DESPITE BEING hunted by Square Groupers, the teenagers were all in John B's van making their way to find wherever Redfield was. The group had seemed to forgotten what happened back in the Château, but shit happens all the time in the Cut.
"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B exclaimed, "A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"
"Yeah." Kiara replied hesitantly, "It's possible."
Pope added, "It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels."
"I second that." Aurora agreed, as she high-fived Pope.
"Bro, do you know how i process my sad feels?" JJ questioned, "Dank bugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it."
"I'm not concocting, okay?" John B defended, "My dad's trying to give me a message."
Kiara sympathised, "If it helps you believe, John B."
"Look, I don't need a therapy session, okay?" John replied frustratedly, "Look, I'm not trippin' out."
Aurora sighed, "It's okay to trip, Booker-"
"My dad is missing." John B interrupted, "You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened."
Rory didn't say it, but she knew how John B felt. Her mother was mentally ill, yet Rory found her so comforting- unlike her deadbeat of a father. She shared a look with JJ when John B said this, and her brother sighed deeply. They both missed their mother- wherever she was in the world.
"He could have been kidnapped." JJ suggested, changing the subject, "That's definitely a possibility."
"Yeah, he could be in a Soviet Sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope added.
"Or Atlantis." Rory replied with a nod.
"Rory." Kiara cocked an eyebrow, then turned to John B, "Where do you think Redfield is?"
"Redfield lighthouse." John B replied, "My dad's favourite place."
The five Pogues arrived at the Lighthouse and devised a plan. JJ and Pope were ordered to keep a look out, whilst John B, Rory and Kie went inside- if they got split up, they'd meet back at the Maybank house, which Rory didn't think was the best idea.
Pope sat up against a tree, "I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and keep felonies down to a minimum."
"Would you just shut up, already?" JJ questioned sarcastically, as he repeatedly threw a pinecone into the air and caught it,
"How come Rory got to go but not me?" JJ complained, "That's totally bias."
Rory called back to him whilst walking away, "Because they like me more than you!"
The three walked inside the lighthouse and looked up at the metal spiralling stairs, before Rory pulled out a cigarette and put it in between her lips.
John B cocked an eyebrow, and snatched the lighter from her hand, "Really? Not now, Aurora."
Aurora rolled her eyes, as she put the cigarette back in her pocket and continued to walk up the endless stairs.
"Remind me what we're looking for again." Kiara's voice echoed.
"We'll know when we see it." John B replied, as they reached a black door. He knocked cautiously, "I don't think any bodies home."
Unexpectedly, a middle-aged man answered the door, his rectangle glasses were slipping down his sweaty nose. Aurora looked at John and Kie, who stayed silent,
"We're here for the lighthouse." She spoke bravely, despite feeling anxious talking to a strange man.
"Lighthouse's closed." The man grumbled, before slamming the door in their faces. Rory frowned in anger, but before she opened her mouth, John B interrupted her,
"We're actually here about the Royal Merchant."
A moment later, the door reopened and the same man led them through to the high balcony of the lighthouse,
"You came to the right place." The man said, "I'm the person who knows most about the Royal Merchant than anyone else in Kildare County."
The three cautiously followed the man as he explained, "Now, the Royal Merchant disappeared in the graveyard of the Atlantic in 1829."
"With 400 million." John B added.
"Correct. You're a bit of a Merchanteer yourself, huh?" The man chuckled, as John B hesitatingly nodded, "Well, follow me."
John B followed the man inside the tower, before Rory held Kiara's wrists,
"Why are we following a man inside?" Rory whispered, "We don't even know the guy."
"It's fine." Kiara reassured, holding her hand and walking, "It's for John B."
"I've been working up here 30 years and the views have never changed. Until two days ago." The man explained before pointing at the view, "The Point's almost gone. One more storm like that, it'll take the lighthouse out. I'll go with her. Now, the trick to knowin' where the Merchant is...most experts believe that she was on the South end of the storm. I don't believe that, I think she was on the North End of the eye."
"Which means the bands would've pushed her closer to shore." John B added.
"And to my calculations, the Royal Merchant is 10 miles that way." The man pointed to the direction, "Come on, come on."
The man finally led them inside and showed them a map, telling them where it would be exactly. John B shoved his hands into his pocket and pulled out the death compass,
"I know this is...weird." John B explained, "But do you know anything about this? It says Redfield on the back in my dad's handwriting."
The man's face had dropped, as the sweat beads ran down his forehead. He shook his head before quickly walking into another room, trying to get away.
"Man, look-look I know it's weird. But surely you know something, alright?" John B continued, as they followed him.
"Sir, you won't believe what he's been through in the past 24 hours." Kiara added, "I mean, threatened, shot at, home invaded."
"Home invaded?" The man repeated, as he looked at John B with pure terror in his eyes.
"Look, my dad wanted me to talk to you, okay?" John B explained, "Please. Please, just tell us what you know."
The man's walkytalky bleeped, as he raised it to his mouth, "Wanda, I got three kids on drugs up here at the lighthouse. Call the police."
Rory pulled the man's arm, trying to grab the radio from him, but accidently smashed his arm into the glass windows.
"Shit." She panicked, "I'm- Im sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Shit."
"Wanda, I've been assaulted." The man said to the radio, before John B pulled Rory out of the room.
"Why'd you do that?" Kiara panicked, as they raced down the spiralling stairs.
"I didn't mean to!" Rory defended, as she tried to keep up with the two teenagers in front of her.
This moment was the downside of smoking. Although it got rid of all of her worries, it did increase the chances of breathing problems. Aurora placed a hand to her heart as she ran down the stairs, trying to breathe deeply.
When she arrived outside, the van was already driving away. She watched as Kiara and John B jumped over a fence effortlessly, as she caught her breath for a second. Police sirens wailed in the distance as she started running again.
"Aurora!" John B shouted from the distance, as Kiara looked worriedly at her.
The girl stopped running and stupidly looked behind her, to see the Deputy Sherif getting out of his police car behind her.
Rory had accepted her fate and mouthed to the two to keep fucking running. She didn't mind being caught, if that meant her friends were safe. She was always the bait.
"Maybank." Sherif Shoupe said, "Why don't you stay chill and don't make me chase you? Hands where I can see them."
Rory looked down to her feet as she slowly raised her hands in the air, before Shoupe came closer to her. He cuffed her hands behind her back, before forcefully placing her in the back seats of his car.
Aurora was suffocating in the silence of the car, as they soon arrived to the station. Shoupe took the girl into Sherif Peterkin's office, before uncuffing her,
"Reports of drug use at the lighthouse, Sherif." Shoupe explained, "And assault. I found the culprit."
Peterkin nodded as he left the room, before looking sympathetically at the girl, "I'm going to have to drug test you, Aurora."
She shrugged, avoiding eye contact, "Fine by me. I wasn't using."
Peterkin squinted her eyes at the girl, "I feel for you, kid, I really do. But I can't keep defending you."
"I didn't assault him." Aurora mumbled, "It was an accident."
Peterkin handed her a small cup, which was familiar to Aurora, and took her to the toilets,
"I hate this as much as you do." Peterkin said, as she turned around, "Let's make this quick."
Aurora pulled down her denim shorts and bikini bottoms and sat on the cold toilet seat, staring at the tiled floor. After, she handed the cup back to Peterkin as she tested it.
"I told you, I wasn't using." Aurora said, "Can I leave now?"
"I have to call your legal guardian to come and collect you." Peterkin explained, "In this case, your dad."
"But-"
"No buts, kid." Peterkin interrupted, as they began walking back to her office, "It's the rules."
Aurora's eyes darted around the station, as she met eyes with Kiara and her father (meaning John B was in here somewhere). Rory looked down quickly and followed Peterkin, wishing they hadn't seen her here- being drug tested.