CHAPTER TWO
WHERE'S BRUNO?

Without wasting any more time, Valeria gathered her things and left Nadia's house in a hurry, telling her she would text her the details later. There was no time to chit chat right now.

In that moment, as she ran towards her house, she was thankful that Nadia and her lived on the same street, or else she would have ran out of breath.

When she entered the Reyes residence and walked towards the living room, she found her whole family gathered there, talking to Sheriff Peterkin and a few other officers.

That's when she knew it was serious. And it scared her to death.

"Mi princesa," Ricardo was the closest to her, pulling her in for a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."

She hugged him back, looking at the other members of her family: her mother was sitting on the couch, her hands covering her face as quiet sobs were heard around the room; her grandmother was next to her, an arm wrapped around her shoulder as she comforted her, her eyes filled with tears as well; and her grandfather was talking to the two police officers that were accompanying the sheriff, Deputy Plumb and Deputy Shoupe, Skylar's father.

"W-What happened?"

"Your brother is missing. When we woke up this morning, we went to his room and he wasn't there."

"Have you tried calling him?

Her father nodded. "We can't reach him. Texts don't go through and his phone goes straight to voicemail."

That wasn't like him.

"Your parents told us you two went to a party last night, is that correct?" Sheriff Peterkin asked, joining the conversation.

"Yes," she nodded. "At the boneyard."

"And when was the last time you saw Bruno?"

"Uh, I saw him when my friends and I got to the party."

The sheriff frowned slightly. "You didn't go together?"

Valeria shook her head as she started tearing up. "No, we... we got into a fight earlier that day, and we were still mad at each other when it was time for the party."

If she hadn't argued with him, if she hadn't questioned him until the point where he got angry and yelled at her, if she had made amends with him before the party... would Bruno still be missing?

Or was this her fault?

Peterkin nodded as she took a few notes. "Do you remember what time it was when you saw him?"

"Uh..." she tried her best to think. After all, she really wanted to help. "We got to the party around ten."

"Okay. We're going to start looking for him then. The sooner the better. Do you have a picture we could use?"

Ricardo nodded. He had been expecting that question, so he had already printed the last picture Bruno had taken, handing it to the sheriff.

"I-I can make missing posters and distribute them around the island," Valeria spoke up, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand.

"That's a good idea. Spread the word as fast as we can so we can find him," Peterkin looked at the girl, nodding at her in a thankful manner before she looked back at Ricardo. "I know it might be hard, but I would advise you to stay here with your wife. Maybe Bruno comes back home on his own."

Ricardo nodded, thanking the sheriff and the deputies before he sat down next to Maribel, pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly. Meanwhile, Ramón led the police officers outside and Valeria rushed upstairs.

Once in her room, she threw her stuff on her bed and went to her desk, sitting down and turning her laptop on as she FaceTimed both Nadia and Skylar.

"Valeria, Nadia told me something happened. Is everything okay?"

"Yes," Nadia agreed. "You left my house so suddenly."

"Guys, nothing is okay. Bruno is missing."

Both Skylar and Nadia's eyes widened, Valeria glancing at her phone screen just in time to see their reactions.

"Oh shit."

"Are you okay, Valeria?"

"I-I don't know," she sighed. "But I need your help."

"Yes, of course," Skylar spoke. "Whatever you need."

"We're here for you."

She smiled. She was thankful for her best friends.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it."

"No need to thank us, princess," Skylar smiled. "Now, what can we do to help?"

Valeria explained the situation to them, and how she was going to print some missing posters to spread around town. Nadia and Skylar immediately agreed to help, and hung up the video call after telling Valeria they would be there in five minutes.

Meanwhile, Valeria finished printing the flyers and grabbed her bag, placing them in there and adding a few other things she might need. Then, she walked into the hall, and before she could head downstairs, something made her stop in front of Bruno's room. Walking inside, Valeria couldn't help but frown when she saw his bed wasn't made.

If he had gone missing last night, his bed would have been made... Did that mean he went missing that same morning?

She decided to look around quickly, her eyes stopping on his desk, which was a mess. Following the mess with her eyes, her gaze ended up on a crumpled piece of paper lying next to the trash. She bent down, grabbed it and opened it.

"Royal Merchant?" she asked out loud as she looked at the printed Wikipedia page of the shipwreck, reading over it quickly. Why was Bruno interested in a shipwreck that occurred centuries ago?

Wait.

Her uncle Rafael used to tell them treasure hunting stories whenever he came to visit. And one of those stories was about none other than the Royal Merchant and the gold that was in its insides.

She sighed.

Bruno wasn't hanging out with Cody, he was probably seeing their uncle. She couldn't believe he had gone against their father's wishes to not contact their uncle, and she also couldn't believe he hadn't told her. After all, they told each other everything.

Putting the paper inside the back pocket of her jeans, Valeria rushed downstairs and bid goodbye to her family before going outside and finding Nadia and Skylar already there.

The three friends shared a hug and then they started distributing the missing posters. First, in Figure Eight, and after that, in The Cut. After all, they needed to cover the complete island in posters if they wanted to find Bruno.

And Valeria wanted nothing else.

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"The office," John B spoke.

After finding his father's compass in Scooter's sunken Grady-White, John B and JJ had decided to pay Scooter's wife Lana a visit, wanting to see if she knew anything about why Scooter had the compass. However, that visit took a turn for the worse: the two men that had shot at the Pogues the day before were after Lana, looking for the compass.

And now here they were, the core four back at the Chateau and discussing who those men were and what to do next, when John B remembered something.

"What?" Pope asked.

"My dad. My dad's office," he answered, going inside. "He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. We used to laugh at him like he was actually gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've just kinda... I just left it as he kept it."

"Yeah, for when he gets back," Kiara said when they reached the door to the office.

"Yeah," he glanced at her before he used a key to open the padlock and therefore the door, walking inside after that.

"I've slept over here like six hundred times, and I've never seen this door opened," Pope said as he looked around, Kiara humming in agreement.

"Here, look," John B grabbed a cork board that was on the wall and showed it to his friends. "This is the original owner, right here."

"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge, 1880 to 1920," Kiara read before pointing at the picture of Robert. "There's the lucky compass, right there."

"Actually, um... he was shot after he bought it." Silence and confusion filled the room, except for the sound of a rooster crowing in the distance. "Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. Henry was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam."

"Let me guess," JJ finally spoke, "he died in action, right?"

"Sort of. Uh, a-actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In... in country," the Pogues except John B exchanged looks. "Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad."

"Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here."

"Yeah," Pope agreed with JJ. "You have a death compass."

"I do not."

"You have a death compass."

"Seriously, dude, get rid of it," JJ said. "It's cursed, and it has made its way back to you."

"Look, my dad used to talk about this compartment in here," John B sat down, starting to play with the compass to get to said compartment. "Soldiers used to hide secret notes."

"What's that?" However, Kiara noticed something engraved on the inside and pointed at it.

"That wasn't there before," he looked at it before looking at his friends. "This is my dad's handwriting."

"How can you know that?" Pope asked.

"Because he does these weird Rs with the..." he showed him the writing on the compass. "See it?"

"Can I see it?" JJ asked and John B handed him the compass, the blonde boy then trying to decipher what it said. "Red... Rout... No, I think that's an A."

"It says Redfield," Kiara helped him.

"Right."

"And there's something else," she said, taking the compass off JJ's hands and tracing her fingers about the two small symbols that were carved below the word: a crown and the Gemini sign.

"Whoa," John B looked at it. "What does that mean?"

Pope approached the group, also looking at the carvings. "Hm. Well, that is the Gemini symbol. It is represented by the twins Castor and Pollux."

JJ and John B looked at him, confusion in their faces. "What? I read Percy Jackson when I was twelve and became obsessed with Greek mythology."

"Wait," Kiara spoke. "Did you say twins?"

"Yes."

"And there is a crown..." she connected the dots and sighed. "Oh no."

"What?"

"Care to enlighten us?" JJ said sarcastically.

"Who uses crowns?"

"Uh, royals?" John B was confused.

"Yes, or kings. And do you know the Spanish word for kings?"

"No, I failed Spanish."

Pope glared at JJ before he looked at Kiara. "King is rey, plural reyes."

"Exactly," she smiled at him slightly. "And which twins have that last name?"

"Fuck, no," JJ exclaimed when he realized what Kiara was hinting at.

"Valeria and Bruno Reyes," John B answered, grabbing the compass again. "What does that mean though? Does my father want me to talk to them? And why?"

"No idea," Pope said.

"I say we ignore that," JJ crossed his arms in front of his chest as he leant against the wall. "It's not like the silver spoon twins know anything about treasures. Besides, we don't need their help."

"I don't know..." John B sighed.

"Let's discuss that later," Kiara intervened. "Now, what's Redfield?"

"Besides the most common name in the county?" Pope said sarcastically.

"Oh, maybe... maybe it's a clue," John B said. "Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding."

"Okay..." JJ didn't sound convinced.

"A clue? Come on, that's..." Pope started to say, but Kiara sent him a look that made him stop. "But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?"

"Yes!" John B exclaimed as he stood up and grabbed some paper. "Perfect. Anagram. You need paper."

"Okay."

"Here you go."

After he handed Pope the paper, another rooster crowing could be heard. "How can you concentrate with that thing constantly crowing at you?"

"JJ loves the rooster."

"I love the rooster," Kiara added.

"Okay, let me think..." Pope started to write on the paper.

"Seriously, think."

"Dedfiel. Colors... No, that's stupid."

"What about, like, Ritalin?" JJ asked, standing next to Pope.

"Um... Dreidel? Fiddler?"

"Defile. Does that mean anything to you? Defile?"

"Guys," John B had been looking out the window when he noticed a dark truck pulled up.

"You're missing a letter." However, his friends didn't hear him.

"Guys!" he yelled, now getting their attention. "Somebody's here."

JJ, Pope and Kiara walked over to the window, seeing two men walk towards the house. The same men that had been at Lana's.

"Guys, guys, is that them?"

"No," JJ said to himself. He didn't want to deal with them.

"Is that them?" Kiara asked again.

"This is suboptimal," Pope chimed in.

"John B, I told you. Why does it always–"

"JJ! Hey, look at me," John B said, pushing JJ against the wall and bringing a finger to his lips, motioning he needed to be quiet. "Where's the gun?"

"Gun? I, uh, I can't..."

"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?" Kiara exclaimed exasperatedly.

"It was in my backpack, and then I... It's on the porch."

"Go, go," John B ushered him and JJ ran out of the office, headed to the front door.

But he stopped when he heard someone scream out "John Routledge!"

He immediately ran back to the office, closing the door behind them.

"Where's the gun?"

"They're on the front porch, guys," JJ answered.

"Get out here! Routledge! Where you at, boy?"

"Shit."

"We gotta leave!"

"Guys, window. Window," Kiara pointed to the window and JJ and Pope rushed over there while John B stayed at the door.

However, the boys didn't seem to be able to get any of the windows open.

"What... what's happening?" Kiara asked. "Why is it taking so long?"

"It's painted shut, okay?" JJ answered.

Thinking fast, the brown haired girl looked through the room for something that could help get the window open, and once she did, she went to the window and tried her best to open it with the tool she had obtained. At that moment however, one of the men started to hit the door, trying to open it. JJ helped Kiara with the window, and shortly after, they were outside.

The four Pogues rushed over to the chicken coop that was on the front yard. Quickly, they hid inside and stayed quiet. A short while later, the two men came back outside, carrying some things that they probably had found in the office. They thought they were safe, but then one of the roosters started crowing.

"Do something, Pope," JJ whispered. "Shut him up."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Pet it, or something, or talk to it. I don't know," Kiara said between tears. She was scared.

"You do something."

Groaning, JJ grabbed the rooster and wrapped his hands around it, killing it. Kiara let out more sobs, and John B held her hand, wanting to comfort her. Pope looked at JJ, and the blonde boy sighed. He hadn't wanted to kill it, he just wanted it to shut up...

But what was done was done.

"Ratter! What the hell are you doin'? Let's go."

And with that, they started the car and drove away. The Pogues decided to wait a little before going outside. They were all shaken up by what had happened, so they just stood there in silence for a while. Sighing, John B looked at the compass.

"Okay, we need to talk to the twins."

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After getting in the Twinkie, John B drove to Figure Eight, headed to the Reyes' house. He had no idea why his father wanted him to talk to them, but he was going to figure it out.

"I still think this is a bad idea," JJ sighed as he played with his lighter. "The silver spoon twins? Helping us? Yeah, it's never gonna happen."

"Well, JJ, my dad wanted me to talk to them, so that's what we're doing."

"Okay then. But don't say I didn't warn you."

John B rolled his eyes as he parked the van in front of the house. Kiara was the first to get out, frowning as she approached one of the trees on the sidewalk and looked at the flier that had been attached to it.

"Guys. Look at this."

The three boys walked towards her after getting out of the car and they all frowned, looking at each other as the information sunk in.

"Bruno's missing?" Pope asked.

"Wasn't he at the party yesterday?"

"This can't be good, right?"

John B ignored his friends as a thought crossed his mind. What if his father's disappearance was connected to Bruno's?

"Come on, let's see if we can at least talk to Valeria."

The Pogues approached the front door of the house, knocking on it. There was some sound on the other side, and a minute or two later Ricardo Reyes opened the door.

"Oh, hello Kiara," he greeted her. After all, Valeria and Kiara had been close acquaintances during the latter's Kook year. "And hello friends of Kiara. How can I help you?"

"Uh," Kiara spoke. "We saw the missing posters, and wanted to know if there was anything we could do to help."

The man smiled slightly. "I appreciate it, but the police are already investigating, and Valeria is out distributing the posters."

"Do you think she'll be long?" Pope asked.

He shook his head. "She should be home soon."

"Mr. Reyes, do you think we could stay and wait until she gets home? We... we want to check up on her."

Ricardo knew too little about Valeria and Kiara's current relationship, or about his daughter's relationship with the three boys that were accompanying the girl, but he assumed that if they had come all the way to see her, they had to at least be friends.

"Of course," he nodded. "You can head to the garden, and I'll tell Valeria you're here when she's home."

The Pogues thanked Ricardo before he closed the door and they followed the stone pathway that led to the wooden garden gate. Opening it, they again followed the pathway to the back of the house, all being in awe when they saw the garden. There was a terrace adjacent to the house, and it fit perfectly to the house.

"I've never seen anything like this..." Pope exclaimed quietly as he and his friends looked around.

Once they reached the terrace, they kept staring at the garden: at the pool in the back that had a small waterfall; at the shiny barbecue on the corner; at the tall hedges that surrounded the garden and gave it privacy.

"Damn," JJ whistled. "Now this is a garden."

"Whatever," Kiara rolled her eyes. "Let's sit down."

"I'm just saying," the blonde boy sat down. "One day, I'll have a garden like this. Hell, scratch that. I'll have a house like this."

"JJ, daydreaming is not a good look on you," Pope teased.

"Guys," John B intervened. "Let's be quiet, okay? The family is going through a hard time, and I'm sure the last thing they want is to hear some teenagers from The Cut bickering in their backyard."

"Okay, okay," JJ put his hands up in defense, a smirk on his face. "I'll be good."

"John B's right. Let's be quiet and wait for Valeria to get home."

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It turned out that Ricardo had been right when he said his daughter should be home soon, because around fifteen minutes after the Pogues knocked on the Reyes' door, Valeria and her best friends approached the house.

"Do you guys think those were enough posters? Or should I print some more?"

"Valeria, we covered the whole island with Bruno's face."

"I know, Sky, but maybe we need more? I–"

"Hey," Nadia placed a hand on her shoulder. "It will be okay. We'll find Bruno."

"Nadia is right," Skylar added. "And what? Did you think our work was done? Hell no."

"What do you mean?"

"And here I thought you were the detective out of the three of us, Nads," he chuckled. "Bruno was at the party yesterday, right?"

"Yes..."

"Well, then I say we question every Kook that was at the boneyard yesterday."

"And how do you want to do that?" Nadia crossed her arms in front of her chest. "We can't just go around Figure Eight knocking on everybody's door."

"Don't worry, there's no need to do that," he smirked slightly. "And you know why? Because there's a Kook party at Mase tonight, and we're going to play detectives."

"I hate to say this," Nadia sighed, a small smile on her face. "But it is a really good idea."

Valeria smiled slightly. "Let's do it."

After hugging each other goodbye, and deciding to meet up an hour before the party, Valeria walked towards her house. However, before she went inside, she put her phone out and tried to call her uncle again. But nothing.

She had tried to reach him multiple times throughout the day, sending him text messages and leaving him voicemails, but he never answered.

And well, Valeria's gut feeling just knew something bad had happened.

"Hey..." she greeted her family as she walked inside, immediately approaching her mom, wanting to show her some comfort.

"Did everything go well?" her grandmother asked.

"Yes," she nodded, sitting down next to Maribel. "We spread posters all over Kildare Island."

"Bien hecho," her grandfather nodded with a smile.

"Cielo..." her mother whispered and Valeria hugged her tightly.

"Estoy aquí."

"¿Dónde está mi Brunito?" she sobbed. "Mi Brunito..."

It broke Valeria to see her mother like this. It was... devastating.

But to be honest, she felt the same. She just told herself she needed to be strong for her family, and that was what she was going to do.

"Princesa," her father called out to her, and she got out of her mother's embrace, kissing her cheek before doing so.

"Yes?"

"Kiara is in the garden with some friends."

She blinked. "What?" What the hell was Kiara and Co. doing there?

"They saw the posters and wanted to check up on you," Ricardo explained.

Bullshit.

"Okay... I'll go talk to them."

Ricardo kissed his daughter's forehead before he walked back to his wife, and Valeria sighed as she headed to the kitchen and opened the door to the terrace, coming face to face with the Pogues.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. There was no need to beat around the bush.

"Good to see you too, princess," JJ said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and leant back on the chair.

"Hey Valeria," Pope greeted her awkwardly.

"We just wanted to see how you were dealing with your brother's disappearance."

She sighed, looking away shortly. "What do you think?"

"Right," Kiara apologized. "Sorry."

"May I ask what happened?" John B asked. "He was at the party yesterday."

"He was," she nodded. "I think he went missing this morning. My parents couldn't find him or reach him, so... they called the police."

"We're sorry about what happened," Pope said. "Hopefully he'll come back soon."

"Yeah, I hope so too..." she sighed before she looked at the Pogues. "Now, while I appreciate this, I'm sure you didn't come here to say all that. So... what do you want?"

John B looked at his friends before he sighed. "Well, as you probably know, my dad's been missing for a while."

Her gaze softened. "Yeah... I'm sorry about that."

He smiled at her slightly, standing up and handing her the compass. "I recently found this compass, and there's this clue here... I think he wanted me to talk to you."

She took the compass and her fingers traced the crown and gemini symbol. It was clearly supposed to signal to her and Bruno, the Reyes twins.

"Do you know why he might have wanted that?"

Realization hit her as she remembered the last fight her father and uncle had.

"Spill it, princess." JJ said, earning glares from his friends. "What? She obviously knows something."

Valeria sighed, giving John B the compass back. "Bruno isn't the only one who's missing."

"What?" the Pogues asked almost in unison.

"My uncle... I think he's missing too."

"Your uncle?" She nodded.

"You think or you know?"

"JJ, stop. Why do you think he's missing?" John B asked.

"Well, I've tried calling him and he isn't picking up... it goes straight to voicemail, and that is not usual for him. He always answers."

"Okay... and what does this have to do with Bruno? Or with my dad?"

Valeria sighed as she thought about what to do next. She wasn't sure if she should trust them, but maybe this was the only way to find Bruno...

"I found this in Bruno's room this morning," she pulled the paper out of her back pocket and handed it to John B, whose eyes widened when he read what was on it.

"Royal Merchant?" The Pogues looked at each other again.

She nodded. "Yes."

"I don't understand..."

"My uncle... he's a treasure hunter," she looked at John B. "Like your dad."

"What?" his eyes widened again. "How do you know–"

"I overheard a fight between my dad and uncle months ago, and your father's name was dropped. They were talking about treasures, and gold..."

"Oh my God."

"I can't believe this," he sighed. "I didn't know they knew each other."

"Me neither... up until that night."

"Wait," Pope interrupted. "So you think Bruno and your uncle... went missing together?"

She nodded. "The day of the storm, Bruno lied about where he was, and... I don't know, this? The Royal Merchant? This has my uncle written all over it. He used to tell us stories about treasure hunting all the time when we were growing up, and Bruno was obsessed with them and the idea of finding lost treasures."

"And you think they went to look for a treasure and got lost?"

"Not just any treasure. I think they went to look for the Merchant and its gold."

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That same night, Valeria, Nadia and Sky made their way to the Kook party, Valeria telling them everything about what had happened with the Pogues.

After talking a while more, John B and her exchanged numbers, having decided to stay in touch since they both sensed the disappearances of their loved ones were connected. He told her what he had found about his father, and she told him everything she knew about her uncle.

Then, the Pogues left: John B told her they were going to investigate the other clue and head to Redfield Lighthouse.

"I don't know, princess. But I don't think trusting the Pogues is a good idea."

"Why not?" Nadia asked him. After all, Pope was her cousin.

"Listen, don't get me wrong, okay? Like, Pope's great, and Kiara is tolerable, but John B and JJ? Not so much. They're troublemakers."

"Sky, I love you, but honestly, I don't care about what you think," Valeria intervened. "I decided to trust them. This could be the only way to find Bruno and my uncle, and I'm not going to waste it."

The curly-haired boy decided it'd be best to stay quiet, at least for the time being. An angry Valeria was not a pretty sight, and certainly not one he wanted to see right before the party.

A short walk later, they reached Mace, and they immediately started asking people about Bruno. Most of them said the same thing, that the last time they had seen him was at the party, but that whenever they did see him, he had been alone.

Valeria was slowly losing hope when one of the Kooks mentioned seeing him talk to a Pogue called Jenny, before Topper had approached Bruno and the pulled him away, the two disappearing for a while.

Why was Bruno talking to a Pogue? And most importantly, what was he doing with Topper? They weren't friends.

Valeria didn't know the answers to those questions, but she knew one thing.

They knew something.

And Valeria was going to find out what.

『••✎••』

i'm so sorry for the long wait, but chapter two is finally here!!!

i'm not entirely sure if i like how it turned out or not, but i've been working on it for days now & i just want to publish it & get it over with😂 plus, i can always edit it later

the pogues & valeria are teaming up... i wonder how that will go down👀 what do you think? any theories about what might happen?

anyways, don't be a ghost reader & i'll see you next chapter! 💙

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COOL FOR THE SUMMER © storyofanotherpaola, 2023.