Good Days •Rafe Cameron•

Angel Oak

      

      I could feel someone's hands shaking my body as they tried to get me to wake up. The morning sunshine peaked through the windows, allowing me to quint my eyes burying my face deeper into the pillow.
I wrap the blankets right around my naked body. "Just let me sleep a little longer, Rafe." I mumbled under the covers.
It's Sarah. And no, you need to get up." She demands, shaking me even more.
I throw the covers off my head. Staring at the blonde with my big brown eyes. The two of us blinked at each other several times before she spoke.
"What are you doing here?" She asked. "Um...I was with Rafe last night." I trailed off, remembering she probably wouldn't want to hear about what me and her brother did last night.
Sarah pulls her lips into a thin line, giving me a once over, then nodding, understanding what I meant. "You're naked." She states. A nervous laugh leaves my lips as I try to hold the blanket to my body. And you're in my brother's bed." She adds. I nod.
"Yeah. It's a long story." I hum. Looking around at my surroundings.
Rafe's room looked different in the day light. It didn't seem cozy anymore. Just a room with some furniture.
"I'll get you some clothes." Sarah smiles. She hops off the bed and beelines for Rafe's closet. After a few moments she comes out with a pair of sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt.
"Here." She hands me the clothes. "Thanks." I hum. I pull the blanket off of me and quickly slip into the clothes. I roll the sweats up so I'm not stepping on them.
"Where's Rafe, anyway?" Sarah asked. I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know." I answered, pulling my curls into a bun.
"Does he often leave you? You know after..." Sarah says, awkwardly. I shake my head. "No, maybe he had something to do." I say.
"Well I think I found something." Sarah smiles, grabbing my hand and pulling me out the door. She rushes me down the stairs and into the dining hall.
     My body comes to a complete stop. "Jesus." I gasped, covering my mouth. My eyes grow wide at the sight of the room. The wallpaper was completely ripped off the walls, revealing a large drawing of the Island.
"I think this is the Island Room." Sarah say, realization coming over her.
"We have to tell Pope."
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      Sarah and I ride our bikes to The Cut, finally making it to the Château. I push the brake handles tight, stopping the bike and quickly hopping off.
     The two of us walk onto the porch. JJ immediately greets.
    "Well, hello, princesses." He teased. John B, Pope and Kiara turn their attention to us. "Shouldn't you be on Figure Eight with your little group of polo players?" John B asked, Sarah. He leaned into his chair, giving her a cocky look.
"And where the hell have you been?" JJ asked. He pushes himself off the wall. "None of your business." I simply say.
He scoffs. "Phoebe..." JJ trails off. "You're wearing his clothes for gods sake!" He yells. "Well, if you knew, why did you ask?" I shout back.
"Yo! Guys take it down a notch." Kiara says, standing up from the old moldy couch.
I put my hands up in defeat rolling my eyes. "I don't want to fight, right now." I sigh. "Sarah has something important to say." I gesture to the girl.
"I think I found the Island Room."
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"Wait so Rafe just followed you to the party last night?" Kiara asked, as I changed into appropriate clothing from my duffle I kept at the Château.
"Yes." He wanted to hang out. "He didn't want to hang out, Be." Sarah states. "He wanted to fuck you. And he did." She says, with a straight face.
Kiara shakes her head in disgust. "Oh, my God!" She screams. "That's so vulgar, Sarah." Kie says. Sarah shrugs her shoulders. "What? It's true. Be was completely naked in my brothers bed when I found her this morning." She laughs.
"Things are just complicated between us. I keep telling myself to stay away from him. But then I ended up finding myself by his side again. He literally so addicting." I groan.
"Eventually, you'll get tired of his bullshit and you'll realize that he's a bad guy. There's only so much we can do to help you, Be." Kiara says.
"I know, I know." I sigh. "Let's just go, the boys are waiting.
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"Guys, listen to this." Pope speaks up as he begins to read from Denmark Tanny's diary.
The six of us ride back to Figure Eight, ready for answers from the Island Room.
"The diary says the cross holds the most holy relic in all of Christendom, the Garment of the Savior." Pope reads.
"So wait, he's saying there's a holy garment inside the cross?" Kiara paraphrases. "Yeah." Pope nods. "It says the garment is capable of healing the sick from and malady."
"Like the Golden Fleece from Percy Jackson. You know the story of Thalia, daughter of Zeus." I explain.
"Oh yeah: "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." JJ recites.
The five us look back at JJ in disbelief that he would know a Bible verse.
"What? I went to Sunday School." JJ shrugs. "Well, that explains why Limbrey would want the cross so bad. She thinks it could heal her." Pope explains.
"What else does it say?" Kiara asked. "Many feel that we have sinned to steal such sacred thing, and God will strike His vengeance on us."
The car is silent for the rest of the ride to Tannyhill. John B smoothly pulls into the driveway.
"Okay, can we please try to be in and out as fast as possible?" I suggest hopping out the van.
"Why?" Pope asked. "I just don't want to run into Rafe, with you guys here?" I sigh, running my hands through my curls.
     John B put a hand over his heart. "Are you embarrassed of us?" He says, pretending to sound hurt.
"Very." I answered, narrowing my eyes at the Pogue. "John B rolls his eyes playfully, following the rest of the group inside.
We quickly follow Sarah down the hall. She pushes open a door, allowing us to see inside.
"Pope, look." She says. Pope's eyes widen as he takes in the room. "Whoa! You've got to be kidding me." He exclaims.
The dinning room walls were completely torn apart revealing a large drawing of the island. The cartoon drawings depicted landmarks that I have seen around Kildare.
"I know right? It's the island room." Sarah smiles. It's been here this whole time."
"This definitely means something." JJ said, running his fingers along the wall. "Wow." Kiara and I gasped, taking in the mural.
"Yo, this is a map of the whole island." John B explains. "Yeah, John B, I think you're right because this is Rixon's right here. And then, there's the lighthouse." JJ says, pointing to the real thing outside.
"Guys, look, Parcel 9 and the well." Kiara points. "Okay, so if that's Parcel 9 and then if that's Rixon's, then that's gotta be the surf break at Mase." John B exclaims.
"Right. And look." JJ says taking the diary from John B's hand. He holds the writing up to the wall. "Pope, come here." JJ gestures. "This is Denmark's handwriting for sure." He smiles.
"The drawings. They match up. Denmark you genius!" Pope smiles big. Taking the diary and going over it again. "These are all his drawings. He painted this entire room." He said, walking around the room.
"Yeah, question is why? What's he trying to tell us?" Kie asked. "It's gotta have something to do with the key, right? Right?" JJ asked.
"Yeah, but what?" I sigh. "Is there some kind of note on the wall?" I say.
"How did you know to uncover this?" John B asked Sarah. "I didn't." She says. "It was like this when I got home." Sarah explains.
"Then who didn't it? Be?" Kiara asked, looking to me for answers. "It wasn't me." I shrug my shoulders. "Sarah was the one who showed me and we immediately came to you guys-." I'm completely cut off by the sound of Wheezie's voice.
"It was the freaks." She says. "Jesus!" I exclaimed grabbing my chest.
"What freaks are we talking about, Wheeze?" JJ asked. "Um, that's sick lady and her attack dog. They showed up late last night and they wanted to talk to Rafe." She explains.
"Wait. Pale blonde lady?" JJ asked. "She has crutches?" Kiara added. "Yup." Wheezie nods. "It's gotta be Limbrey." Pope says.
"Well, what happened." John B pushed. "First they search the whole house looking for something, and then Rafe told me to go upstairs. But I didn't wanna miss out, so I listened through the grate. And they were talking about getting across the sand flamingo." She explains.
"That's code. That's gotta be code for something." JJ said. "Code for what?" I scrunch my face up. "The Cross of Santo Domingo?" Pope asked. "Yeah, that's it's. Oh, and they were talking about angels. A lot of angel talk. I don't know." Wheezie adds.
"Guys Denmark's famous last words. "He buried the treasure at the foot of the angle." Pope yells. "They're looking for an angel. We have to find an angel in the room." Pope exclaims as he begins to search around.
"Okay, looking for an angel!" I shout. The Pogues and I begin to search frantically around the room. "What's going on?" Wheezie asked. "There's a church!" Kiara shouts pointing at the picture on the wall.
"Hey, guys I think I found something." JJ shouts. We rush over to his side. "This humungous tree is still on Goats Island. You know what it's called?" JJ says.
"Angel Oak." Pope breathes. "Look right there. The keyhole." JJ runs his finger along the indent of a key shaped hole.
"That means the cross is buried at the foot of the angel. Wow, that must be where he put it. That must be where they are right now! We have to go!" Pope shouts running out the room.