𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟏

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐤'𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭

  "Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope asked as the group was huddled around the fire.

"Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed," JJ says with an arm around Tatum.

"You ready for this?" "Yeah," Tatum and Kie say, looking between the two boys that had smirks plastered on their faces.

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant," John B started. "Oh, my God. Here we go again with this."

"No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?" JJ gets Pope to shut up. "It's been here the whole time. It's on the island."

"You're joking. Right?" Tatum looks up at JJ. "I'd like to voice my skepticism."

"I'm sure you would, Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B said all fancy. "Proceed."

"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." "Who the hell is that?" Kie asked, looking at the letter.

Tatum leaned against JJ, confused. "Keep listening," JJ whispers in her ear. "Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out."

"Hold on, I thought there were no survivors," Tatum raised her hand like in a classroom.

"Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom," John B said as Kie passed the letter to Tatum to look at.

"After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please, because that farm is...Tannyhill Plantation." Tatum's jaw dropped, "Tannyhill?"

"Yeah. So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him."

"Yikes, wouldn't wanna be him," Tatum chuckled, and JJ bumped her shoulder. "Not the time, T. Not the time."

"So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."

Kie looks up at John B with a smile, wanting him to get to the point. "Where?"

 "Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out. The gold is in parcel nine, near the water."

"Holy shit," Tatum shook her head. "All we need is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold."

"Okay, so this might have a small chance of being actually true." "Dude, it's like King Tut," Kie exclaimed.

"I am a genius. Hey, whoa! Hello! Fire! You're near the fire. You're gonna burn," John B shouts as JJ picked him up.

"I'm so proud of you right now." "Thank you." Tatum laughed, watching JJ be practically in love with John B. "That's really sweet of you."

"Okay, so, guys. What's the plan?" Pope asks. "Good question. Sarah Cameron's coming tonight. She's gonna bring an original survey map-"

"Whoa!" "Hold on," Kie and Tatum say at the same time. "Sarah? Wh-why Sarah?" "Um.." JJ takes his hat off his head, "This is gonna be good."

"Sarah, um, she-she got me into the archives in Chapel Hill yesterday, and that's where I got the letter."

"You were in Chapel Hill with Sarah Cameron?" Kie asks the question Tatum was thinking. "Yeah, um-"