viii. you all over me

The dew-covered morning sent a chill breeze through the balcony doors that sit open. It twisted and tangled the light curtains. A warm glow ran through the creaks of the open door cascading across the dyed wood floor laden with rugs and unkept clothes from the days past.

Baby blue cotton draped across the body that had been kissed by the sun and where droplets of water clung. She stood, head resting tiredly -- lazily on the doorframe, looking into the endless abyss of the closet before her.

A sigh escaped Nova's pink and still-swollen lips. She grabbed the first items of clothing that seemed to match and slammed her closet door shut again. She dressed quickly and then did her hair even faster, so the two buns on the top of her head looked like an absolute mess. Almost like palm trees.

She caught a glance at her unmade bed behind her while staring into the mirror. 

He'd gone before the sun had even come up. She knew he was leaving when she heard rustling later that night. Searching for his thrown clothes in the dark. He didn't know she was awake. And Nova gave no reason for him to think that she was. Not even opening her eyes. She listened as he walked softly toward her balcony doors then stopped, suddenly, his footsteps sounded on the hardwood again, this time coming closer to her side of the bed. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed and bundled deep into her duvet. And without even opening her eyes, Nova could feel him beside of her. Standing right at the edge of her bed. She heard his breath at her ear just a moment before his lips pressed firmly to the cool skin of her forehead. And for a few passing seconds, he stayed there. The shock of this nearly drew Nova from her fake slumber. But before she could react his lips lifted from her forehead, and for a moment he just stood there again. Then, with a sigh, she heard him walk toward the balcony doors once more. And this time he didn't stop. This time Nova heard the lock of her balcony door turn and she felt the cold wind rush into her room. 

Nova waited. Waited for the sound of the door latching shut. But the sound never came. The doors never did close. But JJ had left her. And eventually, she slept for real.

It was better this way, Nova thought. Better for him to be gone when she woke. That way they could both avoid the truth.

Avoid the truth despite proof of it being written all over her. He was all over her.

There was still static in the air. Remanents of the shockwave that rolled through just hours earlier. Pieces of him were burned into her. Left on her skin. 

Nova stilled as she ran her thumb over the small patch of discolored, bruised skin just beneath her ear. She couldn't explain what had come over her last night. All she knew was that the want was raging inside her and the building of static between them had become unbearable. So, she electrocuted herself. 

She wondered if now she was just as bad as every guy who'd broken her heart. Had she just done the very same thing that had left her in pieces too many times before? To love them and then leave them. 

Did John B. know? Would JJ have told him? And if not, would Nova tell him?

John B... Nova sighed.

A familiar, crushing weight fell back onto her. The twisting inside her chest was back. Guilt. She knew it well now. Had become acquainted with the feeling of it. It weighed heavy inside her. Made her feel like she was sinking in a vat of boiling acid. Why had it returned now? Where had it burrowed itself last night to where she could no longer feel it? It didn't matter though, not really. Nova knew the truth. With or without any guilt last night would still have the same ending. 

When it came to JJ, any coherent thought or sanity she might've had disappeared.

Was this love? The teenage hormones all the adults whispered about? Lust and desire brought on by teenage hormones. Two bodies craving — needing the touch of the other. Frankly, Nova didn't know anything when it came to him. And she didn't care. Because maybe she was finally realizing that not every goddamn thing had to boil down to love.

Not anymore.

The bruise was still tender. Nova had flinched when she began blending to concealer, which proved to be a shade too light for her, with her middle finger. Her phone lit up beside the elbow that rested on her vanity as her finger moved in continuous motions to cover her reddening skin. It vibrated over and over. Looking down, Nova slid the phone unlocked. She'd just opened her mouth when Sarah's rushed tone sounded through her phone's speaker.

"Nova! You have to see this. Get here. Now!"

Nova waited for more context that never came, "Here? Where's here, Sarah?"

"Ward's place."

It had been weird to hear Sarah call it Ward's place. She never did think that she would be walking into Ward Cameron's house ever again. The tall colonial-style home had once been a place she considered a haven. It'd been so familiar. She knew the place inside and out. Knew where every door in the long hallways led. She knew which cupboards in the kitchen held the cups and which side of the pantry to find the cereal. Ward even kept stock of Captain Crunch even though none of his kids ate it, but he knew it had been Nova's favorite. Nova didn't want to look in the kitchen now though. Knowing that another piece of her life would be taken away from her. Instead, she decided to keep that memory of her pouring cereal in the Camerons' kitchen at two in the morning safe.

She didn't really want to walk into the house at all. It felt different now. Like all the memories she made here as a child had turned to ghosts and was haunting the halls now. Laughter now turned to dread. A second home. Now a place of terror.

Voices drew Nova from her daze. Finally, she stepped through the already-opened door and followed the echoes through the empty hallway. She let them guide her, wood creaking beneath her feet with every careful step she took. She didn't know why she was so nervous. The voices had grown louder, more recognizable. Nova knew who she would be meeting here. The voices belonged to her friends. They weren't memories coming back to haunt her. 

The room she walked into was completely unrecognizable. What was supposed to be Ward Cameron's study was now a room of depletion. Furniture littered the floor, having been tossed and tipped over. The wallpaper was shredded leaving what looked to be residue of dried glue and some kind of markings that had likely been what the wallpaper was covering. 

Nova stepped more into the room. Turning. Taking in everything that had been destroyed around her.

She stopped, eyebrows furrowed, "What is all of this?"

"It's a map of the island," said John B. his arms crossed over his chest. "Of this island."

But she knew that already. Having caught a glimpse of the lighthouse and surf break. These scrawlings on the wall... they weren't random. It was a map, illustrating the island. Her home.

Nova nodded, "Yeah," she said, unable to meet his eye, instead looking at the shredded wallpaper. "Yeah, I can see that. But what does it mean?"

"The drawings... they match up with Denmark Tanney's handwriting. He painted this entire room," Pope was leaning against an empty desk, his arms stretched behind him, supporting his weight. 

He was tired. Nova noticed. She looked around the room, they were all tired.

"So what?" she asked, a hand running over her face as she turned fully to Pope. "This has something to do with the key?"

"That's what I said," said a voice that made static dance around Nova's fingertips. 

Her gaze slid over to the body who stood with his arm crossed beside Pope. A backward hat sitting on top of his head. It was JJ. Her chest tightened but her mouth wouldn't move. So, just nodded at him before she turned back to Pope. 

Nova chewed on her thumbnail, "What does it have to do with it though?" she asked, looking at Pope, but the question could have been for everyone or no one. "What could all of this mean?"

No one said anything.

"Sarah, how did you find out all of this was here?" Kiara asked, she stood on the other side of the room, still studying the markings on the wall. Her eyebrows furrowed and her finger lingered on the spot she was last looking at. 

Sarah shook her head, "I didn't," she told Kiara, then looked at everyone else. "It was like this when I got here."

Nova hummed, leaning back against the wall, "Another Rafe breakdown, I'm sure."

John B's eyebrows rose as he nodded in agreement. 

"Could be," shrugged Sarah. "But I'm not sure."

The agitation in the room grew when everyone went quiet. Having nothing else to say. Left only with more questions. And never any answers. 

The only answers they did have led only to more questions, taking them deeper into the hole they'd dug themselves into. It was like a carousel. Turning and turning with no way off. And endless loop with no hope of ever making it out.  

"The freaks."

Nova jumped, turning quickly as she backed away from the voice that had come through the door behind her. The door that led into the dining room. The dining room where she'd sat at so many times before. 

"Wheeze!" 

Sarah's eyes widened as she started for her little sister. A sense of relief sounded in her voice and a small, but sad smile tugged at the corners of her lips. 

"What freaks, Wheezie?" asked Nova when her heart was no longer threatening to burst out of her chest. 

Nova had grown up watching Wheezy grow up. She'd been there for her preschool graduation and was there with Sarah to talk her through her first period when Wheezie didn't want to tell her mom. It was almost like having a little sister of her own, or maybe, more of a close cousin.

"That sick lady and her attack dog," she told them, shrugging as if none of this wasn't a big deal at all. And Nova had to remind herself that to Wheezie, none of this meant anything. "They showed up last night, and they wanted to talk to Rafe."

When he moved to step closer toward Wheezie, JJ's arm had brushed against Nova's. She bit down on the inside of her lip as all the feelings of last night rushed through again. It took everything in her to not step away from him. 

"Wait. Was she a pale blonde lady?" he asked. 

Wheezie nodded. 

"Crutches?" JJ continued to interrogate the girl.

Wheezie nodded again. 

JJ turned back to them, "It's gotta be Limbrey."

Obviously. Nova thought. 

Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at JJ, "You think?"

And she turned his head forward again by pushing the point of his chin to the left. 

"What happened, Wheezie?" John B. asked, his voice right behind her. 

"Well, first, they searched the whole house looking for something, and then Rafe told me to go upstairs," she used her thumb to point backward where the stairs to her room could be found. "But I didn't wanna miss out, so I listened through the grate..." She went on, telling what she heard echoing through her vents as she spied on her older brother and the Limbreys. Nova and Sarah used to get so mad when they'd find Wheezie listening on the other side of the bedroom door or found out she was on the other line of the house phone before they were allowed cell phones, but now, Nova couldn't be more thankful for it. "And they were talking about getting across the sand flamingo."

Nova's eyebrows furrowed as confusion settled inside her. She'd heard nothing about the sand flamingo.

But JJ nodded, a confident look on his face, "That's code for something."

But Pope shook his head, "The cross," he said. "The cross of Santo Domingo?"

Wheezie's eyes widened, "Yeah, that's it," she told Pope. "Oh, and they were talking about angels. A lot of angel talk. I don't know."

"Angels?" Nova scoffed. 

The Limbreys were anything but. 

"Guys, Denmark's famous last words!" Pope turned, he was talking fast and had an erratic look in his eyes and the pieces began to fall together for him. "He buried the real treasure at the foot of the angel," but Nova still felt confused. It seemed like the only person who understood any of this was John B., which wasn't shocking since he's the one who decided to dive head first into all of this. "They're looking for an angel. We have to find the angel in the room."

So, like a freaking scavenger hunt. Again.

"Okay, everyone spread out," said Kiara. 

But everyone was already dispersing, starting for a spot on the wall, tracing with their fingers as they hoped to come across some kind of angel that would tell them where this scavenger hunt would take them next. 

Nova wanted to laugh. Denmark Tanney was a funny man. She wished he was alive so that she could punch him.

The room had gone from tense to erratic. Talking about churches on the map. What could be considered angels and what couldn't? People finding crosses. Wondering if the angel was literal or metaphorical. Was any of this actually worth it? Well, Nova wondered the last thing. She didn't know if anyone else was asking that question.

"Yo!" 

Nova turned, brought from her thoughts by JJ yelling. "Guys, I think I found something. Come here," they all shared a collective glance, wondering if this was serious or if somehow JJ wanted them all over there because all he found was a way to make some kind of dirty joke. 

Nova was the first to take a step. The others followed. 

"This humongous tree is still on  Goat Island. You know what it's called?" he said, pointing at the painting of the large, old-looking droopy tree. 

He looked back over his shoulder, grinning. Nova shrugged. She didn't know. 

"Angel oak," said Pope, his voice soft and slow as if he'd been put in some kind of trance. 

"Look right there," said JJ, pointing his finger to a small part of the tree. "There's the keyhole."

"Wait." John B. said suddenly. They all turned to look at him, JJ keeping his finger at that place on the old tree so it wouldn't be lost. "That means the cross is buried at the foot of the angel."

"Wow, that must be where he put it," said Pope, smiling, his eyes bright. "That must be where they are right now! We have to go!"

Pope began ushering them quickly out of the room, spouting about how they had to get there. About how they had to beat the Limbreys to the cross. They were all rushing out in front of him, yelling and throwing questions that they knew were going to be left unanswered. Because only one thing mattered to Pope right now, and that was getting the cross. They had to get to that cross. 

"I think I'm Sherlock Holmes, all right?" JJ yelled over the commotion, causing a commotion of his own. "You're welcome by the way!"

"Yeah, hurry it up, Sherlock!"

Nova couldn't see him in their mass exit, but she heard an exasperated sigh from John B. as he pushed JJ out of the room. 

Nova stopped at the back of the group and looked back at the torn and tattered study. Her eyes ran over the painting on the wall one time. She shook her head. This was too easy.

The van shook and its engine rumbled as they drove far past all the island's tourist attractions and far out of town. Trees passed her by in a blur. The green leaves began to brown as the summer season slowly came to an end. Soon carved pumpkins would litter front porches and the sides of the street. Soon the beaches would be empty and the nature trails decorated for a haunted hike through. The pool supplies aisle in the stores would be replaced with cheap costumes and sugary candy. 

Summer was ending. But something new was well on its way. 

"Guys, we're coming up on Freedman's Church," said Pope, staring impatiently outside the window.  He pointed, his finger pressing against the glass to show off the old church that had once been painted white but the wear and tear of the years has stained it brown and black. "The church Denmark built for all the slaves he freed."

They drove past the church and Nova looked at the stained glass windows that had long since shattered and soon boarded up so no pesky teenagers would sneak in and use such a sacred place for their devious acts. No one has ever said that's what happened but Nova liked to think that it did.

The drive only got bumpier and the van shakier the longer they went on. The van was no longer on a paved roadway, but what was once a graveled path. The gravel was no longer able to be seen. From years of not being maintained and the hurricanes passing through with the rising tides, the gravel likely slid into the ocean surrounding them. Or it was buried deep beneath the dirt road they drove on now. 

"There it is!"

Kiara pointed, her arm stretching past John B. and JJ's heads to point out of the dusty windshield. And she was right. 

Far past the weeds that grew taller than the van that drove past them and went on for miles and miles sat a tree. Angel Oak. It sat at the very edge of the earth it seemed as Nova lifted herself and peered past the passenger side seat. It was gigantic. A monster created by nature. What seemed like a thousand branches broke free of the tree trunk spreading wide and far. Leaves cascaded around it, still full of vibrant green. The changing seasons had yet to get to it. The thick leaves that covered the long branches cast a shade a mile long. It was beautiful. And it was terrifying. 

Suddenly, the van slowed, not by a lot but enough for Nova to take notice, the ground beneath them seemed to soften, "Ah shit!" as if able to sense what she'd just noticed, John B cursed, looking over the steering wheel. "Tide's coming in."

"Doesn't look like we're the first people to come through here," said Nova. 

She nodded ahead, looking out the dirty windshield and down over the hood at the tire tracks they followed. Tracks sinking deep into the soggy ground, tracking out far past where they sat, leading to the very center of the swampy landscape. Nova knew exactly where those tire tracks would end.

Pope shook his head as his hand wrapped around the shoulder of the driver-side chair so tight his knuckles began spotting white, "That has to be from the Limbreys," he said what they all already knew. "We have to go."

They all already knew that too. 

JJ hummed sounding unsure as he looked over at John B, "What do you think chief?"

"I think it's looking a little dicey."

"Yeah. I'm gonna have to agree with that statement."

"Well clearly the Limbreys made it," Kiara said, still sitting in the back with her arms crossed, back against the carpeted wall. 

JJ shrugged, "Yeah, but in a two-wheel drive... I don't know about that."

Pope fell back down into his seat with a long, disappointed sigh. His head fell back against the back of John B's seat and his eyes closed, "Great."

Nova bit the inside of her lip, looking around her. The sense of defeat was heavy in the air. Was this really it? Were they really stuck? After everything they had to do to get this far, this was going to be what made them turn around? A shitty van and the tide was going to be their downfall.

A small bit of anger coiled inside of Nova. It was bullshit. She wasn't going to let this happen. A cheap, two-wheel drive van, that should've been left in the 70s', was not going to determine her fate.

"No."

Everyone turned their silent gaze in her direction. She shook her head, "I said no," she told them, her tone stern... strong. "This ugly ass van is not going to stop us from getting that damn tree," Nova huffed, looking at John B. and JJ, even as everything inside her screamed. "When have the two of you ever been short on some kind of dumbass plan?"

John B. looked at JJ and shrugged, "She's got a point..."

JJ looked as if he was playing every possible scenario in his head at this very moment. Finally, he nodded.

"Speed is your friend here, okay?"

John B. agreed and those sitting behind the two front seats all shared an expression that reeked of nervousness. They began to secure themselves in their seats, bracing for whatever they were about to be thrown into. Nova's heart was like a jackhammer against her chest and she'd slowly started to regret letting JJ and John B. decide the best way to get out of the mess they were in. 

She had no idea what she might've just gotten herself and everyone else sitting in the back of the van with her into. 

"You're just gonna put her down in second and hammer down, brother," JJ spoke with excitement to him as he sat straight up in his seat like there was nothing at all to be worried about. Like everything would turn out just fine.

It infuriated Nova.

Pope turned around, his head looking over the right shoulder of the driver's seat, "Stick to the high middle ground, John B."

John B. nodded, not letting Pope, or anyone else know if he'd planned to take the advice. 

Nova heard him release a breath before he turned back to look at everyone, "Everbody ready?" he asked, and though they all nodded, it didn't meet their eyes, and Nova could see the nerves building in John B. as his gaze slid to her, as if he were waiting for something. Nova offered him a nod, trying to seem as brave as she could. "Here we go."

With a small rattle and shake, the van came to life with a raspy roar. The smell of gas automatically began to seep in from outside. And they could hear the mud below them as the dull tires spun in the slowly sinking ground. Suddenly, everyone's body jolted forward as it felt like the van had all but jumped off the ground. 

Before she could be thrown face-first into the back of the passenger seat's headrest, Nova reached out, letting her hand take the force of the jolt as it pressed harshly onto the headrest. On that one arm, she braced her weight on that arm, clutching the side of her own seat with the other. She was being swung left and right, back and forth, it was nauseating. Worse than any roller coaster she'd ever been on. 

"Come on bro! Punch it!" JJ yelled from the seat in front of Nova, a slight panic in his tone. And by glancing up she noticed his hand gripping the bar above his window. "You're not going fast enough!"

Nova could see the muscles tense in the back of JJ's neck and through his arm as he gripped onto the handle hard enough to turn his knuckles white. The same color they'd been when he held onto her waist last night, his fingers digging into her skin, leaving marks of himself. 

"I'm in second!" 

She blinked away the memories. John B's voice pulled her from her thoughts. Her mouth had gone dry and her heart hammered against her chest. Nova sucked in a breath, looking around the van, trying to reorganize her thoughts.

John B. was trying to keep control of the car as he jerked the steering wheel left and right, weaving through the deep, sticky mud that threatened to swallow them whole. Nova could feel the tires sinking deeper and deeper into the mush below them and though the gas bellowed from the van, they'd slowed down. 

"It's gonna slide..." said Kiara, her tone warning. 

It was already sliding. Nova felt the van slipping and sliding. And everyone in the back with her was being tossed around with the jerks of the van.

"We're already fishtailing!" Nova yelled from the back, looking up at John B. with wide, terrified eyes. 

"I know, I'm sorry!" he said. "Just hold on."

"Not to put any more pressure on you, but if you don't make it through here, we'll be stuck here... forever..." Pope turned around to lean over John B's seat. 

Without even a glance toward his friend, John B's hand found Pope's face, and he shoved him back, "Put your head back, okay?"

The white-knuckle grip Nova had on the passenger seat in front of her was starting to cause her fingers to cramp, but she wasn't about to risk letting up, and allowing herself to fly forward, breaking her nose, or her eye socket, which she heard can actually happen. 

Beside her, Sarah had been completely drained of all her color. The life had seeped out of her turning her into a walking corpse. Her head was back and she took slow breaths with her eyes closed. Her hands gripped either side of her seat, fisting the material so tight she shook. Nova had never seen Sarah get car sick before, but she found herself wishing she had a barf bag on hand for her now.

Soon enough the swerving and jolting stopped. It no longer felt like they were being sucked into the earth by a giant mud hole. Nova felt tires connect to solid ground and the van finally was back to its normal shaking and sputtering. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Wondering how in the world they'd managed to make it through that mess alive. 

Letting out a triumphant holler of his own, John B's hand slammed down on the steering wheel and he nearly jumped out of his seat. 

"I told you we'd make," he said, though there was still a slight tremor in his tone.

Nova scoffed, letting herself slowly fall back into her seat as she stretched out her fingers. Kiara moved away from where she'd braced herself between the back of the van and Nova's seat, she twisted her torso, and Nova heard a few pops come from her spine. 

"You good, Nova?" Kiara, who noticed Nove bent over with her eyes squeezed shut, asked. 

"Guys," said Nova, she breathed heavily as if she'd just run a marathon or something. "We're going to have to start taking another car. Preferably one from this era."

Nova caught John B's gaze through the rear-view mirror and glared at her jokingly, already knowing just how much she hated his van. She grinned at him before he turned back to the road.

"Hey!"

JJ turned around, looking offended, "Don't bad mouth the van," he told Nova, his eyes bright and his body jittery from the adrenaline still coursing through his body. "This beauty just got us to Angel Oak."

Scoffing, Nova rolled her eyes, "Yeah, right," she said. "This beauty just about got us to meet the angels."

He smirked, and the sight made Nova's chest explode. 

Just then, the van began to roll to a slow stop, the breaks screeching in protest. JJ turned around just before the van came to a stop with a hard jerk.

"Angel Oak is just through here," JJ pointed through the densely packed trees that surrounded them.

Nova looked around her as she slid the van door open. The trees had just now started to lose the leaves that decorated their ling twine-like braches. She nearly fell over when her feet touched solid ground, not realizing her legs were still shaking from the near-death experience she just had. 

"So we're walking?" 

Sarah stepped out of the van with a hand shielding the harsh sun from her eyes. She scrunched her nose with a look of distaste as she took in her surroundings. She was still pale and beads of sweat clung to her hairline. Hiking was the last thing Sarah wanted to do today.

Kiara shrugged, "Do we have another option?" she asked, though needed no answer, as the answer was all around them. There was no way the van, or any vehicle for that matter, would fit through the trees. "I mean, there's not even a walking path."

Kiara was right. The trees were too packed together. They weren't meant to even be hiked through.

"Come on," said Nova, looping her arm through Sarah's. "You can walk with me," she smiled at her sickly-looking best friend. "I'll even hold your hair back if you puke."

It seemed that with every other step, Sarah had to stop to let a dizzy spell pass or when she swore she was going to throw up but only ended up dry heaving for two minutes. But Nova didn't complain. Honestly, she was just glad Sarah was still able to stand after seeing how much she had to drink last night. So, she stood beside her friend as she bent over behind a tree to try and puke out the ginger ale she had for breakfast this morning. 

Sarah let out a whine as she fell back against a thick tree trunk, "I'm never drinking again," she swore. "I hate this."

Nova smiled sympathetically, "You were pretty drunk last night."

This wasn't new to her. It wasn't the first time Nova had to comfort her friend while she spilled the contents of a night of overconsumption. And she doubted it would be the last. Sarah Cameron has never been able to hold her liquor. She was even worse at handling a hangover. 

"Yeah, and then you disappeared," Sarah scoffed as her eyes slid over to where Nova stood beside her. "And missed the fight."

"There was a fight?" Nova's head turned quickly to Sarah, eyebrows raised. She hadn't heard anything about a fight. Why hadn't she heard anything? "Between who?"

"John B. and Kelce," Sarah shrugged as if it should've been common knowledge. 

"Why would John B. and Kelce fight?"

Sarah shrugged, "Why else?" she asked. "You."

"Me?"

"You."

Nova shook her head and lost her balance, tripping over a tree root breaking through the ground, "Me and John B. aren't even together right now— I mean, we broke up..." There was no word that she could find that would describe what they were, or weren't, anymore. 

"It's not like they were fighting for your hand in marriage, or anything," said Sarah before Nova could confuse herself any more than she already was. "It was more like they were fighting because of you."

"Because of me?" Nova's eyebrows were raised high into her hairline. "So, it's my fault?"

Now Sarah was confused, "What? Of course not," she looked at Nova with her eyebrows furrowed. "You weren't even there. How could it have been your fault?"

"I mean, you're the one that said it."

Nova glanced sideways at Sarah, who rolled her eyes. 

"No, it's just when Kelce noticed that you disappeared he went around asking people if they'd seen you, and I guess he asked John B, who was kinda pissed to hear that Kelce let you wander around alone while drinking," Sarah explained, finally. "Kelce obviously didn't like being blamed, so he told John B. that it wasn't a surprise he didn't know where you were since he was so good at leaving you behind..." Sarah began biting at the skin around her nails, a nervous tick she picked up in third grade. "That's when fists started flying."

Nova sighed, falling back against the tree beside Sarah, guilt ate its way through her, once again making its presence known, "That's not how it happened. John B. didn't — he didn't just leave me behind."

He'd never left her behind. 

"God, Kelce is such an ass," She pressed the heel of her hands into her eyes, a dry laugh escaping her lips. "He doesn't know anything!"

Sarah nodded, "Yeah, that's what John B. said," she turned her head to look at Nova. "Right before he beat Kelce's ass."

John B, knowing that she didn't blame him helped ease some of that anger inside her. He didn't leave her. He survived. And that's all she needed him to do — to keep doing. And he's the only person who needed to know that she felt that way. Kelce wasn't there. Kelce didn't know anything about the day she was left standing alone on that pier. He didn't need to know, never would know, no one ever would. Nova didn't want to let them in on that. It wasn't their moment to share. That moment, that goodbye belonged to John B. and her. 

But she hated that people who didn't know anything were taking what wasn't theirs and twisting it into something less than meaningful.

"You okay?" Sarah watched her best friend, concerned.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Nova smiled.

Sarah was finally able to start moving again. And it didn't take them long to catch up with the others. Not with their constant bickering and needing to stop to argue with one another. But Nova and Sarah stayed out of it, sticking to their own conversation. 

"Where'd you disappear to anyway?"

"What?"

Nova's head snapped to Sarah, who walked beside her, their arms linked. Admittedly, Nova hadn't been paying much attention anymore. Her mind wandered and her eyes took in the tight-forming scenery around them. She kept watching the ground and scanning the lands around them, making sure no water was seeping toward them, which would mean that the tide was still rising and they were about to be stranded here just like Pope said back in the van.

"Last night, when you disappeared on everyone," she bumped her shoulder into Nova's. "Where'd you go?"

"Oh..." Nova drew out. "I just went home."

It wasn't that she didn't want to tell Sarah. She didn't want to tell anyone. 

"You went home?"

Nova nodded, "Turns out I wasn't really in the partying mood."

Sarah nodded, and Nova felt so guilty she could throw up. 

But it wasn't like she was lying. Not technically anyway. She did go home and she really hadn't been in the mood to party much last night. Sure other moments in between and after those events happened, but no one was asking about those moments. 

Lincoln Scott called this, giving selective truths. And he's always told his kids that it was just the same as lying to someone's face.

Nova's heart was racing and her stomach churned. Her nerves were shot and she ran a shaking hand through her hair before tucking the sweaty strands that clung to the sides of her neck behind her hair.

Sarah was watching her. It was as if she already knew Nova was lying to her. Her eyes began to squint as she leaned in closer to Nova, eyebrows furrowing together curiously. 

"What the hell happened here?" Sarah's finger pointed to a place near her right ear. "Is that a rash, or something?"

Her finger had barely brushed over the tender skin just beneath Nova's earlobe, jolting awake memories from last night. Quickly, Nova jerked her head away from her best friend and unlinked their arms to step away. Her hair fell back over her shoulders with the sudden movement but she didn't move to tuck it back again.

Nova felt that familiar burn run through her. Like a lightning strike coursing through her body. She could still feel his lips stuck to that very spot. She remembered her hands tangling in his sun-bleached hair, pulling him down, feeling like she needed to feel every part of him pressed to her.

She gulped. Her mouth opened slightly, waiting for words to be formed. But her brain had been turned to putty. And Nova was only left standing there, blinking at her best friend. 

"You two make sure you're paying attention back there," JJ's voice brought Nova's gaze toward the front of the group where he continued to lead their exploration. "There's definitely a gator's nest through here so just keep your eyes peeled, okay?"

JJ glanced back over his shoulder, his eyebrows were raised as he looked back at Nova and Sarah with an absolutely serious expression on his face. 

"Excuse me?" Sarah called up to him. 

Sarah scoffed, "Did you say gators? As in alligators?"

He nodded, "Yeah, you don't wanna step on a mama gator," JJ turned back around but went on with no indication in his tone to suggest he was anything was serious. "That's the last thing you want."

Nova's eyebrows furrowed. She'd lived on this island all her life and hadn't come across any alligators. She knew they could be around but never suspected that they ever were.

"Gators have nests?" asked Kiara, kicking a bush out of her way.

Nova caught a slight annoyance in her tone.

"Yeah, and none of you want to be a Pat Womack," said JJ, shaking his head, though he was practically talking to himself at this point since everyone had started to tune him out. 

Yet Nova decided to humor him. 

"What's a Pat Womack?" she asked.

"She had her calf chewed off by a gator," JJ told her looking back at her again, eyebrows raised, and her heart leaped just before he turned again, leaving her to look at his back. "You didn't know that?"

Of course, she didn't know that.

Nova's eyes widened, "Are you serious?"

He couldn't be. If someone had their calf eaten away by an alligator it would've been all over the place. Talked about at bonfires and turned into lessons by parents to teach their kids to be more watchful. 

However, Nova still scanned the ground around her to make sure nothing was lurking nearby.

"No, don't listen to him," Kiara shook her head and Nova could hear the eye-roll in her sigh. "Pat Womack was injured in a car accident."

Nova still doesn't remember ever hearing about a Pat Womack, but she breathed out a sigh of relief for the girl anyway. 

JJ shrugged, "Okay, just live in ignorance I guess," he said, still clinging to his version of the story. "But she had her calf chewed off by a mama gator. I know that for a fact."

Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Have you ever seen an alligator?" Nova asked him. "Like in person and out in the wild?"

"Yeah, and they like the brackish waters," JJ answered quickly, making Nova roll her eyes. 

He began swinging the walking stick he'd carried all this way with him around, hitting bushes and tree trunks. Nova had opened her mouth to ask what he was doing but was stopped when JJ held up a hand, stopping in place, making everyone behind him halt and fall silent. They waited, watching, wondering what he was doing. 

Suddenly, JJ jumped over a steep, but short, bank and landed just beside a shallow stream, unlikely to be hiding an alligator. But he swung his stick back then down against the murky, muddy water, splashing himself and everyone around him.

"I see something," he told everyone, continuing to swing down on the water, hitting nothing. 

Nova cringed backward to try and avoid the dirt-filled water but was unsuccessful. John B. yelled at JJ from his place in front of Nova, his low voice telling JJ to cut it out. 

"Right, wake them up," Sarah yelled over everyone else, sarcasm leaking through her tone. "That's so smart JJ."

Finally, JJ stopped abusing the water. Slowly, Nova lowered the arms she'd been using to shield her face from the splashing water. 

JJ looked back again at everyone and shrugged. 

"I was just making sure there wasn't a gator," he told them as if it had been the most normal thing he could've done. "That's all."

Annoyance fell heavy over everyone as they continued trekking through the thick shrubs, avoiding tree roots and thorn-filled sticks and stems. Mosquitoes started to swarm them, their insistent buzzing making for an aggravating hike. Nova smacked them away from her face, wishing someone would've thought to bring bug spray. Then again, who would've thought they'd be walking through a makeshift swamp this afternoon? She certainly hadn't planned for it.

"How much longer?" Sarah whined, letting her head fall back dramatically. 

Pope turned, quickly shushing her, finger pressed to her lip. He's taken over as the group's guide after JJ's alligator fiasco, thankfully. He quietly waved them over to where he stood, hidden behind densely packed shrubs, bushes, and dying tree branches. They all crouched beside of him, doing their best to remain hidden. 

Voices sounded just a couple of feet away from them. Familiar voices that came from the other side of the shrubbery they hid behind.

"You sure this is the right spot?"

"It's there. The garment will be in the cross, and the cross will be at the foot of the tree..."

The Limbreys. 

There was a heavy silence that fell over all of them. Holding their breaths as their eyes followed the excavator that scooped mounds and mounds of dirt at a time. If that's where the cross was hidden the Limbreys would have it in no time. 

Nova was angry. Angry at herself more than anyone else. If only she'd thought of that first. Why couldn't she have thought to hire someone to do the heavy lifting for them first? Everything would've been so much easier. Getting to that damn cross would have been so much easier. 

"One touch of it, and I'll be healed, and this long nightmare will be over," Carla Limbrey lectured her henchman on the importance of a garment that Nova didn't know anything about. 

Her henchman didn't seem as convinced of magic as the old lady he guarded. His face was tight and his eyes rolled when she spoke to him. 

"I know you don't believe it," she followed after him, struggling with her crutches through the uneven terrain. "But countless stories over millennia prove that..." she stopped, her breaths heavy and ragged, sounding like she'd just run a marathon. Her bodyguard, without instruction, unfolded a lawn chair for her that she happily fell into, and sighed, relieved and smiling. "... miracles happen."

Carla Limbrey watched, bathed in confidence and hope, as the earth was taken up for her very own miracle. She watched each mountain of dirt be lifted and dumped again and again with a smile on her face. All of this for some garment that could be God himself from the way she talked about it. Nova pictured glowing gold threads that were blinding to the eye. A garment from the fairytales. 

A loud crunch split the quiet air. It sounded like wood. Like wood being split apart by the large claw butchering its way into the ground. 

"Hey! Wait!" Carla Limbrey stood from her flimsy lawn chair faster than Nova thought was possible for her. "Stop! Please, Stop! Did you hear that?" Quickly, she took back her crutches, now bearing her weight on the sturdy steel legs. "Get in there, boys. Do it by hand."

A large man emerged from inside the heavy, still beeping, machinery and jumped into the hole he'd dug upon command. Nova rolled her eyes, just like a puppet, all of them who worked for Carla Limbrey were just big men with puppet strings tied to them. She couldn't hear them anymore. Rafe, Carla, and the loyal guard dog circled the hole in the ground like starving vultures, and whatever conversation it was they were having as they watched one man do the work for them, Nova couldn't hear. 

Whatever was inside the earth the man who jumped after it wasn't able to bring it up himself, which meant Rafe and the Limbrey henchman had to start pulling their weight. Carefully, and slowly, they helped lift a large, coffin-shaped box from the hole they'd put in the earth. They were careful as they carried it across the ground, only to drop it in the grass at Carla Limrey's feet like two perfect little servant boys.

"A coffin?" asked Sarah, her eyebrows knitted tightly together. 

Nova bit down on the inside of her lip, "Think there's a body in there?"

She really hoped there wasn't a body in there.

"No," said Pope. "It's the cross."

"They got the cross?" JJ looked between Pope and John B, his eyes wide and panicked. "What do we do?" he asked, practically jumping over the bush they hid behind. "What do we do?"

John B. yanked on the neck of the jacket JJ had worn that day, pulling him back, "What can we do?" he asked in a quiet hiss of a warning. 

They watched in silent despair as crowbars worked beneath the rotting wood of the coffin, lifting the edges bit by bit, popping out nail after nail. Nova's lip bled, the iron taste burning the back of her throat. She watched as the wood finally caved from the pressure and the lid was thrown wide open. 

Nova was a bit let down when there was no glowing beam of light when they opened the coffin lid. And it seemed as if her sentiment was shared when Carla Limbrey looked down inside the coffin herself and all the hope that had been glowing in her face slowly faded back to that dying grey look she normally wore. 

"It's just a corpse."

Rafe's dead, monotonous tone carried through the trees and the shrub they hid behind, letting them all know, they hadn't found anything, that the cross they'd somehow found themselves in a race to find was still out there. That the coffin was just that... a coffin. 

"We must have missed something..."

Carla Limbrey dug her crutches into the ground beneath them and shakily lifted herself off the ground, her muscles struggling even with her resting most of her weight on the steel crutches. Her breathing was heavy as she made her way toward the parked car sitting not far from their hiding place, the guard dog not far behind. 

"We just got the wrong place. We'll go back to the island room," she said when her henchman met her at the car, still keeping ahold of a seed of hope. Carla turned back to where Rafe stood still looking down into the coffin. "We're going back! It's not over."

She wasn't going to stop. It didn't matter who it rightfully belonged to or why. In her mind it already belonged to her, she just had to retrieve it. And she wasn't going to let anything get in her way. Not Rafe Cameron and certainly not a group of unruly teenagers. Carla Limbrey was going to get what she wanted. To hell with anyone else. 

Nova realized then, just how dangerous that made her.

In the race for treasure, the dead had become collateral damage. Those who had been long buried and forgotten were not safe from prying hands and greed, now being disturbed from their resting place. And because of that, they were all going to be haunted by the ghost of Cecilia Tanny.

Pope insisted on closing the coffin back up, burying her once again beneath the dirt she'd been found. And Nova watched the boys work, shoveling dirt and grime back over the old wood coffin with the remains of the wife Denmark Tanny. As they worked Nova had found a place on top of the van to sit, her legs crossed and skin burning as the sun beat down on her through the branches of the large tree. 

Sarah and Kiara had wandered off further into the trees. Sarah's knees knocked as her urge to pee became too hard to ignore. She'd insisted Kiara follow her, still scared of the alligators that JJ insisted were crawling about.

John B. slumped on the grass, his shovel beside him and his chest moving up and down with each long breath. Nova watched as he wiped the dripping sweat from his face, smearing the dirt on his hands across his forehead. She fought a smile creeping onto her lips. JJ had disappeared under the van, sitting in the open door as the AC provided the little relief it offered. John B. yelled at him for wasting gas, but JJ hadn't listened as he fell back against the carpeted ground of the van, hands over his eyes.

"I just don't get it," said Pope, leaning against his shovel that was still stabbed into the earth. "I mean, you guys saw the map. He hides his gold so no one finds it for 170 years and then sends a message to his son Robert to come here to his mother's grave. But the message never gets to him..." He paused, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "Denmark wanted him to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot....It just...it feels like —"

" —like we missed something?"

Nova felt the weight of the van shift as JJ stood up and walked out from inside it. He was quiet as he backed away from the van, looking up past Nova and toward the tree, eyebrows furrowed. Curious, Nova followed his gaze but saw nothing. When she turned to look back down at him, she found him climbing the ladder on the side of the van as if to join her on the roof of it. 

She stood quickly, wiping her hands on her thighs, heart racing despite her best efforts to try and remain normal. 

"Guys, look at this..." he said, though there was nothing to look at. 

At least nothing that they could see.

Nova followed, standing closely behind JJ as he closed in on the trunk of the tree. He pointed, looking back over his shoulder, a confident smirk played on his lips, "This looks like —"

"Looks like a hole."

And it did. It reminded Nova of the owl's home in Winnie the Pooh. Or any other cartoon that has an owl or other woodland creatures living inside a tree.

But JJ shook his head, "It looks like the painting from the island room..."

That room had been filled with a million tiny illustrations, Nova couldn't remember every detail she skipped over. She was in awe when she looked back at JJ, wondering how he remembered a detail as small as a hole in a tree. 

"Okay, so what now?" Kiara asked from the ground. 

Nova shrugged, looking at JJ. He looked down at the others and nodded, "I mean," he smirked. "It's worth a shot, right?"

John B. nodded, "Let's do it."

But no one moved. 

With pursed lips, Nova looked around waiting for someone to do something. Her gaze paused on JJ as she waited for him to make any kind of movement, but when he finally did it was to turn around and motion her to step in front of him. 

She looked confused, "What?"

"Go for it," he said simply. 

Nova scoffed, "You're delusional."

JJ was off his rocker. He had to be. To think Nova would stick her hand inside a tree that looked like it'd been standing for a million years or more. With her luck there very well could be an alligator inside there, waiting to bite off her hand. Or a nest of old bones. 

"You do it, JJ," Sarah said looking up at them from the ground. 

"Nova went in the storm drain with me, you owe her," Kiara reminded him.

JJ looked up from where Kiara and Sarah were standing below them and rolled his eyes. His mouth opened, and just from his face, Nova knew he was looking for some kind of excuse. 

But Pope's voice sounded first, "She did go into the storm drain..."

"Yeah, fine, I'll do it," he told them so they'd all shut up, and when they did, he continued, "It's just..."

His fingers twiddled and clenched as he moved a step closer to the trunk of the tree. He tried peering inside it but he wasn't going to see anything, and he knew that. JJ was stalling, taking as long as he could to actually put his hand inside the tree. 

Nova rolled her eyes, "Oh my God, just do it already."

And she nudged him closer to the small hole in the tree.

He was closer than arm's length now, he could just reach in... and yet...

"Huh," he whispered, "I think I remember you saying those same words last night."

JJ's voice was low enough so those standing below them hadn't heard anything. But that didn't stop the instant heat that rushed through Nova and landed in her reddening cheeks. Her face felt like it was her fire and her mouth opened as a short gasp escaped it.

There was no way he'd just said that. Right?

Right?

Nova coughed back into composure. Straightening her shoulders she looked at JJ with as straight a face as she could and said, "Focus, please."

She took a step away from him. JJ noticed but he didn't say anything. Barely even reacted. He only offered her a smirk before turning to the tree again, as if he hadn't just made her burn like wildfire. And now she was left to conceal it, to put it out, and hope the smoke around her didn't give it away.

"Is he scared?" Kiara called up to them teasingly.

John B. nodded, "He's so scared."

"Definitely scared..." Pope agreed.

JJ rolled his eyes, "I'm not scared."

His hand didn't even make it an inch before he jerked it back. The sun caught the silver of his thumb ring and he turned back to Nova, she didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to do something. 

JJ's hand finally disappeared into the tree. Nova watched, with a slight disgust, as he moved it around inside. She could hear the weeds and small twigs crunching under his hand. To help keep his balance he rested the palm of his free hand on the trunk of the tree, and he leaned in further, eyes darting around as he chewed on his lip, looking for something — anything. 

"There's something in here," he told them, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. 

And before Nova could even think about what that something could be, JJ's entire body jerked forward, slamming against the tree trunk. His scream echoed through the trees and the few birds perched around them dove away from the startle. 

"JJ!" Nova screamed, his name blending in with the chorus of screaming that came from the others still standing below them. 

They all jumped at the side of the van as if they'd grown springs for legs and would make it up there to him. But Nova had already been up there, and her arms wrapped tightly around his waist as she tried tugging him toward her, but it was like his body was resisting as he continued slamming into the tree.

As suddenly as it started, the screaming stopped. Just like that. And JJ was no longer being pulled into the tree, or screaming in agony. Instead, he stood, perfectly healthy, and laughing at them. 

"Oh, you asshole!" Pope, who had made it halfway up the van's ladder, just behind John B, said. 

The top half of John B's body had fallen against the van's roof, he sighed in relief, but there was no mistaking the annoyance on his face as he looked at his still giggling best friend. 

"What the hell, JJ?" Nova had unwrapped herself from him, only to shove him back up against the tree, hoping it hurt just a little.

"Oh, I got all of you on that one!" he continued to laugh, nearly falling over as he did, almost breaking the arm that was still inside the tree, nearly up to his shoulder at this point. 

"I hate you," Nova grumbled. 

She didn't.

Pope rolled his eyes, "Yeah, real original."

JJ held up his finger, the remnants of his laugh still visible on his face, but he had managed to compose himself, "Wait," he said before all of them could lose interest in their annoyance with him. "There is seriously something in here."

They all watched as he slowly backed away from the tree, his arm following him, twisting to allow the thing he held to fit through with his hand. So he wasn't lying. Just being a jackass... as usual.

"Let me see it,"

Nova didn't get to see much of whatever JJ had pulled out of the tree before he handed it down to Pope. He turned, his back now them on the van, and began moving the cylinder object around carefully in his hands. 

"HMS Royal Merchant," Pope read.

JJ jumped from the van's roof, using John B. as a landing pad as he did. Luckily both of them remained upright and physically unbroken. He took whatever he'd just handed over to Pope, wanting a closer look at it. 

"Give it to the captain," JJ said, yanking the thing from Pope, just as Nova had stepped off the ladder and back onto the grass. "Here we go..." He pulled at the two ends, opening whatever it was they had. 

"A telescope?" Nova asked, stepping closer to get a better look. 

"Spyglass, actually," JJ told her, squinting so he could see through the smaller end of it. 

She scoffed, wondering how, or why, on earth, he would know the difference between the two things. 

"There's something on the ends," Sarah pointed out, as she moved to stand beside Nova.

John B, twisted the end of the telescope as Pope pushed past JJ to try and find whatever it was Sarah was pointing to, "An inscription."

"What's it say?" JJ asked. 

Pope grinned, and he began to pace away from them with the spyglass, "You've come this far," he recited. "Do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's altar."

"Freedman's altar?" it sounded like a question but it wasn't. John B. was testing the words out on his tongue, remembering them. And Nova saw the moment he knew. Like a light brightening behind his eyes, "The cross is at the church!"

Nova was almost annoyed. They'd hiked all the way out to the middle of nowhere just to be told that the cross was at a church. Where else would a cross be?

"What are we doing here guys, let's go," JJ rushed them, excited about their win. 

It was a win. They had a lead on the Limbrey's at least. 

And for a second, it felt like they might win this treasure hunt. 

· ☼ ·

( nova's outfits )

· ☼ ·

𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆:

Why did this chapter take me so long to write? I want to write all the time but it's like I can't put words to paper... or keyboard anymore.

Some small amount of angst. How do we feel? Also, yes, this chapter is split in half, it was just going to be so long! Like 10,000 words and I still have half an episode to get through, wow! I promise faster updates from now on. I miss you guys too much to stay gone!

And, as always... tell me all your thoughts. I wanna know everything. Tell me all your theories and opinions. What do you guys think of the direction the story is going in so far? What do you think is in the making with this little love triangle? Comment, comment, comment!

𝐱𝐨𝐱𝐨