High Tide // JJ Maybank

Chapter 34

I sat on the porch with the three boys and Kie the next morning. After the tense events of last night, we all just need some time to decompress and let things be normal for a couple of hours. The three boys were arguing over the broken couch, a very typical conversation for the trio. I sat on JJ's lap as he relaxed back into a couch.

"You're sleeping there." Pope gestures to the now broken couch.

"I always sleep there." JJ informs the boy.

"Not true." Kie pipes up. "You're usually canoodling with Kat in her bed."

"Well, excuse me for liking my girlfriend.

"Hey," I speak up, cutting off their conversation as I notice Sarah approaching the porch.

"Well, hello, Princess." JJ greets her as she steps through the screen door.

"What's up?" Kie grumble from her spot on the sofa.

"Shouldn't you be on Figure Eight with your little group of polo players?" John B questions. Sarah gives him a tight lipped smile before he speaks again. "Or did you break up with Topper?"

"We're just friends." Sarah cuts him off.

"He's just a friend. You have a lot of friends, Sarah Cameron."

"Yeah, and it seems like you've got some of your own too." Sarah claps back at the boy.

"All right, what are you doing here?" John B snaps, sitting up in his recliner.

"I'm here for Pope." Sarah announces with a sigh. Pope looks up at the girl with a look of confusion on his face. "I think I found the Island Room."

No less than half an hour later we all piled into the Twinkie. John B and Sarah were in the front like usual with the rest of us in the back.

"Guys, listen to this." Pope announces, sitting up from where he'd been slumped back, reading more of Denmark Tanny's diary. "The diary says the cross holds the most holy relic in all of Christendom, the Garment of the Savior."

"So wait, he's saying there's a holy garment inside the cross?" Kie questions.

"Yeah. It says the garment is capable of healing the sick from any malady."

"Sounds realistic." I retort.

"Mmm, yeah." JJ adds to what Pope was saying. "'If only may I touch His garment, I shall be made well.'" Everyone turns to the boy in bewilderment at his new incite of knowledge. "What?" He asks defensively. "I went to Sunday school."

"How the hell did you remember that?" I inquire. JJ just shrugs at me.

"Well, that explains why Limbrey would want the cross so bad. She thinks it can heal her."

"What else does it say?" Kie asks.

Pope looks back down at the page and begins reading again. "'Many feel that we have sinned to steal such a sacred thing, and God will strike His vengeance on us.'"

"Thing is, God did have His vengeance." Kiara points out.

"He sent that hurricane to sink the ship. Only Denmark survived."