𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑, 𝗃𝗃 𝗆𝖺𝗒𝖻𝖺𝗇𝗄

18: "𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢."

At Rixon's cove, the five friends sat around a campfire they had made up, the two girls trying to get themselves as warm as they could. JJ rubbed up and down his girlfriend's arms, trying to warm her up. After Midsummers, Y/n had instantly hugged her brother, glad he was here and the DCS didn't catch him. Her back was against her boyfriend's chest as the blonde held her tightly in his arms.

"Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asks.

"Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." JJ tells the brunette.

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant." John B starts.

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

"No. Alright, wait. Hear him out, alright?" JJ says.

"It's been here the whole time. It's on the island." John B tells them.

"Are you serious?" Kie questions, receiving a nod in response. "Oh, my God."

"I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope informs.

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

Pope nods slightly. "Proceed."

"Alright. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." John B informs.

"Who the hell's that?" Kie questions.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck." John B replies.

Grabbing the letter from his backpack, John B hands it to the girl, who looks through it before passing it on, handing it to the other Routledge sibling, who eagerly looked through it, JJ looking through it over her shoulder.

"Check this out." John B instructs. "Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but mine and Y/n's dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom. After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please, because that farm is..."

The four other Pogues do as asked, using their hands to hit their legs, trying to make a drumroll sound as they anxiously wait for him to finish.

"Tannyhill Plantation." John B reveals.

"Tannyhill?" Kie asks.

John B nods slightly, glancing to his sister, who's eyes were wide with curiosity. "Yeah. So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him. So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."

"Where?" Y/n questions.

"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water." John B quotes. "Except... there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. The gold is in parcel nine, near the water. All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold."

"Okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true." Pope states.

Slowly, JJ releases his arms from his girlfriend, rising to his feet and walking around his friends, where he tackles John B in a hug, who gratefully hugged back before warning about the campfire sitting behind the blonde.

"I'm so proud of you right now." JJ informs.

"Thank you. That's really sweet of you." John B replies.