chapter eight / bird of curiosities

One thing Ilyshah noted when hanging around with Pogues, and in particular John B Routledge. Expect the unexpected.

    The last place Ilyshah expected to be wading through in her yellow mini dress intended for a refined occasion with the Fishers? Had to be following a rambling John B through the dirt covered tracks of a graveyard shrouded in mist, where the earth swallowed up the dead whole as their souls journeyed on through the veil, souls unreclaimed.

     Her free hand swatted at mosquitoes ready to feast on the flesh of her thigh as the other clutched a flashlight. She tried to capture her laughter rising through the back of her throat when JJ stumbled over the stray branches she expertly dodged but she couldn't help the one that escaped before finally, they reached their destination. A stony mausoleum crawled with vines, carrying the dead dolefully within its walls.

"This whole time I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place... It's a person."

"Voi-effing-là."

"See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia... Redfield. That was her maiden name."

The four simply stood there for a moment to take it in. What was he expecting to find here? And how the hell were they supposed to get in there? It seemed like there was no time for questions as John B rounded up JJ and Pope to take on the arduously foolish task of pushing the heavy stone door open.

     As the three collectively gave a chorus of strained groans, Ilyshah and Kiara watched on with a bemused level of disappointment. Then, at the sound of a hiss and the sight of a snake slithering out from the crack, she jumped back with a gasp like her heart was about to fall out of her chest.

"That's a moccasin, all right. Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth! Death in tall grass," JJ broke into a taunting bark towards the snake before John B scolded him, matching the serpent's hiss.

"Is he usually like—"

"Yeah, he is," Pope nodded with Ilyshah as he continued to bark. "JJ, you're embarrassing yourself in front of our guest man, stop! Shut up. John B, look we're not gonna get in there, all right? It's not budging."

JJ panted as he folded his arms and posted up beside Ilyshah. "I was just trying to keep the snake away from y'all. They're afraid of dogs."

           "Okay, you can calm down now golden retriever. I think it's scared enough," She bantered, reaching up to pat his head twice as Kiara stepped forward, shining a light over the crack in the wall.

          "I can get through."

                 "What? No, no, no, no. You think you're gonna fit through the hole? That hole?"

"There's no way my thunder thighs would let me through that," Ilyshah murmured as she slowly shook her head on further inspection of the hole. She then turned to JJ as his eyes drank in her figure illuminated by the cool white light of his headtorch, knowing precisely what she meant because he had her curved frame stapled to his mind not just from barging into her room tonight but every time they were both at the beach, "eyes up here, Maybank." She clicked before his face, a faint smirk playing on her lips.

     "Look, this is about your dad. And honestly, I really don't believe in it but, you deserve to know the truth... I'll do it," Kiara reassured with a nonchalant certainty she had to lend herself before submitting to an almost century-old mausoleum. And as she braced herself to get hoisted up by JJ, she asked with trepidation, "remind me what we're looking for again?"

"You'll know when you see it."

Now, after uncovering a timeworn Routledge heirloom and a sacredly held stone so far, the last thing she expected Kiara Carrera to slot through the hole from the other side of the mausoleum had to be a fedex envelope. Marked by a sharpie across the front with FOR BIRD.

      Pope couldn't hold back voicing the group's disappointment in the expectation of finding a heavy, gleaming jewel to flex upon others, but John B found it just as valuable as he whispered, "Holy shit... this is from my dad." The ears of Ilyshah, Pope, and Kiara now perked up as JJ lit up the joint he rolled earlier from afar before he caught a glimpse of a vehicle fast approaching.

"Code red, code red. Square groupers, square groupers," JJ frantically sounded out and by sheer instinct, grabbed Ilyshah's hand before they all huddled behind a wall. As Ilyshah hastily clicked her flashlight off, JJ was far too concerned putting out the joint than turning off his own leading Pope to frustratingly do it for him with reproach.

      Ilyshah dared to open one of her eyes as she peeked around the corner. "Are we sure it's the same guys?" She whispered as the caddy parked up, JJ yanked her back by the shoulders to check for himself. "Homies got a gun."

        With a screw this muttered from Kiara, they all followed her lead setting off into the night. Quick on their heels not wanting to evoke another rooster situation or join the dead six feet under, they booked it for the Twinkie waiting on the other side of the gate. She didn't even have time to care if she flashed the boys behind her as she jumped over the brick wall, grazing her kneecaps bloody.

       If she did have the time, she would laugh to herself about how John B and JJ did this to her only weeks before, and now they were dragging her into the very same storm of chaos. Heart and breath not yet used to the sugar rush adrenaline fuelled escapades fizzing down her throat like sour sherbet. The Pogue effect.

"Guys, guys. I'm stuck," Pope grunted as he dangled off the steel gate that his shorts were clipped to.

JJ impulsively pulled a gun out from his shorts, aiming straight for him. "Pope, don't move! Okay?" As Ilyshah and John B both palmed the gun away from him, Kiara yanked Pope down from the steel fence, ripping his shorts clean off and exposing the white briefs underneath.

"Nice! Come on dude," JJ cackled as they all ran back to the Twinkie. "It's a little tootsie roll!"

On the ride back to The Chateau, Kiara couldn't control her giggling as Ilyshah averted her gaze from Pope covering up his crotch. Her glossy lips curled inwards yet her bubbling chest gave her away. He rolled his eyes impatiently with a sigh, face completely flushed with embarrassment as John B and JJ cackled loudly.

    "It's okay Ilyshah, you can laugh."

     Under the dimmed warm light of the lanterns and candles that illuminated the darkest corners of the chateau, the five teenagers gathered around the fedex envelope as if it were some babylonian ancient tablet. As her eyes scanned the room, Ilyshah noticed how much tidier the place appeared — no longer piles on top of piles where discarded clothes mingled with empty beer cans and chip packets. It had very clearly been worn by teenage boys for several months, but Ilyshah loved how the chateau had an essence of character . . . and life.

     "That bread had mold on it three days ago," Pope commented as JJ holed up in the kitchen and spread a healthy dollop of peanut butter on a slice of white bread covered in sprouting green spores.

    "I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a... natural organism," JJ disputed in a murmur, then bounced over after Kiara's impatient call of his name. "Yup, yup, yup! Hot damn, let's do it," he wheeled beside Ilyshah and sent a cocky smile her way, "hi there."

    Ilyshah screwed up her face in distaste. "Please don't tell me you're actually eating that." JJ took it as a personal challenge and sunk his teeth into the sandwich, setting off his gag reflex over the trash can within seconds. By the look on the Pogues' faces, they were either too entranced by the envelope or this wasn't atypical behaviour from him.

       As he returned from spitting out the soggy remains of the sandwich, Ilyshah surrendered a hand to her crotchet tote, pulling out a neatly wrapped cinnamon bun and patting his chest with it as he lightly gasped. "Here, I don't think I can stand another second watching you eat that."

    "How did you—"

"You seriously haven't heard of the A.H.M rule?" She spelt out holding up two fingers, "Always-Have—"

  "Munchies, nice," He clicked his tongue finished her sentence, both of them huffing in amusement at each other until Pope's scolding of, "Guys, focus," left them clearing their throats and focusing back in on the contents John B slipped out of the envelope, furrowing their eyebrows as he flattened out a map marked with an X, and even more intriguingly. . .

"What's that?" JJ mumbled, mouth full of the fluffy icing soaked cinnamon roll.

Kiara retorted. "It's a tape recorder, dumbass."

With a click of the side button, a voice ricocheted across the walls of the chateau, one John B identified as his dads after only a few short words. Bird. Amongst the clattering of the tape and in the most intimate of moments, they were all there as a son heard the voice of his missing father after nine months. Hanging onto every word like he were there right beside him.

       "Don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find The Merchant either," Big John echoed across the tape, all four of them staring at each other in realisation whereas Ilyshah frowned in confusion. The Merchant?  "There she is, the wreck of the merchant. . .  if something happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, bird, even if I didn't always act like it."

    Ilyshah softened at the pained expression pressed into the lines and sun washed freckles of John B's face, and they all thought the tape had come to its end at the crackle of the static until one of his final words hummed through. "And if you find the greenstone. Don't lose it, son. It may just be the key to all of this. . ."

Nimble fingers now wrapped around her own pendant, her eyes lifted up at the click marking the end of the tape to meet three ogling pairs of eyes as John B abruptly left the table. Her chest rose and fell at the unknown being thrown into her lap with little time to process anything, revelations coming in tidal waves.

"Holy shit, he did it," JJ exclaimed as John B melted into the door frame, soon reduced to ragged sobs. "Big John — He found the merchant."

Kiara clasped the back of her head in frustration. "Can you — can you please just," she murmured before she joined John B in a comforting hug from behind as a grave silence fell over the table.

            Ilyshah cautiously approached the question when John B's sobs died down. "What's The Merchant?"

This time, Ilyshah had been the one sitting perched up like a bird of curiosity before Pope Heyward as he explained the ship of gold lost at sea in the 19th century. It's not like she didn't believe it, the girl from an island teeming with legends and stories passed from generation to generation. Forty million worth in gold would've all sounded too good to be true and a reasonable cause for cynicism, only if it weren't for the carved pounamu that found a home in her palm by a man who spent his life searching for lost treasure.

    But Pope's 101 in the Royal Merchant had been cut short by the sound of tire tracks approaching down the driveway, John B and Kiara backed away from the doorframe as Pope and Ilyshah scrambled to turn off the lamps and blow out the candles. All five of them reflexively ducked behind the couch under the front window, predicting the worst to happen like the episode from this afternoon repeating itself.

   "Don't tell me that's them again," Kiara breathed.

         Pope poked up his head, jaw set in a deep frown at the veneer of red reflecting off the windows and the pronounced, obnoxious roar of the engine. "Guys... it's not them."

             "What?" The rest of the group sounded as they peeked over the windowsill.

       "You've gotta be kidding," Ilyshah muttered, flared with irritation and embarrassment as she turned to JJ and Kiara who were now both seething with anger.

     "Look who made it to this side of the island," JJ taunted as he jogged down the front steps ahead of Ilyshah as she grabbed her tote on the way out, now facing Spencer Fishers and Lani Tūrei as she slammed the door of his Jaguar. "The Kook handlers."

Lani mockingly grinned as she folded her arms across her chest. "Yeah, real funny JJ. You're lucky you still have a job."

"Lani, stop," Ilyshah pleaded as she took her aside. "How did you guys even know I was here?"

"Kelce saw you getting picked up before, and when dad texted Spencer to check in with you after you didn't respond to his texts he was nice enough to tell me you skipped," She informed snarkily as Ilyshah frustratingly raked her fingers through her hair, eyes flickering to Spencer behind her who mouthed an apology with a remorseful gaze. "I'm surprised you're even hanging out with him after what he did to Sarah," Lani gestured towards John B.

"What are you talking about?" Ilyshah furrowed her eyebrows as she turned back to the Pogues, "what is she talking about?"

Lani interjected before he could defend himself. "He cussed her out this afternoon after he stole from their boat and got his ass fired. I mean who the hell do you think you are doing that to her?"

"Keep running your mouth bitch I dare you," Kiara confronted her with a fiery tongue.

"Or what?" She approached Kiara before Spencer and Ilyshah held her back by the shoulders as John B did the same with Kiara. Meanwhile, JJ and Pope grinned in anticipation of watching them battle it out in the ring until she followed up with another biting comment. "Oh right, I forgot you'll just get your boy to point a gun at my head."

"Stop, we're going now," Ilyshah raised her voice as she tugged Lani towards the car, sending a contorted expression of contrite the Pogues' way as Spencer hopped in the drivers seat.

      "Lysh, come on," said Spencer gently, turning the keys in the ignition. She hesitated for a second, putting a hand in her pocket as she turned around to face John B, her eyes full of mixed signals as she pulled out the greenstone from the marsh and stretched out to hand it over.

     John B took ahold of her wrist, closing her palm like an oyster holding within it the most prized pearl in all the land. "Don't... you'll take better care of it than me anyway." He said, voice raspy from the weight of events and it's collective emotions.

         She nodded with a fading wistful smile, "good luck guys," she added with a longing gaze lingering on JJ. Then, rolled her eyes as Lani yelled at her to hurry up, pacing back to the car and buckling up in the passenger seat next to Spencer, who sped off with the engine drumming over the low thunder that came rumbling in.

    Pope smacked his lips. "Well, that was... something."

      "I told you this was going to happen JB," Kiara gently scoffed, she and Pope watched as he took off to the dock with his head sullenly carried down in a shield. JJ followed behind them towards the dock, turning his head back for a second to look into the distance where Spencer left with Ilyshah in a trail of dust, willing her to by some miracle come back.

    Ilyshah counted herself grateful that the tense drive punctured with a deafening silence came to its end when Spencer pulled up outside their house. She expected at the very least a lecture from Lani, but the silence killed her more than any lecture could. As Lani left her side of the car, she caught her wrist before she could leave.

    "Don't tell undool," she pleaded, flashing doe eyes her way, "please."

           "Obviously I won't," Lani gave a sigh, then raised her eyebrows, "but don't make me go to The Cut again for you." She walked away with her arms folded back into their home, leaving Ilyshah and Spencer alone in the front seat.

In true Spencer fashion, he stayed awfully quiet through the entire ordeal. Even now he caressed the leather of his steering wheel, trying to muster up the words that were swimming around in his head until finally, he landed upon, "I really needed you tonight, Lysh."

     "I've been hearing that a lot today," she breathed, avoiding eye contact with him by staring dead ahead at the hallowed street scarcely lit by every fifth streetlight as he did the same.

    "My dad came back..." He croaked, motionless looking straight out as Ilyshah snapped her head to the side towards him.

    "Shit," she whispered under her breath. "Spence, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, I just... don't wanna go back there."

Ilyshah clasped his hand into both of hers. "Come stay with me, I'm sure undool won't mind you in the pool house again."

"I can't leave ma with him," his voice came out more like a whisper now as she leaned over to pull him into a tight embrace, stroking the back of his head tenderly. He wasn't one to show his emotions often, locking them away in chests or pill bottles instead but with Ilyshah it was different, she made it safe for him to be vulnerable, "need to be there for her... protect her, y'know."

"I know," she murmured into his shoulder as his stiff body relaxed at her touch, "he wouldn't hurt her though, right?"

      "No, God no," he whispered, parting from the hug. "He knows I'd kill him if he did."

   Ilyshah closed her eyes as she fiddled with her hands planted in her lap. "I'm still sorry for what I did tonight just — please whatever you do, don't tell Sarah."

      "It's not me you should be worried about telling Sarah," he responded with a lift of his eyebrow, clearly referring to her cousin Lani, "and I'm not going to ask any questions about why you were with them either but you need to be careful, okay?"

    "Why?"

         The dock off the chateau rang with the eerily winsome call of the loons in the marsh nearby and the gentle tune of Kiara strumming her ukelele. It was her attempt at drowning out the vitriolic anger she felt towards Lani Tūrei, pulsating off her bee stung tongue seeped with venom that once dripped honey. Despite her attempt to deaden the noise, she still questioned to the Pogues, "how can we even trust that Ilyshah won't say anything to them now?"

       John B cradled a beer can to his chest, voice sounding out in a subdued murmur, "I don't think she's like that... JJ?"

        "Uh, yeah, y'know she seems... cool," JJ brushed off, throwing stones out onto the water, "hasn't snitched on us the last how many times."

    "Doesn't mean she's one of us," Kiara mumbled with a scowl.

"You don't have to hide it either, we already know you have a massive crush on her," Pope said straight-faced.

"Massive," JJ scoffed slightly. "It's not massive dude, I don't know where you got that from," Pope and Kie both gave each other eyes as he mumbled to himself into silence between the group apart from the twang of Kie's ukulele.

JJ cleared his throat, money fresh on his mind to cloud the other girl scout island princess related thoughts. "How much was it again?"

     "Four hundred mil."

    As the four teenagers with stars cast in their basins for eyes circled around, four hundred million hopes and dreams spilled out of their mouths in a law of attraction haze. Hopes for studio recorded albums, paying for tuition in advance and visions of endless bubble wrapped days where double shifts were a thing of the past loomed over them, just in reach. JJ smirked to himself as he circled the question to himself, knowing precisely what he wanted on the horizons of his life.

"Actually I know what I'm gonna do," he began, "I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook."

Pope scoffed in hilarity. "You're gonna go full Kook?"

          "Yup, gonna get a house bigger than Spencer's, live right next to Ilyshah so she'll have no choice but stare at me. Get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond. Put a bunch of those fish—"

     "I'm never visiting," Kiara chuckled lowly.

            "What are you gonna do, JB?"

                       "To going full Kook."

                                    "To going full Kook!"

Whale Rider ━━ JJ Maybank
Chapter Eight, Bird Of Curiosities
Outerbanks S1 ━━ Ep. 3 The Forbidden Zone.