"Guys, I've read this thing like a thousand times. It makes no sense." Kie spoke up as they headed down the Magnolia road, "I mean, the Limbreys own, like, half of Charleston. What do the Kook kings of Charleston know about a murder on Kildare Island?"

"Rich people do crazy shit, Kie. Usually ends with murder. We are living proof that it's true." Lila pointed out as she hung her head out the window, "Charleston is really nice though."

"Why you specifically? That's the other creepy thing." JJ pointed out, hinting at Pope, "Hey, ghost girl. You have any leads?"

Lila leaned back in the truck and looked his way, "Popes ancestors ghost put the idea in her head and now she wants Pope?"

"Woah, that's a huge stretch." Kie said with a odd look, "Could you focus?"

"I am focusing. This is real, alright? Listen to me." Lila explained as she threw her arm out, "I was contacting a ghost in the woods he died in and the first thing he wanted me to do was get his granddaughter and her boyfriend. This shit it real."

"What he want to tell them?" JJ asked with a creeped look on his face.

"Nothing, just wanted them to know he was there. They loved me after that too. Loved me so much that they both gave me the best head ever." Lila said as Pope shook his head in disbelief, "Though I had poison oak all over me the next day. Don't recommend loosing it in the middle of the woods."

"You lost your virginity in the middle of the woods with your ghost's granddaughter and her boyfriend?" Kie asked in disbelief as she looked at Lila.

"And got poison oak." the blonde added.

"I kinda dig it." JJ nodded his head.

"Oh yeah, past night of my life." Lila agreed.

"I can not deal." Pope shook his head at the sound of the pairs voices, stopping as the hood of the truck began to smoke and it came to a slow glide.

"Oh, come on." Pope said in disbelief.

"Pull over. That's a lot of smoke, even for your dads truck." Kie said as it suddenly started fogging up the whole truck.

"Yo, this is now Casper showed up!" Lila hollered out.

"Pope, I got sensitive lungs, man." JJ coughed.

Lila slapped his back quickly as Pope came to a stop on the side of the road.

"No, no, no, no." Pope panicked as he jumped out of the truck quickly.

"It's gonna blow up, it's gonna blow up." Kie panicked as they each jumped out of the car.

"It's not gonna blow up. You probably unhooked the radiator, Pope." JJ spoke as he climbed out after Lila did, going toward the back , "I haven't seen this before. You knocked the entire hubcap off! You might wanna reschedule your meeting tonight, Pope."

Lila approached Pope hesitantly, placing her arms around him and laying her head on his shoulder.

"Plus B... we could, um... public transportation." Kie suggest, "We could hitchhike. We could rent bikes."

"JJ has sensitive lungs." Lila pointed out.

"Yeah, it's the radiator." JJ spoke up as he looked under the hood.

"My dads gonna kill me." Pope spoke in disbelief, "And take Lila back."

"Nope." she shook her head, "I will not be leaving over a radiator. JJ, move over and let me help."

"Do you have any clue what you're doing?" Kie asked her.

"My moms fix things for a living, Kie! I got it." Lila said, climbing up on the hood and leaning over it.

"Hey." JJ spoke up that night as he hoping back in the truck with Lila. She looked up from the templets she'd been looking down at, "Watchu looking at?"

"Nothing." she said back with a shake of her head, "You staying in here with me tonight?"

"Yeah, Pope and Kie want the back." JJ said, shutting the door as the faint breeze of the rolled down windows came through. His eyes found the templets in her hands, "Rafes a lucky little bastard."

Lila gave a eyebrow raise in questioning.

"You doing that for him." JJ nodded, "Everyone else just wants his ass in jail, you know?"

Lila nodded as she looked out her window, "I know."

JJ felt bad, "Lila, you can talk about it if you want to."

"No, I can't." she said back immediately, "It's not right."

"But it's me." JJ shrugged, making Lila look his way, "I can't read your mind, remember?"

Lila glanced down at her hands, "I'm just worried about him, just a little."

JJ nodded his head, waiting till she looked away to look down a moment before speaking up again, "You wanna see him?"

"I wanna see him but I don't wanna be the person I am when he's around." Lila said with a odd look, "Does that makes since?"

JJ nodded his head.

"I help him, he doesn't help him. I can pull him back sometimes, back to reality. But it's not vice versa. When i'm with Rafe I sink down while he floats up." Lila said as she turned to look at JJ, "Like a anchor. I'm his-"

"But he's not yours." the Maybank boy nodded as Lila agreed, "I get that."

She didn't ask how he knew before he started talking again, "I'll pull you out."

"What?" she asked oddly.

"When you start sinking, i'll pull you out." JJ gave her a smile. Lila did the same as she moved closer, hugging him gently as JJ rubbed her back, "Can we go to sleep though? Because Popes gonna be up early."

"Yeah, you turn this way." Lila hummed as she waved her finger, making JJ roll on his back while Lila laid on her stomach, dropping her head on his chest, laying more on him then the seat, "Are you a bed wetter?"

"No." JJ said back, a minor laugh, "Are you?"

"No, but I talk in my sleep sometimes." she said honestly and shut her eyes.

"I'll talk back." he said before shutting his own eyes.

"They're a bunch of fancy people. They've had three governors in the family." Kie spoke the next morning as they pulled down the road of the address, "They've run Charleston for, like, 300 years."

"These Kooks make our Kooks look like Pogues." JJ said as he looked up at the large house.

"Hey, Pope." Lila said as she looked over at him, "There's a fifty percent chance this place is haunted. You'll look around for signs for me if they don't let us come in?"

Pope gave a odd look as he went to decline before seeing JJ's encouraging him to say yes from behind Lila, "Of course."

The girl lit up as she clapped her hands together, "Okay, great."

"You sure this is the place, Pope?" JJ voiced his skepticism.

"Pretty sure." the Hayward boy said back as he looked up.

"All right." JJ said as he opened the door, Lila crawling out as he and Kie were close after, "Fat City, for sure."

"I already feel a presence." Lila said as she waved the air at her, "You feel it?"

"Oh, i'm feeling it." Kie lied.

"Twenty-seven King Street." Pope confirmed as he looked at the address.

"Talk about home security." JJ said as they looked up at the spikes that had been at the top of the fence, "Those spikes to keep people out?"

"No." Kie said back.

"People have definitely died here." Lila braced herself.

"The slave quarters are over there." Pope said as he looked through the fence, "These spikes were keeping people in."

"Okay, but that was a long time ago, right?" Lila asked as she looked over at Pope, "Why haven't they taken them down yet?"

"No clue." he said back with a deep breath, the gate opening for them as they walked in. Pope took the lead in knocking on the door harshly and suddenly. When it swung open, a man who hadn't looked very clean, opened the door.

"You must be Pope." he said, pointed at Pope. JJ and Lila shared a odd look in the corner of each other's eye.

"Are you Mr.Limbrey?" Pope read from the card to make sure he got it right.

"Ms.Limbrey was expecting you yesterday." he said sternly and with lack of any form of compassion. In a way, he reminded Lila of Rafe when he'd meet new people.

"Oh. I'm... I'm sorry. My car broke down on the way up here." Pope stumbled over his words.

"Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowhereville." JJ came to his rescue in no time.

"And I thought my water broke." Lila panicked and made the sudden excuse, the four all looking at her in disbelief. Lila gave a forced smile as she rocked on her heels.

"Yeah, she was, uh, real upset when you didn't show up." the man said as he looked back at Pope again.

"We tried to call but there's no number in the invitation." Kie, like JJ, helped Pope out, "We got here as fast as we could."

"She also expected you to come alone." he eyed the reminding three behind Pope.

"I mean, these are my friends. They helped find the Royal Merchant too. I-" Pope began before he was cut off.

"The instructions were explicit. Your friends can stay outside." he spoke with a eye roll. Lila frowned, leaning past the guy to get a look inside, "Can I help you, girl?"

Lila flushed as her eyes widened, "No, sorry, I had to stretch my neck a little."

"We're kinda packaged deal, man." JJ tried to explain.

"JJ. It's okay. I got this." Pope nodded his head, looking over at the blonde boy, "I'll be good."

"Be a good boy." Lila nodded her head.

"We'll be right here." Kie spoke up with a forced smile.

"Keep the car running." Pope said, staring at her and giving her hand a small squeeze. JJ and Lila nudged each other as they turned around and headed back to the car.

"Wanna come with me?" she mumbled while looking down the street, "I'm gonna go look around back for any signs of ghost that have lingered here."

•

kylie speaks

lila, will you say
good girl next pls?
i'm on my knees.

so ive binge wrote
pretty far already snd
i wanted you guys to know
that chapter 40 is soft as
hell, 37 has big time sexual
tension and chapter 38 is when
lila and rafe reunite!