EMERY AND JOHN B RAN OFF THE BARGE.

"we look disgusting!" emery exclaimed as the two of them walked through a park, having discarded their rain coats and made it a considerable distance from the ship. "they won't let us in the archives looking like this."

"why not?" john b asked innocently.

"because we appear to have crawled out of a swamp." emery deadpanned, pulling john b down the street to the shopping district, looking from window to window before her eyes fell on the bench silver store where her mother bought most of her and levi's dress clothes for parties.

"i'm not shopping there." john b said flatly, emery grabbing his wrist and pulling him inside the
store, not even hearing out his protests.

"what about this one?" emery asked, holding up a pastel purple polo shirt, john b raising his eyebrows at her.

"who do i look like, rafe?" he scoffed offendedly and emery put the shirt down, john b looking at the price tag on another shirt.

"don't even." she deadpanned as the brunette boy's mouth dropped.

"that polo is a hundred and twelve dollars!" john b exclaimed.

"and? i'm rich." emery replied nonchalantly, an employee strolling over to them.

"can i help you guys?" he asked, emery nodding as she smirked at john b.

"you can!" she exclaimed. "mister..."

"ike." the man introduced himself.

"mr. ike, this is my... friend john." emery introduced john b. "and he... needs every bit of help we can give him."

"i can see that." the man deadpanned, john b looking between the two of them offendedly.

"can we get... a while button down- oh, what about khaki!" emery exclaimed to the man, john b's face falling impossibly further.

"emery, i'm not wearing khaki." he practically pleaded.

"don't listen to him, bring us some khakis- oh, what about a set of suspenders!" emery exclaimed, john b's mouth dropping at the girl, who only smirked at him.

"just let it happen." she whispered, pulling him back to the dressing rooms and sitting on a cushioned chair, the employee coming to where they were and handing john b the stack of clothes, the brunette mouthing 'i hate you' to emery before disappearing into the dressing room. the girl grabbed a purple beret from the nearby table and put it on her head, she and ike sitting outside the dressing room, mostly making fun of john b.

"look at you!" emery praised when he emerged from the dressing room, question every decision he had made that led him to that point. "you look like you're ready to take eighth grade me to homecoming!"

in all honesty, emery was trying her best not to laugh, mr. ike had followed her request to a tee. john b was wearing khaki pants with matching suspenders, a white button down with a high collar, and an obnoxiously large red bow tie.

"i look like i got kicked out of the barber shop quartet." john b deadpanned, emery looking him up and down.

"mr. ike, can we try seersucker?" she asked the employee, john b shaking his head.

"i'm not wearing seersucker." he protested.

"excellent choice!" ike praised emery, the man clearly getting a laugh out of her humiliation of john b, who was standing stiff in his dress shoes and tight cuffs.

"or what about bucks?" emery asked enthusiastically. "with a pink button down?"

"some bucks- what's a buck?" john b asked, sounding almost fearful.

"i'll go get a pair." mr. ike replied with a smirk, john b looking at emery in disbelief.

"just let it happen." the girl repeated, smirking at john b as she did so.

ten minutes later, emery knocked on the door of the dressing room, which john b hadn't emerged out of for quite a long time.

"nope, not coming out." john b said from inside.

"why not?" emery asked.

"because you're probably gonna buy it or something." john b deadpanned, obviously disappointed that emery had made a good choice in his clothing choice.

"you're not wrong." emery replied, yanking the door open to reveal john b posing in front of the mirror shirtless, making her laugh. "are you checking yourself out?"

"no,'i'm not checking myself out!" john b replied embarrassedly, tugging his jacket on.

"relax, booklet, it's not like i haven't seen a boy in underwear before." emery scoffed, finding his scrambling for clothes comical, the boy raising his eyebrows at her. "i have a brother and you and jj practically live in my house, let's keep our heads out of our asses."

john b strolled out of the dressing room, hands in his pockets as he posed in front of the three way mirror outside. "damn."

"believe it or not, i do know something about fashion." emery deadpanned, smacking the boy's shoulder. "now pull your fly up."

"got it." he muttered. "honestly, if somebody saw me in this-"

"jj would roast the living shit out of you- mara would cook you alive." emery taunted. "don't even get me started on levi."

"yeah." john b muttered.

"but it's a good thing we're on a secret mission, so we have to assume different identities." emery explained. "we actually shouldn't be using our real names."

"yeah, so we need aliases. what are you thinking?" john b asked emery.

"hm... arlo... from... moscow." emery said after looking john b up and down. "now, who am i?"

"uh... adelaide! from rome." john b said, emery raising her eyes.

"i give roman?" she asked in disbelief, smiling all the while.

"totally." john b replied, mockery in his voice. emery grabbed a nearby light blue tie that matched the boy's jacket and pants, and, just like a few days prior, tied the fabric in a windsor knot around his neck. "now, since you've gotten to dress me, and i'm feeling all spiffy, i get to dress you."

"bring it on, babydoll." emery replied, grinning up at john b, who walked around the store for awhile before coming back with a stack of dresses, emery taking them and strolling into the dressing room, john b flopping down onto the chair.

emery first emerged in a hot pink midi dress with an erratic collar, john b nodding at her.

"it's great, it's like a soccer mom's first outing." john b said sarcastically, emery immediately turning back into the dressing room.

"how do i put this on?" she exclaimed frustratedly as she emerged from the dressing room again, the purple dress john b had brought her clearly not on properly.

"is that a lavender or plum?" he asked, emery slamming the dressing room door. she reemerged in a pale pink dress with straps in the front to be tied into a bow.

"with this dress, i get to be a ninja turtle." she exclaimed, grabbing the straps and using them as nunchucks, john b only grinning up at her.

"no." he deadpanned, still smiling, emery rolling her eyes. she grabbed two more dresses out of the dressing room, holding them up while john b nodded his head. "no." he said flatly.

finally, emery stepped out of the dressing room in a while and blue striped dress, similar to the design of john b's jacket and pants.

"uh... wow... you look- i mean, you clean up nice, adelaide." john b stuttered out.

"you sound like a bumbling idiot, arlo." emery replied with a smirk. "should we head out? the archives won't search themselves."

after checking out and leaving a generous tip for mr. ike for putting up with the two, emery and john b were strolling through the yellow-glowing streets of nighttime chapel hill.

"woah." john b exclaimed when they got to the college where the archives were held.

"have you never been to a college before?" emery asked.

"you've known me my entire life, when was college ever something i wanted to do?" john b asked, emery shrugging.

"i looked at this place when i first started looking at colleges- i think i was fifteen?" emery explained. "i settled on university of hawaii, if i even decide to go to school."

"hawaii?" john b asked.

"either that or the school in victoria i saw with mom." emery explained. "i want to go to a coastal school, this place just isn't that."

the melville girl's phone buzzed in her pocket and a phone call from levi flashed across the screen, the girl gasping dramatically.

"who is it?" john b asked giddily.

"it's my keeper." she exclaimed. "i told levi i was staying the night at mara's house tonight- he's not super happy with me and you right now- and he probably found out i'm not there."

"so what would levi do if you were with me?" john b asked.

"you'd be hanged and i'd be burned. it would be treason!" the girl exclaimed, laughing as she did so and declining levi's call.

"you have to be careful, adelaide." john b warned. "this boy you are with, he isn't a good man."

"he isn't what you think!" emery exclaimed desperately. "he couldn't hurt anyone- he's not capable of even being slightly mean!"

john b scoffed offendedly.

"it also helps that he's totally in love with me." emery added, smirking up at john b, who only grinned down at her.

"yes ma'am, i am." he replied, grabbing the girl's hand and pulling her into the college, the girl passing a card to the receptionist and introducing herself, the receptionist escorting the two to the basement.

"we were incredibly grateful to receive the tanny materials from mr. cameron." the receptionist told emery, who glanced at john b and shook her head. "they're right in there."

"thank you!" emery called to the receptionist as she and john b stepped into the room where the tanny archives were, the two white boxes sitting on the table as they two pulled out the cushioned red chairs and sat down.

"down the rabbit hole?" emery asked, john b nodding.

"here we go." the boy breathed, both teens pulling the lids off their boxes together and taking out the white latex gloves on the top of the box before beginning to look through the boxes.

"it says denmark used the money he made from tannyhill to buy slaves and give them their freedom." emery explained as she scanned over the brief summary of tanny's life, he eyes narrowing. "he was accused of inciting revolt- holy shit, this was before the civil war."

"that's why they hanged him." john b deadpanned. "let me see this." he whispered, pulling a denmark's bible out of emery's box and starting to flip through it.

"check this out." john b said, pointing to what was written inside the front cover of the book.

"those are everyone's birthdays." she murmured.

"yeah, denmark tanny." john b added.

"cecilia, robert, lewis, and abraham, his wife and three sons.

"yeah." john b muttered. his eye catching something in the box. "wait a minute."

john b reached forward, pulling a piece of paper out of one of the boxes, emery's eyes widening at the picture on the paper; a singular bar of gold with a wheat emblem carved into it was drawn on the paper.

"is that-"

"gold." john b whispered. "this is how he bought the land. it's- it's british gold. this is what was on the merchant."

"it says that that's the gold he used to buy the land where he later built his estate- john b, that means denmark survived the merchant wreck and managed to get all the gold to shore." emery pressed.

"what's that?" john b asked, emery reaching into her box to pull out a letter.

"this is his last correspondence." emery said once she looked at the date, realizing it was the day tanny had died.

"wait, that's- that's in gullah, the lost creole language." john b examined.

"so you can read it?" emery asked excitedly.

"no." john b deadpanned. "i wish, but no."

"then why bring it up?"

"so, denmark finds out the posse's coming for him." john b wondered out loud. "wait, what's the date on the letter."

"may 3rd, 1844." emery replied. "that's the-"

"that's the day he died." john b said.

"it's memoed to robert." emery added.

"so on he day he dies, he writes a letter to his son?" john b asked.

"in a language only they know." emery added.

"wait a minute." john b pulls his phone out, snapping a picture of the letter before putting it back in his pocket. looking up at emery.

"i think we have what we need." he said putting the items back in the boxes and pulling his gloves off, emery doing the same.

EMERY AND JOHN B HAD CAUGHT THE FERRY HOME.

"levi is going to kill me for not answering his calls all night." emery mumbled as she took a drink of her dr. pepper- the two had gone to 7-11 that morning before getting on the ferry- and leaning back in her seat. "but, at least we got what we needed."

"yeah, yeah." john b replied. "y'know, when we're alone you're really not that bad."

"what's that supposed to mean?" emery asked.

"when levi's around you're so... uptight, upset almost." john b explained. "you get away from him and you're a completely different person."

"y'know, you're different when you're not with jj." emery replied, john b's jaw dropping as he slowly turned to face her. "for one, your much weirder, and you're also more of a compassionate flirt than someone who tries to impress his friend who thinks that since he's a single loser, everyone around him should be."

"well then, to breaking the alter-egos." john b said, the two knocking their styrofoam cups together.

as the day crept on, it had started to rain. the ferry docked at the obx not long after, emery and john b strolling off, still in their formalwear from the night before.

"now that were back, we can now return to our real identities." emery told john b. "so i am now your best friend who is completely oblivious to how down bad you are for me."

"of course, of course." john b replied, the two stopping as emery held her hand out.

"it's been great doing business with you." she said, john b shaking her outstretched hand.

"pleasure's mine." john b replied, emery turning to walk away. "wait! that's it?"

"what do you mean?" emery called.

"ems, you're my best friend, but i just had the best time of my life getting dressed up and pretending to go all undercover with you." john b exclaimed. "and i care about you so much, and it's really rare for me to feel like that about someone- like eclipse rare, a blind person seeing color- look, i can't keep pretending that you're just my friend, emery." john b finished, but emery shook her head, walking over to john b and kissing him passionately.

"i don't want to pretend either." she breathed once she pulled away, john b pulling her back in immediately.

"get a room." one of the workers on the dock told the two, but emery only flipped him off, because right now, she couldn't care less about what anyone else thought.

she was totally in love with john booker routledge.

kens speaks 🪐

that's it, that's the authors note.