𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑，𝗃𝗃 𝗆𝖺𝗒𝖻𝖺𝗇𝗄

𝗌𝗂𝗑𝗍𝖾𝖾𝗇

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘. It happened every summer for the Kooks. It was a party for the rich where you can get dressed up and dance all night.

I had never been in the position to go, not that I would want to. Kiara had asked me the year prior but I decided against it. It was definitely not my thing.

The Carrera girl was there with her parents and Pope was working there with Heyward.

John B had sent the blonde boy undercover as a waiter to collect our friends and deliver a message to Sarah Cameron. He had spent the whole previous day with her on the mainland, which is why he was missing. Despite him denying it, he was definitely macking on her.

After collecting the rest of the group from the midsummers party, we all sat around a fire waiting to tell them about the gold, "So my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked. The boy had run out of Midsummers, most likely embarrassing Heyward.

JJ looked over to John B, "Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." The boy's hand trailed patterns up and down my exposed thigh as my legs lay over his.

"You ready for this?" The brunette asked the group, to which we all nodded. "So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant."

The Heyward boy rolled his eyes, "Here we go again with this."

"Hear him out," I smirked, already knowing the story.

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

"Are you serious?" Kie smiled in shock, "Oh, my God."

Pope frowned, "I'd like to voice my scepticism."

John B stood from his spot, "I'm sure you would Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, Sir?"

The boy scratched his head, "Proceed."

That confirmation was all the boy needed before he started rambling again, "So, in my backpack," He reached down into the bag, pulling out the letter that we had translated earlier. "I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."

Kie frowned, "Who the hell is that?"

The Routledge boy couldn't contain his smile, "Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out." He unfolded the letter and passed it around the circle. "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. That farm is Tannyhill Plantation."

"Tannyhill?" Kie scoffed in disappointment.

"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 decided to lynch him." He rambled. "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."