"What's wrong with Sarah and Gracie?" The question sounds like a distant echo. I can't exactly hear the response but I know it's Rose.
"Will they be okay?" I know this is Wheezie now. I jump slightly when I feel two sets of arms carrying me as my feet drag under me. I try to stand on my own but my legs feel like jello. I'm then laid back down which doesn't help to keep me awake. I feel the familiar hum of an engine and know I am somehow in a car now. I open my eyes slightly and see Wheezie's big eyes and glasses looking back at me. I turn slightly and see Sarah mirroring the position I'm in.
"Hey! Open the door!" If I wasn't half asleep I would have screamed as I hear John B. and JJ scream at Rose to stop the car. I can hear the desperation in John B's voice as he begs Wheezie to open the door. I can't even move to show that I know he's there. To just see his perfect face before Rose and our dad drag us away. What if I never got to see him again? What if I'm forever a hostage in this family? I tried to fight off the tiredness that seeped into my every pore but I couldn't. I just barely opened my eyes and turned my head enough to see a flash of his face and his fist as he disappeared from the window.
When I open my eyes again, the sky is brighter now and it looks to be about morning. There is a faint smell of gasoline as well as the ocean as the car comes to a stop. To my surprise, I am no longer fighting off sleep and I turn to see Sarah is stirring as well.
"What the fuck is going on?" I say and my voice sounds hoarse and weak.
"We're going on a trip!" Wheezie says excitedly and her enthusiasm sends a flare of anger through me. I don't blame her, she's young and wants to believe dad and even Rose. But she literally witnessed Sarah and I being drugged, how could she not see the issue there?
I tap Sarah and she jolts up looking around as well and then presses a hand to her forehead.
"What the hell-"
"Apparently we're going on a trip," I say, cutting off her question. She looks at me with horror in her eyes and then anger. I quietly pull on the door handle but it doesn't budge. Before I can question Rose again, she gets out of the car and I see her talking to some men. When I sit up more I see that we're on a large loading dock. There's a huge cargo ship getting stocked with boxes and other things. Ward was taking us and the cross and getting the hell out of OBX. When I tried the door handle again, more out of desperation, it opened and two men came face to face with me and pulled me from the car. I tried to shake them off, to run, but my body was still under the influence of the drugs. I didn't have the strength or the energy to do that. I turned and saw Sarah was being handled the same way but Wheezie just walked along next to Rose, looking at Sarah and I with a confused look. I could feel myself getting tired again and my body swayed between the two men supporting me. They were eventually dragging me, my feet sliding against the pavement, as my eyes shut and my world became dark again.
When I open my eyes, I realize that Rose must have changed me from my swamp covered clothes and into burnt orange sweatpants and a black tank top. The room I'm in is humid and the sun beats in from the window above me. There's a plate of food sitting on the table next to me and all I want to do is consume it but I want to get out of here more. When I try to open the small wooden door, it doesn't budge. Once again locked in a room by my own family. I grab the butter knife that was on the tray of food and try fidgeting with the lock. Just as I feel it give, I hear footsteps on the other side of the door. I quickly turn and place the knife in my back pocket. I pretend to be interested in my food as the door swings open and I feel eyes on my back. I know it has to be dad, searching for the words to convince me that whatever was happening was okay. I turn to face him and nearly fall to my knees as I see him. I don't see my dad but instead the one person I never expected to see again. The person who has caused me so much hurt and inner conflict than any human should bear. When Rafe sees the hurt and betrayal in my eyes he reaches out to me and I flinch as if he was going to hit me, I didn't know what he would do.
"Gracie, just listen to me okay?" His voice sends me through loops. I never thought I'd hear it again. I want to hug him and hit him all at the same time. I can't bring myself to do any of it but stand there and stare at him as the tears stream down my cheeks.
I don't even know what to say, I've forgotten how to speak. I can't breathe, seeing him sucked all of the oxygen out of my body. My legs feel weak beneath me and I stumble back until I'm pressed against the wall.
"Gracie, just me explain," Rafe's voice is calm but desperate.
"You- I saw you die. W-what the hell is going on?" I say fumbling my words.
"Dad and I will explain all of it. I'm sorry." My emotions turn from shock to anger. He knew. Dad knew this whole time. He watched us grieve, he saw me fall apart on the dock. He set this whole thing up to clear his name and get Rafe into hiding. I didn't need them to explain it to me, it was pretty transparent seeing him there.
"How- how could you do this to us? To me? Drowning me and shooting me wasn't enough? You had to see me completely fall apart? What about Sarah and Wheezie? God Rafe, Wheezie is only 13!" I was screaming at him and starting pounding my fists into his chest and arms. He took it for a few seconds and then he grabbed my wrists and held them refusing to let me go. All the emotions I had been holding back broke through as he stood there and then wrapped his arms around me. I've never felt so much anger, sadness, and relief at the same time.
"Gracie, I'm sorry that it had to happen this way. Dad wants us all to be together and this was the best way," He grabs me by my shoulders so I'm staring up at him now. He looks exhausted. The stubble around his chin has grown out more now and his hair is a little longer too.
"The best way was to fake your death and let you take the fall for everything that both you and dad have done? Rafe, this is delusional! We aren't going to be the brady bunch! Sarah and I had to be drugged to get here! How in the hell did dad even get away with this? The cops have been watching him!" I still had so many questions. Where were we going? What happened to the Pogues after we left Tannyhill? Where was Sarah? Where was HE?
"Come on, we'll all go talk. And I guess dad has some in with that deputy Plumb? I don't know, he didn't share all the details," He led me out of the small room I was in and down a narrow hallway. I know we're on a ship but I didn't know where or how long it had been since I passed out.
"Gracie!" Wheezie runs to my arms as we enter what looks like a makeshift dining room. The rooms are all wood paneled and dingy looking.
"Sarah!" I let go of Wheezie and went to sit by Sarah who was seated at a small dining table.
"Isn't this cool? We're going on a trip!" Wheezie says excitedly and once again her lack of understanding irks me. Rafe sits back in a chair near the door and Rose is busy doing something in the corner with her bags. Dad sits across from my sisters and I at the table and it takes everything in me not to tackle him to the floor. Sarah looks defeated next to me in her matching navy sweatsuit.
"Wheezie how about you and Rose go check out the ship? I wanna talk to the twins for a little while," Dad says and Wheezie and Rose head out the door, closing it behind them. I have a hard time even looking at him.
"Girls just look at me, okay?" He says with innocence in his voice but I don't, I don't want to look at him. I see Sarah turn to face him and I stare out at the ocean through the window behind us.
"Dammit Grace! Listen for once!" Dad slams his fist onto the wooden table and my entire body feels numb. Who was this man? I couldn't even find the remnants of the man I once knew. I force myself to look him in the eyes, his stone grey eyes.
"I don't want to listen to anything you have to say, okay? I don't want to listen to either of you try and explain," I say as I look between him and Rafe.
"This had to be done, okay? Rafe wanted to do this for the family, so that we could all be together and be safe, but you weren't supposed to be there that day on the dock, Gracie" Dad says as his voice softens.
"That's psychopathic!" Sarah yells at them.
"So fucked up," I add and the two of them just stare at us.
"Look we are going to a beautiful island, it's practically paradise, okay? And Sarah, they speak French there so you can practice your A plus French class skills," Sarah lets out a sarcastic breath at those words. She then pushes the papers displaying the map of the island and some other documents back at our father.
"I want to call Topper," She says.
"I need to call John B, and my friends," I say after her. With everything going on, I hadn't even thought about what they must be thinking or doing. Do they even know where we are?
"Sure, when we get there you can call them, but Gracie, John B. knows you're here," He says smugly and I look at Rafe who just stares blankly back at me.
"What?" I worry thinking about what could have happened to John B.
"You know the Cross of SantoDomingo? Well I found it and gave it to him in exchange for you. He happily accepted since the Cross is in the Heyward's family." If he thinks I believe any of this he's crazy. I stand up and walk so I'm closer to him, trying to show I wasn't scared of him but I was.
"Bullshit!" I was so angry I was shaking. Acting like he could trade me like a piece of property, as if John B. would ever.
"He's a Pogue, Gracie! Things like that are what's important to him, but you kids, you're what's important to me," He says and reaches out to hug me but I push him away and sit back down with Sarah. I felt nauseous, the combination of the boat, the sleeping pills, and now this.
"Come on guys, we're all together now, just get over it," Rafe says cooly and I can't tell if he even believes his own words. Sarah stays silent but flips him off and Rafe just rolls his eyes.
***
"Okay, so what's the plan?" The Pogues all look around at JJ's question. The heat inside the cargo container they had snuck inside of was suffocating them. John B. and JJ followed Rose's car all the way here and met up with Pope and Kiara at the loading dock. Now they were unsure of how they were going to get Gracie and Sarah back, as well as get the Cross.