IF YOU told Aurora that she would be searching for the Merchant in the ocean at the age of 16, she would have laughed in your face. Yet, here she was, searching for it with her friends. She didn't believe in John B's father being alive but, of course, she didn't say that- John B needed hope.
"Alright, Rory." John B called out, "Pin it here."
"Roger that." Aurora replied, as she stopped their boat in the middle of nowhere.
"To going full Kook." John B said, as he lowered the drone into the water with Kiara.
JJ took the wheel, whilst Aurora made her way to Pope who was looking at the iPad screen which showed them the drone footage,
"Anything?"
"Just fish." Pope replied, as Kie lowered it down even further,
"500 feet!" Kiara exclaimed, "The tides turning!"
"Hey, JJ." John B called, "Ten seconds easy. South-Southeast, right?"
JJ replied, "Copy that!"
The wind picked up as the boat moved up and down from the increase of waves. Aurora squinted her eyes at the ipad screen, which was empty.
"JJ, hold it steady!" John B shouted over the rumbling thunder.
"900 feet!" Kie called.
"We're gonna turtle in this storm." Aurora explained worriedly.
"950!"
"JJ! Steady, 10 seconds!" John B called, as he turned to Pope, "Do you see anything, man?"
"A whole lot of nothing." Pope replied, "Kiara!"
"980!" Kie replied, "990!"
"Wait! Wait! We're at the bottom!" Aurora exclaimed, as she pointed at the screen.
Unexpectedly, old wooden parts were shown on the screen as the drone swam past an old ship wreck.
"Do you see anything?" JJ called out from the wheel.
"Is that it?" Rory questioned excitedly, as she looked at John B, "Holy shit."
"We found the Merchant." John B smiled, "Pope, go through it."
Pope moved the lever, causing the drone to search the Royal Merchant. To Aurora's surprise, they didn't find anything. They'd searched through it three times, over and over, but still nothing.
"Maybe someone buried it." Kiara suggested, "That's a possibility-"
"If the gold was here, the metal detector would've picked it up by now." John B sighed, "Somebody beat us to it."
"Or it was never there." JJ mumbled, as Rory gave him a 'don't say that' look.
***
The next morning, Aurora was with her brother around the back of Heywards Seafood restaurant. JJ was wearing Aurora's sound proof headphones as he shot bullets into an old teddy bear, whilst Rory was reading a book she found in somebodies trash bin.
"Guys!" The voice of Pope made her look up, "JJ! Rory."
"What's up?" Aurora questioned, as she stood up to join Pope.
"They know." Pope replied sternly, his facial features filling with worry.
"What?" JJ questioned, as he took off the headphones.
