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CHARLOTTE CARRERA HATED secrets. If she had learned anything over the past two years, it was that secrets tore people apart. Bit by bit, they destroyed relationships, friendships, lives.

So sitting in the boat with John B who was blissfully unaware that his whole life was about to change was complete and utter torture. Sarah and Kiara seemed to feel the same way because the three girls had shared so many pointed looks that Charlotte was afraid it was about to become obvious.

But John B was none the wiser, he was too focused on finding his best friend. As he should be.

Speaking of, unlike her older sister, Kiara apparently had no qualms with blabbing about others' secrets, because she had already spilled to John B about JJ's theory surrounding his lineage. Charlotte wasn't pleased with Kiara, despite the fact that said secret might be what was leading them to JJ.

For the third time that summer, the H.M.S. Pogue propelled toward Goat Island, uneasiness hanging in the air just as it always did. There would never not be an ominous feeling surrounding the island, and Charlotte wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that Rafe potentially wanted the two of them to live there in the future.

But then again, she'd live anywhere with him...and she knew there was no denying that.

"Wait, what is that?" Kiara questioned, her eyes squinting at something in the distance. "Kill the engine."

Charlotte pulled her focus from Rafe, following the eye line of her sister. Sure enough, there in the distance was some sort of boat. One that definitely didn't belong.

John B killed the engine, steering the boat behind a cluster of reeds. The four of them crouched, peering over the shore. Charlotte scanned the boat. It was full of a least a dozen people, all of them milling about on the deck. But there was a group of them on one of the upper levels, and a familiar head of blonde hair caught her eye. "Oh my God," she whispered, heart dropping to her stomach. "It's JJ."

John B let out a quiet curse. "Groff too."

The two of them weren't there by choice, that was certain. Each of them were being detained by large men, a woman in between the two of them. If Charlotte had to guess, whoever she was, she was the leader.

"Those are the guys from Charleston who took the scroll," Sarah declared, causing Charlotte's chest to tighten even more.

Kiara surveyed the occupants of the boat. "Scuba guy," she nodded toward one of the burly men.

"What do they want with JJ?" John B questioned.

Charlotte shook her head, narrowing in one the woman who appeared to be faced toward Groff. "I don't think it's JJ they're after," she answered. "I think he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Well what do we do?" Kiara demanded. She paused for a minute, chewing on her bottom lip. "We could, like...ram them! Like just drive right into them."

"Ram them?" John B echoed. "Ram that thing? We'd barely even make a dent."

Kiara threw her arms up. "I don't know, John B. I'm just trying to help JJ. I don't see you coming up with any ideas."

"We need some sort of distraction," Charlotte deduced, chewing on her bottom lip just as her sister had done. "Something that will throw them off so we can get in there and get JJ."

The words had barely left her mouth by the time Sarah spoke up. "Like this?" She wondered, holding up two bottles of liquor-- surely JJ's. She pointed to the back of the boat. "We have gasoline."

A small laugh fell from Charlotte's lips as she gave an approving nod. "I love it."

With brows raised, Kiara looked between the two of them. "That's psychotic."

John B was slightly more on board. "Let's find some rags."

"No time," Charlotte muttered, already in the process of tearing a piece of her shirt free. "Here."

All three of them stared back at her for a moment. "What?" She balked. "It's an old shirt anyway."

"Fair enough," John B responded, taking the strips of fabric from her hand. The girls watched as he shoved it into the liquor bottles, soaking it with gasoline before tying a rope around the neck of the bottle.

"Looks like you've done this before," Charlotte pointed out, brow raised.

John B shot her a look as Kiara spoke up. "Okay, so we'll use the fire to distract them, he'll get free, jump over, and we'll go and grab him." She repeated the already obvious plan. But Charlotte could tell she was repeating it to try and ease her own nerves. "Just don't hit him with the bomb, please." Kiara directed at John B. "I'd like him in one piece."

"Got it." John B muttered, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Don't hit JJ with the Molotov cocktail." He moved to the front of the boat, getting a good grasp on the rope. "Anybody got a lighter."

"Here." Charlotte and Sarah reached for the lighter at the same tine, but one stern look from Charlotte send Sarah moving to the other end of the boat. She could not afford to get hurt. It wasn't just her anymore.

Kiara watched as her sister lit the flame, hovering it over the cocktail. "Be careful, John B." She ordered. He rolled his eyes before looking to Charlotte. "Ready when you are."

A shaky breath escaped Charlotte lips as she connected the flame to the fabric. She hated fire, like so much so she even hated lighting candles. But this was their only hope.

John B stood to his full height, Charlotte stepping back as he began to swing the rope in a large circle, trying to gain enough momentum to send it flying the twenty feet to reach the ship. Round and round it went...until he released it.

Instead of flying outward like it should have, the cocktail went flying staright up in the air...right above them.

"Oh God," John B gasped, scrambling to get out of the way.

"What the fuck, John B!" Charlotte exclaimed while the other two girls echoed very similar remarks.

The glass bottle came into contact with the edge of their boat, sending flames licking up the sides. John B tried to pull Charlotte away from the heat, but in doing so tipped both of them into the water.

Great. Now Charlotte was soaking wet and pissed off.

"You threw it straight up, dumbass!" Kiara snapped at John B as he and Charlotte resurfaced.

Sarah was scrambling around like a chicken with her head cut off. "What is wrong with you, John B!?" She shook her head, still frenzied. "What do we do?"

Charlotte began treading water with her legs, using her arms to splash as much water as she could toward the flames. "Get the bailing bucket!" She ordered her sister. "It's at the back."

"Oh God," John B grunted. "That was a terrible idea. I missed calculated."

"You think?" Charlotte snapped, still doing her best to push enough water up and onto the flames despite the fact that not a droplet was hitting the fire.

Kiara did as her sister directed, grabbing and filling the bucket before splashing it over the flames, killing the fire almost as quickly as it had started.

But it was too late. They had seen them from the ship...obviously. "Identify yourselves!" One of the men shouted.

"I'm so sorry," John B declared as he pulled himself up onto the boat. The minute he was up, he was turning and offering a hand to pull Charlotte up with him.

Kiara wore a look that could kill. "A blind bat could have thrown that better!"

Sarah shushed them while John B ignored Kiara's tirade. "I've got an idea," he panted, already pulling open one of the storage containers. "JJ's got a rubber slingshot thingy."

Charlotte let out of cough from the water she'd inhaled when John B had taken them overboard as John B pulled the slingshot out.

"We need another bottle." Kiara exclaimed, scanning the bottom of the boat for the other bottle they hadn't used yet.

"You have ten seconds to explain yourselves!" Came the voice from the ship. "Or we start shooting."

"John B, move." Charlotte ordered, already shoving him out of the way. He tried to shove her back but the look on her face told him otherwise. "You're not touching that thing. It's our last bottle." She shot back, taking the slingshot from his hand. "I'll do it. Kie, ready?"

Surprisingly, John B didn't even argue.

Kiara hurried to her sister's side, shoving the bottle into her hand. "Here."

Charlotte secured the bottle in the slingshot, heart pounding in her ears as Kiara lit the fabric. They had maybe five seconds until these people started shooting.

She gave herself two to aim, and then she fired.

Thankfully, Charlotte had better luck than John B.

The bottle went flying toward the ship, landing on the upper deck with a bang. And then the fire spread. It lapped up the entire platform in seconds, taking almost everything with it.

Screams tore through the night as the beast that was fire latched onto one of the men who had been on guard.

"Holy shit," Charlotte gawked, her eyes wide as guilt consumed her. She'd just fucking lit a man on fire.

"It worked!" John B exclaimed, not having the same internal battle that Charlotte was.

The boat fired up, Kiara at the helm as Charlotte still sat in shock.

"Oh my God," She repeated, still seated on the bottom of the boat as Kiara veered them toward the larger ship. "I fucking lit him on fire!" She cried, shock wavering for a second as she finally stood to see what was happening.

John B steadied her, pointing toward where the man dove headfirst into the water. "He's fine," He promised, as if to alleviate her worries. Even if he had no idea whether the man was fine or not, Charlotte appreciated it.

Charlotte collapsed into the seat next to Sarah as Kiara slowed in front of the ship. All four of them looked for any sign of the blonde haired boy, but there was none. "Where the hell did he go?" Charlotte questioned, adrenaline replacing the shock.

Without even giving any of them a chance to argue, John B was leaping from the H.M.S. Pogue and onto the ship. "I'll find him! Circle back around!"

He disappeared into one of the doors before Sarah could even think about stopping him. The look on her face read that she'd been completely blindsided, and that she was completely scared out of her mind that she might lose John B on that ship.

Wordlessly, Charlotte reached out and took her hand, giving it a tight squeeze as Kiara sent the ship lurching forward, away from danger. Charlotte figured that they'd all be too busy with the inferno to even think about shooting at the three girls, but she didn't want to risk it.

Each second that passed as Kiara took them around the loop was excruciating for Charlotte, so she could only imagine how it felt for Sarah and Kiara knowing their boyfriends were in there. There was so much going on, Charlotte hope the two boys were able to stay under the radar.

However, as Kiara brought the boat back around, it was clear that that was not the case.

John B and JJ had managed to make it to the very top deck, but they were flanked by at least half a dozen men, meaning their only way to get to the girls was to jump.

It appeared that the two boys were having a battle of hesitation for a moment. Charlotte's breath caught in her throat as she watched, and waited, until...the jumped. The two of them went barrelling toward the water, and only did Charlotte let out a breath when two heads popped up.

Kiara brought the boat as close to them as she could get, forcing them to swim only a short distance. The minute they reached the edge of the boat, Charlotte reached out and pulled JJ up, as Sarah did the same to John B.

"Go, Kiara!" JJ ordered, pulling Charlotte down to the bottom of the boat with him. "Stay down!" He yelled to all of them.

Sure enough, within seconds the bullets were flying. Now they were something to be worried about.

Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the noise of bullets flying as JJ's body kept her pinned to the ground. Too much had happened in the past twenty four hours for her to even begin to conceptualize.

"Are they following?" John B yelled, he and Sarah crouched at the back of the boat.

Kiara was the one who answered. "Not yet."

The warmth from JJ's body disappeared as he moved away from Charlotte. "I think we're out of range."

Charlotte sat up, her heart still pounding in her chest as she leaned against the side of the boat. "What the fuck?" She whispered, mostly to herself.

"I got the scroll," John B panted, holding up a long black tube. "I got the scroll."

"What is it?" Kiara questioned, taking it from his hands.

JJ struggled against exhausted. "That leads to the Blue Crown."

Well, at least one positive came out of all of that.

─☼☼☼─

Hours had passed, but Charlotte could still feel her body buzzing with adrenaline.

Since returning to Poguelandia 2.0, Charlotte had showered, stared at her reflection in the mirror and disassociated for a solid five minutes, and made cookies. But nothing was helping the hurricane of thoughts in her mind.

The other four were gathered in the shop, trying to decipher the scroll, but using any brain power was just about the last thing Charlotte wanted to do that night. So she'd decided on other plans.

Only JJ looked up when Charlotte entered the room, but he did so for only a moment. It was as if he couldn't look her in the eye. Good, Charlotte thought, I'm pissed at him anyway.

The scroll was laid out in front of them, but Charlotte figured they weren't getting very far considering they were passing a joint around. It was hard enough to even begin to understand that thing without weed coursing through the bloodstream.

John B took a hit of the joint. "I'm still not understanding this thing."

JJ squinted. "You just gotta let your eyes go out of focus...and then into focus."

Yeah...Charlotte wasn't going to be missing much if she wasn't here tonight.

John B exhaled, holding out the joint toward Sarah who took it without second thought.

Charlotte felt herself starting to say something, but she knew that'd bring too much attention. So for some reason in her adrenaline soaked mind, hitting the joint out of Sarah's hand was the best way to stop her from taking a hit. In hindsight she could have just lightly taken it. But the girl had been through a lot that night, okay!

"Yo, what the fuck, Charley!" JJ demanded, unfocusing from the scroll to shoot her a glare. "I just rolled that."

Sarah shot Charlotte a grateful look as the older girl bent down and picked the joint up off of the ground. "Sorry," she muttered. "There was a bug on it."

Kiara narrowed her eyes for a moment before she too realized her sister's motives. "It's true," she affirmed, taking the joint from Charlotte before dusting it off. "Saw it with my own two eyes."

JJ shook his head in discontent as John B just seemed to notice the tin Charlotte set down on the table next to her. "What are those?" He wondered, already taking the lid off.

Charlotte swatted at his hand. "They're not for you."

All eyes were on her, and in that moment Charlotte wished she'd just left without telling them where she was going.

"Who are they for then?" John B wondered, eyeing the cookies again.

Deciding to not give a fuck what they thought, Charlotte answered honestly. "I'm just going to drop them at Rafe's to say thanks for helping us yesterday."

JJ muttered a curse word as Kiara and Sarah both Ahhhh-ed as if it made all the sense in the world. John B rose his brows as he picked up a cookie much to Charlotte's dismay. "Ohhhh, these are fuck-me-cookies."

Charlotte couldn't help but go red in the cheeks. "They are not!" She snapped. "They're chocolate chip." She added under her breath.

John B stuck the cookie in JJ's face. "JJ, are they not fuck-me cookies?"

Although JJ wasn't pleased with  Charlotte,
he was willing to humour John B. "Sure smells like it to me."

Sarah and Kiara were trying to hide their giggles as Charlotte's cheeks grew redder and redder.

Pulling the cookie back toward him, John B bit into it. Before he could get a single snide remark out, Charlotte spoke, "Would you look at that John B, we both still have our clothes on. Guess they're not 'fuck-me cookies' after all, you dick."

John B smirked, amused that Charlotte was fighting back. "Guess I was mistaken," he said sweetly before gently placing the lid back on the tin. "As you were."

Charlotte rolled her eyes as she snatched the tin from the counter. "I'll be back later. There are cookies in the kitchen for you idiots unless you think you're gonna end up in my bed if you eat them or something."

John B couldn't help but snort in utter amusement as Kiara and Sarah laughed equally as hard. JJ was the only one who didn't laugh, and as much as Charlotte didn't want it to both her, deep down it did.

With the cookies in hand, she pushed that thought from her mind and headed for Rafe's. Somehow seeing him might be the least chaotic thing about her night.

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