EDEN listened as Pope gave directions to their new destination from the back of the Twinkie.

"Okay, so the road should split up here." Pope took shotgun as John B. drove, eyes darting between the map in his hands to the road ahead.  He spewed out directions, making sure everything was matching up—being the smartest one out of them all in this department, he was put in charge of being the real-life GPS.

"Okay." John B. nodded.

"Alright. You're gonna take a left."

The Twinkie swerved to the left, causing the side of Eden's head to bang against the window with a small 'thump'. She quickly pressed a hand to her temple, a groan surpassing her lips at the sudden pain, "Give a warning next time you're gonna try to give me a concussion, bro."

John B. pulled over on the side of the road, and everyone looked out the window to see a stone wall covered in vines and leaves—just as they were looking for. 

As the vehicle came to a halt, JJ crawled up beside the Bexley, looking out the window she'd hit her head upon moments before, musing, "That looks like a stone wall to me."

"No, really, J?" Eden gave a dumbfounded expression at the blonde boy, "I thought it was made of wood."

"Fuck off, Eden." the Maybank flipped her the bird, "Seriously."

From the passenger seat, Pope looked at the stone wall, "This is it."

The group of five exited the car, all of them letting out an audible groan once they noticed the house built behind the stone wall.  This was the Crain Estate—setting of the biggest horror story with the OBX.  

Rumor had it that she killed her husband with an ax and buried him under their home—the very place the Pogues happened to be.  While the rumor has never been proven true....it's never been proven false either.

"Not the Crain house." John B. muttered, showing a look of distaste.

Eden deadpanned, staring up at the house, "Of-fucking-course it's in the Crain house. Why would the gold be anywhere simple, like, I don't know—in a treasure chest?"

"Are you kidding me?" Kie exclaimed.

JJ came up beside her, "Worst-case scenario."

"Why'd it have to be here of all places?" Pope complained.

As the group continued to look at the house, trying to find the courage to go inside.  From in between Kie and Pope,  JJ spoke with no hint of sarcasm, "I heard that Mrs. Crain buried her husband's head on the property." 

"Not helping the situation, whatsoever."  Eden looked at the boy with a deadpanned expression.

"Well...." John B. trailed off, beginning to walk forward.  He started to hoist himself over the wall, as if he hadn't been in a hospital bed hours before hand.  Eden opened her mouth to protest against the boy using his arm without a care, but he'd already fallen to the other side.  From the other side, the brunette ushered everyone to follow, "What are you waiting for? We don't have all day!"

"Let's hope we all come back in one piece." the Bexley muttered before hoisting herself up and over too, landing on the grass behind the wall where John B. was awaiting.  Standing up, she met his side as she watched everyone follow after her—like baby ducklings following their mother. 

Once JJ came over—the final of the bunch—Eden gave them all a smile, "Follow along my little ducklings." 

JJ narrowed his eyes, "Did she just—"

"Call you my little ducklings?" the Bexley smiled, "Yeah, I did."

Kie shrugged, "I think it's kinda cute. Little ducklings."

"Yeah, and it's true." Eden continued.  She was like the mother of the group—making choices, taking care of everyone, the Pogues going to her for approval—and whenever she did something, everyone followed.  If it was okay with Eden, then it was okay. "When I do something, you guys follow—like how the baby ducks follow their mama."

"Ah." JJ exclaimed, "I get it."

Eden led the group through the overgrown yard, her eyes catching on all the statues within.  The yard wasn't terrible—if it wasn't apart of the Crane house, it may even be peaceful—but the fact that a head could be buried beneath her feet sorta ruined it.

Following after the Bexley, Kiara stated, "Look, you guys know whose house this is, right?"

"Oh, yeah." JJ stated from behind her, stepping over the overgrown plants below him, "No, I do."

Eden turned her head back to look at her friends, "You live under a rock if you don't."

"Honestly, I don't really believe the stories of this place." John B. stated from the back of the small line they'd formed to weave through the overgrown weeds and grass. 

Pope pressed a finger to his lips, looking at the boy, "Sh."

"What?"

The Maybank ignored the small warning to stay quiet that had been sent to John B. and continued speaking, asking, "Which stories did you hear?"

"The one where she killed her husband with an ax and that she's been holed up ever since."  Kiara shared, retelling the story Eden had heard growing up, "On certain nights when the moon is full....you can see her in the window!" She wiggled her fingers in front of JJ's face to act mysterious.

 "No, it's not funny 'cause it's all true." JJ shook his head before turning to look behind him at the other two boys, "I swear to God guys, this is all real.  I knew Hollis—Jeez!" the blonde spun on his heels, fist raised in defense as he felt something brush against him.

"Wait, you knew Hollis Crain?" Pope asked.

"Yeah, dude."

"Dude, how do you know Hollis Crain?"

"She was my babysitter, man." the blonde boy explained, looking between his friends, "She told me all about it. Told me the truth....about her mother and what happened in this house."  

Eden urged him on, "Well, don't leave us hanging. What'd she say?"

"So, as a kid, she heard all the stories that her mother killed her father, and...she was a murder and all.  Hollis didn't believe it.  Until that night."

"What night?" John B. asked

"It all came back to her." JJ stared up at the house, reminiscing on what Hollis had told him as a child, "When Hollis was six years old, she heard her parents arguing downstairs.  So she goes downstairs to see her mom washing her hands in a sink....full of blood." 

JJ continued, "Her mother just says that she cut her finger.  The next morning, she says her father and her have split up.  But then, Hollis noticed something.  Her mother going into the parlor constantly, in and out and in and out with plastic bags.  Weeks pass, and Hollis decides to use the outhouse.  And as she's using it, she looks down, and there, in the outhouse, is her father's head, looking straight back at her."

"Was his head in the toilet staring at her vag—" Eden started before getting cut off.

"God, you are so full of shit." John B. cut off the brunette, his tone filled with annoyance.  Instead of getting closer to the gold, they were having a story time session.

JJ started to argue, "Dude, I swear to God, man—"

"Did she call the police?" Pope stepped closer to the Maybank, having gotten invested into the small tale.

"She didn't have time—Bro, hold on! Wait! Dude!" JJ started to reply before noticing John B.'s figure storming off.  He ran after the Routledge, stopping him in his tracks.

"What?" the boy snapped, clearly finished with the whole Crain story, "Dude, what?"

With skepticism, the blonde asked, "You sure you wanna do this? She's an ax murder, man.  You've got a cast on."

"I don't give a shit if she's a ax murder, okay?" John B. proclaimed, causing Pope's eyes to widen as he looked between the two boys, "I got nothin' to lose, right? You comin' or what?" He began to walk away.

Eden shrugged before following, Kie and the boys trialing after her, still slightly skeptical of going into the murder home.  As they grew closer to the home, the group hunched over to keep hidden better, as well as started whispering if they needed to state something.

"Hey, come on. Come here." the Routledge boy whispered, urging everyone to create a semi-circle around him—all crouching down to keep low. "So here's the plan.  We need to look for the wheat near the water, like it said in Denmark's letter."

Pope narrowed his eyes, "Okay, like, what kind of water? Like, pond water?"

JJ chuckled, "Bong water?"

Everyone turned to look at the blonde with unimpressed expression's, John B.'s eyes narrowing in annoyance, "No it—it just said look for water, okay?"

"Very specific." Eden rolled her eyes.

Kie agreed, "Yeah, that's the shittiest secret message ever."

"You wanna complain a little more, Kie?" the Routledge boy hissed, following after the curly haired girl who'd began searching for water, "Nobody said it was gonna be easy."

"Stop being a dickhead, JB." Eden called out with an eye roll.  She was getting awfully pissed at his annoyance filled comments and random snaps at the Pogues.  If he was going to be so pissed off today, he should have come by himself—or with Sarah Cameron. 

Staying with the other two boys—she was truly a mother of twins at this point—listening as Pope instructed, "I'll search the northeast quadrant, you search the northwest." 

JJ looked at Pope's disappearing figure with disbelief, "The decapitation quadrant."

"Come on, bubs." Eden began walking in front of him, listening to Pope's directions and going northwest —despite it being the decapitation quadrant, "I'll make sure you return with head."

"That's not funny."

The Bexley made her way around the area with JJ at her side, keeping an eye out for any sign of water.  She let JJ's whispers of how Mrs. Crain was going to pop out in front of them fall behind, and instead listened to the chirping and rustling of birds—why there were so many goddamn birds in this place was a question for later—around her.

"Hey psst." John B.'s voice came through, leading Eden through the plants to see Pope and Kie both surrounding the boy—he clearly found something that could help them.   The brunette turned to slap JJ on the shoulder, only to see he had gotten stuck in a plant and was putting up a good fight with the greenery.  She rolled her eyes and continued wanting—when JJ was on edge, he fought and the last thing she wanted was another bandage on her face.  "Hey, come on."

As Eden made her way towards the Routledge, he continued,  "It's the only place we haven't looked."

Coming closer, the Bexley narrowed her eyes at where they were about to look through.  It was a small door underneath the house, the wood rotting and hinges rusting.  Not to mention, the doors were left wide open—someone could already be inside.

"Here we go." the brunette boy muttered, putting his flashlight forward as he crouched down to enter the basement.  Eden hesitantly followed, Kiara on her tail.

The basement was uneven, and looked discarded—forgotten about, even.  Random items were tossed and stacked upon the floor, making the old creepy basement seem even more old and creepy than it already was.  It was dimly lit—they'd brought flashlights for a reason—and humid, which made no sense.   Why was it humid if there was no water?

"Down came Mrs. Crain and cut off all our heads." JJ sang as he climbed down into the uneven basement, singing to the melody of the Isty Bitsy Spider, "Up came the sun and dried up all the blood—"

Pope turned around, shining his flashlight in the blonde's face, "Can you stop?"

The floor creaked as Eden moved around on it—also adding to the creepy old aesthetic this house was giving.  She took a stance next to John B. and Kie, her flashlight shining around the basement in sign of a liquid.

"See any water?" Kiara asked.

As everyone started walking around the basement, a buzzing started to take place within Eden's ear.  The girl looked forward to see three mosquitoes swarming her face and swatted her free hand in front of her face to shoo them away. 

"Another dead end?" Kie asked again, pursing her lips as they were met with nothing.

JJ wiped a hand across the pipes, "There's not even water on the pipes."

"There's no water here." Pope stated, disappointed.

"Not a dropamino."

John B. ran a hand through his hair with a disappointed expression.  From his side, sent him a hard look, "Know why we didn't find it?"

Eden looked between the two teens, sensing the tension that was there.   There were rarely fights between the Pogues, but when there was about to be one.....you could sense it.   And right now, Eden could sense it. 

Kiara turned around, "Bad karma."

"Oh God, here we go..." John B. trailed off, already knowing where this conversation was going.

"You know, we had a good thing going." the Carrera girl started, eyes sending an accusatory stare towards the brunette boy, "And then you decide to rope in Barbie, and now the trails gone dry. Coincidence? Probably not." 

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you about Sarah." 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."  John B. stated, stepping closer to Kie. "What the hell's the deal? What's going on with you two?"

"Nothing." Kiara insisted.

John B. continued, "Nothing? Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?"

"Guy's—" Eden tried to stop the argument.  They could save this for later, when they weren't supposed to be quietly searching for water. 

The Bexley was cut off as the sound of a slap echoed through the basement.  

Eden couldn't help the gasp that left her lips as she looked between the two teens—the argument now getting physical.  Of course they'd had their fights over the years, but Eden can't recall the last time they truly harmed one another in one.  This was getting deep.

"Oh!" Pope exclaimed.

"Oh, shit!" JJ shared a look of shock with both the Bexley and the Heyward, "That echoed, dude."

Eden wanted to stand in between two of her closest friends but she knew that whatever tension this was had to get out, or else John B. would be snapping at her for the rest of the afternoon.   This argument was bound to happen since the Routledge announced Sarah helping them out.

"Stop treating me like some girl that's obsessed with you instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you." Kiara states with a firm expression, eyes showing no signs of sarcasm or playfulness as they usually did.

John B.'s jaw clenched as he looked at her, "Did you uh....hit me?"

Kie held her hand up, "Skeeter."

"Skeeter?"

"Yeah, you see it?"

"Yeah."

Then, without warning, the Routledge raised his hand and slapped the Carrera girl across the face.

Everyone let out an audible 'ooh' at the action.  Eden put a hand over her mouth with a shocked expression, Pope and JJ starting to make comments about the action—John B. shouldn't have slapped Kie, but she started it.

"Where's your proof?" Kie snapped, growing more furious.

John B. held up his hand, her flashlight shining upon it, "Skeeter."

The Carrera shoved his chest, "There was probably one right there."

"Yeah? Look, there's one right there—"

The slaps seemed to have diffused the tension between the two, Kiara and John B. now following each other around, slapping and hitting random parts of each other, claiming their were mosquitoes through laughs. 

Pope too seemed to notice the amount of mosquitoes within the basement from their fight, and suddenly began slapping his forehead and stomping, trying to shoo the pesky insects away from his body, "These things are a freakin' swarm."

"For someone who wants us to be quiet, you are being rather obnoxious and loud by stomping and clapping." Eden eyed the boy while slapping her thigh to remove a mosquito—the bugs starting to get on her nerves.

"Why are there so many mosquitoes in the basement?" Pope ignored his friend. 

JJ agreed, "Dude. I know, seriously.  Tiny vampire bats, leave me alone." 

"Maybe you taste really good, J." the Bexley chuckled, letting Kie and John B.'s banter fall behind her, "They're gonna go full Edward Cullen and turn you into one of them."

"Oh my gosh!" the blonde exclaimed, "Okay, can we leave? 'Cause I'm already itchin' to leave."

"Nice pun." 

"Why thank you—" the blonde replied, before he bent down, something having caught his eye.  Coming back up, he revealed an old looking doll to which Eden furrowed her brows.  Why the fuck was he touching that thing? "I just found Mrs. Crain's voodoo doll, guys."

"Put it back, bro." Eden reprimanded, sending the Maybank a look, "You probably disturbed it, and now it's gonna come back and haunt us or some shit."

"Eden, you watch way too many Buzzfeed Unsolved videos."  Kie came forward to look at the old doll before slapping the girl's arm.  She gave a look before the Carrera girl explained, "Skeeter, for real."

Suddenly, Pope started trampling around, shoving the pieces of wood out his way.  Everyone stared at him with a confused expression, trying to get him to stay quiet because, well, they had no clue where Mrs. Crain was.

"Hey, Pope! Hey—"

"Sh! Sh! Sh!"

"Maybe the mosquitoes gave him rabies." the Bexley muttered.

Pope denied her, "No I just—help me move this."

"Um—" John B., who'd come forward, trailed off.

"Help me move this."

"Okay, just.....quiet."

Everyone began crouching down, moving planks of wood and items as Pope asked, all the while shushing one another when too much noise was made—for trying to be quiet, the Pogues were doing an awful job.

"Guys! Guys!" Kie warned, "She's probably right upstairs."

Moving half the wood planks from the floor, the group looked down to see a long stone well covered with moss—and what did a well hold? Water.

"Well, well, well." Pope shined his flashlight down the well.

John B. muttered, "That was a good dad joke."

"They built this part of the house right over it." Kiara states.

Ruining the moment of discovery was JJ's comment, "This is where she hid the bodies."

"Seriously, J?"  Eden groaned as everyone sent him a look, "Way to ruin the moment."

"No, I'm dead serious."

"Didn't Hollis find the head in an outhouse?" the Bexley crossed him.

"It was never an outhouse."

"Stop it." Kie scolded, before adding, "She probably doesn't even know it's here."

"So...." Pope trailed off, looking at the Routledge boy, ".....we found water."

With a proud smile, John B. stated, "We're gonna need a really big rope."

A burst of pride filled Eden's body. They were finally one step closer to becoming rich.   One step closer to going Full Kook.

mara's misc!

yeah so like i lied.   you losers get another update <3

thanks to getting one chapter written, i finally am back in the obx vibes.  this chapter isn't my favorite since its literally just dialogue—im more for writing action scenes, or description—but oh well.

what matters is im in my obx era.

im hoping to have another update out sooner than later, so expect one soon!

hope you enjoyed<3 see you back with chapter sixteen!