"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." Pope ranted on as the group stayed near the tree, "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. It just feels like-"

"Like we missed something?" JJ's voice caught their attention, heads turning to see he'd been looking up at the tree, "Come here."

Bali gave a odd look as JJ crawled up on the twinkie, Kie following after, "JJ, get down."

"Hang on, hang on." he waved her off, "That looks like-"

"The painting in the island room." Kie added in as she looked at the hole in the tree.

"Reach in there!" Bali encouraged from the ground, squinting as she looked up at them.

"It's worth a shot, right?" JJ spoke up with a shrug, "Go for it."

"No chance." Kie gave a stupid look.

"You do it!" Sarah scoffed from the ground.

"Sorry, I went in the storm drain." Kie said back.

"She did go in the storm drain." Pope sided with Kie.

"Yeah. No, i'm gonna do it. It's just..." JJ trialed off as he pulled his sleeve up some.

"He's scared." Kie whispered.

"Terrified." Bali agreed.

"I'm not scared, dude." JJ scoffed in disbelief with them.

"You seem scared." Kie laughed.

JJ slowly reached his hand into the tree, getting closer before letting out a shout. Bali huffed, crossing her arms as everyone began to freak out. Kie yanking on his body while John B tried to climb the twinkie. JJ began to laugh, relaxing as everyone gave looks of disbelief. He met Bali's eye, "You weren't worried?"

"I knew you were lying." she rolled her eyes, "Boy who cried wolf."

"Real original." Pope scoffed.

"Wait, there's seriously something in here." JJ shook his head, digging deeper before retracting his arm with a golden and maroon trinket.

"Let me see it." Pope reached up. Bali held her hand up to help Kie down, doing the same with JJ as he stumbled into her some, hands staying latched, "HMS Royal Merchant."

"Chills." Bali held her arms out to show the little bumps on her arms.

"Give it to the captain. Here we go. It's a spyglass." JJ yanked it open, peering through the peephole.

"There's something on the end." Kie nodded, their eyes moving toward the little writing.

"An inscription right there. Look at that shit." John B looked down at it.

"Let me see, i've read a lot of old timy stuff." Bali took the spyglass, looking down at the cursive writing, " 'You've come this far. Do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's altar.' It rhymes!"

"The cross is at the church!" Pope announced as his face lit up.

"What are we doing here, guys?" JJ called out with wide eyes.

"Come on!" Pope encouraged as they got back into the van.

"I'm just saying, it's grammerly wrong." Bali and Sarah argued as they sat together, "The correct way to say caramel is with that extra a."

"But it sounds weird." Sarah defended herself, "Why el at the end instead of al."

"Sarah, look at the spelling!" Bali gave a crazy look.

"Why are you getting defensive?" Sarah called back with the same face and tone.

"Ah, crap! The tide!" Pope huffed as he looked out the window at the once small mud hole, now looking like an entire lake, "This doesn't look good."

"How deep is that?" Kie questioned.

"Dunno, the roads gone." John B shook his head, looking out the cracked window shield.

"Tide rose a little faster then I thought it would." JJ scratched the back of his neck.

"Just a little bit." Bali agreed.

"Uh, John B, how high are the spark plugs?" JJ turned in his seat to look at him better.

John B hesitated, "They're good. We're fine."

"Are we gonna be set on fire and burn?" Bali leaned over the seat to look at him.

"How high are they?" Pope repeated JJ's words.

"Oh, um." John B looked out the window, "Just above the taillight."

The group shared a unsure look before Pope spoken up, "So thats, what, three feet?"

"That's three feet, yeah." JJ hummed.

"Catch on fire and burn, great." Bali spoke with a nod of her head, "I imagined dying at a old age, in a comfortable bed, good book by my side, in my beach house. But catching on fire works too."

"At least we know the correct way to pronounce caramel." Sarah hummed.

"That water can't be three feet deep." Kie scoffed.

"Then what's the problem?" the curly haired boy looked back.

"Not a problem. No, we're good. We're good. She'll make it." JJ nodded his head, turning back correctly in his seat.

"Ladies and gentleman, fasted your seat belts. Hold onto something." John B braced them. Bali cleared her throat, grabbing Sarah's hand and Kie's ankle, "Three, two, one!"

The group all yelled when it took a moment for the twinkie to move, finally getting out of the mud and speeding forward. Cheers echoed off the metal doors, yelling for John B to go faster as they neared the end, loosing control and swerving off into the swamp.

"I think we miscalculation." Pope said as Sarah squeezed her index finger and thumb close together.

"I knew I should have driven." JJ sighed.

"Maybe we burned too death and when we step out of the van, we enter the light." Bali looked out the window, "All i'm seeing is a bunch of green and gross water."

"Maybe we can walk from here." Pope spoke as all got out and looking around the stuck van.

"What? And leave the Twinkie? The tide's coming in." John B gave a look of disbelief.

"Well, what are we suppose to do?" Kie huffed.

"Not stay here." JJ answered her.

Bali sighed, "I have my jeep."

"What?" John B looked over at her.

"My jeep." Bali said back, "My mom got it for me when I turned sixteen. It's at my house."

"Bal, are you sure?" John B gave a questionable look.

"You love Grape Soda." Sarah nudged her.

"What does that-" Pope began.

"Grape Soda was a gift from my mom, maybe it'll show her that i'm super pissed off." Bali shrugged with a hesitant look, "I just know she's home so I'll have to sneak through the window."

"We need something to pull her out with. There's the winch at the chateau." JJ hummed alongside her, "That's like two miles."

"Okay, someone's gotta come with me though if I get busted." Bali nodded her head, "Then all of you will have to come break me out somehow."

"I'm gonna go." JJ hummed, rubbing her back.

"Okay, thanks, Bal. If you're gonna do it, let's go, okay?" John B nodded as he looked at the two.

"Okay, let's go." Bali nodded as she encouraged JJ to walk with her, "Pep in your step."

"Double time, Bal. We gotta move." JJ nodded alongside her.

"Be carful!" Sarah called to them.

"A little Theft Auto from the Bali Pandaros? Have I turned you into a monster?" JJ asked as the pair squared behind Bali's fence, "See your momma?"

"Her cars here, not my dad." Bali looked over the small fence, "I just gotta get to my window, keys are in my room."

"You gonna climb?" JJ asked as Bali hummed, "All righty, here we go."

Bali nodded as he opened the gate, Bali crutching down as she hurried past the windows and toward the back of the house. The small tree outside her window had been there since before they even moved in. Bali use to climb it when she'd snuck out freshman year or to meet JJ somewhere, along with the amount of times JJ and Conner climbed through because her parents surely wouldn't approve of either of them coming over.

Bali got to her window easily, hearing words from downstairs. She recognized her moms voice, recognized Conners dads voice. The missing posters were still on her nightstand, the majority handed out by now. Bali thought of Conner and she hoped he'd been okay. Yes, Conner was an asshole who hurt her badly. But it wasn't always that way, he use to be a sweet boy, who had been a great boyfriend, until he let assholes get into his head. His father being the worst.

The keys to the jeep were laid next to her book case, grabbing hold of them. Bali looked out the window and gave JJ and thumbs up, going to crawl out the window again before she heard a certain sentence that made her pause.

"What are we suppose to do about the lock on the bunker? It's broken from the outside now."

The bunker under their house. The one it was built over. The one she saw on the map in the Island Room. Her mom knew about it, so did Mr Delgado. Meaning it hadn't been nothing, meaning there was something she didn't know. Apart of Bali wanted to stay, figure out what the hell all of this was. And then, she thought of her friends and her boyfriend.

Deciding the secret bunker could wait a little bit longer.

•

kylie speaks

i suck at updating
, i know. yell at me
pls. butttt on the bright side,
i'm gonna stay up tonight and
binge write some chapters for
you guys because i have tmr
off from school! x