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chapter sixty two
I CANT BELIEVE THIS
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Sarah and Athena gasped as they stared at their dad, who stood in the doorway, the knife clattering to the ground when Sarah dropped it in shock.

"It's me." Ward spoke, stepping towards them. "I know this is impossible to you both and I'm gonna explain—"

The man was cut off when Sarah slapped him across the face, Athena too shocked to even react, more upset than angry. She thought her father was dead, she cried and sobbed for hours over a man who wasn't even gone. It was just her luck that this had happened to her twice now.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I deserve that. I do. I know I do. You two have been through hell, and that is my fault. And I'm sorry. I'm so—" Athena scoffed as Sarah swatted him away, the two sitting down.

"I can't believe this." Athena made a face.

"I'm so sorry girls." Ward continued. "I can promise you that I didn't have any other choice. I didn't. I don't expect you to understand that now. All I can do is tell you what happened, and I'll answer your questioned. Maybe you'll see it was the only way."

Athena and Sarah both looked at their father in disbelief.

"I know you both don't believe that, and I know it's hard to hear. But I—" Ward took a breath. "It was my only choice. It was the only way to make sure that we were all safe and we were all together."

Athena sniffled, crying softly.

"It was the only way to be a family again." Ward finished, grabbing a chair and sitting opposite the girls as he began to explain how he faked his death, "I used the scuba gear on the Druthers. I had it all set up advance, timed to the second. It was touch and got getting off. I almost didn't make it."

Ward chuckled at his own joke, the twins rolling their eyes and sitting up a bit when Rafe walked into the room.

"Girls, what I need you to understand more than anything is that I never imagined you would be there." Ward continued. "I wanted to call you immediately to tell you that I was okay, to explain to all. It broke my heart that I couldn't. But I had to make sure Rafe got away."

"Thank you, Dad." Rafe spoke up, Sarah glaring at him. "At least one of us is grateful."

"That's psychopathic, both of you!" Sarah exclaimed.

"I promised Rafe that he wouldn't go to prison for helping me." Ward sat back in his chair. "I had to make good on that promise."

"Not that you care." Rafe muttered.

"Did it look like I didn't care when I thought Dad was dead?" Sarah questioned.

"It looked like you cared about running off with some asshole." Rafe shouted.

"It looked like all you cared about was the inheritance!" Sarah retorted.

"Yes, you cared!" Ward exclaimed, interrupting the siblings arguing. "You cared! That's the point! Anybody on that dock could see how much you cared, sweetheart."

"Not like you were there." Athena mumbled, scoffing. "You were swimming with the little mermaid."

"And I know you're angry right now, you're both angry and rightfully so. The important thing is that it's all behind us now. It is." Ward nodded before pushing a few maps and stuff over to them. "We're gonna live a new life, all of us together. Girls, where I'm taking you, it's paradise. It's off this place called Guadeloupe. And oh, Sarah by the way, all those A's you got in French are about to pay off, cause they speak French there."

Sarah pushed the stuff back over to their dad, sitting up. "I want to call my friends, and I want to call my boyfriend."

"Can we at least just tell them we're okay." Athena added. "And make sure they're okay."

"Yes, of course you can. As soon as we get there, you can call John B." Ward nodded turning to Athena. "And you can call JJ, they know you're here, right?"

"No, he doesn't." Sarah snapped.

"Yes, he does." Ward stood up.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked.

"When you were getting ready, he came by the house and Rose talked to him. You know the cross you've all been looking for? Rafe was able to get it." Sarah sighed as Ward spoke, Athena getting up knowing her dad was about to spit some bullshit story, the blonde going to stand near Rafe. "Turns out that, I guess, historically, it belongs to the Heywards."

"Yeah, I know." Sarah scoffed.

"Ugh, the best family." Athena mumbled. "Wish I was one of them."

"It also turns out that the most important thing to me is you," Ward pointed to Sarah. Athena furrowed her eyebrows, turning to see the upset look on Rafe's face, gently placing her hand over his for a second before removing it. "So I gave John B the cross for you."

"And John B was okay with that?" Sarah questioned, unconvinced. "And JJ was okay with letting Athena go, really?"

"Well, um, JJ didn't say anything and I had just given him a half-billion-dollar artefact, so, yeah, he seemed pretty okay." Ward shrugged. Athena laughed under her breath.

"JJ, being okay with letting me go. That boy hadn't stopped thinking about be since we were twelve he ain't letting me go that easily." Athena spoke quietly. "He's such a liar."

"I don't know what to tell you." Ward sighed. "He's a pogue. Rose, Wheezie, come on in."

"Sarah. Sarah, hey." Wheezie walked in, running over to her sister. "We are going to our own private island. Isn't that awesome."

When Sarah didn't answer, simply glaring at Ward, the man spoke up, "She's not feeling real well right now, sweetheart. But she will be. We're all gonna be feeling pretty good soon, huh?"

Wheezie simply smiled, looking over to Athena. "Athena! Thena!"

"What's up Wheezie?" Athena asked, going over to Wheezie.

"We get a private island." The young girl spoke excitedly.

"That's great." Athena smiled.

Wheezie, Rose, Sarah and Athena sat around doing nothing on the boat after Ward and Rafe left them alone.

"Do you guys wanna play war?" Wheezie broke the silence.

"You brought card?" Sarah asked her.

"Mm-hmm." Wheezie nodded.

"We'll play." Athena agreed.

"I'll go grab them." Wheezie leaped out of her seat, leaving the room to grab the cards. Sarah looked at Athena, who winked at her before getting out of her seat.

Athena walked over to the side, stumbling as she did, Sarah jumping up to steady her. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Athena, you okay?" Rose got up.

"Seasickness." Sarah answered for her.

"I hate boats." Athena groaned.

"I have just the thing." Rose walked towards the door.

"Meds?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah, seriously, that was for your own good, you know it killed me to do that." Rose stated.

"She was just gonna ask for the nondrowsy, I prefer them." Athena smiled sarcastically.

"We're all together." Rose scoffed. "Just chill, girls. This is a good thing."

Rose walked into the room, looking for the meds for Athena. Sarah stared at the door, grabbing her twins hand as they both walked out the door quietly, looking both ways to see if anyone was there.

The two girls walked down the corridor turning into a different room. Athena nudged Sarah, turning their attention to the cross that sat in a wooden box on the floor. Sarah scoffed, now knowing their father was lying. Athena followed her sister out of a door into the fresh air.

"Shit." Sarah whispered, turning and running up a ladder, Athena close behind, coming to the control station. The two listened to the crew talk for a second before Sarah had an idea, distracting the crew so she could grab the radio.

The plan worked, Sarah trying to speak to the dispatch but the man caught her, grabbing the radio and dismissing any concern for the twins. Athena sighed. The two sat around while the crew called for their father, watching them argue.

"If we get out of this, we're gonna have to split up." Athena stated.

"I thought you said never to split up." Sarah argued.

"We split up once before and still made it out alive." Athena turned to Sarah. "We'll be okay."

"Sarah and Athena." Sarah started.

"For all eternity."

"For all eternity." Sarah smiled.

Ward then came outside, immediately shouting at the two girls. Sarah walked off, Ward following not even checking if Athena was there. Athena was about to run when she looked toward Sarah, sighing — she was not leaving her twin sister alone with these people and so she followed her in hoped that the pogues would save them soon.

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𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗦
only two chapters left :(
rafe and athena next chapter
and athena reuniting with the pogues :)))

also does anyone actually want my stranger things book out, a lot of people on tiktok do but i'm scared people won't actually read it