Where the girl who can't seem to catch a break gets thrown into an adventure beyond her imagination accompanied by her four best friends. An adventure full of excitement, fear, devastation, and love. The adventure that will make or break 16 year old...
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John B, Kie, and Ellory entered the lighthouse to see hundreds of stairs leading up to the top. This was going to be a work out for sure.
"Remind me what we're looking for again?" Kie asked.
"We'll know it when we see it." JB replied.
Ellory sighed, "That's helpful. I have so much faith in us right now."
"How're you feeling El?" Kie questioned.
"I'm good. I'm ok. I'll be fine."
With that, the three of them began their ascent up the rickety, old stairs. It was eerily quiet in this tight space and she didn't like it. They stopped at an old metal door where the girls exchanged wary looks. John B knocked and was answered by silence. As they were about to turn away and head back down, the door creaked open to reveal an overweight man with beady little eyes staring at them.
"We're uh here for the lighthouse." John B muttered.
"The lighthouse is closed." and with that the door shut.
"Actually, we're not here for the lighthouse. We're here about the uh ... royal merchant."
The door swung back open and the man led the teens inside and up to the top of the building. He led them out onto the deck where the old metal floor was starting to rust and fall apart.
"I know more... watch your step here. About the Royal Merchant than anyone else in Kildare County."
"Holy shit" Ellory mumbled as she took in how high up they were and the rotting floor.
"Now the Merchant disappeared in the graveyard of the Atlantic in 1829"
"With four hundred million," JB added.
"Correct. You're a bit of a Merchanteer yourself, huh?
"Uh something like that."
"Well follow me. I wanna show you something." Kie grabbed Ellory's hand knowing she was internally freaking out about how high up they were and they followed the man. "I've been working 30 years up here, the views never changed until two days ago. The Points almost gone. One more storm like that and it'll take the lighthouse. I'll go with her. Now the trick to knowing where the Merchant is, knowing whether she's on the North end or the South end of the eye of the storm. Now most experts believe she was on the South end."
Ellory gasped suddenly as her foot slipped into one of the holes in the floor. She knew she wouldn't fall but she couldn't help herself. Kie pulled on her hand hand and she stepped forward.
"Careful there sweetheart." The man said with a creepy grin, "Anyways, if she was on the South end, the bands from the hurricane would've pushed her out to sea. But 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 finished.
"That's right. Now by my calculations, the Royal Merchant is about ten miles thataway."
The man led the teens up to another part of the building and pointed to a map. He pulled his glasses off his very sweaty face and Ellory gagged a little bit.
"I - I know this is weird alright? Do you know anything about this?" JB pulled the compass out of his pocket. "It says Redfield in the back in my dad's handwriting. I don't know why I'm here but I feel like I'm supposed to be here. Do you have anything to give to me or to -"
The man suddenly walked away and climbed a ladder up to the room with the light. While JB and Kie kept rambling to him about the compass Ellory just watched. She watched his body language grow more tense by the second. Until John B grabbed his collar and everything fell to shit.
The man grabbed his radio, "Wanda, I've got three kids on drugs up here at the lighthouse. Call the police."
"No you jackass!" Ellory screamed while John B tried to grab the radio out of the man's hand.
The man fought back though. They struggled with each other for a few seconds before John B slammed the man's wrist into the window, shattering it.
"What're you doing?" Kie yelled.
"It was an accident."
Ellory was growing anxious about the whole situation, "Guys, we have to go."
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to." JB followed behind Kie and Ellory as we sprinted down
When they finally reached the bottom of the lighthouse, they could hear sirens in the distance. They turned towards the twinkie just as it pulled away from the lighthouse leaving them with no escape route.
"Seriously?" Ellory screamed.
John B sprinted off behind the lighthouse and gestured for Kie and Ellory to follow him. They hopped over fences and ran through random backyards until they reached an empty beach with nothing around them.
"You guys have got to admit, that was kinda promising." JB turned towards the two girls. "I mean, my dad, the Royal Merchant, the ranger, the Royal Merchant. I mean coincidence? I don't think so."
Kie intervened, "It's his job to know about shipwrecks."
"Ok, but the Royal Merchant?"
"That's like the most famous shipwreck of all time!" Ellory sighed.
"As far as wild goose chases go this was a really good one." Kie said.
"Guys this isn't something to argue about!" They both ignored her and kept shouting at each other.
Ellory took that as her cue to leave and headed back towards the trees remembering they were supposed to meet at JJ's if things went south. And so that's where she was headed.
Her mind was spinning with everything that had happened. John B and Kie had some weird tension going on and they were on some mission like they were criminals or some shit. JJ's house wasn't far from the Fay's so she stopped at home to check in with her mom. Of course she wasn't there and all the money Ellory had given her for the bills was gone. Could her day get any worse?
When she arrived at the Maybank residence she knocked on the front door and waited. After a few minutes, Luke, JJ's dad, came to the door.
"What do you want?" He slurred. He was definitely drunk.
"Uh, hi, I was just here to see JJ? He told me to -"
"El! Hey, come out back." JJ appeared behind the small girl and dragged her behind the house.
"What the hell was that J? Is your dad drunk?"
"It's nothing" he brushed her off as they rounded the corner to the backyard.
"Hey El. Where's the others?" Pope asked as soon as he saw her.
"I don't know. They were arguing about random shit so I left. I'm sure they'll meet us here eventually."
With that JJ handed Ellory a joint and they waited for their friends to arrive.
