Kind Of Infinite (Outer Banks)

Chapter 14

For a moment, the four of them relaxed and chatted on the porch, when Pope suddenly got a text. Jumping from his seat, he moved around nervously.

"Shit, we need to go. They found the Island Room at the Cameron's house.", he explained and looked up from the text John B had sent him. As they all exchanged a quick look, Pope grabbed for the diary and quickly left the porch. The others followed him to Kiara's car and drove off shortly after.

Sarah and John B already waited for them at the front door, once the pogues reached the big house.

"Limbrey was here already. Wheezie said, that Rafe was with them and showed them around, so he probably works with them.", Sarah explained, as they all walked up the stairs. Sarah guided them into a big room with old, wooden furniture. Remainders of wallpaper laid across the floor and little pieces hang from the painted walls. The walls were covered in a big painting of the Outer Banks.

"So, this is the map? The whole room is the map?", Kiara asked, when she entered the room. The pogues stood in the middle of the room and looked around, until JJ walked up to the wall and touched it.

"Great and what do we look for now? I thought we will find a map with lines and big, red crosses.", JJ complained, as he traced his fingers over the painting.

"It's probably another riddle. What did Denmark Tenny write in the diary, Pope?", Kiara asked again and joined JJ to have a closer look at the wall. John B and Sarah did the same, while Ava and Pope stayed in the middle of the room. Pope opened the diary and began reading, while Ava kept looking around the room.

"Here, it says Where he gained his wisdom, is where I left, what once was mine.", Pope read out loud and Ava bent over the diary to read it. Looking back up, her gaze wandered through the room once again.

"So, it leads back to the wisdom thing? It must be the library then.", Sarah said and pointed to the building of where the first library had once been.

"Who does he mean with he? Who is he talking about?", Kiara asked and Pope shrugged his shoulders, before he looked back down onto the old pages.

"I don't know, he never mentioned someone else. The map will lead to my biggest treasure. Where he gained his wisdom, is where I left, what once was mine. You should be confused, but you know who he is.", Pope read the lines and shook his head afterwards.

"Yes, I'm very confused, but I'm not a witch, dude.", JJ complained again and walked back to Pope and Ava. While the pogues started discussing the lines and the map, Ava felt like her brain itched. She knew, that they had heard something like that before, but she couldn't quite remember when and where. Trying to block out the wild discussion around her, she read the lines again. Word for word, until it finally clicked.

"You should be confused! It's what the key said, do you remember?", Ava remembered and looked up at Pope.

"You think the key tells us who he is.", Pope concluded and Ava nodded in excitement. Interested in the new information, the rest of the pogues joined them in the middle of the room and all stared at the old diary in Popes hands.

"Alright and how does the key tell us that? Was there a name engraved or something?", John B asked and Ava shook her head.

"Not exactly, but there was a rune that was circled.", Ava explained and finally, it clicked inside Popes head.

"Odin's rune? He is Odin.", Pope realized and Ava nodded.

"Odin? Like, the god Odin? I thought he lived in Asgard, not on the Outer Banks, man.", John B said and Ava rolled her eyes with a smile. Pope gave John B a disappointed look and John B quickly held up his hands in surrender.

"Odin hung himself on a tree for nine days and nine nights to gain the knowledge of the runes. During this, he received secret wisdom. So, we should look for a tree.", Ava explained and everyone nodded, before they turned around to observe the walls once again.

"I don't wanna come off too negative, but there are like 20 trees here. Which one is the right one?" Sarah asked and Ava looked up from the diary to see what Sarah was talking about.

"Well, he hung himself on Yggdrasil, the tree of life. People say that it's supposed to be similar to ash trees. But don't ask me which of those trees is an ash tree.", Ava said and watched how the pogues walked up to different paintings of trees to inspect it. Pulling out his phone, Pope looked up a picture of an ash tree and compared it to the paintings on the walls.

"Look, that one looks exactly like this old painting of the tree life.", Pope noticed and showed his friends the picture on his phone, before they all compared it to the tree in front of Pope. Looking back and forth between the phone and the wall, the pogues slowly realized, that this must be the solution.

"We found it! Let's go!", John B suddenly shouted in excitement and broke into a big smile. Hopping into the Twinkie, the pogues drove off. Thanks to the low tide, the Twinkie made it through the marsh without any trouble. To their disappointment, the pogues had to face, that after all, they had reached too late. Limbrey and her team were already there and looking for the cross with full equipment. Hiding behind a few bushes, the pogues watched them.

"I can't believe we're too late.", Pope said disappointed, as he watched Limbrey shouting around orders. Just a moment later, they heard a loud, dull sound and Limbrey telling everyone to stop. She walked over to the hole they had dug and looked down in it.

"That's it! Get it out!", she commanded and stepped back again to let her team work. Rafe and a few other men grabbed for whatever was down in the ground and pulled out an old casket. Even though they were only watching, the pogues suddenly felt their hearts speeding up. As they watched Limbrey walking over to the casket in excitement, they got nervous. Rafe broke the cover off the casket and opened it, shoving it away with the help of another man. The tension was palpable as the pogues waited for the reactions of Limbrey and her team. To their surprise, Limbrey moved back slowly from the casket and told everyone to pack up. A few minutes later, they drove off, leaving the casket and the pogues behind.

Pope was the first to stand up from their hiding spot and walked over to the big tree. His friends followed him and all gathered around the casket. Just like they had expected based off Limbreys reaction, there wasn't a cross or any other sort of gold. Just the remains of a human. Pope bent down and picked up a necklace, that laid next to the remains.

"For my beloved wife. Cecilia Tanny.", he read out loud, before placing the necklace back into the casket.

"He didn't bury the cross here, he buried his wife."

"His biggest treasure.", Ava remembered the words of the diary and smiled a little.

"We can't leave her like that, we should bury her again.", Pope said and everyone nodded. While JJ and John B went to get shovels from the Twinkie, Kiara and Pope read the diary again and Ava walked around to pick up some flowers. She placed them onto the casket, before the boys covered it with soil again. Ready to leave, JJ cleaned his dirty hands on his pants, when he looked at the tree again.

"Yo, wait a minute.", he said and walked around to tree, before he pointed at something.

"Do you see that? It looks exactly like on the painting.", JJ asked and everyone looked at the hole he pointed at. All thinking the same thing, JJ climbed up the tree and rolled up his sleeve a little. Breathing out, he put his arm inside the tree and tried to find something, when he suddenly started screaming.

"Oh my god, help him!", Ava yelled at John B and Kiara who stood closest to him. The pogues broke into panic, when JJ suddenly started laughing and his body relaxed.

"Payback. I got you all on that one.", he laughed and looked at Ava, who rolled her eyes and stepped back a little. JJ chuckled again, before he went back to his original mission. Grabbing for whatever he found inside, he stepped back and jumped back onto the ground. Holding a spyglass in his hands, JJ gave it to Pope, who took it and carefully inspected it. Pope opened it and revealed an inscription engraved on it.

"You've come this far, do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's altar.", Kiara read out loud and Pope immediately knew, where the pogues where going next.

"The old church."