𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐲

IV. The Adventure.

INSIDE THE house, JJ keeps leading the way for the others behind him, as he glanced back. "Just, uh..." He said. "Just right in the next room." Chandler Groff tells him and JJ turns back. "Okay." He enters the room. "This place smells like dead bodies." John B says and Jake scrunched up his face as Kie also makes a disgusted face at that.

Groff chuckles, "I'll, uh... I'll let Wes know you're here." He tells the group of teens before walking over to open two little doors with window panels. "Wes, they've come." He says and then walked in. "Oh, good. Good. Bring them in." The elderly man says and Chandler turns, watching the teens enter the big room.

"Come in. Please, please, warm yourselves by the fire." Wes says as Cleo walks in, followed by Sarah and Kie. "Good to see you." The old man tells the teens. "Ew." Cleo says at a dusty lamp in the living room. "I... I apologize for dragging you all out here, but I..." The man paused as the teens were looking around the room, the girls sitting down on the couch.

"I don't think I could speak about this in public." The Genrette man now says as the boys also take seats on the other couch, opposite of the girls. "I know I mentioned Blackbeard, but I assure you all, my interest is not for treasure. My ancestor, Francis Genrette, was the British officer who caught and killed the notorious pirate." He explained now.

"Wait. Your... your direct ancestor?" Pope asked him. "Hmm. Yes, unfortunately." Wes answers his question. "After he'd beheaded Blackbeard, he killed the pirate's wife, Elizabeth. And since then, for 300 years, generates of Genrettes have been haunted by Elizabeth's ghost and have died violent deaths, including my daughter." The man stated.

He turns to the painting potrait hung up above the mantle of the fireplace before turning around to look at his son-in-law. "Larissa, Chandler's wife. My daughter saw Elizabeth a week before she died." He looks back at the painting again, which JJ was now staring at. "Now... I've had a visitation. So I know I don't have much time." The Genrette now says.

Sarah looks over at the other boys. "Right. Um... so we're really sorry that that happened to you, but what do you want from us?" John B asked the man. "Of course, you're right. Let's get down to business. Chandler." He says, pointing at the other man. "We believe that we've found a way to break the curse on this family. Right before she was murdered, Elizabeth begged Francis to retrieve from her husband's ship a keepsake that he'd given her. Her most prized possession." The Groff man explained to the group of teens as he now walked over, pointing at the painting of Elizabeth hanging up on the other wall.

"An amulet." He says, pointing at the necklace on the woman's chest. "He denied the request and then murdered her." He turns around. "But if we find that amulet, fulfilling Elizabeth's last request, I believe it will break the curse that has haunted my family for over 300 years." Wes now explained to the teenagers. "Okay. Um... I'm sorry. Where did you say the necklace thingy is?" Kiara now asked.

"Oh." Groff chuckles. "Blackbeard's last ship, the Adventure." He added and Kie nods. "Perfect." She muttered. "According to all records, the amulet was still on it when it was scuttled right off Goat Island." He said, pointing his hand. "Right, yeah, but the Coast Guard excavated that site years ago." Jake said, looking over at the Groff man. "The excavation team didn't know what we know." Wes says so Jake now looked over at the older man.

"They didn't have this." He opens up the book in his hands, which he now handed over to Pope. "There's a secret lockbox hidden behind the headboard in the captain's chamber. Do you dive?" Wes now asked them. "We dive. All... all of us do." JJ quickly answers, so Jake looked over at the blond boy, making a face. "It's just, we only do it if the price is right." The Maybank now explains to Wes.