𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐲

XXXIII. Island Room.

THE GROUP of six now arrive to the Cameron house, the van coming to a stop in front and John B parks it before all of them piled out from the back, the five just following after Sarah into her home. Pope right behind her, John B, then JJ, then Jake and Kiara at the end. "This place still freaks me out." John B says quietly to JJ. "Yeah, same."

Sarah opened the door and entered the room. "Pope, look." She says as the boy follows her into the room. "Woah! You've got to be kidding me." He says, looking around. "Yeah. I know, right? It's the island room." He says as Jake and Kie walk into the room, after John B and JJ walked in. "Incredible." Pope says quietly. "It's been here the whole time." Sarah said with a wide smile on her face.

"No freaking way." John B says as they all looked around. "This definitely means something." JJ says as they all spread out, looking at the drawings on the walls. "This is incredible." John B says. "Yo, this is a map of the whole island." He added.

"Yeah, John B, I think you're right because this is Rixon's right here." JJ said, pointing at the wall. "And then there's the lighthouse." He then pointed. "Guys, look, Parcel 9," Kie said as she and Jake looked at the drawings on the wall, her hand gliding over it. "And the well." Jake added, as they turn to the others.

"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 now says, walking over to the other wall with JJ who held up a paper. "Right. And look. Pope, come here." He said. "This is Denmark's handwriting for sure." The Maybank says as Pope stood behind him and John B. "The drawings, they match up."

"Holy shit."

"Denmark, you genius!" Pope said before walking away. "These are all his drawings. He--he painted this entire room." He says as he looked around. "Yeah. Question is why. What's he trying to tell us?" Kie says, glancing at Jake who's just staring at the drawings. "It's gotta have something to do with the key, right? Right?" JJ asked the others.

"Yeah, but what?" Kie says right away. "How did you know to uncover this?" John B now asked Sarah. "I didn't. It was like this when I got home." The Cameron girl simply answers with. "What?" Pope looks over. "Okay, then who did it?" Jake asked, looking at the blonde girl. "I don't know." She says, looking towards him then glancing at the others.

"The freaks." The group all flinch and gasp, turning around to see Sarah's younger sister, Wheezie. Kie had grabbed onto Jake and pulled him closer. "Wheeze!" Sarah rushed over. "Wait, what freaks are we talking about, Wheeze?" JJ now asked the younger teen. "Uh, the sick lady and her attack dog. They--they showed up last night, and they wanted to talk to Rafe." She then explained to the group.

"Okay." John B says quietly. "Wait. Pale blonde lady?" Jake now asked, pointing at Wheezie who nods softly. "Does she have crutches?" Kie asked next. "Uh-huh." The girl nods again. "It's gotta be Limbrey." Pope says and JJ runs a hand through his hair. "Okay, what happened?" John B asked the girl next.

"Well, at first, they searched 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." As she fills them in on everything she heard, she then says, "and they were talking about getting across the sand flamingo." She looks up at them.

"It's code. That's code for something." JJ says and Jake looks at him. "The cross." He says right away and Pope nods quickly. "The Cross of Santo Domingo?" He asked her. "Yeah, that's it. Oh, and they were talking about angels. A lot of angel talk. I don't know." Wheezie says as Pope looked at the young Cameron. "Guys," he looks around at the others now.

"Denmark's famous last words. He buried the real treasure at the foot of the angel. They're looking for an angel. We have to find the angel in the room." He said. "Start looking. Start looking." JJ tells them. "Spread out." Kie says as they all rushed around the room. "There's a church over here." Sarah pointed. "Yeah, check the church." John B says.

As everyone was sort of shouting over one another, asking questions and Wheezie even questioning them about what was happening, Jake was approaching the wall at the back of the room. A drawing of a tree, which had a key hole in it. He remembers this tree, he's seen it plenty of times growing up. "Guys! I think I found something." He says, so all of them stop and look over. Pope rushed over to where he was as he pointed to the drawing.

"This tree is still on Goat Island. Do you know what it's called?" He asked as he pointed to the tree. "Angel Oak." Pope says quietly and he nods, smiling at the Heyward boy. "And look right there. There's the keyhole." He said as he pointed to the drawing. "That means the cross is buried at the foot of the angel." Pope says, looking at Jake who nods, smiling at him. "Wow, that must be where he put it." He said, looking back at the tree drawing.

"That must be where they are right now! We have to go!" Pope says, turning to the others. "I think I'm Sherlock Holmes." Jake said as they all rushed out of the room. "Yeah, great job, Sherlock." Kie says, laughing at him as she grabs his hand, the group rushing down the hall to leave the Cameron house.

On the drive to Goat Island, Pope pointed, "guys, we're coming up on Freedman's Church. It's the church Denmark built for all the slaves he freed." He said. Then on the road connecting to Goat's Island, they can see the big tree very clearly from where they were driving. "There it is. Angel Oak." Kie says, then looked at Jake with a small smile on her face.

 

 

  

  

 

  

   

  

  

  

  

  

authors note
i can't wait to finish part 2 of this fic already and write part 3 for it already 🤞

+ i finished prewriting part 2 and started writing the first chapters of part 3 lol