She stepped out of the room, gaining the blonde's attention with a sharp whistle.
JJ's head whipped back at the sound. It was easy to tell he was still very much on guard after what happened with Renfield.
"Sorry..." Red whispered. "Whistling probably wasn't the safest option considering the circumstances."
JJ let out a breath of relief, "Yeah, it's alright."
"But, uh- can I talk to you for a minute... again?" Red asked, tapping her fingers on the cracked door. "I didn't get to finish."
"Oh, yeah. Right." JJ pretended he just remembered, but in reality, it was on his mind since the fight. He wondered what she had to say.
JJ slipped behind Red, who made her way onto the porch, bouncing her knee as she looked out the screen.
"Um... So- uh... I was just thinking about what happened yesterday a lot." Red explained, resting her hands in her lap, still not looking away from outside. "Not just about Pope... but about- y'know, what we talked about."
"Yeah." JJ sighed. "I mean, I kinda figured you made up your mind."
"I thought I did." Red shook her head, improving the words coming out of her mouth. "But it didn't feel right. I mean... I know what I think is best for you... but maybe I should let you decide." Red took a breath. "I think we could do it if we tried. I mean- I think we could try it again. Now that we know what we did wrong... we might be able to figure it out?"
JJ turned his head towards her, not really in 100% belief. "You think so?"
"I do. My whole life... I've felt like a sketch, y'know? Like a rough draft of something bigger. But... no sketches ever have color, right? It's like when I'm around you... I'm not just a sketch, I'm- I'm complete. I'm a painting." Red chuckled softly at her bad analogy. "It's always harder to trust someone who hurt you than to hurt someone who trusts you... and I want to trust you. In a way... I already do. I just want my life to come out of black and white again. I wanna be a painter. I want to be complete... and you are the only person in the whole world that will ever make me feel like that."
Red looked down, acknowledging the silence. It wasn't until JJ's ocean-blue eyes shot in her direction that she looked back up at him.
He didn't even need to say anything. He just needed to look at her, and she was whole again.
Just by looking at him, and him looking at her, both of them felt peace. They felt love. Not just any ordinary love, real, genuine love.
"Are you gonna say anything?" Asked Red, uncrossing her arms and waiting for a response.
JJ looked at her again, blinking once again to clear his vision. He approached her slowly, repositioning his hands on the sides of her neck and cheekbones, Red grabbing onto his wrists.
It was only when their lips connected that Red felt she had just made the best and worst decision by talking to him. Best, because she was kissing JJ Maybank, what she'd been craving to do for days. Worst, because she was kissing JJ Maybank, what she'd been craving to do for days.
Worst, because it just gave her one more thing to lose. Best, because it gave her one more thing to lose. Oh, but for now all she had was him, and it was all she needed.
She missed his smell. She missed every aspect of him. Neither one of them wanted the kiss to end, but eventually, they both pulled away.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that." JJ breathed, still not taking his hands off of her.
"A few days? Tops?" Red inquired, tilting her head to the side teasingly.
"8th-grade science camp." JJ smiled.
"Did somebody have a crush in middle school?" Asked Red a soft chuckle escaping her. She was still somewhat surprised he had been crushing on her for that long. "Don't you be getting all sappy on me?"
JJ scoffed playfully, burning his hands in his pockets. "Sappy? JJ Maybank? Never."
"I guess we'll just have to see about that." Red teased, wrapping herself in his warm embrace once again. She let out a sigh of relief. It felt good even though it sucked that she'd been honest with him. Red was glad she did. She pulled away from him slowly, looking up once more as her blue eyes met his. "Well, I'm actually gonna go to bed. It's late."
JJ nodded his head rapidly, straightening his posture. "Yeah. I'll actually second that." Just as the blonde was about to exit the room, his face appeared again, always peeking through the cracked wooden door.
Red turned around, a small scoff escaping her lips. "What are you doing?" She cooed, fluffing the pillow placed in front of her. She turned to him, a smile dancing on her lips. "You can come in, you know."
"Right." JJ grinned, the gap between the door becoming bigger, then returning to its former size as he made himself comfortable beside Red on the sheets he tucked underneath, wrapping his left arm around the smaller girl and letting out a sigh. "Goodnight, sunshine."
"Goodnight, JJ," Red replied, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks at the nickname. It's hard to realize how much you missed someone till you finally have them back. For better or worse.
The next morning wasn't much different from the last. It was a Saturday, leaving the pogues free from the prison they called a school. Red sat up swiftly, shrugging JJ who leaned on her shoulder off so he could return to his position on the mattress.
Red carefully got off of the springy bed, careful not to make any noise as she exited the room. She was met by John B, who immediately shooshed her from the front porch, notifying her that Kie and Pope were still asleep.
"What time is it?" Red whispered and yelled across the room, earning another shoosh and a shrug from John B. Red's eyebrows knit together with frustration as she walked over to the porch, taking a comfortable seat next to Kie, who was now awake.
"What?" Kie groaned, acting as if someone had called her or woken her up on purpose. Red rolled her eyes playfully, lightly hitting Kie on her face which had been slightly obscured by her yellow and white beanie covering her eyes from the sun.
"Where's Pope at?" Red asked, examining the room once more before spotting Pope's big brown eyes fluttering open at the mention of his name. "Sorry." She hushed, placing her finger to her mouth.
"Damn, Red." Kie groaned, leaning her head back against the chair, and covering her eyes again. "Might as well wake JJ up next."
"Oh, I'm awake." JJ entered, rubbing his eyes as he opened the screen door. Bennie was not far behind him. "And look who's here. Everyone's favorite baby."
"Zip it." Bennie hummed, sitting criss-cross applesauce in front of the chair John B was seated on. "So, I think I'm all caught up." Bennie inquired, leaning forward. "Pedo paid a visit and took the key? Anything else?"
"Yeah, that basically sums it all up." John B replied, repositioning his sunglasses on his face. A sharp whistle escaped his lips seconds later, shifting everyone's attention to the opening screen door.
"Well hello princess." JJ greeted. Sarah rolled her eyes, closing the door and coming further onto the porch.
"Hey, Sarah." Red half-smiled, not exactly sure how to react after the night before. Clearly, JJ and John B weren't having it. Oh God, Please be nice. She thought. Red didn't think it was Sarah's fault at all what happened the night before, although she was rather on John B's side when it came to everything that happened between the two of them.
"Shouldn't you be on figure eight?" Asked John B, flipping his sunglasses to his forehead, it acts as a headband for his brown hair. "With your little group of uh... Polo players?" Sarah shot him a sarcastic smile, seemingly not in the mood for his childish antics. "Did you break up with Topper?"
"We're just friends," Sarah responded, walking over towards Pope and away from John B. Wise Sarah.
"Oh, he's just a friend." John B repeated, poking at her for fun as he was still upset with both her and Topper. "You have a lot of friends, Sarah Cameron."
"Yeah, and it seems like you've got some of your own, too." Sarah retorted, turning to him.
"Look, Sarah." Bennie piped up, getting Sarah's attention away from John B to avoid an argument. "When I first found out about you and Top, I was like 'Uh! Sarah Cameron? Really?'" Bennie stopped for a moment, a sarcastic smile playing on her face. "And I guess I should've trusted my gut. Sarah Cameron, you've seen more beds than a hotel maid."
"Bennie!" JJ whooped, offering the girl a high-five with she proudly took from him, grinning in victory.
"I'm very proud of that, actually."
Once the two of them were done with their laughter pit, JJ turned back to Sarah, "Alright, what do you want?" He asked, groggily.
Sarah let out a sigh, "I'm here for Pope."
The group went silent for a moment, a matching confused expression planted on each of their faces, but especially Pope's.
"I think I found the island room," Sarah explained.
It didn't take long for the group to load up in the Twinkie, all anxious to see what they'd find and especially what Sarah had uncovered.
Red was seated in between JJ and Pope in the back of the Twinkie, peeking over Pope's shoulder to read the paper in his hands.
"Guys," He called, straightening the paper. "Listen to this. The diary says the cross holds the holiest relic in all of Christendom. The Garment of the Savior."
"Do they mean Jesus... or-" Bennie asked. Bennie needed a good fill-in every once in a while, but unfortunately now was not the time.
"So wait, they're saying there's a holy garment inside the cross?" Kie inquired, catching on quickly unlike the younger girl to her left.
"Yeah, it says the garment is capable of healing the sick from any malady."
"Mmm... Yeah." JJ hummed. "'If only I may touch his garment, I shall be made well'" JJ inquired, earning eyes from all over the van that he even knew a single Bible verse, especially not one that was helpful in their current predicament. "What? I went to Sunday School."
"Sure."
"Well, that's probably why Limbrey wants the cross so bad, right?" Asked Red, straightening up in her seat. "She must think it can heal her."
"What else does it say?" Kie Wiestioned, leaning back towards Pope.
"'Many feel that we have sinners to steal such a sacred thing. Then God will strike his vengeance on us.'"
"Thing is... God didn't have his vengeance."
Pope looked up at Kie, "He sent a hurricane to sink the ship... Only Denmark survived." Pope looked down at the papers once again, the Twinkie coming to a halt in front of the Cameron household.
Whoa, it felt like forever since Red stepped foot inside the Cameron house. It had to have been Midsummer before Rafe was a murderer. Or maybe he always was, who knew?
The group soon exited the van, walking through the house in almost a straight line. Sarah carefully opened the door to what used to be the dining room, but now it just looked like a mess with shreds of wallpaper scattered all around the room randomly.
"Pope, look," Sarah called, going further into the large room.
Pope's eyes nearly fell out of his head as he scanned the room, the missing ingredient. Of course. "Woah..." He breathed. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Yeah." Sarah grinned, matching Pope's and the rest's expressions. "I know, right? It's the island room. It's been here this whole time."
"No freakin' way." Bennie breathed, touching the walls of the room and ripping off more of the wallpaper. "This place is insanis... I've never even been in here."
"This definitely means something." JJ inquired, Bennie, turned around to face him as she fired up an insult in her mind.
"No. No, actually this is all pointless." She retorted sarcastically. "What do you think, Monk?"
"JJ-" Red stopped, knowing he'd gladly keep the pointless argument going until they were yelling at eachother. It had still been a shock to her that they weren't siblings, because they sure acted like it. "Just leave it, Bennie."
"Yo, this is a map of the whole island." John B quired, walking closer to the furthest wall from the door.
"Yeah..." JJ agreed. "John B, I think you're right because this is Rixon's right here." JJ pointed towards the lighthouse painted on the wall. "Then there's the lighthouse."
"Guys, look. Parcel nine." Kie called, her fingers tracing the painting of a well. "And the well."
"Okay... If that's Parcel Nine, and That's Rixon's." John B rushed around the room beside JJ. "Then that's gotta be the surf break at Mase."
"Right, and look." JJ nodded, pulling out Nenmark's letter and holding it in front of them. "Pope, come here. This is Denmark's handwriting for sure."
Pope held out the paper to the wall, the drawings immediately resembling eachother. "The drawings... they match up." Pope smiled widely, everything suddenly falling into place. "Denmark, you genius." Pope walked around the room again, every so often glancing down at the paper. "These are all his drawings. He... He painted this entire room."
"Yeah, the question is why," Kie added, still examining the walls closely. "What's he trying to tell us?"
"It's gotta have something to do with the key, right?" JJ inquired, still needing to fill in the blanks of his question.
"Yeah, but we don't know what that is." Red sighed, her eyes tracing the walls in front of her. Her fingernails slightly rubbed against the paint, some falling odd at her sweaty touch. Not wanting to ruin it, she pulled away quickly. "How did you know how to uncover this, anyway?"
"I didn't..." Sarah replied, looking up at John B. "It was like this when I got home."
"What?"
"Okay... then who did all of this?" Asked Bennie knocking on the wall in front of her. "Someone with a lot of patience I'm assuming."
"I don't know," Sarah responded.
"The freaks." Another voice appeared out of nowhere, belonging to Wheezie Cameron. The group immediately flinched at the sound of another voice, easily startled by the state they were in.
"Wheezie!" Bennie yelped, bending down and putting her hands on both her knees as she attempted to calm herself down.
"What freaks are we talking about, Wheezie?" JJ questioned.
"Uh... that sick lady in her attack dog," Wheezie responded. "They showed up last night and they wanted to talk to Rafe."
"Wait... pale blonde lady?" Asked JJ, standing up from a crouched position beside the table.
"Did she have crutches?"
"Uh-huh."
"Yeah, that's Limbrey." Bennie nodded, crossing her arms in frustration with the mess they had made. Bennie was notorious for her OCD on some days.
John B peeked his head in between JJ and Bennie. "Ok, wh-what happened?"
"Well, at first they searched the whole house looking for something, and then Rafe told me to go upstairs but, I didn't wanna miss out so I listened through the grate," Wheezie explained, the whole group looked at eachother, having a pretty good idea of just what the woman was looking for. "So they started tearing all the wallpaper off as if they had just found something."
"Hence the mess." Red nodded, looking around the beat-up room again.
"Yeah," Wheezie muttered, going along with her story. "And they were talking about getting across the sand flamingo."
"That's code, that's code for something." JJ inquired, the pogues shooting him a look.
"I think she means The Cross, but nice try." Red corrected, laying the side of her face on JJ's shoulder.
"The Cross of Santa Domingo?" Pope asked Wheezie, enunciating every word of the sentence to get the point across.
"Yeah, that's it." Wheezie snapped, remembering what it was actually called, but still clueless as to why it was so important to a bunch of undereducated teenagers. "Oh, and they were talking about like angels... A lot of angels talk. I don't know."
Pope's face lifted as he remembered something. He perked up, turning towards the group. "Guys! Denmark's famous last words. He buried the real treasure at the foot of the angel." John B snapped his fingers, pointing at Pope in agreement. "They're looking for the angel, We have to find the angel in the room!"
The whole group minus Wheezie spread out across the room, frantically looking for anything that could resemble an angel, shouting questions about the matter to each other from across the room.
"What's... what's going on? Are you guys gonna tell me, or?" Wheezie insisted, her voice being outweighed by the other teens in the room.
"JJ!" Red called, JJ was barely able to hear her due to all the other voices talking at the same time. She tilted her head in her direction, signaling him to come over. Once he stepped a few feet closer, she pointed at a tree on the wall, a noticeable keyhole placed in the center. "Take a look at this."
"It's still there..." JJ traced his finger over the keyhole. "Hey! Guys, come here! I think we found something. Come here." He called, most voices coming to a halt as the pogues approached the duo. "This humongous tree is still on Goat Island. You know what it's called?"
Pope's eyes widened, understanding what JJ was trying to get at. "Angel Oak."
"And look," Red pointed at the keyhole drawn on the tree. "There's the keyhole, right there." Red turned around. "That means, and I quote, 'The Cross is buried at the foot of the angel'. He buried the treasure after the eldest tree on the island."
"She's right." Pope agreed, a smile appearing on his face. "That has to be where he put it. That must be where they are right now, we have to go!"
"I think we're Sherlock Holmes!" JJ flaunted, wrapping an arm around Red as they backed away from the wall. "Your welcome, by the way!"
"Yeah, hurry up, Sherlock!" John B implored, pushing the two of them out the door behind the others and rushing back into the Twinkie.
ooooo this is about
to get good.