◜ 　　　　　 ◝

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗬 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥
𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒐𝒂𝒌

◟ 　　　　　 ◞

・・・・☆・・・・☆ ・・・・

John B drove the Twinkie to the Angel Oak. On the way, they passed Freedman's Church, the church that Denmark built for all the slaves that he freed.

"There it is, Angel Oak," Kiara pointed out once they were getting closer to it.

"Oh, shit! Tide's coming in," John B said in frustration before they reached a part of the path that was all muddy.

"Hey, wait a second. Look. Hey, they already came through here," he realized once he saw the tire marks through the mud.

"Damn it," Kyla muttered, shaking her head.

"Those have to be Limbrey's tire tracks. Guys, we gotta go," Pope said quickly.

"Mmm, what did you think, chief?" JJ asked John B.

"I'm think it's looking a little dicey," he replied, contemplating whether or not they should drive through it.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with that statement," JJ said.

"Yeah."

"Okay, clearly, they made it," Kiara pointed out from the backseat. "No?"

"It's looking that way to me," Kyla said with a nod.

"In a two-wheel drive? I don't know about that," JJ argued with narrowed eyes.

"Why are y'all acting like you're not gonna do it anyways?" Sarah questioned with a grin. "Like when have y'all ever done the safe thing?"

JJ and John B shared a look before the latter said, "She's got a point."

"Speed is your friend here, okay? So, put her down in a second and hammer down, brother," JJ explained.

Kyla sat back, trying to find something to hold on to just in case they went flying off the path. "Stick to the ground in the middle," Pope told him.

"All right, ready? Here we go," John B said before he pressed down on the gas medal, making the van fly through the mud.

"Come on, bro! Punch it! Speed is your friend, speed is your friend!" JJ yelled as John B continued to go through the mud. "You're not going fast enough!"

"I'm in second!" John B responded.

"It's gonna slide!" Kiara shouted and Kyla held her breath, gripping the cushions of the car seat.

"You're fishtailing already!"

"Yeah, I know!"

"All right, not to put any more pressure on you, but if you don't make it through, we'll be stuck here forever," Pope pointed out.

"Forever?" Kyla gasped with wide eyes.

"Put your head back, okay?" John B said as he pushed Pope's head back, just as they made it through the bad part.

They all began to cheer and whoop, happy that they made it through. Kyla released her grip from the cushion, taking in a deep breath of relief. "We're alive!" Kiara exclaimed.

"See, I told you we'd make it," John B said.

"That's my girl, that's my girl," JJ said. "Okay, right here, right here," he instructed for John B to park the van. "Angel Oak is right through here. All right, so word to the wise," he continued as he opened the back door so the four Pogues could get out, "definitely know that gators near back here, so keep your eyes peeled, okay? You don't wanna step on a mama gator. That's the last thing you wanna have happen."

"They have nests?" Kiara questioned and Kyla immediately began to look around, wanting to be aware if one was near.

"Seems like a good place to park," Sarah commented sarcastically.

"All right. You don't wanna be a Pat Womack. She had her calf chewed off by a gator, right? You know that, right?" JJ said and Kyla gave him a weird look.

"That's actually not true. Pat Womack was injured in a car accident, but I hear you," Kiara told him.

"Okay, just live in ignorance. But like, she had her calf chewed off by a mama gator. I know that for a fact," he continued, making Kyla roll her eyes playfully. "They like brackish water. Hey, wait, hold on. I see something."

"What are you doing?" Kiara questioned when he began to crouch down.

He then slapped the water with a stick he found. "Right. Wake them up. That's smart," Sarah encouraged sardonically.

"No, I was just making sure it wasn't a gator. That's all, all right?" JJ defended himself before they kept on walking.

"And what were you gonna do if it actually was a gator and it came out to attack you?" Kyla asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Well, then...I didn't think about it that," JJ replied truthfully.

Kyla scoffed. "Clearly."

Once they got closer to the tree, they began to hear voices and machines whirring. Pope quickly shushed them, telling them to be quiet. They walked up behind a bush, sitting people digging with shovels and someone operating a digging vehicle. "I don't see shit," Rafe then said as he walked over with a shovel in his hand, causing Kyla to quickly duck down. "You sure this is the right spot?"

"It's there," Limbrey said. "The garment will be in the cross, and the cross will be at the door of the tree," she told him.

"This shit better be real," Tara said with an annoyed look on her face, walking up next to Rafe. Kyla's breath hitched at the girl's voice as she slowly looked over the bush, watching them.

"It is," Limbrey assured her.

"All right, well, whatever we find, we get our cut," Rafe told the older woman and Tara nodded.

"The actual garment. You understand the significance," Limbrey said to Renfield.

"I do, Carla. Completely," Renfield replied as he took a folded chair out of the back of his car.

"One touch of it, and I'll be healed, and this long nightmare will be over," she explained.

"Your lips to God's ears," Renfield said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"I know that you don't believe it, but countless stories over millennia prove that..." she took a breath as she sat down in the chair, "...miracles happen."

"Look, I just want the gold, so if you say it's real, then I'll help you find whatever the hell this garment thing is," Tara said, shaking her head.

The digging machine then went to go dig into the hole again before it seemed to hit something. "Hey, wait! Stop! Stop! Please stop! Did you hear it?" Limbrey shouted, holding her arm up. "Hey, get in there, boys. Do it by hand," Limbrey instructed as she began to get up from her seat. "Oh. This has gotta be the cross."

"Better be," Tara muttered under her breath, giving Rafe a look. But, he was too busy staring down into the hole to notice.

The men working with them began to dust off the dirt, revealing a box. "It's smaller than I thought," Limbrey pointed out with a gentle laugh. "It looks like a—"

"Casket," Rafe cut her off.

"He put it in a casket," Limbrey realized as she continued to let out small chuckles. "Denmark put it in a casket. Get it up."

"Let's go," Renfield said to the men before they began to pick it up and hand it to him.

"Let's go, boys," Tara urged, slightly mocking them with a malicious grin on her face.

"They got the cross? What do we do? What do we do?" JJ questioned quickly, his eyes wide.

"What can we do?" John B replied quickly, holding his hand out.

Rafe and Renfield then placed the casket on the ground, groaning from how heavy it was. "Be careful," Limbrey warned.

They then grabbed crossbars and open the casket with them. "Don't touch anything inside! Don't touch anything inside!" Limbrey said frantically before they were able to open it up revealing...nothing both skeleton bones.

"What the hell?" Tara muttered under her breath, her eyes narrowed.

"It's just a corpse," Renfield commented. "Sorry, Carla." But he didn't sound too sorry about it.

Tara and Rafe gave each other a look, their eyes darkened. "We must have missed something," Limbrey breathed out as she tried to get up.

"Of course. Of course, yeah. Of course it's just a dead body. Jesus!" Rafe said in annoyance, running a hand through his hair.

"We just got the wrong place," Limbrey said, trying to make herself feel better.

"Wrong place?" Tara repeated, standing up from her crouch.

"We'll go back to the Island Room. We're going back! We're going back! It's not over!" Limbrey shouted at them.

Tara angrily walked over to Limbrey and Renfield, her pointer finger pointed straight at them accusingly. "Look, lady, if you're fucking screwing with us then—"

"Hey, stay back!" Renfield said, putting a hand in front of the younger blonde.

"Don't fucking tell me to stay back! I need to fucking know if this isn't some fucking joke!" she yelled in his face, dropping a lot of F-bombs.

"It's not a joke, Tara," Limbrey said calmly, causing Tara to look over at her. "This garment is just as important to me as the gold is to you," she assured her.

Tara licked her lips, looking back at Rafe, who gave her a nod. She then looked back at Limbrey. "It better be," she warned before she walked back over to her boyfriend.

After they all drove away to go back at the Island Room, Pope immediately began to run over to the tree. "Pope. Pope, wait. Wait! Shit," JJ said before they ran after him. "Wait, wait, yo..."

Pope stopped once he saw the opened casket. He bent down towards it. "Cecilia Tanny...Denmark's wife," Pope said before he looked up at the tree. "He wasn't talking about the cross. He buried her at the foot of the angel," he realized, his voice wavering.

"The true treasure," Kiara said and Kyla looked at the tree solemnly.

"His wife," John B said, looking down.

Pope then walked over and crouched down next to the casket, sucking in his tears. The rest of the Pogues crouched down as well, looking down in sadness. "Denmark was hung for burying his wife, and now they defiled her grave," Pope said and Kiara placed a hand on his arm to try and comfort him.

Pope then reached into the casket and took out a piece of a necklace that was inside. Sarah did the same and took out a dust covered ring. "This must have been from Denmark," she said. "Her wedding ring." Sarah then looked over at John B, locking eyes with the boy.

Kyla felt the urge to look over at JJ, but resisted it. She didn't want to know if he was looking at her or not; not at this time.

Pope then put the piece of the necklace back into the casket, sitting back. "We can't leave her like this," he said.

"We won't," John B told him. He and JJ then got up and placed the cover of the casket back onto it, nailing it back into place once again. Pope then picked some flowers and placed them on top of it.

Then, they began to rebury the casket in the place it was dug out from. Once they were done, Pope sputtered, "I-I just don't get it. 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. And Denmark wanted him to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot. It just feels like—"

"Like we missed something?" JJ cut him off, looking up at the tree. "Guys. Come here." He began to climb up the Twinkie to get closer to the trunk of the tree. Kyla instinctively followed after him, using his hand to help pull herself up. He then pointed to hole in the trunk and her eyes widened. "That looks like—"

"The painting in the Island Room," Kyla realized. "There's no way he would have painted it like that if didn't mean something," she said, looking down at the rest of the Pogues on the ground.

"It's worth a shot, right?" JJ said.

"Yeah," Kiara said.

"Let's do it."

"Go for it," JJ said to Kyla, gesturing to the hole.

"No way," she replied, shaking her head.

"You do it!" Sarah called out.

"Sorry. I...I went in the storm drain and almost drowned so..." Kyla trailed off and Kiara nodded in agreement.

"She did go in the storm drain," Pope pointed out.

"Yeah. No, I'm gonna do it. It's just..." he trailed off, waving his hand around to try and avoid actually putting it in the hole.

"He's scared," Kiara whispered to her sister and Kyla nodded.

"I'm not scared, dude. It's just..."

"You seem scared. What, are you afraid about that worm thing again that gets into your blood and then has to come out of your pe—"

"I'm not scared, I'll do it!" JJ cut Kyla off, causing her to laugh. He then slowly began to stick his hand in the hole. "There's something in here." His hand went deeper before he began to scream out in extreme pain.

"JJ!" Kyla shrieked, grabbing onto his other arm to try and pull him out. All the others began to shout, trying to jump up and help. "Come on!" Kyla yelled before JJ began to laugh, making them all stop and look at him in disbelief.

"Oh, you asshole," Pope said in annoyance.

"Are you kidding me?" Kyla questioned as she let go off his arm, holding a hand over her heart to try and get her heart rate down.

"Oh, man! I got all of you on that one," JJ said as he continued to laugh.

"Oh, yeah, real original," Pope commented sarcastically.

"That wasn't funny," Kyla told him, shaking her head.

"Wait, but seriously, there's something in here," he told them before he pulled something out. Kyla furrowed her brows, not knowing what it was.

"Let me see it," Pope said and JJ handed it down to him. "HMS Royal Merchant," Pope read as JJ hopped down from the van. Kyla followed after, landing softly on the ground.

"Give it to the captain," JJ said as he took it out of Pope's hands. "Here we go." He extended it further, shutting one of his eyes so that he put the other one up to the circular part at the top. "It's a spyglass."

"There's something on the ends," Kiara realized and Kyla looked over John B's shoulder to try and see what it was.

John B began to twist it even more, revealing some writing. "An inscription right there. Look at that shit."

"Oh, what does it say?" JJ asked excitedly.

"'You've come this far. Do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's altar'," Pope read aloud, making all of their eyes widen. "'Freedman's altar'. The cross is at the church!"

"What are we doing here, guys?" JJ questioned loudly.

"Come on! We got it!" Pope exclaimed. "Woogity-woogity!"