It was noon by the time the Pogues had a rendezvous.

And Sarah wasn't there.

Neither was JB.

The other three Poghes were at Heyward's, and JJ was waxing his surfboard whilst Kie and Pope were just lazing about when Elora and Tyler entered, having just stopped holding hands.

"Holy shit, what happened to your face?" Kie demanded, looking at Elora, who still had a black eye and split lip, and was struggling to walk with her bruised ribs.

"She got jumped by a bunch of Kooks last night," Tyler fumed.

"What the fuck?" JJ demanded. "You alright, Elle?"

"Yeah," Elora nodded. "I'm fine. Just got pulled into a trap, that's all."

"Good," Kie smiled.

She looked between Elora and Tyler, seemingly trying to work out what was going on. They'd been barely speaking the last time she'd seen them, and now there were stolen looks, hidden touches. What was up with that?

She sighed, shrugging as she changed the subject. "Well, Pope was just commenting that JJ was waxing his board too much, so-"

"I told you, Pope, I'm not waxing it too much-!"

"I'm not saying that you don't know how, I'm just saying that's a lot of wax-"

"Dude, come on-"

Both of them shut up when the sound of a car rolling up came behind them. All five of them turned, looking wide eyed and in shock as John B got out the Twinkie, grinning widely at them.

"What the fuck?" Elora asked, laughing.

"Am I dreaming?" Kie commented.

"Guess who's out the clink, boy!" John B was high as a kite, skipping out the Twinkie and down to them.

"No freaking way, man!" Pope yelled as all of them ran at him, trapping him in a tight group hug.

"My boy's outta the can!" JJ grinned as they held each other, all almost crying.

"We missed you!" Kie told him.

"I missed you guys too," smiled JB as they all pulled back.

"You bust out?" JJ asked, eyes alight.

"Er... they dropped the charges," smiled John B.

"What the fuck? Shoupe dropped your charges?" Elora was grinning, clutching her tender ribs as she laughed.

"Elle, are you okay? Your face..." John B solemned as he looked at the girl, taking in her black eye and split lip.

"I'm fine, just got jumped by Kelce, Ruthie and their little Kook friends last night," Elora said evasively.

"Are you sure, Elle?" John B asked, frowning. "Your eye looks pretty bad."

"Yeah, I... I know," Elora nodded, biting her lip. "But I'm okay. That's all that matters."

Tyler subtly grabbed her hand and squeezed it, offering all the comfort he could.

"Okay," John B nodded, looking around at all of them, a confused and worried look crossing his face. "Wait, where's Sarah?"

Silence.

None of them spoke, instead looking between each other and back at John B.

Then, finally, Kie spoke. "She went to go meet Wheezie last night. She didn't come back."

And it went unsaid, but none of them knew where she was.

None of them knew if she would even come back.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

They were all sat out on the dock, some in the Pogue, some not. John B was pacing slowly on land, agitated.

"So Sarah just dips and doesn't call?" He checked, looking confusedly at each one of them.

"Yeah, man. She just left her bag, didn't tell anybody," shrugged Pope.

"Okay, dude, I really think Ward got to her," he said, panicking now. "I mean, the dude tried to have me killed in jail."

"What?!" Kie and Elle both demanded at the same time.

"Yeah," nodded John B. "He sent somebody to the prison who yoked me to and almost killed me!"

"You serious?"

"Yeah!" JB nodded.

"Do we know who this dude was?" JJ asked.

"No, I have no idea," John B ran a hand through his hair. "Dude, I swear to god, one day I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch."

"I'll join you," Elora offered.

"Guys, it's okay," Kie spoke up.

"No, Kie, it's not okay, we still need to find Sarah-"

"No, it's literally okay. She's there."

Kie was pointing behind them, at a point just last Elle's shoulder. She turned to see Sarah on Topper's boat, being driven by the blonde himself back to the dock. The girl was in the back, looking in shock at her 'husband'.

"John B?" She asked, before shouting. "John B!"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Tyler rolled his eyes, looking mutinously at his brother.

"Hey, it's fine," Elora turned to him. "She's safe, that's all that matters."

As soon as the boat got near enough Sarah leapt over, embracing John B immediately. Whilst they shared their couple's hug, Topper stayed on his boat, looking slightly dejected.

"What happened?" Sarah asked.

"Uh, they dropped all the charges," John B shrugged. "I'm a free man now."

Sarah was almost crying as she hugged him again, saying breathlessly how it was amazing and wonderful that he was out.

"But- but listen, Sarah..." John B said seriously as they pulled apart again. "They're coming after Rafe."

"Good. He's completely unhinged," Sarah commented. "He jumped me last night."

"What?"

So clearly, it wasn't just Elora and JB that got the rough of it.

"Yeah, that's why I didn't come back," nodded Sarah.

"Yeah, man, Rafe has lost his mind, almost drowned his own sister," Topper put in. "Thankfully I got there... just in time."

"Hallelujah," Tyler rolled his eyes.

Topper surveyed him for the first time, all split knuckles and soft looks towards a certain redhead. He'd heard what happened last night from Kelce upon returning to his dock, and didn't know what to think about it.

"Ty," he said, frowning slightly. "Didn't see you this morning. Thought you were coming back to the house, eh?"

"Yeah, well... mum's gonna go nuclear if I go back and my supposed friends back on Figure Eight are psychos, so... I'm out," Tyler shrugged nonchalantly, looking Topper right in the eye. "Tell mum I'm opting out of her lifestyle, and I'm a Pogue for life. Bet she'll love that."

Topper looked at him, not able to understand why he was just giving up on his family.

"Oh, and give Kelce another punch for me, could you?" The nonchalance was gone now, replaced with anger. "Or another five. He deserves it."

Topper clenched his jaw, and Tyler just stared back, his eyes dark.

"Okay then," he said. "I'll pass it on."

As silence fell between the brothers, John B spoke up awkwardly, saying. "Well, I... I guess I owe you one, Topper, don't I?"

"It's all good," Topper smirked, resentment in every word. "I mean, somebody had to rescue your girlfriend, right?"

John B just stared right back. "She's not just my girlfriend, Top."

He looked at Sarah, smiling slightly. "Right? Tell him."

And Elora expected the blonde girl to flaunt it in Topper's face that they were married, and that nothing would ever pull them apart.

But instead, she just nodded and said. "I'm- I'm with him."

Oh.

Well, this was awkward.

"Gotcha, you're with him," Topper chuckled, as the Pogues tried to look anywhere but the situation. John B, meanwhile, was clenching his jaw, eyes levelled at the ground. "Yeah, I just needed a little clarity, you guys clear on that?"

He chuckled, looking round at the Pogues, and JJ just said. "I think it's clear you gotta go now."

"Yeah, get outta here, Top," Tyler rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, think I'll head out, it's about time," shrugged Topper, smiling round at them.

"Topper," Sarah said earnestly, looking at the boy she once called her boyfriend. "Thank you."

"Yeah, of course, I'm so glad you're okay," Topper said as they hugged. Elora bit her lip, annoyed at how comfortable Sarah seemed with hugging him right in front of the boyfriend she just blew off.

"See you around, Ty," Topper smirked at his brother once he put Sarah down. "And, uh... I'll make sure to give mum your message."

"Yeah," Tyler said, sarcastic smirk upon his face. "That'll be great."

Elora couldn't help but feel the tension in her body begin to alleviate at this statement.

Because Tyler was actively choosing the Pogues. And he would, time and time again.

She got that now.

She'd just been blind before.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

They were all just lazing round the Chateau, because they didn't know what else to do.

John B and Sarah were in the hammock talking, JJ was inside and Kie and Pope were in the garage.

Elora and Tyler were sitting out on the dock, Elora placing an ice pack to her eye.

"Is it alright?" The blonde boy opposite her asked tentatively.

"It's fine," Elora said back with as much of a smile that she could muster. "Throbbing a bit, but okay."

Tyler sighed slightly. "I, er... I meant what I told Topper earlier. He and my mum are never getting me back. I'm a Pogue for life, Elle."

What he meant was 'I'm yours for life'.

But he couldn't tell her that, not right now.

"Well," Elora joked, because she couldn't be serious right now. "I hope you're prepared."

"You could say that," Tyler joked back. "I've had the proper training, y'know. This crazy redhead and her friends took me along for the ride, and I've absolutely loved it."

"Oh, really?" Elora let a giggle escape, face inching closer to his. "Sounds great."

"It was," Tyler smirked. "She'd great, that crazy redhead, you should meet her sometime."

Elora smiled, but it quickly faded, because their faces were close, and his eyes were flicking from hers to her lips. She was absolutely entrance by him. He was everything to her.

"Elora-"

"Tyler! Elle! Get up here!"

The two snapped away from each other, hearing JJ shout at them from up at the Chateau. They scrambled upwards, running back to the small house with worried expressions.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked, frowning heavily as they got up.

Pope was looking worried, and Kie afraid. John B and Sarah were averting their eyes to anywhere but each other. It was JJ that eventually told them what was up, looking at them, all wide eyes and loud words.

"Something happened to Heyward, we need to go!"

Yeah, they couldn't argue with that.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

Why was everyone getting jumped?

Heyward was okay, but he was a bit beaten up. He had a graze on his forehead which was still bleeding and a couple other bruises.

Sarah was the one that patched him up.

"Let me know if I'm hurting you," she said as she put a plaster on.

"You're doing fine," Heyward replied, yet he groaned slightly when the plaster made contact.

"Pop, what happened?" Pope demanded.

"Oh, I should've known better," said Heyward. "He came in just as I was about to lock up, caught me by surprise. Once he had me down, he put his knee in my chest, and he asked me about that- that key from that drawing you showed me. And in case you were wondering, I ain't tell him nothing. Now did you track it down?"

Pope sighed, before digging his hand into his back pocket and taking out the key he and Kiara had shown Elora yesterday. He handed it to his father, saying. "I found it un mee-maw's apartment above the pharmacy just like you said."

"Shit, boy, you should've gave this to me," Heyward told his son. "I wouldn't have had to take a beating! What's the big deal? It ain't worth anythign. Why they want it so bad?"

"I don't know," Pope shook his head. "First, I get this letter telling me that I need to go to Charleston, and then I meet a rich lady who wants me to give her a key that I didn't even know was in my family."

"None of it makes any sense," Kie spoke up.

"Well, don't y'all just sit here whining about it," Heyward reprimanded. "Figure it out!"

"No," Pope objected. "I'm just gonna give the key to that lady, it's not worth-"

"No, no, no, did I raise you to back down from a fight, boy?" Heyward demanded. "Now, I- I admit I didn't think about it before, I admit that. But now... now?" He gestured up towards his bleeding head. "I'm interested. Did they say why they wanted it?"

Pope nodded. "Something about an old cross. I think it might be some kind of lost treasure."

Heyward leaned forward. "You know who you should talk to? Your great grandmother, Mee-maw."

He handed the key back to Pope, who nodded.

Elora just stared on, eyes fixed on that key, narrowed slightly.

They had to find out what all this was about.

And this was the first step in doing that.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

The Twinkie was weirdly quiet.

John B and Sarah weren't being chatty like usual, and neither, very weirdly, was JJ. Pope was doing meticulous research and Elle and Tyler were trying to figure out what was going on with their relationship without asking the other.

Then Pope finally said. "Guys, the thing that Limbrey said, I don't think she meant to let it slip. She said the key leads to the Cross of Santo Domingo."

"Wait, can I see that?" JJ asked for the key, which Pope handed over.

Sarah posed a different question. "Are we supposed to know what that is?"

"I'm guessing it's some sort of historical artifact of great importance," Pope replied.

"Well, according to the interwebs, it was a gift from New Spain to the Spanish king," Kie said, reading from her phone.

"New Spain?" JJ frowned. "Is there an Old Spain?"

Elora snorted. "JJ, never change."

"Wasn't plannin on it, Elle."

"Shit, talk about over gifting, look at that thing," Kie said, turning her phone round to show them all a picture of the cross, a person next to it.

"So it's a giant-ass cross," Tyler shrugged.

"It was widely considered at the time to be the most extravagant tribute ever from the provinces," Kie spewed. "It was lost off the coast of Bermuda in eighteen twenty nine. '

"Did you just say Bermuda?" JJ asked.

"Oh no, not the triangle," John B rolled his eyes.

"It all leads back to the triangle, dude," JJ tried to convince him. "Like every single time something's weird, it's Bermuda."

"Shut up, JJ," Elora said before turning to Pope. "What does a key you found in your mee-maw's pharmacy have to do with this weird-ass cross?"

"Yeah," Sarah mumbled.

"Where do we come in?" Kie added with a frown.

Pope was silent for a second, then he finally said. "I don't know. That's a good question."

When they finally got to the place, Pope said. "Actually, I think I'm gonna handle this one myself."

"You sure?" Kie asked, looking at him in concern.

"Yeah," he nodded, before heading off inside.

"Well," Elora sighed. "I guess that settles it then."

𔓘𔓘𔓘

Whilst Tyler, JJ and John B sat in the Twinkie and did only god knows what, Elora, Kie and Sarah went to get slushies at the shop nearby, Elora taking the time to tell them everything that happened with Tyler.

"Wait holy shit, so he like fought Kelce for you?" Kie exclaimed.

"Yup," Elora nodded, taking a sip from the glorious blue raspberry. "And then took me back to my house, patched me up, made me hot cocoa and-"

"And kissed you?" Sarah wiggled her eyebrows, smirking slightly. "Because girl, there is no way that you're telling me he did all that and you didn't-"

"Okay fine, we kissed," Elora admitted, cheeks flushing slightly as both girls squealed, jumping on her and hugging each other.

"I knew it!" Sarah shouted.

"It was obvious," Kie countered.

"You don't say," Elora sighed, rolling her eyes slightly. "Because we still haven't talked about it and I'm spiralling."

"Chill, he's not going anywhere," Sarah advised. "He's been looking at you the whole day like he wants another taste-"

"Sarah!"

"What? It's true!" Sarah giggled, nudging Elora. "Just talk to him, Elle."

"Yeah," Kie echoed. "He's so in love the rest of us cringe whenever he looks over at you, just talk it out and it'll be okay."

"But... I don't know if I'm ready to tell him I love him yet," Elora admitted.

"Then don't," Sarah shrugged, running her hands through her head. "I mean, by comparison, your relationship is probably going the best at the moment."

"Well, that's a turn up for the books," Elora sighed, looking at them both. "Wait, what's going on with you?"

"John B's pissed because I didn't tell Topper he was my husband, and that I thanked him," Sarah rolled her eyes. "I mean, of course I thanked him. He saved my life, and I'd put him through so much already, and you'd think that that was the crime of the century."

"Tell me about it," Kie rolled her eyes. "All of this crazy shit's happening and Pope's giving me the silent treatment for not being in love with him."

"Yeah, if recent times have taught me anything, it's that boys are complete assholes," Elora declared.

"Yeah, and we're the dramatic ones," Sarah smirked.

Kie giggled. "Sure."

By the time they got back to the Twinkie the boys were already bored, but it didn't take long for Pope to get back as well.

However, he was in shock as he got back in the Twinkie. He opened the door, jumping in and closing it softly, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"So... how'd it go?" John B asked, making no attempt to drive away yet.

Pope only had one answer. "Shit just got way more personal."

𔓘𔓘𔓘

Naturally, none of the Pogues knew what this meant, and dug deeper. It didn't take long for Pope to spill his guts, and the news was pretty big.

"I still can't believe you're related to Denmark Tanny!" John B exclaimed as they stood out on the dock, heavens starting to open, reciting the news they had all had to hear at least five times before believing. "Are we in the presence of a royal?"

"A king?" JJ also grinned, taking the piss now. "We shall crown him! All hail the lord of Tannyhill!"

"We are not worthy!" Elora giggled, joining in as she mimed bowing down.

"Alright, everybody relax," Pope rolled his eyes.

"Relocate to Cat's Ass, question mark?" Sarah asked with a smirk.

"I'm with that," JJ nodded.

"How soon can we move in?" Kie grinned.

"Cause I don't have a place to stay," shrugged JJ.

"Bunk beds?"

"Bunk beds, I'm down for that-"

"I just keep thinking about the letter. The one that Limbrey sent," Pope interrupted them. "It had the wheat symbol on it, the one for the Royal Merchant."

"Yeah, something seems fishy," nodded JJ.

"But if we get the cross, we can split it like we were gonna split the gold," Pope shrugged.

"Yep, I'm down," smiled Elle.

"And live happily ever after?"

Well, seeing Carla Limbrey and Renfield wasn't how Elora was expecting this day to go.

Pope, meanwhile, just stared at Limbrey, who looked back at him. "You assaulted my father-"

He stopped as Renfield backed him up, and Limbrey shook her head. "Oh, I didn't assault anybody. He can identify the psycho from a mile away. Why would my employee a-asault your father? That's absurd."

She looked hesitantly at Renfield and laughed nervously, but Elora wasn't buying it.

"Unless you're going to stop bullshitting us, you can leave," she snapped, crossing her arms. "Why would we give you what you want anymore?"

"Listen, we can keep on negotiating, but the fact is, I want that key," Limbrey looked between her and Pope as Renfield launched, pushing them backwards.

"Hey-!" Tyler got in between them, pushing the man backwards.

"-and until I have it, I don't have a choice, which means you don't either," Limbrey looked at Pope.

"It's Limbrey, right? Is that correct?" John B, meanwhile, was holding the key.

"Yes," Limbrey said, eyes fixed on it, looking at the key.

"Is this what you're looking for?" John B held it up.

Elora shook her head. "John B-"

"Yes, it is," Limbrey advanced forward-

"Well, looking at the tide right now, it's about twenty feet deep out there," John B shrugged. "So, if I just threw it in the channel, the probability of you finding it again is slim to none."

Limbrey gasped, but Elora's eyes were fixed on something else.

Pope was frowning, lowering his eyes down to his pocket and pulling out the actual key, the one with the red tassle attached to it.

A smirk was appearing on Elle's face before anyone could say anything, and she fought to keep it down. As John B shrugged. "You wanna give it a shot? Ready?"

"No! Hey!"

He mimed throwing, but didn't actually, Limbrey sighing and shaking her head. "Please don't do that."

John B shrugged, pointing at Renfield. "Get him to back the hell up."

"Of course," Limbrey nodded, and Renfield sighed, backing away from Pope, Tyler and Elora. Then she herself moved in, facing Pope. "As I have told you from the beginning, I am willing to be reasonable."

Pope looked warily at Renfield, then at her. "Okay."

"Okay?" Limbrey seemed surprised.

"I'll give you the key, but I want the tape," Pope snapped.

"Of course."

"Pope, hey, hey, hey," John B got in between them, whispering to the boy. "You don't have to do this, okay?"

"No, it's okay," Pope said. "It's fine, it's about your dad. It's way more important."

For about a second Elora was spiralling again.

And then she realised what was up as John B passed Pope the fake key, who then passed it to Limbrey.

"The tape?"

"Yes, give him the tape," Limbrey said to Renfield, who handed it to Elora. "You know, I wish you'd come to this decision earlier. We could've avoided all this unpleasantness."

And as they left, Elora tried to keep a straight face, because for once the boys' bullshit had paid off, but it didn't work.

"How long do you think we have until she realises?" Elora murmured.

"Ten minutes," shrugged John B.

Pope turned round and looked at them. "Whose idea was the fake key?"

"Surprisingly not mine," Kie announced.

"Yeah, we had no clue," Sarah said.

"Elle worked it out," Tyler said, looking at the girl.

"Well, I don't know," John B smirked, putting an arm round each of Tyler and JJ's shoulders. "Should we tell him?"

"Wow," Kie scoffed. "I'm impressed."

"Yeah, your idioticness finally paid off!" Elora grinned.

"Did hell freeze over?" Pope put in, smiling.

"Hey, even a blind pig can find an acorn at times!" JJ grinned as all four boys hugged and laughed. "I actually don't even know what that saying means, but I saw it on reddit!"

"Guys, we have to take this to Shoupe!" Elora grinned, holding up the tape.

"Yes, ma'am!" JJ grinned. "Ward Cameron, we're coming for you, big boy!"

As they all left, yelling about finally getting Ward and Rafe locked up for this, no one saw the look on Sarah's face.

And the girl chose to ignore it, and go along with them as they left.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Ward Cameron, King of the Kooks, is going to jail!"

"Whoo!"

"He's getting exactly what's coming to him, man!"

As Elora, Sarah and Kie sat just outside the room where the boys were all cheering and whooping and hugging, they finally noticed the look on Sarah's face. They'd just been down at the station, watching Shoupe as he listened to the tape. When he'd finally said they were gonna get Ward and Rafe arrested, it was like a victory.

Yet it didn't look like one as they sat outside with Sarah.

"Do you regret it?" Kie asked tentatively.

"No, no absolutely not, I..." Sarah bit her lip. "He deserves it. All of it, but... he's still my dad, y'know?"

"Yeah," Elora nodded. "I mean... no matter how bad things used to get with my mum, I still felt drawn back to her, so... I get it."

Sarah nodded.

"It's unfair that you're in the middle of this," Kie advised. "Just-"

"Alright, fine," Tyler burst through the door on the phone, expression angry. "I'll tell her. Yes, thanks."

He didn't say bye as he hung up, instead looking straight at Sarah.

"That was Topper," he told her. "You know how my grandfather's a judge? Well, apparently he's just signed the warrant for your... your father's arrest."

Sarah's face hardly changed. So much so that Elora was proud of her.

"He also said to tell you that if you wanna say anything to him, you should do it now," Tyler finished, gaze flicking over to Elle.

Sarah nodded, biting her lip hard as she looked at JJ, Pope and John B inside, still celebrating.

"Okay. Let's go."

𔓘𔓘𔓘

The arrows were coming in hot.

John B was trying his hardest to drive the Twinkie fast towards Tannyhill, but they were stuck behind a line of police cars.

"Shit," Kie cursed as she looked at them.

"Can you hurry up? I really need to be there for Wheezie," Sarah reprimanded her boyfriend (husband?) from the passenger seat.

"You think I wanna miss this?" John B replied shortly.

Anger sparked inside Elora.

"You know JB, he may be a terrible person, but he's your girlfriend's dad and you don't even have the decency to be a bit sympathetic," she snapped at the brunette boy.

John B didn't reply, instead just continuing to drive a bit faster. Sarah flashed Elora a thankful look, which she returned.

By the time they got to Tannyhill, all of them jumping out and running up to the wall to see what was happening, the mood hadn't improved much.

The cops were all running in opposite directions, their cars parked in the drive once after the other.

"Screw it. I'm going over," John B said, hoisting himself up and over the wall.

Naturally, none of them were letting him go alone, and one after the other, all jumped up and over the wall. Sarah lead them as they ran up to the front door, where Rose and Wheezie were both standing, the latter looking confused.

"Wheezie! Wheezie!" Sarah shouted, hugging her sister tightly.

"What's going on? Why are the police here again?" Wheezie asked.

"Go inside. Don't come out," Sarah whispered, stroking her hair. Wheezie nodded, running back inside.

"Where the hell is he?" Elora asked Rose, crossing her arms.

She only said two words, but it was enough. "The Druthers."

𔓘𔓘𔓘

"Dad! DAD!"

Well, it was certainly a sight to behold.

They had ran as soon as Rose had told them where Ward was, down to the dock where the My Druthers was.

Except it wasn't. It was untied, floating a few metres from the dock, and Ward was upon it, glass of wine in hand. He had been looking quite smug, presumably admitting to Peterkin's murder to save Rafe, until he spotted them.

"Sarah!" He shouted, tears in his eyes.

"That's Sarah Cameron, let her through!" Shoupe shouted at the officers that attempted to stop the Pogues passing.

"What are you doing here, Sarah?!" Ward shouted.

"Dad! What are you doing?" Sarah posed her own question, her own eyes teary as they all walked along the dock, hands up in the air.

"Vic, you gotta get her outta here! She can't be here right now!" Ward bellowed at Shoupe, who stayed motionless.

"Just come on in and you- you can talk to her!" Shoupe shouted.

"Sarah, I'm so sorry baby, but I can't!" Ward yelled from the top of the Druthers. He started to recline the anchor.

"Dad- what are you doing? Dad, no, no, no!" Sarah yelled, eyes wide.

"WARD, THIS AIN'T GONNA END THE WAY YOU WANT IT TO!" Shoupe bellowed, as police boats started to surround the boat. "YOU DON'T NEED HER SEEING THIS!"

Ward began to climb down the ladder off the top of the boat, Sarah shouting. "Dad, don't leave! Where are you going?"

"I love you!" Ward shouted at his daughter. "And..." his eyes slid over to Elora. "Elora, I... I'm sorry about your mother. If I knew where she was, I'd tell you."

Elora stared at him in shock as he climbed down the ladder, rushing to the controls.

"GODDAMMIT WARD! TURN IT AROUND AND GET BACK HERE!" Shoupe roared.

"Please don't leave!" Sarah sobbed.

All the while John B and the others were just staring at the man, unsure of what to do.

But Ward didn't listen. He started to drive out, police boats surrounding him. And then-

BANG!

Elora jumped violently as the My Druthers exploded, going up in a huge puff of black smoke, flames licking the plastic and sending a shower of components into the water.

It happened right in front of them.

Elora, Tyler, JJ, Pope, Kie and John B just watched, hearts in their throats, all absolutely speechless as they saw the smoke and the blown up boat. Sarah, meanwhile, was stumbling on her feet, gasping and crying and sobbing. "No- no, no, no- dad! DAD!"

Elora hadn't cried like that when her mum went missing. Then again, that didn't happen right in front of her.

"No- NOOOOOOOO!" Sarah sank to her knees on the dock, screaming and sobbing.

John B, meanwhile, just watched. He didn't even look at her. He just watched the boat burn, ignoring his crying girlfriend (wife?) completely in favour of the small, satisfied smile on his face.

"Sarah! SARAH!"

Elora never thought she'd ever think Topper Thornton was worth anything.

But as he ran down the dock, past the officers and straight to Sarah, letting her fall and cry into him, reaching for the boat as she cried. He held her, whispering in her ear and stroking her hair.

And sure, his father hadn't been killed by Ward.

And sure, his reputation hadn't been destroyed by Ward.

But Elora couldn't help but feel a huge disappointment for JB rising within her as Tyler took her hand, squeezing it slightly as she blinked away her tears at seeing her best friend fall apart like this.

She had never cared much for Ward, and had never really wanted to know him.

But she cared more than ever about Sarah.

And she also knew the pain of losing a parent more than anybody.

Because she'd lost more than one over the course of the years.