𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

007. In C.H.U.D.

WHEN THEY got into the neighborhood of the address on the letter, is when Josie took off her headphones and looked at the others as Kie spoke, "yeah, they're a bunch of fancy people. They've had, like, three governors in the family. They've run Charleston for, like, 300 years." She says as Pope pulls over.

"These Kooks make our Kooks look like Pogues." JJ says, looking out the window. "You sure this is the place, Pope?" Josie says, her brows furrowed. "Pretty sure." Pope says before JJ opens the door. "Alright." He says as Josie follows him out and the other two hop out as well. They stans at the gate, "Fat City, for sure." JJ says as Pope raised the letter. "Twenty-seven King Street." He says.

"Talk about home security." JJ says and Josie glanced up to see the spikes along the top of the gate. "Are those spikes to keep people out?" The blond boy asked. "No." Kie says, shaking her head and Josie looks at her right away. "The slave quarters are over there." Pope says before sighing. "These spikes were to keep people in." He says, looking at JJ.

They walk past the gate together now and up to the front door where Pope uses the door knocker before looking at them. "You think that was too much?" He looks at JJ by his side. "It echoed the entire house. That's for sure. So they definitely heard it." The other boy replied. "Maybe nobody's home." Kie reasoned as she looked at Pope who goes up to use the knocker again, just then the door opened.

The man who opened it leans against the door frame, looking at JJ, then at Pope. "You must be Pope." He pointed at the boy. "Um... Are you Mr. Limbrey?" He simply asked. "Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday." The man merely corrected and informed him.

"Oh. I'm... I'm sorry. My car broke down on the way up here." He explains. "Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville." JJ helps him out and the man just looks at him. "Sorry about that." He says. "Yeah, she was, uh, real upset when you didn't show up." He says as he looked back at Pope. "We tried to call, but there was no number on the invitation." Kie explained and Josie clears her throat awkwardly. "We got here as fast as we could..." She adds.

"She also expected you to come alone." The man says to Pope who glanced at JJ. "I mean, these are my friends. They helped find the Royal Merchant too, so I--" "The instructions were explicit. Your friends can stay outside." He cut off Pope pretty quickly, standing his ground. "Well, we're kind of a package deal, man." JJ explains and Pope looks at him.

"JJ. It's okay. I got this. I'll be good." He looks back at Kie and Josie, nodding. "Yeah. We'll be right here." Kie says and Josie glanced between them. "Keep the car running." Pope said, grabbing Kie's hand and the girl nods. "Yeah." He says and Josie glanced down.

She's basically accepted it at this point, she said she'll move on, but it still stung. She tries to keep a cool demeanour however when Pope heads inside and she turns around, sighing. "Come on. Let's go wait in the car..." JJ said, swinging his arm around Josie, almost as if he'd notice. Kie follows behind the pair.

Josie and JJ took the seats up in the front as Kie sat in the back, sitting in the middle. "Look, if Limbrey is legit, then Ward gets arrested, and maybe Sarah gets the gold." Kie said as she's looking out the window and Josie looks out as well, seeing Pope walk out with a woman and the man earlier. "Does that look voluntary?" Kie said and the man shoves Pope.

"That would be a negative." JJ says and Josie grabs onto the door handle, "okay, let's go." She says as Kie also moves to the side so she can hop out. "Wait, hold on, hold on." JJ grabs Josie's shoulder gently so she turns to him. "What?" She says as Kie glanced between the pair. "They're going into the alley." He says and Josie leans away from the door. "Go around back?" Kie says, moving back to the
middle as well. "Yeah. We'll meet them on the other side." JJ says, nodding.