ONLY ANGEL | JJ MAYBANK

SIX... find me in the graveyard

CHAPTER SIX

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Now JJ and Collins had missed out on a lot during their little book club session. In the span of time in which it took for them to read almost a third of their book despite several interruptions from JJ's shenanigans, John B and Kie had gotten themselves arrested and John B had had a couple more run ins with the law himself.

Collins didn't know much of the story to begin with, but pieces of the puzzles were slowly coming together with each bit that she gathered from the explanations given in order to get everyone caught up. For example, John B had a family compass that seemed to be a hot commodity with some pretty scary people. This compass had been picked up from a sunken Grady White belonging to island local, Scooter Grubbs, who couldn't have possibly afforded such a luxury watercraft. And the word 'Redfield' wasn't an anagram for a game that the friend group liked to play, it was a clue that John B believed his father left for him that was scratched onto a hidden compartment of the compass, knowing that the object would somehow make its way back to their family.

That was where Collins could sort of see what JJ meant by concocting on John B's end. It just seemed so absurd of an idea that John B could think his father intended for him to somehow find this compass when it was in the hands of a man like Scooter. And Redfield, one of the most common names on the island, was almost like sending them on a mission to find a needle in a stack of needles to find out what he could've possibly meant by such a word.

But that's what brought John B, Kie, and Pope to the Redfield Lighthouse while JJ had been busy spending time with Collins, and what led John B to the conclusion that his father's obsession with the most famous tale of lost treasure around Kildare County, the Royal Merchant, played a big role in this whole mystery. The keeper of the lighthouse was just as consumed with the Royal Merchant as his father had been, which is what allowed John B to start connecting dots in his head.

Meanwhile, as he did that, his friends were trying to be as supportive as they could, but they were also trying not to enable him too much because everything he was saying, seemed kind of too good to be true. John B had never gotten over his father's disappearance, and the compass resurfacing had sparked a determination in him to try and find his dad and follow the clues he was so adamant were being left for him.

The least they could do was be there for him to test whatever theories he formulated, and one of those theories had carried over into the nightfall with a drive down to the cemetery. And as far as hunches go, this was one that everyone was especially less than thrilled to hear, because a group of teenagers strolling through a graveyard never ended well in any story.

But basically, that's how Collins Jacobson found herself one minute in the comforting confines of her bedroom, and another minute creeping through the darkness of the island's burial grounds with the tiniest flashlight that John B had in his van. When he'd asked her if she liked mysteries, she sort of thought they would be sitting around a bonfire or something, discussing speculations over s'mores or hot dogs. She did love a good puzzle, but she hadn't been prepared for a whole conspiracy.

Not to mention, that she had no idea that they'd be trespassing into a place where people were laid to rest, and now they were disturbing some poor corpse's eternal sleep with their presence. Needless to say, Collins had gotten a lot more than she bargained for.

"You afraid of the dark?" A voice said in her ear at a hushed volume. Collins felt a shiver run up her back at the warm breath that fanned over her skin which contrasted the cool night air.

She craned her neck to look up at JJ's face with a sheepish smile on her own in response. "Is it that obvious?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "A little. What are you scared of? Ghosts? The dead rising from their graves? Wait, what was that sound?"