╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗
— THE LUCKY COMPASS —
season one, episode two, part one

❝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐥'𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.❞

─── • ───

After the discovery of Big John's compass, the Pogues had all returned to their homes for the night, wanting to rest after a day full of action, unlike their usual nights of hanging out for hours in one place until they wanted to leave. Or until the local police showed up to shoo them from construction sites and abandoned buildings.

But after an entire night of tossing and turning with the possibilities as to why Big John's compass was on that sunken boat, Nick awoke the next morning with only one thing on his mind. So he took the keys to the surf shop's rundown Ford '71 Bronco and showed up at JJ's house, telling him that they were going to John B's to see if he was okay after the other night.

"You think he got in shit for dropping off those empty tanks?" JJ asked Nick, just as they pulled up to John B's rundown Chateau. "I bet the damn Kooks are gonna bust his balls about it."

"More than likely," Nick let out a laugh, parking the surf shop's jeep in the driveway and climbing out of the driver's seat alongside JJ. He walked up the steps of the porch and banged on the front door, and then said, "You think he's even in there?"

"Better be," JJ shrugged his shoulders, "or else we'll know for sure that Ward's got his ass in the county jail by now."

And before Nick could say anything else, JJ banged on the door again, and shouted, "DCS! I know you're in there!"

But still, no response from the boy in question.

So in typical Pogue fashion, Nick and JJ crept around the side of the house towards a partially open window, beyond which John B was peacefully sleeping on the couch. Nick and JJ shared a look, subconsciously agreeing, before the former started counting down on his fingers from three. On one, they jumped onto the deck below, shouting at their friend who practically jumped out of his skin at the sound of their voices.

"Fucking shit!" John B shouted, startled, before recognizing his friend's faces through the glass and laying back down on the couch. "I hate you both." He groaned, burying his face further into the cushions of his couch out of exhaustion.

"Gotcha, slick!" JJ let out a hearty laugh, clutching at his side. "Come on, get your ass out here! We've got shit to do!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming..."

With a yawn, John B trudged out of his house, rubbing his eyes. He didn't even bother getting changed. The Routledge boy, like a lot of the other Pogues, didn't care too much about how he presented himself.

"You should've seen your face," Nick broke into a fit of chuckled once John B joined them outside. "Your face was like..." and he scrunched up his face in a mock fear to which JJ laughed even harder.

John B rolled his eyes at his two friends. "Fuck off."

"Love you too, bro," JJ chuckled once more, ruffling his friend's hair before he led the way over to the Twinkie and climbed into the backseat; John B took the driver's seat, while Nick made himself comfortable on the passenger's side, with his feet up on the dashboard.

"So did you return the scuba tanks yet?" Nick asked John B, just as the three of them settled in the Twinkie and the dark hair boy revved the engine of the old Volkswagen. "Ward didn't see you with them, did he?"

"No, but the Kook princess did," John B sighed, and Nick couldn't help but kink his brows at the mention of Sarah Cameron. "She's apparently been sleeping on the Druthers since the hurricane, so I woke her up accidentally when I dropped the tanks on the floor."

"Rookie mistake." JJ swatted John B on the back of the head as the Twinkie pulled off down the road. "Now she's going to snitch to her rich daddy, and you'll be totally screwed out of a job when she does."

"She did say she might tell Ward, but I tried to reason with her," John B told him, reminiscing with another pitiful sigh. "The problem is that I don't know if I can trust anything that comes out of that Kook's mouth."

"Don't worry," Nick offered, watching the rundown shacks belonging to the Cut's residents flash passed the windows. "I'll make sure she doesn't say anything."

John B glanced towards his friend momentarily as he drove, asking, "You honestly think she'll listen to you?"

"Of course she will, bro," JJ sniggered, leaning forward and playfully nudging at Nick, who swatted his hands away annoyingly. "Because Nicky here, and the Kook princess have a history. And in case you missed it while you were too busy getting your ass kicked, she was all over you the other night."

"God no, not again." John B leaned over and nudged his best friend on the arm teasingly. "It was bad enough when you hooked up the first time."

Nick furrowed his brows. "We made out once."

"Once was enough." John B retorted, shaking his head. "And do you forget how bad it got the last time? Kie didn't talk to you for almost two weeks."

"We just had a little fun, that's all." Nick said defensively. "But it was a one time thing, alright? It's never going to happen again."

"Technically it was a two time thing," JJ corrected with a smirk. "And who knows what else you did that night."

"Just shut up, both of you." Nick rolled his eyes, trying to hide the fact that his cheeks were flushing pink as JJ started to make kissing noises in the backseat. "I just meant that I'd talk to her, okay? Nothing more."

"Good," John B said, patting his shoulder. "Because we've got enough problems as is."

"If you say so," JJ grinned mischievously, his laughter dying down. "But if Sarah's out of the question, does that mean you're saving yourself for Kie?"

Nick sent a glare towards his friend in the backseat of the Twinkie, threatening lowly, "I swear to God, JJ, if you don't shut up –"

"I'm just saying, I don't understand why you don't at least try with Kiara." JJ put his hands up in a mock surrender. "It's obvious that she likes you, bro! She's flirting one second, the next: she's kissing you."

"She kissed me on the cheek," Nick corrected him, watching the sunlight filter through the trees, casting patterned shadows everywhere."It's not like we were making out."

"Low hangin' fruit, bro. Don't pretend that you don't notice. I see it in your eyes, you're all like, 'I kinda like that,' and then you start blushing..." JJ ranted and John B even laughed at how invested he'd become.

"I blush?"

"Oh, yeah, you should see it –"

"Alright, alright," John B spoke up once he realized how uncomfortable Nick was, his eyes on the road as he tried to put the conversation to rest. "Come on, JJ, he's had enough."

"Oh, don't even get me started on you," JJ changed tact quickly, wiggling his eyebrows at John B. "You're the same with Liv. I don't think I've ever seen you pine over a girl this bad before, but hey, I think the feelings are mutual. She was really sketching about you diving the other day –"

"Why are you so invested in our love lives?" John B cut across JJ, glaring at the blonde boy through the rearview mirror. "It's weird, man."

"It's because he has to live vicariously through us." Nick threw his head back with an uncontrollable laugh, turning the joke onto JJ. "You know, since he has no prospects of his own –"

"Jokes on you," JJ scoffed jokingly, poking his head between both the driver and passenger's seats like a child. "Pope and I are very happy together, you dick."

And with that, the three best friends laughed harder than ever in the safe confines of the Twinkie's air-conditioned interior. Houses, shacks, and rundown RVs flashed as they drove along the shoreline of the Cut, and only when they inched closer towards their destination, did John B pull out the antique compass that they'd found on the wreck of the Grady-White.

"All jokes aside," John B finally spoke up, just as the laughter in the Volkswagen died down. "Why do you think my dad's compass was on that shipwreck?"

Silence fell upon the Pogues for the first time.

Look, for nine months, everyone's tried to get John B to believe his father was dead. They say he's in denial. But whatever. Denial's underrated, you should try it sometime. It's highly effective, and it's only denial if you're wrong.

You see, Big John Routledge is the last guy who would ever get lost at sea. And his compass coming back to us, the compass which has been passed down for generations, was an undeniable sign of the unknown. Now, I've got no choice but to believe in the impossible, and I'm going to do anything I can to help my best friend find his dad...

JJ shrugged. "Yeah, I gotta admit, your father's compass in Scooter's boat... That's freaky." He remarked, taking the compass into his own hands and turning it over.

"Yeah, but that's why we're going to talk to Ms. Lana," John B glanced back through the rearview again, "to figure this whole thing out."

"Right, I'm sure she'd love to talk to us... It's not like her husband just drowned or anything," Nick mused as they passed house after house, some worse off than others from Hurricane Agatha.

─── • ───

When they eventually pulled up to the house and climbed out of the Twinkie, a sudden nervousness bubbled in the pit of Nick's stomach. He was starting to think that maybe this wasn't such a good idea, that maybe the grieving widow wouldn't be much help.

But with John B so set on finding out what happened to his father, Nick chose not to say anything as the three of them made their way up to the house.

"Y'know what this house looks like? Whoever lives here smokes too much weed," JJ stated, and Nick gave him a confused look, brows knitted together as he tried to see the way his friend did.

And when he did, Nick laughed a little, "Sounds a bit like us then, huh?"

Before either John B or JJ could respond, the trio stopped dead in their tracks when they heard glass smashing and the sounds of things being thrown coming from inside.

"Uh, that doesn't sound good." Nick muttered quietly, as they continued on their approach.

"Maybe we should come back –" JJ's suggestion was cut off by John B gesturing for them both to be quiet.

The shouting became clearer with every step they took towards the house, the bangs also becoming louder and clearly more violent.

"Maybe we should come back." JJ spoke warily. "It's a little too soon."

"Do you think Ms. Lana's okay?" Nick asked in a hushed whisper, trying to make out the voices inside.

"No, no, just shut up. Shut up, guys!" John B hissed at them both, raising a finger to his lips, before they picked up the pace and headed towards the house.

"Tell me where it is or I'll fuck you up!"

With a sense of caution, the three boys ducked under an open window and tried their hardest to keep quiet. The sound of a woman's scream pierced the air, making Nick jump ever so slightly.

From inside the house, a voice of an unidentified man growled, "Where the fuck is it, you bitch?"

"You're hurting me!" A woman's voice, who Nick quickly identified as Ms. Lana, cried out, making the Pogue boys look at each other in fear. Who were these guys? What the fuck were they doing to her?

John B continued to shush the group as Nick's eyes searched for a weapon, scared for his own safety as well as Ms. Lana's.

"Come on," John B ushered Nick and JJ over so that they were stood at the side of the woman's home, underneath one of the windows. They kept low so that they were out of sight, trying to peak in through the windows to see what exactly was happening.

"Is it here in this house?"

"Or is it somewhere else?" Another man's voice echoed angrily at a sobbing Lana. "Tell is where it is!"

Nick suddenly rushed to John B's side, trying to get a better view, still crouched down low as to not be seen. More glass shattered inside, and with a few hushed whispers from John B, all the Pogues could do was push their backs to the wall, only able to listen to what was going on.

"You still think we should stay?" JJ asked John B in a hushed whisper, a slight tremble in his voice that Nick had never heard before.

From inside the house, the shouting grew louder. Nick  had to force himself to take a deep breath to calm his racing heart. The fact that Ms. Lana was in there sobbing made him feel helpless. He kept searching Ms. Lana's front yard for some kind of weapon, trying to prepare himself if the circumstances got even worse.

"The compass wasn't in the boat!"

The three Pogues shared a wide-eyed look of panic.

"Where is it, Lana?"

"I don't know!" The middle-aged woman in question cried back, clearly petrified. More of her painful sobs followed as the open window above the three boys began to shower them with dust and paint from the interior. Trying not to make too much noise, they tried to shake it off, though it didn't seem to stop.

"We should just go." JJ tried again, peaking inside the house once more. "He's got smuggler written all over him –"

"Shut up." Nick hissed at the blonde boy. "I'm not leaving until I know Ms. Lana's okay."

"Me neither." John B agreed, and together, the three of them bunched together to get a better look at the men leaving the house.

A few seconds of torment later, a nearby engine started up and Nick glanced back around the corner of the house, only to see the two men getting in a familiar looking speedboat at the dock. Then, all at once, a sinking realization hit Nick across the face as he realized where he'd seen those two men before.

"Dude, those were the guys that shot at us!"

His voice came out no louder than a hoarse whisper, and both John B and JJ stared, dumbstruck. When the two men boarded their boat and took off, the trio retreated slightly to remain out of sight. The second they disappeared, Nick wasted no time before walking up the porch, towards the front door. He led the way into Ms. Lana's house, being careful not to frighten her more by making any loud noises. They followed the sound of the woman's cries, calling out to her.

"Ms. Lana...?"

"Shit, look at this place." JJ mumbled, side-stepping over some broken glass as they made their way through the destroyed home.

By the time they found Lana, she was curled up in the bathroom, crying badly, holding herself tightly as to protect herself. Making his presence known, Nick carefully crouched down next to the sobbing woman.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked Ms. Lana, putting a hand to her shoulder for comfort, resulting in her visibly jumping from the contact. "Ms. Lana, it's me. It's Nick Warren from the surf shop. Everything's going to be okay, I promise."

"Dude, she's tweaking..." JJ muttered, just wanting to get out of the house that was too close to home for him.

But Nick ignored him, and tried again with Ms. Lana, consoling her, "Hey, hey, do you need a doctor?"

His question went unanswered, though, only resulting in more tears streaming down the woman's face.

Unsure of what to do, John B cleared his throat, and suggested, "Maybe we should call the Sheriff's Department?"

"No!" The sudden protest from Ms Lana forced the three boys to look back in her direction, and they could now see the cuts and bruises on her face. "No cops, please!"

"That's not good." JJ prompted and tapped Nick's shoulder, though he refused to move. "C'mon, dude, let's go!"

"You shouldn't be here," Lana cried, and Nick grew increasingly uncomfortable as she looked passed him, staring directly at John B.

"Yeah, that's enough for me." JJ spoke forcefully, but was once again ignored. "Guys, come on!"

"Wait, wait," John B persisted, pushing JJ off of him, unfazed by the carnage around them and the state that Lana was in. "What do you know about these guys?"

Ms. Lana stared at them through teary eyes, and choked out, "They were looking for something..."

Without hesitation, John B joined Nick on the ground, rummaging through his pockets to retrieve his father's compass. He held it out to her by the chain so she could see it.

"Does it have anything to do with this?"

Ms. Lana took one look at the Routledge family heirloom and her whole demeanour changed. Nick chanced a glance back at JJ, but didn't move anymore.

"This is my father's, and Scooter had it." John B kept on going, even as Ms. Lana began shaking her head madly at him. "Why? Why'd he have this?"

"Scooter didn't have it, okay? Don't tell anyone that you have it," Ms. Lana insisted, cradling her one arm across her stomach. Having heard enough, Nick finally leaned forward and tapped John B on the shoulder.

"She's had enough, John B, come on –"

"They can't know you have that!"

But John B was relentless.

"Why?"

"They can't know!" Ms. Lana kept shouting, frantically.

"Ms. Lana, I need to know –"

"You've gotta get out of here!"

"What do you know about the compass?" John B tried, again and again, not willing to give it a rest.

"Get out! GET OUT!"

And with that, Nick and JJ were forced to drag John B by the collar of his shirt, out of the house, before the three of them made a break for the old Volkswagen.

─── • ───

With Olivia, Pope and Kie now in their company back at the Chateau, JJ took it upon himself to relay what had happened at the Grubbs' house. He was very animatedly moving around John B's porch explaining it all, moment by moment.

"And then we were right outside, like this –" JJ pressed himself flat to the outside wall of the Chateau, "– and all we hear is just Bam! Bam! Bam!"

Nick ran his hands over his face due to exhaustion, leaning all of his body weight against a nearby post as JJ continued to recite the morning's events.

"Knockin' paint off the wall, G! From the inside. And I'm just looking at them, like – wait, first off, look at this shit –" He marched over to Kiara and Pope, running ran his fingers through his hair, shaking remnants of paint flakes out so that they drifted onto the floor. Olivia, Kiara, and Pope made simultaneous noises of disgust.

"That's dandruff... Disgusting," Kiara stated, with her eyes narrowed at JJ, but he just kept going, on and on.

"Look at all that, all right? That's paint. So at that point, I was just like... I'm waiting for death..." JJ finished with a deep breath, receiving a raised brow from the three that weren't there.

"You know, I wish I could say he was overreacting," Nick spoke up for the first time since they got back to the Chateau, and Olivia, being the good sister she was, patted his back as he continued. "I've never seen Ms. Lana so scared, it was fucking awful."

"Okay, so you saw that guys that shot at us, right?" Pope asked, receiving an immediate 'yeah' from JJ.

"Did you get a good description of them?" Olivia finished for Pope, catching on to what he was insinuating. "Like, what did they look like?"

Sparing a look at both John B and JJ, Nick shrugged his shoulders, unsure, before pulling out a Juul from his pocket and taking a few puffs from it to help calm his nerves.

"Anything?" Kiara kept pushing, looking to Nick. "Anything we can bring to a police report?"

"Burly." JJ answered bluntly, and the three Pogues who hadn't been to Ms. Lana's glanced at each other.

Pope hesitated before repeating the boy, "Burly?"

"Yeah, you know, like –"

"That's not very helpful," Kiara sighed, irritated, as JJ tried to put his thoughts into coherent words.

"No – no, like the type of guy at my dad's garage." He explained, and the others made noises of sudden understanding. "I mean, you know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers. So I can tell you with full confidence, these boys – these killers – they're square groupers." JJ finished, taking a deep, frustrated puff from the e-cigarette that Nick had just passed him. 

Pope held his head in his hands, "They're square groupers, like narco square groupers? Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?"

JJ nodded, taking another hit of the vape, "Yeah, man."

"You guys, not everything is a Kingpin movie!" Olivia told them, judgement in her voice, making her brother laugh a little.

"How would you know?" Nick challenged playfully, taking his vape back from JJ. "You weren't there."

"What does this square grouper look like? Specifically?" Pope kept prodding JJ for information, his voice raising ever so slightly. "Because it sounds like you don't know what to look for!"

"Dude! I wasn't taking little mental polaroids the entire time, man." JJ shouted back, his friend's interrogations getting to him. "I was under duress!"

"Everyone just calm the fuck down!" Nick raised his voice over all of them, a smoke cloud exhaling from his lips. "Listen, we were hiding around the side of the house. The only thing we saw was the back of their heads as they stormed from the house. But I can tell you... I can tell you by the way that Ms. Lana was screaming that these guys mean fucking business."

There was a moment of silence that settled between the Pogues as they processed what had happened, and Nick took one last hit of his vape before putting it back in his pocket. Laying down in a nearby hammock, being far too quiet under the circumstances, was John B. Nick watched his best friend as John B opened his father's compass, staring at it, deep in thought.

"It's a heavy vibe right now, okay?" JJ spoke again, cutting across the silence. "I'm not liking this very much."

"Why do they want the compass?" Kiara asked.

"It's a piece of shit!" Pope answered her, thinking out loud. "You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks, even if you wanted to. No offence John B, I know it's in your family, but –"

"The office!" John B announced abruptly, silencing everyone as he leapt from the hammock. Nick stopped leaning against the post, now interested in what he had to say. John B hadn't said much since they'd come back, so it had to have been worthwhile.

"What?"

"My dad. My dad's office... He always kept the door locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research." The Routledge boy started towards the house with quick haste, and the others got up to follow after him footsteps. "We used to laugh at him all the time. But now that he's gone, I've just kinda... I just left it as he kept it."

They all gathered around the door to Big John's office behind John B, waiting to be let inside.

"Yeah, for when he gets back." Olivia reassured the Routledge boy, sending a look to the other four to go along with it, for John B's sake.

John B smiled at the the girl before unlocking the door and stepping inside. The other five Pogues followed after him, looking around the room in awe.

"I've slept over here six hundred times and never seen this door opened..." Pope remarked quietly.

The room looked almost exactly how Nick had pictured it after all those years. Judging by how a man like Big John conducted himself, he assumed his office would be organized in a similar way. He looked around and took it all in. There were papers, and posters, and charts pinned to the walls. Bookshelves were stacked in no particular order, while Big John's desk was littered with sticky notes and a large map of the Outer Banks island.

"Here –" John B made some space on the desk and set down a cork-board with some photographs and handwritten annotations pinned all over it. He pointed to a picture at the top of the board, "This is the original owner, right here."

"Robert Q. Routledge?" Nick read aloud over John B's shoulder. "Eighteen-eighty to nineteen-twenty."

"There's the Lucky Compass, look," Kiara drew the Pogues attention to the picture, and true to her observation, the family compass hung from his belt.

"He was shot not long after he bought it. Then the compass was shipped to Henry." John B explained, pointing to the next picture on the board. "Henry was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass."

Nick whistled, "Yikes..."

"After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. He had the compass when he died in Vietnam –"

JJ spoke up, dread in his voice, "Let me guess, he died in action, right?"

"Sort of... uh, actually he was killed by a banana truck. Out in the country." John B told him before changing tact quickly, knowing it all sounded bad. "Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him." He pointed to a picture of his father, taking a second to stare at the image reminiscently. "My dad."

"Right, so, uh..." Nick swallowed, wondering for a moment if he should state the obvious. "Anyone else think there's a bit of a reoccurring theme here?"

"Yeah, you have a death compass." Pope stated bluntly.

"I do not!" John B protested weakly and stood up.

"Seriously, dude, get rid of it!" JJ demanded, shaking his head. "It's cursed and made its way back to you."

John B obviously didn't want to hear this, and Nick watched as his best friend sat in the desk chair and pulled the compass out for everyone to see. From outside, it seemed that even the chickens that John B owned felt obligated to voice their concerns; their distant caws grew louder and louder, for no apparent reason other than to add to the somber atmosphere.

"Look, my dad used to talk about a compartment in here, where used to hide secret notes..." Nick watched as John B unscrewed the back of the compass, but nothing fell out of it.

"Wait, what's that?" Kiara spoke up, pointing down at the compass, revealing a word carved into the metal.

"That wasn't there before." John B shook his head, confused. "This is my dad's handwriting."

"How can you be sure?" Pope asked, not wanting to cast scepticism on the situation, but finding it increasingly difficult to follow along in good faith.

"Because he does these weird R's..." John B turned the lid over to give his friends a closer look. "See it?"

They all nodded.

"But what does it even say?" JJ reached out for the compass and tried to decipher the word carved into the metal. "Red... Rout... no, wait, I think that's an A –"

Kiara took the compass from him, and said, "It says Redfield."

"Right, that's what I meant," JJ mumbled under his breath.

"Nice one, J." Nick teased him, receiving a middle finger in response, making him laugh quietly.

"Okay, well," Olivia started, "what's Redfield?"

Pope answered the youngest Warren's question sarcastically, "Well, besides the most common name in the country –"

"Maybe it's a clue?" Nick suggested, and John B's face lit up like a Christmas tree, because his friend was finally starting to believe in the impossible. "Maybe it's a clue to where your dad's hiding?"

"A clue? C'mon, that's –"

A sharp glare from Olivia, who just wanted to see John B happy, made Pope clear his throat and change his attitude.

"Okay, well, if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?" Pope suggested, covering up his hesitation, and the idea seemed to resonate briefly with the group.

"Yes, perfect! Anagram, yes. You need paper," John B agreed and went looking for a pen and paper. Moments later, he returned and all eyes fell upon the Lucas T. Vanderhorst Merit Scholarship finalist.

And while Pope tried to figure out the anagram with his four friends waiting patiently, the rooster outside crowed again.

"Dude," Pope sighed, "how can you concentrate with that thing crowing at you?"

John B shrugged, "JJ loves the rooster."

"We all love the rooster," Nick corrected, pointing between himself and the two girls, who were both nodding in agreement.

And after a moment, just as the Pogues had started bouncing ideas around about what the anagram could be, John B started towards to the window, only to hear the hum of a car engine outside of his house.

"Uh, guys?"

The conversation came to a halt, and the others looked at him, frowning collectively in confusion.

"Somebody's here."

Without warning, Nick's blood ran ice cold, the panic setting in. He moved to the window to get a closer look, only to be overcome with a nauseous twist in his stomach.

"Fuck!"

Outside the window, to Nick's horror, were the two men that had terrorized Ms. Lana, the two men that had shot at him and his friends the day before. They had pulled up in a truck, alerting the chickens to an intruder once they got out and started walking towards the house on the marsh.

"Is that them?" Kiara asked as she watched them approach, her voice trembling, already knowing the answer by their reactions.

"Yeah," Nick confirmed. He swallowed hard and tried to keep calm, but it became increasingly difficult when they made their way out of sight and around to the front porch.

JJ walked away from the window, "John B, I told you. Why does it always –"

"Hey – hey, look at me! Where's the gun?" John B pushed JJ against the nearest wall, and Nick's stomach only dropped further when the blond boy fumbled for an answer.

"I, uh – I can't..."

"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?" Kiara began to raise her voice at him, tensions running high already.

"What're they going to do if they find us?" Olivia looked close to tears as she backed away from the door. "Who the fuck are those guys?"

"Don't panic." Nick told his little sister, raising a finger to his lips. "We just need to focus. Where's the gun, Jage?"

The blond boy closed his eyes and tried to think. "It was in my backpack, and then I. . . on the porch."

"It's on the porch," John B repeated in disbelief, letting go of JJ. "Go get it."

JJ nodded, rushing out of the door quickly to go and retrieve the one thing that might be able to protect them. They all waited nervously for his return, standing in silence to try and listen to what was going on.

"John B. Routledge!"

The same loud, masculine voice from Ms. Lana's boomed from outside the house, making the five remaining Pogues look at each other, wide-eyed. Seconds later, JJ was rushing back into the room, closing the door behind him as quietly as possible. He looked flustered, his hair a mess and his eyes wide.

"Where's the gun?" John B whispered.

JJ turned to them slowly, "They're on the front porch, guys."

His ear pressed up against the ear, Nick could hear the slam of the screen-door and more shouting.

"Get out here! Routledge!"

Wide-eyed, Nick mouthed to his friends, "So what now?"

"Where you at, boy?"

From outside Big John's study, Nick could faintly hear the two square groupers making their way inside the Chateau, both of them still shouting in an attempt to draw them out. Soon enough, the Pogues heard the shattering of glass and things being thrown around, just as they had at Ms. Lana's. Whatever they wanted with this compass, it was obviously crazy important. The teenagers shuffled around quietly, looking for a way out.

"Guys, the window! Window." Kiara instructed calmly, and the five of them made a beeline for the windows on the far side of the room. JJ and Pope stepped up to get it open, only for it to remain closed. They strained and grasped at it, but it didn't budge.

"What... what's happening?" Olivia rushed over, watching the boys struggle. "Why is it taking so long?"

The two boys grunted, and JJ bit back in a whisper, "It's painted shut, okay? Give us a second!"

"Where the hell is that compass? Check the back room!"

"Ah, shit." Nick cursed under his breath, and without wasting any time, both him and John B threw themselves against the study door, keeping it closed as the square groupers approached on the other side. "We're running out of time!" He urged in a frustrated whisper. "Get that fucking window open!"

And while JJ and Pope continued to struggle with the window, Kiara spotted a letter opener on the desk and plucked it out of the stationary holder.

"Hey, hey – step aside for a second..."

Pope and JJ let her get close enough to dig the blade into the paintwork and she began to scratch it open.

"C'mon, Kie," Nick encouraged, and Kiara's face grew warm with the effort she was putting into it. She pushed her sleeves up to her elbows and carried on, etching deep into the paint and woodwork to try and release the window.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Kiara whispered to them, trying to concentrate.

But she was running out of time, because soon enough, the study door began to rustle as the square groupers reached the other side. John B and Nick continued to block the door, holding it so that the men wouldn't bust it down before they could escape.

"You better not be in there!"

Their voices grew louder and far more aggressive as they threw themselves against the door. At some point, Pope had to join Nick and John B in front of the door, because the handle kept twisting and turning, which in turn caused more panic to set in.

And then, as a last resort, all five Pogues ran over and gathered by the window, trying to pry it open as Kiara dragged the letter opener across the bottom.

Finally, the window gave way and opened up, allowing them all to crawl out, just in time as one of the men fired a warning shot at the office door. As soon as they were all out, they shut the window behind them and ran to the chicken coop as a source of cover from the men that were hunting them. They hurried around to the other side of the house, trying to muffle their heavy breathing and stumbling footsteps.

Despite the tight fit, they all just about managed to squeeze around the edges of the coop, making sure to stay out of sight. The chickens and the beloved unnamed rooster, however, were less than pleased about their temporary house guests. The rooster kept crowing at them, only adding to their fear of being caught. Nick crouched down in the corner with his knees pulled to his chest, almost mirroring how he had seen Ms Lana earlier that morning.

They stayed there, remaining quiet as they waited for the two men to leave. About ten minutes later, they were walking out of the Chateau with boxes full of Big John's research, stealing whatever they could get their hands on. Nick then reached over and put a hand on John B's shoulder, seeing his reaction to his father's life's work being taken right in front of him.

As the men reached their car, which was parked quite close to the coop, they all seemed to remember just how loud the rooster was.

"Do something, man," JJ hissed at Pope. "Shut him up."

Pope's eyebrows furrowed, "What do you want me to do?"

"Pet it or something, or talk to it – I don't know!" Olivia whispered, tears falling freely down her face. "Fuck, just do something! Anything!"

John B quickly recoiled from the spot that he'd been watching the thieves from, pressing his back against the wall of the coop. As they had feared, one of the men had noticed just how loud the rooster was being and was staring directly at the coop.

"Nick," Kiara called out to him, the fear of being caught etched in her eyes.

Without thinking twice, Nice reached out and grabbed her hand, holding onto it tightly, needing the comfort himself. "It'll be okay, Kie." He hushed her, his panicked breath in her ear. "We just gotta stay quiet."

But with Pope and JJ silently arguing about how to deal with the loud rooster and the square grouper approaching them, Nick swallowed hard.

"Just do something!" Pope demanded, and with time running out, JJ was forced to lunge at the rooster, capturing it in one unexpected swipe. Through shielded eyes, Nick could make out the shape of his best friend wringing the rooster's neck, immediately stopping the noise that might just give them away.

And then... silence.

Kiara's tears finally fell at the sight of the deceased rooster and she buried her head in Nick's shoulder, their only way of comforting each other. He could feel their heartbeats pounding together as he waited to see whether or not the man would find them.

Nobody dared to move. It felt worse than when they'd been chased on the boat. At least then they had had a way to escape. In this coop, they were cornered.

"Ratter! What the hell are you doin'?"

Unexpectedly, the voice of the man that stayed at the truck echoed around John B's property, piercing the silence, stopping his partner from investigating the chicken coop any further.

"Let's go!"

They heard the sound of retreating footsteps on drive leaves, car doors opening and closing, and then the engine started and disappeared down the dirt road. There was a shared sigh of relief within the coop, although they still felt on edge. They waited five minutes longer before coming out of the chicken coop, all of them a bit shaken up by the whole thing.

JJ ruffled his hands through his hair, his face still flushed with stress. "We need to leave before they come back. Like, right now."

None of them argued, all of them heading over to the Twinkie and leaving the Chateau. Those men were clearly willing to do anything to get their hands on Big John's research and the compass.

Maybe John B was right.

Maybe the gold was out there after all...

─── • ───

"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B asked.

The Pogues had all piled into the Twinkie and left as soon as possible, not wanting to wait around for the two men who were after the compass. The item was currently in Pope's hands, the boy holding it up to examine it.

From what they could see, besides the word 'REDFIELD' etched into it, it was just an ordinary compass. The logical conclusion would be that the word was what they were really after, if they could only figure out what it meant.

The boy shrugged, looking over his shoulder at his friends, "A family heirloom. I mean, what better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"

"Yeah, it's possible," Nick agreed, but his face didn't exactly tell the same tale of faith.

Pope lowered the compass as he looked at John B, "It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know... deal with your sad feels."

"Pope!" Olivia scolded him, shaking her head, enough indication as to how she felt about what the boy had said.

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels? Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it," JJ stated, breaking his silence.

"I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to send me a message." John B insisted, trying to get his friends to understand, and the van fell quiet for a moment.

"If it helps you believe, John B," Olivia told him lightly.

"Agreed," Nick nodded, running his tongue over his bottom lip. "But we need to tread carefully regardless. Those guys obviously weren't screwing around."

"I know, Nick." John B kept insisting. "Look, I– I don't need a therapy session, okay? I'm not trippin' out."

"But it's okay to trip, bro –"

"Look, my dad... my dad is missing, okay?" John B cut across JJ, a pain-stricken look on his face. "You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and have no idea what happened to him."

Nick couldn't help but feel guilty as silence filled the old Volkswagen. They had been so focused on the square groups that they didn't even realize how much John B was hurting. They couldn't understand what he was going through with his father disappearing, or the pain he endured daily as he hoped for his return.

John B bit his lip, eyes focused on the road as he spoke. "I just wake up every morning just... wondering."

"I'm sorry, John B," Olivia said softly.

Kiara pursed her lips as she glanced at the Pogues sitting in the back with her. "It's been almost a year."

Noticing the look on his friend's face, JJ quickly chimed in. "Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility."

"Yeah," Pope nodded. "Could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere."

"Absolutely." Nick agreed. "Uh. . . or maybe Atlantis?"

"Shut up." Olivia nudged her twin brother harshly, knowing John B wouldn't exactly be appreciative of the jokes. She, instead, turned back to the driver, hoping to get the conversation back on track. "What do you think the message even is?"

"Redfield," John B answered simply.

"Well, yeah," Kiara nodded, a kink in her brow. "But what does Redfield mean exactly?"

John B pointed out the window to a sign they were about to drive past. The other five Pogues glanced out to read it:

REDFIELD LIGHTHOUSE
STATE PARK
CLOSED DUE TO HURRICANE

When they reached the outskirts of the lighthouse, John B pulled over. They all climbed out of the vehicle and admired the two-tone lighthouse in all its faded and weathered glory. Redfield Lighthouse wasn't a place Nick could say he'd visited too many times throughout his life in Kildare County. It stood tall, the lower half painted white and the upper a navy blue.

"Alright, here's what's going to happen," John B announced once they were all standing outside of the fence to the lighthouse. He walked towards them, pointing to JJ, "You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?"

JJ's brows pinched as he looked from John B, to his other friends, and then back again, "Wait... why me?"

"Because you're not coming," Pope answered simply.

"Why?"

"Because there are independent and dependent variables." Pope explained, rather matter-of-factly. "And you're an independent variable. We don't know what you'll do."

"Shut up," JJ said firmly, ready to argue and defend himself. But before he could even get a sentence in, John B was already getting between the two of them.

"Listen to me for a second. Just listen!" John B raised his voice over them, and they were all forced to quiet down."Pope, Nick, you stand lookout with JJ, okay?"

Nick's hand shot in the air, like a student asking a question. "Wait," he said, "why am I being demoted?"

"Demoted?" JJ repeated with a scoff. "So being stuck with me and Pope is a demotion?"

"Right now?" Nick clarified, a grin tugging at his lips. "Sure as hell seems like one."

"Listen, you're gonna stop JJ from doing anything stupid, and Pope is here to stop you." John B explained, pointing from Pogue to Pogue. "If we get split up, we'll meet back at the surf shop."

"Sounds like a plan," Nick shrugged. "I've got to work in an hour anyways."

"Hold up," JJ called after John B, Kiara, and Olivia as they Kiara began to walk towards the lighthouse. "What about Pope? Who's meant to be babysitting him?"

John B kept walking with the girls, leaving Pope to turn to JJ with a response. "You're joking, right?" He stared at the blond boy as though he had two heads "I've gotta work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to keep felonies to a minimum."

"All right, would you just shut up already?" JJ asked as he pulled a hacky sack from his pocket and began to kick it. He passed the hacky-sack to Nick, and the two kept tossing it back-and-forth, trying to keep it from hitting the ground. "So just between us, do you guys think John B's right? Do you think his dad's still out there?" JJ asked after awhile, speaking so quietly as if there was a chance that John B would be able to hear him from within the lighthouse.

Pope looked up from his essay and shrugged. "I mean, it's possible. But the chances?" he asked, shaking his head. "And if he is, why not just come home?"

"Maybe he can't," Nick suggested before he reached for the vape in his pocket, taking a quick puff. "The more pressing question though – do we think that this whole 'Redfield' thing is going to lead anywhere?"

"I hope so," JJ answered. "Because if that gold is out there, I wanna find it."

"Yeah, you and me both." Nick laughed, biting the inside of his cheeks in thought. "But regardless of whatever happens, I'll back John B until the end. It's the least I can do after everything he's done for me."

"You mean like hitting on your sister?" JJ laughed, and Nick kicked the hacky-sack into his hand and whipped it nonchalantly at the blonde boy's head, aiming directly in the middle of his forehead. The ball didn't do much damage as it hit the target – it was made of sand, after all – but the intent alone made JJ howl with more laughter.

"Shut up, Jage." Nick playfully shoved him once more, just to add insult to injury, but JJ simply threw an arm over Nick's shoulder and ruffled his hair before taking his vape from him. He focused on puffing a few rings of smoke as Nick made himself busy by checking on Pope in the back of the Twinkie. The three of them continued to talk about random topics as a nice breeze rolled in from the water.

But after a few minutes, the sounds of approaching sirens caught their attention. Nick squinted into the distance to see a police cruiser passing the Redfield Lighthouse sign. He and JJ made a dash to the Twinkie and started the engine, startling an unsuspecting Pope who had no idea what was going on.

"Feds incoming!" JJ said quickly, putting the car in drive, and Nick pointed over the dashboard to show Pope the red and blue flashing lights nearby. "We gotta peel, right now."

But Pope stared back at the lighthouse, and asked, "What about the others? Shouldn't we wait?"

"You can't win a scholarship from jail, Pope. " JJ backed the Twinkie out of the lot with ease. "They're on their own."

They took off down the dirt road, and as JJ navigated them away from the heat, Nick felt guilty for leaving Olivia, Kiara, and John B to fend for themselves.

─── • ───

author's note:
*this chapter was not proof read*

surprise, bitches! I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me... BUT WE'RE BACK BABY!

here's a bit of a filler chapter to bring us back up to speed with the story of Nicholas Warren <3

anyways hope you enjoyed! if ur excited for the return of WAVES, vote and spam the comments!

I've missed you guys and these characters so much, and I can't wait to write the rest of the season! the next part is ready! lmk how soon you want it 👀👀

until then,

xo, selena

p.s. no sarah this chapter BUT def in the next one...

╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝