EDEN sat in the back of the Twinkie, listening to Pope Heyward explain more about the cross.

"Guys, listen to this." Pope gains the attention of all his friends. He'd been searching through the diary to find more information, a certain piece catching his eye. "The diary says the cross holds the most holy relic in all of Christendom, the Garment of the Savior."

Kiara's brows furrow as she tries to more simply explain what she'd been told, "So wait, he's saying there's a holy garment inside the cross?"

"Yeah." Pope nods, almost in disbelief himself, "It says the garment is capable of healing the sick from any malady."

JJ suddenly perks up, "Mmm, yeah. 'If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well'."  The boy recited the line so well that the rest of the Pogues can't help but stare at him with raised brows and confused looks. "What? I went to Sunday school." 

Kiara lightly scoffs, "Sure." 

"Moving on from JJ's Sunday school experience, that makes more sense as to why Limbrey wants it so bad." Eden states, thinking about the crutches around the woman's wrists; the weak and frailness of her. "She thinks whatever's inside that cross is gonna heal her." 

Kiara looks blankly at Eden before nudging Pope, "What else does it say?"

The Heyward boy looks back at the diary before reading off, "'Many feel that we have sinned to steal such a sacred thing, and God will strike his vengeance on us.' "

"Thing is, God did have his vengeance." 

"He sent a hurricane to sink the ship." Pope states in agreement with Kie, "Only Denmark survived."

Eden let out a sigh, looking out the window as they pulled up to Tannyhill, "We really should have stayed in Sunday school." 

John B. halts the van in front of the Cameron estate, the six Pogues filing out. Eden is quick to notice that there are no other cars parked in the driveway—she wonders if her mother is with Rose; she wonders what they could be doing.

"Is no one home?" Eden comes forward to enter the house with Sarah—the blonde leading the way, given it was her house.  

"No one was home when I left." Sarah shrugs merely—personally, she didn't care where anyone was. She assumed Rose was out trying to finalize things financially and Rafe was snorting a new line of coke. "I don't know where they are, though."

Eden nods, though her eyes narrow ever so slightly. There was something that didn't sit right with Rose and Rafe being gone, Limbrey having the key, and—according to her dad— her mother being out and about with the Cameron woman recently. "Hm."

As they enter the halls of Tannyhill, JJ let's out a small whistle and the Routledge boy mutters, "This place still freaks me out."

JJ nods, "Yeah, same."

Eden looks back at the two boys, whose eyes are darting all around the mansion—John B. had lived here for a few days, but JJ had never stepped inside the place. Eden can see why it was slightly freaky; big house, no one home. 

"Imagine living in one of these." the Bexley snips—she'd spent her entire life in the Bexley house, and she still doesn't qualify it her home; not the way she does the Chateau. It was just a place she happened to return to every once in a while.

Sarah opens one of the doors to enter a spare room, "Pope, look."

Pope moves ahead of the Bexley and enters the room with wide eyes, "Woah! You've got to be kidding me."

Eden follows suit, mouth slightly opening in awe as she takes in the sight—this was the Island Room. The wallpaper had been torn away to reveal painted walls, drawings and sketches of different designs and monuments decorating the walls. 

Each drawing is detailed, colored in vivid hues that stand out against the scraped off remnants of the wallpaper. Eden can't help but be in awe—this was all hiding under their noses the whole time? All of their answers merely hidden under wallpaper.

"Holy shit, Sarah." the Bexley breathes, stepping further into the room.

"Yeah. I know, right?" the Cameron stated incredulously, "It's the Island Room. It's been here this whole time." 

"Incredible." John B. mutters, "No freaking way." 

"This definitely means something." JJ nods. 

"Wow." Kie exclaims.

"Jeez."

"Dang!" 

The group separates through the room, taking in the details of the wall designs. Eden comes over to a section of the wall with 'KILDARE ISLAND' painted on it. Beside it was a large hole—which didn't look purposeful, more so someone got angry and created it. 

However, she ignores that, instead skimming her fingers over the letters. Looking back, her eyes trail around the room, taking in the different images and landmarks labeled and drawn—boats and ships, trees, a church, a lighthouse, hills, Parcel nine....

It doesn't take Eden terribly long to easily connect the dots. 

"Guys." Eden breathes, gaining the attention of all of her friends, "I think this is a map of the island. Look at the landmarks—there all places around here."

John B. walks forward, "Eden's right. This is a map of the whole island."

"Yeah, Eden I think you're right because this—" JJ points to a particular hill on the wall, the same place the Pogues had all ran away to during Midsummers"—is Rixon's right here. And then there's the lighthouse." He peers out the window to the structure, which stood in view.

Kiara too notices landmarks, grazing her fingers over the well that sat in Mrs. Crain's basement, "Guys, look, Parcel nine and the well."

"So, if that's Parcel nine, and then if that's Rixon's—" the Routledge walks backwards, pointing at each place. His mind works at a thousand miles a minute trying to connect the dots that were waiting to be connected. He points to another wall,  "Then that's gotta be the surf break at Mase." 

JJ meets him there, holding up the photo-copied entries Mr. Sunn had provided them to the wall, "Right. And look—Pope come here." The Heyward boy meets his two friends, "This is Denmark's handwriting for sure."

Pope's eyes dart between the entries drawings and the painting on the wall, "The drawings....they match up."

John B. breathes out, "Holy shit."

"Denmark, you genius!"

"The handwriting, the drawings, Tanny-hill—he drew all of this!" Eden exclaims, looking at the room in a new sense of amazement. Everything was starting to make sense again and if this happened to be right....maybe there was still a chance at getting the cross.

Kiara still grazes her fingers over the paintings, "Yeah, question is why? What's he trying to tell us?"

"It's gotta have something to do with the key, right?" JJ looks at all his friends to back his words up, "Right?"

"Yeah, but what?"

John B. comes forward to look at Sarah, growing curious. All of this was under the walls but what urged the Cameron to take the paper off? "How did you know to uncover this?" 

"I didn't." Sarah bluntly states, as if everyone's walls were naturally peeling to reveal Denmark Tanny's drawings. "It was like this when I got home." 

JJ's brows furrow, "What?"

Kie inquired, "Okay, then who did it?" 

Sarah defended herself firmly, "I don't know." 

"The freaks."

All six teens suddenly jolted in the air, Eden letting out a sharp gasp as she whipped around to see Wheezie Cameron standing before them in the room.

"Jesus Christ, Wheezie." Eden places a hand over her heart, looking at the girl. 

Sarah lurches forward—she hadn't known her sister was home. "Wheeze." 

"Wait, what freaks are we talking about, Wheeze?" JJ asks, picturing a certain lady and her lackey in his mind as he spoke.

"Like, us, freaks or...." Eden points to herself and the Pogues—to Wheezie Cameron, freaks could range from a Pogue wearing an ugly t-shirt to someone who was actually crazy. 

Wheezie explains, "Uh....that sick lady and her attack dog. They—they showed up last night, and they wanted to talk to Rafe."

John B. didn't seem to connect two and two together, "Okay..."

"Wait, Wheeze, did you get a look at the woman?" Eden perks up, gut growing twisted as she pictured Carla Limbrey and Renfield scheming something with Rafe, who wouldn't hesitate to help if he got a share. When the younger girl nods, the Bexley continues to ask, "Pale blonde hair? Crutches?"

Wheezie nods bluntly, "Uh-huh."

Pope states the obvious, "It's gotta be Limbrey."

"What other blonde lady with crutches do you know?" Eden sarcastically muttered.

Curiosity leading his mind, John B. asked the girl, "Okay, what—what happened?"

"Well, at first they searched the whole house looking for something and then Rafe told me to go upstairs, but I didn't want to miss out so I listened through the grate." Wheezie let out and Eden can't be more thankful for Wheezie Cameron's ever so present nosiness. "And they were talking about getting across the....sand flamingo?"

"That's code." JJ immediately declares, "That's code for something." 

Eden's brows furrow for a moment—what the fuck was a sand flamingo?—but she suddenly deciphers the phrase 'The Cross of Santo Domingo' which could have easily been misheard by Wheezie coming through a grate.

"It's not code, dumbasses." the Bexley states, causing all the teens to raise a brow her way—more specifically JJ. "Across the sand flamingo......The Cross of Santo Domingo?" She looks at Wheezie for clarification, "Is that it?" 

"Yeah, that's it." Wheezie replies casually, voice then perking up to add, "Oh, and they were talking about, like, angels. A lot of angel talk—I don't know."

John B. huffs, "Angels?"

"Guys, Denmark's famous last words—he buried the real treasure at the foot of the angel." Pope speaks up, words rushing out of his lips. John B. points finger guns at him as he catches on. "They're looking for an angel. We have to find the angel in the room." 

It barely takes the Pogues a second to register what Pope had said before they were spreading out throughout the room to search for an angel.

"Start looking." JJ ushers, "Start looking."

Kiara announces, "It's an angel—spread out!"

Sarah quickly points to a landmark across the room, "There's a church over here!"

John B. nods, "A church—yeah, check the church."

Pope calls out, "Lookin' around for an angel."

JJ points to something upon the wall, chiming, "Wait, could this be an angel?"

"Maybe....maybe..." John B. voices.

"I don't know J, does it look like an angel?" Eden yells towards the blonde, eyes scanning around faster than she can comprehend for any sign of an angel. "Or does it have, I don't know, bible shit around it?"

"....No."

From the center of the room, Wheezie confusedly looks at the older teens, who were all hunting around the room like panicked maniacs for this angel—she obviously had no clue that the Pogues were in a race against the clock with Carla Limbrey to find this angel; the woman possibly having a head start already. 

"What's.....what's going on? Are you guys gonna tell me? Or...." the youngest Cameron calls out, upset and confused on what was going on and why she was being left out—not like she wasn't used to it. 

Eden offers the girl a sad smile, "It's a lot to explain right now, but just know you helped a lot, okay?" 

"The lighthouse, maybe?" Pope asks.

Kiara exclaims, "Maybe it's, like heat sensitive?"

"That's what I said!" 

"Really?"

"No—"

"Or something like how the key needed the dust and the light? Maybe it's, like, hidden in plain sight?" the Bexley tries to help but her eyes can't collect anything that matches or relates to an angel. "I'm sorry guys, I actually suck at I Spy."

John B., Kie, and Pope all end up circling together, throwing out different ideas and landmarks—Pope was currently on about a cemetery—and Sarah was scanning over the wall by herself, but it was JJ who seemed to be the only one focused in on something.

The Maybank stares at a blank area in the wall—a giant tree, painted delicately. There's nothing interesting about the tree itself, but more so the small hollowed out area in the center that gains JJ's attention ever so slightly.

"Hey—Ed'." JJ turns around, looking for the attention of one of his friends; Eden happens to be the only one who wasn't conversing with ideas. The Bexley looks towards him at the sound of her name and he ushers her forward with his fingers, caressing them against the hollowed out area drawn in the tree. "Do you see this? It's still there."

"Uh, yeah, it's that tree on Goat Island.....Angel oak—holy shit!" Eden doesn't expect such a revelation but she's quick to whip around to call everyone over to see if Pope agrees. "Guys! JJ found something!"

Everyone comes towards the tree painting and JJ starts to explain, "This humongous tree is still on Goat Island. You know what it's called?"

Pope's eyes widen in realization, "Angel oak."

JJ circles his finger around the small indent drawn into the tree, "And look right there. There's the keyhole."

John B. begins, "Wait—"

"That means the cross is buried at the foot of the angel." Pope recites the phrase, JJ's mouthing the words in unison as they both realized what this meant. The angel wasn't a person or a thing....it was a tree. "That must be where he put it. That must be where they are right now—we have to go!"

Everyone's eyes widened, realizing that they needed to go now. Knowing Limbrey—with her money, resources, and with Renfield and Rafe at her aid—the woman was already on her way to the tree....or at it as they spoke. The clock was ticking to see who would win. 

"I think I'm Sherlock Holmes, alright?" JJ called out as everyone started rushing out of the room, Pope and Kie sprinting out of the Island Room while John B. and Sarah stayed, tugging the blonde back to follow. "You're welcome by the way!"

"If that makes me Dr. Watson, why not." Eden shrugs, following along. She was proud of the Maybank for catching hold of the tree and recalling the name, and proud of everyone else for listening to JJ. "Now, let's go!"

John B. rolls his eyes, "Yeah, hurry up, Sherlock."

The four Pogues start heading out the door, leaving Wheezie standing alone and confused.

"Wait! Eden—where are you going? What did you guys find?" Wheezie questioned, eyes wide. Her nosiness was getting the better of her, but she was simply curious. Besides, Rose was gone. She was home alone for who knows how long—she wanted to be in on something. "Can I—can I come?"

"You—you can't come, Wheeze. I'm sorry." Eden found it hard to just walk away from the younger girl, leaving her alone in the mansion. She deserved to know a lot more than she did, but it was too much to explain when they had a cross to find, and a rich woman on their trail. We'll....I'll explain later, okay?"

Wheezie crossed her arms over her chest—they always said that, but when had she ever gotten explanations? "....Okay."

Kiara comes running back into the island room, "Eden, we gotta go—bye Wheezie!"

"You helped so much, I promise!" the Bexley called out as she was dragged out of the room by the Carrera, leaving Wheezie alone in the Island Room to wonder what the hell they'd figured out. 

mara's misc!

this chapter was low-key short but it's okay *shrugs*

i've written like 5 chapters in advanced, so i'm thinking about updating every sunday for the next few weeks? i'm literally fully written until the final episode so enjoy getting weekly updates as i try to mentally prepare myself to write the FUCKING FINALE. (if you don't know me, i despise s3 and i don't want to write it :D)

we should all stan wheezie cameron bc she's the most unproblematic person in outer banks.

a few days late, but also happy 5 years to obx???? while i didn't join the fandom until last year (i'm a loser, i know) this show has become not only my favorite show, but my comfort one. nothing could make me hate the show. 

it's also the reason i met the one and only mvybanksss so you can thank obx for our friendship which i know all of you guys love (no bc why do we have a low-key fan base on here it's wild).

also today i finished watching the show "the act", which if you haven't seen i definitely recommend?? it's based on gypsy rose's life and was actually like rlly good, dramatized or not. 

ALSO ALSO PLEASE WATCH "THE OTHER ZOEY" BC I AM IN LOVE WITH ZACH MACLAREN. i don't know how drew starkey goes from literal murderer to the most pookie of a character but he does and i'm in love.

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 54!!