Full Kook || JJ Maybank ||

The Lucky Compass || part 3

John B, Kie, and Rhea quietly make their way up the stairs of the lighthouse. Rhea curses herself for not choosing to stay with JJ and Pope as her breath starts to fall behind her pace up the stairs. Finally, the three reach the top and John B knocks on the door, shooting the two girls behind him an unsure look. In anticipation, Rhea waits for the door to unlock, but it doesn't and John B says,

"No one is home."

As he begins to turn from the door, the sound of it unlocking stops him. He quickly turns back as a man cracks the door open slightly, staring at the teenagers in dismay. John B clears his throat.

"Um... we're here for the lighthouse."

The man lets his eyes scan the three before saying, "The lighthouse is closed."

He slams the door shut before anyone can say anything else, and Rhea frowns slightly as the sounds of him locking the door creaks through the silence.

John B looks a little defeated before he glances back at the girls and saying, "Actually, we... we aren't here about the lighthouse. We're here about the, uh," he pauses as if to see if anyone had any objection to what he was about to reveal, but continues when Kie and Rhea don't say anything, "the Royal Merchant."

The man begins to unlock the doors almost immediately. He opens it wider this time.

"Then you came to the right place."

The man leads them to the other end of the room, opening the door that lead to outside the lighthouse. He steps over something while saying-

"I know more," he starts to say but interrupts his own sentence to add in, "Watch your step here."

John B walks out first, looking around at the view in awe, and Rhea is right behind him. She glances down at the hole in the flooring, jumping over it as she followed the man and John B.

"...about the Royal Merchant than anyone else in Kildare County," The man says before stopping and leaning on the railing, Now, the Merchant disappeared in the graveyard of the Atlantic in 1829."

Rhea listens to what he says while she look around. The view was absolutely beautiful. They could far off into the ocean from here.

"With four hundred million," she hears John B add in, and looks back at the two men.

The man grins, "Correct. Well, follow me. I wanna show you somethin'."

His chuckles a little creepily and Kie and Rhea share a look with one another as if to say,

What the fuck?

Nevertheless, the three follow the man around the creaking main gallery of the lighthouse. Rhea looks down in a slight worry at her feet, trying to avoid all of the holes in the metal flooring. John B reaches back, grabbing her hand to guide her and she uses her free hand to grab Kie's. Once the man comes to a stop, the three let go of each other, listening to him intently as he explains his theory on the location of the Royal Merchant.

"Now, by my calculations, the Royal Merchant is about ten miles thataway," he finishes, pointing off into the direction. The kids all share a look and the man ushers them inside to look at a map.

"Right here is where the Point used to be. My calculations say the Merchant's right about there, down about 1,000 feet," he says, honing into one specific spot on the map, and John B nods, a realization hitting him.

"That's what my dad used to say," no one says anything as John B continues, "Yeah, I... I know this is weird, all right? Do you know anything about this?"