"Guys, listen to this." Pope spoke up from the back. Bali, leaning back against JJ, turned her head to look his way, "The diary says the cross holds the most holy relic in all of Christendom, the Garment of the Savior."

"So wait, he's saying there's a holy garment inside the cross?" Kie questioned with a frown of her eyebrows.

"Magical." Bali spoke with a twinkle of her fingers.

"It says the garment is capable of healing the sick from any malady." Pope added in, looking down at the paper.

"Mmm, yeah. 'If only I may touch his garment, I shall be made well.' "JJ spoke up with a nod, all eyes turning in way in questioning, "What? I went to Sunday school."

Bali reached back to pat his head.

"Well, that explains why Limbrey would want the cross so bad." Pope said with a shrug, looking at each of them.

"To heal her old age?" Bali asked.

Pope gave a dumbfounded look, "She's on crutches, Bal."

Bali hummed, "I know. I was just testing you."

"Sure." Kie nodded, "What else does it say?"

"Many feel we have sinned to steal such a sacred thing, and God will strike his vengeance on us." Pope read from the paper, JJ peaking over to look down at the drawings.

"Thing is, God did have his vengeance." Kie shrugged, Bali glancing at her.

"He sent a hurricane to sink the ship. Only Denmark survived." Pope went along with her words.

"That's pretty heavy revenge." Bali agreed.

"This place still freaks me out." John B spoke as they walked through the hallways of the Cameron house.

"You shoukd have been here when I was going through my sleep walking phase." Bali said, nudging John B as they walked behind JJ, "I wasn't allowed back until that stopped."

"Yeah, that's terrifying, Bal." John B agreed, removing one of her curls that was stuck to her shirt.

"Pope, look." Sarah spoke as they walked into the dining room, the same one Bali and Sarah use to host tea parties in when they were little. Now the walls had been ripped apart and a map of a sort bared on the other side, "It's the island room."

"Incredible." Pope gapped as he looked around at it.

"It's been here this whole time." Sarah  spoke, looking at Bali as she passed, "Ten tea parties later and we never knew."

"Ten? More like fifteen." Bali shook her head, looking at the hole in the wall, "Let's hope that doesn't cover anything too important."

"Yo, this is a map of the whole island." John B looked around, his sun glasses pushed up to hold back his curls.

"Yeah, John B, I think you're right because this is Rixon's right here." JJ pointed out, getting closer to the left wall, glancing out the window. "Then there's the lighthouse."

"Guys, look, parcel 9 and the well." Kie ran her hand over the painting.

"What the hell is that?" Bali's voice caught their attention, her eyes casted upon the wall.

"Bal, what?" JJ spoke up as he walked over, grabbing her shoulder as they looked, "Is that-"

"Where my house is now." Bali said, staring at the small hole in the ground, "What even is that?"

"It looks like... a well maybe?" Kie asked, coming to stand with the two, "Your house is built over it."

"No, it's got a handle." Bali pointed out, running her hand across the painting, "It looks like that thing in The Walking Dead. The one they trapped the walkers in."

"And you saying we had a zombie apocalypse, babe?" JJ asked with a wave of his hand, "And we missed it? That's such bullshit."

Bali ignored JJ though, trying to figure out what it was. Kie nudged her, "I'm sure it was nothing."

"Probably, yeah." Bali nodded, but she still wanted to know what the hell that latch was and why they decided to build a house over it.

"So, if that's Parcel 9, and then if that's Rixon's, then that's gotta be the surf break at Mase." John B circled the room, pointing to the back wall as JJ followed him over.

"Right. And look." JJ held up the paper from Denmark, "Pope, come here. This is Denmark's handwriting for sure."

"The drawings." Pope pointed out as he looked from the wall to the paper, "They match up."

"Denmark Tanny, please tell me what my house is built over." Bali spoke dramatically as she looked up at the ceiling, "Do y'all hear anything?"

"Nope, nothing." Sarah shook her head.

"These are all his drawings. He..he painted this entire room." Pope spoke as he looked around the island room, eyes running across each drawing.

"Yeah, question is why. What's he trying to tell us?" Kie was next to ask, running her hand across a ship painting, her silver ring on display.

"It's gotta have something to do with the key, right? Right?" JJ spoke up again.

"Yeah, but what?" Kie spun to him.

"A bunker!" Bali suddenly yelled, scaring the shit out of John B as he jumped.

"Jesus christ, you scared me." he placed a hand on his heart with a deep breath.

"Bunker?" Sarah gave a odd look.

Bali pointed to the small painting that her house was now at, "It's a bunker, look."

And indeed, looking closer, it had been a bunker.

"Leading where?" John B leaned in to look better.

"You think it's still there?" Bali spoke up.

"Bal, this was painted forever ago." Kie went along with her, "If it is there, it's definitely been grown over and rusted down."

"I wonder what was happening down there." Bali spoke out loud as she kept her eyes on it, "Secret affairs? Drug deals? Kidnappings?"

"Dark." JJ pulled her away from the painting.

"It could go into a good plot." Bali nodded her head with a thinking look.

"How did you know to uncover this?" John B's questioned toward Sarah, distracting Bali.

"I didn't. It was like this when I got home." Sarah shook her head, looking up at the higher paintings.

"What?" JJ looked her way.

"Rafael, perhaps?" Bali suggested with a eyebrow raise.

"I don't know." Sarah shrugged.

"The freaks." a new voice came from behind the door, making the group gasp and turn their way.

"I think I peed a little." Bali whispered to Sarah as she placed a hand on her heart.

"What freaks are we talking about, Wheeze?" JJ spoke up toward the younger teen.

"Uh, sick lady and her attack dog." Wheezie shrugged, "They showed up last night, and they wanted to talk to Rafe."

"Told you." Bali mumbled.

"Pale blonde lady?" JJ hummed her way.

"She had crutches?" Kie went along with him.

Wheezie nodded in agreement.

"It's gotta be Limbrey." Pope confirmed.

"What happened?" John B jumped in, focusing on Wheezie again.

"First, they searched the whole house looking for something, and then Rafe told me to go upstairs. But I didn't wanna miss out so I did what Bali taught me to do and listened through the grate." Wheezie nodded her head, falling into a story.

JJ looked at Bali with a raise of his brows, "You taught her this?"

"You'd do the same thing." she argued.

"Then they came in here and were freaking out, tearing down all the wallpaper saying how they found it." Wheezie recalled her memory with a wave of her hands, "And they were talking about getting across the sand flamingo."

"That's code." JJ confided.

"Like the little umbrellas you put in your drinks." Bali agreed with wide eyes, "That's it."

"The pink ones. Yes, exactly." JJ agreed as he faced her, "What could that be code for though? What could that do with anything?"

"The Cross of Santo Domingo?" Pope spoke up toward Wheezie in questioning.

"Yeah, that's it." Wheezie agreed.

Bali and JJ shared a look, "Not the little umbrellas, never mind•

"Oh, they were talking about angels!" Wheezie added in quickly, eyes getting wide behind her glasses.

"Angels?" John B gave a odd look.

"Guys, Denmark's famous last words." Pope looked around with wide eyes, "He buried the real treasure at the foot of the angel!"

"It's gotta be around here then." Bali nodded quickly, "They clearly already found it."

The group spread out quickly around the room.

"There's a church over here."

"Yeah, check the church."

"Maybe that's what the bunker is for!"

"Bal, let the bunker go."

"Could this be an angel?"

"Maybe."

"Whats- Whats going on? Are you guys gonna tell me?"

"The lighthouse maybe?"

"Maybe it's heat-sensitive."

"A graveyard maybe?"

"Graveyard is smart!"

"Hey, yo! Guys, I think I found something!" JJ cut in quickly, earning all of their attentions as they turned his way, "Come here. This humongous tree is still on Goat Island. And you know what it's called?"

"Angel Oak." Pope confirmed with mesmerized eyes.

"Look there. There's the keyhole." JJ pointed to the middle of the tree, that indeed had a key hole.

"That means the cross is buried at the foot of the angel." Popes smile formed across his face, "That must be where he put it."

"What the hell are we doing? We need to put it in gear and get there!" Bali announced quickly as she slapped Popes shoulders.

"We have to go!" he agreed with wide eyes.

"I think I'm Sherlock Holmes, all right? You're welcome by the way." JJ spoke up as they all began running out of the island room.

Bali turned to grab his hand, "Thank you, angel."

"Nice dad joke, Bali, nice dad joke." JJ nodded.

•

kylie speaks

sorry this took me
a while to get up.
senior year just starting
and i'm in a new program
so it has taken me a while
to get use to it and all but
i think i've got the hang of
everything now and i should
be back to updating every
three days or so!