Phoebe is Kiara's cousin. She moves to the Outer Banks after a tragic car accident. Leaving her parents dead. On the island she quickly becomes friends with the Pogues. She joins them on the search for gold. All the while; she awaits her armored fat...
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The large oak trees shaded over the road as we passed a sign reading Charleston 129 miles away. I sighed in defeat; realizing that I was going to have deal with JJ's manspreading for a least two hours before I get to stretch my legs. "Guys, I've read this thing like a thousand times. It makes no sense." Kiara says, reading the letter again. "I mean, the Limbreys own, like, half of Charleston. What do the Kook kings of Charleston know about a murder on Kildare Island?" She asked. "Why you specifically? That's the creepy thing." JJ says, looking at Pope. "Please come alone. That's hella sus." Kie scrunches her face. "I was thinking the same thing. I think it's because-." Pope is cut off by the loud screeching sound of the engine smoking. "Oh my god!" My eyes widen. "Pull over. That's a lot of smoke even for your dad's truck." Kiara says. "Pope stop the truck; what if it catches on fire." I exclaimed in a panic. Pope maneuvers the truck in the side of the road coming to a sudden halt. "It's gonna blow up." Kie pushes JJ and I out the truck so that she can get out as well. "It's not gonna blow up." JJ warned Kie. "You probably unhooked the radiator, Pope." JJ explains. Pope quickly opens the hood of the truck causing even more smoke to flow out. The four of us move to the side of the road. "Why didn't we just take my car?" I shout. "You might want to reschedule your meeting tonight." JJ says, picking up the hub cab that apparently fell off. "Uh, Plan B? We could, um...public transportation. We could hitchhike. We could rent bikes." Kiara says, listing out ideas. "No one's, hitchhiking. That's asking to get kidnapped." I scold the young teen. "My dad's gonna kill me." Pope sighs. He stares at the engine in disbelief. "Yeah he might. He might. JJ comments. "So what now?" I asked. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I sat alone on the dock as the stars lit up the sky. My feet hung above the water only a few inches away from touching. The sound of footsteps approaching caused me to turn around. JJ walks over joining me. He stakes a seat on the dock hanging his shoes over the water. "Where's Pope and Kie?" I asked the blonde. "They're paying for the truck." He sighs. "And how much is it exactly?" I say. "Three hundred and seventy dollars." JJ says. "Damn." I exclaimed. Mike and Anna are going to be so pissed." I say. "Anyways, what's up with you?" JJ nudges my side. "What do you mean?" I asked, looking towards the water. "You've been acting off these past few days. Like you're regretting something." JJ explains. "I'm just feeling very unsure of myself, lately. Like I know what I want but I don't know how to get it. And I want to be in control of myself. My body, my mind, my future. But something always gets in my way. And I want to talk about it more with Kiara. She's been so understanding. And then there's me. The worst cousin on the planet. Sometimes it feels like she's older." The warm breeze kisses my cheeks sending chills through my body. "Just be honest." JJ shrugs. "Even if it might hurt the people you're closest to." JJ says. "See that's the thing." I start. "I try to be honest. But that ended with me getting into an argument with John B. He didn't take the me and Rafe situation well, remember?" I says. "You're not still hanging with Rafe, right?" JJ warned. I immediately shake my head. "No. Of course not. That's over." I lied. I avoid eye contact looking down at my hands. "Enough about me." I hum. "When are you going to tell Kiara that you have feeling for her." I smile at the Pogue. JJ blinks several times. "I don't know what you're talking about." He says. "Don't be an idiot. You like her. And that's okay. Kiara's great. The most lovable person on the planet to me." I poke his side. "It's complicated, Pheebs. I'm not supposed to get the girl." He says. "You know what I think?" I tell the teen. "What?" He wonders. "To let true love remain unspoken; is the quickest route to a heavy heart." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I balled my body into a fetal position as I laid in the back of Heyward's truck. The night sky and crickets created a perfect ambiance for the four of us to sleep under. JJ stretched his legs out on the truck; covering his face with his hat. Pope laid in a similar style as me. He was facing away from us. Kiara reached over towards JJ; taking his flask from his hand, before setting it down. "Good night, everyone." Pope sighed. I watched Kiara look at JJ one more time before leaning towards Pope. She quickly gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Good night." She whispers. I turn my head away from the couple closing my eyes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The bright blue sky of Charleston surrounded the horizon of the marsh as I rested my head on the window sill. The low music playing from the truck hummed in my ear as we drove over the Ravenel Bridge. I shuffled my legs around nervously as I felt the sticky sweat from the thighs against the leather cushions. Pope drove with one hand on the wheel as he carefully watched the road. Kiara continued to bounce her right leg up and down; probably annoyed with being cooped up in a truck all morning. JJ watched the water below bridge. "I wonder where John B and Sarah are right now?" He asked. None of us gave an answer. The two of them we're probably still in the Bahamas laying low. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "They're a bunch of fancy people. They've had three governors in the family. They've run Charleston for like, 300 years." Kiara states as Pope pulls the truck on the side of the road near East Bay Street; which overlooked the ocean. "These Kooks make our Kooks look like Pogues." JJ says, admiring the houses. "God, I miss Charleston." I sighed. "I've passed this house a hundred times when I would come here with my friends back in high school." I explained to the Pogues. "You sure this is the place, Pope?" JJ asked. The engine cuts off. "Pretty sure." Pope nods, hopping out. The three of us follow. I immediately let out a sigh of relief once I'm able to stretch my legs. "All right, Twenty-Seven King Street." Pope says, looking at the high gate that separated us from the small estate home. I carefully eyes the spikes that sat on top of the iron metal. My stomach turned as I realized what I was looking at. "Talk about home security." JJ says. "Are those spikes to keep people out?" He asked. I shook my head. "No." Kiara says. "The slave quarters are over there." Pope says, pointing towards the back of the house. "These spikes were to keep people in." He explains. "Okay, let's see what these people want." I say, changing the subject. The four of us pass through the gates. The porch was long and the door was massive. I took in the beautiful carving surround the pillars that created a spiraling design around the doorframe. Pope raised his hand to the door knocker; creating a loud echo. "You think that was too much?" Pope asked. "It echoed the entire house. That's for sure. So they definitely heard it." JJ says. "Maybe nobody's home." Kie shrugged. "It's a big house. It must take them awhile to even get to the door." I say. The four of us wait a few moments before the large door opens, revealing a man. He leans against the frame eyeing the four us before stopping on Pope. He flashes a mischievous smirk. "You must be Pope." He says, pointing to the young teen. "Um..." Pope starts. "Are you Mr. Limbrey?-." The man quickly cuts Pope off. "Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday." He says. "I'm sorrry. My car broke down on the way up here." Pope explained. "Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville." JJ adds. "Yeah, she was, uh, real upset when you didn't show up." The man explains. "We tried to call, but there's no number in the invitation. We got here as fast as we could." Kiara says. "She also expected you to come alone." The man says. "I mean these are my friends. They helped find the Royal Merchant too." Pope explains to the man. He rolls his eyes. "The instructions were explicit. Your friends can stay outside." He demands. "Sir, I'm eighteen. The adult of the friend group and I don't really feel comfortable with Pope going inside alone." I spoke. "Yeah we're kind of a package deal man." JJ nods. "It's okay." Pope says, looking at the three of us. "I got this." He says. "I'll be good." Pope grabs Kiara's hand; giving it a squeeze. "Yeah, we'll be right here." She smiles, nervously. "Keep the car running." Pope says, before stepping inside with the man. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I take my locs out of my ponytail allowing my hair to fall down long my back. The September heat made the car extremely hot even with all the windows down. "Look, if Limbrey is legit, then Ward gets arrested, and maybe Sarah gets the gold." Kiara suggested. The sound of the front door opening reveals Pope with the man and woman, who I assume is Ms. Limbrey. "Does that look voluntary?" Kiara asked, as we watched Pope bing pushed to the back of the house. "That would be a negative." JJ says. "Let's go around." I suggest. JJ steps on the gas. "Be chill, dude." I say, calmly as we follow the road. Kiara and I watch intently as we pass each house looking for Pope. "Do you see them?" I say, asking my cousin. "No." She sighs. "I mean, where did they go?" Kiara says. "What if they went underground?" JJ says. "Because in C.H.U.D., when they took people down into the sewers, it would turn the humans into humanoids 'cause of the radiation. And then all of a sudden they would turn against them-." Kiara waves her hand in JJ's face. "Focus that doesn't make any sense." She demands. "Right. Sorry. Did you see him?" He asked. "No. Kie says. "Nope." I say, popping the P. JJ drives past one more alley. "Wait, I think that's him." I hop out of the truck before it come to a complete stop. Kiara and JJ quickly follow me. Pope is on the ground as the man reaches for a taser. JJ quickly kicks the taser from further way. Kiara reaches down, picking it up. "Come on! Let's go." I yell taking Kie's hand and pulling her back to the truck. Pope and JJ follow behind. "Go, go, go!" I shout. Helping everyone inside. "Who are these people?" Kiara yells. "I don't know, but they're crazy as shit! Pope says. "Let's get the he'll out of here." JJ swerves the car around pulling out of the back alley onto the main road. I look behind us to see a large truck following us. "Guys, look!" I shout. Kiara turns around. "I think he's following us?" She screams. "JJ watch out." I scream at the teens reckless driving. "This is a one way." Pope states. "Go left!" Kiara demands. JJ makes a wrong turn. "It's a one way!" The three of us shout at JJ. "Shit, JJ, listen!" I sigh. "Yo! There's another car! Turn now!" Pope reaches towards the wheel taking control from JJ. The truck makes a sharp turn almost hitting tow pedestrians who where lucky enough to jump out of the way. "What the actual fuck, JJ! You could have killed them!" I look back at the two people who were still laying on the ground as we drove away. "That was evasive driving technique right there, y'all." JJ hoots as we pull into another alley. The truck begins to heat up as smoke leaves the engine. "You said he fixed the carburetor." JJ shouts at Pope. "Guys, we don't have time to argue. Let's just go." I say. "What now, Mario?" Kiara sighs as we hop out the truck. "Number one rule. Never trust mechanics." JJ shouts. The four us ditch the truck as we run down the alley. "Guys, I think he had a gun." Kiara says. "Shit, get down." JJ demands. My legs move as fast a they can as I try to keep up the Pogues. "God! What does this guy want!" I scream. "Ugh! I think I'm cramping." Pope coughs, trying to catch his breath. We run out onto the main road finally onto the sidewalk. "Guys, we may have to split up!" JJ suggested. "JJ what the fuck? Are you crazy!" I pant. My abdomen begins to hurt as I try to ignore the pain from my stab wounds. Before JJ could say anything he runs into a mailman knocking over boxes. "Sorry! So Sorry!" Kiara yells to the man as we continue to run. "Here, here, here!" JJ says, leading us into another alley. We quickly move into the tight space. "Move, your asses!" I shout. "I'm going, Be." Kiara pants following right behind JJ. "Pope hurry!" JJ says. He leads us once again. "Come on, the main road is right up ahead." JJ shouts. The four of us run our fastest. We catch ourselves making it to a main road. JJ suddenly stop's suddenly causes us three to do the same. And that's when we see it. John B and Sarah staring at us in disbelief. John B pedaling the bike with Sarah on the back of the carriage. A huge smile spread wide on my face as my heart begins to beat faster. "Oh my, God." I say. "Well, what are you waiting for get in!" Sarah says. Kiara and I hop into the carriage, immediately pulling each other into a hug. John B begins to pedal down the road as JJ and Pope push the carriage. "Go, John B! Go!" JJ shouts hopping onto the carriage. He pulls Sarah in for a hug. "Pope come on." Kiara shouts. Pope trips on his feet sending him to the ground. The man followed by two other men continue to follow us. Pope quickly gets up pulling grabbing Kiara's hand as she helps him onto the carriage. The man with the gun reached on the back. "Eww! Get off!" Kiara shouts slapping the man's hand off the carriage sending him onto the pavement. "Oh my, God! I've missed you guys so much!" I shout reaches towards John B and giving him a hug. "Missed you too, Be." He says. The six of us finally make it to the Battery. A boat waiting on the shore sitting long the sand. "Come on, Sarah says. Helping Kiara and I into the boat as the boys push the boat into the water.
