what now? | outerbanks

• thirty-eight •

Cleo

    "Ready?" JJ asks quietly, and I look up at him from the bush I hide behind, taking in scattered breaths. I don't answer, just nod and finger the lockpick in my pocket. I look up at the house in front of me in all its weathered, rotting glory. JJ's already routed the perfect break entrance, and I trust him enough to follow.
    Eli made it clear that this was his game, that we were just helping. But he's too old-school, too caught up in the meaningless things, so we need to take this upon ourselves.
    "On three," I say, locking eyes with the
boy, noticing his excited, troublemaking glint. I count us off, and we move, quiet footsteps around the back of the old fishing camp, the house obviously too old for motion lights or cameras.
    My teeth chatter slightly at the chill winds, and the quiet lapping of the marsh on the wooden dock is a soundtrack to our heist. JJ beats me to the back window, his fingers skillfully moving in practiced ease, a knife running along its edges before he picks it unlocked.
"After you," he so cordially offers, cracking the window just enough for me to duck into and swing my legs over the edge into the dusty room. The house smells like fish and tobacco, and the room we break into, seemingly an office of some sort, is littered with books and maps and dusty lamps; it smells old.
I glare back at JJ when he trips a little and almost falls into the room. "I thought you were an expert at these things," I snap, my scolding obvious despite my whispers. I take charge now, walking stealthily across the floors, making sure they don't creak as I search around the room. It has to be here.
"Start looking," I order, pointing him to a cluttered bookshelf. We spend what feels like hours flipping through books and silently searching through boxes. Nothing.
    JJ glances back at me from the other side of the room. "Keep looking, but stay quiet. If he hears us, we're dead." That's when I see it: a narrow wooden panel against the far wall, slightly out of place.
"J," I catch his attention, my eyes locked on the plank. "Look."
He tiptoes to the spot, removes the board, and reveals the hidden loot. The compass. He gives me no time to react before tossing it in my direction, and to our luck, I catch it perfectly.
"Out, now. We can't let him know we're here." Unfortunately, as the words leave his lips, I hear a floorboard creak, and looking at our four unmoving feet, I know it's not from us. We're too late.
"You heard that?" I ask for confirmation, not wanting to accept the truth. It confronts itself, however, when the door swings open to a scraggly Eli Pritchard. His eyes give away his intoxication, and he's obviously a little wasted by the pattern of his stagger. His body, although frail, blocks the doorway, and his wrinkled, sun-damaged face twists into a scowl.
"You didn't think I'd notice, did you?" His voice is low and laced with fury. JJ steps in front of me, making a wall between me and the fisherman, his hands steady by his side.
"Look, man, we don't mean any harm. We just need the compass. It's nothing personal," he pleads, smoothing his voice to try and calm the haggard man ahead of him.
"Nothing personal?! You know how hard I've worked on this hunt. This is my right! I found that compass!"
"If you wanted us to work with you, you should've told us everything. Instead, you kept secrets from us, held details in safe keeping," I snap, my grip on the compass tightening so hard I know it's leaving indents. I can feel the tension growing, and looking over at JJ, I know he does too. We all stand there, dancing on the taut line, just waiting for it to snap- waiting for that spark. Eli isn't backing down. But neither are we.
"Let us have it. It's your safest bet," JJ reasons, stepping closer to him with slow, intimidating steps.
"You don't get it, do you? You won't get away with what's mine." In an instant, he launches forward, aiming straight for JJ. His fist connects to the blonde's stomach with a dull thud, though he recovers quickly and repays his dues, grabbing Eli's wrist mid-swing and pushing him back into a wall.
    "Come on! While he's down," JJ shouts, shuffling and motioning to the cracked window, but the old man is too quick and grabs my wrist before I can follow.
    "Shit!" I curse under my breath, trying hard to twist out of his grip. I look back to JJ, pleading, panicking eyes finding his as he lunges forward and knees Eli in the groin. The man hunches over, loosening his grip just enough so I can escape, and then I shove him onto the floor, kicking him repeatedly.
"He's down, Cleo. Come on!" JJ yells, grabbing my shoulders and guiding me to the window, the two of us quickly making it back to the car.
"Quicker than he looks," JJ breathes out, leaning back against the car seat when we make it in safe.
"Gotta give him that." In my admission, I look over to the boy slyly, holding up my hand as the golden compass glints in the afternoon sun. "But we still won."

When we get back, the girls have relocated into the house, and John B. and Pope are trying their hardest to keep their unattainable attention. Kie is actually listening to the boys and their jumbled clues, but Sarah, in her usual aloofness, is staring off somewhere in the distance.
She looks up, though, when we step through the door, and her eyes light up, finding their way to my clasped hand.
"No way. You got it!?"
"Sure did. Wasn't easy, but nothing gets past me," I wink, throwing the object to the blonde.
She jokes with me, dramatically bowing and giggling, "My queen."
    Kie starts inspecting JJ for bruises or scratches, scolding him to be more careful, and Pope catches sight of the rawness of my wrist, scolding me just the same. John B. tries to break into the casual bickering, but it's only Sarah whose voice cuts through.
    "Hey, um, is this compass supposed to say anything?"
    "What do you mean?" Kie asks, still raising her brows at her fearless boyfriend.
    "I mean, I just- I guess I thought it would have stuff written on it or something. You know, a clue of some sort."
    "Let me see it," John B. asks, holding his hand out to the girl so she can pass the golden thing to him. "That's strange. It's just kind of cracked; weathered."
"Are you kidding me?" JJ spits, snatching the compass into his own hands. "All that, for nothing?"
"Shit, man," I curse, plopping down on the sofa next to Pope. "So much for that."
    "No. There's no way," Pope presses, examining the compass not inches from his face. "Why would he want it so bad if it didn't help anything? It has to be something."
    But it's not. All it is is an old, cracked compass.
    "Forget this," JJ mutters, walking to the kitchen and flinging the fridge open. I'm guessing he's looking for something alcoholic.
    "I guess we should take this as a sign that it wasn't meant to be," Kie hums, following after her boyfriend to make sure he's okay, drinking being his go-to coping mechanism.
    "Yeah, maybe we're too far ahead to go back to our hunting roots," Sarah adds, a hand placed on her belly, though it looks the same as it always does.
    "You know what we're not too far ahead for?" John B. eggs on, lightly hitting Pope's bicep, a wide grin creeping onto his features. "A good time!" He whoops, and my boyfriend joins in on the celebration, the two youthfully galloping to JJ, who is so perfectly holding up a case of beers. Their childlike antics bring me to a smile, and Kie as well, but Sarah just sits there and rolls her eyes.
    "Way to leave me out, guys," she hisses, flared nostrils and downturned lips.
    "Aw, I'm sorry, honey," John B. coos, his sympathy slightly fabricated, but somewhat honest. "Gotta keep that baby healthy, though. You'll find some other fun, I'm sure."
    It isn't long before JJ convinces Pope to help him with the hot tub, and despite our new predicaments, everything levels over into normalcy. Kie and JJ bicker over in their corner of the pool, Pope talks my ear off trying to explain some foreign concept, his hand placed lightly on my thigh, and John B. brushes his fingers through his wife's hair, her eyes pensive and her arms wrapped around her stomach.
"You know, I'm really gonna miss drunk Sarah," Kie laughs, making the blonde come out of her thinking and enter the present. Her eyes lift, and she giggles when she realizes what the girl said.
"Ditto. She was fun," I say. "Rest in peace." I lift my beer bottle in the air and pretend to say a prayer, like I'm performing a toast, and then I take a big swig of the yeasty liquid.
"Rest in peace?! She's not gone forever," Sarah blurts, her hand flying to her mouth.
"Let's see, ten months no drinking, and then you'll have a baby, so... that's what? Another eighteen years of no drinking? I consider her long gone."
"First off, that's not- pregnancy is nine months," Pope corrects. "Second off, just because she's a mom doesn't mean she's practicing abstinence."
"Yeah, trust me," Sarah starts, "I'm gonna need a White Claw as soon as this is over."
"Speaking of," John B. draws, lifting Sarah's hand and moving her to sit on the edge of the hot tub. "You really shouldn't be in here. It could be dangerous." Sarah pouts and crosses her legs over the water, John B. coming around back of her and wrapping her body in a soft, warm towel so she doesn't freeze.
"And you know that... how?" Kie pokes, raising one eyebrow with a smirk.
"Awe, was sweet-old Johnny Bird doing his research on babies?" JJ teases, poking the brunette relentlessly until he starts to swat him away.
"No," the boy rebuts unconvincingly. "I just know it. Pope's not the only smart one, you know."
"He's right; I'm smart too." I wink, and the group erupts in laughter, Sarah slapping her husband on the back in a, "She got you," manner.
A soft lull hushes over us. It's not one that stops conversation, but it calms everything, and it makes for the perfect Pogue night.
"Hey baby," Sarah coos, a soft, tired smile on her lips, and John B. responds immediately, the girl at the forefront of his worries. "Can you bring me a hoodie from inside? I'm cold."
    He's up within seconds, jogging to the house to follow her wishes.
    "Whipped!" I call as he runs, and the others join in on the teasing as the boy walks back out, hoodie in hand.
    "And what about it?" He mumbles into Sarah's lips, the two kissing slowly as he maneuvers the hoodie onto her body.
    "Get a room," Pope groans, and JJ throws an empty can at the couple.
    "I'm super excited for the baby and all, but- you do realize you guys are, like, a walking confession that you had sex, right?" Kie's eyes wander while she speaks, and it's clear her blunt is getting to her as the three bicker back and forth about her theory.
    "Like we didn't already know," Pope chimes in, and I shudder, remembering all of the loud, sleepless nights the house had. At least they were sleepless for a reason; the rest of us were just being kept awake. And unwillingly, at that. That's one thing I will not miss now that the two have their own house.
    "Guys," I hear JJ say, but I'm too invested in the argument to care. It isn't until he says it again, this time louder, that it sparks attention. "Guys!"
    "What!?" Pope yells back. JJ has since exited the hot tub and is walking towards the deck. Before I can tell what he's doing, Pope jumps out too, running towards the boy.
    "Something's up with this compass." I follow the boys' eyes, and mine now land on the golden thing, its weathered glory. But now, unlike before, it's glowing, the moonlight a beacon for its meaning.
    "Woah, what's happening?" Kie calls from the water, her voice dancing in the steam.
    "The moon; it's reacting to the light of the moon." As Pope speaks, he walks slowly over to us in the tub, his hands carefully cradling the object. It takes me a second to make out what the object has engraved in it, and before I can totally comprehend it, Sarah whispers something.
    "It's a mermaid. A siren."
    "Yeah, mama!" JJ whoops, holding his hand out for the girl to high-five, but she rejects it, shaking her head with a glare. "Too- too soon?" He asks awkwardly, the girl's glare steadfast. "Too soon."
    "There's something else," John B. says, taking the compass in his own hands. "What does that say?"
    "They're coordinates," I breathe out, my eyes fixated on the jumble of numbers.

    "It's a clue."

•

    "You can't be serious."
    We've put the coordinates from last night into about ten different GPS apps and installments and even used a few real maps of the islands. Each time, it's led us to the same point: a spot of nothingness far out into the sea.
    "There's not even anything there," Pope mumbles, his fingers and eyes scanning over the maps frantically, trying to make a connection.
    "Why don't we just go out here and see?" Sarah asks genuinely, her brows furrowed at why any of this is such a big deal.
    "Nah, Sarah, this is, like, way too far out to just check. I mean, with the tides how they are, this is a death trap," JJ tells her, sliding down his chair a little ways and cupping his face with a scarred hand.
    "So then what's the next move?" Kiara asks, her tone accusatory and pressing, antsy about the hunt.
    "There isn't one. We have to wait," John B. says, exhausted from so much research.
    "So we're just sitting ducks?" I stand up frustratingly from my chair, my hands planted firm on my hips, pacing as I try to come up with any other possibility.
    "Look, the tide is way too dangerous right now. We'll have to wait until at least next month, maybe even two, before we can go that far out."
    "What about Eli? Everyone else looking for this tear thing?"
    "Cleo, no one's getting out there, alright? We just gotta make sure that when things do clear up, we're the first ones in that spot. It's a racing game." JJ's finger is pressed hard into the wooden table, pointing at the now-familiar spot on the map.

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sorry this chapter is short!! I just needed to set things up, and it had to stop where it was

next chapter will be longer and I can't wait!
let me hear you thoughts in the comments!!! ❤️❤️

love you guys, thank you for reading!!