ᴀᴜɢᴜsᴛ | ᴊᴊ ᴍᴀʏʙᴀɴᴋ

Tʜᴇ Fᴏʀʙɪᴅᴅᴇɴ Zᴏɴᴇ (3)

Her mom nods as she walks over to observe her board. It was all white with blue jasmine blossoms all over it. She remembered the day she hadn't seen Estrella at all and she found her in her shed with blue paint all over her clothes. She assumed this is what she had been doing.

"It's beautiful, cariño."

Estrella smiles, "Thanks. This one took me forever for some reason."

"Oh, I wanted to remind you of Midsummers. Remember you said you'd help me out ?"

"Mom, I really don't want to spend all night around those rich people."

"Those rich people are why we have money to begin with. I'm already preparing the food, you just have to help me bring it over and set it out to serve. That's all."

"Mom,"

"Estrella." She says with raised brows. The girl sighs as she tilts her head back.

"Yeah, okay."

"Perfect." Her mom says before she walks out. Estrella sighs as her phone chimes.

We're going surfing, Star. You coming ?

She smiles down at her phone before she gets up taking her board with her.

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After surfing for a couple of hours, the pogues headed back to the Château. They were laid out on the hammocks as it got darker outside.

JJ and Estrella sharing one as Kie laid on her own and John B and Pope sat in chairs.

"You really think it's out there ? Like, no bullshit ?" Pope says

"My father thought it was."

"But do you ?"

"After hearing his voice on that tape." John B pauses, "I think I do."

"Only one way to find out."

"Look, we're gonna find it, okay ?" Estrella says before looking over to JJ and smiling, "Even JJ believes."

"Oh, my God, JJ, do you really believe ?" John B jokes

"Totally. Wait. Are we talking about four mil ?" He says

"Four hundred mil." Kie and Pope say

"Jinx." Kie smiles

"I'm gonna dream about shipwrecks." JJ says laying back as Estrella chuckles, "Good night, Bird !"

"Good night, bird shit !" John B says. JJ holds up a middle finger as Estrella gets comfortable her legs crossing over JJ's. His arm comes back down and rests on her calves. The girl not thinking anything of it until he starts to rub his thumb back and forth.

She lifts her head up to look at him, but his eyes were shut. She smiles as she lays back again.

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JJ drove the boat out to where the coordinates led them to. Estrella looked out into the water as it looked like they were in the middle of no where.

"All right, JJ. Pin it here." John B says

"Roger that ! X marks the spot."

"All right, ladies and gentlemen. To going full Kook." John B says dropping the drown into the water. Estrella and Kie were in charge of keeping track of how far down the drown was going. Estrella fed the rope into the water as Kie marked how many feet they had left.

"All right, JJ, we're right over it. Ten seconds northwest."

"Got it ! Ten seconds northwest."

"One hundred feet." Kie yells. Everyone looks over as Pope gasps.

"What ? What, what, what, what ?" John B says rushing over.

"It's nothing."

John B groans as he goes back to the map.

"Sorry, I thought-"

"Don't do that to me, man. Come on, bro." JJ says

"My bad. I just thought I saw..." Pope says before shaking his head. He watches the camera as Estrella kept feeding the rope into the water. "And to quote The Hobbit, "Down, down, to Goblin Town. Down, down, you go, my lad."

"Four hundred feet !" Kie yells as she marks it

"The tide's turning." Estrella says as she keeps the rope going.

"Hey, JJ ?"

"Yup ?"

"Ten seconds easy. South-southeast." John B says

"Copy that !"

"JJ, 20 seconds mid-speed, all right ? South."

"Copy that ! Aye, aye. Come on."

"Keep the tether out of the prop !" Pope says

"What do you think I'm trying to do, Pope ?" Estrella says

"JJ, keep going !" John B says as the thunder rumbles

"John B, is that good ?"

"We're good !"

"Okay, 700 feet !" Kie yells. The wind becomes stronger as thunder becomes more frequent. Waves cause the boat to rock side to side.

"Okay..." JJ says as his side hits the wall of the boat. The thunder crashes again as Estrella tries keeping the tether steady.

"JJ, hold it steady !"

"Okay, 900 !" Kie yells marking it again.

"JJ, we'll turtle in this storm."

"920 !"

"Crank it north by northwest ! Ten seconds ! Pope, how are we doing ?"

"Almost there."

"John B, there's too much current. We're gonna lose it !" Estrella says looking out into the water. Her grip tightens on the tether.

"South, southwest, JJ ! Hard !" John B yells as he looks to the monitor. "Half speed. Steady at this bearing, JJ ! What do you got, Pope ? Come on, man. What do you see ?"

"Nothin'. A whole lot of nothin'."

"You should be right above it, brother."

"Kiara !"

"960 ! 970 ! 980 !" Kie yells as Estrella keeps pushing the tether in the water.

"I'm at the bottom ! I'm at the bottom !"

"Okay, steady here, JJ !" John B yells, "Steady here. Quarter speed, all right ? You should be seeing something, man." He says turning to Pope.

"I know, I know !" Pope says as Kie comes up beside him. "Wait, wait."

Estrella and JJ look over from where they are as the other three go quiet.

"Oh, good God." Pope says

"See anything ?" JJ says

"It's the Royal Merchant." John B says

Estrella sighs in relief as she leans on the boat by the tether.

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