𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡, obx . discontinued

𝟐𝟎 ;; 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐋, 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍.

A/N : from now on, the chapters will be in normal capitals...i don't know why i wrote it any other way. enjoy :)

They were all sat in the twinkie, which was beginning to become a little cramped with their growing group population, on the way to Pope's Meemaw's retirement home. Nalani was squished up against Oscar, letting him draw on her hand.

"Guys, the thing that Limbrey said, I don't think she meant to let it slip." Pope explained, twirling the key around in his hand. "She said the key leads to the cross of Santo Domingo."

"Wait, can I see that?" JJ stuck his hand back into the car, swinging it around until Pope gave him the key.

Sarah glances over at Nalani, who had barely made a peep the entire day, and then back to Pope. "Are we supposed to know what that is?"

"I'm guessing it's a historical artifact of great importance." Pope said nonchalantly.

Oscar rolled his eyes jokingly, scoffing under his breath. "Nerd." He continued to draw on Nalani, holding her hand softly in his as he scribbled.

Kiara sighed, shooting Oscar a playful glare before reading something off of her phone. "Well, according to the interwebs, it was a gift from New Spain to the Spanish king."

"New Spain?" JJ furrowed his eyebrows, looking back. "There was an old Spain?"

"Shit, talk about over gifting." Kiara turned her phone around, showing a picture on it. "Look at that thing. Looks like theres a person standing next to it."

Nalani looked over, squinting her eyes to focus on the screen. She wasn't sure what it meant, but she knew that the king of Spain must've been a super important guy to get a cross that big.

"So, it's a giant ass cross." JJ shrugged.

"It was widely considered at the time to be the most extravagant tribute ever from the provinces." Kiara read verbatim from her phone. "It was lost off the coast of Bermuda in 1829."

"Did you just say Bermuda?" JJ asked.

"Here he goes." Oscar murmurs.

"No, not the triangle." John B shook his head at JJ.

"It always leads back to the triangle, dude!" He taps John B softly on the arm, "Like, every time something's weird, it's Bermuda."

Nalani sat up, "Well, what does some random key in an old lady's pharmacy have to do with any of this? And, what do we have to do with it?"

"I don't know." Pope replied softly. "That's a good question."

"It was two questions, actually." Oscar interrupted.

The car came to a halt and they all began to file out of it. Pope got out and looked over at the building, "Hey, actually, I think I'm gonna do this one by myself."

"Are you sure?" Kiara kept eye contact with him, her voice weary.

Pope nodded, "Yeah, I can handle it. I don't really need you, so..."

Oscar and Nalani whipped their heads around to face each other, their eyes wide with amusement. JJ sighed, "Wow, we're all just one big happy family today, aren't we?" He said sarcastically, "Even these children are more stable than you guys." JJ pointed at Nalani and Oscar, making them both glare at him angrily.

- 🌊 -

Nalani and Oscar were in the milkshake shop, waiting for the worker to finish making them. They had ordered their usual mint chocolate and bubblegum, which they hadn't had in a while due to not having the time.