All That Glitters

Gold Finger

"Are you sure this is gonna work, Kie?" John B stared at her.

"Yeah, I mean it's just gold." She ignited the torch and held it up to the pot they had set the bars in. Her smile gleamed with a glittering satisfaction at being able to use the torch.

"That's not necessarily true. We know it's been down there for almost two hundred years. These things could very well be more than just gold at this point." Pope said as he sat beside Kie watching her ignite the contents.

"Right. Intentions and shit." JJ bit at his nail.

"Plus I think I remember my Mimaw saying fire burns away intentions or something like that. So once we're done melting it, we should be very careful when handling it. Don't want it to accidentally take on something." Pope picked up a stick and waved it around as he talked.

"Wait... what? Intentions? What are you guys talking about?" Sarah cut in. Her face was contorted with confusion. "We're just melting it down to make it unidentifiable when we sell it, right?"

"Yes, but," Pope surveys the faces of the other Pogues. JJ was too busy watching Kie turning the gold bars into molten goo to care what Sarah was asking. John B stared at Pope with wide eyes. And then he nodded as if saying " go on ". "We've been doing some research. So the entire reason we even know the... the um-"

"Magic exists, Sarah. Like actual world changing magic." John B watched her sigh with disbelief. Closing her eyes and shaking her head.

"No, no. There's no way. My dad would talk about magic when I was a kid. But that was just because I was a kid and could still be fooled into thinking stupid decorative keys had the power to keep my family safe." She held her head in her hands. "John B, I really wish you would've led with the whole you guys being insane bit before I helped you out with Chapel Hill."

"Sarah, we're not insane." John B knelt down in front of her and placed a hand on her knee. "I promise we're not."

She hung her head down, pushing John B's hand off her knee. A solid frown folded against her cheeks.

"Hey, I can prove it." John B said.

"Oh really. What're you gonna do? Abracadabra my ass?"

John B's eyebrows scrunched together. "What? No. No, I'm just gonna show you something. Jesus." He stood up and showed off JJ's ring on his finger. "It's JJ's. The one he gave me that night. The intention put on it was to ease ailments both magical and physical."

"Okay? And?"

"So, when I fell, you remember my skull was cracked open. I was bleeding, right?"

"Most head injuries bleed, John B."

"Yeah but we got to the hospital and I wasn't bleeding anymore, was I?"

Sarah's eyes darted to the ground. She fiddled with her fingers. Her head cocked to the side as she thought. "No. It wasn't. And they said that you had a scar on the back of your head. Fairly recent scar." She shook her head.  "Are you telling me that JJ's ring fixed your head?"

"I got out of it with a sprained wrist and a concussion, Sarah. Think about it."

JJ perked up when he realized what they were talking about. He huffed and bit at his nail.

"Listen, Sarah. I know it's hard to believe." John B started. "But there's magic in the world. Pope's Mimaw helped make the ring using it."

"Okay, so let's just say that what you're saying is true."

"It is."

"Shush. Stop. Let's just say it is. Why would Pope's Mimaw make a healing ring for JJ? What the hell does he need that for?"