A black van pulled up at the chateau. Rowan and the others ruched towards the window where John B was, men dressed in black piled out and looked around the area.
"Um, guys—" Rowan slowly said, "that's them."
"No." JJ said, shaking his head and stepping back.
"This is suboptimal." Pope says, his voice clearly filled with worry and uncertainty. Which was not normally good because Pope was unusually the sensible one in a time of impending crisis's.
"John B, I told you." JJ turns away, "I told you. Why does it always—"
"Hey, JJ. Look at me." John B turns and grabs his friend by the arms and movies him against the wall. "Where's the gun?"
"Gun? I , uh, can't—"
"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?" Kie exclaimed.
"JJ, focus. Where was it last?" Rowan asked, calmly.
"Uh, backpack. It was in my backpack, and then I—on the porch." He said, he moved past John B and opened the office door to go grab it. But with wide eyes as JJ came running back after one of the square groupers yelled out John B's name.
"Where's the gun?" John B asked
"Their in the front porch, guys." JJ tells them.
"Get. Out here!" One of the men yell
Crashing and the sound of glass breaking could be heard and the fear in everybody amplified. Rowan's hands start to tremble lightly as she looks around her friends. They needed to get out of here or they'd be dead.
"Guys, window. Window." Kei said, and quickly, Rowan and her go over to the window and try to open it.
"It's not budging." Rowan said, JJ and Pope come over and try , but to no avail.
"Crap, it's painted shut." Rowan said, looking down at the window Paine. "Find something sharp."
Kie quickly finds something and hands it to her. Stabbing the letter opener between the cracks, she did her best to scrape away the paint.
"Hurry!" JJ continues to try and pry the window open. It moves a little meaning they were almost there.
However, She nearly dropped the thing When the sound of the door being hit. Pope and John B stand abasing it, doing their best to keep it closed. But the men on the other side are stronger as they continue hitting it open.
"You better not be in there!" The man yells,
"Here." Kie says, taking the opener she continues for her. Just then, the door splinters and Pope and John B quickly move out of the way. The window finally opens and they each crawl out of it. Venturing outside, John B quickly leads them towards the chicken coop. The only decent place to hide that's not out in the open.
Rowan shook her head as they ran towards it.
The woman wasn't afraid of much. She loved storms. Most of the time.
She loved the paranormal and ghosts and shit. She loved doing reckless things that could probably lead her to her untimely death, but there was one thing she was absolutely terrified off.
Small and confined spaces.
"Come on, Ro." Pope said, desperately. He grabbed her arm lightly and guided her to the small door. She unwittingly crawled in. The rooster crowing frantically at the sudden intruders.
"Take a breath." Pope whispers towards his sister. He knew of her claustrophobia. And he knew she was definitely freaking out. Her hands were shaking as she tried to focus on anything else.
"Do something, Pope. Shut him up." JJ said, referring to the rooster that crowed out of control.
"What do you want me to do?" Pope said, turning from Rowan, who was now having a slight trouble keeping her breathing even. She wasn't even hearing the rooster. Her mind was too set on the thought of being trapped in he coop. At least there were windows. That helped her a little. But still, she wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.
"Pet it, or talk to it. I don't know." Kie whispered.
John B suddenly sat back away from the window and landed beside Rowan. He turned to face her and noticed the fear in her face. And then he remembered her phobia and immediately grabbed her hand to comfort her.
As the rooster flew around, JJ was quick to grab it. Rowan watched with glossy eyes as JJ pinned the rooster to the ground. He snapped it's neck, making the bird quiet.
"Ratter! What the hell you doing? Let's go!" The voice of one of the men called out just as the sound of the car engine started up. The group waited a bit before piling out of the coop.
"You okay?" John B asked, despite his own emotions. He held her arms and waited until she gave him a nod of confirmation.
"You sure?" Pope asked, and much to her disappointment, John B pulled away.
"Yeah." She finally breathed out. Her heart at a normal pace now.
"Good. Let's go." John B said, nodding his head towards the Twinkie.
—-
"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B asked, as they drove down the long winding road before them. Rowan sat in the passenger seat. The others behind them as they head to their next destination. The previous events still lingered in Rowan's mind as she tried to forget about it. But her hands still felt as if they were shaking.
"A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"
"Yeah. It's possible." Kiara said, only because no one else gave him an answer right away.
"Or or could also be possible that your concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels." Pope countered.
"Pope, really?" Rowan asked, shaking her head at him.
"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels." JJ said, "dank nugs and stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it."
"Look, I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to give me a message."
"If that helps you believe, John B." Kei says, softly.
"Look, I—I don't need a therapy session, okay? I'm not trippin' out."
"It's okay to trip, bro, but—"
"Look, my—my dad is missing, okay? Missing." He says. "You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."
"It has been almost a year, JB. I mean, maybe—"
"Hey, he could have been kidnapped." JJ says, cutting Rowan off. "That's definitely a possibility."
"Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope added.
"Absolutely. Or uh...Atlantis." JJ says
"Okay, now you're just saying things." Rowan says. "John B, if it is some type of message, what do you think it is?"
"Redfield." John B says, confidently. "Redfield Lighthouse. That's my dad's favorite place."
—
The van came to a slow stop. The lighthouse stood tall as the sun begins to set. Creating a pink and orange hue of colors in the sky. "All right." John B said, turning to JJ.
"You're gonna post up and look for bogeys, okay?"
"Wait...why me?"
"Because you're not coming."
"Why?"
"There are independent and dependent variables." Pope said, "you're independent. We don't know what you'll do."
"Shut up, Pope. Shut up."
"Listen to me for a second," John B said, stopping the two. Rowan sighed and shared a glanced with Kie who stood to the side. As she did, A sudden wave of guilt swarmed her. Kei was her only girlfriend.
Being around boys most of the time, the two always found serenity in each other. Kei always told her things when she wanted too.
Rowan was the only one she told about her beef with Sarah Cameron. Rowan should've told Kie the first time she and John B kissed. And now JJ knew before her.
"Pope and Rowan will stand look out with JJ. Okay?"
Rowan raised a brow, "Rowan will do what now?"
"If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."
"Rowan will do what now?" She repeated, crossing her arms over her chest as she starred down at John B. He looked between her and is friends. JJ smirked at the scene before him.
"Look, uh, just take a break from the crazy for a second. Right?"
Rowan hated that he suggested she stay behind, but she did feel like she needed a breather. And she hated he was semi-right.
"Keep a look out, all right?" John B said, patting her arm lightly, she sighed and nodded. And John B and Keira headed over the small fence and towards the lighthouse.
"I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to keep the felonies to a minimum." Pope says, while JJ starts playing with a Hakki sack ball. Rowan grabs it from him and they start tossing it back and forth.
"So, is JB in the dog house for putting you on watch?" He asked, Rowan's eyes widen.
"JJ, shut up."
He laughed and continued passing the ball at each other. Thankfully Pope was far away enough from them that he didn't hear. Or maybe he did and was playing dumb. She wished he didn't.
-
JB
John B felt bad about pushing Rowan aside, but he was inwardly worried after the whole coop incident. He's never really seen her look so scared before and he really didn't want to see that again. She was always tough and strong, it was sort of a weird. But he understood it no less.
"What are we looking for exactly?" Keira had asked, after they entered the Lighthouse. The spiral staircase tall and plenty.
"We'll know when we see it." John B really wasn't sure what he was expecting from this. But it was a clue left from his dad. His dad that everyone continually told him was dead. But they were wrong. And whatever they found up here was part of how he was going to prove to everyone that he was still alive and trying to tell him.
The metal creaked with each step John B and Keira walked up. The holes in the steps didn't help the nagging feeling in his gut. But he kept going until they reached the top and a door came into view. Sharing a look with Kie, he raised his fist and knocked.
"Nobody's home." He whispered, after a while. But then, the door opens, and a man peeked through, staring at the teens before him.
"Um...we're here for the lighthouse."
"The lighthouse is closed." The man said, closing the door in front of them. Well, this wasn't going exactly as he thought it would.
"Actually, uh, we...we aren't here about the lighthouse. We're here about the, uh...the Royal Merchant."
the door slowly opened. "Then you can to the right place." He stepped out and led them outside.
"I know more...watch your step." He said, pointing to the hole in the ground. Immediately John B and Keira walked around it.
"About the Royal Merchant than anyone else in Kildare County." He went on.
"Holy shit." John B couldn't help but breath out as they take in the view before them. It was something.
"Now, the Merchant disappeared in the graveyard of the Atlantic in 1829."
"With four hundred million." John B remembers .
"Correct. You're a bit of a Merchanteer, yourself, huh?"
"Uh... something like that. Yeah."
"Well, follow me." The man said, "I wanna show you somethin'"
They walked a little towards the other side of the lighthouse as the man started talking again.
"I've been workin' 30 years up here. The view's never changed till two days ago." He pointed forward, "the Point's almost gone." He said, "one more storms like that, it'll take the lighthouse. I'll go with her."
John B shared a quick look with Kiara. The man was a questionable source, but it seemed like he knew his shit. He was just waiting until he was helpful.
"Now, the trick to knowin' where the Merchant is...is knowin' where she was on the north end or the south end of the eye of the storm. most experts believe that she was on the south end. Well, I'f she's on the south end, the bangs from the hurricane would have pushed her back out to sea. But I don't believe that."
John B nodded as he listened. "I think she was on the north end of the eye." He said, with a small chuckle. "Which means the bands would have pushed her...."
"Closer to shore." John B put together. Maybe he was helpful after all.
"That's right. Now, by my calculations, the Royal Merchant is about ten miles thataaway."
John B turns quickly to Kie. Together, they follow the man back into the lighthouse. He takes them into the small room slash office. He goes over to the wall with a map.
"Right here is where the point used to be." He said, pointing to an area. "My calculations say the Merchant's right about there. Down about 1,000 feet."
"That's what my dad used to say." John B said, his father's voice echoed in his head whenever he thought of him. Like a lost whale called out to its pod.
"Yep."
"Yeah, I—I know this is weird, all right? Do you know anything about this?" He asked, pulling out the compass. "Look, it says Redfield in the back, in my dad's handwriting. Yeah, I don't know why I'm here, but I feel like I'm supposed to be here." His heart raced with every word.
"Do you have anything to give me, or to..." the man turned away. Shaking his head, he went and lifted the top of a hatch and went up the small steps and back outside. Away from them.
"Wait a minute. Wait. Look...look, man, I know this is weird." John B pleaded, following him. Was this not where he was supposed to be? Did he get the message wrong? What was the guy hiding? He couldn't stop. He needed to know. He needed to know anything and everything.
"I just thought, I hoped, that maybe you would know something about this, all right?"
The man continued to walk away from them.
"Sir, you won't believe what he's been through in the last 24 hours." Kie vouched. "I mean, threatened, shot at, home invaded."
"Home invaded?" The man asked, looking to him.
"My rooster was killed. Look, man, my dad wanted me to talk to you, okay? If there's anything you could think of that would help us, please, just tell us, okay?" John B knew he was raising his voice, but he was desperate. And the guy was being dodgy.
Without really thinking, John B grabbed the guys shoulders, "look, man? Please!"
"John B." he heard Kie call out. But she was ignored.
"If you know anything, just—just—"
The radio on his person suddenly beeped as he took it out of his pocket and put it to his mouth. John B realized what was about to happen and he wasn't going to let cops get in the way of anything regarding his father.
"Wanda, I got two kids on drugs up here at the lighthouse." He says, "call the police."
"No!" John B exclaimed, grabbing his arm, he doesn't know what he's doing until he hits the guys arm on the railing.
"What are you doing!?" Kie exclaimed
John B was perhaps losing his mind. Or maybe he was just that desperate. "It was an accident." He breathed out, looking at the man he'd hurt.
"John B, we have to go."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean too."
Quickly running down the stairs, once they reach outside, John B and Kiara watch helplessly as the Twinkie drives away without them, leading them to sprinting in the other direction. Far enough from the light how now, he figures it's time to talk about what just happened.
"Hey, look, you've gotta admit, that was kind of promising." John B said, despite his twisted feeling deep in his gut. "I mean my dad, the Royal Merchant, the ranger, the Royal Merchant. I mean, coincidence? I don't—I don't think so."
"It's just his job to know about shipwrecks."
"Okay, but the Royal Merchant?"
"That's like the most famous shipwreck of all time. Redfield'a one of the most common names in the Outer Banks. That could mean anything."
John B couldn't help roll his eyes. Maybe he should've brought Rowan along. At least she has been a little more optimistic to his growing obsession than the others have been.
"Look, as wild-goose chases go, this one was a really good one." John B countered back, halting his steps. "Look, I don't know. Maybe we missed something at the lighthouse. We—we should go back. You believe me, right?"
Kiera slowly looked down and lightly shook her head.
"Right?"
"I think there might be some light to moderate concocting going on a this point." She said. "Look, uh...I get it."
"Kie, come on."
"You miss your dad. I know. I just don't understand why he would put a clue on a compass."
"'Cause he knew it would come back to me."
Kie slowly reached up and embraced him in a hug. "You're losing it. You gotta pull it together."
Pulling apart, their eyes latch onto each and before he knows it, before he could even comprehend it, Kie leans in and their lips brush up against each other's. A mere second passes before John B pulls away.
"Uh..." his mind runs wild as he thinks of what just happened. He shook his head as Kie looked equally surprised.
"Sorry—"
"No, uh. It's okay-"
"It's just—-"
"I have a girlfriend." John B blurts out. Taking off his cap, he brushed his fingers through his hair.
"Girlfriend?" Kie asks, raising a brow.
He cleared his throat and hoped she didn't kill him for this.
"Uh, yeah. Um. Well..."
"Who is it?"
"Rowan."
Kie's mouth gaped open in surprise. "What? Seriously? As in our Rowan? Pope's sister, Rowan?
"Yeah. Uh...look, we were keeping it a secret a while—"
"What about the rule? The rule you put in place!?"
Before he could answer, the sound of a cop car broke their conversation. And all John B could think of is, shit. He was utterly fucked.
——
Rowan groaned as she sat by Pope and JJ. It was taking forever for John B and Keira to come back from the lighthouse. She had a feeling something happened and that was why.
Reaching out her hand towards JJ, she took the joint from him and finished it.
The stuff inside doing wonders as she starts to feel a little more relaxed than she was before the day started.
"Dude, that was my last one." JJ said.
Rowan rolled her eyes. "I'll roll you more later."
"Guys, it shouldn't be taking this long." Pope observed.
"They're fine. Probably on their way now." Rowan said, despite her own inner worry. However, she let out a breath of relief when the Twinkie suddenly came into view. John B honked the horn and the three immediately stood up and hurried towards it. "Shot gun." Rowan called, hoping into the seat beside John B. That's when she noted Kie wasn't there.
"Where is Kie?" She voiced her observation out loud. John B sent her a glance and cleared his throat.
"Uh, at the Wreck. Shoupe caught us and her dad bailed us out."
"Shit."
"Yeah. Um, she also..." John B looked into the car mirror and noticed JJ and Pope not paying attention.
"She also kissed me." He admitted, in softer voice.
"What?" Rowan asked, louder than she intended. Causing JJ and Pope to look towards them.
"Uh, yeah. I'm sorry, okay. I had to tell her."
Rowan let out a sigh. She wasn't happy. Not at all. But she knew he had to. She just wished it wasn't kie. Rowan never would've thought...maybe she had noticed but was in denial about it because she knew John B would never do that intentionally to her. They loved each other. And she never imagined she'd ever deserve it.
She's always had a weird thing with love. She knew for a small moment that maybe there was a time she might have loved Rafe. He was her first...everything. But he was a different person when those three words were ever said to each other.
Now, when she and John B said them, it felt right.
With a sigh, Rowan looked out the window and noticed they were finally Pulling up to The Wreck. Pope announced he's go get her. Rowan was glad. She didn't know if Kie was upset or not, but she guessed she probably would be.
"She kissed you, bro?" JJ asked, looking between them.
"You heard?! Oh, god, if you heard...."
"Pope didn't hear shit. He was too busy mumbling his scholar school speech or whatever. Did you tell her then? That you two are a thing?"
"Yeah." John B breathed out.
"Shit, bro. That means Pope is the only one who doesn't know. When are you gonna tell him?"
"At the wedding." Rowan muttered.
"Aw, we're getting married?" John B smiled, perhaps he wasn't inwardly going down a rabbit hole of worry like she was if he was joking about it. Maybe she needed to get on his level.
"Not if you keep kissing other women."
"Oh, shit." JJ laughed
"She says she's not coming!" Pope suddenly yells out, causing them to turn their heads towards him.
"Why not?" JJ asks, "what did you do to her, John B? Other than the obvious."
Pope raised his hands and shook his head. John B sighed and Rowan knew what they had to do.
"We'll go talk to her." She said, as she and John B got out of the van.
Together they walked inside and found Kiara on a latter. "What—what are you doing?" John B asked.
"What does it what does it look like?"
"Spackling can wait. We're—we're about to make history."
Kie got off the latter and turned away. "Are you concocting again?"
"Yes. Yes, okay. I'm concocting. I'm concocting more than I've ever concocted in my life."
"If anyone says concocting again, I'm gonna spackle someone's mouth shut." Rowan groans.
"Look, okay, I know you're just being a good friend—"
"A good friend? Yeah, I was being a good friend. unlike you two, clearly."
"Okay, look. Im really sorry, kie. We were going to tell everyone, but we just wanted to keep it a secret for a while. I wanted to tell you." Rowan knew her apology was weak. It was the best she could come up with under pressure. She would probably apologize later.
"Then why didn't you? We're best friends. You know you can tell me anything. And What about the No secrets rule, huh? or the No Pouge on Pouge rule? You guys broke both of them."
"I know." Rowan said. "And we're sorry. I promise we'll make it up to you...but right now, this isn't about us. This is about John B...please, kie."
"Do the others know?"
"JJ found out yesterday....Pope doesn't know."
Kie smiled despite the light feeling of betrayal still lingering in the air. "He knows. At least, on some levels."
Rowan let out a breath. At least everything was okay now. It was out in the open. And the only thing left to do was tell her brother. After their conversation, Kie agreed to go with them and they made their way to the van.
Rowan wasn't sure why she was worried to tell Pope. But she was. If she had to guess why, she's probably assumed it was because she didn't want him to judge her.
She knew he might. Like she knew the others would, but she's been proven wrong on that and was slowly coming to realize that they should've told their friends right from the beginning.
"Let's go, then. Bus is waiting." Rowan said. Kie smiled and caved in. She followed her two friends and headed inside the Twinkie.
🌅
"You mind if I relax on this one?" JJ asked, as the van drove along the dark road. "It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down. I'm just gonna lay low. Oh, did you want a hit if this?" JJ asked, looking towards Pope.
Rowan scoffs. "The day Pope takes a hit, is the day the world ends."
"Sorry I keep the signal clear."
"Dude, okay. Do you understand your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative, then—"
"Look, I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, all right?." John B said, interrupting the two. "And..and wrong about everything else going on. But—I was right about one thing. Okay? My dad is trying to tell me something."
-
The Pogues pile out of the Twinkie once more. Entering the cemetery, Rowan walks beside John B as they follow his lead.
"This place is scary, John B, what are we doing here?" Kie asked
"You know how you're trying to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?"
"Yeah."
"So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place." He goes on as they come up to a grave stone. Large and tall and covered in winding branches and vines, Rowan looks upward at the name engraved.
"It's a person." He concluded.
"Voi-effing-là." JJ says, looking at the grave in front of them.
"See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia Redfield. That was her maiden name. " John B said.
"Eureka." Rowan muttered
"Help me with the door. Come on." John B and the boys move forward and together try and push the stone door.
"Are you even pushing?" Rowan asked with a smirk, mostly towards Pope.
"This door weighs like, 600 pounds .I'd like to see you try."
"Look, we didn't come this far to get this far, right?" JJ said, as he moved back from the door after trying.
"Wait, did you guys hear that?" Rowan asked, looking around on the ground for the source of the sudden sound. It came again and this time, everyone heard it.
"Whoa! Snake!" JJ cried.
"Shit!" Rowan cursed as it came slithering by her. She moved quickly out of the way and bumped into John B, causing him to grab her arms and hold her.
Her head immediately turned towards JJ as the blonde started randomly barking.
"Oh yeah, that's a ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass." JJ said, continuing to bark at the snake.
"JJ, shut up!" Kie cried out.
"You're gonna wake the dead, man. Stop barking at the snakes." Pope grabbed JJ's arm to try and stop him from moving around so much.
"Then I'd really start running. Can we focus please?" Rowan said, turning to John B.
"They're afraid of dogs, everybody knows that." JJ counters. "Wait a second." He says
"What?" Pope, John B, Rowan and Kei all course together.
"If there's one, there's probably dozens."
"Okay, no." Rowan said, shaking her head.
"All around, man. All around."
"Stop, you're scaring me." Kie said, as soon as JJ started barking at the snakes again.
"If you don't stop barking at the snakes, JJ, I'm gonna sacrifice you to them."
"Guys, wait, look." John B said, pushing away some vines and branches, a decent sized hole the snake came out off appears.
"Look, — John—"
"Ro, just making sure it's clear." JJ said.
"Shut up. Look, John, look, we're not gonna get in there, all right? It's not budging." Pope said.
"I can get through." Kie suddenly says.
"Yep. I'm okay with that." Rowan said, kie turned to face her. "I won't sacrifice you to the snakes if you fit through that. I totally would do it...you know...."
"Yeah." Kie said.
"Wait, wait, no, no, no. You think you're just gonna fit through the hole?" John B said, "that hole?"
"Look, this is about your dad." She says, "and honestly, I really don't believe in it, but you deserve to know the truth. I'll do it." She moved forward. Together, they moved the branches and then JJ got ready to boost her up.
"I've seen them do this in movies a million times." He said,
"Remind me what we're looking for." Kie asked, looking between John B and Rowan.
"You'll know when you see it." He said.
"Hold my flashlight." Kie got ready and hopped in. JJ handed her flashlight back and Rowan watch enviously. She kinda wishes that she was there instead. Doing something like for for her boyfriend. But her fear for the better of her. And quite frankly, John B didn't look at all phased as he rested his arm around her shoulders, holding her close to his side.
"You alive?" He called out to Kie. "You got, like, a—a heartbeat and everything?"
"So far."
"That's good. Thats good."
"Yep. Uh...I need some more light." She called out. John B held up his lantern higher for her.
"Find anything yet?" Rowan asked
"Yeah, is there gold?" JJ added
"Oh, my God." Kie breathed out.
"What? What did you find?"