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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲: 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀

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The Pogues sailed back home to Poguelandia 2.0 and got to work on figuring out how they were going to find this amulet that could apparently "break the curse" on the Genrettes.

None of them really believed it, apart from Emery who kept saying, "Anything is possible." But they just kept assuring her that she'd watched way too many movies and there was no such thing as curses.

They would know, having spent time trying to save the Cross of Santo Domingo that apparently had a magic healing garment. But according to John B, when he and his father went to Charleston all those months ago, they lied to Limbrey and gave her a fake garment and it ended up working as a placebo.

They guessed the same thing would probably happen this time around once they got the amulet and Genrette would believe the curse was automatically lifted.

The eight of them were currently sitting outside on the top porch of the surf shop, the breeze slightly blowing through their hair. JJ had decided he would be the one to dive since he was the one that got them into this so it was only fair.

Pope looked down at the layout of the ship printed down in front of him as the others stood and sat around him. "Okay so, look at the schematics of the ship, it'll probably be best for you to enter in around here," Pope said as he drew a circle around a part of the ship.

"All right," JJ hummed.

"And Genrette wasn't kidding about the stash."

"How do you know?" Cassie inquired, tilting her head.

"Look. In the captain's log, there's a secret compartment. Right here," Pope pointed at the picture of the headboard in the log, "behind the headboard in the captain's quarters."

"Okay, are we really still talking about this?" John B spoke up since he hadn't been fully on board with this. Although they could have been getting a buttload of cash, he didn't want to risk diving somewhere so deep that had already been salvaged. It would be pointless.

"Yep," JJ answered right away.

"This ship's been down there for three hundred years. It's been salvaged, we know that," John B pointed out.

"Wait, didn't you guys find the Royal Merchant this way?" Emery pointed out, remembering what Cassie had detailed to her a while ago.

John B sighed. "That was different. That was our first time finding it, but this wreck has already been salvaged. There's nothing more left to find."

"Come on, not gonna hurt to check," Cleo vouched.

JJ snapped his fingers and pointed at Cleo. "Yeah. It feels right. And also, we know where it is. It's right in this area." JJ took out the map and started pointing around the Goat Island area.

"Except we don't know exactly where it is." John B shut his eyes.

"What about the Coast Guard? I bet they know where it is. Plus, I've heard coasties are quite chill, so we could probably just straight up ask them," JJ brought up.

"Hey, wait, Pope, isn't your uncle in the Coast Guard?" John B realized. "Uncle Roger?"

"Uncle Roger," Sarah started to smile.

"My Uncle Roger?" Pope replied.

JJ turned to him. "Pope?"

"No, no, no. That's not gonna work. My Uncle Roger is the most strait-laced, by-the-books person in the history of the world. It's not gonna happen," Pope denied.

"Mmm, more strait-laced than you?" Sarah teased, crossing her arms.

"First of all, I didn't graduate high school. I had to get a GED. That-that's pretty loosey-goosey," Pope tried to argue as JJ just whistled lowly. "So...other options. Wait, JJ," Pope spun around, pointing at the blonde, "isn't your, uh, your friend in the Coast Guard? Boogie."

"What kinda name is that? He gonna start dancing or something?" Emery mumbled and Kiara snorted before she covered it up.

"Oh, boy," John B laughed under his breath.

"Boogs? He's in the reserves, bro," JJ corrected.

"Yeah, you know, but he'd probably know," Pope shrugged.

"That's not what I'm saying. He's a marina rat, right? Living paycheck to paycheck. So, if we're gonna get any intel out of him, well he's gonna need to be bribed," JJ explained as John B started to slowly shake his head. "Which, look, I'm totally fine with doing. It's just, you know..."

"Uhh...No," John B said.

"No," Sarah added.

"Nope, not allowing that," Cassie shut him down.

JJ pointed at his girlfriend. "All right, there's your answer right there. So, in my mind, I'm like, the best-case scenario is if I had an uncle who knew where the wreck was, would maybe tell us for free..." JJ counted off his fingers before he looked back up at Pope. "Oh, that's right, you do. So that should be our first stop."

"You're not listening, all right? I dropped a cracker in that man's garage one time, and he made me clean the whole thing." The girls started to laugh at what Pope was saying, thinking it sounded ridiculous. "He is not the person who will give out classified information. He's just not."

"Not with that attitude," Kiara commented.

"Yeah, you never know," Emery added.

"Trust me, I know," Pope responded, not having it.

"Dude." JJ stood up from the couch and walked over to the Heyward boy. "Your uncle might literally know where it's at, he might even tell us for free, dog, but you just gotta try."

"No, I-I don't think you're listening."

"He could say yes," Kiara pushed.

"Also, I thought all Pogues were all team players here, so..." JJ trailed off, slinging his arm around Pope's shoulders.

"No," Pope stood his ground.

"Not even a single woogity?" Sarah taunted.

"Whatever happened to 'Pogues for life'?" John B guilt tripped.

"It's not— Absolutely not."

"Take one for the team," his girlfriend tried.

"That's it. I'm done. I'm not asking him."

"You're asking him," Cassie stated and Pope pursed his lips together, his eyes dancing around them all as their smiles started to grow.

Pope really didn't want to ask his uncle. He knew it wasn't going to work, but he also knew this might have been the only way to save Poguelandia 2.0 and he didn't want to the Pogues to forever be disappointed in him.

So, he finally let up and they drove the Twinkie to Pope's family barbecue. Cassie rode there on the back of JJ's motorbike he managed to fix after the Enduro instead, and they all waited for Pope to come back and see what he had to say.

Pope finally came walking back over to the Twinkie where they were all waiting for a bit and the look on his face was anything but satisfied."What happened?" Cleo asked as Pope leaned against the side of the Twinkie.

"I don't think he's gonna look at me the same way again," Pope answered and John B let out a low exhale. "Great."

"You're acting like he found out you murdered someone." Cassie gave him a pointed look.

"It's the same thing in his mind," Pope replied, his expression cold as Cassie and JJ shared a glance.

"Now, don't take it too hard, Pope. He probably gave up on you a long time ago," Cleo joked to try to make him feel better, but it didn't really work as he just climbed inside the Twinkie with a sag in his shoulders.

John B leaned out the car window, looking at JJ. "Plan B?"

JJ began to grin. "Let's find Boogie." JJ got onto his bike and Cassie got on after, reaching around him so she could hold on. He revved his engine before he looked back at her. "You're holdin' on pretty tight there," he noted.

"Don't act like you don't like it," Cassie remarked with an arch brow.

He looked back at her with a sly grin, shrugging. "You're right. I like it."

The others were all dropped off back at Poguelandia 2.0, except for Emery who was dropped off at The Wreck for her shift, while JJ and John B went to go talk to Boogie. Cassie wanted to come along, but JJ assured her that he and John B had this. And besides, she needed to man the shop.

As Cassie worked the register, Cleo stood behind her on the laptop searching through information about Blackbeard. Sarah took a phone call as Cassie opened the register, counting the right amount of money she would need to give back the customer.

"No, we don't. I'm so sorry. Thank you so much for calling," Sarah spoke on the phone before she hung up.

Cassie handed the man back his change. "Have a good one, sir."

"Whoa. Head chopped off. Gross," Cleo commented behind them as she stared at the computer screen, and Sarah sent her an amused grin.

Cassie held the receipt out for the man to take. "And here's your receipt."

"Thanks." The man grabbed his bag of food and began to walk out of the shop.

"Come back anytime!" Cassie called out to him.

"Except when the surf's good!" Sarah added and the two girls looked at one another before they did the Pogue handshake.

"Smell that? Money," Cleo enthused.

"Money," Cassie and Sarah joined in as the latter snapped her fingers and the girls chuckled with one another.

"So, Cleo..." Cassie continued without Sarah and Cleo raised a brow at her. "How's Pope?" She asked and Sarah began to giggle.

"Now what kinda question is that, girl?" Cleo replied, waving the girl off.

Sarah and Cassie shared a humored glance. "Well, it's Pope, you know? I remember you telling me he was different than the other guys you liked and whenever Sarah and I talk about our boyfriends, you barely join in. Is he a secret freak, that why?"

"Cassie!" Sarah chastised with wide eyes even though she couldn't escape her laughter from coming out.

"What? Don't you wanna know? Like if he starts doing calculations and shit in bed—"

Cleo's face burned, but there was a grin on her lips. "He does not do calculations in bed. If he did, I kill him."

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat behind them and piped up, "Not sure if that's appropriate to talk about on the job." They spun around and their amused smiles faltered once they realized who the man was.

It was Dale Zeasy, the guy who was trying to buy JJ's house and made them spend way too much money because JJ's ego couldn't handle it. "Good afternoon, ladies. Y'all remember me?"

"How could we forget?" Cleo replied smugly.

Zeasy nodded with a hum. "I like that accent. Welcome to our country."

Cleo looked down, biting her tongue. Cassie, however, was not going to go let him get away with saying that. She scoffed, blinking rapidly. "Did you seriously just say that, you racist prick?" Cassie questioned the man.

Sarah held an arm out in front of Cassie to potentially stop her from crawling over the counter and strangling the man. Cassie looked over at her, nostrils flaring. Sarah subtly shook her head, telling her it wasn't worth it. She also knew that if Cassie were to do something, it would just give this guy more ammunition.

Sarah forced a smile as she looked back at Zeasy, lowering her arm. "How can we help you?"

Zeasy smiled at both at the girls, his gaze lingering on Cassie for longer as she ran her tongue along her top teeth. "Well, this racist prick has got something for you here," he told them mockingly, placing a paper down on the counter in front of them.

Cassie arched a brow as she and Sarah shared a glance before the latter looked at Zeasy. "You shouldn't have," Sarah replied sarcastically.

"I can take this place off your hands at any time. For a fair price," Zeasy voiced, holding his arms out.

"Why don't I take your hands off of you?" Cassie countered, giving him an innocent smile. "I've been having to gut some fish lately so I've had practice." His smile faltered at her threat.

"I don't think that's necessary," Sarah quickly cut in and Cassie's shoulders slumped. "But can we offer you a keychain?" She inquired, killing him with kindness while Cassie just wanted to kill him. "Maybe a...glass bong, a pipe? You look like you need one."

Zeasy took a quick look around the place. "You know, y'all are gonna lose this place. You might as well sell now."

"Your threats don't scare us," Cassie told the man. "What does is your nasty old face, so why don't you get on outta here if you're not gonna buy anything."

"Cassie," Sarah warned through clenched teeth, her eyes wide.

"Oh, it's quite all right, Miss Cameron—"

"Routledge. Miss Routledge," Sarah quickly corrected him.

Zeasy raised a brow. "Sorry. Miss Routledge...I have teenagers myself. It's hard to control them and their mouths when they think they know everything," he said and Cassie narrowed her eyes at the man. He knocked his fingers along the counter before he pointed to Cleo. "And you have safe travels back to your homeland."

"Oh, that's it!" Cassie spoke through clenched as she went to climb over to the counter, but Sarah pulled her back just as Zeasy left. "Sarah, come on!"

"As much as I want to see you rip his face off, it'll only make things worse for us," Sarah reasoned and Cassie released a huff as the Routledge girl let her go. Sarah picked up the paper Zeasy had given them, starting to read it as her brows furrowed.

"What is it?" Cleo asked as she went over to them.

"One second." Sarah began to read the paper, mumbling some of the sentences before she licked her lips and handed the paper over. Cleo took it as she and Cassie peered down at it, trying to read it. "My dad used to do that all the time. It's changing the zoning. It's a way to force owners out of their property."

"Is that legal?" Cleo queried.

Sarah wrung her hands together. "If you have the money to do it. We're gonna need a lot more than $5,000."

Cassie took the paper from Cleo, reading it over and over to try to find loopholes but she barely even understood what it was saying as is. "So you're saying...if we don't come up with enough money anyway, we can still lose this place?"

Sarah nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Cassie brought her hand up to her necklace, playing with it worriedly. Even if they got the money to pay the mortgage and any other expenses they had, they could still be losing this place to a rich Kook who could have any other piece of land he wanted, but decided to come after them.

She was livid. Not only was this her dream, but this was JJ's dream. She knew she always had a home to go back to if need be and JJ could go with her, but it was never actually his home.

This was the first time he had a home, surrounded by people who loved him. And it was about to be taken away from him just like that if they couldn't come up with more money.

Sarah noticed the way Cassie had been staring down at the paper, almost like she was trying to burn a hole through it. She shared a look with Cleo. "Hey, Cassie? Maybe...maybe it's best not to tell JJ about it yet," Sarah piped up.

Cassie looked over her shoulder, furrowing her brows. "What? Why?"

"Well, we need him on his game for later since he's diving by himself and I can see how much this is affecting you so...imagine how he would be," Sarah reasoned and Cassie sucked in her lip. "I'm not saying never tell him. Just...not right now."

"I agree. I don't even wanna tell Pope yet 'cause I know he'll freak out over it," Cleo added.

Cassie looked between the two girls, seeing the concern etched in their faces, before she nodded. "Okay. Okay, yeah, you're right. I won't say anything for now."

Sarah nodded before she reached out, rubbing the side of Cassie's arm. "It's okay. We'll...figure it out. I know this place means a lot to you and JJ."

Cassie pursed her lips to the side. "Yeah. Yeah, it does."

Once she started thinking about JJ, she also began to think about what Sarah had said about JJ diving by himself. She was already worried about this place and now she was worrying about him diving by himself. Perhaps she would try to talk to him about being a diving buddy...

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

John B and JJ finally came back with a lack of JJ's motorbike that Cassie had noticed immediately. "Uh, where's your bike?" she asked JJ slowly as the boys walked up to her.

"He doesn't wanna talk about it," John B answered for him as he patted JJ on the back, leaving to go get supplies ready for later.

Cassie's eyes widened. "JJ..."

JJ pursed his lips. "Had to give my bike to Boogie in exchange for information about the wreck," he revealed.

Her mouth dropped. "You're joking."

"Do you see my baby anywhere?" JJ replied, gesturing around the area. She raised her brows in offense and he quickly spluttered, "My-my o-other baby."

She released a huff. "JJ, what the hell? You love that bike," she said as the two began to walk toward The Snapper that was tied up on the dock.

"Trust me, I didn't want to give it up but my hand was kinda forced," JJ told her before he blew out some air, his lips vibrating. "Just sucks. Got that bike with my own money. Didn't even steal it."

She let out a sigh, squeezing his shoulder. "It's okay. If we manage to find this amulet, we can use the money we get in return to buy you a new one."

He shrugged before he hopped onto his charter boat. "Not the same."

Cassie followed him onto the boat as he began to sift through the scuba gear to get it ready. "Speaking of finding this amulet though..." She trailed off and JJ hummed for her to keep going. "You can't go down there alone."

"Of course I can," JJ smiled, his dimple showing.

"Well, yeah, technically, but it's not safe for you go alone. Isn't that, like, what most divers say?" she pointed out.

"I guess. But we're not most divers, are we?" He arched a brow.

"Exactly. Which is why...I'm going with you," she told him.

JJ stopped what he was doing, tilting his head at her and squinting. "It's eighty feet down in the dark and moving through structures."

"Does that make it harder?" Cassie asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Even for experts, it's a hairball situation," JJ explained.

"Oh." Cassie looked down before she thought of something, looking back up. "Well, didn't you say diving's a Kook sport once?" she tried, remembering the time they were all arguing over who would get to dive before John B took one for the team since he didn't want to hear them bickering anymore.

JJ gave her a grin. "Yeah, but you're not a Kook."

She pursed her lips. "Okay, seems like I've trained you well," JJ grinned, "but-but, look, you can't dive without a buddy. So I'm going with you. I've already decided. We gotta save this place." Although JJ didn't know about the zoning notice, they still had to get money to pay for the place anyway. "And I'm not asking my aunt for money and Kie isn't gonna go crawling back to her parents either. It's up to us."

JJ gave her a look before he turned his head away, seeming to think it over. "I really don't want you going down there..." He trailed off.

She crossed her arms. "Well, I told you I already decided."

"Cass—"

She held up a hand. "I don't wanna get into another argument, Jay," she interrupted and he let out a sigh. "And besides...it could be fun, you know? Just us, under eighty feet deep water...It's kinda romantic, right?" she added, partially joking.

"For a shark," JJ remarked.

She scoffed at him mixed with a laugh before she got closer to him, placing her hands on the sides of both of his biceps. He looked at her, his head tilted. "Come on, shouldn't you be relishing in the idea of this? You know, that near death experience you always seem to crave."

"Not sure if that's supposed to be a dig at me," he raised his brows and she shrugged, "but no. Not when it comes to you. I'll happily come close to death as many times as I want, but I'm not bringing you down with me."

She shut her eyes at him, releasing a sigh. "Now I'm not sure if I should be concerned for your mental health or be flattered for myself."

"Flattered. Be flattered," JJ chose and she opened her eyes, meeting his blue ones again to see the cheeky glint in them.

"Look, I know you're worried, but if we do this together...it'll be fine. If you go by yourself, I'm gonna be worrying the whole time and, like, if I go with you then we can just keep an eye on each other," she reasoned.

JJ leaned his head back, milling it over before he sighed. "Fine. All right, fine." She grinned as he pulled back from her, grabbing the scuba gear and handing it to her. "This goes on this blue one."

She took it from him, examining it. "Yeah. It's fine. We got this. We're good. I'm good."

Cassie and JJ continued to get the scuba ready, making sure they had enough air. They remembered what happened last time with John B and they really didn't want a repeat of that. Especially when they would be diving eighty feet down, much farther than what John B had to do.

JJ perked his head up once he noticed Sarah and John B making their way down the ramp. "You all ready?" He called out before he clapped his hands. "All aboard!"

"Let's do it to it," John B said as he and Sarah held hands, making their way down with Pope, Cleo, and Kiara behind them. "All right, guys. Listen up." He handed the rest of the scuba gear to JJ. "We've got the nav points, and we've got the gear. We're in and out, all right. This is one night only. We slip down under. We stay under the radar. All right? JJ, you're going down. Sarah and Cleo—"

"Actually, I'm going down, too," Cassie quickly interrupted.

John B's eyes widened before he looked over at JJ, who pursed his lips. "Cece, you sure?" Kiara piped up on the dock.

Cassie shrugged. "JJ needs a buddy and I'll be that buddy," she answered. The girls all shared a wary look on the dock, but didn't say anything else.

"Okay, so JJ and Cassie go down," John B corrected himself. "Me, Kie, and Pope stay up. Sarah and Cleo, you guys drive out to the lighthouse by the Coast Guard base. Stand watch. We do this right, we're home by midnight."

"Clock's tickin'," JJ commented as Kiara hopped onto The Snapper.

"Fun, fun, fun," Pope spoke, his tone the opposite of what it sounded like to have fun.

John B pursed his lips. "Just like old times."

Sarah kissed John B goodbye before the others stepped on the boat, leaving Sarah and Cleo on the dock. "Be safe," she told him.

"I will."

"I'll be so safe," JJ made fun of him quietly and Cassie snickered, being the only one to hear it. "Later, y'all," JJ said as he began to drive the boat away with John B quickly hopping on.

"Don't do anything we wouldn't do!" Cleo warned and JJ saluted her, making Cassie send him a small grin. The others seemed too worried to do or say anything else.

But John B was right. It was just like old times. Just the five of them — Cassie, JJ, John B, Pope, and Kiara — going diving again to try to find lost treasure.

Who would've thought?

authors note!
idk if anyone noticed but if u didn't imma
just say it. instead of braiding her hair when
cass gets anxious, she grabs the shark tooth
necklace jj gave her instead 🥰 she picked
up the habit of braiding her hair after losing
her father but now that she's happy and with
jj, her habit changed to grabbing the necklace
which soothes her since it subconsciously
reminds her of jj :) oh how the happiness
will soon change tho unfortunately