MATILDA , jj maybank

14

MATILDA! CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
THE HAWKS NEST
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The group say around a fire, Liz on the other side of JJ, leaning on him slightly for more warmth than the fire was giving. "Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked

"Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." JJ said

"You ready for this?" John B asked

"Yeah." Liz said

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

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

"No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?"

"It's been here the whole time. It's on the island."

"Are you serious? Oh, my God." Kie said

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

"No surprise"

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

"Proceed."

"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."

"Who the hell's that?" Kie asked

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out."

"What?"

"Here you go."

"Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my 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...." Liz, Kie, JJ and Pope all did a drum roll on their legs

"Tannyhill Plantation."

"Tannyhill?"

"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?"

"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except... there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out. The gold is in parcel nine, near the water."

"Holy shit."

"All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold." JJ got up and went over to John B, lifting him up

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

"Dude, it's like King Tut."

"I am a genius. Hey, whoa! Hello! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn." John B said

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

"Thank you. That's really sweet of you"

"Okay, so, guys. What's the plan?"

"Good question. Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She'll bring an original survey map—"

"Hold on. Sarah? Wh-why Sarah?" Kie interrupted

"Um..."

"This is gonna be good." JJ said

"Sarah, um, she-- she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where I got the letter."