"Okay, JB, you gotta start at the beginning and tell us everything," Coral demanded.
Sighing, he nodded, "It started in Barbados," he began, "Before we left, we went to this art place or something where dad was keeping this thing called a Gnoman. It's the Gnoman of Solana."
"That's the thing he was fondling in the kitchen?" Coral questioned, remembering catching her father with some old looking relic.
"Most likely," he responded, "Anyway we only had half of it, so Dad needed Denmark's diary. I didn't lie about that, the copy we had was destroyed, so we went to Mr. Sunn's to get the original."
"The history teacher?" JJ interrupted.
"Yes," John B answered, "Can we hold the questions till I'm done? So, at Sunn's, we found him tied up. That's where the guys from the Coastal Venture come in. They took the diary, but we chased them down out on the water. Dad was trying to make a deal with them, but he ended up, well you know. He dumped them overboard," he told them.
Shuddering, Coral leaned farther into JJ as her brother continued, "Dad figured out we needed to go to Charleston. It wasn't a dead end like I told you. We found the other part of the Gnoman, and then Limbry found us. She wanted the shroud from the cross. Dad lied to her, so she'll probably come after us eventually too. Anyway, we came back here and after everyone left yesterday, we went to one of Dad's old colleagues. Found out she died, but before that she was on a dig in a South American jungle which then led us to another one of Dad's people, Professor Sowell. It was there that Singh caught up with us but not before Sowell showed us this drawing of something called the Temalacati. This thing, Dad said, is like a sundial or something. We put the Gnoman into it and it somehow leads to El Dorado."
"Are you done?" JJ asked, "Cuz I have a ton of questions."
"Starting with do you think Daddy is okay?" Coral chimed in.
"I think so," John B answered, "You know Dad he's a survivor," he assured her, "Made Singh think he needed him to decipher the Gnoman. I'm thinking he could ride that for a while."
"So, do we have any way of knowing where exactly they were going? I mean I ain't Pope but even I know South America isn't exactly small," JJ said.
"No. I think we need to go back to Sowell's. See what we can find," John B told them.
"Next question. What happened to this Sowell? Did they take him too?"
Hesitating, John B gave JJ a look as he shook his head.
"What?"
"Singh's men kind of took care of him."
"Fucking Christ," Coral swore, shaking her head, "How did you manage to get away?"
"The sand," he answered, "Threw it in their eyes and ran."
"Dirty Pogue fighting. Thank God for that," JJ said, reaching across Coral to slap John B on the back.
"So, what do we do?"
"I think we start at Sowell's," John B repeated as he stood and headed for the Twinkie.
"Oh, yes, let's go back to the house with the body," JJ muttered following the twins.
"Okay, let's make this quick. In and out," JJ said as John B pulled the Twinkie over in front of the professor's house.
"Yeah, I don't really fancy hanging with a dead body either," Coral agreed as they jumped out of the van and hurried across the yard.
Shushing her, John B opened the door slowly and they crept inside. Closing the door behind them, JJ took her hand as they followed John B into the dining room.
"His body's gone. Sowell was right here," John B told them, pointing to the floor.
"JB, I swear to God if a zombie comes walking out of one of these rooms I'm done."
"Seriously Coral," he responded, rolling his eyes.
"No, I know what happened. They've already been here," JJ spoke up, "They sent in the sweepers and now probably decontaminated this entire room," he said, flinging his arm around the room, "There's nothing left so we should just get out of here."
"Maybe there's something," John B countered.
"Okay, what are we looking for then?"
"Anything that has to do with an archaeological dig," John B responded.
"Oh, sure JB that really narrows it down," Coral said sarcastically looking around the messy room filled with papers and artifacts.
"Seriously," JJ muttered.
"What do you two want from me?" John B questioned, "I'm trying. Just look around for anything that might help us find Dad," he told them moving across the room to sort through papers sitting on a table.
Sighing, Coral let go of JJ's hand and went to the other side of the room and began rifling through a desk listening to JJ muttering behind her as he looked over a packed bookcase.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Guys we can't leave our fingerprints," JJ told them over his shoulder. Looking behind her Coral snorted at the sight of JJ using his bandana to wipe his fingerprints off of a globe.
"Maybe you and JB can't but my fingerprints aren't on file."
"You're twins, Coral, you have the same prints."
Humming, Coral wrinkled her nose, "Baby, that's not how that works."
"Um, I think it is Coral."
Opening her mouth to argue with him she was cut off by John B, "Will you two get fucking serious?"
"Yeah, you know, actually, I'm just gonna look in the kitchen," JJ decided, walking out of the room and into the kitchen.
"That's not how it works," Coral said stubbornly, smiling serenely at her brother.
Scoffing, John B rolled his eyes, "I don't know how I got stuck with the two of you. Can you just look for something that could help us find Dad?"
"Yes sir," she saluted, swinging her arm down and knocking a bunch of papers to the floor, "Fuck," she mumbled dropping to her knees to collect the papers. Reaching for one under the table her eye caught a paper under a cabinet across the room. Furrowing her brow she left the papers she'd dropped and crawled across the room.
"I swear to God Coral, what the fuck are you doing?"
Pulling the paper out from under the cabinet she studied the drawing of three stone monuments and a circular stone with a piece missing out of the middle. Under the drawing she read, "Solana. Actually, I'm being fucking helpful," she told her brother getting to her feet and holding out the paper, "Didn't you say that Gnoman thing was called the Gnoman of Solana?"
Taking the paper, John B nodded, "Holy shit, Sowell was showing us this before. He must've dropped it when he fell," he told her as he studied the drawing, "JJ," he called. Not getting an answer the twins moved towards the kitchen, "JJ," John B tried again.
Popping up out of the refrigerator with a chicken drumstick in his hand, JJ looked at them guiltily, "What's up?"
"What is it, snack time? What are you doing?"
"You know what? I feel very judged right now."
"As you should," Coral responded, "We're out here doing all the work and you're in here stuffing your face."
"There's an entire bird in here that'll just go to waste, okay? I'm not gonna let that happen. It's not like it's stealing. No one else is gonna eat it and this guy ain't coming back for it so I figured why not take the nutrients that this beautiful bird can provide me," he argued.
"Well, you could've made me a plate too," she replied with her hands on her hips.
"You want a plate? You got it Baby Girl," he responded, winking before turning and opening cabinets to find a plate.
"Guys," John B called, "Hey, forget all that. Look at this," he told them holding a newspaper clipping he'd found tacked to the bulletin board in the kitchen.
Taking the drumstick out of JJ's hand, Coral moved over to look at what her brother found as she bit into the leg, "Really Coralina," JJ griped, taking the entire chicken out of the fridge and bringing it over with him, "What did you find?"
"Local expedition team departs for South America," John B read the headline.
"Is one of these guys Sowell?" Coral asked, waving her chicken leg at the picture attached to the article.
"This one here," John B answered, pointing to one of the men, "Wait a minute. Neville," he said, tapping the picture.
"Should we know who that is?"
"Oh, I know, he's the dorky kid in Harry Potter that grew up to be hot as fuck," Coral supplied.
"Excuse me?" JJ questioned, glaring at her.
"No, shut up," John B snapped, "Get serious. The last thing Sowell said before he died was 'Neville.' Right there," he told them, pointing to another man in the picture.
"Neville Persaud, expedition guide," JJ read.
"So, Sowell said five people went on the expedition. Three of those people died which leaves us with two," John B said, holding up two fingers.
"Sowell," JJ said, pointing to one of John B's fingers.
"And Neville," Coral added, pointing to the last finger, "He survived Voldemort. And by Voldemort, I mean Singh."
"Well, I think Sowell was telling me to warn him, so he hasn't survived him yet," John B said.
"We need to find Neville."
"Uh, that's a job for you two. I have to get to The Wreck," Coral told them.
"What? We're on a mission to find Dad and you need to go to The Wreck instead. That makes no fucking sense, Coral."
"Well, I gave my word to Mr. Carrera, and someone needs to keep the fucking lights on while you and dad are playing treasure hunters."
"Singh has Dad. What part of that don't you get? This is serious!"
"I know that!"
"Hey, hey, hey," JJ held his hands up in a time out manner, "Look we need to track down this Neville before we can do anything else. Coral doesn't need to be there for that. So, she can go to work, and we'll find her later once we track this guy down."
Huffing, John B rolled his eyes, "You always take her side," he complained before turning and stomping towards the door.
"Because he knows if he doesn't, I'll withhold sex," Coral said, following her brother.
"This is why I don't work with family," JJ muttered, picking up his plate of chicken and following after the twins.
"Coral, these decorations look so good."
Glancing over her shoulder from where she stood on a ladder securing a banner Coral smiled down at Kie, "Thanks. I had a lot of help getting everything set up. I hope your parents like it," she said, descending the ladder.
Smiling at the banner that read 'Happy 15th Anniversary Mike & Anna' Kie nodded, "I think they're gonna love it," she told Coral, "Now I brought you a dress. It's in the backroom."
"Oh, I can't wear a dress while I'm waiting tables."
"You're not waiting tables tonight," Kie said, wrapping an arm around Coral's shoulders, "You have the night off to enjoy the fruits of your labor," she told her, steering her towards the restaurant.
"Your parents are okay with that?"
"Of course," Kie responded, "They hired an outside catering company to take care of everything. Now go get dressed," she said, walking into the backroom and pointing out a dress hanging on the bathroom door.
"Do you have to get back out there?" Coral asked, "Cuz I've got some shit for you," she said, taking the dress off the door and going into the bathroom.
"Nope I'm off duty too, and I've got some shit for you too," Kie responded, settling down on the couch, "But you first."
"Singh took my dad."
"What? Took him where?" Kie questioned, bewildered.
"South America apparently. He and John B found this relic, called the Gnoman of Solana, that Singh thinks will lead to the city of gold, so he took my dad to translate it, except I'm pretty sure my dad doesn't know how to translate it," Coral told her coming out of the bathroom.
"Oh, I knew that dress would look good on you," Kie complimented, "So, what now? How do we get your dad back?"
Shrugging, Coral opened her locker and pulled a makeup bag she had stored inside, "Thank you, and JJ and John B are on it. They're looking for some guy named Neville who led an expedition to South America."
Blinking, Kie shook her head, "How are you going to get to South America?"
"No clue," she responded, shrugging before going into the bathroom to apply her makeup, "What about you? What's going on?"
"Oh, so, my parents had me go pick up some stuff they ordered from the Middle of the Island restaurant this morning and I found Sarah there eating breakfast with Topper."
"Topper? What was she doing with that douche?"
"Apparently she spent the night out on Mase with him and a bunch of kids from the Kook academy," Kie answered.
Dropping her eyeliner into her bag, Coral moved to the doorway and looked at Kie, "She cheated on my brother, didn't she?"
Pursing her lips, Kie nodded.
Shaking her head, Coral swore, "She wasn't at the house last night. I had a feeling. I mean last time she went missing she was with him then too. So, like what, she's just done with John B?"
"I don't think so," Kie answered, "I mean she said she didn't want to be. I think she's just confused. She's struggling with everything with her family and then she and John B had their fight and I think Topper is just a safety blanket, you know?"
"I told her to go back to the house!" Coral exclaimed.
"I know. I'm just trying to play devil's advocate."
"Well, where is she now?"
"She got a text from Wheezie about running away and apparently she's here in the OBX. Asked Sarah to meet her at one of Rose's rentals so she went to check on her sister. She said she'd be back for the party though."
"Am I supposed to say something about what you told me?"
Standing from the couch, Kie shrugged, "Maybe not today. I don't want to ruin the party with bloodshed."
"I'm not that scary."
"When it comes to JJ or your brother, yes you are," Kie responded as the girls left the backroom to join the party.