༄ 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗐𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗒－𝖿𝗈𝗎𝗋 ༄

THEY ARRIVED AT Rixen's Cove. While Pope and John B built a fire, Thalia and JJ were slammed with questions from Pope, John B and Kiara. So, they explained the situation as best as they could. That they were siblings. Once the discussion was paused, JJ changed out of his ridiculous outfit and returned to the group as Pope spoke. "Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope questioned, seated on a log beside Thalia. Neither were sure how they ended up beside each other.

John B shot finger guns at JJ. "Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." JJ said, Thalia's eyes widening in concern.

"You ready for this?" John B asked Pope, Thalia and Kiara.

"Yeah." Kie said quickly, seated beside John B, still wearing her purple dress.

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John B said, both Pope and Thalia rolling their eyes at the same time.

Pope sighed. "Oh, my God. Here we go again with this." he grumbled.

JJ looked over at Thalia and Pope, sitting next to his new sister. "No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?" JJ said.

"So where the hell is it then?" Thalia questioned, her knee bouncing up and down.

"It's been here the whole time. It's on the island." John B revealed, looking at Pope, Thalia and Kie.

Kiara was too focused on the possibility of finding gold to make a remark at Thalia for being there with them. "Are you serious? Oh, my God." Kie said, fully believing John B right away.

Pope tore his gaze away from a fully aware Thalia. "I'd like to voice my skepticism." he said, hands clasped together.

John B stood up with a sigh. "I'm sure you would, Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" he said dramatically, moving to stand between the two logs where the four were seated.

"Proceed." Pope rolled his eyes. Thalia tried to move over to give Pope some room on the log, but she was trapped by JJ, so she stayed where she was, rather uncomfortable.

"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." John B pulled out a piece of folded paper.

"Who the hell's that?" Kie interrupted quickly.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "He was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck." she explained nonchalantly, picking at her fingernails.

John B narrowed his eyes at her as Pope turned abruptly to look at her. "How do you know that?" John B questioned, confused.

Thalia just looked at him. "You know how." she didn't want to prematurely reveal that John B and Sarah had spent the day together before John B was ready. She knew how much Kie hated Sarah, and she did not want to be involved.

Nodding, John B handed the paper to Kiara. "Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom," Kie handed the paper to Pope. Thalia didn't even try to read it, she had been forced to go to the Chapel Hill archives a dozen times. "After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please, because that farm is–"

"Tannyhill Plantation." Thalia said quickly, cutting off the stupid drumroll with a dumb grin on her face.

"Tannyhill?" Kiara asked, glaring at Thalia. The redhead pucked her lips and faked giving Kie a kiss so the brunette would back off.

"Yeah. So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him. So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold." Pope looked over the letter with a flashlight, Thalia confused at where he found it.

Kie's eyes widened. "Where?" she whispered.

Pope looked away from the letter. "Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except... there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out," John B pointed to the wheat symbol on the letter. "The gold is in parcel nine, near the water."

"Holy shit." Pope said in disbelief, still observing the letter.

"All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold." John B said happily, feeling hopeful for the first time in a while.

"Okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true." Pope looked up, meeting Thalia's bright blue eyes.

Thalia looked away quickly. "Dude, it's like King Tut." Kiara smiled as JJ stood up and marched over to John B.

"I am a genius." John B opened his arms for JJ to hug him.

"I wouldn't go that far." Thalia mentioned.

JJ then wrapped his arms around John B, lifting him up. "Hey, whoa! Hello! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn." John B said quickly, panicked.

The blonde lowered his friend. "I'm so proud of you right now." JJ spoke.

"Thank you. That's really sweet of you." John B patted Pope's cheeks.

Pope tore his gaze from Thalia once more. "Okay, so, guys. What's the plan?" he asked, always eager to know what was going on.

John B looked away from JJ and at Pope and Thalia. "Good question. So, Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She's gonna bring an original survey map–" John B spoke, Thalia's eyes widening in surprise.

"Hold on. Sarah? Wh-why Sarah? Did you know about this?" Kie asked Thalia quickly, very angry.

"Simmer down, I did not know about this part." Thalia said, being specific with her word choices. She knew full well Kie would twist around anything she said.

"Um..." John B mumbled, trying to come up with a good answer.

JJ smiled. "This is gonna be good." he muttered, looking down.

"Sarah, um, she... she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where I got the letter." John B explained tentatively.

"You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?" Kiara asked, Thalia rolling her eyes at her attitude.

"Yeah, um..." John B trailed off.

JJ saw a window. "He was mackin' on her." the blonde said, Pope's eyes widening, looking between the girls and John B.

John B sighed. "I wasn't macking."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Oh, my God. You were totally macking Sarah. Does the makeover, slushies and rain kiss not ring a bell?" she spoke, recalling what Sarah had told her when she got home.

"I wasn't macking on her, okay? I was using her for access." John B said, defending himself.

"There was access, all right." JJ muttered, Thalia sighing.

"I'll make sure to tell her, John B." Thalia said, slapping a bug on her leg.

John B inhaled. "Please, don't." he said quickly before he was attacked again.

"Did you tell her about the treasure?" Kie asked.

"I was trying to get into the archives." John B responded.

"Is that a yes?" Kie shouted, the other three remaining quiet.

"I... I left out key details."

"Yo, what? You've let two Kooks in on our secret, John B!" Kie said, frustrated.

Thalia noticed that she could scooch away from Pope and put some distance between them, but she didn't really want to. "Does a Kook never get invited to Midsummers by their own family?" Thalia said, always eager to remind Kie that she was more of a Kook then Thalia was.

Kie ignored Thalia's words, but Pope didn't. "What about Pogue Lyfe? What about the T-shirt company, bro?" Kie said to John B.

"I was just using her for information." John B said, digging himself in deeper.

"That's really not cool, John B." Thalia said, well aware of how quickly Sarah got attached to people.

"Why don't I believe you?" Kie said, hoping Pope would back her up, but he stayed silent.

"I'm trying to make us filthy rich here. Okay, so that we can pay off a boat, or... or, uh... send you to autopsy school to study dead bodies," John B looked at JJ and Thalia and then to Pope. Thalia was mildly weirded out that Pope wanted to be a coroner. "Look, you guys know me. Do I look like the type of person to fall for Sarah Cameron?" he said with a laugh.

"Uh..." JJ trailed off awkwardly.

"Do you want us to answer that, or..." Pope said, speaking up for the first time in a while.

John B sighed. "Just... just stop."

"Look, you don't know her yet. I do! You can't trust her." Kie said.

Thalia rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Here we go again." she muttered, feeling the strange need to defend her cousin.

Pope swallowed thickly. "Her brother did hit me in the back with a golf club." he brought up.

Thalia whipped her head over to him and he sunk into his seat quietly. "Rafe's a cocaine addict who's been off his rocker since we were kids. Sarah, fortunately, is not like him." Thalia said, angering Kie further.

"What did she do to you, exactly?" JJ asked, and Thalia looked at Kie, eager to hear her new and improved fabrication of the story.

"She's like a... like a spitting cobra. First, she... she blinds you, and then–" Kie tried.

"Oh, she blinds you?" Thalia remarked sarcastically.

"This is a bad analogy." Pope said, speaking at the wrong time.

"Listen to me! Whatever we get, she's gonna try to take." Kie said, breathing heavily. Thalia rolled her eyes with a scoff, sick and tired of Kie's god complex. But she didn't say anything and pulled a joint from her back pocket, electing to slip away into peaceful bliss.

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