The Outer Banks, paradise on earth. The sort of place where you either have two jobs, or two houses. Two tribes, one island.
The younger girl survived because of her friends. For them. The first five or six months after her father disappeared were...
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There were a lot of things JJ Maybank knew, and one of them was how to tell what Olivia Routledge was feeling. That being said, he was having some trouble deciphering what she was feeling that day. And so, it seemed, was she.
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The girl sat in the cabin of the boat, mind running in circles. It had only been a few days since her encounter on the golf course, but she told herself there were more important things happening. She was there to find The Royal Merchant, no distractions.
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"Think it'll be there?" Asked JJ, eyes shifting from the open ocean to the girl next to him. "Liv?"
The girl snapped out of her thoughts. "Uh, yeah, no, what?" The blond furrowed his brows, slightly taken aback by her response. It was unusual for her to be out of it like that. "The Merchant. Think it'll be there?" She shrugged casually. "I don't know. Maybe." Standing, she made her way to where her brother stood at the back of the boat. JJ's eyes followed her, a strange feeling in his gut. Shouldn't she have been a little more invested in what was going on?
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John B wrapped an arm around his sister, the girl leaning her head onto his chest as thunder rumbled above them. Despite the noise, silence seemed to swallow them whole.
"It's not there." John B spoke harshly, "Look, just... just pull the drone up."
The girl wrapped her own arms tighter around him, hating the defeated sound of his voice. "Shit."
"Look," said Pope, "we can do another pass. Recharge the battery. We can go back down."
"No," piped the blond, "We've done it three times. There's nothing there."
"Shut up!"
"What? It's true!"
Liv's head was pounding like it was going to explode. She wavered on her feet, the rocking of the boat doing nothing to ease the queasy feeling in her stomach.
"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay? Somebody beat us to it."
"Or it was never there."
Four pairs of eyes landed on the girl, her freckled cheeks pale. She paused, blinking dazedly as her brother placed a hand to her forehead.
"Liv," he said, "You're burning up. Are you okay?"
The girl nodded, opening her mouth to respond. Unable to find any words, the pounding of her head and ache in her stomach became too much. She rushed to the side of the boat, her nodding quickly turning to shaking her head.
"I think I'm gonna throw up."
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There was nothing John Booker Routledge wouldn't do for his sister. She was his responsibility, after all. Maybe not legally, but their father had always said there was nothing more important than family. Despite the anger he was feeling about the lack of success with The Royal Merchant, he hadn't hesitated to be there for her. The Pogues would always be there for her, he knew that, but right now with everything else so uncertain he knew she was his to take care of.
