𝟎𝟒𝟕.             𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥

angel      ────       aerosmith

☀︎ 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

𝖨 𝖶𝖠𝖪𝖤 𝖴𝖯 𝖮𝖭 𝖩𝖩．Somewhere, in the middle of the night, I must've rolled on top of him, clinging onto him like a child clinging onto their favourite toy. He feels comfortable── so much so that I'm tempted to lock us in here and stay like this forever. I slept so well with JJ beside me, so I never want to pull myself away from him.

His arm is around my back, holding me against him as I force myself to wake. I really don't want to wake. I just want to sleep beside him and forget that the outside world exists, but I'm not allowed to do that.

We have priorities. We have things we have to do today. We have to get a win. I feel a lot better today── far better than I did yesterday, so I am determined to be of use to my friends. I'm going to be there for Pope, help him and our friends find that cross, and then we'll be on the path to victory... I hope.

We're getting a win.

We need a win.

First I need to pry myself off him even if that's the last thing I want to do. I stretch against him, trying to gain the feeling in my limbs. Slowly, I push myself up with a hand on his chest, not wanting to wake him, but I should've known I'd wake him.

He stirs awake, eyes blinking open to find me. He offers me a tired, slanted smile that has my entire body tingling. My stomach overturns, the wings of a thousand butterflies fluttering as I stare at him with my bottom lip tucked between my teeth.

He's pretty, have I mentioned that?

"Morning," I whisper, lifting my hand off his chest as I need to get away from him before I fall right back into his arms and stay there. I need to change and get outside of my bedroom before I'm swallowed whole.

JJ wipes a hand over his face. "Morning, Sunshine." Yeah, I could absolutely get used to hearing him say that every morning.

I lift myself off my bed, needing to grab some kind of clothing to wear. JJ lifts himself up too, yawning into his hand as he brings himself off my bed. While I wish we could stay in bed forever, we have priorities that need to be sorted. I have to make up for my lack of help yesterday.

JJ steps up behind me, one hand sliding against my hip. I find the tiny drawing I sketched on his hand, the letter B staring right at me. "You feeling better today?" I inhale, lips pressing together as I lean into him, loving that he's this close to me so early in the morning. I'd trade in anything for mornings like these with him.

As his hand slides around to rest on my stomach, I nod my head. "Yeah. I feel better."

"Good." His lips press against my temple, offering me the kind of comfort that nobody but him can offer. "We're gonna get a win today, okay?"

I place my hand over his that splays across my stomach. "Yeah." I've already won today, that's what I think as I peer up at JJ, smiling at the boy who didn't leave my side all night despite my brother only being outside the door.

Speaking of my brother, I need to check on him.

JJ leaves my room with a final kiss to the back of my neck, moving into the bathroom. I move to get changed, and once I'm wearing clean-ish clothes── a pair of shorts and a shirt that doesn't belong to me── I open my bedroom door to find John B standing outside it, ready to knock.

He startles me, and I think I startle him.

"Hi!" I clear my throat, holding the door as I look up at my brother. "Everything okay?"

He nods, rubbing the back of his neck like he's hiding something from me. He's acting... odd, let's just say that. "A-Are you okay?" I tilt my head, still confused.

"Um..." I cross my arms over my chest. "Sure."

He huffs out a laugh, reaching his hand out to punch my arm gently. "Good."

"John B, what's going on?"

"Nothing. Can't I just check up on my little sister?" I'm two minutes younger, but he's always called me his little sister just to fuck with me. It's sometimes, if not always, annoying, but I guess the sentiment is sweet.

I step past him, closing my bedroom door behind me. "Where is everyone?"

"Pope and Kie are outside," he answers, following behind me as I step into the kitchen in search of something to eat or drink. "JJ is..." I turn around, facing him as he waits for me to fill in the blank.

"In the bathroom," I reply, watching as he nods. He's acting strange. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy." I don't believe him. Somethings going on with him. Maybe I should've checked in on him last night instead of walking off.

Before either of us can say another word, JJ steps out of the bathroom, still rubbing away the sleep from his eyes. He slaps a hand on John B's back, uttering a tired, "Morning" to him. His eyes catch onto mine for a short moment, sending me a not-so-subtle wink as he moves to join our friends outside.

I fight back the smile on my face as I turn my eyes over to the ones that resemble mine the most. He's watching me like I'm some sort of difficult math question he can't figure it out, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out what's wrong with him, but I know I don't have time for this.

"Peachy, really?"

"Yep." I narrow my eyes, trying my best to read his eyes as I'm usually good at dictating what's going on with him, but he's unreadable.

"Okay." He wants to act weird? He can act weird all he wants. I'm staying away though.

I step away, sliding my socked feet into my battered Converses as I move outside to join my friends, my eyes immediately finding a face I didn't expect to see here of all places. "Sarah!"

She smiles warmly. "Hey, Brooke."

She must be here for a reason, and now I'm a little concerned as to why she's here after all that happened last night with the ridiculous fight that broke out between Topper and John B.

Speaking of him, he joins us outside, eyes landing on his ex-girlfriend. Ex-wife?

"Shouldn't you be on Figure Eight with your little group of polo players?" I snap my head up, glaring up at him, finding that to be a childish comment, but he adds one final comment, ignoring the glares he's receiving from not only me, but from Kiara and Sarah. "Or did you break up with Topper?"

"We're just friends," she corrects, keeping her head high.

"He's just a friend." John B scoffs. "You have a lot of friends, Sarah Cameron."

"Yeah, it seems like you've got some of your own too," she bites back, and I can't hide my smile as she defends herself. I love my brother, I do, but I love Sarah too, so let me be proud of her for sticking up for herself.

"Alright, what are you doing here?" he asks, leaning back against the wall. He wants to now cut to the chase as to why Sarah is here, and let's be honest, we all want to know why she's here.

Sarah averts her attention to Pope, ignoring my brother. "I'm here for Pope." She sighs, staring right at him as she divulges a piece of information we so desperately need.

"I think I found the island room."

My lips upturn in a smile, my gaze shifting to JJ who I find is already looking at me as he mouths, "A win."

We might get a win this time.

With Sarah's direction, we drive to the Cameron estate as Sarah believes the island room has been inside the home this entire time. "The diary says the cross holds the most holy relic in all of Christendom, the Garment of the Saviour," Pope explains on the journey.

"So wait, he said there's a holy garment inside the cross?" Kiara looks over Pope's shoulder, reading off the diary pages.

"Yeah. It says the garment is capable of healing the sick from any malady."

"Mmm, yeah." JJ leans back in his seat, resting his arm around the back of my seat. "'If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well'." We each look at him with flare in our eyes, surprised by what he's just said. "What? I went to Sunday school."

"You didn't go to regular school," I utter.

"Well, that explains why Limbrey would want the cross so bad." Now we know the reason as to why she wants that key and cross so badly. "She thinks it can heal her."

"What else does it say?"

Pope glances down at the diary in his hands, beginning to read, "Many feel that we have sinned to steal such a sacred thing, and God will strike His vengeance on us."

"God did have His vengeance."

"He sent a hurricane to sink the ship," he speaks slowly, pausing for a moment. "Only Denmark survived." We nod, knowing the story well.

Pulling up to the Cameron household after so long of being separated from it is daunting. Just a couple weeks ago, I confided in this space, and I even had a room in this house that was all mine. I was beyond grateful for the support Ward supplied us with, but then he snatched away that trust I had in him.

I'm now back in the home that carries many secrets, and that anxiety comes crawling right back to the surface of my skin, ready to spill over. I need to stay calm so we can find our win.

We need this win more than anything else in the world.

"This place still freaks me out," John B admits so only I can hear him.

Sarah guides us through the house, and I pass familiar rooms I spent some time in── not a lot of time, but I technically lived on the property, so I spent my time in different rooms of this giant home as I needed to familiarise myself with this space.

My skin pricks when I pass by the bedroom that was called my own when I lived here. I feel a hand touch my back, easing the anxiety burning my skin, as we continue to walk down the hall, heading straight towards a room that is unfamiliar to me.

The inside of this unfamiliar room is a mess. Wallpaper is torn at the corners, peeling down the length of the wall and revealing something that appears to be a map underneath. My eyes skim the room, looking at the words and drawings on the wall.

"Whoa! You've got to be kidding me."

"Yeah, I know, right? It's the island room." Pope's face is covered in relief, and I'm just pleased to see it. We've finally had a breakthrough, and to see the relief on Pope's face brings a smile out of me and that anxiety begins to fade away. "It's been here this whole time."

"No freaking way," John B utters, looking around.

Pope steps forward, standing in front of the wall where a piece of wallpaper reads, "Kildare Island".

"This is a map of the whole island," I say, stepping forward to trace my finger along part of the wallpaper. It's old, and has probably been hiding for centuries, away from the eyes of everybody, but somebody has discovered it, and that somebody was not us.

Unless Sarah uncovered it?

"That's Rixon's right here." JJ steps up behind me, pointing to the location before he drags his finger towards the lighthouse. "And then, there's the lighthouse."

"Guys, look, Parcel 9 and the well." Kiara stands before another significant location in our lives, moving her finger to another spot.

"So, if that's Parcel 9, and then if that's Rixon's." John B spins, facing another part of the wall, and pointing forward at another location. "then that's gotta be the surf break at the Mase."

"Right. And look." He steps past me, pointing to handwriting scribbled on the wall. "This is Denmark's handwriting for sure."

Pope steps over to us, holding up the diary to see if the handwriting and drawings match. "The drawings, they match up."

"Holy shit."

"Denmark, you genius!" Pole smiles, wide and overjoyed, and I'm just so glad to see that he is getting a win after all the bumps and dead ends. "These are all his drawings. He painted this entire room," he exclaims, looking around.

"Yeah, question is why. What's he trying to tell us?" Kiara asks, tracing her fingers over another piece of wallpaper.

I think of the key that Limbrey was so insistent on having. "It's gotta have something to do with the key, right?"

"Yeah, but what?"

"How did you know to uncover this?" John B asks, turning to Sarah who's admiring another part of the wallpaper.

"I didn't," she says, shrugging her shoulders. "It was like this when I got home."

"Okay, then who did it?"

"I don't know."

"The freaks." We flinch, turning around to the unfamiliar voice. Wheezie. I rarely saw her when I lived here, but now she's standing here and telling us that freaks ripped down the previous wallpaper to reveal this. Somebody is one step ahead of us, and I can only guess who it is.

"What freaks are we talking about, Wheeze?" Sarah asks, stepping over to her sister.

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

"Wait. Pale blonde lady?" Wheezie nods to JJ's question. "She have crutches?" Wheezie nods again in response.

"It's gotta be Limbrey."

"Wh... what happened?"

"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 listened through the grate," Wheezie tells us, and I find it funny that she didn't want to miss out so badly that she chose to spy in on her brother. "And they were talking about getting across the sand flamingo."

"That's code. That's code for something."

"The cross," I realise. It must've been difficult to hear everything through the grate. "The Cross of Santo Domingo?"

"Yeah, that's it," she answers. "Oh, and they were talking about angels. A lot of angel talk. I don't know."

"Angels?" Pope's eyes widen. "Guys, Denmark's famous last words. He buried the real treasure at the foot of the angel. They're looking for an angel. We have to find the angel in the room."

"Start looking." I rush forward, already moving to look around. "Start looking."

"Spread out."

We split up, moving in different directions of the room. Sarah moved to the church, assuming that churches equal angels. I point at random objects on the wall, trying to figure out if the angel is hidden or out in the freaking open. Wheezie stands, watching us pace around the room in search of the angel.

"What's... what's going on? Are you guys gonna tell me?" It's pointless talking to us when we're distracted and on a mission to claim a win by finding this damn angel.

I pass by my friends, searching another area once Sarah realises that the church provides us with nothing. Kiara is struggling to find it too, unsure if it's large and prominent or tiny. Can't it just fly out at us?

"Hey, yo!" I snap my head over to JJ, moving over to join his side. "Hey, guys, I think I found something." Everybody else joins him as he continues on, "This humongous tree is still on Goat Island. You know what it's called?"

"Angel Oak." Pope replies.

"Look there." He places a finger over a tiny area on the map. "There's the keyhole."

"That means that the cross is buried at the foot of the angel," Pope says while JJ mouths the words, nodding his head. "Wow, that must be where he put it."

"That's where they are right now!" I say, pushing Pope ahead as he would want to be the one to uncover his family's secrets. "We have to go!"

"I think I'm Sherlock Holmes, alright?" I look to JJ, grinning proudly. "You're welcome by the way."

"Yeah." I smack his arm gently, very proud of him for finding the location all on his own. "Hurry up, Sherlock."

──────────────────────────

𝖶𝖤 𝖱𝖴𝖭 𝖨𝖭𝖳𝖮 𝖳𝖱𝖮𝖴𝖡𝖫𝖤 𝖶𝖧𝖨𝖫𝖲𝖳 𝖮𝖭 𝖮𝖴𝖱 𝖶𝖠𝖸 𝖳𝖮 𝖦𝖮𝖠𝖳 𝖨𝖲𝖫𝖠𝖭𝖣 𝖶𝖧𝖤𝖱𝖤 𝖠𝖭𝖦𝖤𝖫 𝖮𝖠𝖪 𝖨𝖲．We pass by Freedman's Church which is the church that Denmark built for the slaves he freed.

Anyway, back to the trouble that we've ran into.

We've come to a standstill upon discovering that the tide has come in, subsequently flooding the path we need to drive down. "Tides coming in..." It's not dangerous, not yet, but we don't have any time to waste. We need to drive through it, check out Angel Oak, and then quickly drive back before the tide worsens and the path becomes dangerous.

"Hey, wait a second. Look." Pope points forward, and I stare at the subtle tire tracks in the mud. "They already came through here. Those have to be Limbrey's tire tracks. Guys, we gotta go."

"Mmm, what do you think, chief?" JJ asks, smacking a hand on John B's shoulder.

"I'm thinking it's looking a little dicey."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with that statement."

"Okay, clearly, they made it. No?"

"In a two-wheel drive? I don't know about that."

"Why are y'all acting like you're not gonna do it anyways?" Sarah asks, looking at them knowingly. "Like when have y'all ever done the safe thing?"

"She's got a point," I say, turning my head to the boys up front who definitely want to drive down that path and risk it.

"Speed is your friend here, okay?" JJ settles back in his seat, keeping a hand steady on John B's shoulder. "So, put her down in second and hammer down, brother."

"Stick to the ground in the middle."

"Alright, ready?" We each nod, sitting back in our own seats as we prepare. "Here we go."

John B sets off, driving directly in the middle as instructed, and through the mud, dirt and water. He keeps at a steady pace, but he absolutely needs to go faster if he wants to beat the tide. "Come on, bro. Punch it." JJ squeezes his shoulder. "Speed is your friend. You're not going fast enough."

"I'm in second," John B bites back.

"It's gonna slide."

"You're fishtailing already."

"I know," John B laughs, turning the wheel slightly so he remains in the middle as we don't want to slide off the trail.

"Not to put any more pressure on you, but if you don't make it though, we'll be stuck here forever," Pope speaks up, adding more pressure to him. We absolutely do not want to be stuck here, not for any longer than we have to.

He drives forward, pushing that extra mile, bringing us right to the end of the path where I hear him finally exhale a breath. We cheer, applauding him and the Twinkie for making it through. "That's my girl."

"I told you we'd make it."

After braving the tide, it doesn't take us long to arrive at our destination. John B parks the Twinkie out of sight, behind a tree, and away from Limbrey and her crew as we don't want to be caught, but now we need to get to Angel Oak, and JJ seems to know where that is. "Angel Oak is right through here," JJ says, stepping out the van, and we each follow him as he seems to know where to go.

"Alright, so word to the wise." He turns to us as we walk forward, heading in the direction of Angel Oak. "Definitely know that gators nest back here, so keep your eyes peeled, okay? You don't wanna step on a mama gator. That's the last thing you want." Right.

"They have nests?" Kiara questions.

JJ picks up a tree branch, looking just about ready to attack. "Alright. 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," Kiara tells himself, but JJ obviously doesn't believe that. "Pat Womack was injured in a car accident, but I hear you."

"Okay, just live in ignorance. But like, she had her calf chewed off by a mama gator." See what I mean? He believes what he wants to believe. "I know that for a fact. They like the brackish water." JJ crouches down beside the water, and using the long piece of tree, he hits the water awfully hard.

"What the hell was that?" I snap, trying to pull the stupid piece of branch from him before he draws attention to us.

"Waking them up is smart," Sarah utters under her breath.

"I was just making sure it wasn't a gator. That's all, alright?" He looks at me, a smile tugging at his lips, but I do not find him to be amusing. "Don't want you to be eaten, Sunny."

I roll my eyes, scoffing despite my heart doing a flip at the ridiculous notion of him protecting me from a gator that absolutely doesn't exist. To hide the red creeping up my face, I push JJ ahead, insisting that he lead the way. Sarah and John B fall behind us with Pope and Kiara behind them.

We eventually rejoin as a group when we hear faint conversation up ahead as we come to crouch behind a bush that hides us away from Limbrey and her crew. We stare forward at the scene, watching as a digger brings up the soil below the tree. Gee, they've really come prepared.

Other people are shovelling at the soil, one of those people included Rafe. Limbrey was leaning against the car, watching as they dug and fought to find whatever they needed to find underneath the dirt.

"I don't see shit. You sure this is the right spot." I bite down on my bottom lip, staring forward at Rafe. Seeing him brings me right back to the other night where the reminder of him grabbing me is painted on my wrists for all to see.

I rub the bruises on my wrists that are covered by my shirt. In the corner of my eye, JJ peers over at me as he is the only one that knows the truth.

He shouldn't be out of jail, but after Ward died and left a video admitting to killing Peterkin, Rafe was released despite everybody knowing that he was the one who killed the Sheriff. He shouldn't be here, but of course he gets to be.

"It's there," Limbrey speaks, her voice soft. "The garment will be in the cross, and the cross will be at the foot of the tree."

"Well, whatever we find, I get my cut." It's always about money when he's involved.

We continue to watch, hoping that they don't find anything. Limbrey's assistant, or whatever he is, collects a chair from the trunk of the car to pass off to her so she can sit down. That's... kind, I guess, but I still don't like the bastard.

Limbrey sits herself down just by the tree to get a closer look as her crew continue to dig at the ground in search of the cross. She rants about miracles and how she wants to be healed, but I barely pay her any mind as I can't seem to take my eyes off the men digging, growing anxious with every passing minute as I wait for them to find the one thing we need.

"Hey! Wait!" Limbrey snatches her crutches, lifting herself up from her chair. "Stop! Stop. Please stop." She forces herself forward. "Did you hear it? Hey, get in there, boys. Do it by hand," she demands, looking down at the ground, but we can't see what she's found just yet until they reveal it.

We sit up in anticipation, not knowing else Limbrey was saying as she speaks so quietly, so we just wait to see what's been found.

A casket is lifted from the ground, and if that's the cross, then it's so much smaller than I thought it was. Would Denmark have buried the cross in that casket? If so, why?

"They got the cross." I don't believe they have, but maybe I'm mistaken. "What do we do?"

"What can we do?"

Rafe opens up the casket and, based on the looks on their faces, absolutely nothing of worth is revealed. They look disappointed, defeated in a way, so I can only assume that the cross is not in that casket.

I didn't think it would.

"It's just a corpse," I hear Rafe say because, unlike Limbrey, he speaks loudly.

"We must have missed something," Limbrey says, leaning back against the tree.

"Of course. Of course, yeah." Rafe blows out a frustrated puff of air. "Of course it's just a dead body. Jesus!" I flinch at the raise in his voice, caught off guard. I hate that he's made me feel afraid of him after the other night.

"We just got the wrong place. We'll go back to the island room. We're going back!" Limbrey yells to a distressed Rafe. "We're going back! It's not over!"

Once Limbrey, Rafe and their crew have left the area, and the coast was clear, we step out of our hiding space. Pope bolts forward, rushing to the casket. We follow after him. We then come to a stop in front of the casket to find bones which, obviously, isn't unsurprising as it's a casket.

Pope crouches down in front of the casket, reading the inscription to find out who it is, but I think part of us already knows.

"Cecilia Tanny, Denmark's wife." Pope looks up from the casket to the tree before us, slowly rising back to his feet. "He wasn't talking about the cross. He buried her at the foot of the angel."

"The true treasure," I say, surprising emotion in my voice as I find that to be devastatingly beautiful.

"His wife."

Pope falls back down beside the casket, tears glistening in his eyes as he stares at his late ancestor who has been dug up. Just like Pope, I feel overwhelmed as I stare down at the casket, feeling this great sadness for this poor woman who likely suffered so much before she died. Once upon a time, she was a woman who meant so much to another man that she considered to be his treasure.

I want to be loved in that same way── to be loved so heavily and strongly that I'm thought of as a treasure in their eyes.

I want the kind of love Denmark had for Cecilia.

We crouch down, joining Pope on the ground. "Denmark was hung for burying his wife," Pope says, emotion carrying in his voice. This must be difficult for him given that this woman is his ancestor. "And now they defiled her grave." Pope reaches a hand into the casket, pulling out some kind of pin she must've worn. Pope drags his finger across the dirt and dust covering the pin, reading the name, Cecilia.

I lean forward, my eyes catching onto a small gold circle. I pick it up, examining it in my fingers as I realise what it is. "This must have been from Denmark," I say, pressing my lips together to try and push away the emotion. "Her wedding ring."

I don't know why I do it. Maybe I can't help myself. Perhaps somewhere deep within me, I want to know if he's looking at me too. I cast a glance over at JJ who is sitting opposite me, and our eyes meet── blue clashing with brown. Often, I can sense what he's thinking through his eyes, but all I know is that he's trying to figure out what I am saying with mine.

I don't know what I'm saying. I don't know why I looked at him in the same way John B and Sarah did as I passed the wedding ring off to Sarah.

I'm brought out of JJ's eyes when Pope speaks up. "We can't leave her like this."

"We won't," John B promises.

We work together to place Cecilia back where she rightfully belongs. Before throwing soil and dirt back over the casket that is now closed, we collect flowers from nearby bushes, placing them down and on top of the casket.

We then take it in turns, throwing the soil back down into the six foot hole and covering her casket, letting her rest once again. We let her rest because she deserves to after being defiled in such a way by a bunch of rich folk who don't know the true meaning of this.

Denmark buried his true treasure here, probably never imagining that she'd be dug up and forgotten about.

Don't worry, Denmark, she's okay now.

"I just don't get it," Pope says once the casket is covered. "I mean, you guys saw the map. He hides his gold so no one finds it for a hundred and seventy 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, and Denmark wanted to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot. It just feels like──"

"Like we missed something?" We direct our attention over to JJ, watching as he looks up at the tree. "Guys. Come here." With our experience of climbing trees, specifically the one outside the Chateau, JJ and I are able to get up and onto the branch. "That looks like—"

"The painting in the island room," I say, staring at a dark hole in the side of the tree that Limbrey and her crew luckily didn't discover.

"It's worth a shot, right?"

"Let's do it."

JJ steps back, hand on my shoulder. "Go for it." He pushes me lightly, urging me to be the one to stick my arm into a mysterious hole. He's the one who found it, so he should be the one to search the damn thing.

"No chance," I scoff, shoving him forward.

"You do it!" Sarah yells to him.

"Sorry. I... I went in the storm drain so..." And I nearly died in that drain, thank you very much

"She did go in the storm drain," Pope defends.

"Yeah." He nods, pushing up the sleeve of his jacket. "No, I'm gonna do it. It's just..." He looks back to the hole, obviously afraid of what's in store for him once he shoves his arm in. God knows what's in there, and I'm glad I don't have to find out.

"He's scared," I whisper to everyone down below.

"I'm not scared, Sunny."

I raise a brow, grinning. "You seem scared," I toy, placing a hand on his arm. "Come on, J."

He steps forward, shaking his entire body in an attempt to psych himself up. Slowly, he pushes his arm forward, beginning to check inside the hole that's carved into the tree. I watch carefully, staying close behind him in case I need to pull him back.

"There's something in here," he says, pushing himself closer in the hopes of reaching that something, whatever it is. "Wait..." Just when I think he's found it, he bursts into a fit of screams, his body falling into the tree like he's being pulled from the inside. Panicked, I charge forward, hands grasping his waist.

I pull on him as he screams, trying to break free from whatever has a hold on him. Dammit. I pushed him to check it out, and now he's about to have his hand swallowed by a──

JJ begins to laugh, and I pause, glaring right at him as he laughs at each of us and our panicked faces. "Oh, you bastard!"

"Oh, man! I got all of you on that one." None of us are amused, but at least he is. He finds himself too funny, I swear.

"Oh, yeah, real original." Sighing, I step away from him. If he does end up getting his arm bitten off, I won't be helping him.

"Wait, but seriously there's something in here." He begins to pull his arm out, a metal canister in his hand as he breaks free from the tree.

"Let me see it." JJ chucks the object down to Pope before we follow pursuit, joining his side as he looks at the object.

"HMS Royal Merchant," he reads.

"Give it to the captain." Taking the canister from Pope, John B opens it and finds there to be something we're all familiar with. "It's a spyglass." He lifts it, peering through the glass.

"There's something on the ends."

"An inscription right there. Look at that shit."

"What does it say?"

Pope squints his eyes, attempting to read the inscription that reads, "You've come this far, do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's altar." Pope pauses, looking at each of us. "Freedman's alter. The cross is at the church!"

"What are we doing here, guys?"

"Come on! We got it!"

Another win. We've got another win.

"Woogity-woogity."

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❀ soph speaks

meh,, rlly lazy writing this one i won't lie

thanks for reading :)