─☼☼☼─

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙇𝙊𝙏𝙏𝙀 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙆𝙄𝘼𝙍𝘼 Carrera bickered a lot. From the time the two of them could form full sentences, they always seemed to find something to bicker about. But that was all it was...bickering. 

They had had a handful of fights here and there, but nothing as catastrophic as the one that occurred the night before. 

Everything that had been said that night at the Hawk's Nest before the incident with John B and Topper had clearly been building for years. From the moment Charlotte started dating Rafe, things changed between the two sisters. 

When Kiara and Sarah became friends in their ninth grade year, it was like Charlotte's biggest dream had come true. Her little sister and her boyfriend's little sister...how perfect?

The Carrera girls seemed to finally be on the same page once again after being on different ones for almost two years at that point. 

Rafe hated letting Sarah and Kiara tag along with he and girlfriend, but Charlotte absolutely loved it. 

She invited the two girls almost everywhere her and Rafe went...in fact, it almost caused the couple to break up, Rafe claiming he hadn't spent one minute alone with Charlotte for almost six months. 

He was kind of right, so she dialled back the quad outings and eventually Sarah and Kie's friendship dwindled as well. 

And so it was, Kiara had gone back to Pogue life, leaving her sister on the wrong side of the island. Charlotte acted like she didn't care, I mean she could still hang out with the Pogues whenever she wanted, right?

Not exactly. 

Without so much as saying so, Rafe had barred her from spending too much time on the Cut. He always seemed to find an excuse as to why she needed to be with him rather than them. 

Slowly, Charlotte and Kiara grew apart. They still loved each other, I mean they were each other's only siblings after all...but things had changed. 

That's why this summer had been such a breath of fresh air for Charlotte. She had finally stated to build back her relationship with Kiara and the Pogues. But was she going to let Rafe ruin all of that once again?

No way in hell. 

She understood her sister's anger, but she also recognized that she herself had changed. She could be two things at once...this time she could do that without losing herself to one side entirely. She would make sure of it. 

Charlotte was done with the whole Kooks vs Pogues. This summer she planned to be whoever the hell she wanted to be─neither full Kook nor full Pogue. 

But even if she somewhat agreed with what Kiara was saying, there was no way she was going to be the first to break the stretch of silence the two sisters had fallen into. 

Even after they had sat in the hospital waiting room for hour waiting for news on John B, rejoiced with Pope, JJ and Sarah when it was the best news they could have hoped for, and finally made their way home, still in their Midsummers outfits, Kiara and Charlotte had yet to say a word to each other. 

Now, as the two girls worked their shift in The Wreck together, the only words they had spoken to one another consisted of "That's your table." And, "No, it's actually yours."

Pope, JJ and John B had showed up at some point. And as relieved as Charlotte was to see John B walking and talking like he didn't just take a twenty foot fall, she was keeping her distance. The angry looks Kiara was shooting her way were a clear message to stay away from the Pogues. 

But, as Charlotte refilled drinks behind the counter, she couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation Kiara and John B were currently having while Kiara awaited the drinks Charlotte was filling.

"I'm sorry, you're staying where?" Kiara demanded, barely shooting Charlotte a glance as the eldest sister handed her the cups. 

John B shrugged as nonchalantly as possible. "Tannyhill."

Somehow, Kiara looked even more pissed off than she had a minute earlier. "So you're living with Sarah Cameron?"

Selfishly, Charlotte hoped the anger that was once directed at her would now be displaced by Kiara's anger toward John B. But knowing her sister, she knew Kiara had enough pent up frustration to spread around. 

John B shot Charlotte an exasperated look as if she was somehow responsible for her sister. When the eldest Carrera simply rose her hands in surrender, he dropped his head slightly. "Look, the only reason I'm staying there is because he dad bailed be out, alright? And it's way better than foster care, which, by the way, is where I was about to go if Ward didn't bail me out, so─"

As John B was speaking, her began making way for the table where the other three were now gathered. In doing so, he waved Charlotte along behind him. 

She considered pretending she didn't see the gesture, already feeling her sister's glare. But then she decided she wanted to annoy Kiara so she followed after John B. 

Pope was leaning back in his chair as he spoke. "Hey, so like do you have a membership to the clubs now?"

"I don't know, Pope." John B winced as he sat down. 

"What about those little golf carts that they drive around? You get one of them?" JJ mocked, taking a swig of the soda Charlotte and Kiara had just provided them. 

Pope continued on with the teasing. "Does it come with one of those sweater vests. Or do you have to buy one of your own?"

"Why don't you guys ask my sister about these things?" Kiara wondered with an expression on her face that kind of wanted to make Charlotte punch her. "She's a Kook, if you weren't aware."

John B rolled his eyes as he looked between the two sisters. "Look, I'm not sure what I missed with you two─"

"You missed a lot." JJ interceded. 

"Quite a lot." Pope validated.

John B ignored them as the two sisters glared. "─But you need to get over it." He asserted. "We have bigger matters on our hands. So, unless you two make up, neither of you are coming on our next mission."

"That's not fair!" Kiara balked. "Charlotte isn't even a part of this! Why do I have to miss out because of her?"

Charlotte shot her sister a look as JJ placed his hands on her shoulders, fixing Kie with a glare of his own. "Kiara, Charley is a part of this. And so are you. You're both important."

She scoffed. "Charlotte shows up on the Cut after a year of barely speaking to us and now all of a sudden she's as valuable as I am? She's only been on half of the missions this far, anyway!"

Okay...Kiara was kind of right. But also way out of line. 

"Get off your freaking high horse, Kie." Charlotte ordered irritably.

John B ran his un-casted hand over his face in frustration. "Kiara, we let Charley in on this...and she's a part of it, okay? She's going to be a lot of help in what we have to do next. So, please either forgive each other or pretend to do so."

Kiara's eyes flitted between John B and her sister. Charlotte kept her brows raised, awaiting any sign of an apology. 

"I'm not making up with her with all of you here." Kiara finally snapped, hands on hips. "I'll talk to her later."

"Her has a name." Charlotte reminded.

Kiara just rolled her eyes before narrowing them on her next victim. "You're the real issue here...you promised." 

John B looked confused, as if she had directed her words at him by mistake. "What did I do?"

"You said you weren't with her."

Her evidently being Sarah. 

"Bro, just own it." JJ advised. "She got you."

Charlotte stole a sip of JJ's drink as she leaned back in the chair she had occupied. "Come on guys, leave him alone. He can mack on whoever he wants."

She received a mixture of a thankful and slightly off-put look from John B at her choice of words. 

Kiara on the other hand looked like she wanted to strangle her sister once again. "Look, John B. If you want to hang out with her, that's fine. But I'm letting you know now that I'm not doing anything with Sarah Cameron. Having Charlotte here is bad enough."

It was best to ignore Kiara when she got like this, so that's exactly what Charlotte did. Instead of reacting to her petty comments, she kept her eyes locked on John B who spoke up.

"Do you guys see her here?" He wondered, not giving them a chance to respond to the rhetorical question. "No...right. Okay, a little focus would be fantastic." When no one argued, he looked down at the map that Sarah had provided them. "We've got the map, right?"

JJ leaned forward to point to it. "Well, it's all out of whack 'cause the guy was Ganja'd when he drew it."

Charlotte resisted a snort as Kiara fixed JJ with a serious expression. "It's because the coast has changed."

"So we just have to look for landmarks that haven't changed." Pope suggested. 

John B nodded. "Which is where you come in, Char."

"Me?" Charlotte wondered, curiosity coating her voice. 

"Yeah. You're good at geography and history and all that shit, aren't you?"

She shrugged as she looked closed at the map. "I mean I guess. I did pretty well in high school and took a few courses this year at college, but..."

"Just think." John B pleaded. "Just get us started."

She sighed, eyes scanning the map as she tried to figure out what hadn't changed since its conception. "What about the old forts?" She suggested after a few moments. 

Kiara refused to meet her eye, but nodded nonetheless. "Battery Jasper."

A huge grin had broken onto John B's face as he nodded. "See? This is why we need both Carrera sisters!"

Charlotte smuggled a grin as Kiara rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time.

"If you keep doing that your eyes are going to fall out, Kiara." Charlotte muttered which earned another razor sharp glare from her sister. 

"What did I say?" John B challenged as he stood up. "Cut it out, or you're both getting left behind."

JJ and Pope wore amused looks as Charlotte crossed her arms firmly across her chest. "Okay, dad."

─☼☼☼─

A few hours later, the five of them were standing in front of what's left of Battery Jasper, gazing down at the map in hand. 

"We're in Battery right here." Pope deduced. "So if this is Parcel Nine, then it's somewhere Northeast of here."

"Somewhere over there." Kiara pointed.

"Over there?" JJ echoed. "Guys, that's not Tannyhill. That's a subdivision."

Charlotte stepped onto a piece of rubbled stone next to him. "Tannyhill Plantation used to be the entire island." She explained, recalling her high school history lessons. 

"Right." John B agreed. "It got sold into smaller pieces over time."

Pope hunched back over the map. "Okay, so we're just looking for an old stone wall..."

Perking up, Charlotte jumped down from the stone she was standing on to peer over Pope's shoulder. "I know where that is."

"You do?" John B's voice was full of hopeful glee. 

"Yeah." She answered, running her finger along the map to ensure she was correct. "In middle school, a group of us used to play games in the yard at night...it's the Crain house."

All four of the younger kids' faces paled. "No."

Charlotte spun away from the map, amused with their fear. "Oh, yes."

"This is worst case scenario." JJ muttered. 

Pope shook his head as he folded up the map. "Of all places, why'd it have to be there."

The fear they were all feeling didn't seem to subside as they made the drive to the Old Crain House. By the time Charlotte had properly directed John B, she could feel the nerves radiating throughout the Twinkie. 

"I heard that Mrs. Crain buried her husband's head on the property." JJ offered a very helpful bit of information. 

"You guys used to hangout here?" John B questioned Charlotte with a look of disbelief. 

She nodded with a small shrug. "Yeah. We used to see who could get the closest to the house without chickening out."

"Crazy Kooks." He muttered, eyes locked on the large house that loomed up ahead. 

Charlotte cracked a grin. "You know, I think I saw her once...watching us."

JJ looked horrified. "Okay, you're not making this any easier here, Charley."

The eldest of the group let out a snort as she placed her hands on top of the stone wall. "Stop your whining and help me over, will you?"

She didn't want to tell them...but she was scared too.

─☼☼☼─