"Well, that went well."

After watching John B and JJ fail to tell the very harassed police about the key, Elora was out of ideas.

"So, what's the plan?" She asked, staring at the four others in the circle around her.

John B held up the key. "I know how we're gonna find the guy who owns that boat."

Pope's eyes widened. "We don't know whose room that is, it could be anyone."

"I'm in," shrugged JJ, chucking the key to Elora, who grinned.

"Come on, let's go," she said with a grin, leading the way.

They took the Pogue upriver, stopping as they came to a very shitty motel at the end of the Cut. It was worse than any of the other houses, really, with dirty walls, a blown over sign and rubbish lying around everywhere.

"And I thought the Chateau was bad," JJ commented.

"Right, who's going up?" Elora asked as they came to dock. "I mean, I am, but who else is brave enough to follow?"

"Is that even a question?" JJ asked with a smirk, hi fiving her as they both stepped off.

"Oh, and I'll go as well, keep an eye on you two," John B commented.

"Yeah, make sure they don't do anything stupid," Pope nodded.

"You don't know what you're talking about Pope, we're angels!" Elora smirked, spinning the key on her finger as they headed off.

They climbed up the steps, the air between the three of them thick, before walking along the balcony and seeing two rooms.

JJ banged on one of them, imitating a high female voice. "Housekeeping!"

Elora snorted, rolling her eyes as she got the key out and shoved them both to the side, sliding the key into the lock. To her absolute shock, the door opened.

The room was stuffy, and the door creaky. There was a double bed along the wall, and a stool to the side of it. A few bags lay dumped around it, but aside from that there wasn't much.

"Check the bags, see if there's a name there," John B instructed, Elora and JJ nodding as they set to work.

Unsurprisingly, there wasn't much.

"Definitely over fifty, he's got new balances," shrugged John B.

"Oh fuck off, that's not a proven fact," Elora rolled her eyes, JJ snorting at her as he walked across the room to where a piece of paper was lying on the bedside table.

"Yo, come over here," he told the other two. "Maybe this is where they were fishing."

"What?" Elora frowned, walking over to the table and seeing what appeared to be a map sprawled over it. Stuck to the map was a post-it note with details of longitude and latitude on it. Elora thought it looked promising.

John B, however, took one look at it and said. "That's the Big Swell. Nobody fishes there."

"Okay," JJ nodded.

Elora, however, had noticed something else. A small piece of paper with a heading of Summer Winds, Kildare Island printed on it, with only five numbers written on it. 61666.

"Ooh!" JJ, who had wandered into the bathroom, commenting.

"What is it?" John B and Elora asked in unison.

"Really awesome dobb kit you won't let me steal."

"Yeah, cause we're not stealing shit," John B rolled his eyes.

Elora, meanwhile, was searching around for a safe, or a padlock or something, to input this clear code into. When she finally found it (a safe in a cupboard below the small TV) she let out a small hiss of happiness.

"Six-one-six-six-six," she muttered as she clicked on said numbers.

When she pressed the hashtag, she didn't know what she was expecting. But it certainly wasn't the safe springing open with a small click.

Elora gasped, turning the small handle and opening the safe, eyes widening when she saw the contents.

"Holy mother of fucking god," she spouted as she saw it.

Money. A whole fucking load of it. Stacks of it, all bound together by rubber bands.

And then she saw the gun, balanced between the money. It was a small black pistol that Elora didn't really want to touch, but she was sure JJ would.

"Uh... boys?" She said, looking behind her where the two of them were talking about some mindless crap, making them turn to her and rush over.

And of course, she called it. The first thing JJ did when he saw the contents of the safe was grab the gun.

"Oh my- JJ, put that b-"

"This is a SIG Sauer-"

"Put the gun back, JJ!" John B was also skeptical.

"This is a fucking spendy gatt, man! Just- bam! Bam!" JJ aimed the gun at nothing, pretending to fire it.

"JJ, we're not stealing anything!" Elora hissed, trying to get him to stop.

"Okay, could you just take a pic of me then?"

"Oh my fucking god, you're pathetic," Elora pressed her palm to her forehead. "JJ, I swear-"

Thunk!

The redhead froze.

"Wait, what was that?" John B asked, crossing past Elora to look out the window.

He barely looked for a split second before drawing his head back in, mouthing. "Shit! Shit!"

"What is it, John B?" Elora asked, her feet planted, her heart pounding.

He tiptoed back across the room to look out the other window, muttering. "Cops."

And then there was a knock on the door.

"Kildare County Sheriff's Department!"

Instantly, all three of them Pogues jumped away from the door and the window, scrambling to sort what they'd moved.

Once the gun was in the safe, the safe was locked and the cupboard was closed, Elora looked at John B, mouthing furiously. "Where the fuck do we go?"

He could only point to one place. The window.

Well, hanging out a window next to JJ, feet placed precariously on the porch roof and holding onto the pipes that ran down either side. Elora held her breath as she looked around to see Kie and Pope on the Pogue down below, waving their arms and demanding. "What the hell are you doing?"

They all just smirked, Elora holding up a thumbs up whilst the boys chuckled silently.

Inside, the cops had got into the room, and were preceding to open the cupboard and the safe that they had previously been inside. Elora watched with bated breath as they searched it, before one of the officers said, holding up a stack of money. "Everybody's gotta dip their beak, right?"

Elora turned to JJ, who mouthed. "What the f-?"

And then, shit, the gun that JJ had fucking pocketed flew from his pocket, banging loudly on the way down before falling into a bush.

If all three of them hadn't been breathing before, they definitely weren't now.

And then one of the officers, Shoupe, Elora thought he was called, rolled up the blinds, and pressed his head against the window. The three Pogues on the other side pressed their bodies further into the wall.

Then, thank fucking god, Shoupe backed away, telling his colleague. "Alright, let's clear out, no one's here."

Elora didn't move a single muscle as the sound of the two officers leaving the motel filled her ears, and by the looks of things, neither did the boys.

When they finally left, she relaxed a bit, looking sideways at John B and JJ.

"Jesus," she muttered. "That was a close call."

𔓘𔓘𔓘

"Well, that was fun," JJ said later, once the Pogue was out on the river.

"Yeah, could've warned us sooner though," John B said.

"We would've, except Pope was on the math team," Kiara rolled her eyes.

"What?" Elora snorted.

"You were on the math team?" JJ asked Pope.

Before he could answer, John B muttered. "The cops took everything like it was a crime scene."

"Did you three find anything?" Pope asked.

"Yeah, a shit tonne of cash and a stupid fucking gun that JJ wants to snog and fuck cause he'll never get a girl," Elora rolled her eyes.

"Okay touche, Elle!" JJ snapped, taking the gun and a money stack out his pocket.

"What the hell? Why would you take this from a crime scene?" Pope demanded.

"It's better than the cops having it!"

"Are you serious?" Kie muttered.

"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship," Pope's eyes went wide.

"Nah, you'll be fine," shrugged Elora.

"Yeah, at least you have us, right?" JJ smirked.

Probably not the best seague.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

A dead body.

A fucking dead body.

Not on Elora's list of things to witness that day.

But nevertheless, she was sat with her friends and a few other Pogue teens from the Cut, watching as the cops and a few others wheeled a stretcher with a dead man's body up from the jetty.

"Scooter? Scooter, oh my god!" A woman that Elle presumed was the man's wife came running down to him, sobbing slightly.

"Who's that?" John B asked to no one in particular.

"It's Scooter Grubbs, he was out during the storm," said a blonde girl sitting near them.

"Holy shit," Elora murmured.

"What kinda boat did he have?" JJ questioned.

The girl chuckled. "Somehow that dirtbag copped a brand new Grady-White. Everyone's out looking for it."

Looks like they're too late.

The Pogues looked flittingly at each other, expressions stern, before staring back at the body of the man.

The man who's boat and motel room they'd found.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

"Okay, so um... we didn't see anything, we don't know anything," Pope declared, running up the steps to the Chateau before sitting down on the couch next to Elora. "We need to have total and complete amnesia."

"Actually, Pope's right for once," JJ said. "See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny..."

"Guys, we can't keep that money," Kie piped up.

"It could come in useful, especially if DCS are trying to drag me out my home," Elora said drily.

"Yeah, not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara," JJ nodded.

"We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs, otherwise it's bad karma," Kiara said firmly.

"Bad karma to be implemented in a felony, too," Pope looked at Elora and JJ. "We gotta go dark."

"If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree," JJ shrugged.

John B, who had been silent for this whole conversation, then spoke up. "I don't agree."

"Of course you don't," Elora rolled her eyes. "Pray tell us why?"

"Just think about it," John B looked at her. "This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about, same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for pennies to buy gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than forty bucks in his pocket and all of a sudden he's got a Grady-White? Just saying."

"Okay, so how does a marina rat get a Grady-White?" Elora asked.

Pope didn't even look at her. "Prostitution."

"Okay, so flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance," John B nodded. "They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean? Elle? JJ?"

"They were straight smugglin," the latter said.

"Smuggling," John B nodded. "And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband in that wreck."

"Hell, yeah," JJ grinned.

Pope shook his head. "For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband inside it, it probably belongs to someone else."

"Minor details," put in Kie.

"And they could come looking for it," Pope continued. "Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

"Right, well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time," JJ shrugged, spouting his signature phrase as he pulled out the money again, holding it up with a smirk. "All we need to do now is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck."

"Yeah, until then we just lay low," shrugged Elora. "Act normal."

"Right," Pope nodded. "And how exactly do we do that?"

Kie looked to Elora, smirking, and both of them suddenly got shit eating grins on their faces as they looked to the boys.

"Kegger?"

𔓘𔓘𔓘

Okay, so hauling a keg, a pump and a load of red cups to the Boneyard (a place on the beach where all OBX keggers took place) wasn't great, but the outcome was amazing. And soon, a load of people had joined them, all drinking from the same cups, regardless of their clothes or the amount of money in their pockets.

'Alright, so you can't understand the Outer Banks without understanding the Boneyard. It's kinda like a three layer burrito.

There's us and our friends, the working class derelicts from the Cut. The Pogues, obviously.

And then there's the Kooks, the rich second homers. Mostly from shitty boarding schools, just rich trustafarian posers. Our natural enemies.

And then there's the Tourons. Totally clueless, here for a week on vacation with their families. Chum for the sharks.'

Elora watched, laughing her head of as JJ, who had downed five cups already, got up on a fallen tree and began to dance. She was chatting with a couple others, holding her second round of beer.

JJ, who was pretty much drunk by now, whooped as he ran down, crashing into Elora and sending them flying backwards, both laughing.

"Quit it, you two!" John B said, though he was laughing as well, as Elora and JJ got up and went to speak to him, Kie and Pope.

However, it was then that she was hit with a very unpleasant sight. A blonde girl in a floral dress, hair flying about in the wind as she climbed a red rig that had blown ashore during the hurricane. She looked as innocent as could be.

But Elora knew better.

"Oh, what's that bitch doing here?" She groaned, causing the others to turn and see her.

'That's Sarah Cameron. Fucking princess of the Kooks, their pride and joy. She and I have never really seen eye to eye, ever since I met her in kindergarten. Kie got mixed up in her shit once and learned her lesson. She's a two faced liar, and I'm proud to say I've slapped both of them.'

She watched in disgust as Sarah's boyfriend Topper, a blonde Kook with zero taste in women, ran up to her, yelling. "Sarah that's not safe! Get down from there!"

'That's Topper Thornton, her boyfriend. He actually thinks Pogues were bred to mow lawns. But he's not the worst boy to come out of the Thornton family.'

And that was only proven to be true, as Elora watched Sarah jump down into Topper's arms, as a group of boys had just arrived, marching towards the Pogues as if ready to start a fight.

There were only about five or six of them in all, so Elora wasn't intimidated, but what she did feel was disgust as she watched their blonde haired, blue eyed leader smirk at her.

'That's Tyler Thornton, Topper's twin brother. He's the kind of guy that makes you wish Mars was inhabitable when you speak to him. I've known him for years, and he's always been a fucking arsehole with five sticks rammed up it.

When he decided he liked me in seventh grade I knew my life was over. He never left me alone, so much so that I actually believed he was interested. He became my first kiss and then he left me in the dust, and made me swear I would never go back.'

"Hey, Elle!" He called out now, smirk on his face growing as he called out to her. "Having fun?"

Elora didn't reply, clenching her fists and looking down, her lips pressed tightly together.

"Don't listen to him," Kie wisely muttered behind her. "Ignore it."

The Pogues knew what Tyler had done to her; they'd actually been the one to get him to leave her alone, because she'd still been dealing with the death of her father at that point.

But it seemed the dick wasn't having no response, because he walked up to her, grinning as he said. "No reply? I thought I'd at least get a compliment on the shirt."

"Leave me the fuck alone," Elora snapped.

"Ooh, so mean," Tyler, who was quite obviously tipsy if not drunk, slurred, before turning back to his friends. "Come on boys, let's go find some actually hot girls to hit on."

Elora stuck her middle finger up at him as he passed, chuckling like anything. "Dick," she muttered as she turned back to the Pogues.

"But only a small one, though," Kie joked, prompting a smile from Elora as well.

The next hour went just fine. She didn't see Tyler again, and when darkness fell it seemed she wasn't going to see him again that night. She sat watching the water before them twinkle in the moonlight, smiling as she listened to Kiara tell some random guy why plastic was so bad for the turtles.

She thought there wouldn't be any trouble.

And then she heard it.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"What's that?" She asked, cutting through Kie's monologue as she looked to her left to see a huge crowd had formed around a few people, two of which were shoving and punching each other.

Then someone yelled. "Yo, Topper is kicking John B's ass!"

Elora and Kiara's eyes snapped to each other's before they were running towards the scene, shoving through the crowd to find the scene. John B and Topper were shoving each other, Sarah was yelling at them to stop, and JJ was surprisingly trying to deescalate the situation as well.

"Hey, John B! Don't make me drown you like your old man, alright?" Topper shouted loudly as he kicked John B into the shallow waves lapping on the sand.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" The crowd continued, the chant louder now they were closer.

And then John B did the worst thing imaginable, getting up and tackling Topper over, leading to a full scale brawl on the sandy shore.

"John B, let it go!" Pope was shouting desperately.

"Stop, you guys!" Kie joined in.

"TOPPER! STOP!" Even Sarah Cameron was yelling, her voice cracking as she did.

But the two boys only listened to the crowd egging them on, continuing to throw punches as they circled each other.

"Come on, Top! Kick his ass!" Elora heard Tyler shout from the other side of the crowd, and she clenched her fists as she saw him.

"COME ON, TOPPER! LET'S GO! COME ON!" John B roared as he managed to throw Topper to the ground.

But then the tables turned, and Topper managed to get John B held under the shallow water, holding him there.

"TOPPER, STOP!" Sarah yelled.

"STOP IT!" Elora joined in, desperately screaming for him to let him up.

"TOPPER!"

Click.

Elora hadn't noticed JJ running over to them.

Nor had she noticed what he had in his hand.

But as he pulled the gun and pressed the barrell against Topper's head, she felt like throwing up. And that had nothing to do with the beers.

"Yeah, you know what that is?" JJ snarled, as Topper froze. "Your move, broski."

"No, dude!" Pope yelled, as the crowd dissipated, everyone yelling and running.

"JJ!" Sarah switched tracks, screaming at the other blonde boy. "STOP! JJ!"

She, along with Elora, Kie and Pope, all ran towards the scene instead of away from it, Sarah yelling. "Put the gun down!"

"Give him one reason to, your boyfriend's trying to kill our best friend!" Elora snapped.

"PUT THE GUN DOWN-"

"We're good! We're good!" Topper yelled, putting his hands up so John B could come up for air.

"Kie, Elle! Could you check your psycho friend, please?" Sarah shrieked.

"Could you check your psycho personality?" Elora retorted, not even looking at her.

"OKAY, EVERYONE LISTEN UP!" JJ bellowed, removing the gun from Topper's head and pointing it up to the sky. "GET THE HELL OFF OUR SIDE OF THE ISLAND!"

BANG. BANG BANG.

He fired it thrice, into the air. The screams got even louder, and more people ran.

"Are you crazy?!" Pope yelled, shoving JJ backwards. "You idiot! Why would you do that?"

"It's not worth it!" Kiara added.

"I'm saving his life, okay?!" JJ yelled, pointing to John B, who did not look good, sitting up out the water, his throat gurgling.

Then he collapsed backwards, fainting.

"We have to get him out of here!" Elora yelled, prompting the other Pogues to help her carry him.

Most of the crowd had left by now, except for a few. However, one of those people happened to be Tyler Thornton, who laughed loudly at the scene and said. "I guess the Pogues just can't handle us."

"Shut the fuck up," Elora snapped.

"Ooooh, tetchy. Just chill out, Elle," Tyler grinned.

"And stop fucking calling me that!" She added.

"Why should I? It's fun to see you riled up," Tyler shrugged. "Not fancy another kiss from me yet? I would've thought that you'd at least come back for a secon-"

SLAP!

Elora didn't regret slapping him.

And oh god, it felt amazing to.

Her hand stung as she drew it back, and he was looking at her with a rage that she knew was about to be unleashed, but she had waited years for that. Years.

"You have no right to say that," she said, just waiting for the moment he struck back. "You led me on, you laughed at me, you made fun of me for wanting a second kiss because it had all just been a game for you."

"Well, you were an entertaining game to pl-"

"Shut it before I slap you again!" Elora yelled, making direct eye contact with him. "Now go away, and leave me and my friends alone."

Tyler shrugged. "I can't promise anything."

The rage she felt in her body as she watched him walk away was unmatched.

She'd get him back someday.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

The next day, Elora walked round to the Chateau to find the other four already there, sinking into her chair with a heavy sigh.

"Look, I'm calling it off, alright?" John B said as he came out. "Peterkin said if I stay out the marsh, she'll help me with DCS."

Peterkin was the county sheriff, and despite Elora's deep-rooted hatred for cops, she had to admit that she was a very good officer.

JJ, meanwhile, just said. "And you believe her?"

"Yes, I believe her JJ," John B rolled his eyes.

"

An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop," JJ snapped.

"Listen, all I gotta do is stay out the marsh for a couple days!" John B protested. "It doesn't help that your ass was the one that was shooting a gun!"

"So what? He scared the shit out of Sarah Cameron and that's a win in my books," Elora snorted. Kie nudged her.

JJ, meanwhile, took a harsher approach. "You know what I should've done? Just let Topper drown your ass."

"Yeah, because Topper was gonna drown me?"

"Sure looked like it, have you looked in a mirror?"

It was true, John B had a black eye and a couple other bruises, but no one had really payed much attention to it.

"They always win, don't they, man?" JJ scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Kooks versus Pogues, they always win. Goddammit!"

He punched the wooden bannister and Kiara gasped. "Look, it's okay!"

"No, it's not okay!" JJ shouted. "It is not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh, that means there's something valuable down there, and you know it!"

He directed that last part at John B, but it was Elora who spoke next. "We have got nothing to lose."

"Exactly, Elle!" JJ nodded, looking to John B.

"JJ-"

"Pope, he's the golden boy, Kie, you're already rich as fuck, but us three-?"

"JJ, listen-"

"Okay, I know it didn't used to be that way for you," JJ looked at him.

"I don't wanna talk about this," John B declared, walking past them. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"John B, listen to me, I have a plan!" JJ said desperately. "You work on the Camerons' boat, right? You got the key. And there's scuba gear there. We just borrow that and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that's what's gonna save you, man!"

"That's not actually a bad plan," shrugged Elora. "But I'm not going anywhere near the Camerons' boat."

"That's fine, but thank you, Elle!" JJ announced, turning to John B. "So, when can you get onto that boat?"

𔓘𔓘𔓘

The next day, as a bunch of boats took off from the jetty to find the wreck, the HMS Pogue was already at the site, five people and a shit tonne of scuba gear aboard it.

"This is empty, you took empty tanks?" Kiara demanded as she went through it all.

"I..." John B hesitated, but he had no explanation.

"This one's a quarter full," Elora, who was inspecting the other one, said. "Enough for one of us."

Pope sighed. "Love it when a plan comes together."

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kiara questioned.

Silence took over the boat.

"Anybody?"

Pope shrugged. "It's kinda a Kook sport."

"Look, you put the thing in the mouth, and you breathe, how hard can it be?" JJ said.

"You just made it sound sketchy," Elora commented.

"Wha-? Ew, get your head out the gutter!"

"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood and you get the bends," Pope told them.

"The bends? Like, bend over-"

"JJ, get your head out the gutter," Elora mocked.

"Oh, that's funny-"

"Shut up, you two, the bends kill you," Pope said.

They fell silent, and JJ awkwardly said. "Right."

"I can- I can dive," John B said hesitantly.

"Okay, I'm cool with that," Kiara nodded.

"Right, let me do some calculations real quick," Pope sat forward.

"You serious?" Elora raised her eyebrows.

"Yup."

It only took about thirty seconds before he said. "Okay, so according to this, you need to make your safety stop at about ten feet, alright? For two minutes."

"Yeah, yeah. Twenty feet, two minutes, got it," John B nodded.

Without another word, Kiara stripped down to her bikini and jumped off the boat.

"What was that?" John B frowned.

"I don't know, but I liked it," JJ shrugged.

"You like any body with boobs, though," Elora rolled her eyes as the other two laughed.

"She got you there, dude."

"Okay, alright then!" JJ rolled his eyes, holding up a key. "Listen, when you're down there, look for the cargo hold, and just stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"

"Okay," John B said as Kie resurfaced, swimming back to the boat from where she came up.

"I tied my t-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down, it should show you when you've got to make your safety stop," she told John B.

"Cool."

"Right, keep an eye on this, it tells you how much air you have left," Pope said as he strapped the scuba tanks to John B's back.

"Okay, sounds easy enough," he nodded as Pope finished, and he stood at the edge of the boat.

"Also, if we get caught out here in the marsh, we're screwed, so you better move your ass," Elora commented.

"Copy that," nodded John B, before he fitted the gear onto his face and jumped in, saluting them all before disappearing under the water.

Elora watched him go, sighing. "And now we wait."

𔓘𔓘𔓘

Naturally, they had only waited about ten seconds before there was trouble.

The sirens calling down the marsh were the first sign, but it didn't take long to see the boat they were attached to.

"Shit, JJ," Pope said urgently.

JJ's eyes widened. "Guys, that's the police."

"Urgh, are you fucking kidding?" Elora groaned.

"Just act fricking normal!" Kie hissed.

Obviously, the police had to come up to them, stopping their sirens and looking at them skeptically. One of the officers, by the name of Shoupe, even sighed and let out a small chuckle.

It wasn't a surprise when JJ was the first to speak. "Evening, officers."

"Evening," Shoupe nodded, throwing them a rope.

Shit, they're attaching their boat to us-

"Elle, tie this off," Pope chucked the rope at Elora, who thankfully caught it and began to do so.

Once their boat was attached and stable, Shoupe removed his sunglasses, looking them straight in the eye. "How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?"

"No," Elora spoke instinctively.

"No, I didn't know that," JJ followed her lead.

"Why- why is it closed?" Pope asked.

"Oh, we're conducting a search out here, boat went down," said Shoupe evasively.

"Oh."

"Have you seen anything?"

"No."

"No boats, no," JJ nodded.

They couldn't keep this up for much longer. Soon enough, John B's oxygen was going to run out, and he'd have to come back up. Shoupe would find the wreck, and their whole plan would be ruined.

It might already be ruined, though, as Shoupe then asked. "Where's your friend you always hang with? He here?"

They hesitated, but then Kie said. "He's working."

"Hm," Shoupe nodded, before getting up and jumping aboard the Pogue. "I'm gonna check your little boat out."

"Yeah," Pope nodded. "Yeah, hop aboard..."

As he inspected, the tension between all four of them was palpable. They kept glancing between each other, wide eyed and worried.

And then the worst happened; Shoupe jumped up to the edge of the boat, and began to walk around to where he could surely see the wreck.

"Er- be careful up there, it's very slippy," Elora scrambled for an excuse.

Shoupe didn't listen to her, instead walking all the way round to the front, and peering over.

Shit-

If John B came up right now-

But Shoupe just continued to look, not giving anything away.

The oxygen had probably run out by now-

"Alright," the officer finally said, hopping down off the edge and walking back over to his own boat, untying the rope that held them together. "You let us know if you see anything on your way out."

"Sure will, officer!"

As their boat sped away, all four of them rushed over to the end of the boat, leaning over.

"He's definitely out of air," Pope muttered.

"There he is!" JJ yelled, as soon as John B surfaced.

"Oh god, don't scare us like that!" Elora laughed.

"How'd it go down there?" Kie asked.

"Yeah, did you find anything?" JJ pressed as he went to the side to help him back into the boat.

John B just chuckled. "Did I find anything?"

"Yeah, there we go!" JJ hollered. "That's my boy!"

He threw up a bag, and Pope caught it, before John B climbed aboard himself.

"You scared the shit out of me," Kie complained.

"Yeah, I ran out of air."

"Don't worry dude, the cops were up here, but we took care of them..."

And then Elora noticed something.

A boat. But it wasn't a police boat with sirens blaring, it was a small boat, with a buzzing engine, about fifty metres up from them.

"Hey guys!" She said, cutting across JJ. "Guys, bogey, two o'clock."

The others all turned and saw the boat as well, JJ frowning. "What are they doing out here? The marsh is closed."

"I don't know, but let's not stick around to find out," JJ said, pulling up the anchor. John B, meanwhile, had ran into the driver's seat and started the engine, taking them away from the marsh.

But not before long, the boat behind them followed.

"Hey guys, they're following us!" Kie shouted scaredly.

"Oh, this can't be good," Pope shook his head.

"Dude, you gotta go faster!" JJ shouted at John B.

"I'm going faster!"

But as they sped up, the other boat sped up too.

"Shit, shit, shit! They're definitely following us!" Elora yelled, looking behind her. The boat was small, and appeared to contain two men, both adorned in black, one of whom holding a-

"Guys, he's got a fucking g-!"

BANG!

"What the-?" Pope yelled as he dodged the bullet.

"Holy shit!"

"John B, get down!" JJ yelled as all the others did.

BANG!

"Oh my god, we're gonna die!" Pope shouted dramatically.

They turned a corner, but the men behind them didn't give up, firing again.

Then Kie, who discluding Pope was the most scared, got up and grabbed a net, running to the back of the boat despite the rifle fire and throwing it into the water behind them, trying to trap the boat.

"Get down, Kie!" John B shouted, but it no longer became necessary as the boat behind them got caught in the net, slowing down as the Pogue only got faster.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Pope yelled, as John B accelerated faster, getting them out of there.

"Oh my god, that was fucking insane," Elora pressed a palm to her forehead.

"WHOO!" JJ, meanwhile, was very happy, dancing about.

Elora let herself laugh as they sped back to shore, trying not to think about how that was the closest to death they'd ever been.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

By the time they got back to the jetty, darkness was falling. John B was off the boat first, carrying the black bag he'd found aboard the wreck. The others were not far behind him as he kneeled down right there on the wooden jetty to open it.

"What do you guys think it is?" Kiara asked.

"Shit tonne of cash, hopefully," smirked Elora, hi fiving JJ when he said this as well.

"Let's just open it," Pope said testily. "You guys are literally killing me with anticipation, just open the bag."

"Jeez..."

"We almost died over this!"

John B sighed, opening the bag to find a metal cannister, frowning as he saw it. He took the cannister and twisted its lid, sliding something out of it.

It was a... a compass? It was very old, and a bit rusty, but still looked quite golden.

"Oh wow, yeah that's about right," Pope rolled his eyes. "Good job everybody, we found a compass."

And the others all shared his sentiment, except John B. Whilst they all rolled their eyes and turned up their noses, he continued to look at it like it was the best thing they could've got.

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

But instead of agreeing, or at least admitting he was wrong, John B just said four words.

"This was my father's."