CHAPTER EIGHT.
dead ends

     RILEY VAN KIRK was like an open book of wondrous mysteries. No one would have ever expected a rich Kook who has all the money in the world to go falling off the deep end. He had everything he wanted handed to him on a silver platter curtesy of his parents income. So, what other reason would he have to go down a dark path and fall off the wagon time and time again until he was nothing more than a hollow shell of the boy he used to be? Why would he poison his body with toxins until he took just the right amount in order to snatch the air from his lungs for good?

     None. That's what made Riley Van Kirk so mysterious. He had everything and he threw it all away in a matter of months. Riley was once a kid with a good heart and kind soul. He was once a boy with a desire for change, which was why he became friends with the Pogues. He wanted to break stereotypes and show that Pogues and Kooks could be friends despite living on two completely different sides of the island. Not only did he have a burning desire for change, but Riley Van Kirk also had a desire to piece together mysteries that had no hope of ever being solved. That's what attracted him to the Royal Merchant to begin with.

     Little did he know, he would soon become one of those dark mysteries himself.

     The news of Riley Van Kirk's death spread like wildfire. Many people speculated that his search for the Royal Merchant had drove him barking mad and had just slipped into the darkness, never to be seen again. Others believed that his friendship with the fellow Pogues was the result for his addiction, believing that bad kids from the South Side were to blame when a good kid loses his way.

     The worst part was that some of those people happened to be right.

     First of all, no. Riley Van Kirk didn't go mad, and he definitely didn't spiral down a bad path because of the Pogues. The heartbreaking and gut wrenching truth eventually drifted up to the surface when Nova found the letter Riley left for her before his death. The suicide note was all the information Nova needed in order to start piecing together the puzzle behind his demise. All she knew was that Riley became obsessed with a famous shipwreck and that there were dangerous people after it, and whatever pushed him to his breaking point, it was what forced Riley to take his own life, and the last thing the boy ever did was leave a note for his sister to warn her that the danger lurking in Outer Banks still remained.

Nova was now determined to figure it out.

And so. . . the mystery of Riley Van Kirk remained, like a book with no real ending. An ending that Nova Van Kirk was determined to find. She wanted to take a piece of paper and a pen and scribble in the last few lines that Riley Van Kirk never got to tell himself. She wanted to write the ending to her brother's story in the way it should have always been told.

     That was why Nova Van Kirk slowly began to approach the edge of the dock, the familiar sight of Heyward's boat in the distance as it continued to balance on the moving ripples of water down below. There was a heavy weight in her chest as she watched Juno O'Connell and the Pogues load up the boat with supplies and themselves, the group preparing for their epic search for the Royal Merchant, and more importantly. . . the gold. The sight was enough to make Nova release a shaky breath past her lips, every part of the girl wanting to turn around and run away in this very moment.

     This was a bad idea. At least that was what Nova believed. JJ was an idiot for inviting her to begin with. She didn't know how his friends would react knowing that she was joining their little treasure hunt, and Nova still needed to talk to Juno and apologise for the fucked up things she said from the other night. This was just a recipe for disaster.

     All Nova wanted to do now was turn back around and pretend she was never there. However, before she had the chance, Nova's eyes quickly locked with JJ's. The sight of the girl was enough to make a large and goofy grin tug at JJ's lips whilst he stared back at Nova from where he stood. He was surprised to see she actually showed up. A part of him believed she would bail on them to hang around her Kook friends instead. So seeing the girl now in the midst of all his doubt was a friendly and heartwarming sight to see.

     JJ then climbed out of the boat and began to approach Nova, rushing from one end of the dock to the other until he was standing in front of Nova, the boy with sun-kissed skin eventually coming to a stop in front of the girl. "I'm glad to see you didn't bail on us, Princess." JJ stated, his words being enough to make Nova crack a small smile, a twinkle of amusement glimmering in her crystal blue eyes.

     "JJ Maybank, do you really lack faith in me?" Nova questioned in a jokingly manner, causing for a chuckle to make its way past JJ's lips. "But on a serious note, this doesn't make us friends. This is just me trying to finish what Riley started all those months ago."

     JJ pulled a face, a look filled with fake hurt washing over his face as he raised his hands to clutch his chest as if Nova's words actually hurt him. "Ouch. And to think I thought we were actually becoming friends, Van Kirk. My soul is crushed." He replied, and Nova couldn't help but roll her eyes in response to his statement.

     Silence quickly flooded the air circulating around the pair. This caused for Nova to look over JJ's shoulder to see his friends staring back at them with a series of surprised looks in their eyes. Pope and John B were whispering amongst themselves as they stared into Nova's and JJ's direction whilst Juno and Kiara just watched. It left an uneasy feeling bubbling in the pit of the girl's stomach. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Pogues feelings about Nova tagging along remained uncertain.

     "So, I'm guessing that from the way they're looking at me, you're friends are clearly shocked that I'm joining this little treasure hunt of yours." Nova speculated before she locked eyes with JJ once more, but when she did, she noticed the apologetic look evident in his own eyes. This caused for Nova's mouth to fall open slightly, another assumption crossing her mind in the process. "You didn't tell them about me, did you?"

     A pained expression quickly washed over JJ's face as he adjusted the hat sitting on the top of his head, a sigh escaping past his lips. "I might have failed to mention it to them. The past few days have been hectic and a lot has gone on. I just didn't want to stress them out—"

     "Oh, so I'm a burden to you and your friends?" Nova interjected as she knitted her brows together before folding her arms over her chest.

     JJ's eyes grew wide in horror, his lips parting to speak. "No, no, no. I didn't mean it like that, Nova. Ever since the storm, things have just been really crazy and I just forgot about it for a moment, and, shit, I don't know..."

     Nova couldn't resist the urge to let out a fit of laughter, the girl clapping her hands together as a look filled with pure delight glazed over her amused gaze. JJ stared back at the girl with a puzzled look evident in his eyes, a half-smile tugging at the corners of his lips, wondering what was so funny to begin with. Nova shook her head. "JJ, I'm just fucking with you," was all the girl said before she brushed past the boy and made her way towards the boat in the distance.

     JJ couldn't help but smile to himself before he turned around and began to follow Nova further down the dock. He quickly caught up with the girl and began to walk beside her, the pair eventually coming to a stop when they reached the boat. Nova exhaled a shaky breath as she looked around at every other person in the boat, an uncomfortable quietness flooding the air surrounding the group as Nova began to do her best to avoid everyone's prying gaze, especially Juno's.

     JJ was the first to pick up on how uncomfortable Nova appeared to be. This caused for the boy to glance back at his friends, his eyes flickering between each individual with a nervous smile etched across his face. "Hey guys—"

     "What is she doing here?" Juno was quick to interject, cutting JJ off as she continued to stare at Nova with a not so welcoming look plastered across her face, her eyes narrowing into a sharp glare. It was clear to Nova that Juno still held some sort of resentment towards her after Topper's party the other night.

     Nova and JJ turned their heads and glanced at one another for a short moment before the blond boy swallows the thick lump lodged in the back of his throat and glanced back at Juno. "I invited her." JJ answered, shrugging his shoulders in the process. It was obvious he had no problem admitting his part in this entire mess. It was almost like he was pleased Nova was here right now, standing beside him.

     "Oh, you have got to be kidding me?" Nova heard Juno mutter underneath her breath, a loud scoff filled with disbelief echoing through the thick and humid air.

     Kiara sighed as she turned around to face Juno. "Juno, it's for an hour. I don't think it's going to kill you." She reassured the girl. Her words almost surprised Nova. She didn't expect the Carrera girl to defending her, let alone be okay about her joining. She knew Kiara was a spitfire, a crackling thunderstorm in the form of a teenage girl. She really did think Kiara would have voiced a negative opinion on the entire situation by now.

     JJ nodded his head. "Juno, this involves Riley too. I told you all this already. She should be here." He replied, trying his best to explain his reasoning behind Nova's sudden appearance.

     "And now you're involving her without discussing it with the rest of us first?" Juno continued to interrogate, a look of disbelief evident in her dark eyes whilst she narrowed her gaze at Nova, glaring back at the girl. It didn't take long for Nova Van Kirk to finally step into the ongoing debate about whether she should step on the boat with the Pogues or not.

     "Can you all stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Nova interjected. The girl then paused and looked around before a sigh of defeat escaped past her lips, finally giving into the fact that Juno clearly didn't want her here. Nova then turned back around to face JJ. "I knew this was a bad idea. I'm just gonna go."

     Nova made an attempt to leave, the girl wanting nothing more than to find something else to do because anything was better than being stuck on a boat with someone who practically hated her guts. However, Nova barely had the chance to leave because it didn't take long for JJ to reach out for the girl, the warm skin of his hand brushing against her own as he held onto her hand with a firm and comfortable grip. This caused for Nova to stare down at their hands for a moment before she lifted her gaze to lock eyes with JJ once again, watching as he stared back at her with a reassuring look burning in his deep blue irises.

     "No. You're staying." JJ paused, his words being enough to make a small smile ghost across Nova's lips. She was surprised to say the least. There was a time when they would have called themselves enemies, and now he insisted she stayed and helped in any way she could. It was definitely a change Nova never expected. JJ then turned around to face his friends. "She's staying." He repeated.

     The group were lapsed into a short moment filled with silence. The silence mostly consisted of Kiara, John B, Pope and Juno looking at one another and exchanging a series of strange looks before they all stared simultaneously into Nova's and JJ's direction. Most of them wondered what was so special about the girl that she had JJ wrapped around her little finger, whilst Juno O'Connell stared at the pair with a suspicious look evident in her dark and luminous gaze. She had already picked up on the connection her friends had since the very moment she introduced them to one another the day Nova came home. But Juno began to slowly realise that their connection was due to history. A kind of history that not even Juno knew about, thus making her just as curious.

     Being the first to realise that Nova was going to be joining their search for the Merchant, John B sighed quietly to himself and nodded his head, plastering a smile across his face. "Well, come on then. We want to get there before the wind picks up." John B told them, gesturing for the pair to jump into the boat so they could get moving and find the Merchant.

     JJ was the first to climb his way onto the boat before he held out his hand once again for Nova to take. The girl simply smiled and rolled her eyes as she stepped onto the boat without JJ's help before she walked past him, causing for JJ to smile as he watched Nova, a twinkle of amusement shining in his eyes. But after he was told by John B to steer the boat, JJ spared Nova one last glance and made his way to the steering wheel of the boat, the group of adventurous teens now making their way towards their destination.

     Plenty of time had passed throughout their journey as the group made their way further out to see where the map showed the exact location of the Royal Merchant. At least that was where they hoped to find the old shipwreck. The journey mostly consisted of John B throwing out orders to the rest of them and explaining what they would do once they arrived where X marks the spot. Thankfully, he left Nova alone, which was something the girl was deeply grateful for. Nova didn't care about working with the Pogues or the gold that came with finding the Merchant. She just wanted to finish the last ever thing her brother spent the last few months of his life trying to figure out.

     In fact, Nova knew she should use this time to finally confront Juno about the terrible things she had said to her the night before. Nova knew it was the best thing to do more than ever, especially since the girl had been off with her since the moment she showed up at the docks, but stayed quiet and supported the idea of Nova joining them for the search because they were best friends. Truth is, after the way Nova had spoken to Juno and the pile of secrets brewing between the two girls, Nova didn't know if she could call them friends anymore. It was terrible to even think that, but a part of her knew it was true.

     Little did she know. . . Juno O'Connell was thinking the exact same thing.

     So Nova sighed to herself and instead of talking to her friend, she turned around and took a seat down with JJ, watching as he continued to steer the boat closer to their destination. It was almost strange to admit, but Nova found peace in this very moment. A true moment of peace and tranquility as her ocean blue eyes drifted to the open landscape displayed in front of her eyes. It was a breathtaking sight of sea and deep blue skies painted with a shade of grey, puffs of smoky coloured clouds coming into view, signalling that a storm was brewing, but it still made Nova feel calm, the girl finding comfort in herself.

     What made it feel strange was that she was sharing this moment with JJ Maybank of all people.

     "What are you thinking about?" JJ's familiar voice ripped through the silence, causing for Nova to tear her gaze away from the beautiful landscape displayed in front of her before she turned to look at JJ with a curious gaze, her brows knitting together in the process. JJ shrugged his shoulders. "You clearly have something on your mind. I can practically see the wheels turning in that pretty little head of yours."

     Nova shot the boy a glance the second she heard his mischievous comment, earning a small grin from JJ in response before the girl let out a quiet sigh. "Just thinking about how I ended up here." She answered, pressing her lips into a thin line soon after she had spoken.

     JJ raised his brow. "What do you mean?"

     "I mean...it took a lot for me to realise how bad the drugs were for me." Nova began to elaborate, inhaling sharply as her gaze drifting back out to the moving tide in front of her. "And now I'm sitting out here with you, your friends and my best friend who clearly hates my guts. It was honestly the last place I thought I'd be spending my afternoon."

JJ pulled a face, staring back at Nova with a confused look burning in his eyes. "Juno doesn't hate you." He denied.

Nova let out a loud scoff and shook her head. "I appreciate the effort to make me feel better but it's very clear no one but you wants me here." She retorted.

"That's not true." JJ paused, looking over his shoulder and glancing over at Juno, watching the girl as she talked to Kiara for a moment before his gaze shifted back to Nova. "Juno's your best friend and she wants you here, even if she doesn't admit. As for the others, they cared about Riley and they know that if he was still here then he would have dragged you along whether you liked it or not. They're just doing what they think is right."

"Well, I don't think Juno likes me anymore after the way I spoke to her last night." Nova muttered underneath her breath, but loud enough for JJ to hear.

     "Have you even spoken to her since last night?" JJ questioned. Nova simply shook her head in response, giving the boy his answer. "Well, maybe if you two actually just talked then you could figure things out."

     "I don't think talking is the solution to our problem." Nova confessed, her eyes flickering over to watch as Juno smiled back at Kiara, the two girls laughing over something. Nova could tell they were close. "You should have heard the way I talked to her the other night. It wasn't just me calling her names. I was a stone cold bitch. I might have been high at the time but it was no excuse to talk to Juno like that. Now I don't know how to make up for it."

     "Nova, just give Juno some time. You guys are best friends. I'm sure you'll both work it out eventually." JJ reassured her, doing his best to ease the obvious tension between the two girls.

     "That's the thing. I don't know if we can call each other that anymore." Nova sighed as she stared back into Juno's direction with a sad look glazed over her eyes. "Hey, can we talk about something else? I don't want to think about Juno right now."

     JJ was silent at first as he began to nod his head in response to Nova's words. Then a thought crossed his mind, one that he had been dying to ask Nova about since the moment she showed up at the docks earlier. This caused for JJ to clear his throat. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

Nova shrugged her shoulders in response. "I'm good." She answered.

JJ frowned, becoming intrigued by Nova's simple response. "Would you care to elaborate?" He inquired, wanting to know more.

"I don't know what you want me to say, JJ." Nova sighed, looking back at the boy with an irritated look burning in her bright blue eyes. "I mean, other than the constant irritation, exhaustion and the cravings...I'm good." She joked bitterly, a sarcastic grin forming across her lips.

"Well, no one said it was going to be easy." JJ chimed, earning a stern look from Nova in response.

"Well, if I knew withdraw would feel like this, I wouldn't have made the brave decision to stop." Nova retorted, a twinge of guilt tying knots in her stomach. It was happening again. The cravings — the desire to feel her next fix was creeping up on her, almost like a looming shadow ready to swallow her into the darkness once again. Nova tried to refuse its power, but the temptation was so strong that she wanted nothing more than to crawl back to Rafe and beg him for that one line of white powder. Just one line.

     The problem was that one line would turn into more. Nova Van Kirk learned that the hard way, and now she was suffering the consequences of her actions. The girl then sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "And sobriety is far from easy when Rafe keeps offering me the one thing I want more than anything." She confessed, the mere mention of Rafe Cameron being enough to make JJ tense.

JJ sighed quietly to himself and turned his attention away from Nova. "So, what? Are you just doing to fall off the wagon again?" He asked, his words causing for Nova to furrow her brows together in confusion.

"Why would you think that?" Nova replied.

"I don't get it, Nova..." JJ trailed off in annoyance. "Rafe is clearly bad for you, but you stay with him anyways."

Nova pulled a face and scoffed, her lips parting to speak in the process. "Well, the last time I checked it's none of your business who I date." She commented, not understanding JJ's sudden hostility towards her.

"It might not be..." JJ paused, glancing back over towards the girl. "But I'm not blind to how he treats you, Nova. He's a bad guy who would rather see you fall apart than get better. The sooner you realise that, the better because, truth is, Nova, you'll never going to get better in the way that you want when you're with him." He elaborated, showing genuine concern for the girl's wellbeing, which was something Nova happened to pick up on.

Nova even made an attempt to say something — to even question JJ about it a little more. But before Nova had the chance, the sound of John B's familiar voice floods through the air. "All right, JJ. Pin it here." John B instructed, preventing Nova from saying what she wanted to say to JJ before they arrived at their location.

JJ turned around to glance back at Nova one last time, the two exchanging a few glances, before he nods his head. "Roger that! X marks the spot." JJ responded and stops steering the boat.

Sighing to herself, Nova spared JJ one last look, before she stood up and stopped by the door, leaning against the frame and looked out to see Pope sitting in front of a screen, whilst Kiara and John B were standing close to the edge of the boat. John B was holding onto the camera, the boy turning around to look at the rest of them with a small smile ghosting across his lips. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen. To going full Kook." John B tells them and gentle lowers the camera into the water.

Nova watched as Kiara began to lower the camera further down, the device disappearing underneath the surface. "One hundred feet." Kiara called out to the rest of them and marks it down on the boat using chalk.

Nova then released a shaky breath past her lips, the girl's gaze flickering over to look at Pope when she heard him gasp loudly. "It's nothing." Pope reassured them, shaking off his sudden fright. This caused for Nova to roll her eyes in response whilst Kiara lowered the camera a little more. Pope continued to speak, "And to quote The Hobbit, 'Down, down, to Goblin town. Down, down, you go, my lad.'"

"Four hundred feet."

Nova reached up and held tightly onto the pendent around her neck. It belonged to Riley. He used to wear it all the time. It was all she had left of her brother, and it became Nova's lucky charm. She just hoped it would work in this moment. Kiara then noticed something odd in the water and how it moved. "Guys, the tide's turning." Kiara informed them and turns around to look at John B, who nodded his head in response to her words.

"Hey, JJ. Ten seconds easy. South-Southeast." John B told the blond steering the boat.

"Copy that!" JJ replied and steered the boat around, so they remained in the right place. However, slowly, the wind begins to pick up, the gentle breeze soon becoming a little more rough against Nova's skin as it blew through her blonde locks. This caused for the girl to look around to see a dark swarm of clouds looming closer to them, making Nova realised a storm was brewing. "Keep the tether on the prop!"

Kiara groaned in frustration and tightens her grip around the wire. "We're trying!" Kiara yelled back, whilst she did her best to do what JJ was instructing.

Suddenly, a loud rumble of thunder echoes through the air and Nova couldn't help but jump slightly at the sound, before she lifted her gaze to stare up at the sky to see the storm was beginning to get worse. There was dark mix of black and grey hue painted across the sky, a crackling of thunder brewing above their heads. Nova felt dread bubble in her stomach, the girl turning her attention back to the yellow wire in Kiara's hand as she lowered it further into the water whilst the tide crashed violently against the boat.

"Seven hundred feet...Nine hundred feet..." Kiara trailed off, but the storm was making the search a lot harder for the group of teens. Kiara took notice in the change of current and how violent it became. Kiara turned around to face the others. "John B, there's too much current. We're gonna lose it."

John B begins to approach Pope with a hopeful look in his eyes. "What you got, Pope? Come on, man. What do you see?" John B asked

"Nothing. A whole lot of nothing." Pope answers, his tone laced with defeat. Nova shook her head, knowing there still had to be a chance the shipwreck was here somewhere.

"960...970...980."

"I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!" The second those words left Pope's lips, Nova and Juno approach Pope and John B, the four teens staring down at the screen, waiting nothing more than to see the famous Royal Merchant. It had to be here. . . It just had to be.

And when Nova thought all hope was lost, there it was in all its glory — The Royal Merchant. Nova couldn't help smile at the sight of the famous shipwreck. She had heard so many stories about and how it was the treasure that belonged at sea, which always explained why no one could ever find it. But they did. It took over a hundred years, but out of all the people that could have found the Royal Merchant, it was Nova and a group of fellow Pogues.

     Riley would have loved this.

"Is there any sign of the gold?" Nova piped up, wanting nothing more than to get that reassurance that all her brother's time spent on this search was worth it.

It was silent at first, nothing else being said between the group. John B and Pope look around closely through the screen in hopes of finding the gold, whilst the rest of them patiently waited to hear the verdict. They even wondered if the metal detector to pick up the location of the gold for them. But to Nova's surprise. . . there was nothing.

A heavy sigh escapes past John B's lips, the boy stepping back from the screen. "Let's just pull the drone up." He tells Kiara and looks around in defeat. They didn't find the gold after all.

"Look, we can do another pass. Recharge the battery." Pope suggested and turned around to look at the rest of them. He didn't want to give up. None of them did. "We can go back down."

"We've been through it three times." JJ calls out to them and Nova looked ahead to see the look filled with doubt in JJ's eyes, the boy shaking his head in the process. "There's nothing here."

Kiara shakes her head and stands up with her eyes staring daggers into JJ. "Shut up! The gold could be buried. We don't know." Kiara fired back, and Nova couldn't help but nod her head in agreement, wanting to believe there was still a chance the gold was down there with the Royal Merchant somewhere. They just haven't been able to find it yet.

"If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector, okay?" John B retorted, glancing back at the two girls with waves of emotions flooding his eyes. Nova could see he felt the loss of the gold just as much as they did. "Somebody beat us to it."

"Or it was never there." JJ muttered to himself, before he steers the boat back around to take them back to shore.

"Fuck." Nova cursed underneath her breath, shaking her head as the loss of the gold began to sink in.

As for Riley's story. . . it remained unfinished.

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authors note.
So this chapter did feel a little rushed, but it was kinda just a filler before we get into some of the drama in the next chapter. But I hope this is okay!!

Also, it's really starting to annoy me that Nova hasn't really interacted with Kiara, Pope and John B as much as I had hope, but that should hopefully change soon.

Until then, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll update again soon!!