Secret of the Gnomon: 1

Willow's POV

I've been sitting on the balcony reflecting on the past two weeks of being kidnapped, watching the fireworks in the distance with Emmy, while my dad works on translating the gnomon for Singh. I'm surprised people pop fireworks off in the middle of the day, back home we usually do it at night so you can see it better, but I guess there's some kind of celebration this week, so the town has been going crazy the past few days. 

Emmy seems to love it, she squeals every time she sees the sparkly explosions close by. It's the cutest thing. "You like that, Em?" My fingers trail over her little wispy curls that are forming all over her head. JJ will love it when he sees how long her hair is now and how curly it's getting. I know he loves my curls, something I used to be insecure about, is now something I love because of him. 

Singh smiles at me when he walks passed then he turns to my dad, "There he is, our intrepid translator. Mr. Routledge, leading the charge on the road to El Dorado."

"Look, Carlos, it's not like I'm translating French, alright?" Big John sputters, "I need more time."He scoffs, "Of course. Of course. You have a few hours. Prove to me you're worth keeping alive, John." He pats his shoulder before leaving the room. 

Big John turns to me with a frown, "I really need more time."

"The gnomon will help us when we get closer, dad. There's more to this than what you think." I look back at Emmy, "He's been talking to me."

He shifts in his seat, "What does he say?"

"I'm not telling you." I smile, "What the gnomon and I talk about is between us, not you or anyone else."

"You don't trust me?"

"Nope," I look up at him with narrowed eyes, "just like you never trusted me." 

"I wanted to, bug, I promise. But it was hard to when you were around the Cameron's."

"I wasn't around them." I seethe, "I was forced into situations because of them, but I wasn't around them! And Sarah isn't one of them, so don't even act like she's a problem."

He his hands up, "I get that now, I know. I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

"I still don't trust you." My body turns away to look back outside, "One half assed apology isn't going to make me spill the secrets of the gnomon." 

"Willow, please," He begs, "this could end badly if you don't tell me things. Don't try to take this on alone, we can work together on this."

"I'll be safe, dad, I'm worthy." I face Emmy towards the fireworks, "And I'm not alone, the gnomon is a lot stronger than you think, so I'll be fine." 

"Am I not?" He fearfully asks.

"Do you think you should be?" I glance over my shoulder seeing pain behind his eyes. I think he can tell I'm trying to break it to him softly because he shakes his head and looks at the gnomon, "I won't tell you what's been said, but I will say that your choices haven't made the gnomon believe you are pure of heart."

He sighs, "I figured as much. As long as you, Emmy and John B walk away from this, then I'm happy."

"You don't care if you die?"

"No, not if it means you live, bug." He stares at me for a long moment, sighing when I don't say anything else. 

So he really is sacrificing himself for us.. and the gnomon still thinks he isn't worthy. Damn, he must have done some shady shit in the past, or he's lying about things still. I'd love to believe him, to take his apology to heart and forgive him for hiding in Barbados for two years while John B and I struggled to survive on our own and go through all the shit for the gold. I'd love to have my father come back into my life and be who I always needed, be a grandpa to my kids, but that doesn't sound realistic to me, because my dad is a selfish man. Just like Singh. 

He may not be quite as cut throat as Singh, maybe has a few more morals. But that doesn't discredit the things he has done for the gold, or the things he might still do when we get to El Dorado. John B might be overly forgiving and maybe even oblivious to how shitty our dad has been, but I'm not, and that's why the gnomon chose me instead of him. Not that John B isn't worthy of the title, but he's too naïve. He lets things go right over his head, only thinking about what's right in front of him at the time, but you can't think like that when you're in control of a power that's strong enough to protect an old city of gold. 

"Right you are, Willow."

I know.

Though I still don't understand why things have to be this way, I mean the dude who originally found the gold and put this integrate spell or whatever on this place, could have just given the gold to people in need or his sons. Instead he locked it away and designed this whole test as a way to earn it. I guess I understand that he wanted it to go to someone worthy, but like poor people need money, there's so many people in the world who could benefit from a giant cave worth of gold, that's probably worth so much that it's considered infinite. I mean most people could benefit from just a small nugget worth. 

Maybe I'm missing parts of the story and there's a bigger meaning to all of this. 

~~~~~

JJs POV

Kie and I drop down off the ramp on the back of the plane, chuckling when we look at Mike's guys loading drugs onto the plane to take home, "Damn. Barracuda Mike's got this import-export thing down." I glance around and spot a colorful bus with locals piling on, "Yo, Barracuda, is that our executive coach to Tres Rocas right there?""It is, smart-ass. Hey." He stops us from leaving, "We have a deal, remember? You still owe me for that lost load.""I remember, alright?" Sending him a tight smile before ushering Kie towards the bus. 

I wish I didn't owe him thousands of dollars. Willow won't like that, but at least I'm in South America now. I'm so fucking close to seeing her and my sweet Emmy, it has me feeling all sorts of things. "Hey, JJ." 

I spin around to look at him, "What?"

"Word of advice..." He softens his tone, "This ain't Kildare. Try and lay low.""Sure thing, chief." My fingers tap my forehead before giving him a salute.

~~~~~

It's a bit of a tight squeeze on this bus but we managed to get decent seats in the middle, so we've been chillin' with a local who seems interested in the fact that we're on the search for El Dorado. 

"So right here, you have Tesoro." The man draws on a wooden box that has sand on it, "Up here, Orinoco, and they say up here, El Dorado." Kie tilts her head to the side, "Wait. Who says?" "All the world." His arms move to gesture around us. "If all the world says it, why hasn't it been found?""Some people say it doesn't exist." He shrugs, "Some people say it's hidden, and only one very special person can find it.""Uh-huh." My eyes land on Kie, sharing a knowing look. 

Willow, my special girl. "But most people say it's maldito."

Kie furrows her brows, "Maldito?"

"Cursed." The local man looks between our worried expressions, "Over the years, people that go up, they don't come back." 

Fuck, I am tired of hearing the word evil and cursed while my girls are wrapped up in all of this. 

~~~~~

Willow's POV

"What are you doing?" I whisper shout at my dad, watching him try to pop the lock on the window in the room we've been trapped inside of. 

"Just like the old times back in my pogue days." Big John mutters, he slides the window up and gestures for me to go first.

"I can't drop that far down with Emmy." I fearfully tell him while looking at the steep roof below where I'd have to slide down and jump off of.

"It's our only shot, kid." He grabs my bags and urges me forward.

I shake my head and sling a leg out of the window, my knuckles white, clinging to the siding of the house when I shimmy my way down. 

"HEY!" One of Singh's guards yell. 

Panic hits me when my dad gets pulled back inside. I can hear a fight happening but I don't turn back, not like I could help him while I have a baby strapped to my front. My eyes glance over and see none other than my brother. We lock eyes, a smile forms on my face while I wave with one hand and use the other to hold myself against the house.

"Help."

John B and Sarah run over, panicking from the ground when they realize my dads inside fighting guards. My heart pounds, all I can do is stand here terrified to move, my only way down is jumping, "Johnny.."

"I know, hold on, Will." He runs off while Sarah stands below with her hands out, as if she could cushion my fall if she had to. 

She's just a good friend. 

"Don't move, Brookie." She squeaks out. 

John B comes running back with fireworks sticking out of a wine bottle in his hands, my eyes go wide when he points it to the window that leads to a different room than I came out of. My body twists, huddling against the wall so Emmy is faced away. 

He sets the fireworks off and then runs off again, a few seconds go by before he's running across the yard with a ladder, looking goofy as ever, oh my idiot brother. I scramble down the ladder with his help and breathe out when I make it to solid ground. 

"Will," He wraps me in a hug, "I'm so glad you're safe. So, um, I got split up from JJ back in obx, Rafe.. he sorta held JJ at gun point and didn't let him leave with us, he said he'd find a way here though, after busting Kie out of wilderness camp or whatever." 

My mind is stuck on the fact that Rafe has JJ, he could've killed him or hurt him, and everyone just left him behind. They could have worked as a group to stop Rafe, they could have helped him. But this isn't the time to ask questions or be worried, I have to think of my babies first, which means getting the hell away from Singh. 

"Okay." I squeeze him back before pulling away, "Dads inside."

"I know, I heard him yelling." John B heads up the ladder, dropping back down when gun shots sound inside the house, busting the windows to shards. 

We take cover under the porch roof, our eyes going wide when one of Sing's men lands on the ground in front of us. I chuckle when my dad jumps down and smiles at us. 

"Good to see you, kid." 

"We have to go." John B grabs mine and Sarah's hands and pulls us, chasing after our dad through town. 

~~~~~

JJs POV

The bus stops in the road once we get to Tres Rocas, we gather our stuff to get off, "This place makes the cut look like the taj mahal."

"Alright, so how are we gonna find them?"

"I'm working on it. Um, look, alright." My mouth goes dry, having no idea how we will actually find Willow and Emmy now that we're here, "Tres Rocas is fairly small, right? Don't worry about it. We'll find them, okay?" I look up, seeing two familiar faces running our way, "You gotta be kidding me. We haven't been here for two minutes!" I point to Pope and Cleo so Kie can see them, laughing when I lean out of the bus, "Cómo estás, amigos?"

Pope dabs me up, "What the...""Hey! Run! No time for this." Cleo yells, her breath coming out in short gasps, "We gotta go!" "What?" I jump out of the bus after Kie and turn to them.

"Already? We just got here." Kie complains, "What's happening?

"Singh's men are right behind us." Pope breathlessly tells us, "They're after us. We gotta think of a plan."

"Okay, why don't we just hijack the bus?"

Eh that sounds horrible now that I said it out loud. 

"This bus?" Kie raises one brow, jutting her thumb at the janky vehicle, "That only goes ten miles an hour?"

"I'm just spitballing, Kie, okay?""They're coming now! Hide!" Pope pushes me towards a table that has food on it from the market. 

We duck down, hiding from Singhs men while they question locals close by. I cannot get caught by these guys right now, I'm so close to getting my girls back. Come on luck, be on my side. 

We breathe out in relief when the men take off in their jeep, all of us stand up and let out shaky laughs, Cleo shaking her head after she settles down, "Welcome to South America."

"I can ask Mike if he knows where we can go." I tell Kie, she nods in agreement, "Come on, lets get somewhere safer so I can call him."

~~~~~

Willow's POV

My dad has been on my last damn nerve, he's been arguing with John B over all of our friends knowing about El Dorado and that they're on their way to find us. He's being crazy, honestly. But the conversation came to an end, for now, when Sarah showed us that Pope found the translation for the gnomon glyphs.

I thought it was so sweet that he went out of his way to look into it and give it to us, supposedly he found it in his family heirlooms in his attic or garage or something. Him and Cleo spent a few days going through boxes of stuff, hoping to find more information on anything that correlated to my situation since he's related to Denmark Tanny. I guess the email I sent him at Singhs helped as well, so that made me feel good that I contributed in some way as well. 

When my dad pulls the gnomon half way out of his bag, its eyes light up at the same time as mine, reminding me of my part in all of this. I guess Pope and I are both special, he has his ties to the gold because of his ancestry and I have my ties because of, well I don't know exactly why I'm the chosen one, other than being pure of heart or whatever.

I glance up, chuckling when John B and Sarah's jaws drop, "Pretty cool right?"

"Willow.." My brother breathes out, "What the fuck is wrong with your eyes?"

"The gnomon," Sarah points to the idol so he can see, "it's the same as her eyes."

"Holy shit." He looks over at my dads smug smile, "She really is the chosen one."

I laugh when the gnomon starts to whisper in my ear. 

"They're pure, Willow."

"What?" John B furrows his brows.

I shrug, "The gnomon said something and it made me happy."

"The gnomon?" He shakes his head, "You talk to it? That's the voice in your head?"

"Yeah, now we need to keep moving or Singh will catch up to us." I rush them towards the docks, "I feel like we need to go this way."

"Jose. Keep going to the waters edge, your guide awaits your arrival."

"Go to the docks, there's a guy named Jose." 

John B stops in his tracks and turns to me, "How did you know that?"

"The gnomon." My body brushes passed him when he stares too long, blinking a few times until the blue hue dissipates, "Right there." My hand gestures to a man near a small boat on the docks, "This is him."

"Jose?" John B timidly asks.

I stand behind him, rubbing Emmys back while she doses off, smiling when Sarah wraps her arm around me to hug us, "Hi, Barbie."

"Hi, Brookie." Sarah leans in and kisses Emmy's head, keeping her arms around us.

The river guide smiles at us from his small boat, "Sí?"

"Uh, me llamo John B. You know, Neville? Professor Sowell?""Sí. You are friends?"John B nods, "Yes."

"Okay, I waiting for you." Jose shakes my brothers hand. "Nice to meet you. You were gonna take us upstream where you took them?" He points down the river. "Of course."

"Perfect.""And he already paid," Jose adds, "so we can go.""He, as in..." John B nervously looks back at us.

"Your friend." Jose gestures to Ward who's just now stepping out from hiding behind a pillar on the dock.

Oh here we go, drama between the dads.

Ward waves at Sarah, "Hi, sweetheart."Sarah lets me go, crossing the distance between her and her shitty dad with a scowl on her face, "I told you not to come! Do you ever listen?"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Big John angrily whispers to John B.

I sigh, taking a step back to watch everyone lose their shit, keeping Emmy away from the chaos so she can sleep peacefully. John B keeps his eyes on Sarah, who looks royally pissed, "I don't know, Dad."

"You don't know?" "No, I don't." His voice turns to a stern tone, clearly annoyed by our dad too, "I said I don't."

"You don't have a clue? The smallest idea?" Big John seethes, storming off towards Ward when John B doesn't answer him. Wards eyes go wide when he see's my dad approaching him, "Wait, John. Listen to me. Listen to me!"

Big John grabs him by his shirt, ignoring that he's clearly injured, "You tried to kill me, you son of a bitch.""You have every right to be upset." Ward fearfully exclaims, pain crossing his face.

"I'm not upset." Big John raises his voice, "Who said I was upset?"John B rolls his eyes when he catches my eye, "This is a shitshow."

"I know, we'd be better off on our own, let's leave them." I joke, "I'll grab the gnomon, you get Sarah."

"Ha ha, very funny. But we can't leave dad." He looks back over at the fight between the dads.

Singhs voice makes me freeze in my spot, "Shit."

"Time to go," Sarah runs over to our dads with John B.

I ignore all of them, hopping into the boat after politely greeting Jose, setting my bags down and settling into a comfy spot so I can rub Emmy's back and relax. Damn my feet hurt, pregnancy is kicking my ass these days, all this travelling has me feeling so exhausted and puffy. Not to mention I've already got a baby bump, and constantly carrying Emmy has been putting a lot of pressure on it, making me feel nauseous. But I can't put her down since she's been super clingy lately, and its not like my dad has offered to hold her, though he has talked to her some to make her happy when she's crying, I guess that was helpful.

Everyone practically throws themselves into the boat, startling me from my thoughts. John B unties us, pushing us away from the dock so we can make our escape, somehow after all of that nonsense, we went unseen. For now at least, I know how resourceful and demanding Singh is, I'm sure he will find a way to catch up to us eventually.

My dad eyes Ward with a death glare while we travel down the river, making everyone nervous for his next move. I get why he's mad, I'm mad at Ward too, but like chill about it while we're stuck on a tiny boat together. Whatever. All this stress can't be good for my babies or my damn heart condition, though I have my meds since I still had some at home after we got back from Barbados. Now that I'm thinking about it, I bet I still have insurance from my time under Wards care, I doubt he thought to take me off before he faked killed himself, so I might be able to benefit from that still. I'm sure Rafe would want to keep me on anyways since I'm his baby mama now. 

"Dad, chill," I break the silence between everyone, "I can tell you've killed Ward in your head like ten times since we left."

He doesn't take his eyes off Ward, "This is why I didn't want anyone knowing about El Dorado, now we have leeches tagging along."

I scoff, "You better not be talking about JJ and my friends, they're not leeches."

He shakes his head, his eyes still on Ward, "All they want is to steal the gold from us, bug. They will use you and then leave when they have what they want."

"They wouldn't do that to me or John B." I shift to fully face him, "look at me when I'm talking to you, dad." He finally shifts his angry eyes to mine, "JJ would never do that to me."

"Just wait and see." He leans back in his seat, ignoring all of our glares, "No one is as loyal as you think they are, the ones you trust the most will hurt you the most. Use you and then leave you for dead. Haven't you already learned that from everything you've been through?"

"Maybe in your situation, because of your shitty choices, but I'm not you." My hands rub Emmy's back to keep me calm, "My friends aren't like your old pals who've screwed you over, they're good and they care about me. So they can come along if they want." I glance over at Ward, "I don't know why he is here, I don't like it either, but it's the situation we're in, so stop being moody. My baby needs less stress around her and so do I."

He sighs in defeat, "Alright, bug, I hear you."

"Good." I give him a satisfied smile, settling into my seat so I can enjoy the peaceful sounds of the jungle now that there's less tension on the boat.  

~~~~~

JJs POV

"Got anything to protect yourself?" Mike asks me.

I follow after him down the rocky path, dodging tree limbs as we go, "Uh, kinda working on that part."

"Here." He hands me a cloth sack, "Take these." "What's this?"

"Machetes. You'll need 'em, between the wildlife in these jungles and the people you're up against, you may need them. I'm adding the cost of this rig to what you already owe me." He leads us to a small boat on the water, "I don't expect to see it again anyway. Look, I asked around at the landing today.""Yeah?""Your buds did leave this morning, the locals said they did see a girl with a baby with them, and I was able to get directions to El Tesoro." He hands me a map, "Pretty loose. Only Jose knows the real way, but get you in the right zip code, maybe."

My minds stuck on the fact that Willow and Emmy are with John B and Sarah, it feels so good to know they're somewhat safe now. And we're hot on their trail, fuck not much longer until I can wrap my arms around them, kiss their soft cheeks, run my fingers through Willow's curls and hear my little Princesses sweet squealy voice. God I miss them. "It's a start." Kie smiles at everyone. 

"Thanks." Pope tells Mike before jumping onto the boat. "No." He chuckles, "Don't thank me. Start praying. And JJ?"

"Yeah?""You owe me, dude. Ten times." He warns, "Good luck."I nod and climb into the boat. In debt to a drug smuggler but closer to my girls. I'm happier than ever now. The price you pay for love, anything is worth doing if it means my girls are safe and happy. 

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