chapter 20
"so you're living with sarah cameron now?" kiara asks, her tone on edge as she delivers water for the team.
after the events of hawks nest john b had been sent to the hospital while the rest of the team had gone their separate ways. after the news that john b was finally out of the hospital with only a mild concussion and a broken arm, they had decided to meet at the wreck, which was where they currently were.
john b sighs at kiara's words. "okay, look, the only reason i'm living there is because her dad bailed me out, right? and it's way better than foster care, which, by the way, is where i was about to go if ward didn't--" "hey, so do you have a membership to the clubs now?" pope interrupts, indifferent to what john b had said before.
john b shakes his head as he takes a seat in one of the chairs.
"i don't know, pope"
jj points at him, taking a sip of his water "what about those golf carts they drive around? you get one of them?" he asks, walking around the table to take a seat beside india.
india watches the interaction, feeling sorry for how the group is bashing john b.
"does it come with a sweater-vest or do you have to buy one of your own?" pope asks, his hands on the back of his neck as he lays back on his chair.
"look you promised. you said you weren't with her" kiara tells john b quietly. it hurt her to see that john b had lied to her and broken his promise.
"bro, just own it. she got you" jj tells him, motioning to kiara.
"look if you wanna hang out with her, that's fine. but i'm letting you know that i'm not doing anything with sarah" kiara continues, her tone serious and straight to the point.
"do you guys see her here?" john b asks, looking around the restaurant.
he nods after a moment of silence. "no, right. okay. a little focus would be fantastic. we've got the map, right?"
"well it's out of whack cause the guy was ganja's when he drew it" jj jokes, looking at the map that lays on the table.
"it's because the coast has changed" india explains, motioning to the coast on the map. jj looks up at india, raising his eyebrows at her sarcastically.
"so we just have to look for landmarks that haven't changed" pope pitches in, trying to figure out the map.
"what about the old forts?" john b asks, looking at the team.
"battery jasper"
"yeah, it should be around there" pope nods before folding up the map.
"let's go"
___
"not the crain house" john b complains, sighing as he turns off the van.
the group piles out of the car, staring at the torn down spooky house in front of them.
"are you kidding me?" kiara exclaims, looking at the house.
india frown, turning to jj. "why are you all worried about a house? who lives there?" she asks.
jj turns to her, realizing that after all, india was new to town. "this is the worst-case scenario" he explains, motioning to the house. he doesn't really explain much else.
"why'd it have to be here of all places?" pope mutters. india turns to look at him, starting to get frustrated that no one is telling her anything.
"she's this old lady that just can't seem to die" " jj finally explains, turning to india.
india turns to the rest of the group, her eyebrows high on her forehead.
"that's it? the lady is an old woman?" she asks. her arms are crossed across her chest as she says this.
jj chuckles, turning to her with wide eyes "there's a rumor that mrs. crain buried her husband's head on the property"
well, that changed things.
the group stood there for a moment before finally entering the front yard. the high weeds made it difficult to see where they were going, but they managed to lay out a path.
"honestly, i don't really believe the stories of this place" john b argues after a moment.
india struggles to walk forward, her hand on jj's back as she tries to steady herself.
"shh" pope shushes, turning to face john b.
"what?" john b snaps back to him.
"which stories did you hear?" jj asks kiara, curious to see what people say about the old lady.
india listens as kiara turns to jj. "the one where she killed her husband with an axe and that she's been holed up ever since" she turns to him, her eyes wide as she pretends to be scared. "on certain nights, when the moon is full" her voice turns to a whisper "you can see her in the window"
jj gulps, shaking his head at her. "no kie it's not funny, cause it's all true"
"boo!" india scares jj. jj flinches, turning around as fast as he can. when he sees it's only india he rolls his eyes.
"very funny, indi" he laughs out sarcastically.
india and kie share a look before laughing at jj.
"i swear to god, guys, this is all real. i knew hollis" jj continues. they step out into the open garden all of them looking around in shock as rock statues form a circle. in the middle is a fountain, dried up and half torn down.
"this is some weird shit" india mutters as she starts walking behind jj again.
"wait, you know hollis crain?" pope asks, looking at jj.
jj nods, turning to him" "yeah, dude"
while they went across the yard india can't help but fall deep into thought. she thought about the way that kiara had reacted when john b had told her about sarah cameron. while she considered the girl a friend, she couldn't help but wonder if kiara had said the same things about her.
the difference, of course, was that india hadn't known kiara before coming to the island, but she was a kook after all, and she knew that at first, the group had probably been mad at jj for including her in everything. it made her feel insecure.
she brushed off the thoughts as the group finally came to a stop in front of the house.
"are you sure you wanna do this?" jj questions, turning to john b. "she's an axe murdered, and you got a cast on" he notes, motioning to the cast on john b's arm.
"i don't give a shit if she's an axe murderer, okay?" john b replies, his tone on edge. "i got nothing to lose, right? you coming or what?"
with that he starts walking again, kie and pope trailing behind him and leaving jj and india in the back.
india walks to jj, watching as he scratches his bare arm. she smiles at him, standing on her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to his lips before pulling back.
"come on, let's go get our gold"
a few minutes after they walk through the property john b stops, kneeling down as he turns to the team.
"alright. we need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in denmark's letter"
"okay, like, what kind of water? like, pond water?" pope asks, confused as to what they need to look for.
beside him jj chuckles "bong water?" he asks.
the group turns his way, all of them with a scowl on their faces.
john b sighs. "no. it- it just said to look for water, okay?" he instructs. he didn't want anything to wrong. he wanted to find the gold and make his father proud, whatever it took.
"that's the shittiest secret message ever" india replies, huffing a breath as she pulls her hair into the ponytail. she was starting to get frustrated at the amount of secret messages and vague instructions as to where to find the gold.
"agreed" kiara nods at india's words. india looks around the lawn before starting to move forward by herself, searching for a place where the gold might be hiding. kiara follows, turning to the boys and rolling her eyes at them. she was clearly tired of their shit.
"you two wanna complain a little more? nobody said it was gonna be easy" john b calls out.
the group splits, with kiara and india going one way and the boys separating to the other way.
india takes this as her opportunity.
"hey, kie can i ask you something?" india asks after a moment. kiara nods, looking around the garden.
"why do you hate sarah cameron?" india asks. kiara turns to the girl, sighing for a moment before walking her way.
"we were best friends and then out of the blue she had a birthday party and she didn't invite me. she acted like i was trash and talked shit about me with half the grade" she explains.
india nods, understanding where the hatred came from.
"did you speak the same way as you spoke about sarah cameron when i joined the group?" she asks suddenly. her tone is low and insecure. kiara stops what she's doing and turns to india, realizing what india might be thinking.
kiara looks at india "i didn't really know you, and it's hard for me to accept new people into the gang, so i was a little hesitant, but you proved me wrong" she explains, a small smile on her face.
india nods, suddenly feeling better. "that's fine, it's okay to have a little pre-judgment. i would have thought the same thing if someone arrived out of the blue" she agrees.
in truth, india wouldn't have done that. while she had attachment issues, it usually involved only one boy, and while she had mild jealousy, she had never blocked someone or prevented someone from joining one of her friend groups.
india guessed it was just the fact that the whole group had grown up together that explained was why kiara acted that way. either way, she understood why kiara would be closed towards new people.
"hey guys!" john b shouts in a whisper. the two girls turn towards the voice, walking over to where john b is.
he crouches down in front the entrance of a basement, turning to the team.
"it's the only place we haven't looked." he motions to the door.
from behind then they hear jj stumble as he comes into the clearing, muttering curses as he swats at the air.
india turns to look at him, a smile adorning her face as he finally joins the team.
"here we go" john b mutters as he climbs into the basement.
kiara and pope follow, entering the basement before jj motions to india.
"ladies first" he bows slightly. india laughs, shaking her head.
"you're just saying that because you want to look at my butt" she acknowledges as she starts climbing in.
jj shrugs "maybe"
the pair enters the basement, looking around at the dusted furniture that lines the basement walls.
"down came ms.crain and cut up all our heads" jj sings under his breath as he looks around. "up came the sun and dried up all the blood"
pope turns his flashlight to jj, his eyebrows high on his forehead "can you stop?" he snaps.
india looks around, moving her flashlight around to get a better look at everything.
"see any water?" she asks, turning around, her lips pursed.
the group stays quiet, looking around the basement for a few seconds more before kiara huffs.
"another dead end?" she asks, turning to the team.
india scowls as she swats off a mosquito off her arm.
"there's not even water on the pipes" jj pitches in, running a hand through the dusty pipes.
pope turns to john b "there's not water here"
jj nods. "not a dropamino"
"know why we didn't find it?" kiara asks, shaking her head "bad karma"
"oh god here we go" john b mutters, rolling his eyes.
kiara turns to look at him, her eyebrows high. "you know, we got a good thing going" her tone starts to get sharper. "and then you decide to tope in barbie and now the trail's gone dry" she accuses john b as she walks closer to him. she shrugs "coincidence? probably not"
john b lets out a breath, motioning to kiara "this is exactly why i didn't want to tell you about sarah" he argues back.
"yeah?" kiara asks.
"yeah." he pauses "what the hell is the deal with you two?" he asks.
kiara scoffs. "nothing" she snaps, clearly getting tired of john b's arguments.
"nothing?" john b presses "it is because i kissed you? is that the problem?"
india flinches as kiara's hand slaps john b's cheek.
"oh, shit!" jj exclaims as he sees what just happened.
india turns around. she didn't like it when people hit people. it reminded her too much of rafe. that's why she had always tried to prevent fighting as much as she could.
"stop treating me like i'm some girl that's obsessed with you instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you" kiara finally tells john b.
john b's eyebrows rise as he turns to look back at kiara.
"did you, uh...hit me?" john b asks, looking at her.
kiara holds up her hand, a mosquito dead in the center.
"skeeter" she replies.
"skeeter?" john b repeats before slapping her across the face.
"hey--" pope calls out, watching the interaction.
"john b" india warns, looking at what just happened.
kiara turns to look at john b, adjusting her jaw.
"where's your proof?"
john b holds up the palm of his hand, kiara flashing her light to reveal a mosquito.
"skeeter"
india swats around her, trying to her rid of the mosquitoes on her skin. she turns around, watching as jj tries to slap all the mosquitoes off his skin.
she reaches over, slapping his arm to get rid of a mosquito.
"hey!" jj exclaims, turning to her. "why'd you do that for?"
india laughs, holding up her hand.
"you had a mosquito" she chuckles. jj rolls his eyes before reaching over and messing up her hair.
"why are there so many mosquitoes in a basement?" pope wonders out loud, staring at the walls with a frown.
"dude. i know, seriously. tiny vampire bats, just leave me alone" jj grumbles out in response, swatting away the mosquitoes.
india watches as jj bends down to pick up a doll. he turns to india, a lopsided smile on his face.
"i think i just found ms.crain's voodoo doll" he notes before standing up fully.
india giggles, shaking her head as she looks around the basement.
"guys" pope calls out to them, pushing away wooden pieces off the floor. "help me move these things"
the group turns to him, grabbing pieces of the floor and setting them on top of other objects to make space on the floor.
pope turns to one of the edges of the basement, running and leaning as he grabs one of the wooden floor beams and lifts it up from the ground.
india watches before doing the same thing, grabbing a beam with the help of jj and moving it out of the way.
they watch as the beams start to reveal a hole on the floor. the group goes quiet, their hopes suddenly rising as they look at what it is.
a well sits in front of them. suddenly finding the gold didn't seem as impossible.
pope smiles, flashing his light onto the floor.
"well well well" he says, smiling at his own irony.
"that was a good dad joke" john b replies, looking down at the well in amazement.
there's a moment of silence and india looks up at the basement ceiling.
"they built this part of the house right over it" she notes, partially confused as to why.
jj snorts, looking at the well. "this is where she hid the bodies"
john b rolls his eyes, huffing. "oh, dude, come on"
"stop" india warns. she didn't like the idea of them discovering the place where the old crone might have placed several bodies in.
jj shakes his head, his tone serious "no, i'm dead serious" his tone is low as he points to the well.
"it was never the outhouse"
"she probably doesn't even know it's here" india defends, looking down at the well.
that makes jj finally shut up.
pope turns to john b, a smile on his face. "we found water"
john b looks at the well, his eyes glimmering.
"we're gonna need a really big rope"