THE NEXT morning, the Pogues gathered around the Château to break the news about the Cross and Rafe. Nobody knew where John B had been, he'd been gone since they arrived back here. Yet, Rory figured that he'd probably just been spending time with his father alone. She didn't blame him, if Rory had a father like Heyward she'd never leave the house.
"When I went back to TannyHill, Rafe was on the phone with Ward, and he just kept saying my thing, this is my thing." Sarah explained, "He had to be talking about the Cross."
"Absolutely." Pope agreed.
"And he's coming into Wilmington tonight at eight o'clock." Sarah continued, "It's being shipped by train to Raleigh from there, but this is our chance to get it back."
Pope asked, "Did you get any other information?"
Kie nodded, "Uh, Sarah got the cargo number."
"That's a start." JJ replied, "They're definitely fencing that shit off as we speak. So we should probably get a move on."
"Has anyone spoken to John B?" Pope questioned curiously.
"He's probably off with Big John." Rory replied, "And they have the Twinkie."
"Our transportation." Pope sighed, before hesitating, "I could ask Heyward for the truck."
"Uh, what?" JJ questioned sarcastically, "That's gonna go well."
Whilst Pope, Cleo, and Sarah went back to the Heyward's house, Kie and the twins went to convince Mr and Mrs Carrera to free Kiara from her house arrest. Rory stood awkwardly in the kitchen, munching on an apple that she found on the counter.
Mrs Carrera spoke calmly, "Honey, I am listening to you. I'm just having a hard time. So I need you to walk me through this one more time."
"The Cross of Santo Domingo that we found, we thought it was gone forever. We just find out that it's gonna be in Wilmington tonight." Kiara explained slowly, "And the Cross is Pope's family heirloom. Priceless historical artefact."
Mrs Carrera questioned, "And you found it?"
"Yes!" Kie exclaimed, "Then, Rafe and Ward stole it from us."
"Do you know how insane you sound?" Mike raised his voice, "Ward is dead!"
"He's not dead." Kie shot back, "We've been over this part one million times!"
"But you get that this is a little hard for us to understand." Mrs Carrera defended, "We had a funeral for that man."
"I get how it sounds, but he's alive." Kiara replied, as she turned around to the twins behind her, "JJ? Rory? A little help here."
Rory nodded, "Uh, Ward's alive in the Caribbean and he's living off the shit he stole from us. And, he's using a plane to fly across to Wilmington. With the cross, which is a massive part of Pope's life and-"
Mike frowned, "Give us a break."
"You're right. What do we know?" JJ replied sarcastically, "Rory saw it with her own two eyes. So did I. So did Kiara, but whatever."
"I'm skeptical, okay?" Mike replied, "I'm skeptical, JJ, as in I think it's all bullshit. I think you've been led astray, Kiara. And I think you, Maybanks, are to blame."
Mrs Carrera watched the expression on the twins faces change as Mike raised his voice. The women pleaded, "Can we just take it down a little?"
Mike walked over to the twins, raising his voice, "No! Let me tell you something. You need to understand that I do get it. I like you both and I bet you're fricking fun to hang out with, to ditch school with, do drugs with, go down to the break with... because I was once just like you two. I didn't think that anything mattered. Thought I could make up any bullshit story and these stupid Kooks would believe it."
Rory chuckled in disbelief, "I mean, you did get one thing right, you are a stupid Kook."
Mrs Carrera panicked, "Whoa, whoa, let's calm down."
"My daughter was way better off before she met you and your friends!" Mike yelled, pointing a finger in the girls face as her heart dropped, thinking about her actual father.
"That's not true!" Kiara yelled, standing up to defend her friends, "I was never better off. I was miserable!"
Mrs Carrera stood up, "Can we just take it down a notch."
"No, these Pogues have ruined my daughters life!" Mike yelled in Rory's face, as he towered over the girl.
JJ's jaw tightened in anger as he stood in front of his sister protectively. He held in his anger, "We didn't mean any disrespect, Mr Carrera."
Aurora snapped back into reality from her haunting memories that replayed in her mind over and over again. She realised she was breathing so heavily that her chest was visibly moving up and down, so she quickly walked outside. Rory hesitated before opening the door, listening to Mike yell at JJ,
"I'm protecting my daughter! Everyone says she's an addict and he's a thief! They're just like their father."
JJ stormed around the corner, clenching his fists tightly. He gritted his teeth, "Rory, ignore them. We're leaving before I beat the shit outta him."
Rory opened the door quickly, looking back at JJ as he took Mike's wallet from the side. She didn't bother saying anything. Rory couldn't say anything when she couldn't breathe properly.
JJ sat on his bike outside, waiting for Kiara, as Rory paced up and down. Her brother reassured, "What they said isn't true, Rory. They don't know you like I do."
"I, uh, I just need to go." Rory spoke quickly, as she held her chest, "I'm gonna go and see Barry to catch-up and shit."
"No- hold on." JJ stopped her, "Barry? You're old dealer, Barry? Absolutely not."
"I'm clean, J. And we're friends." Rory explained, "He actually helps me stay off the drugs, which is ironic for a literal dealer. Trust me, JJ. I need to see him or my head will fucking explode."
JJ nodded understandably, "Okay, go. I love you."
"Love you." Rory repeated as she walked away, "I'll, uh, meet you later."
a/n:
105K READS?!?!
this is actually insane thank you so so much!
