CHAPTER TWO: the lucky compass 

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HAD YOU ASKED CASTIEL MICHAEL ALVES WOULD HE WOULD BE DOING TODAY, HIS ANSWER WOULD BE NOTHING. Had you only asked him a week ago, that's what he would reply. That he would probably be reading a book, that he would be home, or possibly spending time with Mateo.

But, now? Ask him now and his answer would come to a shock. It'd shocked him.

"Castiel," a knock came at his door. His dad, Joshua's voice came. "You have a visitor."

"Come in," he deadpanned, eyes never leaving the book in front of him. The door opened. "Hey, just give me a minute to get dressed," he says, he had climbed out of bed, the book from last night dropping to the floor. He decided to finish it this morning, since he couldn't last night. And there was only two chapters left.

"Or don't," a voice comes. A voice that definitely doesn't belong to Mateo, Castiel's best (and only) friend. 

Castiel turned around to be met with JJ Maybank. "Sorry, thought you were someone else."

"You coming?" JJ asked.

"Where?" Castile stand up, closing the book that he was now done with, leaving it on his desk.

"John B said we are going to talk to Lana to figure out the story behind his dad's compass being in Scooter's boat. We did, so everyone is meeting up to talk about what happened."
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When Castiel arrived at the van, it was only John B in the van. 

"Let me guess," John B sighs aloud. "We need to pick up Mateo."

"No." Castile says. "I mean we'll leave if it's a problem. But, he and I had plans, so, he's arriving in five minutes-" Castiel stopped. "Seconds. Five seconds."

"Castiel!" Mateo calls out.

"Mateo!" Castiel mockingly calls back.

"Why is he here?" JJ muttered, slouching in his seat.

"Are you going somewhere?" Mateo asked as he walked up to the car.

"We were," JJ huffed, arms crossed.

"Oh...I can come back later," Mateo says, taking a step back from the van.

"No, just, get in, quick," JohnB urges.
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"And then we were right outside like this," JJ presses himself up against the cold, brick wall. "All we hear is just, 'Bam! Bam! Bam!' Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside. All right? And I'm just looking at him, like-wait, first off," JJ dunks his head, running a hand through his hair, he bows his head. "Look at this shit."

JJ walks closer to Castiel and Pope, who sat next to each other. Mateo was sat next to Castiel. He raked his hands through his hair, white partials falling from his hair. "The house."

"That's dandruff," Kie says in disgust. "Disgusting."

"It's paint," JJ speaks. "At that point, I was just, like...I'm waiting for death."

"Oh, okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" Pope asked.

"Yeah." JJ answered.

"Did you get a good description of them? What did they look like?"

"Anything," Kie added. "Anything is helpful."

"Anything we can bring to a police report?" Pope questioned.

"Burly," JJ says.

Castiel made a confused face, raising an eyebrow. "I think they meant like, if the two men had facial hair, one was bald, one's five-foot three, one's got a giant tattoo on the left side of his neck." Castiel threw out examples.

"Or, a burn mark from when Castiel shot then in the face with a flare gun," Mateo interrupted.

"I didn't shoot them in the face!"

"No then," JJ says.

"That's not very helpful," Kie says.

"Okay, well, no, like the type of guy at my dad's garage. I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers," JJ speaks.

"Yeah. Yes. No, we know," Kie spoke.

"I can tell you with full confidence,  these guys, these killers...they're square groupers," JJ says.

"You think if you saw a picture of them, you would recognize them?" Castiel asked.

"They're square groupers, like narco square grouper?" Pope asked. "Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?"

"I don't know maybe," JJ says.

"Maybe they are Pablo Escobar square groupers or maybe-" Pope begins.

"No. I mean, I maybe might recognize them if I saw a picture." JJ says.

"Where would you even get a picture of them? We have no clue who they are?" Kierra asked Castiel, seemingly annoyed and believing his question to be both stupid and unhelpful. "You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie," she tells JJ and pope.

"What does this square grouper look like?" Pope asked JJ.

"I mean, if they have a previous arrested record, either being convicted-which they probably were- they would be in the system." Castiel says.

"Just because your dad is an FBI agent, doesn't mean he could give us information on previous criminals. I'm pretty sure it goes against the law." Kie snapped.

"Not if they are able to be found online, or in a newspaper, not it's official-" he waved a hand, as if trying to find the word.

"Citizens knowledge," Mateo says.

"Not the word I was looking for, but it works," Castiel says.

"Dude! I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time," JJ begins to yell, voice cracking. "I was under duress, okay? I can tell you-I can tell you by the way that Ms. Lana was screaming...that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man."

"It's a heavy vibe right now, okay?" JJ asked.  "I'm not liking this very much."

"Okay, why would they want the compass?" Kie asked.

"It's a piece of shit," Pope adds. "You couldn't pan it off for five bucks if you wanted to."

"Clearly not," Mateo muttered. 

"No offense, John b," Pope quickly says. "I know it's in your family-"

"The office," John B says.

"And he speaks!" Mateo dramatically called.

"What?" Pope asked.

"My dad. My dad's office. He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research," John B begins to walk into the house. "We used to laugh at him all the time, like he was actually gonna find it. But, now that he's gone, I've just kinda...I just left it as he kept it."

They follow John b into the house. He stood in front of the door, looking around at his friends.

"Yeah, for when he gets back," Kie says.

"Yeah," John b unlocks the door. Then pushes the door open.

"I slept over here like six hundred time," Pope speaks. "And I've never seen this door open."

Kie hummed in agreement as they began to examine the room, when John B placed a frame onto the table. "Here look. Things the original owner, right here." In the frame was a name; on a white piece of paper; Robert Q. Routledge.

"Does anyone in your family sign with thier actual middle name?" Mateo asked.

"I mean, would you want to sign your entire name?" Castiel asked Mateo.

"I have three middle names and two last names, so, obviously, no," Mateo replied.

Kie lets out a sigh, as if Castiel  or Mateo just speaking annoyed her. Castiel looked away from the paper, glancing at Kie, he didn't understand why she hated him so much.
Really, these recent days, are the only time that they had ever had actual conversations.

"1880 to 1920," Kie read out the years. "There's the lucky compass. Right there," she points to the compass, a smile on her face.

"Actually, um...he was shot after he brought it." John B informed. "Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass.  After he died, the compass was given to Stephen.  Stephan has the compass with him when he died in Vietnam," John B pointed to the photos of each man who had the compass.

"Let me guess, he died in action, right?" JJ asked.

"Sort of. Uh, a-actually he was killed by a banana truck. In-in the country. Anyways, after that, Stephan passed the compassion to him, my dad."

"Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here." JJ says.

"Yeah, you have a death compass." Pope stared.

" I do not," John b starts to deny.

Pope holds to a hand, gesturing for him to be silent. "You have a death compass."

"Seriously dude, get rid of it," JJ says. "It's cursed and made its way back to you.

"You could just, smash it to bits and set the pieces on fire, or, really, hand it down to someone who you don't like," Castiel says.

The ending part of his suggestion had the five turn to him, a shocked expression. Or, well four, Mateo looked tired.

"Look," John B speaks after a second of silence. "My dad had to talk about this compartment in here. Soldiers used to hide secret notes." John b twisted the back to the compass, removing it before he flipped it to shake it.

"What's that?"  Kiara asked, gesturing to the carving.

"That wasn't there before." John B says. Then looked to the people in the room. "This is my dad's handwriting."

"How can you know that?" Pope asked.

"Because he does these weird Rs with the... See it?" John B flipped the compass, showing them.

"Can I see it?" JJ moved over to read it. " Red... Rout..."

"No, I think that's an A."  Kie says. "It says Redfield."

"Shouldn't you have been able to read it?" Mateo asked John N.

"Right. Okay, well, what's Redfield?" Kie asked.

"The most common name in the county." Pope says.

"Oh, maybe... maybe it's a clue."  John B suggest.
"Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding."

"A clue? Come on, that's..." Pope starts, but cuts himself off.  He clears his throat. "But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?"

"Yes. Perfect. Anagram. You need paper."  John B takes a sheet of paper, placing it onto the table. "Okay. Here you go."

"How can you concentrate with that thing crowing at you?" Pope asked.

"JJ loves the rooster."  John B easily replied.

"I love the rooster." Kie says.

"Let me think." Pope sighs.

"Seriously, think." Kie spoke.

"Because that's so helpful!" Castiel sarcastically says.

"Dedfiel. Colors... That's stupid." Pope muttered.

"What about Ritalin?" JJ suggested.

Castiel looks back to the frame, that held all past of the compass holders.

"Dreidel? Fiddler?"

"Let's stick with what we're..." pope says

"Defile. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Guys." John b calls.

Castiel looks up, as does Mateo, and seeing that there was a car in the front. "Shit.

"You're missing a letter." Kie stated.

"Guys! Somebody's here."  John b calls out, stoping them from arguing  as they all headed toward the window.  Two men left the vehicle.

"Guys, guys, is that them?" Kie asked.

"No."  JJ says when seeing the men.

"Is that them?"  Kie asked.

"This is suboptimal." Pope shakes his head.

"John B, I told you." JJ started.

"We need to leave, now, whatever is necessary and leave,"  Castiel quickly says.

"Why does it always..." JJ says, pacing the room.

"JJ!" John b grabs the back of his shirt, slamming him against the wall. "Hey, look at me. Where's the gun?"

"Hey, hey," Castiel moved forward.

"Gun?" JJ  I, uh, I can't..." JJ stammers to think.

"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?" Kie asked in disbelief.

Mateo had been searching the room for any weapons. Castiel pulled John B a step back.

"It was in my backpack, and then I... Backpack..." JJ continued. "On the porch. It's on the porch."

"It's... Go, go." John b says

JJ rushed to the door.

"What? No, are you insane?" Castiel took a hold of JJ's hand, pulling him back. "Those guys-"

"John Routledge!" One of the men yell.

"Guys!" Kie whispered out.

"Come on out now!" The man yelled.

"They're on the front porch, guys." Castiel closed the door.

"Get out here!"
"Routledge! Where you at, boy?"

"We gotta leave!" Kie says. "Guys, window. Window."

JJ and Pope move forward to open it, tugging as it rusted.

"What... what's happening? Why is it taking so long?" Kie asked.

"It's painted shut, okay?"  JJ says.

"I'll check the kitchen." One of the men say. "Routledge!"

Mateo handed Castiel a letter opener.

"Move aside," Castiel says, holding a letter opener, he quickly scraps along the window seal, three times, uncaring of the damage. If anything, he'd give John B the money to have it fixed. Or repainted.

"Come on."  JJ says, clearly panicked.

"I'm going as fast as I can."

"Why the hell is there nothing you can use as a weapon?" Mateo muttered.

"Shh... Be quiet." John b says. As both he and Pope press themselves against the door.

"Kie take this," Castiel rushed. "Mateo," he jerked his head to the desk, both boys going to one end before locking it up, JJ moved to help before they carried it the small distance and placed it in front of John B and Pope.

"You better not be in there!" The man yell.

They push the desk in front of the door.  The door begins to break as the man picks the dork in. Castiel pulled Mateo, John B and Pope away from the door.  Quickly looking around the room.

JJ pulled open the window. "Castiel!" He whisper-yelled, when the other guy didn't move.

Mateo pulled Castiel towards the window. They all quickly crawled out. 
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They couldn't make it to the van, being forced to be in the chicken coop, Castiel was surprised at how much bigger it seemed on the inside.  The chickens wouldn't stop making sounds.

"Do something, Pope," JJ says. "Make it shut up.

"What do you want me to do?" Pope asked.

"Pet it, or talk to it. I don't know."

John b like back from looking through the lines of the wooden gate. 

"You do something." Pope snaps back at JJ.

The rooster was flying around, before JJ quickly grabbed a hold of it. He pressed it to the ground, snapping its neck off. 

Kie sobs, as Castiel bit into his lip to keep from making any sounds.  Mateo had clamped a hand over his mouth. John B took a hold of Kie's hand.  Mateo took the hand not over his mouth, and placed it over Castiel's hand.

"Ratter! What the hell are you doin'? Let's go!" One of the men call out.
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Once the men left, the six teens has gotten into John B's van.  

"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B asked. "A fault heirloom, what better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"

"Yeah. It's possible," Kie says after a second of silence.

"It's also possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels," Pope says.

"Oh my god," Castiel speaks up,

"Pope. Bro, you know how I process my sad feels," JJ says. "Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it."

"I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to give me a message." John b says.

"If it helps you believe, John B." Kie says in a soft tone.

"Look, let's say it's true," Castiel begins.

"Look, I-i don't need a therapy session, okay? Look, I'm not trippin' out."

"It's okay to trip, bro, but-" JJ begins.

"Look, my-my dad is missing, okay? Missing. You don't know what it's like to have the person closet to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."

"It's been almost a year," Kie says.

"Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility," JJ says.

"Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere," Pope says.

"Absolutely. Uh, or Atlantis," JJ suggested.

"Look, John B, if you truley believe that-"

"It's not that I believe, or think it happened, Castiel!" John B snapped. "He is missing!"

"Okay." Castiel says. "He's missing. Even so, there is a reason he is." He wasn't about to tell John B his father is dead. He was in a trail to find something, something that other people wanted so badly they were willing to kill for it. "What could that message possibly be?

"To stop looking? That's what I would do," Mateo says. "Especially if the reason I'm d-d-abducted," he tried to fix. "Is because of that," he gestured to the compass.  "Much less let my kid go search for it."

"I'm searching for him. My dad," John B argued.

"I'd rather stay missing than put my kid in danger."

"Redfield," John B says all of a sudden, ignoring Mateo.  "Redfield Lighthouse. That's my dad's favorite place."
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They had driven to the lighthouse, all hoping out of the car. Mateo couldn't believe this, how he had been dragged into this because of Castiel. How Castiel and him had been pulled into this because they took the boat out that day. And, JJ's obvious crush on Castiel.

They stared at the light house for a handful of seconds, John B was the one to break the silence. "Right, you're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" He turned to JJ.

"Wait...why me?" JJ questioned.

"Because you're not coming," Pope answered.

"Why?"

"There are independent and dependent variables. You're an independent. We don't know what you'll do."

"Shut up!"

"Look, you're not the only one who staying," John B says. "Listen to me for a second. Castiel and Pope you stand look out with JJ, okay? Kie, and Mateo, you two come with me. If we split up, we met back at JJ's house."

"Great." Kie says, as she walks off.

"I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay," Pope speaks. "And I'm trying to keep felonies to a minimum."

"All right, would you shut up already?" JJ kicks the stress ball up in the air, transferring which foot he used.
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"Remind me what we're looking for again," Kie speaks, staring up at the spiral stair case.

"We'll know it when we see it," John B replied.

"Okay."

The three walked over to the beginning of the stairs, walking up.

"This seems like a bad horror movie move," Mateo tried to joke.

Once they got closer to the top. They saw a metal, cold slab door. John B hesitated as he lifted his hand, then knocked on the door. "Nobody home."

The door opens the second he steps back. A man stands there, door half-open.

"Uh...we're here for the lighthouse." John b speaks.

"The lighthouse is closed," the man tells the teens. Then closed the door.  He began to lock the door.

"Well that was rude," Mateo says.

"Actually, we...we aren't here about the lighthouse. We're here about the, uh..." he paused, looking to Kie and Mateo. "the Royal Merchant."

"Are you crazy? What if this guy-" Mateo begins to question. When the door opens again.

"Then you've come to the right place," the man says.  "I know more," he lead the three away. And inside the place, before leading the back to a door, outside. "Watch your step here." He warned. "about the Royal Merchant than anyone else in Kildare County."

"Holy shit," John B muttered when he looks around.

"Oh, fuck," Mateo says when he sees how high up they are.

"Come on," the man tells the three. "Now, the Merchant disappeared in the graveyard of the Atlantic in 1829."

"With four hundred million," John B speaks.

"Correct. You're a bit of a Merchanteer too, yourself, huh?" The man clamped a hand in John B's shoulder.

"Uh...something like that."

"Well, follow me," the man says. "I wanna show you some thin'," he chuckled. "I've been working thirty years up here. The view's never changed till two days ago. The Point's almost gone. One more shot like that, it'll take the lighthouse. I'll go with her. Now, the trick for knowin' where the Merchant is...is knowin' whether she was on the north end or the south end of the storm."

John B, Kie and Mateo took careful step, walking around, or stepping over the joked in the floor.

"Now, most experts believe that she was on the south end."

Oh, but you know more than an expert? Mateo thought, not saying the sarcastic remark.

"The bands from the hurricane would have pushed her back out to search. But, I don't believe that," he moved closer to John B's face. "I think she was on the north end of the eye. Which manes the bands would have pushed her..."

"Closer to shore," John B finished.

"That's right. Now, by my calculations, the Royal Merchant...is about ten miles that away." He pointed to the space. "Come on, come on."

We are gong to die, listening to this guy. Mateo thought, as they followed him back into the lighthouse. He removed his glasses, gesturing to a map on the wall, he used his glasses to gesture. "Right here is here the Point used to be. My calculations say the Merchant's right about there, down about 1,000 feet."

"That's what my dad used to say," John B revealed. He liked back at Kie and Mateo, then at the man. "Yeah I-i know this is weird, all right? Do you know anything about this?" John B lifted the compass. "Look, it-it says Redfield in the back, in my dad's handwriting."

Mateo took a step closer, thinking it was unwise for John B to reveal all this to the stranger.

"Yeah, I don't know why I'm here, but I feel like I'm supposed to be here. Do... do you have anything to give to me, or to..."  John B paused as the man began to walk away. "Where are you going?" He followed him up the steps.  "Wait a minute. Look... Look, man, I know this is weird. I just thought, hoped, maybe you would know something about this, all right?"

"Sir, you won't believe what he's been through in the past 24 hours." Kie speaks up.

"I mean, threatened, shot at, home invaded." Mateo says

"Home invaded?" The man asked.

"My rooster was killed." John B adds. "Look, man, my dad wanted me to talk to you, okay? If there's anything you could think of that would help us, please, just tell us, okay?" John grasped the man's shirt.  "Look, man, please!"

"John B." Kie called.

"If you know anything, just... just..." John B stammers, panicked and worried.

The sound of a radio beeping, and the man bringing the radio up stopped John b from his panic. "Wanda, I got three kids on drigs up here at the lighthouse. Call the police."

"We need to go!" Mateo rushed forward, moving to pull John B away.

John B grasped the man's wrist that held the radio. "No!No, no, no! Let go!" He had tried to
Make the man let go of the radio, but with the man pulling his hand back and John pulling his hand forward, she the man used more strength to pull it back, his wrist slammed into the metal rod

"What are you doing?" Kie asked in disbelief and anger.

"It was an accident." John B stared at the injured man.

"John B, we have to go." Both Kie and Mateo say.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." John tells the man.

"So, Cas," JJ speaks leaning against the tree, before shifting his pose.

"Hmm?" Castiel hummed in question, turning his head to the blond-haired boy.

"I was just wondering...are you dating Mateo?"

"What?" Castiel asked back, shocked.  "No, he's just my best friend. Why would you think that?"

"Well, it's just what some people say."

"Really? Why? Cause I'm gay? And Mateo's bi?"

"Well, you two did kiss at a party last year," Pope speaks up.

Castiel's face pulled into one of confusion. He didn't recall that. But, as he opened his mouth to question Pope about which party, the sound of police sirens were heard.

"Oh shit!" Pope exclaimed as he, JJ and Castile immediately run towards the van.

Kie, John B and Mateo run down the steps, opening the door that would lead them outside, only to see the van driving off.

"Seriously?" Kie panted out. "She. This way. This way," she gesture to the right of them, where they jumped over a white fence.

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"Hey, look. You've... you've got to admit, that was kind of promising," John B says to the two. "I mean, my dad, the Royal Merchant, the ranger, the Royal Merchant. I mean, coincidence? I don't... I don't think so."

"It's his job to know about shipwrecks." Kie replied.

"Okay, but the Royal Merchant?"

"That's like the most famous shipwrecks off all time," Kie argued back. "Redfield's one of the most common names in the outer banks. That could mean anything."

"She's got a point. As far as Wild-goose chases go, this was a great one," Mateo speaks.

"Look, I don't know. Maybe we missed something at the lighthouse."

"Oh, yeah, like the crazed, obsessed man!" Mateo sarcastically says. "Oh, wait, no! We didn't!"

"We-we should go back," John B stammered. "You believe me, right?"

Kie didn't speak.  Nor did Mateo.

"Right?" John b looks at Kie.

"I think there might be some light to moderate concocting going on at this point."

Mateo wished he wasn't here. He doesn't know who is worst, Kie's obvious feelings for John B, or JJ Maybank's obvious feelings for Castiel.

"Look, uh...I get it," Kie says.

"Kie, come on."

"You miss your dad. I know. I just don't understand why he would put a clue on a compass."

"'Cause he knew it would come back to me."

Kie moved forward, hugging her friend. "You're losing it. You gotta pull it together."

After a handful of seconds, they pull apart from the hug. Only for John b to moved forward and kiss Kie. Mateo dragged a hand down his face. What the hell?

"What was that?" Kie asked.

"You." He began.

Mateo decided that he would walk away from this awkward moment. He was gonna force Castiel to do his homework and made his favorite pie.

The sound of sirens blared, causing for Mateo to pause in his steps, and turn back around. Shoupe exited the van. "Routledge. I got you, son. Now, why don't you just be chill and not make me chase you?" He began to walk up to the teens "hands were I can see them."

John b lifted his hands.
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"Oh, thank god!" Castiel's pace was quick, running up and after Mateo. He immediately hugged him.  "You really had me worried there."
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Castiel had been confused to hear a knocking at his window, the boy turned, lowering down the music and headed towards the window. He pulled it open.

JJ Maybank was smiling at him. Castiel's face pulled in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

JJ smiled. "Come on." He better for Castiel to follow.

Castiel pulled JJ into the room, who hadn't expected it and stumbled. "You're gonna fall, come on, we can leave through the front door. You know, the large, wooden chunk at the front of the house?"

Mateo exited the bathroom, a hand dragging through his hair. "Remind me to leave some of my hair products-" he paused when seeing JJ stand in front of Castiel. "Oh, come on!"

"What's he doing here?" JJ asked.
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It was dark by the time they gathered everyone.

"You kind of I just relax on this one?" JJ asked, "it's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down." He says, holding a cigarette.  "I'm just gonna lay low. Oh, did you want a hit of this?"

"I keep the signal clear " Pope replied.

"No thanks," Mateo dismissed.

"Dude, play. Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative?" JJ asked Pope.   "If you got creative, then-"

"Look, I-i know I was wrong about the lighthouse, all right?" John b spoke up. "And wrong about everything else going on. But I-i was right about one thing. Okay? My dad is trying to tell me something."

"And, plus, JJ, we went and picked Castiel up for you, and now you're gonna sit this one out?" Kie asked.
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"Huh, why does it seem like you guys keep making major horror movie mistakes?" Mateo asked, as they had driven up to a cemetery

"Hey, come on."

"I'm coming," Kie replied. "This place is scary. John B, what are we doing?"

"Shut up," John B quick says. "You know how you're thing to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?"

"Yeah."

"So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place." John b lifts the lamp. "It's a person." The light shines at the mausoleum; Redfield. "See, my great-great grandmother Olivia Redfield. That was her maiden name."

"How do you not realize it's a family member name?" Mateo asked.

Castiel elbowed him in the ribs. "Silent."

"Ow! You've got pointy elbows bitch."

"Help me with the door. Come on," John B says.

"All right," Pope steps up. "One, two, three..." the two struggle to open the door. "Are you pushing?"

"Yeah, I'm pushing."

"Go," Kie tells JJ, stoping him from his darting at Castiel. He moved forward. "Hold on. I got it."

"This door is like seven hundred pounds. It's not gonna budge," Pope strained.

"Okay, come on," Mateo gestured for Castiel to help. He and Cas moved forward.

"We didn't come this gat to get this far, all right?" JJ asked back.

Castiel and Mateo pressed their hand so giant the stone, barely finding room to stand.

"Whoa, whoa whoa!" Pope exclaimed as he hurriedly stepped back.

"A snake!"

Mateo reached out to pull Castiel back, JJ pulled him back first as a snake slithered out of the stone.

"That's a moccasin, all right," JJ speaks. "Ye old Dr.Cottonmouth. Death in fall grass." JJ begin to bark at the snake.

"JJ, shut up. Shut up!" Kie began to scolded.

"You're gonna wake the dead, man," Pope tells
Him.

"They're afraid of dogs," JJ gestured to the snake. "Everyone knows that, man. Wait, hold on."

"What?" Kie and John B asked.

"If there's one, there's probably dozens."

"What?" Pope inquired of.

"All around."

"Stop. You're scaring me." Kie tells the blond-haired boy.

JJ begins barking once again.

"Stop barking at the snakes," John b tells him.

"Look, Joh-" pope begins.

"Just making sure it's clear," JJ informed.

"Shut up. Shut up," Pope tells JJ. The turned to John b. "John, look."

"It's a snake." JJ said.

"Yeah. So I'll step in its head next time," Mateo says.

"Are you stupid?" Castiel asked.

"What? You step on the tail, and when it goes to bite your leg, a step on its head."

"I hate you."

Castilel and Mateo's finally put their attention onto the four friends.

"I can get through," Kie suddenly says.

"What?" John b asks. "No, no,  no, no. You think you're gonna got through the hole? That hole?"

"Look, this is about your dad. And honestly. I really dint believe in it, but you deserve to know that truth. I'll do it."

"I'll get those?" JJ says, getting to the vines.

They begin to pull down some vines before propping themselves to again the wall. "I'll gonna body you. I've seen it in the movies several times." JJ tells her. "Ready?" He interlocked his hands, lowing them for Kie to step on.

"Remind me what we are looking for," Kie speaks.

"You'll know when you see it,"  John b replied.

"You'll know, I would be kinda annoyed. Like, answer my fucking question," Mateo speaks.

Kie had stopped into JJ's hands, climbing up. And once entering in the tomb, asked for her flashlight. Pope handed it to her.

"You alive? You got, like, a-a heartbeat and everything?" John b asked.

"So far," Kie called out.

"That's good. That's good."

"Yep. Uh, I need some more light."

"Yeah, yeah, here. Yeah, I gotcha," John B held up the lamp, entirety the hole in the tomb.

"Castiel," JJ greets.  "So, you gonna keep helping us?"

"You find something?" Mateo asked Kie.

"Oh, my God," Kie says.
⁂ ⁂ㄗ𖦪𖤟𖢧𖢧ꚲ ꔪ𖣠ꚲ ⁂ ⁂

{5433}

A slightly shorter chapter, I swore I will always try to make them on the longer side, but not like, overly long.... You know what I mean?