——

"Hey, are you done with your shift?" Kiara asked Emelina, who got out of the restroom in her normal clothes. "Yeah, why?"

"Great. Can you bring this outback by the dock for me?" Kie handed her friend a cooler filled with goods. Before Emelina could question her or protest, Kie walked away to the employee's room.

With an exaggerated sigh, Emelina walked outside with a cooler in one hand and the other fixing her sunglasses. Her feet hit the dock, and she stood there momentarily, taking in the fresh air. She placed the cooler on the ground, not really sure what to do next.

Her eyes catch an empty boat that reads HMS POGUE and she observed it for a minute before realization hits. "Kie-"

"Hi."

She turned around to find John B standing behind her. Within one blink, she was being picked up and carried in the direction of the boat. "John B put me down!"

"Can't do that. Kie's orders," he said and set her down on the boat. Kiara came to view, standing on the dock and picking up the cooler where Emelina had last left it. "Nice of you to join us, E!"

Kiara, Pope, and JJ, who appeared out of nowhere, joined John B and Emelina in the boat, where they soon zoomed out of the area before she could have thought of leaving.

Emelina sat in between John B and Kiara. Pope sat across from them and JJ manned the steering wheel. All of them looked at her. "You know if you had asked. I would've come." She broke the silence.

"Would you have?" Kiara suspiciously asked. "Maybe... if JJ hadn't pulled a gun out last night." Emelina moved her attention toward the blonde, whose back was turned against her.

"I was saving his life," JJ replied coldly. She sighed, forcing her hair behind her ears, and had no reply because he wasn't wrong. Instead, she looked around the boat and spotted some scuba gear. "Are you guys diving?"

"Yeah...." John B cleared his throat, "You know how to?"

"I mean, yeah. I learned how to dive years ago," she answered. Kiara walked over to the gear and started to rummage through it. "Doesn't matter anyway. These are all empty. You took empty tanks." She looked at John B, and he shrugged, "I—"

"This is a quarter full. That's enough for one of us."

"I love it when a plan comes together," Pope said sarcastically. Emelina furrowed her eyebrows, "Plan? What are you guys talking about?"

By this time, the boat was still at the marsh maze. The group went silent; none of them dared to look into her eyes. Emelina noticed the uncomfortable silence and knew they weren't planning to tell her whatever scheme they had. So much for being kidnapped.

"You know what?" Emelina stood from her place. "I think I'm going to take a quick dip," she told them and walked to the edge of the boat, stripping from her clothes. A bright yellow bikini is revealed underneath. All the guys turn to look. She slipped off her shoes and dived into the water.

"Seriously?" Kie looked at her friends with a disapproving look. "I brought her here so she feels included."

"I don't think it's such a good idea to tell her anything, Kie. We shouldn't trust Kooks." JJ said after peeling his eyes away from the brunette.

"She's not like them." she snapped. "Listen, she's been my friend for a long time. I wouldn't bring her here if I knew she couldn't be trusted."

"I, for one, am perfectly okay with her being involved." Pope included his input, leaning back onto the seat.

"Are you guys not thinking clearly? Who knows, she might run off and tell her ex-boyfriend Topper." JJ said, eyeing everyone.

"She wouldn't do that. Besides, Topper hasn't crossed her mind in months."

"She's the only one who knows how to dive, JJ." John B pointed out. "We kind of need her."

"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ asked. "Well, if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets in your blood, and you get the bends." Pope clarified.

"Bends like, bend over and..." JJ held onto the support and bent his back. "The bends kill you," Pope said, and JJ stopped, pretending he didn't do that. He gave his friend a skeptical glance. "Right..."

Emelina returned to the surface, swimming near the boat. JJ watched her as she climbed back on the boat. She grabbed ahold of her hair and drained any excess water out. She could sense a little tension, which could have been avoided if Kiara wasn't so hell-bent on colliding her two worlds.

Kiara looked at John B, waiting for him to reveal everything to her. And he did. Starting with finding the sunken boat, the motel key, the gun, all of it.

"So, this is some treasure hunt. Do you know what you're looking for?" she asked.

John B coughed. "Well, we came back here to find out."

"Yeah, so we need you to dive into the boat." Pope pointed downwards. Emelina looked at her best friend, who was already looking at her with begging eyes. "Okay, I'm in." Emelina nodded, feeling a burst of optimism. Kiara owes her one.

"Really? There's only a little bit of oxygen left. Are you cool with that?" Kiara asked, growing concerned. "Yes, Kie. I've trained to hold my breath underwater anyway."

"Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope pulled a piece of paper and pencil out of the blue and starts doing some equations. "That boat's about 30 feet down. So it'll take twenty-five minutes at that depth. This means you need to make your safety stop at about... ten feet. Alright, for two minutes."

"Okay, okay. I got it. Ten feet. Two minutes." Emelina repeated to herself. Kiara stood up, threw her T-shirt off, and jumped into the water with the clothing in her hand.

"Uh..." John B looked down. "What was that all about?" Pope asked.

"I don't know, but I liked it. A lot." JJ said, his eyes glued to the water. Emelina grimaced at his words. If she was going to stay with them more often, they should learn what not to say in front of her. She let it slide and stood up from her position, eyeing the water carefully.

"Yo," Emelina turned her head to the blonde, grabbing her attention. "C'mere."

She made sure he could catch her rolling eyes as she walked over to him. "When you're down there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay? Don't mess this up." JJ handed her a brass cylinder with a notched end on a string.

"So easy for you to say when you'll be up here doing absolutely nothing," she said and collected the string to put over her neck, overlapping her current necklace. His eyebrows furrowed, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Kiara appeared from the water. "Hey! I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop."

Emelina thanked her and started putting on the scuba gear. "Keep an eye on this." Pope showed her the gauge. "You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress. Just breathe as little as possible."

"Zen. Think Zen, you know?" JJ started to imitate breathing through a mask. "Okay." Emelina nodded, starting to get a little anxious.

"You'll be fine. Thank you for doing this." Kiara smiled at the brunette, giving her a shoulder squeeze once she returned to the boat.

John B fixed the vest for her, adjusting it to how it needed to be. She looked at his face and examined the black bruise around his eye. Her heart panged a bit, "Hey, I'm sorry about that." She referenced his eye.

He shook his head, moving it to the side so she wouldn't look at it anymore. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault."

"Yeah, but, it was Topper. He-" she started but he cut her off, "You dated him once. He's not your responsibility anymore. I'm fine, really."

"Okay..." Emelina inhaled and exhaled a big wave of air. She made her way over to the boat's edge, looking at the sun and then down at the water where she could see her reflection. Here goes nothing, she thought.

"Hey, if you get caught out here in the marsh, we're fucked, so... better get a move on," Pope told her, and she nodded, giving a salute after putting on the mask and jumping into the water.

Emelina was now deep down in the water, finding the T-shirt Kiara placed. She breathed little as possible, as Pope instructed. She swam down the sunken wreck and found a cabin; she tried to yank it open but accidentally pulled the regulator from her mouth. 

Panicking, she grabbed the regulator, put it back in her mouth, and started breathing fast out of fear.

She brushed some sand around, finding a hole that could potentially fit the brass cylinder. She put it in the hole and turned, resulting in a panel of the floor that got lifted. There's a black bag, nothing else. Looking at her gauge, there wasn't much oxygen left, so she left the wreck and went straight toward the T-shirt.

Up top, the sheriff's boat is visible and two officers are speaking to the Pogues, informing them that the marsh is closed. Emelina sees the second boat and decides to stay put until it leaves. The time was running out and anxiety creeps in.

Deputy Shoupe started to inspect the boat and then went to the edge of the boat, overseeing the view. The glare of the setting sun prevented him from seeing the sunken boat. Emelina saw a figure at the boat's top and realized no more seconds left on the gouge. She held her breath.

"Alright." Shoupe stepped off the ledge and into the boat itself. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Sure is." John B replied. All four Pogues start feeling a bit worried since it has now been over two minutes. "Let us know if you see anything on your way out," Shoupe said, referring to the missing boat that they're trying to find. He stepped in his own boat and started it up.

"Will do. We'll be gone soon, sir." JJ told him. "Yes, you will," Shoupe replied and drove away.

Emelina, now feeling a bit lightheaded, saw the boat drive away, and she automatically swam up to the surface. She gasped for air, ripping the mask off of her. She needed to stay still for a moment and relax her body.

"Oh, God! Jesus Christ!" A wave of relief hit them all. "Don't scare us like that!"

"How'd it go down there?" JJ asked, but she was too focused on regulating her breathing to answer. "Someone get her." Kiara urged one of the boys.

Emelina swam over to the ladder, one hand securing the bag. "Did you find anything?" JJ asked at the edge of the boat next to the ladder.

"Yeah..." she breathed, holding up the bag but it was too heavy for her to fully bring it out with one hand. JJ grabbed onto it, and then her hand. "Come up, hold onto me. I got you."

She gets on the boat, nearly collapsing but JJ still had a hold on her. "Hey, relax. Sit down," he told her and she slowly nodded. Kie sat down next to her and aided in removing the gear for her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just ran out of air. That's all," she assured. "Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh... took care of 'em," JJ told her.

"Here." Kiara gave Emelina a cold bottle of water from the cooler, and she started chugging it down, taking deep breaths.

"Hey, guys? Guys, bogey, two o'clock." Kiara stared at the water in front of her. "What?" There was a boat coming their way.

"Do you recognize that boat?" Pope asked any one of them. Both Kiara and Emelina declined. "I've never seen it in my life. What are they doing here? The marsh is closed."

"I don't know. But, let's not stick around and find out." JJ answered her.

"JJ, get the bowline." John B instructed him, who did as he proceeded. "Should we wait on 'em?" Pope asked, and John B shook his head, "No, we're not going to wait on them. Get the stern. Go!"

JJ started pulling up the stern as John B started the engine. Everyone started to panic, throwing random ideas for why they might be at the marsh. "Are they coming for us?" Emelina questioned.

"Go into the marsh." JJ told John B. "I'm going! Act natural."

"Guys... they're following us," Emelina informed them, keeping her eyes on the bandits. "Shit. This can't be good." JJ sighed and ushered John B to go faster.

Before they know it, they were ducking at the sound of gunshots firing. "Holy, shit! Why are there always guns when I'm with you guys?" Emelina shoved her head down.

"Oh, my God. We're going to die!" Pope's voice starts to exploit panic. It didn't make any of them feel better about the current situation.

"E! Grab that!" Kie pointed to the hatch since she was closest to it. Emelina opened it and pulled out a net with floaters. "Get down, Lina!" John B ordered, but she didn't listen.

Kiara grabbed the net from her, and at the right turn, she tossed it over the water; it soon went under the other boat causing their engine to stumble and eventually come to a halt.

Once they were out of sight, everyone breaks out into fits of smiles and relief. "Oh, my God." Emelina exhales a breath and JJ cheered. "Whoo! Booyah! Pogue God, man!"

When they reached back at the dock, they parked the boat and dug through the bag that Emelina discovered. They found nothing but a compass, the compass that belonged to John B's father.