chapter 15.
i'm bigger than my body /
colder than this home.

୨୧

Josephine shivers, protectively crossing her arms around herself as pope rifles through hundreds of years worth of old church documents. she turns up her nose as dust particles fly around the small space, wishing she had dug her heels in harder instead of giving in so easily. josephine had never had much of a backbone; all bark, no bite.

"hey, check it out." pope hisses, waving both girls over. josephine warily unfolds her arms, joining sarah as they peer over the boys shoulder. their flashlights illuminate the yellowed and worn pieces of paper held in popes hand. "confederate money from the civil war."

sarah leans closer. "that means no one's been down here in over a hundred years."

"and blackbeard was here a hundred fifty years before that." pope continues, returning the money and shoving the cobwebbed drawer closed. "let's keep pushing."

"kay, but can we hurry up?" jo makes a face of disgust, shining her flashlight around the cramped room. "this makes me feel weird."

sarah smiles grimly, falling into step beside the younger girl. "we'll be quick jo, i promise. get in, get out." she had grown quite fond of the thirteen year old throughout the past seven days, and had begun paying close attention to jo and her anxieties since the beach incident; maybe even a little too close.

josephine sighs, continuing to shine her light on the brick walls. she pauses, noticing one suspiciously out of place from the rest. "sarah, look at this." the older blonde steps forward, hand feeling against the wall. joey points to the odd brick slightly beyond reach and sarah reaches out, finding it to be loose. "pope, pope!" she calls over. "i think they walled this in."

he jogs over, fingers brushing against the crumbling brick. "hold on a second." pope pauses, grabbing an iron fire poker from a corner of the room. "hold this." he passes his flashlight to josephine, who furrows her eyebrows at his method. "that's one way to do it."

pope ignores her like she's her brother. he jabs the fire poker into the center of the loose bricks and the part collapses, forming a hole in the wall. sarah steps back in surprise. "well, that was easy."

pope peers into the tunnel before turning to the girls. "so...who's going in?"

"nose goes." josephine immediately shoots a finger to the tip of her nose, sarah quickly following suit.

"shit." pope curses, letting the fire poker clatter to the ground. "you two wanna stay out here alone?"

"we're not alone, we—"

sarah takes one look at the younger girl and cuts her off, turning to pope. "you still go first." jo gasps in mock offense; she'd be lying if she said she wasn't the least bit wary about splitting up with pope. he had been right—there's strength in numbers.

josephine hands pope his flashlight and he hoists himself up, crawling into the hole. she turns to sarah, who quickly returns a finger to the tip of her nose. "i'm not going last."

jo makes a face, gesturing to the break in the wall. "you really think i can reach that?" she's got a point; her fingers just narrowly brush the entrance of the tunnel when she stands on her toes.

"shit." sarah sighs reluctantly. "fine, come here." jo gladly does do, tightening the straps of her belt bag and double checking its zipper. she'd need to change the bandaid for sure, but for now, they had a lead. maybe if they found this stupid crown, she'd never have to worry about foster care again. jj wouldn't have to worry about her, either, because they'd all be set for life.

josephine takes a deep breath and steps in front of sarah, who slides both hands under the girls arms and lifts with a grunt. "you got it?"

"almost." jo grimaces, hands stretching wide as they graze the floor of the crawl space. she grabs hold of an inside brick, wincing at the dirt dusting her fingertips. "okay, just need a little boost."

"isn't that what i'm doing?" sarah scoffs and jo rolls her eyes. "i'm at the perfect height to kick you, ya know." sarah cracks a smile, shakes her head. she knows jo is full of shit — despite her bloodline, she wouldn't hurt a soul.
probably. maybe.

the older girl bends at the knees, grunting as she moves her hands to josephine's middle and lifts with all her might. "put your foot there!"

"where?" jo shouts back. "i can't see where you're pointing!"

sarah balances carefully, quickly grabbing josie's ankle and shoving it into a foot hole. "pope, where the hell are you?"

"oh, right. sorry." the boy sheepishly apologizes, back tracking to the tunnels opening. he takes hold of josephine's wrists and pulls her the rest of the way in. "you really need to grow a few inches."

"thanks for all your help." jo scoffs, sitting against the dark wall as they wait for sarah. she mutters under her breath. "dickwad." pope pretends not to hear. he's used to tuning out maybanks.

"i can't believe i'm doing this again." sarah pants, joining them inside. "you guys know i don't like caves, and you know i don't like tunnels." they begin crawling forward and the blonde curses. "this is bullshit!"

"how much further?" josephine whispers, trying to ignore her pounding thoughts. pope shines his flashlight ahead, showing no visible end of the tunnel. "unclear. i think we should just keep moving."

"ugh. it smells like shit in here." curses josephine, wrinkling her nose in disgust. sarah hums in agreement, bringing up the rear.

"okay." pope pauses, turning to look over one shoulder. "you two wanna keep complaining?"

"we're not complaining." sarah argues and jo nods. "just saying facts."

"okay—wait, wait." pope freezes, looking ahead. "i think i see something. it's so—"

"pope, pope." sarah whispers, looking behind herself. "do you hear that?"

"hear what?"

"shh! that." she hisses. jo and pope pause, listening closely as a distinct squeaking sound begins, getting louder and louder each moment. josephine's eyes widen. "no fucking way."

a crowd of rats appears from around the corner, rushing straight for the teens. sarah gasps. "no! no, no, no!"

"shit." pope curses, keeping his voice level. "don't freak out."

too late. sarah shoves her way past josephine, leaving her to the rats. jo is too small and too weak to push back and she's always left behind. it's in her bones, exclusion.

"go, go!" sarah is shouting at pope. "i hate rats!"

josephine's stomach lurches at the very thought of all the diseases each rodent possesses. she's frozen in fear initially, too afraid to move; and then the rat leading the pack stands on its hind legs and sniffs and josephine sees its yellow teeth and then it breaks into a run.

joey shrieks. if the tunnel was made of glass it would have shattered. she elbows sarah harshly. "move!"

sarah is shoving pope with the same desperation. "go, go, go!" she's shrieking too and now her back is against pope, kicking at the ground with her feet in an attempt to move away. jo scrambles to get ahead  the older girl and suddenly pope disappears and only the echo of his shout is heard.

josephine looks down, watching the beam from his flashlight shrink smaller the lower he drops. "pope!" just as she shouts, sarah backs up and knocks the blonde down the drop as well. joey shrieks as she plummets and sarah swings around, gasping. "jo! pope!"

jo groans as she lands in a puddle—she didn't want to know what of. "joey, you okay?" pope is standing over her, looking as though he too had landed in the liquid. his hand is outstretched and jo watches herself take it, breath stopping when she notices her bandage missing. it must have slipped off as she fell.

there's another series of sharp shrieks as sarah plummets next, followed by dozens of rats. there's a small rusted door to the tunnel and she darts for it. "close it, close it!"

pope rushes to her side, helping to close the heavy metal door. "i'm trying!" it slams shut and a lock clicks from the other side. "did you hear a lock?" sarah freezes and pope tugs harshly on its rusted handle. it's no use—the door won't reopen.

he turns to josephine as sarah tries next. "jo, you're shaking." he comments. sarah gives up on the door and turns at his words. "hey, you okay? you hurt?"

josephine curses internally. you can not have a freak out right now. not here, of all places. she bites her lip until the taste of blood is on her tongue. "yeah, no, i'm fine. sorry."

but the words get caught in her throat and she chokes, grabbing her chest. she feels like she's spinning but she knows she's not because her feet aren't moving, only her head. grow up. it's only a few mice. relax.

but the bandage is missing. rats can carry and spread over thirty five diseases to humans, including mrsa, which can lead to sepsis. sepsis kills. and then what? you'll leave jj behind on his own all because you couldn't keep track of a single fucking bandaid.

"jo?" sarah lays a concerned hand on a shaking shoulder and josephine suddenly feels faint. she can't breath or stop pressing sharp thumbnail into soft fingertip. "joey, you're bleeding."

josephine looks down through blurry vision and finds that she had reopened the wound on the pad of her index finger. now you have to change the bandage and use sanitizer or you're going to get infected. fucking idiot.

her ears are ringing and all she can see is the forming infection on her fingertip. all she can feel is breathless and faint and gentle hands firmly pushing her shoulders down, down, down until she's sitting. everything is moving in slow motion but she's spinning all at once.

"what do we do, what do we do?" pope is hissing. he's been telling jo to breathe, that everything was okay, but josephine hadn't heard a single word. she was paling and deteriorating and looked ill.

"uh...her bag!" sarah exclaims, frantically rushing around the damp room. "where the hell is her bag?" it must have slipped in the fall, too. they better find it cause once jo's calmed from the missing bandaid, she's really going to lose it when she finds out her bag is gone.

"found it!" pope shouts, holding the small belt bag like a trophy. and i suppose it is, in this moment. he hands it to sarah and she darts back towards joey, nearly tripping over herself in her haste. she rips open the bag and removes a small bottle of hand sanitizer. her snooping had brought some guilt, but right now it was only paying off; sarah knew exactly how to breathe air back into josephine.

"what are you doing?" she ignores popes protests, flipping off the cap and squeezing drops of sanitizer onto the younger girls bleeding finger. the sting captures joeys attention. it's all she can focus on now; not rats, not foster care on the horizon, not her hot-headed brother or angry father. just the sting, and the bacteria dying before it lives.

sarah unwraps a fresh bandaid and rolls it over the wound, trapping the sting underneath. she holds the girls hand as she breathes; sarah knows she's counting. she lets it happen. she doesn't speak until josephine audibly exhales and her eyes clear. "we're gonna be okay. we'll get out of here, all right?"

josephine can only nod, to embarrassed to say anything reassuring back. she slowly rises to shaky feet, looks around this new room. "are those dead fucking bodies?"

"skulls and femurs." pope nods. he should be impressed at the girls ability to bounce back like nothing happened. but he's not; she's a maybank. they've been putting on a show since the day they left the womb; it's what they do best. "a real catacomb; where the living and dead collide."

they head further into the chamber and josephine swings her flashlight from wall to wall. "pope, look." she calls out, landing on an inscription. "coffins."

"i think we're close." the teen shines his own light onto the writing. "these are crypts."

"spooky." josephine shudders. a woman's voice carries from the other side of the catacomb and pope turns serious, whispering urgently. "turn off your flashlight!"

"hide, hide!" sarah hisses, darting behind a stone statue. josephine looks around, bewildered. she's unsure where to go and sarah decides for her, hand grasping her wrist and tugging her over. pope scales a nearby stone wall, panting with adrenaline.

"i think it's this way." a man's voice is heard. josephine looks to pope, who presses a finger to his lips. stay quiet.

"this one doesn't have a name." jo furrows her eyebrows, straining to listen as the intruders chip away at stone. a woman's voice is heard next. "that's a good sign."

more stone scraping against stone. "this is sam bellamy, teachs navigator."

"just like you said, captain."

"you're surprised?" the woman who jo now infers is the captain jokes. the man laughs. there's grunting as they tear apart the grave, metal sliding on metal, and then a gasp of astonishment. "woah. held here for three hundred years." the captain tsks. "what did i tell you?"

josephine looks up, about to lean around the stone to get a better look, when a mouse squeaks from directly beside her ear. she gasps loudly, flinching away from the rodent.

the treasure hunters go silent. a gun cocks and footsteps quickly approach; sarah tugs josephine to the floor and they sit, unmoving.

"who's there?" a flashlight beam grazes the girls' heads. jo's heart is beating so loudly she's sure she is going to get them all shot.