Gold Digger// JJ Maybank- OBX

sixteen

THE SUN had officially set by the time the Pogues had reached Rixon's cave. The boys had built a fire while the girls shared the small pieces of gossip they had overheard at Midsummers. Scarlett opened her mouth to tell Kiara about the weird encounter she had experienced at the bar with the Hale family, when JJ came back out of the woods- changed back into his normal clothes- and sat down next to her. "Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me." Pope said as John B threw another stick on the fire. "So what's this mandatory meeting about?"

"Yeah, what is all of this about anyway?" Scarlett asked, unscrewing the lid of her second bottle and taking a small sip. Both her and Pope looked between JJ and John B, the latter shrugging his shoulders in response.

"Might as well tell 'em, man, before we're gaffed." JJ said. He eyed the bottle that Scarlett was cradling, unable to see the label in the dark.

"You ready for this?" John B asked.

"Yeah." Kiara said, feeling somewhat impatient.

"Just spit it out, dude." Scarlett mumbled, leaning her head on JJ's shoulder.

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John B began to explain. Scarlett raised an eyebrow at the boy, intrigued, and took another sip of her vodka.

"Oh, my God." Pope moaned. "Here we go again with this."

"No. All right, wait." JJ said, placing a hand on Pope's arm. "Hear him out, all right?"

"It's been here the whole time." John B continued. He looked across the fire to Scarlett- who's eyes were wide. "It's on the island."

"Are you serious?" Kiara asked him.

Scarlett sat up, leaning her arms on the tops of her thighs as she leaned towards the fire. "You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking." JJ reached an arm out, wrapping it around her shoulders. He pulled her away from the flames, worried that in her intoxicated state, she might end up burning herself.

"Oh, my God." Kiara breathed out.

Scarlett turned her gaze to Pope as he spoke up. "I'd like to voice my scepticism."

"I'm sure you would, Pope." John B sighed. "But, can I please present you with my evidence, sir?"

Scarlett looked over to him. "Oh, please do, JB." She smiled at him and proceeded to lift the bottle to her lips, enjoying the way the alcohol burned her throat.

"Proceed." Pope waved.

John B stood up, making his presentation seem more dramatic. "All right. So, in my backpack," he reached in said bag and pulled out a folded up piece of paper, "I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."

"Who the hell's that?" Kiara asked, and Scarlett nodded in agreement.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck." John B explained. "Check this out." He held up the letter and handed it to Kiara. "Here you go."

"What's it say?" Scarlett asked, unable to see the letter from where she sat.

She received no answer as John B continued to explain the letter that Kiara now held. "Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad and Lottie's mom, they found the complete manifest. That was their big discovery."

Scarlett perked up at hearing her friend talk about her mom, and if she was sober she would have connected the photographs she had been left to the people she had met at the hotel. However, she was completely intoxicated and therefore would not make this connection for at least another few days.