𝟎𝟔𝟕.                           𝐨𝐡, 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞

what was i made for? ──── billie eilish

☀︎ 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

𝖨'𝖬 𝖲𝖨𝖳𝖳𝖨𝖭𝖦 𝖨𝖭 𝖥𝖱𝖮𝖭𝖳 𝖮𝖥 𝖬𝖸 𝖡𝖱𝖮𝖳𝖧𝖤𝖱 𝖠𝖭𝖣 𝖥𝖠𝖳𝖧𝖤𝖱，𝖳𝖱𝖸𝖨𝖭𝖦 𝖳𝖮 𝖥𝖨𝖦𝖴𝖱𝖤 𝖳𝖧𝖤𝖬 𝖮𝖴𝖳．Being a Routledge comes with its benefits, and one of those benefits is being able to tell when somebody is lying, especially when that somebody is my damn family.

JJ and I stopped by the Chateau this morning as I needed clothes, not that he was bothered about me wearing clothes, of course. Wearing his clothes is fun, don't get me wrong, but I desperately needed underwear. Although, imagine my surprise when I found my dad and John B at the Chateau.

The moment I saw them, all those emotions I let out last night resurfaced. I didn't have a single thing to say as I watched JJ walk right up to my dad and hug him. I'm glad they finally got to see one another, and I'm even more glad that each of my friends got the chance to see Dad, but I still felt this raging anxiety within.

Everybody has reunited with my father, and now that the happy moment of bliss has passed, I'm sitting here across from Dad and John B, trying to read them. Actually, more specifically, I'm trying to read him── my dear twin brother. If there's anyone I can get through to, it's him. He won't look at me, and that can only mean one thing.

He is hiding something.

Pope is telling Dad and John B about the cross and, well, lack of cross as we lost it once again. I'm continuing to stare at my brother, hoping he'll catch me staring at him. Instead, he's just remaining silent, looking anywhere but at me, and listening to Pope talk on and on about our devastating loss.

JJ keeps nudging me throughout the talk, checking in on me, but I just smile at him, insisting that I'm fine.

My breakdown last night was a little embarrassing, especially since it was uncalled for given that I have scared him in the past. I fell unconscious from a blunt end of a machete and fell off the side of a ship into water, so I guess we're even now, right?

Regardless, I appreciated JJ being there last night. I loved having him beside me, and I loved waking up to his arms cuddled around me even more. Following the simple kiss he offered me this morning, he laid upon me and kissed all the way down my body, making both of us forget all about the crash he had last night.

Now I wish we had just stayed in bed, wrapped up in each other. I was happier there. Now I'm just... agitated, but ready to confront my brother and father after they basically abandoned me when I told them I wanted to help in whatever they wanted to do.

I'm brought back to the conversation when my brother speaks. "Yeah, yeah, so we, um..." He still won't look at me── the guilty bastard. He's hiding something and I'm guessing it's big. "We went to the archives in Charleston, and, uh... it was... it was a dead end. A dry hole, so..."

I call bullshit.

My dad and brother share a look── a subtle one that nobody seems to notice but me. They're lying, both of them. Dad insisted that John B lie to his friends, to his wife, and to me, his sister. Seriously? Who does he think he is?

"So, that's the gold..." Pope sighs, ticking our losses off on his fingers. "...the cross, and now El Dorado." No, I don't think El Dorado is a loss, not yet anyway. "We're three-for-three, guys. The streak continues."

Pope is the first to walk off in a huff, and I can't say I blame him. I'd walk off too, but I have a bone to pick with my so-called family, so I'll be staying put until the anxiety in my chest clears and I get the answers I deserve.

"See you, John B," Kiara says, stepping away and following after Pope to check in on him.

JJ is next to push out of his chair. "I'm going fishing," he states. "Thanks for the beer." He scrunches the beer can up, placing it down on his disregarded chair before he leans down at my side. "You wanna come with?"

I peer up at him, head shaking gently. "I'll catch you later, okay?"

He shoots a look at my father, his jaw hard like he knows something too. I mean, he does know my father and John B pretty damn well, so he's probably one of the only other people who can tell when they're being shady.

He looks back to me. "Okay." He leans in, pushing his lips to mine briefly. "Be safe, alright?"

When he steps away, a small part of me wants to just follow him because I know I'll be safe as long as I'm with him. However, a larger part of me chooses to stay put, knowing I won't rest until I get some answers from the men I call my family.

John B steps away, and with a look to me, Sarah moves to talk to my brother. She obviously doesn't trust this either, and hopefully she can knock some sense into my brother before I do some real knocking of my own. Although, for Dad, I fear John B will do everything possible to push those closest away, including me, but I won't give him the chance.

I stay put, staring ahead at my father. He isn't looking at me, probably knowing that I have it all figured out too. I am a Routledge after all. I know shit, thank you.

He's clutching his backpack a little too tightly, and that only makes me want to rip it from him and check what he's hiding. I want to know what he's roped my brother into. I want to know why he's got my brother lying to me.

"Will you be leaving?" Dad asks, and I realise he's now looking over at me instead of at John B and Sarah who are talking by the tree JJ and I claimed as our own which has John B's name carved into it.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

He rears his head back like I smacked him. Huh. Thought he was the only one who did that. "Not now, Brooke," is what he says which is a classic John Routledge response.

"Oh, not now." I shake my head, hating to hear those words again. "If not now, then when?"

He lifts himself up from the hammock he's been laying on for the past half an hour while talking with my friends. He doesn't answer me, not that I expected him too. He's great at avoiding difficult conversations, especially when those difficult conversations involve me── his persistent daughter.

I stand up too, quickly moving towards Dad because I refuse to just stand on the sidelines again when I am just as much apart of this family as he is. "Why are you getting my brother to lie to me?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

Dad plays dumb, of course. "What's he lying about?"

Dad pulls the backpack onto his shoulder, and I watch carefully, trying to figure a way to pull it right off him and check what he and John B are hiding. "You're hiding something, both of you. You're making John B lie to me."

"I'm not making John B do anything, B."

I hate when he calls me B. He knows I hate when he calls me that, but he does it anyway just to annoy me. John B is the only one who calls me it, and that's how it's always been. I know Dad is only trying to agitate me so I back off and leave my brother with him, but I refuse to do that this time. No, I'll be the annoying gnat following his every move from now on.

"He's lying to me," I continue, getting closer to him just so he can hear the frustration in my tone. "My brother doesn't lie to me, so what the hell do you have him doing? Why──"

"What is going on?"

We turn our heads, finding John B to be watching us. Sarah is no longer with him so I suspect she's stormed off, likely pissed at John B too. See, as I suspected... He's doing his best to keep everybody at arm's length just to protect Dad.

"You two are lying," I say simply.

John B sighs, dragging a hand through his hair. "B, we're not. Look──"

"No," I snap, looking directly at my brother so he hears me as I talk. "Look, I get it, you wanna be on daddy's good side. Whatever, I don't care, but you don't lie to me, John B. In case you haven't noticed, I am apart of this family too. Routledge is my last name, is it not? So I'm sorry, but father and son time is over because you two aren't leaving until you explain to me what the hell is going on."

When neither of them speak, I can't help but laugh. I love my brother, don't get me wrong, but the loyalty he has towards Dad is sick, it always has been. I'm loyal, I am, but only when the people I'm loyal towards share the same loyalty towards me. Dad can act like he'd protect me with his life, but I know if it came down to me or the gold, he'd sadly pick the treasure.

I realised that a long time ago when we fought and fought and fought without John B present, and while it broke my heart then, I was willing to forgive and forget all about it.

Now I can't forgive and forget, not when I'm afraid of what will happen to my brother if our father gets a taste of victory after all these years of searching.

"You know, I always knew you had a favourite, Dad, but this..." I keep laughing, stepping away as I do so. "God, at least pretend you don't, alright?"

John B steps forward, going to reach me but I step further back, staring up at what I thought was a reflection of me, but I don't recognise this person staring back at me. "B, come on. Don't."

"What? You afraid I'll find out what you two have been up to?" I shift my focus from John B to Dad who looks just about ready to hit me and shove me away. He's afraid I'll get in the way which, if I'm being honest, I plan on doing.

I meet my brother's gaze again. "I'm coming with you. Wherever you're going, you're taking me with you, do you understand?"

"Brooke──"

"I'm coming with you," I bite out, turning around and storming towards the Twinkie. I slot myself into the passenger seat, not being a backseat passenger in this for another second.

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𝖠𝖲 𝖠 𝖫𝖨𝖳𝖳𝖫𝖤 𝖦𝖨𝖱𝖫，𝖨 𝖮𝖥𝖳𝖤𝖭 𝖶𝖮𝖭𝖣𝖤𝖱𝖤𝖣 𝖨𝖥 𝖬𝖸 𝖬𝖮𝖳𝖧𝖤𝖱 𝖶𝖮𝖴𝖫𝖣 𝖤𝖵𝖤𝖱 𝖢𝖮𝖬𝖤 𝖡𝖠𝖢𝖪．Some sick, desperate part of me clung onto the idea of having a mother. I think I wanted a mother because Dad had John B and I had... no one but myself, and it sucked. A lot.

I've clung onto a lot of people over the years like my brother and JJ and Kiara, but I've never had a parent to cling onto so I always wondered what it would be like to do that. Would life had been different if I had a mother? Probably. Why did she leave? Was it because of Dad? Why didn't she take John B and me with her? Did she want to?

As you can see, I have a lot of unanswered, complicated questions about my mother. Although, can you blame me when I've been stuck with a man who can barely share a sentence with me anymore?

He was much different when I was a kid, but the moment I hit my teen years, whatever kind of relationship we had formed changed almost overnight. Our relationship cracked, and the seams have been ripping apart for years.

I'm unsure if we can stitch those seams back together now. Things feel too broken between us, too difficult to mend.

Instead of talking about everything and trying to work through the tension, we're stewing in silence in the Twinkie. John B sits in the back, and I can feel his eyes burning a hole in my back as he stares at me. That statue── that giant heavy rock that leads to El Dorado── sits in between me and Dad. Last time I saw it, it was split in half, but now the thing is built, a new piece joined onto it.

I guess they found the other half in Charleston.

Now, they didn't explicitly tell me that as they haven't said a word to me, but I can figure shit out on my own. I knew they were lying, I just don't understand why they were lying about finding the other half of the statue. It doesn't make much sense to me.

I clear my throat, the silence bugging me. "Where are we going?" I ask, glancing at Dad as he drives on.

"An old bud of mine from grad school," he answers. "Her name's Kelly Kepler. We took a trip down to Chichén Itzá to the pyramids, camped out, got shit-faced. She went crazy for all things Mayan once she saw the glyphs on the ball court, and maybe she can translate."

This statue sitting between us is covered is hieroglyphics which we need help in reading as this is the thing that'll lead us to the big treasure── El Dorado. How exciting.

We arrive at Kelly Kepler's home only to find that there are a bunch of people, including her husband, taking out piece of furniture after piece of furniture from the house. Now they're either moving this stuff out because they're leaving town or── and I hate to be the bearer of bad news──she's dead.

In this line of business, the safest option to assume is that she's dead.

"Hey, Eric, it's John Routledge," Dad says once he's out of the van, the backpack on his shoulder.

Everyone knows who Dad is, for good or bad reasons, I don't know, but everybody knows of him. Also, he's been on the news lately as his return has been a thing of wonder in this town.

"Y'all are moving? Where's Dr. Kepler?"

Eric, her husband, is sitting on the steps of their home and he looks visibly upset. I suspect I was correct. "Dad, we should probably leave."

We don't leave. Dad never does leave well enough alone when people are obviously not in the mood to discuss their hardships, so we find ourselves sitting just around the back of the house while Dad scrolls through an article on Eric's phone about the death of his friend, Kelly Kepler.

"Oh, my God. I'm so sorry." I stand beside my brother, watching Dad read the article. "How'd she pass?"

"Does the article not tell you?" I feel a glare from John B, but it's just a freaking question. He's sitting right there, reading an article about her death so I can only assume that it tells him how she passed. Whatever.

Nonetheless, Eric clarifies. "A heart attack," he says. "Out of nowhere." He sits down across from Dad, shaking his head. "I just can't stay here. It's too many memories."

Dad exhales loudly. "That's tragic. So sorry to hear that."

"Nothing could kill Kepler," Eric continues, growing more upset as he talks about his deceased wife, and I hate that we're forcing him to talk about all this. "She'd just gotten back from an expedition, made a major new discovery."

Dad's ears practically perk in interest, and I refrain from rolling my eyes. "What was that?"

"A ruin in the jungle," Eric replies. "South America somewhere." Dad shifts his gaze from Eric to us as we stand behind him. I don't know what he's talking about, not in the slightest, but I'm guessing wherever Dr. Kepler was is significant. Is El Dorado located there?

Dad glances back at Eric. "Do you know where exactly?"

"No, she wouldn't tell me." His head drops. "The members of the expedition swore to keep their location secret until they could publish," Eric states, wiping at the tears in his eyes.

"Could you give me any information?" I sigh, loud enough for John B to hear as this is ridiculous. The poor man is clearly upset and probably doesn't need Dad drilling into him. Dad needs to take a hint. "When they left, who she was with?"

"Yeah." Eric nods, going along with it, satisfying him. "The head of the expedition, Professor Sowell. He lives nearby, not far from here."

Based off the look Dad has on his face, I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say he knows who this Professor Sowell is, and the moment we leave Eric, John B realises the same thing. "I'm assuming you know this Sowell guy. You know everybody on Kildare, right?"

"He was my mentor," Dad tells, walking us back to the Twinkie. "He got me started on El Dorado." So this man we're about to go meet is to blame for my dad's obsession? Great. I can't wait to meet him.

"Oh, perfect." If looks could kill, I'd be a pile of ash on the floor because of John B.

"Maybe he can help us decipher this thing?"

"There's a reason I didn't go to him first," Dad says, stepping up to the driver's side. "Let's just say he wasn't real happy when I left the program."

Well, I don't like the sound of that, almost as much as I don't like that John B is taking back the passenger seat. Such a child. He'd always call shotgun when we were kids, and now he's doing it again even though I should be allowed to sit up front as, speaking from experience, being in the backseat means being forgotten.

The drive to Professor Sowell's isn't long, but stuck in the Twinkie with Dad and John B is enough to have me wanting to pull my hair out. My anxiety is running high, likely because of my proximity to Dad, but I don't let it be shown. Well, I do my best to not let it be shown. It's hard to hide my anxiety entirely, especially my anxiety causes me to disassociate from any conversation.

I only know that I'm disassociating right now as John B is practically shaking me. That brings me out of my head, but my chest still remains tight and my skin still pricks. JJ is the only person, I think, that can truly bring me out of my head and out of my disassociation, but he isn't here. God, I wish he was.

I glance at John B. "We're here, B."

"Hmm." I can see the concern in his face, but I do my best to ignore it as I bring myself out of the Twinkie now that Dad has parked outside Professor Sowell's house. "What does this guy have against you?" I ask Dad, sucking in a sharp breath to try and ease some tension in my chest.

"Nothing," he replies bluntly, making it not seem like nothing. "Except I refused to be a cog in a corrupt academic system."

I cast a glance at John B. "Right. So you, what? Wised up, went out into the world, and stuck it to the Man by slowly starving yourself?"

We begin to walk towards the field dotted in many plants. Geez, this guy must like gardening, but I do see that many plants are dying. "Hey, we may strike it big yet, wise ass," Dad jabs at John B. "We got the idol, don't we?"

"And how did y'all get that?" I ask, keeping my voice chipper despite the bubbling anger low in my throat.

Dad shoots me a glance but doesn't acknowledge my question, not that I expected him to. "Sowell here is the foremost expert on pre-Columbian glyphs in at least three states." Dad observes the lawn that's covered in sad, decaying plants. "Shit. He was a real stickler about everything, especially his lawn."

"Lawn freak. Cool." John B nods firmly. "So weird you guys didn't get along."

We step up the porch steps that lead to Sowell's front door but Dad walks with such caution like he's afraid somebody will jump out and attack him. Hm, maybe somebody will. I lean back against the fence, watching as Dad steps to the front door, knocking several times.

He's impatient, so impatient that he can't just accept that Sowell might not be in, so he instead moves towards the window. "Hey, Dad, why don't we come back when he's actually here?"

I press my lips together, watching Dad grasp the window. "It's alright," Dad insists, impatient. "Look at this place. Something ain't right." Maybe he just didn't feel like watering his plants. I mean, who actually finds solace in gardening unless you're, like, I don't know, retired? "He could be in trouble. We should check."

Dad is pushing up the window of Sowell's house, and I just accept that we are breaking into somebody's home. "Remember the last time we started poking around other people's houses?" Of course they've broken into people's homes without me. I should've known.

Dad will do just about anything for a taste of the treasure.

"Vaguely," Dad replies bluntly.

"Vaguely, yeah." John B leans back against the fence with me, and we watch as Dad pulls himself through the window, breaking into Sowell's house. "This is great."

"I'm so glad I'm here, aiding and abetting."

I'm so proud to be apart of this family.

John B sighs, crossing his arms over his chest. "You didn't have to be here, B."

"I wasn't going to leave you alone with──"

"What do you think is going to happen to me?" John B snaps, cutting me off. "Seriously, tell me what you think is going to──"

"You know what I think is going to happen," I interrupt, voice as firm as his.

"No, I don't. Tell m──" The door to Sowell's home flies open, revealing our dad because, of course, Sowell isn't actually the one inviting us in. No, we're just breaking in like criminals. If I was to get caught here, breaking into somebody's home, I'd absolutely be thrown in prison given that I already have a fine of ten thousand dollars hanging over my head. Great.

"Only way out is through, kids. Come on. Straight in till we hit pay dirt." Whatever that means.

I step forward first, going inside the house. John B follows, and I suspect he's wishing I wasn't here right now, getting involved in something that could very well be dangerous. Well, sorry, bro. You don't get to tell me what to do.

"Tommy, you in here?" I swat a fly away that comes close to me. This place stinks, likely because of the never ending pile of dirty dishes and garbage lying about the kitchen. There's a rancid amount of flies buzzing near my head. Ew! "Hello? Anybody home?"

Somebody was definitely home at some point. This place is worse than the Chateau, so much worse. "This is strange..." I run my finger across one of the cabinets, dust coating my forefinger. "Sowell would never keep his place like this."

Nobody should ever keep their place like this.

"Kids." I turn away from the dusty cabinet, looking over my shoulder at Dad who is walking in a different direction. "Check back there." He points to a door that I assume leads to another room or a closet.

Following his orders, like the good children that we are, I step up to the door at the furthest end of the house. "Wait." My hand is pulled from the handle. "Careful, B. Let me do it."

Overprotective ass.

I scoff. "What?" I look up at John B who gives me a nudge so he can step up to the door. "I'm more than capable of opening a door, John B. What? Are you afraid somethings gonna──"

"Shut up." I sigh, stepping back and standing behind him as he goes to pull on the handle of the door rather than me.

However, the moment he tugs, I'm beyond grateful that he insisted on opening the door because a man comes barrelling out of the tiny space behind the door, wearing some crazy concoction on his head. He screams, grasping my brother's shirt and shoving him back into me.

John B pushes himself forward, knocking the man down onto the sofa. "Whoa! Chill." The minute the man is defenceless, we find him to be wearing a uniform with a name tag that reads, Sowell.

"What the hell?" Dad comes racing back into the room after hearing the screams. "Hey! What the hell's going on?"

Dad stops by the sofa, peering down at his old mentor. "Tommy?" The man── Tommy── lifts himself up from the sofa, getting a better look at my dad. "Tommy. It's me, Johnny Routledge. I'm your student. Remember?"

His eyes squint while he looks my father up and down, obviously confused. "Routledge is dead."

"I'm not dead," Dad splutters out, chuckling. "Look, here I am in the flesh. Big John, your greatest failure, remember? Youthful promised squandered, brilliant beginnings ending in disaster, et cetera."

"Oh yeah." Tommy nods along. "In Mexico. On the Mayan dig. How could I forget?" He removes the large hat upon his head, placing it down. With a tug on my arm, John B manoeuvres us to stand beside Dad. "We had mechanical..." Tommy continues. "You abandoned us."

I huff out a laugh. "He's good at that." The glare I earn from both my brother and father gives me all the pride and satisfaction I could ever want.

Come on. The opening was right there.

"Abandoned is a strong word," Dad insists, moving on from my inappropriate comment that Tommy looks to be questioning in his head. "My CB radio went out. There was complications and unexpected potholes."

"Yeah, now it's all coming back to me." Tommy sighs loudly, pulling himself off the sofa. "The excuses," he spits out, and I gotta say, I like this guy. "You are Routledge."

"Yes." Dad huffs, not wishing to discuss his strained mentor-mentee partnership any longer. He instead places a hand upon John B's shoulder. "This... this is my son, John B, and my, uh, my..." He peers at me while I do my best to fake something of a smile. "...my daughter, Brooklyn."

Took him a while to get that one out, huh?

"It's rare that he admits it," I comment, earning an elbow in the stomach courtesy of John B.

Dad clears his throat, refocusing back on his friend rather than me── his annoying as fuck daughter. "What's with, uh, the get-up, Tommy? You expecting the Sun God?"

"I thought someone was breaking in." He sighs, turning away from us. "I had to protect myself somehow." He seems to be panicking. Can't say I blame him after we just rudely barged in here. "Divert and attack, it worked for the Mayans. Sorry about the... big entrance. I thought you were someone else."

Who did he think we were?

Later on, and with not much convincing from my very persuasive father, Tommy decides to let us sit with him. He makes us tea── something I've never actually drank, but I don't decline the offer. My throat feels awfully scratchy, so I'll drink just about anything, even... flavoured hot water.

I don't get the fascination with tea, let's just say that.

We're sitting at his table, keeping a close eye on him as he seems to be cautious even though he knows we aren't here to harm him. We were never here to harm him. He's definitely had a rough couple of weeks based off how he's interacting with us, and while I'm not one to pry, my father certainly is.

"You seem a little jumpy there, doc."

"You'd be jumpy too if you were me." He takes a seat across from us, his teacup shaking in his hand. "I took a trip last year, uh, in the mountains of Venezuela."

"The Orinoco River Basin," John B speaks, quietly but loud enough for each of us to hear.

"That's right."

"Solana, the site of the signpost?"

I peer from Dad to John B, not all that surprised that I know next to nothing about any of this. I wasn't involved, not for most of their "adventure", if you will. I was only there when we collected the first half of that rock sitting in Dad's backpack, and I was only there out of coincidence. I shouldn't have even be there, let's be honest.

Tommy looks at John B, a curious look in his gaze. "You told him?"

Dad nods, keeping his eyes on Tommy. "Where is that site exactly?"

"There were five of us who found this site," Tommy tells us, a slight jitter in his voice as his nervousness doesn't settle. "Since we've been back, three have died. Just two of us are left."

"We were just at Kepler's," Dad mutters.

"They said it was a heart attack. She ran triathlons. Give me a break," he bites out, looking at each of us. "We are being targeted to silence us. You three should just go for your own sake."

"Yeah, well, we heard about this. It's kind of the reason we're here," Dad tells, reaching for his backpack, and as if Tommy already knows what the bag holds, he stands up abruptly, his head shaking.

"No. No. I don't wanna see whatever's in there."

"Oh, yeah, I think you do," John B replies. "So why don't you just take a second and look at it." John B stands up, leaving my side to join Dad's, and I watch him sit down beside him as Dad begins to unravel the statue.

"Come on, Tommy. You remember why I ended up abandoning the PhD. The Review Committee accused me of being obsessed with suspect conspiracy theories about El Dorado." As somebody who has accused my father of being obsessed with such things, I can understand. "Well, they're not so suspect now. Even my harshest critic is won over."

He nods his head in John B's direction, indicating that my brother is his harshest critic, but he clearly hasn't met me, and John B knows for a fact that he isn't the harshest critic of Dad's. "Yeah, I don't think I'm the harshest, Dad."

Dad huffs out a laugh, glancing at me as I sit away from the table, not all that fussed about any of this, I'm just here for John B, and Dad knows that. "Still gotta win Brookie over, but..." Nothing could win me over, thank you. Nothing.

Dad lifts the statue from his bag. "We found this."

He places it on the table, allowing Tommy to take a closer look. Tommy gasps. "That's the Gnomon of Solana."

"Hey, you said it. I didn't."

"I thought it was destroyed," Tommy says, looking the statue up and down in all its... glory, I guess. Not sure if I wanna call it glory. It's just a rock with a lot of glyphs carved into it. Nothing interesting.

"No," Dad corrects. "Split in half, separated, not destroyed. Now whole again."

"This is incredible." Sure. He's clearly never seen many incredible things in his life if he thinks that rock can be placed under that definition.

He traces his finger across the statue, truly amazed by such a little thing. "You found it," he exhales, looking at Dad. "This is the missing piece." He chuckles, astound.

"We just need to find out where to put it." Dad and John B share a glance, and if I could, I'd insert myself right into the middle of it as I'm sick of them sharing these know-it-all glances.

Dad shifts his gaze back to Tommy. "I think you know."

"Professor, you called it the Gnomon of Solana. What, uh... what is a gnomon?" John B asks.

"It's a stick that casts a shadow, like the spike of a sundial," Dad informs. "The shadow gives lots of information, the time or day, the time of month."

"Legend has it that if it's put in its proper place and viewed at exactly the right time, it can give a clue or directions to..." Tommy and Dad share a glance. "El Dorado," they say in unison.

John B inhales. "Okay."

Looking at the gnomon, Tommy begins to read through the glyphs. We watch as he mutters under his breath, reading in a language I could never begin to understand. He then reverts back to English when he speaks to Dad. "John, you need to walk away from this." Dad furrows his eyebrows, confused. In fact, each of us are confused as to why he's suddenly changing his opinion on this. "I know that I sparked an interest in this subject in you and Kepler, but look what it got us. There are forces here."

Well, it seems like he cares about our safety. Dad, on the other hand, just wants the information from the gnomon. "I just need to know where Solana is and what the glyphs say. Then we'll be on our way."

"You don't understand," Tommy speaks, harsher this time. He looks back to the statue, beginning to read in a language I don't know, and Dad starts to grow frustrated with him.

"What's it say, Tommy?" Ignoring Dad, Tommy continues to read through the glyphs. "You know what they say, you're reading them." He still ignores him, and Dad loses it, of course. "Hey! What's it say? Don't hold out on me!"

He lunges off his seat, grabbing Tommy by his collar and pressing him into the nearest wall. John B and I are on our feet, rushing to stop Dad from being more irrational than he is right now. "Just sit down," I insist, pulling him back and shoving him down as hard as I can into his chair. "Let him do his job." Not that this is his job.

Tommy steps away, retrieving a piece of paper before showing it to us. "Okay, so here's the Solana site and the temalacatl." We look to where he points, following his diagram of what we have to do. "You need to put the gnomon here. It asks a question."

Dad hums, nodding along. "Uh-huh."

"The gnomon──" Tommy exhales, dropping the sheet from his hands as he stumbles slightly. He groans, seeming like he's in pain, but how is that possible? He was fine a second ago.

"The gnomon..." Dad looks up at him, trying to figure out what's wrong with him. "The gnomon what, Tommy?" I take a step back, eyes wide as I watch Tommy pull a dart out from the side of his neck. Oh, shit.

"What is that?" I ask, slightly panicked.

"Kalinago," Tommy chokes out, holding the dart in his hand before he begins to fall forward.

"Get down!" Dad pushes John B down immediately, and with a tug on my arm from John B, I'm pulled down beside him. "Go, go!" Pushed ahead of my brother, I drag myself across the hardwood floor, moving towards the closet that Tommy jumped out of earlier.

I hear Tommy hitting the table as the effect of the dart works its horrifying magic, but I'm already hiding, burying myself in the corner of the closet. John B crawls himself in beside me, hitting next to me. Seconds later, Dad is moving into the closet, pulling the door behind him.

The door remains cracked open so we can just make out the figures that walk into the small house.

My anxiety flares, of course, at the worst possible time, and I reach out to grasp my brother's arm, needing to keep myself balanced. I hold my breath, afraid that my breathing is too heavy and can be heard from the tiny opening in the door.

"Stay silent. stay still. Okay, kids?" We nod frantically, hearing Dad, but I swear my heart hammers harder than his words.

The floor creaks as two men pass by our door, heading straight for what I assume is the gnomon that Tommy landed upon. "Shh," I hear Dad say, but I'm trying my best to focus on slowing down my increasing heart rate.

I hear one of the men outside say, "Got it."

Should I mark this down as another loss?

"Dad, what are you doing?" I peer past my brother, noticing that Dad is pulling his gun out of his pocket. He clicks the safety off, checking that's it's loaded, and my heart rate spikes.

"You trust me, right?" No.

John B nods, staring at the gun. "Yeah."

I know my brother. I know him well enough to know that he doesn't trust him, not with that gun in his hand.

Dad begins to move out of the closet. "Okay, I'm gonna go find the gnomon."

Is the gnomon really worth the potential loss of life?

Dad moves out of the closet entirely, checking the surroundings outside the closet. "John B, check the professor," he orders, rushing off to go and find the gnomon.

With a shaky breath, my brother begins to move away from me, and I go to follow him but he stops me quickly, snatching my hand. "No."

I meet the eyes that resemble mine. "What?"

"I need you to stay here, alright?"

My mouth gapes. "What? I──"

"Stay here, Brooke, I mean it. If something goes wrong, I need you safe." He exhales a shaky breath, and I don't like how nervous he appears to be. I don't like it at all. "I'll need you if something goes wrong."

"What could go wrong?"

"Stay here," he insists, his voice firm, almost sounding like Dad's.

I feel the back of my eyes burn as I fear what could happen if I let go of him. "John B──"

"Please, Brooke. Please stay here."

The pleading in his voice forces me to nod my head and shrink back into the corner. I let go of my brother's hand, letting him slide out of the closet and shut the door behind him. The moment he's gone, I fall back against the wall, my breathing erratic as I listen closely to the noises outside the tiny door.

I have no idea how long I'm supposed to stay here nor do I know when the right time to move is so I don't get caught. I hate not knowing. I feel sick, teetering on the edge of wanting to have a nervous breakdown, but that wouldn't help anyone.

When I hear cries for help, I stay rooted to the ground, knowing it'll be safer for me to stay put for the time being. I'll know when to move, that's what I tell myself. I'll know when to move. Even when John B calls out for Dad, pain in his voice, I force myself to stay with my back pressed against the wall as I don't want to make matters worse.

I'll know when to move.

I look around the space of the closet I'm in, looking for anything I could use as a weapon. I reach for the first thing I can use, grasping a crowbar. I don't know if I'll damage a single person as I know these men have guns, but I've gotta do something, anything.

I push myself off the wall, shuffling across the floor until I reach the door. Slowly but surely, I push open the door, wincing at the speaking noise it makes as it opens. I don't hear anything else── no more cries for help, no more screams or yells. Silence is all I hear and that is not a good thing.

I drag myself out of the closet, crowbar clutched in my hands. I only manage a few steps outside the closet before something passes by the window and I duck immediately. Holding my breath, I guide myself away from the window, hearing a faint grunt in the distance. I then hear somebody call out, and I revel in the noise, relieved to hear something even if it is a cry for help.

Carefully, I lift myself back off the ground, reaching the front door and peering through the small window to find John B being dragged by two of the men.

I suck in a sharp breath. "No."

I'm gonna need something stronger than a crowbar.

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❀ soph speaks

big john brought down this whole chapter lol

next few chapters are kinda just filler chapters so they're a little messy, not as planned out

currently suffering from the lovely flu fml

thankyou for reading!!