MATILDA , jj maybank

15

MATILDA! CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
THE CRANE HOUSE
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"I'm sorry. Your staying where?" Kie asked as they sat in the wreck, after John B told them about his new home at the Cameron's. Ward had taken John B in and Liz felt herself get slightly angry at the fact Ward had taken in John B so easily, but he couldn't own the fact he was Lizzes biological father.

"Tannyhill." John B said

"So your living with Sarah Cameron"

"And Ward?" Liz added

"Okay, look, the only reason im living there is because her dad bailed me out, right? And it's way better than foster care, which, by the way, is where I was about to go if Ward didn't—"

"Hey, so do you have a membership to the clubs now?" Pope asked

"I don't know, Pope." John B said

"What about those golf carts they drive around? You get one of them?" JJ asked

"Does it come with a sweater-vest, or do you have to buy one on your own?" Liz turned her head

"Look, you promised. You said you weren't with her." Kie said

"Bro, just own it. She got you." JJ said

"Look, if you wanna hang out with her, that's fine. But I'm letting you know now that I'm not doing anything with Sarah." Kie stated

"Do you guys see her here?" John B asked "No, right. Okay. A little focus would be fantastic. We've got the map, right?" John B out the map on the table and they all looked down on it

"It's out of whack 'cause the guy was ganja'd when he drew it." JJ said

"It's 'cause the coast has changed."

"So we just have to look for landmarks that haven't changed." Pope said

"What about the old forts?" Liz questioned

"Battery Jasper."

They stood on a hill, in the Battery Jasper near lots of trees, looking over some houses. "We're in Battery, right here. So if this is parcel nine, then it's somewhere northeast of here."

"Somehwere there." Kie pointed over the trees

"Right."

"Over there? Guy's, that's not Tannyhill, that's a subdivision."

"Tannyhill Plantation was the entire island. It got sold into smaller pieces over time." John B explained

"So we're just looking for an old stone wall."

"Okay, so the road should split up here." Pope said as John B drove down the road and turned onto the last hidden driveway.

"Not the Crain house." JJ said

"Are you kidding me?" Kie asked

"Worst-case scenario."

"Why'd it have to be here... of all places?"

"I heard that Mrs. Crain buried her husband's head on the property." JJ said

"JJ please just shut up" Liz told the boy

"Look, you guys know whose house this is, right?" Kie said as they walked though the bushes to get to the house

"Oh, yeah. No, I do."

"Honestly, I don't really believe the stories of this place." John B said

"Shh." Pope shushed has

"Which stories did you hear?" JJ asked Kie as Liz walked a bit beside her