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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘄𝗼: 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱

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Later that night, the Pogues stood out on the porch to discuss what they were going to do about the dead body behind the couch, and how they were going to find the Blue Crown.

Cleo and Emery were still both visibly shaken about the events that had occurred earlier that day, but Cleo's sadness had turned more into an attitude of vengeance as she repeatedly stabbed her knife into the wood of the porch.

"First things first. Gotta take care of Terrance," Cleo voiced monotonously as Pope stood next to her, a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"Of course," Sarah replied hoarsely.

Cleo paused her knife stabbing for a brief moment. "Can't just leave him here. It won't sit right on my conscience."

"Cleo's right. We gotta do something about Terrance. And then we have to get the hell out of here. All right?" John B spoke as he walked over to JJ, who had a hand on his head as his shoulders sagged.

"Get out of here?" Cassie repeated, sharing a confused look with Kiara.

"Road trip," John B confirmed.

"What?" JJ said.

Kiara made a face. "Road trip to where?"

"John B and I were talkin'. We think the North Star and the Half Moon Battery is referring to Charleston," Pope explained.

"If we get to Charleston before them, we have a fighting chance," John B added.

"What?" Kiara breathlessly said.

"Look, we have no other option," John B argued. "What-what are we doing?"

"What do you mean, 'we don't have any other option'?" Kiara questioned.

"Yeah, I'd very much like to not continue this anymore," Emery expressed shakily and both Cassie and Sarah placed a comforting hand on her shoulders.

"Look, Em, I know you've never done this before but you still have a house to go back to if we end this. We don't. The zoning notice, guys. We're gonna lose Poguelandia," John B reminded them and Emery looked down at her knees, pursing her lips to the side.

"John B, they killed Terrance," Kiara began.

"Dude," John B breathed out as he plopped down on one of the chairs.

Kiara continued, "We're in way, way over our heads."

"I know, Kie, but we have no choice. Dawn patrol." John B got back up and went over to the Maybank boy. "Hey, JJ? Get the Twinkie up and running by dawn."

JJ thought about it for a moment before he replied, "All right."

"We're seriously doing this, JB?" Cassie asked, giving the boy a look. "I mean, I know we have to save Poguelandia but...we're basically risking our lives at this point. And our lives...We've went through so much to get where we are now. Is it really...worth it?"

John B went over to Cassie, standing in front of her as he looked down at her. She peered up at him, seeing the determination in his eyes. "I know, Cassie, I know. I know you're happy, we all are...were. But we can get that happiness back if we do this. If we save this place, we won't have to worry about doing this ever again and we can just...live our lives."

Cassie continued to look up at the Routledge boy, thinking it all over. She knew they had to save Poguelandia. She wanted to save Poguelandia. She knew that if they lost it, she would have somewhere to go but the others didn't. And it wouldn't be the same not living at Poguelandia with all the memories they shared here over the past two years.

They already lost the Château, they couldn't lose Poguelandia.

Cassie sucked in a breath, deciding to look at JJ. She could make her own decisions, but out of everyone, it should be up to JJ since this was originally his place after all. "Jay?"

JJ looked at his girlfriend, seeing the conflicted expression on her face. He knew why. It had taken years for all of them to be happy and she didn't want to give that up. But they would be giving it up anyway if they couldn't save their home.

JJ began to nod, maintaining eye contact with the Blake girl. "He's right, Cass. If we do this, it'll be the last time we ever will."

Cassie licked her lips with a few nods, looking back up at John B. "Okay," she let up. "Okay, let's do it."

John B released a breath. "Okay. Okay, so when JJ works on the Twinkie, the rest of us will do right by Terrance. We'll be back here about 0700 hours. First ferry leaves at 8:00. Let's go to Charleston," John B planned out. "Okay with that, Cleo?"

Cleo ripped the knife out of the wood as she looked at it, twisting it around in her hand. "In Charleston, we could find the man who killed Terrance," she answered darkly before she sharply brought the knife back into the wood. "I'm good with it."

With confirmation from Cleo, the Pogues got to work on wrapping Terrance's body in a sheet. They were planning on putting his body in the ocean. Although they didn't think it was the proper place for him to go, they really had no choice.

They put his body onto a wheelbarrow so they could wheel him to the dock. Cassie asked Emery if she was sure she wanted to come with them and gave her the option to stay back with JJ, but Emery declined. She felt too bad to stay back even though every time she caught eye of Terrance's wrapped body, she felt like vomiting again.

They passed by JJ who was working on Twinkie, who stood up to give them a reassuring thumbs up. He made eye contact with Cassie, who sent him a nod as Sarah placed the gun that was used to kill Terrance in the Twinkie.

Once they got Terrance's body onto The Snapper, they drove out far into the water. Pope noticed that someone may have been following them, so John B sped up so lose the person just in case.

John B continued steering the boat until they thought they were far enough out not to be caught by anyone. John B and Pope moved over to Terrance's body, propping him up on the rim of the boat to get ready to put him into the ocean.

Cleo stepped up, her hands clasped in front of her. "I know you guys didn't know Terrance that well, but...he took care of me when no one else did. He was like a father to me," she spoke and Cassie reached up, rubbing the girl's back soothingly. "And, um...And I loved him. And I'm gonna miss him."

"We're here for you, Cleo," Cassie told the girl and the others nodded in agreement.

Cleo sucked in a breath, looking down at the covered body which caused Cassie to take her hand away. "I ain't gonna forget who did this. I got you, boss."

Pope looked at Cleo, who turned around. That's when the former turned to John B and nodded his head, signaling to him they were ready. Both boys placed their hands on Terrance's body and pushed him over the edge of the boat, causing a splash.

Emery flinched once she heard the body hit the water, not looking at it either. Cassie shared a pained look with Sarah before she shared the same one with John B. What was it with the Pogues and losing their fathers?

Cleo turned back around which caused Pope to move closer to her. "I'm sorry," he said.

She looked at her boyfriend. "Everyone's always sorry. Nothing ever happens." And with that, Cleo moved past the boy to sit at the other end of the boat.

She was right. No amount of sorry's would bring Terrance back. Cassie knew that all too well, having heard that word over a thousand times at her father's funeral.

At the time, Cassie didn't know that she should have been getting revenge for her father's death. But with Cleo, who knew exactly what had happened to her father figure, she was determined to avenge him.

If only Cassie could turn back time and get proper revenge for her father's death. She guessed it finally happened, however, with Ward dead and Savannah in prison.

After staying on the water for a little while to process everything, John B took The Snapper back to Poguelandia. They docked the boat and they all walked back to the Twinkie to check on JJ, almost a drag in their feet.

"Hey, Jay?" Cassie called out as she rounded the Twinkie, only to see that he wasn't there. "Uh, that's weird."

"What?" Kiara said from behind her.

Cassie turned back around, going back over to them. "He's not here."

"Not here?" John B repeated with furrowed brows before he looked toward the house. "JJ?" He yelled out to capture's the boy's attention, but there was no answer. "The hell?"

"I'll check inside," Kiara voiced as she made her over to the house.

"I'll come with you," Emery offered and to her surprise, Kiara didn't say anything in retaliation. The two girls made their way inside the house, searching for the blonde boy.

Cassie shook her head worriedly before she pulled out her phone, calling the boy. She heard the phone buzz a few times before she heard his voicemail, "Hey, this is JJ. You know what to do at the beeeep."

She let out a frustrated groan, causing Sarah to inquire, "He's not answering?"

"No, he's not answering," Cassie confirmed before Kiara and Emery came back outside. "He's not inside?"

"Nope. Checked everywhere, he's not there," Kiara told her and Cassie groaned again.

John B ran a hand through his hair before he caught sight of something tucked into the windshield wipers of the Twinkie. He went over to it and he pulled out a note, reading it.

"What?" Sarah asked once she saw the way John B's face had changed as Cassie tried calling her boyfriend again.

John B's mouth hung open in annoyance before he walked over, handing the note to Sarah. "'She's topped off, had to run an errand, go on to Chucktown without me. Catch up with you later, JJ,'" Sarah read aloud and Cassie let out a scoff. "Since when does JJ ever run errands?"

"Since never," Kiara shook her head.

"Hey, this is JJ. You know what to do at the beeeep," Cassie heard once again, making her nostrils flare as she took the phone away from her ear.

"Anything, Cassie?" John B queried.

"Nope. It keeps going to voicemail," she told him.

"Great," Pope deadpanned. "So what are we gonna do now?"

"He said to go. We should go," Cleo spoke up as she looked down at the grass, clearly not wanting to waste time when the man who killed Terrance was still out there.

Cassie sighed. "You guys can go. I'll stay back and wait for JJ. See if we can catch up with you later."

"You know what? I'll hang back, too. We can keep the shop open," Kiara added and Cassie looked over at her, giving her a grateful smile.

"Might as well," John B agreed.

"Yeah."

"Um, is it okay if I stay back, too?" Emery piped up, causing them to all look at her. "It's just...I don't think I'm in the right state to do this. I don't want to slow you guys down."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, it's fine. The four of us can take care of this," she assured the Zhu-Blake girl. "And make sure to stay hydrated, okay?"

Emery gave the girl a soft smile. "I will. Thanks, Sarah."

The four Pogues made their way over to the Twinkie, leaving the three girls to stay back at Poguelandia. Cassie kept on calling JJ, but he wasn't picking up. She tried distracting herself by keeping the shop open, but it wasn't working.

It wasn't like to him to just ignore her calls. If he had missed one by accident, he would have immediately called her back. So the fact he wouldn't answer any of her calls, it made her worried. With everything that had happened with Cleo, she was beginning to think that the Lightner guy had come back and kidnapped JJ instead.

Or had something worse.

She looked at Kiara in the shop — Emery had went inside the house to drink some water — who was busy with a customer. Once the customer left, Cassie made her way over to the girl.

"Any response from him?" Kiara quizzed and Cassie shook her head, making the girl curse. "Where the hell is he?"

"I don't know. This isn't like him to just not answer me. If he needed some time to himself...he would have told me," Cassie voiced before she blew out some air. "I'm gonna go try to find him."

Kiara raised her brows. "Find him?"

"I'm gonna check the break, see if he's surfing maybe. If he is, I'm gonna kill him but if he isn't...I don't know, it could be something bad that happened," Cassie told her best friend.

Kiara nodded slowly, licking her lips. "Okay. Okay, yeah. I'll keep the shop open. Just text me if you find him."

"Yeah, don't worry, I will."

Cassie made her way outside the bait shop and down the ramp before she paused at the end of it, seeing...Rafe Cameron walking off his boat, going right to her.

Cassie held out a hand, making him stop in his tracks as he peered at her curiously. "What the hell are you doing here?" She barked, not in the mood.

Rafe raised his brows. "Hello to you too, Cassie," he remarked and she rolled her eyes at him, poking her tongue on the inside of her check. "Is that really how you treat a customer?"

"Customer? Really? That's why you're here?" Cassie questioned, not having time for Rafe's sneaky shenanigans.

This has been the first time she had actually spoken to him in forever and of course it had to be right when she was freaking out about JJ. She really didn't need another problem to be added onto the list, especially not a Rafe problem.

"Well, no, it's not actually," Rafe admitted and Cassie hummed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm here to see my sister."

"Well, she's not here," Cassie deadpanned. "So you can leave."

Rafe let out a short chuckle, taking a step toward her. "Oh, she's not here? You think I'm gonna believe that?"

"You should, 'cause she's not," Cassie reiterated. "Look, I really don't have time for this Rafe so you better get back onto your new boat and leave."

Rafe tilted his head at her, seeing how her hair had been slightly frizzed since it hadn't been in a braid. She looked tired as well, like she hadn't slept at all. Which she hadn't, seeing as though they were up all night and into the morning to take care of Terrance.

"Somethin' going on, Cassie?" Rafe inquired.

She gave him a look. "No. Just don't have time for this. I gotta...gotta kept more supplies for the shop." Rafe hummed, not exactly believing her. "What?"

Rafe shrugged, cracking his neck. "It's just...that performance yesterday at the break. It was entertaining. I enjoyed it."

She narrowed her eyes. "You enjoyed watching me fight over the fact that your Kook friend killed a turtle? An animal?"

"Ruthie's not my friend," Rafe immediately said and she sucked in her lip. "And yeah. The last time some Kook and Pogue shit went down was at the Enduro, so...it was super fun to watch."

Cassie rolled her eyes again. "Rafe, you're a grown man. This is just embarrassing for you."

Rafe let out a scoff mixed with a laugh. "You wanna talk about being grown? Then let's talk about your boyfriend who said he would kill us all and who's...not here right now that I can see. I, uh, didn't know you guys were together. When did-when did that happen?"

Cassie sucked in a breath. "A while ago. Before Barbados," she brought up purposefully and Rafe raised his brows a bit, not expecting her to bring that up. "Don't you have a girlfriend though? Why would it matter to you if I'm with JJ?"

Rafe shrugged. "Just thought it was interesting. Everyone knew you both hated each other. Now we know he really did get in your pants after all these years."

Cassie narrowed her eyes at the boy. "Just because I never wanted you back doesn't mean you have to shit on my relationship, Rafe."

Rafe scoffed. "You think I'm still on that? Nah...nah, not when you pushed me off my own boat, Cass."

"Cassie," she corrected him.

"Right, sorry. Cassie." He laughed a bit. "It's okay, though. I forgive you. We're good. I'm not your enemy."

"Then what are you?" Cassie questioned, arching a brow. "Because everything, and I mean everything you've done...It's not something someone on our side would do."

Rafe shrugged. "Things have changed."

Cassie searched his face suspiciously, not being able to read it. She wasn't sure if he was really here to talk to his sister or if it was for some other motive. Either way, she wanted him gone so she could go find JJ.

"Right. Things have changed," Cassie repeated ironically as she looked down at the dock, running her tongue along her top teeth. She looked back at Rafe, who had a slight grin on her lips. "I do really have to go though and Sarah's not here so...I suggest you leave. Now."

Rafe held his hands up, taking a step back onto his boat. "Fine. Fine. I'll go. It was nice catching up with you though, Cassie."

Cassie gave him a once over before she made her way over to her car she barely used anymore since she was so used to taking the Twinkie. Rafe watched as she got inside and drove off, making him start to smirk before he got back off the boat and made his way into the bait shop.

Inside the house, Emery kept on chugging water to rehydrate herself after throwing up the day before at the sight of Terrance. She couldn't get the image of his dead body, bleeding out all over the floor, out of her head.

When Emery joined in on this treasure hunt, she didn't expect for any of this happen. She knew what Cassie had gone through over two years ago, but she thought it would be different this time around.

But now the man that put them on this mission was dead and someone who had helped her friends in the past had been dead. On top of that, her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend had almost died by the same guy who killed Terrance and now said cousin's boyfriend was missing.

It was safe to say she was freaking out, her usually joyful persona turned to paranoia and worry. As she drank her water in the kitchen, she looked toward the spot where they had found Terrance's body at.

The image of his body flashed across her mind, almost as if it was real, and she choked on her water. She coughed, wiping at her mouth which now had water dribbled down her chin.

Maybe she needed to go back outside. Not be in the place where Terrance was murdered.

She capped her water bottle and walked outside toward the bait shop Cassie and Kiara should have been in. However, once she neared the store, she heard the sound of a man's voice and she paused.

"Well, I came to give you a heads-up, actually. You know, to try to do you a solid, and to try to be a good brother, and I-I wanna be better," she heard the man say and she went over to the side of the shop, peering around it to see...Rafe Cameron speaking to Kiara? "But I already— I've got you snapping at me as I'm trying to help, as usual."

What the hell is he talking about? And where's Cassie? Emery thought to herself, not knowing if she should reveal herself just yet.

"And you guys-you guys always wonder why you end up at the bottom of the food chain. It's-it's...sad." She watched as Rafe and Kiara just stared at each other for a few seconds, a look of disdain on Kiara's face. "Oh. Take this. It's my business card." Rafe handed Kiara his business card, which she reluctantly took. "Tell Sarah to hit me up. I think I can help."

Help? What is he trying to do?

Rafe leaned down on the counter, getting closer to the Carrera girl. "Your friends really did me wrong, Kie. Especially Cassie, you know."

Kiara tilted her head. "Did she?"

Rafe nodded at her, a glint in his eyes. "But I told her I've forgiven her."

Kiara narrowed her eyes. "When?"

"Just before." Kiara's eyebrows raised at that. "She seemed...spooked."

That's when Emery revealed herself, walking into the shop. "Did you do something to her?" Emery interrogated and the two of them looked over, both surprised to see her there.

Rafe got up from the counter, giving the girl a once over. "No, I didn't do anything to her. I have no reason to," he answered and Emery swallowed thickly. "You're her cousin, right? Ev...uh, uh," he snapped his fingers, "E-Emily?"

"Emery," she corrected him.

Rafe clicked his tongue. "Emery. Right."

Emery's eyes flicked over to Kiara, whose jaw had been clenched and there had been a fearful gleam in her eyes. She then looked back over to Rafe, who was standing there was a hint of amusement in his expression.

"Why don't you leave us alone?" Emery suggested, a mix of sweetness and passive-aggressiveness in her tone. "We're just trying to work." Rafe hummed, seeming not to take her seriously with her small stature. "I said, leave us alone," she repeated more forcefully, not sure where the confidence had come from.

Perhaps things had changed as soon as she saw a real dead body for the first time and not just in the countless movies she had watched.

Rafe raised his brows, letting out a laugh as he glanced between the two girls. "Would you look at that? Maybe you are related to Cassie after all," he commented before he began to walk up to her, stopping right in front of her. He looked down at her as she dared to look up at him, maintaining eye contact even though her stomach had dropped. "I'll leave you both though. Was just trying to help."

Emery didn't say anything as he walked past her and back down the ramp to get to his boat. Kiara started to shake her head as she walked out from behind the counter, which was when Emery noticed she was holding a knife in her hands.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, are you okay?" Emery asked quickly, holding her hands up to stop Kiara from walking past her.

Kiara glared at her. "I'm fine. I was fine. You didn't need to help me."

Emery gave her a confused look. "What?"

"I had it handled," Kiara told her before she tried to move past her, but Emery blocked her path. "Move."

"No," Emery stood her ground and Kiara looked taken aback. "I mean, what's your problem with me? What did I do to you?"

Kiara blinked before she began to shake her head. "Nothing. It's just— Nothing."

"If I did nothing, then why do you seem to hate me? I mean, I just helped you and you're mad at me for it. Why?" Emery pressed.

"I don't hate you—"

"Well, it seems like you do—"

"Well, I don't—"

"Then why are you so mean—"

"You just remind me of someone!" Kiara blurted out and Emery furrowed her brows, watching as Kiara opened and closed her mouth once she realized what she had said.

"What?"

"Never-never mind," Kiara stammered before she walked past her, seeing that Rafe had sailed away from the bait shop. She released a sigh. "Good. He's gone."

Emery turned around, seeing Rafe's boat drive away on the water. She then looked at Kiara, who slowly turned around. They looked at each other for a second before Kiara went back behind the counter, ignoring Emery's presence.

Emery licked her lips before she shook her head, walking away from the shop as she thought, Who do I remind her of?

authors note!
cassie and rafe short reunion! rafe is
so scrumptious this season. also more
em and kie interactions...hehe
this is totally unrelated to the chapter but
i saw this post on my twitter that was said
by chandler groff's actor:

now you cannot convince that jj's death was
originally planned from the beginning. i
guarantee you rudy asked to leave during the
strike bc of shit that went down and they had
to scrap their original plans and change everything
and that's why the chemistry was so weird in part
2 between jj and kie as well as jj with the others.
like im so sorry but his death was not planned from
the start that's bullshit. im too upset over this than
i should be but i love jj too much and they did him
so wrong </3