"So, word to the wise, definitely know that gators nest back here, so keep your eyes peeled, okay?" JJ spoke as he opened the van doors for them, "You don't wanna step on a mama gator. That's the last thing you want."

"Aw, mama gator." Lila gushed.

"You 'aw,mama gator' now until it comes up and-" JJ began, turning around and clapping suddenly in her face, "Bites your legs off. You don't wanna be a Pat Womack. She had her calf chewed off by a gator, right? You know that, right?"

"That's actually not true." Kie huffed.

"Pat Womack was injured in a car accident, but I hear you." Sarah added in as they walked through the forest of mud and poison oak.

"Okay, just living ignorance. But like, she had her calf chewed off by a mama gator. I know that for a fact." JJ argued with their words, walking behind Lila as he stepped on the back of her shoe.

"JJ." she scolded him, throwing a dirty look over her shoulder, "Do you mind?"

"Do you mind?" be shot back at her as Lila huffed and turned back around, "Walk a little faster, sweetheart."

"Ever heard of personal space?" Lila was quick to ask, pausing as he suddenly bumped into her from behind, "See."

"Wait, I see something!" JJ stoped quickly as he got closer to the dirty water.

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

JJ hit a stick to the water suddenly.

"Right. Wake them up. That's smart." Sarah said his way with a nod.

"I was just making sure it wasn't a gator. That's all, all right?" he rose his hands in defense.

"And what if it was? You were gonna tackle it?" Lila asked him, turning back to walk behind Pope.

"Was actually gonna feed you to it if you were wondering." JJ said from behind her, keeping up with her pace.

"You would feed me to a gator?" Lila asked him in disbelief.

"I would feed you to a gator with this attitude you have going on today." JJ argued back, stepping on her shoe again, "I wouldn't feed you to the gator if you were having a nice day and loving up on me."

"JJ, I was locked in a room for four hours and had to pee. I have a headache, I'm having a secret kept form me, I'm disappointed, embarrassed, I'm not wearing purple, and I'm freaking hungry." Lila said back with a huff, walking before him, "I'm pretty sure I have every right to a attitude."

"I'm not the one that locked you in a room." JJ defended himself as he rose his hands in disbelief, "I'd never lock you in a room unless I was in there with you, if you catch my drift."

"You'd feed me to gators though." Lila pointed out, he stepped on her shoe again, "If you step on my shoe aga-"

"Shhh." Pope turned around to them as he heard the sound a few feet away, "I hear them."

"I don't see shit." Rafe voice came through as they peaked behind a bush, seeing them digging with a excavator, "You sure this is the right spot?"

"It's there. The garment will be in the cross, and the cross will be at the end of the tree." Limbrey announced from where she wobbled on her crutches.

"Well, whatever we find, I get my cut." Rafe announced. Lila sighed as she looked down a second.

A loud crutch echoed through the air as Carla panicked, "Stop! Stop. Please, did you hear that? Hey, get in there, boys. Do it by hand."

Renfield pulled a casket up from the hole, Rafe reaching down and helping him get it up.

"They got the cross. What do we do?" JJ asked quickly as he looked to John B.

"What can we do?" he asked him back.

"Want me to run over there and cause a distraction?" Lila spoke up in questioning, "Tackle Rafe into that hole?"

"Absolutely not." Sarah shook her head as she patted her back.

The six watched as the of the lid of the casket was lifted off, Carla peering inside with a look of disbelief and sad expression.

"It's just a corpse." Renfield announced, "Sorry, Carla."

"Of course, yeah, of course it's just a dead body. Jesus!" Rafe yelled in disbelief as he stood up.

"We're going back! It's not over!" Carla yelled as they loaded up into the truck again. Lila watched Rafe climb in, sighing with a huff to go along with it.

"Sorry, Pope." Lila whispered to him, "I didn't know."

He put a arm around her in return, walking forward quickly as JJ called for them to wait from behind.

Pope looked down at the casket, bones in the inside and just laying there, empty infront of the tree, "Cecilia Tanny. Denmark's wife. He wasn't talking about the cross. He buried her at the foot of the angel."

"The true treasure." Kie spoke up.

"His wife." John B sighed.

Pope cried softly as he leaned down infront of the casket. They crowded him together, being by his side, "Denmark was hung for burying his wife, and now they defiled her grave."

Pope reached down and grabbed a small pin with Cecelias name on it, whipping his nose.

"This must have been from Denmark." Sarah's smiled as she held a ring in her hand, "Her wedding ring."

"We have to put her back." Lila spoke up as she shook her head, "He'd want that, he sent us all the way here for it."

"We can't leave her like this." Pope agreed as John B and JJ grabbed hold of either side of the basket, lowering her grave back down into the hole. Pope found a few flowers near by, placing them on top of her grave as Lila rubbed his back. She had many thoughts, but one stood out the most.

Lila was so over Rafes bullshit and defending him.

"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. Denmark wanted him to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot." Pope rambled as they sat near the tree. Lila sat in the van, the door open as she listened. JJ nudged her as he walked by to throw the shovel back in, "It just feel like-"

"Like we missed something." the blonde boy spoke up, his eyes setting upwards. Lila got out of the van, following his gaze.

"JJ, don't fall." Lila shook her head as she watched him climb up, Kie following after, "You either, Kiara."

"I'll be sure to jump off like you do." Kie said back down to her.

"I heard you jumped off that ferry." John B said as he looked at her.

"You jumped off a ferry?" Sarah asked in disbelief.

"That looks like-" JJ said a he pointed to the hole in the tree.

"The painting in the island room." Kie finished for him with a nod.

"Worth a shot, right?" JJ asked with a eyebrow raise.

"Let's do it." John B added in.

"Go for it." JJ encouraged Kie.

"Not a chance." she shook her head.

"You do it." Sarah said back.

"Sorry. I went in the storm drain." Kie pointed out.

"She did go into the storm drain." Pope pointed out.

"Yeah. No, i'm gonna do it. It's just.." JJ trialed off.

"He's scared." Kie whispered.

"I'm not scared, dude." JJ argued.

"Aw, don't be scared, baby boy." Lila called up to him, "The worst thing is your hand gets bitten off. I mean, it's not like you use your right hand for anything anyways."

"Lila, i'm right handed." he said down at her.

"Use the left." she said back with a shrug, "I'm left handed and when I was in school, the teachers use to hit me with rulers so i'd learn to use my right hand. Never worked though."

JJ stuck his hand into the tree, digging down as they all watched closely, "There's something in here."

JJ began yelling in pain, pushing against the tree. The remaining five panicked, Kie trying to yank him off while the rest yelled from the bottom. JJ began laughing suddenly, making them look in disbelief.

"Jesus christ, JJ, that's not even funny." Lila said in disbelief, "I hope something eats your hand."

"You asshole." Pope added.

"Oh, man! I got all of you on that one." the blonde laughed from above, leaning on the tree with his arm still in, "Wait, but seriously, there's something in here."

"My sanity I hope." Lila mumbled. JJ pulled his hand out, a metal trinket.

"Let me see it." Pope said, having is passed down to him in no time while JJ jumped off, "HMS Royal Merchant."

"Give it to the captain. Here we go. It's a spyglass." JJ spoke quickly as he took it from Pope, pulling it open and peering through it.

"There's something on the end." Kie pointed out, sitting down on top of the van.

"An inscription right there. Look at that shit." John B smiled as he looked at the end.

"You've come this far. Do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's altar." Pope read out loud.

"Like, a wedding altar?" Lila spoke up in questioning, "Maybe that has to do with Cecilia. Why he lead us to his wife. That had to be the clue."

"The church! The cross is at the church." Pope grinned as he turned to them.

"What are we doing here guys?" JJ called out as Pope cheered.

"Woogity-Woogity!"

•

kylie speaks

sorry for the late
and lowkey kinda
boring chapter, i started
my period and have been
all bleh all day long. but
i smell a very angry ex
gf moment coming soon
that we've all been waiting
for. if there are any anti lilas
i'm the comments, i'm gonna
assume y'all are just misogynistic bc she deserves
to yell like a manic for once.