𝐀 𝐊𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀 𝐏𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄, 𝗋𝖺𝖿𝖾 𝖼𝖺𝗆𝖾𝗋𝗈𝗇

13: "𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚝."

The next morning, the sun was up, shining down on the civilians of the OBX as the group of five teenagers found themselves on the HMS Pogue, JJ driving while they made their way to their desired destination. It took at least a few hours or so for them to get into the right spot.

"Alright, JJ. Pin it here." John B announces eventually.

"Roger that! X marks the spot." JJ replies, stopping the boat.

Bending down, the group watch as the Routledge boy grabs the drone they had taken from the salvage yard at least two days ago. Putting it over the edge, the boy stops the drone from fully going into the water, letting it hang above.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen." John B begins. "To going full Kook."

And with that, he drops the drone into the water. Kiara starts to hold the tether that was attached to the drone beneath them as she measures how far down it continues to go, using a piece of chalk to write it on the side of the boat. Meanwhile, John B, Pope and Y/n all watched through the camera on the drone as JJ drove.

"Alright, JJ, we're right over it. Ten seconds northwest." John B calls out.

JJ nods. "Got it! Ten seconds northwest."

"One hundred feet." Kie yells out.

Just then, Pope let's out a gasp upon seeing a squid swim in front of the camera, making him stagger back. Y/n gives her brother a confused glance, clearly showing she hadn't been looking at the screen at the time when he saw it. Looking at the screen, she sees the squid was gone. The boy proceeds to look back at the screen as if nothing happened. John B, however, noticed his actions and hurries over.

"What? What, what, what, what?" John B asks, repeating it over and over.

"It's nothing." Pope sadly replies.

Letting out a small groan, the brunette walks back to the tablet as Pope tries to stammer out an apology for getting the boy's hopes up. Y/n places her hand on her twin's shoulder, giving him a small squeeze as they focus back on the screen. After about a minute, Kie announces that they were currently at four hundred feet as she tallies it on the side of the boat with the piece of chalk. Just then, a loud clap of thunder fills the air as the clouds in the distance begin to darken.

"The tide's turning." Kie observes out loud.

"Hey, JJ?" John B calls, receiving a hum. "Ten seconds easy. South-southeast."

JJ nods. "Copy that!"

"JJ, twenty seconds mid-speed, alright? South." John B demands.

"Copy that! Aye, aye." JJ replies, doing as told. "Keep the tether out of the prop!"

Kie let's out a sigh. "I'm trying!"

"JJ, keep going!" John B instructs.

"John B, is that good?" JJ soon questions.

John B frantically nods. "We're good."

"Okay, seven hundred feet!" Kie announces.

More thunder rumbles in the air, sounding much closer than it already was before. The four teenagers outside of the compartment on the boat glance between each other, then looking to their right side, seeing the clouds darkening and the wind getting stronger. The waves start becoming more violent, causing a few of them to stumble by the impact. From inside and at the wheel, JJ peaks out from the window, seeing the dark clouds in front of them, full of lightning occasionally flashing down.

"JJ, hold it steady!" John B orders.

Kie tallies the side of the boa with the chalk. "Okay, nine hundred!"

"JJ, we're gonna turtle in this storm." Y/n informs, worry and panic laced in her tone of voice.

"Nine-twenty!" Kie continues.

"Crank it north by northwest! Ten seconds!" John B yells to the blonde, looking at the siblings. "Pope, Y/n, how we doing?"

"Almost there." Y/n assures.

"John B, there's too much current! We're gonna lose it!" Kie exclaims as she yanks on the tether.

"South, southwest, JJ! Hard!" John B shouts over the thunder and wind.

The blonde does as told, once again, hoping him and his friends would make it out of this storm. As that happened, a sudden wave hits the side of their boat, causing a few of them to stumble. Standing in-between the two boys, Y/n stumbles slightly, but Pope and John B caught her as they grabbed her arms.

"Half speed. Steady at this bearing, JJ!" John B calls out.

Glancing down at the tablet in his hands, the brunette's eyes examine the red dot on the screen as it showed that the drone was right underneath the figure of the boat on the screen.

John B quickly turns to the twins. "What do you got, guys? Come on. What do you see?"

"Nothing. A whole lot of nothing." Pope replies, frustration laced in his voice.

"You should be right above it, brother." John B states.

"Kiara!" Y/n calls to the girl.

Kie only gives her a glance. "Nine-sixty. Nine-seventy! Nine-eighty!"

"We're at the bottom! We're at the bottom!" Pope announces, repeating it as to make sure he's heard.

John B nods. "Okay, steady here, JJ! Steady here. Quarter speed, alright?"

Letting go of the tether, Kie rushes to their side, stopping on the other side of Pope as the four stare at the screen in search of anything. However, all there was was the ocean floor that could be seen for the first couple seconds, at least. Eventually, a familiar figure appears from the other side of the camera. The Maybank boy glances over his shoulder, seeing smiles growing on his friends faces, making him confused.

"See anything?" JJ asks.

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

***

"There's a moment in every kid's life when you feel like anything's possible. When you feel like you've got the total mojo. You could, I don't know, free-climb El Capitan, land on Mars, or, uh... get elected president."

The group still found themselves in the HMS Pogue, four out of the five teenagers staring at the screen, the Royal Merchant on the other side. As they stared, the drone continued to move around with Pope controlling it, trying to find the five million gold.

"The whole world's there for the taking if you've got the sack to go for it. And then, when you least expect it, some Kook shows up and tells you there's no eternal mystery. And then all that talk about free-climbing and Mars and the president... bullshit. Magic gets cancer and dies."

When the drone turns the camera to inside the shipwreck, the smiles on the Pogues faces had instantly faded away when all they saw was seaweed and fish swimming past the camera and either out or in the shipwreck. The five million gold was nowhere to be seen.

John B sadly sighs. "It's not there. Look, just pull the drone up. Shit."

"Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery." Pope suggests, trying to cheer him up. "We can go back down."

"We've been through it three times." JJ reminds. "There's nothing there."

"Shut up!" Kie shouts.

"What? It's true!" JJ fires back.

Y/n shrugs. "The gold could be buried. We don't know."

"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? Somebody beat us to it." John B intervenes, raising his voice.

"Or it was never there." JJ grunts out quietly.

As the Routledge boy seats himself away from his friends, the Heyward twins share a sad glance, wishing things could've been different for their friend.