EDEN'S eyes centered on the giant tree in the distance.

Sitting in the back of the Twinkie, she contently listened to her fellow Pogues converse as they traveled towards Angel oak. Pope was pointing out different landmarks, such as Freedman Church—a church that Denmark happened to build—while John B. drove through wetland and tall fields.

"There it is." Kie pipes up as they neared a winding dirt road, "Angel oak."

The Bexley quickly looks out the windshield—she wasn't sure how John B. safely drove, given it was hard to see anything clearly through the cracks the glass held—and sure enough, standing a little ahead of them, was their ultimate goal; Angel oak. 

The drive through the winding road is easy, however, the van comes to a small halt as the path turns into a muddy standstill, swamp water from either side of the path flooding the area within the small dips it had.

"Oh, shit!" John B. curses as he sees the water flooding the pathway, "Tides coming in." 

Eden comes forward, leaning past the center console as she squints out the windshield. Looking through the muddy path, she's quick to spot tire tracks—someone had clearly come through. And, with Limbrey searching high and low for the cross, it was most certainly clear it was her.

Pointing toward the tracks, Eden voices, "Those are tire tracks. And, unless someone else is going for a drive through the tide,  that means Limbrey has already passed." The woman was always one step ahead.

Pope looks at Eden before stating, "Guys, we gotta go."

JJ eyes the water suspiciously taking in their options—either they used speed to push the van through or they turned around and let Limbrey take the cross without a fight. To him, the answer was clear, but, it was John B.'s call in the end; it was his van.

The Maybank boy hums before looking at his best friend in the drivers seat, "What do you think, chief?"

"I'm thinking it's looking a little dicey." the Routledge boy swallows, not making eye contact with the blonde as he replies. He too stared at the mud—the tide was clearly coming in, which while not terrible now, could cost them later. 

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with that statement."

"Yeah."

From the back, Kiara pipes in, "Okay, well, clearly they made it, no?"

"In a two wheel drive?" JJ shakes his head in disagreement, "I don't know about that."

Suddenly, Sarah speaks up with a wry smile on her face, "Why are ya'll acting like you're not gonna do it anyways." The two boys in the front turn back to look at her, John B. honestly surprised she pitched in her opinion. "Like when have ya'll ever done the safe thing." 

"I mean, she's not wrong." Eden nods in agreement—she'd been tested and put through shit decision after shit decision by the two boys the entirety she's known them. "John, you and Pope literally surfed the surge. I don't think you're going to back up over the tide."

John B. looks over at the blonde boy with a knowing expression, "She's got a point."

"Alright." JJ conceded all too easily, following after the Routledge boy. He switches mindsets, leaning forward as he begins to lecture his friend through the mud, "Speed is your friend here, okay? So, put her down in second and hammer down, brother."

Beside Eden, Pope also leans forward to state, "Stick to the high ground in the middle, John B."

"Alright, ready? Here we go." John B. warns before hitting on the gas. The Twinkie immediately starts to speed forward through the sodden path, brown sludge spraying past the vehicle as it passes through. 

"Come on, bro. Punch it." JJ voices, encouraging the boy to pick up the speed.

 Eden unsurely looks out the windshield—she loved the Twinkie, don't get her wrong, but it was one too quick of a swerve from crumbling apart with it's cracked windshield, faulty engine, and rusty paint job. She'd actually had to duct tape things back on to the vehicle before, and she's sure at this point that and a little bit of friendship magic was all that was keeping the van from dying on them. 

With the worst in mind, Eden grabs a hold of the Maybank boys shoulder—Kie, Pope, and Sarah also happened to latch on to some part of the car to keep them steady.

"Speed is your friend, speed is your friend—no, you're not going fast enough, John B.!" JJ isn't too concerned about Eden's grip upon his jacket, more so the speed in which the van was moving. 

 John B. retorts, "I'm in second."

Kiara glances out the window, lips thin, "It's gonna slide." 

As if the Carrera predicted it, the van started ever so slightly siding towards the right and left with its movements, almost threatening to entirely swerve off the track. JJ takes notice and yells, "You're fishtailing already!"

John B. let out a genuine chuckle, "Yeah, I know!"

"If we swerve it's not going to be so funny anymore." Eden blankly states, hoping that the Twinkie stayed in her place and didn't try to venture anywhere off center. They were in a time crunch to get the cross, and if they got stuck here in the van, they'd be sending it off to Limbrey without a fight.

"Alright, not to put anymore pressure on you—" Pope comes forward again, leaning off Eden's shoulder to speak to the driver, "—but if you don't make it through here, we're gonna be stuck here forever—" 

The Heyward boy is slightly cut off as John B.'s head travels off the wheel and towards his face, pushing it back. "Relax. Put your head back, okay?"

A few more seconds of speeding through the murky tide later, the Twinkie returned to land; perfectly in tact, all six teens inside safe. Heavy exhales and cheers fell out of each of the Pogues, thankful that the van had pushed through.

Kiara sighed loudly, "I'm alive!"

"That's my girl." JJ patted the windowsill of the vehicle, where his hand was currently resting. 

John B. smiled proudly, "See? I told you we'd make it." 

"By miracle." Eden rolls her eyes, moving her hand off of JJ's shoulder as the vehicle once again slowed, instead running it through her hair. 

"Alright, right here—that's good. Angel oak is right through here." JJ was first out of the van as it stopped upon the dirt path, boots crunching against sticks and matted leaves as opened the sliding door and warned his friends, "Alright, so word to the wise, definitely know that gators nest back here, so, keep your eyes peeled, okay?" 

Eden followed Kiara and Pope out of the van, the three teens sending him a look as they tried to figure out whether he was trying to scare them or if he was telling the truth.

"You don't wanna step on a mama gator." JJ continues truthfully. The last thing he needed to have happened was one of the Pogues, or himself for that matter, get into it with a gator. "That's the last thing you want to have happen."

"Well, with our luck, someone is most definitely going to step on a mama gator." Eden replies, following after the group as they begin to tread towards Angel oak. She frowns as her white Converse start making contact with wetter dirt, but she can't do anything about it. "Any bets on who?"

JJ looks back at the Bexley with a shrug, lightly smirking as he stated, "Eden, you're, like, snack sized for the gators. They're gonna get you." 

"I don't have to stick with you guys, you know?" Eden sends her middle finger to the Maybank's back at the jab of her height. "Like, I could be friends with anyone on the island if I really wanted to." 

Kiara returns the conversation to gators, brow furrowed. "They have nests?"

"Seems like a good place to park." Sarah muses, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You don't want to be a Pat Womack." the Maybank bends down to grab a large stick to protect himself as they walk, "She had her calf chewed off by a gator, right? You know that, right?" He looks to the three girls behind him, all of which wearing an uncertain look.

Eden tilts her head, "Um, no..."

"That's actually not true." Kiara debunks lowly, "Pat Womack was injured in a car accident, but I hear you."

"Okay, just live in ignorance. But, like, she had her calf chewed off by a mama gator. I know that for a fact." JJ believed in his own story as the group approached a large body of water, "They like the brackish water." He suddenly starts trailing down towards the water, "Wait—hold on. I see something."

As the boy bends down, Kiara skeptically asks, "What are you doing?" 

Everyone pauses, waiting for him to finish out his antics. JJ raises the stick in his grasp before smacking it down against the water, ripples traveling through the surface of the swamp.

"Right. Wake them up." Sarah watches with an unimpressed expression, "That's smart."

JJ defends himself, "I was just making sure it wasn't a gator. That's all, alright?"

"Well, if it is, no need to worry because JJ will protect us with his stick!" Eden exclaims sarcastically, pushing past her friends to continue walking towards Angel oak. JJ mutters something of a retort under his breath before following the Bexley. The rest of the group does the same.

They walk through bushes and trees, shoes crunching over fallen sticks and leaves for a few moments before the sound of machinery is audible. Eden looks back at the Heyward boy, mouthing the name, "Limbrey?"

Pope gives a firm nod and comes forward towards his friend, looking back at the group to shush them. Leading the way, the Heyward approaches a bush and begins to peer over at the scene ahead. The Pogues follow suit, hiding behind the shrubbery as they spied on what was happening.

Eden is quick to a red excavator  planted at the base of the tree. Dark SUVS were parked all around the tree, too. Different men with shovels were digging, none of them familiar to the Bexley.

"I don't see shit!" Rafe Cameron's voice  echoes through the clearing, the boy holding a shovel in his grasp. Eden lightly scoffs—so much for wanting to change. Here he was again, digging himself into yet another mess; this time, he didn't have Ward to help him out, though. "You sure this is the right spot?" 

Carla Limbrey speaks next, the woman standing off to the side. "It's there. The garment will be in the cross and the cross will be at the foot of the tree."

"Alright, well, whatever we find, I get my cut." Rafe scoffs, heading back over to continue digging.

"The actual garment." Limbrey states, "You understand the significance."

"I do, Carla." Renfield fights the urge to roll his eyes as he pulls out a chair for the woman, "Completely."

The blonde woman smiles as she pictures herself with the garment; healed.  "One touch of it, and I'll be healed, and this long nightmare will be over." 

Renfield muses, "Your lips to God's ears." 

"I know that you don't believe it, but countless stories over millennia prove that...." Limbrey crutches herself over towards the dig site, Renfield placing a chair down so she could watch everything unfold. She lets out an exhausted sigh as she sits down, "....miracles happen." 

The excavator digs up another chunk of dirt. However, it seems to gain Limbrey's attention. The woman fumbles for her crutches, shouting, "Hey! Wait! Stop! Stop, please stop. Did you hear it?" She rises to her feet and instructs, "Hey, get in there, boys. Do it by hand."

The men follow her word, jumping into the hole they'd dug. Limbrey crutches towards it to look inside, Rafe and Renfield following after. 

"Oh, this has gotta be the cross." Limbrey hums, pleased. She looks downward, lightly gasping as she watches her men brush away dirt to reveal something dark, "It's smaller than I thought. It looks like a—"

Lowly, Rafe comments, "Casket."

The Cameron's words cause Limbrey to smile, "He put it in a casket." She turns to the men, "Denmark put it in a casket. Get it up!"

Renfield signaled for the men to follow the order, "Let's go!"

Slowly but surely, the men manage to recover and lift a rectangular box out of the ground. Pope's eyes widen at the sight of his family's cross being found by Limbrey, however Eden's brows furrow. 

She remembers the picture Kiara showed them, as well as what JJ had said—the cross was huge. There was no way it would fit in that small of a casket, or even a casket at all, right? Eden can't help but feel like maybe Limbrey wasn't as close as she thought as the casket is set down in front of her. 

"They got the cross?" JJ states in agitation. He looks between his friends, panicked—he saw Pope's expression. There was no way they were losing the cross. "What do we do? What do we do?"

John B. grabs his shoulder, whispering, "What can we do?" 

"Be careful." Limbrey's voice takes the two boys back to the scene ahead. Renfield, Rafe, and the other men are now armed with crowbars, and begin to rip out the nails keeping the casket shut. "Don't touch anything inside! Don't touch anything inside!" 

The casket is opened, but there's no sounds of excitement coming from the group.

"It's just a corpse." Renfield states. Limbrey's face pales and there's no longer a smile on her face. "Sorry, Carla."

Eden's eyes slightly widen. She'd been right. 

Struggling to push herself up, Carla grunts, "We must have missed something."

"Of course. Of course, yeah." Rafe begins to ramble, finger running over the corner of his mouth. He was starting to grow angry, jaw ticking in frustration. "Of course it's a dead body. Jesus!" 

"We just got the wrong place." Limbrey hobbles away, voice weak as she tries to stay confident. "We'll go back to the Island Room— we're going back! We're going back! It's not over!" 

The workers do as she says, packing away their shovels and equipment, machinery being reconnected to trucks and hauled away. The casket is left open and the hole they created is left unfilled as Rafe, Limbrey, and Renfield drive away; leaving the scene like nothing ever happened.

Pope barely waited for the cars to start driving off before he pushed through the bush to enter the clearing. JJ was quick to lurch for him, "Pope—Pope, wait. Wait! Shit—" The Heyward starts running towards the casket, the Pogues all following cautiously. 

Everyone stands back and allows Pope to inspect the casket. The boy kneels down, reading the name engraved within the rusty placard attached to the inside—which Limbrey not only missed, but didn't care enough to read.

"Cecelia Tanny, Denmark's wife." Pope breathes, standing back up. His eyes trail over Angel oak, coming to a conclusion. The treasure was never the cross; they just misunderstood it.  "He wasn't talking about the cross. He buried her at the foot of the angel." 

Warmth fills Kiara's chest as she spoke softly, "The true treasure."

John B. stared down at her remains, "His wife."

Pope kneels down in front of the casket, stifling a small sob. Eden is quick to come forward and crouch beside him. In a show of silent support, the rest of the Pogues follow suit to do the same. 

"Denmark was hung for burying his wife, and now, they defiled her grave." Pope admits, voice rough with emotion. Kiara's hand brushes his shoulder in comfort. 

Eden frowns at the skull and fractured bones sitting in the casket; Cecelia Tanny was now disturbed from her rest and Renfield, Rafe, and the other men didn't seem to have a care in the world that they did it—if the Pogues hadn't been there, she would have been left sitting in the open like she was now.

Pope swipes away at the dust, pulling out a small brooch that had 'Cecelia' written on it in neat calligraphy. Across from him, Sarah does the same thing, returning out of the casket with a golden ring in her grasp.

"This must have been from Denmark." A genuine smile crosses Sarah's face, lips upturned softly at the sight of love. Her brown gaze meets John B.'s, and the exes stare at one another for a moment as the Cameron utters, "Her wedding ring."

Pope places the brooch back into the casket before looking at his friends, "We can't leave her like this."

Eden looks at him, shaking her head as she truthfully states, "We won't."

The Bexley makes eye contact with John B., who then nods at JJ. The two boys get up and grab the top of the casket,  before beginning to nail it back a top. As this happens, Eden heads towards the bushes, picking out a few white flowers to create a little bouquet—it was the most she could do. 

Eden hands Pope the flowers with a sad smile, to which he returns with a grateful nod. Setting them atop the lid, the Heyward steps back with a sigh, allowing John B. and JJ to grab hold of the casket, lowering it back down into the hole that Limbrey had cleared. The two then proceeded to re-shovel dirt to fill the clearing out, using some shovels and equipment the men had left.

 Ultimately, John B. steps out, leaving the Maybank boy to finish the shoveling, which he does with ease.

"I—I just don't get it!" Pope sputters, still emotional from earlier. Now, that emotion was mixed with confusion, leading to a mess of rambles falling from the boys lips. "I mean, you guys saw the map."

Eden lightly closes her eyes, leaning her head against John B.'s shoulder. The rest of the group was spread out, slightly lounging as they awaited the Maybank to finish shoveling. Sarah was leaned against the tree, Kie still crouched on the ground while the Routledge and Bexley were sitting in the mulch together.

"He hides his gold so no one finds it for 170 years." Pope exclaims. JJ hits the shovel against the dirt firmly before dropping it, grabbing his jacket from the ground and walking towards the van. "And then he sends a message to his son Robert to come here to his mother's grave but the message never gets to him. And Denmark wanted him to find the cross. I know we're in the right spot. It just feels like—"

"Like we missed something?" 

The group looks back to see JJ staring upwards towards the tree. 

The blonde treads towards the tree, eyes still locked on a particular spot. "Guys, come here."         The Pogues come closer to him, watching as JJ began to scale up the Twinkie without anymore explanation.

John B. looks at him, commenting, "There he goes."

Eden doesn't hesitate before climbing the Twinkie next, standing tall with him on the roof.

JJ points towards a small opening in the tree, looking back at Eden for confirmation,  "This looks like..."

"The painting in the island room." Eden nods, the painting of Angel oak in the Cameron household coming to the front of her mind. When JJ showed her that picture, he'd been pointing at the same hole. Why would Denmark include the detail if it wasn't important? 

The Maybank flickers his gaze down to the rest of his friends, "It's worth a shot, right?"

Kiara nods, "Yeah."

"Let's do it." John B. agrees.

JJ backs up, gesturing for the Bexley to walk forward. "It's all yours, Ed'."

"Hell no. I'm not sticking my arm in there." Eden sends him an 'are you kidding me?' glance, surprised the boy would even think she'd do it. 

Sarah eyes narrowed at the blonde, "You do it!"

"Last time I checked I was the one who almost drowned in the storm drain because you were too scared to do that." Eden retorts, watching as the blonde's gaze falls slowly on the hole. "So, I think it's your turn, Mr. 'I'm not scared of shit' ."

Pope feebly nods, "She did go in the storm drain." 

"Yeah, no, I'm gonna do it, it's just...." JJ rolls his sleeves up, approaching the hole.

Kiara looks at Eden with a teasing smile, "He's scared."

"I'm not scared, dude—"

"There's no worm that comes out of your pecker to use as an excuse, now." Eden shrugs, urging him forward with her hand. 

JJ hesitates before ultimately shoving his hand into the tree. He begins to blindly search for something, "There's something in here." He chuckles, "Wait—"

A loud scream suddenly echoes from the boy's lips and he lurches towards the tree, panicking as he struggles to get his arm out of the tree.

 Eden's heart jolts at his alarmed screams and she's quick to  wrap her arms around him, using all her strength to make an attempt at pulling him free. "Fuck! J—"

The rest of the Pogues also hustle, adrenaline rushing through their veins as they call out for the blonde, John B. even beginning to climb the Twinkie up to help Eden get him out.

However, after moments of struggle, JJ's cries suddenly morphed into laughter. The boy hunches over to laugh at their panicked faces, clearly amused by the prank he'd pulled. 

Eden scoffs, ripping her arms off of him. "Unbelievable."

John B. slams his fist against the roof of the van, leaning his head down in exasperation. Beside him, Pope's face scrunches up, "Oh, you asshole." 

"Oh, man! I got all of you on that one!" JJ sobered up from his laughter, a smile still toying around on his expression.

Pope still wasn't amused, "Oh, yeah, real original."

"I fucking hate you." Eden also found no humor within the prank, having generally grown panicked as she tried to pull him away. She shoves him to showcase her annoyance, "That was not funny." 

JJ keeps his arm inside the hole, voice growing serious again, "Wait, but seriously, there's something in here."

This time, when the Maybank actually pulled his hand out, a gold cylindrical object in his grasp. Pope stepped towards the Twinkie, "Let me see it." 

JJ hands it over before hopping off the van, landing on the ground with a small thud. Eden does the same thing, hopping down into John B.'s grasp as the Maybank had done. She moves towards Pope to examine what JJ had found.

Eyes wide, Pope reads the engraved words with excitement, "H.M.S Royal Merchant!" 

JJ is quick to snatch the item from Pope's hands, sliding his hand to elongate the item with ease, "Give it to the captain. Here we go—it's a spyglass." He whips the item around, barely missing Eden's head with it as he stepped forward to peer through the eyepiece.

"Get it out of my face." Eden sends the boy an annoyed look, moving closer to the Routledge boy.

Kiara peers at the spyglass, "There's something on the ends."

John B. pulls the item out of JJ's glass, thumb trailing over what Kiara had meant, smile edging on to his face, "An inscription right there. Look at that shit!"

"Eden, get your cursive reading ass over here—what does it say?" JJ looks at the Bexley, ushering her over to read the calligraphic letters upon the spyglass.

 Eden does as the boy asks, coming in between the five teens to read the inscription in Pope's grasp. Her eyes scan over the words, a smirk ending up on her face as she reads it aloud, "'You've come this far. Do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman's alter.' "

"Freedman's alter!" Pope exclaims breathlessly, "The cross is at the church!"

The Pogues stood silent for a moment, sharing giddy expressions before JJ comes forward, "What are we doing here guys?!"

"Come on!" Pope cried out in exhilaration, pressing the spyglass back into compacted form and shoving it into his pocket. He then turns to the closest person, who happens to be Eden, and grabs her hands, jumping up and down with the girl. "We got it!"

"We got it!" Eden repeats, smiling giddily like a child at not only Pope's excitement, but her own. They'd beat Limbrey. She'd been so focused on the cross itself that she didn't catch the little details. She was still in the Island Room, and they were on their way to claim what was rightfully Pope's. 

Pope then turns to JJ, the two boys wiggling their fingers together, "Woogity, woogity, woogity!"

The Pogues crowded to get back into the van, barely shutting the doors before John B. was speeding back in the direction they'd come to get to Freedman's church—which they'd passed on the way. 

However, in their excitement, they seemed to forget about the issue they'd faced on the way—the tide. Because, pulling up to what had been the muddy pathway from earlier, the Pogues all drop their smiles as they take in what now stood in their way; a large pool of swamp water.

Limbrey's tire tracks were gone, as well as any sort of solid land. The tide had continued to rise over their time spent at Angel oak, and now completely covered the road for feet ahead of them.

The Twinkie halts in front of the obstacle, Pope frowning, "Ah, crap! The tide!" 

Eden comes forward next to the Heyward, checking out the scene with an unsure expression. The water was completely covering the road, and the teens had no clue how deep it went. "That's no bueno."

Kiara looks out her window. "How deep is that?"

"I dunno." John B. deadpans, "The road's gone." 

"Tide rose a little faster than I expected." JJ admits.

John B. clicks his tongue, "Just a little bit."

An unsure expression toys around on JJ's face as he asks, "Uh, John B, how high are the spark plugs?"

"They're good." the Routledge boy avoids the question, a slight waver in his voice as he shifts his hands against the steering wheel. "We're fine."

In unison, Pope and JJ repeat themselves, "How high are they?"

"Oh, um...." John B. leans out the window, assessing the back of the Twinkie, praying the sparks plugs sat decently high. He cringes as he admits, "Uh, just above the taillight."

Doing the math in his head, Pope states, "Okay, so that's, what, three feet?"

"That's three feet. Yeah." JJ mutters, voice lacking assurance that this would work out in the Pogues' favor, as well as the confidence Eden hoped it would have. 

Kiara interjects, "That water can't be three feet deep." 

Sarah opens her mouth to correct the Carrera but John B. cuts her off. 

"So, then, what's the problem?" John B. bluntly asked.

"To state the obvious, if we slightly swerve or don't make it, we're stuck here all night." Eden states the clear problem. If they drove through it, they were taking the chance of getting stuck. But if they stayed, they were risking the tide growing too high to even try. "We're kind of in a lose lose situation right now." 

"No, it's not a problem. We're good." JJ hums, still without confidence. He shifts in his seat, "We're good. She'll make it."

"This could be the last thing she ever does." Eden sighs, truthfully.

"Yeah," John B. breathes before starting the engine yet again, clenching his hands against the wheel. "Ladies and gentleman, fasten your seat belts. Hold on to something. We're going into hyperdrive."

The group did as instructed, growing nervous. Kiara and Pope grabbed a hold of the windowsills while Sarah clenched to the backseat of the vehicle. JJ kisses his hand as a show of luck to the Twinkie before sending it his handlebar above, flickering his gaze up to Eden, "Eden, grab a hold of me before you go flying out of the windshield." 

"She's not going to fly out the windshield." John B. shakes his head, shooting one hand up to grab his own handle bar.

"I'm not gonna take my chances." Eden manages before doing as the blonde said, leaning forward to wrap an arm around his bicep. 

Subtly nodding at the Routledge, JJ mutters, "I'm gonna say a quick prayer—"

"Three, two—" John B. begins to count down, grip tighting on the wheel. 

"Dear heavenly father, don't let us not get stuck—"

John B. seethes, "One!"

Eden tightens her hold on JJ, muttering, "Amen." 

He begins to lightly press against the gas, the van lurching forward ever so slightly as its tires begin to struggle against the mounds of mud below. Eden's stomach twists as the van struggles, her grip on the Maybank growing unconsciously tighter.

"Okay!" JJ yelped as the Twinkie started to slowly skid the mud, beginning to pick up speed, "You got this! You got this!"

The van filled with yells from each individual as the van entered the water, encouraging the Routledge that they had this, reminding him to not swerve, urging him to go faster—Eden didn't know who was yelling what.

"Faster! Faster!" JJ yells.

"Whoa!" John B. tries not to lose control of his van against the swamp, "Whoa!"

JJ chanted like his life depended on it, "Speed is your friend, John B! Speed is your friend—speed is your friend John B!"

They reached the middle of the path; the deepest part. Water sprayed past the van as they sped through, the ride growing more shaky and bumpier. Eden closes her eyes, mentally trying to ease her nerves—though, that was rather impossible with the bumpiness and screaming reminding her of the situation.

Pope lets out an obnoxious cheer and JJ continues to encourage, "You got this! You got this!"

Sarah screams, "Oh my God! Oh my God!"

Suddenly, Eden is sent lurching to the side and everyone starts to collectively yell. She doesn't open her eyes to watch as the van fishtails to the side, sliding around in the murky waters before coming to a halt, sinking into the deep waters.

Everyone slams against a different part of the vehicle, faces cringing and lips groaning. 

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." John B.'s repetitive words of realization cause Eden to open her eyes, looking out the window behind her to see the Twinkie submerged into the thick mud and swamp below.

Pope breathed, "I think we miscalculated."

Sarah, in a rush of adrenaline, squeezes her her thumb and pointer finger together and makes an array of faces to signify the sarcastic jab of 'just a little'. 

"Shit." Eden sighs—there was no way they'd be able to get the Twinkie out.  Unlatching herself from JJ, the girl mutters a low, "So much for not being gator food."

JJ let's out a quick snip, "I knew I should have driven."

John B. is the first to exit the Twinkie, scrambling out to check the damage done and where she currently sat in the water. The rest of the teens follow suit, Eden cringing as she felt her Converse and jeans make contact with the swamp water. 

"Okay, maybe we can walk from here?" Pope offered, hands on his hips.

John B. throws his hands in the air, exasperated and upset as he snaps, "What? And leave the Twinkie? The...the tides coming in."

"If it's grown this much in the time we spent at the tree, the Twinkie won't survive through the night." Eden agrees, nodding at the Routledge. "Besides, it's going to get dark soon. I don't think we want to be walking through this forest and Kildare without any light."

"So then what are we supposed to do?" Sarah questions.

"Not stay here." JJ replies, rather unhelpfully.

There's a moment of silence before Kiara provides a solution with a tired, "I can take my dad's truck."

John B. looks at her with furrowed brows, "Kie, are you sure?"

"How much worse can it get, you know?" the Carrera shrugged, voice hollow. Yeah, would piss her parents off to the ends of the Earth, but they didn't have much of a choice. Kiara would rather have to endure her dad's parents' wrath than have to let all of her friends down. 

Eden speaks up, "Might as well grab something to pull her out with. There's a winch at the Chat."

"I know where it is." JJ nods towards the Bexley, "And that's only, like, two miles." 

Sarah nods, "Yeah, that's a good idea."

"If you're gonna do it, let's go, okay?" John B. ushers them, wanting to get his van out of the water as soon as possible.

Kiara starts wading through the water, "Alright."

"Tides coming in, alright? Twinkie's going under water." 

Eden sighs as JJ and Kiara start walking away from the group, hoping they returned sooner than later.

Two hours later, Eden, Pope, John B. and Sarah were still waiting for the Carrera and Maybank to return. 

Now, the group had expected a little gap between Kiara and JJ's departure on foot and their return with a truck. Clearly, it would take some time to reach the Carrera's household closer to Figure Eight from the swamp, given they were on foot.  

However, Eden certainly didn't expect to be sitting on the Twinkies roof hours later, still waiting. 

Two miles in a car shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes. JJ and Kiara should have been back.

As the hour mark ticked up, Pope started to anxiously ramble—the longer the teens were gone, the more of a chance Limbrey had at stealing the cross from them. She'd returned to the Island Room, surely in looks for another hint. They were practically giving her a head-start by sitting here. 

John B. was growing anxious too, though his was more centered around the fact that his van was falling deeper and deeper into the tide by the hour. 

Eden had spent the past hours lounging on the car's roof.  She'd decided against wading in the water due to not only her white shoes and jeans, but because of the gators—believe it or not, she didn't want to become food for the gators—and found refuge on the only dry area of the swamp.

Sarah sat beside her. The two girls had chatted, but ultimately fell into silence. The blonde began to examine the spyglass while Eden stared into the distance, hoping that she'd see Mike Carrera's truck soon—not only was she too wanting to get to the cross, but she was simply growing bored of sitting in the swamp. She didn't have her bracelet kit, and everyone seemed to tense to hold an easy conversation.

"How long does it take to go two miles and back in a car?" Pope exclaims. Unlike the girls, him and John B. had been standing in the water, looking out for the two. "I feel like they're taking a minute."

Eden sarcastically adds, "Feel like? It's been two hours."

"Should I go look for them?" Pope asks, genuinely. He'd walk across the state if that's what it took for them to get the Twinkie back on the road right now. "Should I go find them and bring them back?"

Bandanna in his mouth, John B. replies, "I don't....I don't—I don't know. Just give me a sec."

"I'm sure they'll have a valid reason when they get back." Eden tries to reassure Pope that whatever was stalling the two teens was worth it, though she's not entirely sure what could be more important to Kiara and JJ right now than saving the Twinkie from becoming a submarine. "I hope they do." 

"Damn it! Every time!" the Heyward begins to fall into a fit, Eden sighing as she turns away from him—reasoning was pointless when Pope started doing this. "Why do we got to send JJ and Kiara, the slowest people on earth? Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! This is always happening to us! Like, we're always right there, and then it's bullshit." 

Eden can't help but agree with the boy. It seemed every time the Pogues were about to get what they wanted, something happened to halt them. When they found the gold at the Crain House, Ward cleared it out before they could; when they had the information to put Ward and Isla in jail, the Cameron man killed himself so it wouldn't matter anymore.

Why had they bothered to expect this to work with their luck?

"Okay, okay." the Heyward seems to calm down and wades over towards to Twinkie to speak, "So, here's something I think we can do. We can maybe find something to leverage the Twinkie, and then you can drive it out."

Eden looks around the swamp and hums, "Driftwood?"

John B. nods at her, "Let's do driftwood."

"Yeah, driftwood will work." Pope agrees, before outstretching his hand towards the Routledge. The two do the Pogues handshake before the Heyward begins to wade in the opposite direction of his friends. "Let me know if you find anything."

"I will." the Routledge hums before lifting his hand up towards Eden, offering her help to get off the roof of the vehicle. The Bexley merely stares at it and he offers, "Are you coming down or what?"

"Hell no." Eden simply replies, brushing his hand away. While she'd love to help the two boys hunt for driftwood in the murky waters, she'd have to pass—she didn't feel like wading in water that went up to her waist. "I'm not sitting in soggy jeans for the rest of the day." She dangles her feet innocently, "Besides, you heard JJ. I'm snack-sized for the gators."

John B. drops his hand, "Sure." 

"I apologize for not wanting to become gator food." Eden shrugs, watching as her friend walks in the opposite direction as Pope. 

"Hey, Pope?"

"Yeah?" the Heyward replies.

"Hey, nothing smaller than three feet, alright? Big pieces."

"Got you. Yeah."

The two boys departed further into the swamp, silently searching for large pieces of driftwood to use as leverage. From beside the Bexley, Sarah's eyes stayed on John B.'s figure, following him with every step.

Eden takes notice of the girl staring at her ex, "How has it been with you two?"

"Well," Sarah scoffed, still clearly feeling touchy about the subject of her and the Routledge boy. Seeing him with the Pogue at the bonfire had stung more than she expected. Did she mean anything to him? Was he really just blowing her off? "He clearly seemed to be busy with that Pogue girl last night."

Eden sighs, "She was a bitch, and I think she's out of the picture."

"Either way." the Cameron shrugs, crossing her arms over her chest. "He went with her not even a day after we broke up. That stung whether or not he actually liked her. Like.....we went through too much shit together for him to be doing that so soon." 

Eden knew that Sarah was hurt by the Pogue girl, but who was to say John B. wasn't feeling the exact same way about Topper? Whether or not he was simply a 'friend' to Sarah, he was an easy competitor for her heart to the Routledge, and he happened to be the boy who had his arm sling around her last night.

"Maybe he's feeling the same way about Topper right now...." Eden trails off, toying around with one of her bracelets. She's sure Sarah had never thought of the situation from her ex's perspective. "You were dancing with him at the bonfire. Maybe John B. saw that the same way you saw him dancing with that girl."

Sarah pauses for a moment before stating, "Me and Topper are just friends. There's a difference—"

There's a sudden splash that cuts the Cameron's words off.

Eden's brows furrow and she leans forward, looking in the direction that John B. had been wading in. However, she's unable to find his figure—which already sends a sense of concern through her, given his six foot stature.

Sarah shares an unsure glance with the Bexley, "John B?"

Eden's eyes slightly widen as she recalls the animals that invested the area, "You don't think—"

Eden's words are cut off next by the gurgling scream of John B., "Help!"

The Bexley's heart skips in a beat in her chest when she spots her best friend within the murky waters, though she barely gets time to see his drenched figure before he's dragged right under the surface once more.

"Shit!" Eden exclaims, not even hesitating before pushing herself right off the Twinkie. Any care about her shoes or jeans disappears as she watches the boy get taken under. "Pope! Pope!" 

Sarah jumps into the water too, "Pope! John B!"

"Pope! Get your ass over here!" Eden calls out, barely glancing back at Sarah—who was sticking her hand through the Twinkies open window—before wading as quickly as she could through the water. 

Sarah screeches, "We need your help!" 

Having heard his name, Pope calls out, "Eden, what's happening? Sarah?" 

"Gator!" the Bexley snips, pushing past the water. She can't see the boy, more so the frantic splashing of him tousling with the alligator, as well as his water-filled screams for help and of pain. 

Sarah starts going after Eden, a knife clenched in her grasp, "Pope! Hurry!"

"John B!" Pope finally realizes what's happening and starts to rush towards the scene.

"Pope, a gator has him!" the Cameron cries out.

Eden finally makes it to where she'd just seen splashing, however as she stands still and tense in the waters, everything stays quiet—no screaming, no splashing, no nothing. The only thing she can hear is her heartbeat in her ears and her anxious pants. Her eyes dart around for any sign of her best friend.

"No, no, no." the Bexley's chest heaves, stomach twisting in knots at the dead silence. Where was he?  The water is up to her collarbone and she isn't sure how far she can keep swimming to find him. "John B—"

There's another splash and John B. comes up once again, alligator in his grasp. Eden flinches hard at the sight, the animal and the Routledge rolling right back underwater before she can even say anything.

"Sarah! Pope! He's right here!" The Bexley begins to scream, watching as her friend begins to roll around with the alligator. Her mind blanks for what she can do, and before she can even process it, she brings her knee up and starts unconsciously unlacing one of her Converse to use as a weapon. 

Without any sense of true aim, Eden starts jamming her shoe down at the alligators figure, trying her best not to hit John B—which was hard to do, given how quickly they were switching sides. She knows that her shoe isn't doing anything, but she can't just dive in with her own hands to attack. 

Sarah suddenly swims up to her, raising a knife before slamming it down towards the alligator, "John B!"

 Together, the two girls use their respective items to fight the alligator. Eden slams the edge of her shoe down with as much force as she can while Sarah jabs the knife into the animal's skin. Water splashes everywhere, the Routledge boy rolling around trying to get himself out of the animal's teeth.

Finally, after what felt like hours of hitting the animal, John B. seems to get out of its grasp. Hair sticking to his face, the boy flees towards the two girls, eyes wide and mouth open as he gasped for air.

Sarah having the better weapon, Eden is quick to back up defensively in front of the boy, allowing the Cameron to keep standing against it. The Routledge fumbles to grab a hold of her figure for support.

 Finally reaching the three teens from where he'd been, Pope rushes forward and grab a hold of the Routledge, "You okay, man? Holy shit!"

The gator begins to swim away, Eden noticing the red tinted water it took away with it.

"Fuck, John B, you're bleeding." the Bexley pants, ushering the Heyward to take him away, Converse still in grasp. "Get him to the Twinkie—go!"

The four teens rush as quickly as possible out of the infested water, Eden rather thankful she hadn't been claimed by a gator as JJ predicted she'd be. 

mara's misc!

everyone wish eden bexley a happy mothers day for being the mom of the group!!! if it wasn't for her who would the pogues even be (dead in a ditch somewhere) 

anyways, actually help bc why is this chapter actually 7000 words. i'm pre-written like 4 chapters in advance right now so i low-key forget how much i really wrote (props to me for pre-writing but like holy shit slow down).

can we discuss when you just see a random hot person????? like we had a substitute organist at my church today and he was oddly fine but like i'm actually a teenager and he's a grown man. like it's low-key sad. (i woke mvybanksss to this shit and she degraded the organist based on the 2 photo's i sent) 

random little statement but i get my braces off this wednesday!!!!!! i've had them on since summer of '22 so my braces journey was a short 2 years. i'm technically getting them off early too but why would i complain????  i am scared about my new smile tho. i've never seen myself with straight teeth and no front gap so.....

also, i know i've already done this on my message board, but here are some places to contact me now that wattpad has taken away pms!!! however, two of these accounts are PERSONAL accounts of mine, so if you do decide to message or follow me, please be respectful of personal shit i have on there that i don't have revealed on wp!!!!

tiktok: mara_jaedyn_ (personal) && harringtonssss_wp (wattpad)

insta: mara_jaedyn

pinterest: harringtonssss12

easiest way to reach me would be my personal tiktok or my insta!!! 

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 55!!!