𝟎𝟎𝟒.              𝐡𝐮𝐡, 𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐛𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠

octopus's garden          ────          the beatles

☀︎ 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

𝖠𝖥𝖳𝖤𝖱 𝖫𝖠𝖲𝖳 𝖭𝖨𝖦𝖧𝖳'𝖲 𝖤𝖵𝖤𝖭𝖳𝖲， 𝖨 𝖲𝖫𝖤𝖯𝖳 𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖨𝖫𝖸． JJ was going to stay over, but he stayed away. He helped me bring John B back home, but then he left immediately after, and I didn't argue with him. Part of me did want him to stay, but I honestly wasn't in the mood to talk, not after he used the gun. I can still hear the gunshots, piercing a sound in my eardrums, and that ultimately wakes me up.

But also, Sheriff Peterkin wakes me up. I'm so surprised to see her standing over the bed that I let out a small yelp. "God, announce yourself."

"Get decent, sweetheart. We need to talk."

Talk? No. No, thanks.

Peterkin leaves, and I revel in a few more minutes to myself before I have to face the music. I wonder if she's here about the gun incident that occurred last night, or maybe she's just genuinely concerned about us. She does visit us quite a bit, especially since discovering that we're being threatened with foster care.

I won't know why she's here until I get up and out of bed.

I dress myself, using clothes that I found on the floor once again. I push my shoes on as I'm pulling my hair back into a ponytail── multitasking at its finest.

I step into the adjoining room, stepping out of my bedroom at the same time John B steps out of his. He's sporting a very ugly black eye. "Morning," I utter, stepping past him to join Sheriff Peterkin who looks anything but pleased.

I'm about to say "Good morning", but she starts rambling first, "Sorry to break in like this, but DCS called. They wanted me to check on you both. See how you kids are doing." My mouth closes, and I look to my brother, and while he looks a little rough, I think we can both agree that we're absolutely fine. "So, how are you both, besides the──" She touches her face, mirroring where John B's black eye is.

"Yeah, fantastic," John B replies, stepping towards the door. "Uh... thanks for comin' by."

"I'm so glad to hear you kids say that, but I heard a few things that worried me. Let me see if I can remember." I look around at our small home, finding it to be extremely untidy. I don't know when this hurricane in our house erupted, but I hate it, and we need to clean. "One of the things I heard was that your Uncle Teddy, your guardian, hasn't been in the state for three months."

"Yeah, that's false," John B claims, but Peterkin knows the truth.

"You don't have to say anything. I know it's true. I called the school." I throw a few beer bottles in the trash, glaring at John B. "They said you both used to be good students but now you're both failin' all your classes."

She isn't wrong. I'm naturally smart, but I hate school, and I prefer to ditch it and do anything but learn. I've always been a good student, but lately I just don't care about my education, especially since my dad disappeared.

"No. No, I'm only failing one, and it's history. He's a dick. He's out for me──"

"I heard there was a fight on the beach yesterday, and a gun was involved," Peterkin interrupts, and we shut up.

"Okay." John B scoffs. "Gun? No. No, there was no gun." I shake my head along with John B, hoping to be convincing enough, but Peterkin can see right through us.

"That's okay. I know who it was. I'll get to him." So she knows that JJ was the one behind the gun, That's great. "All I'm worried about right now is makin' sure you kids are in a safe home."

"Yeah, super safe." John B steps to me, slapping a hand on my shoulder. "Super safe, right, B?"

"Super, super safe," I reply, smiling widely.

"And Uncle T's coming back, so..." John B continues, and I mentally curse him out for saying that. Uncle T is not coming back anytime soon, so we're just grasping at straws── anything to get out of foster care.

"That's what he told you?" We both nod, now going along with it. "Well, if he is coming home, I think you should be allowed to stay."

"Thank you," we both say.

"But if I stick my neck out for you two, you kids have to help me. Tit for tat."

"What──" John B shakes his head, and I roll my eyes. "What does tat mean?"

"Let me see, how can you help me?" Sheriff Peterkin steps towards us, her hands on her hips. "So, a body was found in the marsh yesterday. Were you kids in the marsh yesterday?"

"Yeah, we were fishin' for some drum."

"You catch anything?"

"Nah, we were skunked." We wouldn't have been skunked if we'd actually fished.

"Strange. Fishing's usually good after a storm." We know. "All sorts of things get stirred up." Yep. "You come across a wreck yesterday?" She steps closer, and we stare at her, eyes wide.

"No," we reply, hesitation in our voices.

"You two are skimmin' just above the surface." She shakes her head, taking a step back from us. "Now down here is foster care, juvie." She waves her hand, emphasising her point. "Pretty big drop for smart kids like you." Her hand raises to show us where we currently are. "Up here is you two and your little friends doing whatever you want." I like that option a lot more than the other. "Outer Banks or foster care on the mainland. You two are one inch above the surface. If I was you, I'd start flappin' my wings. Now, you sure you kids didn't come across a wreck yesterday?"

Part of me wants to be honest, but a larger part of me knows we need to lie through our teeth. "Yeah. Yeah, we're sure."

"It's better if you didn't, you understand?" She places her hands on our shoulders. "I'm gonna look the other way as long as you two stay out of the marsh." She steps back, starting for the door, but she stops to look at the state we're currently living in. "I got dogs livin' better than this, kids. Might wanna think about cleanin' up."

She pushes open the door and heads out of the house, leaving us to stare at the mess of our lives and the Chateau.

Sheriff Peterkin has been checking in on us since our dad disappeared at sea. She's kept us out of foster care for this long, and she continues to do so, so the least we can do is pretend we don't know what lurks in the marsh and stay away.

It shouldn't be too hard, right?

I don't know how the others will feel about us staying away from the marsh, but John B and I need help with DCS so hopefully they listen to us.

Later that morning, after spending the majority of the morning cleaning the state of the Chateau, our friends arrive, and we find it to be the perfect time to let them know that we're staying clear of the marsh.

"Look, we're callin' it off. All right? Peterkin said, if we stay out of the marsh, she'll help me and Brooke with DCS."

I'm sitting outside, legs kicked up on the table in front of me. I hold a pen in my hands, and I trace delicate, tiny patterns across my kneecap── bored as hell. I remember teachers telling me I'd die if I continued to draw on my skin, but I always loved taking risks, so I didn't listen, and I still like to draw silly patterns on my skin.

"And you believed her?" JJ asks, throwing a rock towards the water.

"Yes, we believe her, JJ."

"An actual cop, guys. You two believed a cop."

I scoff, pressing the tip of the pen into my knee, circling the scar that covers my kneecap. I was nine when I got this scar. I fell out of a tree── the tree that JJ and I always climb when there's a storm. I cut my entire leg, and screamed bloody murder, crying my eyes out. There was a lot of blood, and I remember telling my dad that I'd never climb another tree.

I guess I lied, huh?

"Look, all we gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help us out. It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun." John B throws a piece of wood down at the ground, obviously frustrated.

I never had a chance to talk to JJ about the incident, but I don't think I wanted to. He was sorry, in a way, and he did save John B's life so I am grateful, but he shouldn't have shot the damn thing after the fact.

"You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your ass."

I look from JJ to John B, my hand moving mindlessly, creating silly designs on my knee. I'm not drawing anything in particular, I just like to doodle── that's where my love for art came from. Doodling sparked many more drawings, I'll say that.

"Yeah, 'cause Topper was gonna drown me?"

"Sure looked like it. I mean, have you looked in a mirror?" JJ starts to make his way over to John B, and I look back to the pen drawing inky patterns on my knee. "They always win, don't they, man. Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win!" He punches the sign that hangs over our doorway, annoyed. "Goddamn!"

"Look, it's okay!"

"No, it's not okay! It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh. That means there's something valuable down there, and you two know it." I lift my head, my hand stops moving, and I look forward at JJ, knowing that he's right. "I know you both do."

Yeah, there might be something down there, but is it really worth it?

"And I understand why you don't wanna go." His eyes move down to Pope. "You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk." Pope was our golden boy, and we did always throw him in the deep end. He really did pick some... questionable friends, I'll say that, but we adore him, and I wouldn't trade Pope in for anything in the world. He takes every risk with us, and we appreciate him for it.

JJ then looks to Kiara, pointing in her direction. "And you── I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother?" A smile touches my lips, knowing that Kiara is rich but she chooses to slum with us of all people. Again, I wouldn't trade Kiara in for anybody in the world, and she's always willing to take risks with us.

However, they've got far more to lose than us, and JJ makes that fact known. "But us..." I sit forward, pulling my legs off the table. "...we got nothin' to lose! We really don't, alright? And I know it didn't use to be that way for you two."

No, it wasn't always like that for us── not when we had our dad, but we don't have him anymore. We now have nothing to lose unless we count each other, but we're not including one another. JJ's right. We have nothing to lose.

"I don't want to talk about this." John B shakes his head. "I don't want to talk about it." John B shoves past JJ, walking away from us, and JJ trails after him, and we can still hear the boys.

"John B, listen to me. I have a plan." He places an arm around his shoulders. "You got the key to Cameron's big boat, right?"

John B shakes his head, obviously hating where this plan is going. "No."

"There's scuba gear," JJ continues. "We borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what's gonna save you and Brooke, man. You don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?"

From the moment I met JJ, I was smart enough to not listen to his wild, stupid ideas, but he's right. We really didn't have anything to lose, so John B goes along with JJ's insane plan to take the scuba gear from the Cameron's big boat.

John B worked on Ward Cameron's boats, so he knew his way around. He would be returning them after we used them, but hopefully no one would catch him either way. We really didn't want to explain to the Kooks what we were doing.

I stay at the Chateau, continuing to clean to distract myself while we wait for John B to show up with the scuba gear. I'm throwing beer bottles into the trashcan when my hair is tugged on, and my head jerks back.

I blow out a puff of air, chuckling. "You know, I might cut off my hair so you stop doing that."

"You wouldn't dare." I turn to him── the hair puller── and he presents me with a beautiful yet innocent smile. Damn him, is all I think as I stare at his unfailingly pretty face. A grin touches his lips, and he reaches his hand out to snatch a used beer bottle from me.

He shakes it, seeing that there's a touch of liquid in the bottom, and just before he finishes it off, I snatch it back. "No."

"What?"

"You can't drink this, JJ." I throw it into the trashcan, dumping the rest in my arms. "That touched somebody else's mouth."

"Was it yours?" He steps closer, and I glare at him. "'Cause I'm totally fine with us sharing germs." His tongue runs across his bottom lip, my eyes catching onto the quick, not-so-subtle move, and I shake my head.

"Yeah, well, I'm not." I duck past him, moving to find something else to throw away before I push JJ into the trashcan.

His head falls to one side, his eyes following me as I move to pick up a few more bottles and cans of beer. I did not realise that we, collectively, drank this much beer. We're so killing our livers, and we're so, so young. What a shame, right?

JJ leans back against the counter, arms crossing over his chest, and I can't stop my stupid, wandering eyes from staring at his biceps── the biceps that I recall having a death grip on last night, my hands feeling the thick muscle. Yes, I've noticed the muscles in his arms── that's how pathetic I am. I can't help it, okay? He has nice arms, sue me.

"See something you like, Sunshine?"

And then he speaks, crushing my quiet, content moment of staring. I shake my head, pulling my eyes off him, an embarrassing blush climbing up my neck.

"Hey, what were you..." He points his finger down, and I look to my knee, lifting my leg to see the mindless doodling I did earlier. "...drawing."

I shrug. "Nothing, just bored."

"We're that boring?" He huffs out a laugh, and I bend down to pick up an old pizza box which I think is from several weeks ago when Kiara surprised us with pizza. It certainly was a surprise given that John B and I hadn't eaten in three days. We ate like pigs when she brought the pizza── it was unfriendly sight.

"I like to doodle," I say, rubbing my hand across my knee, watching as the ink smudges slightly, but I don't imagine it'll wash off for a few days.

"Hey, I meant what I said last night." My head snaps forward, and I try to remember what he said. "Tattoos── you can draw one for me." My mouth gapes, and I realise we did agree to get tattoos, but I didn't think he was serious about me drawing on him, inking his skin permanently. However, I do find that idea exciting.

"Oh, yeah."

"You're not backing out, are you?" A little.

I scoff, shaking my head. "No."

He pushes off the counter, walking towards me, and I stand still, back pressed against the table. "Good." He reaches me, and his hand tugs on my ponytail once again. "What you gonna draw?"

"I told you," I toy, grinning up at him. "my name."

A smile overtakes his face, and my face relaxes, watching him smile like this at me. "Only if you get my name, Sunshine." He holds his pinkie out towards me, and I breathe out a laugh.

Pinkie promises between me and JJ have been a sacred thing in our friendship. We cannot break a pinkie promise, and just like when we were children, we still promise one another the most ridiculous things── like getting each other's names tattooed on our skin forever.

I nod, wrapping my pinkie around his, our eyes boring into each other's. "Deal."

His eyes flicker, our pinkies tighten, and I'm ninety percent sure my face is red. If I leaned just a little closer, I could seal this deal in a whole different way, but that would be foolish of me, wouldn't it?

He's my best friend. I can't do that.

Even though I really, really want to.

──────────────────────────

"𝖳𝖧𝖨𝖲 𝖨𝖲 𝖤𝖬𝖯𝖳𝖸． 𝖸𝖮𝖴 𝖳𝖮𝖮𝖪 𝖤𝖬𝖯𝖳𝖸 𝖳𝖠𝖭𝖪𝖲"

I lift one of the tanks John B stole from the Cameron's boat, finding it to be empty just like the rest of them. While I admire his small act of theft, it would have been smarter to either check the tanks, or take tanks that actually have enough power in them to last.

Kiara picks up another, checking it. "Okay, this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together," I say, clapping my hands together.

We're at the location where the boat sank, the sun is setting over the Outer Banks, and while it's a beautiful night, it's damn stressful trying to think of a plan. Somebody needs to check out the boat, and it certainly ain't going to be me── sorry.

"Does anybody know how to dive?"

JJ shakes his head. "It's kind of a Kook sport."

"I... read about it." Pope admits, sounding a little ashamed by that fact, and I crack a smile, finding that to be something Pope would absolutely do── read about a sport he has no interest in just for... fun, I guess.

"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die."

"Well, it won't be me." I slap my hands on my knees, insistent on that fact. I, Brooklyn Routledge, will not be venturing down there, thank you.

"Look, y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ sits up, demonstrating the simple act of scuba diving with his hands, but I don't imagine it's that easy.

"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends," Pope informs, and I stare at him strangely, not knowing what that means.

"Bends like, bend over and..." JJ bends forward, pushing his back out with his face pressed against the railing to "demonstrate"── if that's what you want to call what he's doing.

"The bends kill you," Pope deadpans, and I hide my satisfied smile behind my hand.

"I can──" My head snaps over to John B, my head rearing back as he finishes his sentence, "I can dive."

I scoff. "What? No." Protective instincts seemed to have kicked in, and I realise I should probably tone it down, but there's no way he's jumping in there and diving.

"B, I-I can dive, I──"

"You could die," I exaggerate. "Y-You could get the bends and die."

"And I could get hit by a car and die," John B mocks, and I glare at him, not pleased or amused. "It'll be fine, Brooke."

I look to Pope and JJ for guidance── something I shouldn't have bothered doing as they're oh, so fine with John B risking his life for nothing. Whatever's down there is not worth more than my brother's life, I can guarantee that.

I look to Kiara, and she looks just as concerned as I do. "Since when can you dive?" she asks.

"I'll do it. It's fine."

"That's not what she asked," I mutter under my breath, earning a look from my brother── a look that I'm very, very familiar with. It basically says, back off, I can handle it. Do I ever back off? Not usually.

"Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope moves, grabbing the map we snatched from the motel the day before, and he begins to jot down notes on the back. I don't know what he's calculating, and I don't question it, I just continue to shoot death glares at my stupid brother.

He is an idiot, but I don't tell him that. Once he sets his mind to something, nothing can stop him. He wants to find out what's down there, just like the rest of us, and he's not going to stop until he's down there.

I look to Kiara, half-listening to whatever Pope is saying. Kiara pulls her t-shirt over her head, holding it in her hands as she steps to the bow of the boat. I stare, bottom lip caught between my teeth, and I rest my chin on my fist, eyes still zoned in on her.

"That boat's about thirty feet down," Pope rambles, the two boys next to him, watching as he moves the pen across the paper. "So it'll take twenty-five minutes at that depth. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about..." Pope quickly calculates it in his head. "...ten feet. Alright? For two minutes." Pope peers at John B, making sure he's listening.

John B nods, refocusing. "Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it."

I watch Kiara carefully, watching as she steps off the boat, plunging into the water. The boys look over at the splash of water, confused, but I think I have some idea what she's doing, and it isn't for their enjoyment.

"What was that about?" Pope asks, looking to John B and JJ who obviously don't know.

"I don't know, but I liked it. A lot." I peer over my shoulder, side-eyeing JJ who offers me a shrug and a grin── a grin that immediately has me turning away, blushing like a hopeless schoolgirl.

JJ clears his throat, looking back to Pope's notes. "So, yeah... uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold." JJ trips over his words, and I roll my eyes, watching as Kiara's head reappears above the surface. "You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?" JJ hands him a key that will open the hold inside the sunken boat.

"Stick in, twist, pull."

"That's what she said," I utter under my breath, finding myself to be rather amusing, no?

The boys obviously didn't hear me, so JJ pressed on, "My dad moved weight back in the day."

"Who didn't?"

"Hey!" The boys look back to Kiara who begins to swim back to the boat. "I tied my t-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop." I knew that's what she was doing── smart.

"Keep an eye on this." Pope showed him the timer on the scuba gear, showing him how long he will have to breathe once he's down there. "You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress."

"Okay, how much do I need?"

"Unclear," Pope answers, and my eyes widen. He's never unclear. "Breathe as little as possible." John B smiles in response, not finding that particularly helpful.

"Zen. Think Zen, you know?" JJ hits John B's shoulder.

"Yeah. Got it."

I step toward him, and I punch his arm in a friendly but equally painful way. "Don't die on me, bro, okay?"

"You got it, sis."

"Hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so... better get a move on."

"Copy that."

Kiara pushes past the boys and me, reaches John B, and she surprises everybody, even John B, by pressing her lips against his cheek, pushing a tender kiss to his skin. JJ scrunches his face up, looking away and over to me, and I just shrug, confused.

I know John B likes Kiara, it's pretty obvious, and now I think she might have some kind of feelings towards John B too.

"Diver down?"

Kiara nods, smiling. "Diver down."

John B pulls the mask over his face, takes a step back and jumps off the bow of the boat, letting the water take him.

I watch my brother descend into the water, and I feel my chest tighten. There's that bubbling feeling of worry in my throat, my body aches, and I find myself holding my breath── wanting to hold mine for as long as he holds his under there.

I didn't want to lose my brother to what could've possibly snatched my father.

I find that I hate the water right now, but I can't take my eyes away from it like the others can. I just stand and stare down at the soft ripples, waiting for John B's head to rise up again. While he's often reckless and stupid, he's one of the smartest people I know. He won't let himself get killed down there, I know him.

I feel a hand slide against my shoulder, and I flinch at the touch until I realise who is standing behind me. "Hey, Sunshine." I smile, shrugging my shoulder. "He's gonna be okay."

"What if something bad happens?" I ignore him── something I often do when my brother is concerned. "What if he runs out of air or──"

"Brooke." JJ's voice cuts through my panic. "He will be okay." I sigh, and JJ presses a thumb into my shoulder blade. "Stop worrying, Sunny."

I huff out a laugh. "Sunny?"

"Sunshine is too..." He shrugs. "...long. I gotta shorten it sometimes, don't you think?"

I smile, gazing at him. "It's nice."

"Oh, yeah?"

I roll my eyes, a smile still on my lips.

He has a way of distracting me with his witty behaviour, his charming words, and his gorgeous face. I don't focus on the water or the fact that John B is currently at the bottom of the water, searching a boat that likely doesn't hold anything magnificent or worthy.

I hear the familiar sound of police sirens, and I snap my head to that damn noise── the noise that makes me wish I wasn't on a boat so I could run. I'm always afraid of being around the police, especially when I'm technically being investigated by the foster care system. However, if Peterkin has kept them away for a little while longer, we should be fine, right?

"Guys, that's the police." JJ steps away from me, taking his smile with him, and I immediately duck down even though they know I'm on this boat, and I definitely can't escape.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me."

"Yep, that's the police."

"Just act frickin' normal." Kiara sits down, attempting to act normal, but she looks anything but normal. Regardless, we need to pretend like we aren't up to anything... dodgy.

The police boat pulls up besides ours, and I spot Shoupe. He hates us with a burning passion, and I can't understand why. Sure, we've caused a little chaos, but we're not bad people. "Evening, officers." Pope smiles, acting nonchalant.

"Evening." Shoupe hands off the rope to Pope who chucks it over to JJ.

"JJ, tie it off."

"How are you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?" We look at one another, attempting to act bewildered and confused, like we have no idea that the marsh was closed. I'm just relieved not to see Peterkin here with Shoupe tonight or I'd be in some real trouble.

"No. I didn't know that."

"No. Wow. Why── why is it closed?"

"Well, we're conducting a search out here," he informs, but we already know that. "Boat went down. Seen anything?" Shoupe asks, looking at each of us for an answer, but we just shake our heads.

Deny, deny, deny.

"No boats. No."

Shoupe looks to me, directing his next question at me. "Brooklyn, where's your brother tonight?"

I open my mouth to answer, and suddenly all words in the English language fail to leave my mouth as I attempt to think of a response── sorry, a lie. "He's working." Kiara quickly answers after seeing me struggle to answer, and I silently thank her.

Why couldn't I think of that?

Shoupe nods, and just when I think he's about to leave, he says, "I'm gonna check your little boat out." Shit.

"Yeah, hop aboard."

"You wanna check── uh, check her out?"

"Thank you." Shoupe steps over to our boat, and I tense. My brother was down in the water, potentially running out of air, and JJ must notice because as he passes by, he squeezes my shoulder which instantly soothes me. Damn him.

"Uh... you got another one?" Shoupe asks, referring to the life vest. My attention is brought back to him, and my breathing starts to ease.

"Yeah. It's, uh... it's in the hold."

"Show him." Kiara pulls herself, and I move to stand next to her.

"Yeah, here ya go." JJ pulls open the hold, showing the extra life jacket we have.

"Alright." Shoupe nods, satisfied.

JJ closes the hatch behind him, and he steps over to me, hands on my shoulders as Shoupe begins to walk towards the bow of the boat── the end of the boat that John B jumped off minutes before. He's still under there, and I know he's running out of air. In fact, he might not even have any.

That thought makes me anxious.

Shoupe slips on his glasses, obviously wanting a better look. This damn bastard, I swear to──

JJ's hands tighten on my shoulders, keeping me in my place so I don't pounce forward and demand Shoupe get off our boat immediately. "Calm down, Sunshine." His breath hits my ear, and my body tenses which he definitely notices, and he offers me another shoulder squeeze. "Calm. Down."

I breathe out a long puff of air, my chest squeezing as I stare at Shoupe who is peering over the edge of the boat, still looking into the water. Seriously, nothing is that interesting. It's like he knows he needs to waste our time── how is that even possible?

"All right." Shoupe finally says, and I breathe out in relief. Thank God. Shoupe turns back to us. "Beautiful day, huh?"

"Sure is," JJ agrees.

Shoupe steps back onto his own boat, leaving us, and he can't possibly get away fast enough. He's moving at snail's pace, pissing me off. "Let us know if you see anything on your way out," he says, starting his own boat.

"Will do. Will do."

The engine of their boat comes to life, and I move across our boat, wanting to reach the edge of the boat. "We'll be gone soon, sir," Pope says, assuring him, but we ain't leaving till my brother's head reappears.

"Yes, you will."

And with that, Shoupe begins to drive away, and we rush to the water, looking down to wait for John B.

I stare anxiously, teeth digging into my bottom lip as I wait for what feels like forever. I know he's out of air, so he needs to come up right now, or I may think he's dead. He can't be dead. No.

No, no, no. He cannot be dead. I'm not losing my brother to the damn water. I refuse.

Come up. Come up. Come up. Come u──

John B's head shoots up from the water, and I release the breath I didn't realise I was holding. "There he is!"

Oh, thank God.

I haven't lost my brother. He's alive. He's okay. He's breathing. All is good. All is well.

I can calm down.

"Don't scare us like that!"

"How'd it go down there?" John B starts to swim back over to the ladders, shaking his head and smiling. "Did you find anything?"

John B lifts up a duffel bag and throws it onto the boat. "Yes! That's my boy!" JJ cheers, giving him a hand up onto the boat.

John B removes his mask as he climbs back onto the boat, and I immediately attack him, wrapping him in a tight, frustrated embrace. He laughs, patting a hand against my back. I don't care that he just came out the water. I'm angry, but I need to hug him because he did something good even though he could've died.

"You scared the shit out of me!" I punch him in the arm as hard as I can as I pull away. "Don't ever do that again."

"You okay?" Kiara asks, stepping towards him.

"Yeah, I ran out of air."

"Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh... took care of 'em." Pope pats John B's shoulder as he began to strip from his scuba gear. "You're all good."

"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother."

"Hey, guys?" I look to Kiara, following her eyes to the water where a boat is. "Guys, bogey, two o'clock."

There, in the horizon, is a boat coming straight for them. Why? I haven't got a damn clue, but we cannot stick around to see it. We don't know why the boat is in the marsh, and we don't understand what they're doing, but we aren't going to ask questions. We need to leave.

"Do you recognise that boat?" Pope asks, and I shake my head, not seeing it as a police boat or anything.

"I've never seen it."

"What are they doing here? The marsh is closed."

"I don't know. Let's not stick around and find out." JJ begins to grab the rope of the anchor, pulling at it as the boat continues towards us.

"Should we wait on 'em?"

"Hell no."

John B sits down at the wheel, starts the engine, and pulls the boat away to start the engine. JJ continues to tug at the bowline despite John B moving the boat. "Let's go!"

"Are they coming for us?"

"Go into the marsh," Pope instructs.

"Go! Go! Go!"

"Hey, guys. They're following us." We look over our shoulders at the boat, watching as it chases after us, not even trying to disguise that it's so blatantly following us.

"Dude, you gotta go faster!"

The HMS Pogue was certainly not the type of boat to speed up. It was a slow, very old boat. It's a miracle that it's moving like this now. The HMS Pogue certainly wasn't the type of boat to get chased by two men and be chased through the marsh, but look at it right now. This boat was only good for fishing. It was not down to being chased.

A gunshot sounds, and I shriek, very surprised by the sound I recall hearing the previous night from JJ. I'm immediately pulled down, an arm securely around my waist.

"What the..."

"Holy shit!" Kiara throws herself down, needing to avoid the gunshots. Pope then falls down next to me.

"JB, get down!" I yell, needing my brother to duck but he's steering the boat, so he can't exactly hide.

Another shot is fired, and Pope buries his head into his arm. "We're gonna die!"

When another shot is fired, I lift my head to look for anything that I can use to stop them from potentially catching up and killing us. I look past JJ to see the net we use for fishing. That could be useful if I can find a second to untangle it and throw it overboard.

I slither away from JJ's arm that still rests around me. I stand up on shaky legs, and I hear my friends call out for me, but I ignore them, needing to help my friends. I grab the net, and I start to untie it.

John B turns the boat, and I stumble as another shot is fired. "Get down, B!"

"Brooke!" I ignore JJ and John B, continuing to untangle the net.

The net untangles, and I topple forward, throwing the net overboard. Another gunshot is fired, and I fall back down in between JJ and Pope.

I hear rattling behind me, and I peer up to see the boat chasing us is now caught up in the net I threw overboard. I smile, satisfied. "Nice one!" JJ slaps his hand over mine, and another gunshot rattles through my ears as John B rounds a sharp corner, driving us back home.

"Holy shit."

"That was insane."

We arrive at the dock by the Château, tie up the HMS Pogue, and we rush to unravel the "treasure" that John B found in the sunken boat. "What do you guys think it is?" Kiara asks, hopeful that it's something fun and practical.

I hope it's something worthy.

"Gotta be money, right?" JJ laughs, shaking my shoulders excitedly. "That or a couple of keys with street value to the low- to mid-mills!"

"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope snaps, and my eyes widen at his outburst.

"Wow, Pope. That's a rare outburst of emotion." I pout at him, squeezing his shoulder to calm him down. "But, yeah, open the bag." I nod down at John B, a little impatient myself.

"Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Open the bag." Pope crouches down to John B's level as he begins to unzip the duffel bag.

He pulls out a metal canister which looks a little too small to contain anything worthy. There's no money in that, I guarantee. John B pulls the lid off, peers inside the canister, and then tips it upside down to knock out whatever is inside.

A compass falls into John B's hands, and my mouth gapes.

"Oh, wow. Yup. That's about right. Good job, everybody. We found a compass."

We stare at it, eyes wide.

"Dude, what? It's not worth anything."

John B lifts his head, his eyes finding mine, and we share the look── the look twins share when they know something nobody else knows. I swallow the lump in my throat, and I crouch down, reaching out for the compass that rests in John B's hands.

"John B, it's──"

"It's our father's."

──────────────────────────

❀ soph speaks

happy obx 4 day!! just watched the first five episodes and i'm excited for the rest . . .
what did y'all think?

more so excited to actually finishing rewriting so i can write season four

anyway, hope you enjoyed!!