𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 - jj maybank

- 𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

𝗕𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗵 and Kie left shortly after that, which left Kaci alone with the three boys at her new home. The Château was exactly how she remembered; run-down, dirty and full of what she could only assume were bugs. During her chill out time, she took it upon herself to impulsively clean the whole home, refusing to live under a roof as dirty as it was before she fixed it up.

"You know, maybe living with you won't be as bad as I thought," stated John B cheerfully as he and the other two boys finally came home after dark, looking around their polished house.

Kaci turned around to face the three of them, a look of disgust on her face as she held up a pair of dirty boxers using kitchen tongs.

"Hey, you found them!" JJ grinned, jumping forward to grab them by his bare hands.

Kaci cringed. "I'm going to be sick."

"Can it wait until we've talked?" asked Pope, the only one of them who held a serious manner. JJʼs grin dropped at the topic, and John B nodded.

Kaci looked in between the three of them. "Look, if this is whatever Tomato was pissed off about, then — unless it drastically changes my life — I honestly don't have a fuck."

"Then you might wanna take a seat," said John B, gesturing to the small, round kitchen table.

Feeling weirded out by the unfamiliar seriousity coming from the boy, Kaci searched JJʼs face for any hint of his teasing grin. However, he didn't meet her eye, and she could see that he was biting down on his cheeks to stop himself from making anything obvious. So Kaci sat down on the hard, chipped, wooden seat and waited for them to begin.

John B stood at the front, of course, being the ringleader of whatever was going on. "We're on a treasure hunt," he began.

Kaci raised a brow, not able to take him seriously at all. "Like The Goonies?"

John B nodded. "Yeah, exactly," he said, throwing his hand out at her.

"She's being sarcastic," Pope told him, shaking his head slightly.

JJ remained quiet, standing at the back.

"Kaci Flores, we are hunting for the lost gold of the Royal Merchant," John B continued anyway, his voice formal as though he was proposing a deal. "In fact, I think we've got a location."

"Is this, like, a cosplay thing, because I'm not interested?"

John B chuckled, finally breaking character, and shook his head. "My dad disappeared last year — you know that," he told her, speaking in a way she'd understand. "He was obsessed with the Royal Merchant for so many years before it happened. I think he's still out there, searching for the gold."

At the mention of a disappearance, Kaciʼs whole face dropped. JJ looked like he wanted to say something, to run over and comfort her, but she needed to hear the last part to the story before he did anything. Kaci deserved to know what was going on.

"We think your brother was involved, too."

That single sentence changed everything.

𖧷

𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗕 soon went on to explain everything the pouges had been working at over the last month, and Kaci listened and took in every detail. She also told them about her parents and the carved note she found in the storage unit, which was a flaming red flag around the group, and Mikel Flores was now at the top of their suspect list. Then, there was the issue with the two men that broke into her house, and apparently they did the same to the Château. But these men were dead now — JJ found out when he was arrested for damaging Topper Thorntonʼs boat.