─☼☼☼─

"𝙋𝙊𝙋𝙀! 𝙋𝙊𝙋𝙀, 𝙒𝘼𝙄𝙏!"

The cars of Rafe, Limbrey, and her team had barely pulled out of sight by the time Pope was emerging from their safe hiding spot behind the bushes. 

The other five teens shared worried expressions before following after him, watching as he came to a stop in front of the coffin that had been dug up, opened, and then cast aside by Limbrey, Renfield, and Rafe. 

Falling to his knees, Pope let out a shaky breath. "Cecelia Tanny." He read in a quiet voice. "Denmark's wife."

Charlotte wrapped her arms around her, eyes falling to the skull and few bones that sat in the coffin. She felt sick to her stomach that they had just dug her up and left her life she was nothing. 

"He wasn't talking about the cross." Pope declared, pushing himself to his feet, eyes locked on the oak tree. "He buried her at the foot of the angel."

Kiara wore a sad smile. "The true treasure."

"His wife." John B whispered. 

A small cry fell from Pope's lips as he lowered himself back down in front of the coffin, the other six quickly following suit. 

"Denmark was hung for burying his wife, and now they defiled her grave." Pope whispered, sadness dripping from his tone as he carefully reached forward and picked up what looked to be a small locket. 

Sarah had done the same, but instead of a locket she held a ring. "This must have been from Denmark." She declared quietly. "Her wedding ring."

While John B and Sarah shared a look of what Charlotte could only describe as longing, Pope spoke again. "We can't leave her like this."

Shaking her head, Charlotte pushed herself to her feet. "We won't."

And they didn't. 

The next fifteen minutes were spent closing up Cecelia's coffin, placing her back at the foot of the angel, and re-covering her coffin with the displaced dirt. 

And then, silently, they all reflected on the magnitude of all of this. What the Tanny family had faced was not a unique story. It was one seen far too often, one that made Charlotte's blood run cold. 

She just hoped wherever they were now, they were finally at peace. 

---

"I just don't get it!" Pope exclaimed as JJ finally finished re-filling Cecelia's grave. "I mean, you guys saw the map. He hides his gold so no one can find it for 170 years. And then he sends a message to his son Robert to come here to his mother's grave, but the message never gets to him. Denamark wanted him to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot."

His sadness had turned to frustration, all of tis clearly beginning to take a toll on his mental wellbeing. 

Pacing back and forth, Pope shook his head. "It just feels like we─"

"Like we missed something?" JJ finished, his eyes locked on something above their heads. There was an excited tilt to his voice as he moved toward the Twinkie, pulling himself onto the roof. "Guys, come here."

Sticking his hand out, he pulled Charlotte up behind him, the others remaining on the ground. 

"Look." He pointed to a hole in between the branches. 

Charlotte leaned over his shoulder, her eyes lighting up. "It's like the painting in the Island Room." She declared, giving him an excited smile as he turned his head slightly to meet her eyes. 

"Worth a shot, right?" JJ wondered, looking down at the others with raised brows. 

They all nodded in anxious agreement. 

"Alright, Charls." JJ mumbled, shoving her forward slightly. "Go for it."

Stepping back, Charlotte shook her head. "No way."

"You do it!" Sarah called from down below, causing Kiara to nod in agreement. 

"Charley and I went in the storm drains, remember?" Kiara reminded, coming to her sister's defense. 

"Yeah." Charlotte agreed, "And I came with you on your jail-break mission from hell. You owe me."

JJ faltered slightly at the mention of that night, the night they had kissed and then pretended it didn't happen. Charlotte noted the slight way his face dropped, she just hoped no one else did. 

"Fine." He reluctantly agreed, letting out a shaky breath as he took a step toward the tree. 

With a grin on her face, Charlotte looked down at the others. "He's scared." She whispered, trying to contain a laugh. 

JJ glared at her for a moment, holding his hand out in front of him as his mentally preparing himself to follow through. "I'm not scared, dude. I'm just─I'm gettin' ready."

"You seem scared." Charlotte mumbled. 

Ignoring her, he finally stuck his hand into the unknown hole, reaching in so far his whole arm was basically swallowed. Something on his face twitched as he leaned in closer. "There's something in here."

An anxious excitement circulated around the group as they thought of the prospect of a clue being within that tree. 

But before their excitement could go too far, JJ let out a scream of horror, his body lurching toward the tree. 

"JJ!" His name flew from Charlotte's mouth, mixing with the screams of the others as she grabbed onto him and tried to pull him back.

But instead of pulling out his arm to show it half ripped off or mauled, JJ let out a laugh, leaning back to slump against Charlotte. "Oh, I got all of you so freaking good. You should have seen your faces."

With her face falling in shock, Charlotte shoved him off of her and back toward the tree. "You're an ass."

Grinning, JJ stuck his hand back into the hole as the others grumbled from down below about what a jerk JJ was. "Seriously, though." He declared, leaning in closer, "There's something in here."

Gently, he pulled something from within the tree, and upon glancing over his shoulder, Charlotte coined it to be some sort of canister looking object. 

"Let me see it." Pope instructed, prompting JJ to pass it down to him. Running his finger over some of the wording, Pope's eyes widened slightly. "H.M.S. Royal Merchant!" He exclaimed as JJ hopped down off the top of the Twinkie. 

"Give it to the captain." JJ grab the item from Pope as John B helped Charlotte down to join the rest of the group. "It's a spyglass." JJ explained, extending it so he could look through it. 

Kiara leaned into her sister's side, trying to get a better look. "There's something on the end."

Wordlessly, Pope snatched it back from JJ, reading the in-scripted words out loud. "You've come this far, do not falter, the cross is on the freedman's alter."

Something flipped in Charlotte's stomach, her eyes widening in excitement as Pope turned to look at all of them. "The cross is at the church!"

Sarah let out an excited laugh as she jumped on Charlotte, Pope and JJ engaging in one of their handshakes as John B stood in shock. They had actually figured it out before Limbrey!

"Let's go!" Kiara exclaimed, already yanking open the door to the Twinkie. 

All six of them piled in, John B already shifting into drive before the doors had even fully closed. 

"Okay," Charlotte announced as they bounded back down the dirt road, "Not to get logistical here, but how do we plan on getting that thing out of the church if it's as big as the internet says it is?"

Everyone fell silent for a moment, sharing thought-provoked looks. "We didn't really think that far, did we?" John B wondered. 

"Not exactly." Pope admitted. 

Charlotte smiled at him, knowing it wasn't like him to miss the important parts of a plan. "We'll figure it out." She promised. "We always do."

A grateful smile came to Pope's face, however it soon faded as the Twinkie came to a slow halt. 

"Crap!" John B muttered. 

Pope leaned forward, letting out a quiet curse. "The tide."

"How deep is that?" Kiara wondered, her, Sarah, and Charlotte trying to catch a glimpse of the water that covered the road up ahead. 

"I don't know." John B admitted. "Road's gone."

"Tide rose a little faster than I thought it would." JJ declared, shifting in his seat. "John B, how high are the spark plugs."

A non-convincing look covered John B's face. "They're good."

"Nah, that's not what I asked. How high are they?" JJ repeated. 

A sheepish look covered John B's face as he looked out the window toward the back of the vehicle. "Oh, uh, just above the taillight."

"So that's, what, three feet?" Pope clarified.

"Three feet." JJ confirmed. 

"That water can't be three feet." Kiara dismissed, but neither Charlotte or Sarah seemed too convinced. 

"We'll make it." JJ assured, giving Charlotte a quick nod. "We're good."

"No offense, guys. But I'm not feeling super confident here." Charlotte admitted, her anxious eyes darting between the water and the boys. 

"We're good." John B repeated what JJ had said, his voice tilting upward which alerted Charlotte that he was not at all confident. "Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts or hold onto something, we're going into hyperdrive."

A nervous sigh fell from Charlotte's lips as she grabbed onto anything she could, bracing herself for the disaster that she was sure was about to ensue. 

"I'm gonna say a quick prayer." JJ whispered.

"We're too young to die." Charlotte mumbled, closing her eyes as she braced for impact.

And then the chaos started. 

John B slammed on the gas, and at first they went no where, the tires stuck in the mud. 

But then, once they were freed, the Twinkie was barrelling through the water, John B doing everything he could to keep it on track. 

"Speed is your friend!" JJ yelled over and over again, while Sarah and Charlotte clutched onto each other for dear life. 

Thing were going somewhat well, at least until the Twinkie took a sharp turn and ended up somewhere in the swamp, no chance of it moving any further. 

Silence coated the vehicle for a moment as everyone digested what had just happened. 

"I think we miscalculated." Pope finally announced. 

Sarah gave him a sarcastic smile, "You think?"

"Okay." John B let out a shaky breath as he opened his door, stepping into the swampy water. "Everyone out! You're weighing it down."

"Is that a fat joke?" JJ muttered as he, too, through open his door and stepped out. 

Charlotte shook her head as she followed after them, wincing as the murky water levelled at her mid-thigh. "If I get eaten by gators, I'm gonna kill you guys."

JJ smirked, "I'll protect you, Charls."

"Okay." Pope interrupted, bringing the attention back to the focus at hand. "Maybe we can walk from here?"

"And leave the Twinkie?" John B challenged. "The─the tide's coming in."

"So then what are we supposed to do?" Sarah questioned. 

JJ shook his head. "Not stay here."

Kiara looked over at her sister, and immediately Charlotte knew what she was thinking. She wanted to argue, to tell her what a horrible idea that was, but she knew it was their only option. 

When Charlotte didn't shut her down, Kiara spoke. "I can take our dad's truck." 

John B didn't look convinced. "Kie, are you sure?"

She threw her arms up in defeat. "How much worse can it get, right?"

"We're gonna need something to pull her out with." JJ deduced, squinting his eyes in concentration for a moment. "There's a winch at the Chateau. That's like two miles."

"Okay, if you're gonna do it, let's go." John B prodded. "Tide's comin' in. Twinkie's going under."

"Kie," Charlotte interrupted, stopping her sister from moving any further. "Why don't you let me go?"

Kiara was already in her parents' bad books, but Charlotte had remained in their kinda bad but not the worst book, so she figured it was better for her to take the hit than their sister. 

"No." Kiara argued. "We shouldn't burn all of our bridges with them. Let them continue to think you're their perfect little Kook child. I've got this."

Her words weren't meant to hurt, but Charlotte felt herself recoil slightly at what her sister was saying. 

Forcing a smile onto her face, Charlotte nodded. "Okay." She conceded, "Just be safe."

"Let's go!" JJ prodded, already wading through the swampy water. Kiara took off after him, the two of them disappearing from view minutes later. 

"Hey."

Charlotte jumped, barely having heard John B arrive next to her. 

"You're not a perfect Kook child, you know that, right? You're a Pogue, Charls. And listen, I know I give you shit sometimes─a lot of the time─ but I'm super stoked you're back with us this summer, alright?"

Somehow, he had noted the way her demeanour had shifted at Kiara's words. He had known what a blow that was to her. 

A grateful smile spread across her face as she nodded, "Thanks John B. Really, it means a lot." She glanced over at Sarah for a moment, letting out shaky sigh. "I know things have been shitty this summer, for all of us, but I'm so glad I got to spend it with you guys."

He grinned, pulling her into a headlock, which was supposed to substitute for a hug. "We've got you, Charls. Always."

And he was right. They did. Despite all the shit they went through, these were the best friends you could ever have. 

─☼☼☼─