Celestial ~ JJ Maybank

012.

Once they had left Midsummers, they had made their way to Rixton's Cove and started a fire to sit around.

"Hey guys, so, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So, what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope questioned. Celeste watched as John B sent JJ his signature two finger guns, telling him to start talking.

JJ took a second to think over what he was going to say, glancing down at Celeste who was sat almost shoulder to shoulder with him.

"Might as well tell 'em man, before we're gaffed"

"You ready for this?" John B asked his friends, which they all nodded confusedly.

"Yeah" Kiara nodded at him.

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

Pope sighed in annoyance, "Oh my god. Here we go again with this--"

"No, alright wait. Hear him out all right?" JJ spoke up.

John B continued, "it's been here the whole time, it's on the island"

"Are you serious?" Kie questioned, "oh my god"

"And this isn't a prank right?" Celeste also asked, making sure they wouldn't be lying about all of this.

"No pranks Cel, it's all the truth, all right?" John B told her as she nodded a little, processing his previous words.

Pope raised his hand to announce, "I'd like to voice my scepticism"

"I'm sure you would, Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B asked the boy in a formal voice, making Celeste chuckle.

Pope nodded after a moment of hesitation, "Proceed"

"Alright, so in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny--"

"Who the hell is that?"

Celeste frowned, "What kind of name is Denmark?"

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

"What?" Kiara took the sheet from him and looked it over.

"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" Kie whistled over to Pope, passing the paper over to him as John B continued his explanation, "after that, he bought his farm. Drumroll please. Because that farm is..." they all bang their hands on their legs.

"Tannyhill Plantation" he revealed.

Shock filled them as Kiara questioned. "Tannyhill?"

Celeste looked over to JJ, who had the biggest grin on his face, "Holy shit"

"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?" Kie whispered.

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

"Holy shit" Pope grumbles.

Celeste laughed, "This doesn't even feel real"

JJ leant in, "Oh Cece, just you wait" JJ mumbled into her ear as her smile widened.