chapter 33.
i'll pay my weight
in blood.

୨୧

"All right, john b, this is the turn off right here." pope directs as john b follows the dirt path. "looks like there should be a well or something up the road; we can stop for water and then head on to agapenta."

john b follows these directions, pulling the stolen jeep beside an old well. the teens file out of the vehicle and joey groans as her feet hit the dirt. "feels like we've been driving for seven years."

"yeah, i'm so thirsty." sarah yawns. kiara steps forward, peering over into the well. "is there even any water in this thing?"

suddenly, a man begins shouting in french. the teens look around, confused, before gathering around the well. jo rolls her eyes, recognizing the man at the bottom. "you're joking."

jj gestures to an abandoned bag in the sand. "guess we found groff, huh?"

"help!" chandler switches to english. "help, i'm trapped!"

josephine cups both hands around her lips, shouting back. "no shit!"

"posie?" groff cocks his head. "posie! it's dad!" he waves his arms obnoxiously and josephine mimics his excitement, her sarcasm obvious. "oh, yay!"

"jo, let me handle him." jj shakes his head, stepping in front of her sister and blocking her path to the well. "dad?"

"jj?" geoff's tone in full of relief and josephine feels nauseous. "oh, my god! jj!"

his son doesn't entertain these joyous theatrics. "what happened?"

"i'm trapped down here because of that...that rafe." groff fails to mention he had attacked the cameron boy to begin with. "but now my children, my beautiful children, are here to rescue me."

josephine furrows her eyebrows, elbowing pope beside her with a whisper. "did he hit his head?"
the older boy stifles a laugh.

jj exhales, ignoring his sisters commentary. "what happened to the scroll?"

"rafe took it—he took it and he tried to kill me." groff shouts up the well. "but i know where it is and i know how to get it back. we'll go together, just throw me the rope."

"yeah, he definitely hit his head." josephine quips as the teens turn from the well to gather in a huddle.

pope nods in agreement. "yeah, i don't think we should trust him, but that kinda goes without saying, huh?"

jj breathes deeply, looking between his little sister and the well that contains the father who tried to kill her. he shakes his head and storms back to the spring.

"ah, did you get the rope?" groff is over-excited at jj's return. "it's attached to a bucket by the well, just throw it down!" jj leans down to grab the soiled rope but makes no move of lowering it into the well. "jj, i need you to throw me the rope!"

"why?" the teen asks, resting one boot atop the stone wall. "why should i do that when you tried to kill us?"

"i snapped. i'm sorry." chandler signs heavily and josephine wants to drop a brick off the side of the well. "but i knew you'd get to shore, and i'm so glad you did. just get me out of here, jj, and we will go get the crown. together, just like we had planned."

jj falters slightly and for a brief moment josephine worries he'll drop the rope, but he doesn't. "you gave her away, because you didn't want her. and now you come back into her life, acting like you had to do that."

"no, of course not!" chandler argues, raising his voice to ensure josephine can hear him. "posie, you're my girl. i love you."

jo grows angry fast. that's how it had always been; sneaking up on her. she pushes past the others, leaning over the well beside her brother. "no, you don't get to say that. you don't even know what that word means! you don't even know us."

"you never were our father." jj shakes his head, wrapping a comforting arm around his sisters shoulders. "never even tried."

"i'm a weak man." chandler tries. "you wouldn't kill me for that, would you? you're better than me."

when jj hesitates, josephine snatches a water jug from beside groffs abandoned sack in the dirt. she leans over the well, waving the plastic at her father below. "being better than you really isn't that hard." she drops the water into the well, watching as he scrambles to catch it. "bye bitch."

with that the siblings turn, ignoring their fathers pleas as they return to the jeep; his begging quickly turns into threats. "get back here or i'll tear your fuckin' throats out!"

josephine is not troubled. "oh for two with shitty fathers, jay." she shrugs, throwing a leg up onto the vehicle and pulling herself into a seat. jj snickers. "all right, let's go get this fuckin' crown!"

𓇼 ⋆｡˚ 𓆝⋆｡˚ 𓇼

AGAPENTA, MAR.

"All right, it's just up ahead. we'll park here—we gotta do the rest on foot." john b instructs as the jeep rumbles to a stop in agapenta. "careful, we don't know what we're walking into."

"welcome to agapenta, miss josie." jj holds out a hand, helping josephine hop down to the dirt. she lands with a thud, scowling at the dust swirling around her sneakers. "more like aga-bullshit."

"you won't be sayin' that when we're rich as fuck and go full kook."

"you're gonna go full kook?" josephine raises an eyebrow, unconvinced. jj opens his mouth to retort just as a gunshot is fired and he curses, dragging jo to crouch behind a row of bushes with the others. "damnit!"

josephine struggles to peer through the shrubs, making out a figure standing on the dunes with both hands up; he's surrounded by the armed corsairs.

"you keep your hands where we can see them and we won't have to blast them off, yeah?" the captain, dalia, orders.

"yeah." josephine immediately recognizes this voice to belong to none other than rafe cameron. "i'll put it down slow." he bends at the knees, placing the scroll in the dirt.

"shit." cleo curses. "they're gonna kill him." joey keeps her gaze trained on rafe. "do we care?" jj shrugs. "that's a good question, jo."

"yeah, but then they'd take the scroll." cleo reminds. the lupine corsairs advance, each man with a finger on the trigger of their weapon. dalia is at the front, a wolf leading her pack. "we need that little lens as well." rafe holds up the necklace that once belonged to josephine's mother. rage bubbles in her stomach.

"there's seven of them, and they all have rifles." john b whispers.

"i know." jj reaches behind his back, removing the marina corsairs gun from his waistband. "that's why we need to think outside of the box."

josephine widens her eyes at the weapon as john b hisses, "what are you doing?"

"diversion." jj shrugs. he clicks off the guns safety and returns it to his waistband.

"dude, you can't be serious." pope whispers urgently. "this isn't call of duty!"

"we got four rounds, and there's seven of them."

"four rounds?" kiara looks at her boyfriend, who doesn't seem to read her worried expression. "yes! we're gonna hit them heavy, and then we're gonna take their vehicle, and—"

"what are you doing?" jo asks sarah, watching as the older blonde removes the weapon from her
brothers waistband. "sarah!" jj turns at the muffled shout, eyes widening at the gun in the girls hands. "hey, woah!"

sarah pulls back her shoulders and points the weapon at the corsairs, a fiercely determined look on her face. "that's my brother." she presses the trigger, hitting one of the enemy vehicles and causing an explosion. the corsairs shout, flinching at the blast. sarah exhales proudly at her work and john b whistles. "nice shootin', tex."

rafe snatches the scroll back and darts off, dodging bullets as dalia orders her men to shoot. "kill him! go, go!"

"run." kiara directs as the corsairs advance. "run, go!"

"sure, let's alert them to our location." pope quips sarcastically as they break into a sprint. "that's a great idea!"

the teens race through rows of shrubs, kicking dirt up in their wake. "we gotta get to higher ground!" jj leads the group towards a maze of ancient ruins; rafe beats them to it, beginning to close its entrances heavy wooden door.

"hey!" pope grunts, throwing himself against the door to force it open. "what are you doing?"

bringing up the rear of the group, josephine pushes her way through the doorway, glaring at rafe as she passes. "next time we'll just let 'em shoot you!" jo pauses, not finding her brother in the ruins. she peers back at the doorway, eyes widening at the teen racing to catch up—armed corsairs rapidly closing the gap. "jj! hurry!" she screams so loud her throat feels hoarse.

"i'm coming, i'm coming!" he bursts through the entrance, throwing his entire body weight against the door to slam it shut just as the mercaneries begin firing. "oh, shit!"

"we gotta move!" kiara shouts. josephine isn't given any time to catch her breath from the near death experience before they take off sprinting through the ruins, shrieking at every gunshot.

they dart through the next doorway, taken aback by the half dozen bleating goats crowded in the small room. "come on, barricade the door!" pope and john b slam the door shut in an attempt to stall the corsairs. "push that in there tightly." the former gestures for the other boy to jam a piece of wood between the handles.

shouts of arabic grow closer and joey curses, hurrying to the next doorway. "guys, come on!"

"give me the gun." cleo demands of jj, who looks taken aback. "what?"

"give me the gun!" the girl raises her voice, shoving the blondes shoulder harshly.

"no!" jj argues. "there's only three shots left!"

"jj, you're hurt!" cleo retorts. this captures jo's attention and she freezes, staring at her brother with concern. "come on!"

"no, no!" the blonde boy continues to insist. "we should stick together!"

cleo looks up, noticing a hesitant jo. she points at the younger girl and shouts to the others, "hey, go! she shouldn't be here!"

kiara nods, approaching josephine. "jo, come on."

the younger maybank shakes her head. "no, are you crazy? we're not splitting up!"

the corsairs pound against the door, bullet holes splintering its wood. jj continues to protest and cleo's tone grows urgent. "go! get her out of here!"

john b takes matters into his own hands, grabbing hold of josephine's upper arms. "jo, we need to go."

"no!" josephine shouts, desperately trying to shake his grip.

pope gestures for john b to pause and rushes for jj and cleo. "hey, we got it. we'll hold them off." he notices the blondes hesitation and nods at an anxiously waiting josephine. "let me protect you for once; you're not the only one who shot teddy bears."

jj glances at jo and sighs, passing the weapon to pope. "safety off, believe in it."

"don't do anything stupid!" pope calls after the blonde as he rejoins his sister. he watches the maybank siblings disappear through the doorway; he doesn't know this is the last time he sees both blondes together as their chests heave up and down. (one of them will be in the ground by sunset.)

evie speaks !
spoiler but guys i'm not killing jo off😭😭
sorry not sorry i love her too much
& i have a whole pt2 book planned
already 💔💔