chapter four
we thought you were dead

Athena woke up the next morning to Kie shaking her awake. She groaned slightly, sitting up slightly and looked over to her friend. Singh had given them silk pyjamas to sleep in, Kie in a purple pair and Athena in a matching red pair. The two girls had shared the bed while they forced Rafe to sleep on the floor.

"Thena, hey. I have a plan." Kie told her.

"What—"

"To get out of here, okay? Just go with me, all right?" Athena nodded, moving to get out of the bed as Kie walked over to the window and began knocking on it, trying to get the guard's attention. "Hey! Hey. I need to talk to Mr Singh. Hey, go get Mr Singh."

"What are you doing?" Asked a now awake Rafe.

"Hey, you! I need to talk to Mr Singh." Kie continued knocking on the window.

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." Rafe scrambled up, moving over to stand in front of Kie. "Hey. What are you doing?"

"Like I owe you an explanation." Kiara retorted quickly.

"Think for a second!" Rafe told her. "Kie, what are you doing?"

Athena walked over to the door when Kie was, the girl hitting the door. "Hello?"

"Hey! What're you doing?"

"Don't talk to me!" Kie exclaimed, stopping Rafe in his tracks.

Rafe moved so he was standing opposite Kie and Athena. "You're lying about this diary thing. You know where it is."

"No, we don't." Athena huffed, going to sit back on the bed, Kie following her.

"You don't? Okay." Rafe nodded, not believing her at all.

"You wish." Kie commented.

"Okay, listen, I wouldn't tell me either." Rafe said as Kie tried knocking on the window again. "But he's never gonna believe we don't know something, all right? Singh killed that—"

"Hey!" Athena exclaimed when Rafe tried to touch her. "Leave her alone."

"Look around, Kie." Rafe stated. "I'm the only friend you got."

"I got her and I'd choose that Cameron over you any day." Kie gestured to Athena, who smiled at her. The door then unlocked, creaking open to reveal the guard that was stood outside the room. Kie grabbed Athena's hand, pulling her over to stand in front of the guard. "We need to talk to Mr Singh."

"We have something to tell him." Athena added.

"It's urgent." Kie stated.

The guard looked over their heads at Rafe, before nodding. "Yes."

He grabbed their arms, taking them back down the stairs before pushing them towards the same room they were in the night before. "There."

Kie grabbed Athena's hand as they let out a breath. Athena looked over to where Singh was sat on the table, his hand rubbing his forehead. She sighed once more as the man looked up at them.

"We lied." Kiara stated firmly. Athena took a glance at her friend but she knew she needed to trust Kie. "We know about the diary. We don't have the original."

"But we can get you a copy." Athena added when Kie squeezed her hand.

"I'm relieved to hear you say that, you know." Singh told them, taking a grape from the plate in front of him and putting it in his mouth. "May I offer you something to eat?"

"I'm not hungry." Kie replied.

"Relax, nothing's gonna happen to you now." Singh stated. "You're cooperating, and I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, you know."

"I'm starving. I'll eat." Athena went to step forward but Kiara pulled her back.

"I just want to get you what you want, and then we want to leave." Kie told the man. "Look, I know where it is. But we have to go by ourselves. Just us."

"But how would I know that you'd come back? You know, I need some collateral." Singh replied.

"Rafe's here." Kie shrugged as Carlos scoffed. "Keep him."

"Rafe." Carlos laughed as he stood up. "How did someone so young get into so much trouble? What about this friend as collateral."

Kie pulled the blonde, who glared at Singh, closer. "She stays with me. I'm not going without her."

"Look, we know where the diary is, and if you let us go I promise you we can get it to you." Athena stated. "And I never break my promises."

"You know, I built this fortune myself, you know, from nothing. From absolutely nothing. Do you know how that happened, Miss Carrera? Ms Maybank? Hmm?" He began walking closer to the girl once more. "I can assure you it was not by being a fool. Don't waste my time. The diary holds the key to the ultimate conquest, and that my young friends, Miss Carrera, Ms Maybank, is my destiny. So you need to tell me where it is, or I'm gonna—"

His voice was cut off by his phone vibrating on the table. Athena's head snapped over to look at it before she turned to watch Singh, who ran his hands down his face before walking over to the table. Athena let out a breath as she squeezed Kie's hand once more, Athena was so over people threatening her. The two girls watched as Singh made his way over to the phone, picking it up and reading the message before letting out a chuckle.

"Amazing." He breathed out. "A text from our friend Jimmy Portis. From beyond the grave, apparently. It seems Mr Portis has captured your friends."

He turned the phone to show the two girls a photo from 'Portis' of Sarah and John B with the message 'I got these two'. Athena's eyes widened, knowing that the pogues definitely had Portis' phone, goddamn JJ and his stealing.

Singh chuckled. "Ryan! Get the big trucks and meet out the back in three minutes."

"Copy."

"Fenton." Singh called. "Get Ms Carrera and Ms Maybank."

"Mr Singh, Mr Singh, please—" Kie begged.

"Please Mr Singh, don't hurt them, please." Athena tried.

"Please! Don't hurt my friends, please!"

"Please. That's my sister, you can't. Please!" The man grabbed both the girls, dragging them up the stairs as they kept pleading he didn't hurt any of their friends.

"That depends, Ms Carrera, Ms Maybank." He called after them. "We'll continue our chat later. I look forward to it, you know."

"Please don't hurt them!"

Fenton pushed them up the stairs, opening the door and pushing them with the command to go inside. He closed the door behind them, locking it once more. Kie sat on the edge of the bed, her hands in her hair as she panted slightly. Athena leant up against the door, her eyes watering as her breathing got heavier, the thought of her friends dying weighing down on her chest.

"What happened?" Rafe asked but received no reply. He let out a sigh. "You gonna have to talk to me at some point, okay?"

"Do I have to remind you of everything you've done?" Kie questioned him. "You killed Peterkin. Do you remember that? And everything you've put Sarah through. Everything you've put Athena through."

"Peterkin, I was protecting my father. Okay? I did what I had to, so... don't." Rafe moved away from Kie, sitting on the chair in front of the window. "I'm as much a victim as she is. No? Think about it. Okay? What did I get from shooting Peterkin, huh? Nothing, okay? I had nothing against her. I mean, I... I... I liked her. You think I wanted to make that choice, huh? What I did was a gift from me to my father for... for him, and I got screwed because of it, okay? So don't get that look when I say I'm a victim, all right? I am!"

"Oh my god." Athena stated finally, standing up from the wall and rubbing her eyes. "You—Rafe, this, it needs to stop. You, you chose to shoot Peterkin, a—and I get that Ward was kind of a dick to you and that Sarah was his favourite person, his favourite everything, okay? I get, I do, I'm your sister. I lived it but Rafe, at the end of the day, you still did those things. You helped Ward pin her Peterkin's murder on JB, you tried to drown Sarah, but you went to jail for two days because of all of it, that is it. Sarah and I lost everything, our dad, our step-mum, our baby sister, our brother. We were abandoned on an island for a month, alone, you have no idea what's it like."

"I will admit, what I... what I did to Sarah... what I tried to do, um..." He stood up from his seat, his eyes filling with tears. "What I tried to do to Sarah, I admit that was wrong. I know that, all right? So you don't have to remind me."

Rafe let out a sob, hitting himself in the head as Kie scoffed slightly. "Oh god."

"She was family. I should've never touched her, you know?" Rafe looked over at Athena. "I shouldn't have touched either of you, but, you know, I just lose control in moments like that, and I don't know what happened. I'm trying... I'm trying to get better. Okay? It doesn't matter, all I'm saying is that I'm not the bad guy you think I am, okay? But even if I was, even if I was just, like, bad Rafe Cameron or something... you got no choice. You may... you may not want to trust me, okay, but I'm your best bet."

Rafe then knelt down in front of Kie and Athena, who had now sat on the bed next to her best friend. "Look. I got a boat that can get us off island, okay? But first, we gotta get out of here, and it is better if we work together."

The sound of engine rumbling and guards talking indistinctly caught the two girls' attention. Athena jumped up from her seat, following Kie over to the window. She looked out the window to see multiple guards climbing into a truck with guns.

"They're leaving?" Rafe asked.

Kie inhaled. "They're going to find John B."

"And our sister." Athena added, the two girls moving away from the window while Rafe took his turn looking out of it.

"Sucks for them." Rafe stated. Athena looked over to her brother with furrowed eyebrows. "That's good for us though. This may be our only shot at getting out of here."

Kiara and Athena shared a look before nodding, agreeing to make a plan to escape with Rafe. The three came up with an easy plan to create a distraction and make it seem like Rafe was hurting Kie so the guard came in to see what was going on. While coming up with the plan, Athena had changed out of the silk pyjama trousers, putting her shorts on from the island back on, so it was easier and more comfortable to run in but leaving the red silk t-shirt on.

"Just get away from me!" Kie called.

"I'm tired of this shit. I'm gonna kill you, Kie!" Rafe growled.

"Leave her alone. Help." Athena shouted as Kie screamed. Rafe broke a glass vase, throwing it on the floor. The three quickly got into position, Athena and Rafe hidden behind the bathroom door, waiting for the guard while Kie laid in the bath tub, only her foot being seen from the door so the guard had to come investigate.

The three heard the door creak open and heavy footsteps move into the bedroom. The guard walked further into the bathroom, catching sight of Kie's foot. "What be this?"

As he got closer, Rafe and Athena slammed the door shut, it hitting the guard and trapping his wrist in the door so he dropped his gun. Rafe then grabbed the man by his vest, punching him in the face while Athena helped Kie out of the bath. The guard was thrown onto the floor before Rafe smashed a lamp over his back. Athena grabbed his gun before her and Kie moved to where Rafe was.

"Stay down, stay down." Rafe ordered.

"Don't move." Athena pointed the gun at him.

"Huge mistake." The guard groaned. "You'll regret this."

"Hey, gimme the phone." Rafe took the phone as Kie pulled the fabric from the bed, giving it to Rafe.

"Here, tie him up." She told the boy while Athena kept the gun trained on the guard.

"Don't move." Rafe tried the guard up tightly before he leant down to demand. "Don't make a sound, all right? Good."

The trio walked out of the room, Rafe leading as they ran down the stairs. They got to the bottom of the stairs, outside a door.

"Hey, Rafe, Rafe, Rafe. Let me see the phone." Kie stated.

"Why?" Rafe asked.

"Just give it to me." Kie demanded.

"Okay. Give me the gun." Rafe spoke. Athena handed Rafe the gun as he gave Kie the phone. "You ready?"

Rafe slowly opened the door, noticing a guard standing outside the front door. "Shit. Okay, this way, this way, this way."

"Kie go get a photo." Athena nudged Kie in the direction of the painting that Singh was obsessed with. Kie nodded, rushing into the other room and taking a photo.

"Come on." Rafe urged as he managed to open another door, Athena right behind him. "Kie, what are you doing? Let's go! Come on!"

"Shut up." Athena told him, hitting him in the chest harshly. After typing on the phone, hopefully sending the photo to her own phone, Kie made her way across the landing to where the siblings were stood. Kie closed the door behind them quietly before they made their way out the side door.

"Can you see?" Rafe asked as they looked over a fence to see a truck full of hay. Athena and Kie made eye contact before Athena grabbed Kie's hand, running off in the other direction.

"I got an idea." Athena called.

"Come on, come on!" Kie told Rafe, who ran behind the two girls.

They sprinted out the gate into a field next to the road that the truck was on. With all their power they managed to catch up to the truck, running up the slope onto the road behind it. When it slowed down, the three managed to grab onto the back of the truck, pulling themselves up onto the come face to face with another person sitting there.

"Shit." Athena breathed out.

"No. No, no!" The man stood up.

Rafe quickly attacked the man, punching him in the face over and over again. Athena's eyes widened as her and Kie called out to the boy but he didn't listen. Rafe kicked the man when they fell to the floor before he picked him up and threw the man off the side of the truck.

"No." Athena jumped up quickly, moving to the side to see if the man was okay but she had no luck as the truck sped off down the road. The three hid under the sheet for the next part of the journey, knowing they would at some point run into guards. The truck came to a slow stop, the driver greeting one of the guards that inspected the back of the truck.

"All clear." The guard stated, allowing Athena to let out a subtle breath of relief.

The truck started moving again, and when they a bit away, the trio uncovered themselves, leaning up against the back of the truck. Athena sat in the middle of Kie and Rafe, looking around as she let out a breath. Athena noticed Kie's slightly nervous expression, placing her hand over Kie's to soothe her nerves.

"I told you we just had to work together." Rafe stated. "All right. Listen, I'm headed out to my boat, okay? I can give you a ride out, drop you wherever, somewhere safe. One thing though. Look at me. I know your friends are on the island, your boyfriend and our sister. I'm not helping them. All right? I can't trust them, okay? I'll give you two a ride out, not them. Okay?"

"I just wanna get off the island." Kie told him.

"That's smart." Rafe nodded. "You know, I never thought of you as a Pogue. Either of you actually."

"What did you think of us as?" Kie asked him.

"I mean, I always liked you, Kie. You're at least half Kook." Rafe laughed slightly. "And Athena, you were always full kook, my little sister, best friend."

Athena chuckled awkwardly, leaning her head on Kie's shoulder as they sat in silence for the rest of the journey. As the truck got into the city near the shore and the truck slowed down because of people in the road, the trio jumped out of the back of the truck. They looked around at the unknown land.

"Come on, my boat's down here." Rafe stated. They made their way towards the piers, Rafe leading them down one towards his boat. "Make sure your shoes are off. Okay, we should have enough juice to get us to Saint Lucia, no problem. Hey, get in the boat. Kie!"

"You're not gonna pull anything if I get in?" Kiara asked him.

"No, I'm not gonna pull anything, okay? I'm trying to do you a solid here." Rafe told her. "You really wanna be back there with Singh, or do you wanna be somewhere safe? Can you please help me with the bowline?"

Athena, who stood on the boat but only opposite Kie, held her hand out with a reassuring smile. Kie looked at her best friend, knowing that wherever Athena went Kie would follow without a doubt. The curly haired girl took a hold of the blonde's hand, stepping onto the boat before making their way to the bowline, shoes in their hands at Rafe's request.

Athena stood a bit away from Kie, who crouched down before turning to Rafe. "Hey, uh, I can't get it."

"What?"

"I need some help!" Kie shouted.

"Goddamn, do I have to do everything?" Rafe snapped, making his way over. "Move."

Rafe half climbed over the railing, reaching down to the rope and untying it. He threw it towards the water before Kie surged forward and pushed Rafe off the edge of the boat and into the water. Athena's mouth dropped in shock before she began laughing. Kie raced towards the wheel, jumping onto the platform as Rafe broke above the water.

"Kie!" Rafe shouted. "Kie! Where are you going?"

"I gotta help my friends!" Kie called.

"You don't know what you're doing! Hey!" Rafe shouted as Kie started the engine, turning the boat and drove off. "Shit! I'll find you, Kie! I'll find you! Kie, you're gonna regret this shit. You're done!"

"Sorry!" Athena shouted, laughing at her brother before she turned and ran up to where Kie was. She stood next to her best friend, smiling at her. "You're crazy, Kie, and god, I love you so much."

Athena then took control of the wheel while Kie tried messaging Portis' phone, hoping the pogues would receive it and not Singh or anyone. The girls drove the boat to the pier on the other side of town, telling the pogues to meet them there. When they arrived they waited until six thirty, the time they told the guys to meet them, staying hidden until they recognised anybody arrive.

At six thirty, they walked out of the boat. Athena immediately noticed two people stood on the pier, recognising them almost instantly. "Hey, hey Kie."

"Oh my god." Kie let out a breath as they climbed up towards the pier.

"JJ?" Athena called, catching the boy's attention. JJ turned around, the couple making eye contact as JJ pushed the hat from his head. "JJ."

The girl rushed down the steps of the boat, not noticing Kie making her own way to Sage, who stood next to JJ. Athena ran across the pier, JJ moving towards her as he caught her in his arms. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around.

"Attie, I'm so glad you're safe." JJ whispered, not letting her go.

"I have never been so glad to see your beautiful face, I thought I'd never see it again." Athena told him, holding his face in her hands.

"It's okay, I'm here now. It's all right." JJ pressed his lips to hers for just a moment before hugging her once more. "I'm not letting you go again."

Athena then pulled away from JJ and was immediately tackled into a hug from her twin sister. Athena wrapped her arms around the girls, letting out a breath of relief. She then hugged Pope and Cleo with a smile before fist-bumping Sage. John B was the last one to pull her in for a hug, ruffling her hair slightly with a small laugh.

"Glad you're okay, Thena." He told her.

"I knew you loved me JB." Athena commented before they shared a group hug.

"We though you guys were dead." Pope stated as they stayed wrapped in each other's embrace for a few moments.

"Are you kidding me?" JJ asked as they let go of the group hug. "Kie, Attie..."

"Is this you?" Pope questioned.

"What... what is..." Sarah shook her head in disbelief.

"You wouldn't believe it if we told you. Come on." Kie told them as they made their way back to the boat.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Holy shit." John B breathed out.

"That's right." Kie nodded.

"Thought we deserved to travel in style for once." Athena laughed. "No offence to the Twinkie."

"All offence taken Athena. Maybe you shouldn't have come back." John B swung his arm over her shoulder, pulling her to the boat.

Athena laughed once more. "Missed you too JB."

( 💌 ) isobel's notes
kie and athena 🫶🏻🍒
some cute jathena before i ruin them 🤭
just john b and athena being
background siblings as always
also athena shouting at rafe because
would it be a realact of paper rings
if she didn't