Opia || Rafe Cameron

Chapter 12

When I walk into the chateau, a nervous energy fills the entire house. There was stuff all over the house, like it'd been shaken. I take a seat next to John B on the pullout.

"What did I miss?" I ask eyeing everyone.

"The guys from the bogey, they came here. Ransacked the place looking for the compass." Pope explains.

"Why?"

"I don't know, but they took a bunch of my dad's research." John B says sadly.

"Shit, John B. I'm sorry."

"I have plan, we're going somewhere." John B says standing up. He grabs the keys to the Volkswagen and walks out the door.

I follow him out the door, the Pogues right behind. We all pile into the car.

"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B asks from the drivers seat.

"What is?" I question.

"A family heirloom. What better place to hide a measage? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"

"Yeah. It's possible." Kie says.

"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels." Pope adds.

"Pope?"

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels. Dank jugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it." JJ pipes up.

"I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to get me a message."

"If it helps you believe, John B."

"Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay? Look, I'm not trippin' out."

"John B, it's okay to trip-" I place a hand on his arm. He shrugs me off.

"Look, my- my dad is missing, okay? Missing. You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."

"It's been almost a year." Kie says softly.

"Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility." JJ says.

"Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope adds.

"Absolutely. Uh... or Atlantis."

"JJ." I give the boy a stern look.

"Look, what do you think the message is?" Kie asks.

"Redfield."

"Somebody please fill me in." I say looking around at everyone.

"The compass has a secret compartment. Big John wrote Redfield on the inside. We think it might be a clue."

"Oh, got it."

"Redfield lighthouse. That's my dad's favorite place."

John B pulls up in front of the lighthouse and parks the car. I climb out, looking up at the tall building.

"All right, here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" John B instructs JJ.

"Wait... why me?" JJ asks.

"Because you're not coming." Pope states.

"Why?"

"There are independent and dependent variables. You're independent. We don't know what you'll do."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" JJ yells.

"Okay, okay." I step between the two. "Pope, you don't have to offend the kid."

"Listen to me for a second." John B says catching our attention. "Pope, Kie, you guys stand lookout with JJ. Okay? If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."

"Great." Kie says shortly.

"I'm gonna work on my Merit Scholarship essay." Pope announces. "And I'm trying to keeping felonies to a minimum."

I ignore the arguing boys and follow John B over the fence. We make our way into the lighthouse.

"What are we looking for?" I ask looking up the long staircase.

"We'll know when we see it." John B answers.

"Uh, okay?"

The walk up the stairs was exhausting. There were so many and they just kept spiraling up the tower. I trudge behind John B, trying to keep up, but that boy was on a mission.

"John B!" I call out a few steps behind him. I was extremely out of breath.

He turns to look at me. "Right, sorry." He runs down the few steps to me and grabs my hand, pulling me with him.

When we finally reach the top of the stairs, there's a solid metal door separating us from the lantern room and gallery. John B knocks on the large door.

He turns to me when nobody answers. "Nobody home." As we're about to walk away the door opens. An old man sticks his head out the door. "Uh, we're here for the lighthouse."

"The lighthouse is closed." The man slams the door before we can react, slamming in our faces.

"Actually, we... we aren't here for the lighthouse." John B says to the door. We're here about the.. the Royal Merchant." John B looks over at me.

The lock clicks, the door opens again. "Then you came to the right place." The guy leads out to the gallery. "I know more about the Royal Merchant than anyone else in Kildare County.

"Holy shit." John B says, looking out at the ocean.

"C'mon." The man waves for us to follow him again. "Now, the Merchant disappeared in the graveyard of the Atlantic in 1829."

"With 400 million." John B adds.

"Correct. You're a bit of a Merchanteer yourself, huh?"

"Uh... Something like that."

"Well, follow me. I wanna show you something." The man chuckles.

If I'm being completely honest the man scared me. I did not like his energy.

The man begins to walk again, gesturing for us to follow. "I've been workin' 30 years up here. The views never changed until two days ago." The man points out to a clearing. "The point's almost gone. One more storm like that, it'll take the lighthouse. I'll go with her. Now, the trick to knowin' where the Merchant is, is knowing whether she was on the north end or the south end of the eye of the storm. Now, most experts believe that she was on the south end. Now, she's on the south end, the bands from the hurricane would have pushed her back out to sea. The man leans really close to John B's face. "But I don't believe that."

"Then uh.. What do you believe?" I ask, pulling John B a step back.

"I think she was on the North end of the eye. Which means the bands would have pushed her..."

"Closer to shore." John B finishes.

"That's right. Now, by my calculations, the Royal Merchant is about 10 miles that way." The man points out into the water.

John B turns to me, a smile smile on his lips. I give him a smile back, encouraging him.

"Come on." The man leads us back inside the tower. He shows us a map, pointing at it. "Right here is where the point used to be. By my calculations the Royal Merchant is about there, down about 1,000 feet."

"That's what my dad used to say." John B says.

"Yup."