chapter seven, x marks the spot

ONE WORD, three letters, 'Hey'. The message was meant for Kiara, Daisy wanted to make sure that she was okay with her dad after everything that had happened yesterday. But, then kept convincing herself to just wait until a little later, then later turned into the next day and here Daisy found herself still contemplating if she should hit send.

It was such a stupid thing to stress over, and Daisy couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why it was so difficult. For one, this whole thing was a long shot because she didn't even know if Kiara still had the same number after all these years; let alone if she'd even answer. Redfield was the first time that they'd talked about what happened between them, and it was still unclear to Daisy whether or not their talk meant that they were still on bad terms.

Daisy would like to move past it and just agree to be friends again, but this was Kiara Carrera she was dealing with. And quite frankly, that isn't how forgiveness worked. Therefore, she was left with a choice: reach out to Kiara and go forward with making amends, or do nothing at all and accept that their friendship is lost.

After another minute of just letting her thumb hover over the send button, Daisy groaned out of frustration and slammed her phone down on the counter.

Behind her, the sliding glass door opened and in came Kai and Anna. Most likely coming from the pool, judging by the water they were dripping all over the floor, the teens gravitated towards the pantry to scrounge for snacks.

"Still moping?" Kai asks as he pulls out a box of cheez-itz from the cabinet.

Daisy folds her arms on the counter, and rests her head on top of them. "I'm not moping." She mutters, sounding awfully miserable.

"Mmm you kinda are." Kai hums. "Anna back me up here,"

The other girl sits beside Daisy at the counter with a bowl of fruit. Anna lazily glances at her, "Yeah, a little mopey." She pops a grape into her mouth.

"See!"

Daisy scowls. "Okay yeah, I'm mopey or whatever." She lifts her head again.

"Your friends ignoring you, again?" Kai pokes his bottom lip out and Daisy, very politely, flips him off.

"Fuck you—"

Lorelei gasps dramatically as she enters the kitchen. She comes dressed in a pantsuit, with her hair messily pinned up in a claw clip, and both arms full with folders and other papers. "Children, children. Language please." She narrows her eyes at Daisy.

"Hey mom," Anna gets up from her seat. "I'm going upstairs now." She begins to head out the kitchen because now there are too many people in it.

Everything in Lorelei's arms spills out onto the counter, Daisy catches a glimpse of some blue prints. "Hi sweetheart, can you please take that basket of clothes on your way up?"

"Do I look like the help?" Anna doesn't even look back, walking straight out of the kitchen.

Lorelei presses her lips together hard. "I raised a real brat." She sighs after a moment.

"What're these for?" Daisy asks curiously as she tries to study the blueprints, however they are upside down.

Before she got the chance to flip them around, Lorelei shuffled the loose papers back into the folder. "Just some boring old work stuff." She then pushed the pile of folders away.

That was weird. Daisy brushed it off, assuming it was just private stuff from work. But that was the thing, Lorelei is a blabber mouth. She has no problem telling them all about her personal matters any other time because the woman can't resist not talking about herself. What was different this time?

Unfortunately, there wasn't much time to dwell on the situation anyways because Anna returned to the kitchen a few moments later to tell Daisy that someone was at the door for her.

"For me?" She furrows her brows, following her younger cousin to the door.

Anna rolled her eyes so hard it's a wonder they don't get stuck in the back of her head. "I just said that didn't I?" She leaves Daisy standing at the door and goes in the opposite direction towards the stairs.

Daisy hesitates at the door handle before pulling.

"Hey."

She blinks a few times to make sure she was seeing things correctly, and that it was actually John B. standing there at her aunt's door.

"Uh, hi?" Daisy greets him. "What are you doing here?"

The several honks of a horn coming from the Twinkie, causes Daisy to look passed John B. and see the car full of teens parked in her aunt's driveway. JJ peeks his unruly head of hair out of the window.

"Yo Daisy, you got a lighter?" He shouts to her.

She purses her lips, and glances back at the Routledge boy standing in front of her. "And a flashlight?" John B. grins at her with all teeth.

DAISY PILES INTO the back of the Twinkie with the rest of her friends. First, tossing a lighter to JJ, who catches with a noise satisfaction. Then, she takes off her mini backpack that she left with and dumps a pile of flashlights from Lorelei's shed onto the van floor.

"Sick!" JJ hisses, throwing his hand up to high-five Daisy.

She high-fives him back, and settles down into her seat. "All good?" Daisy looks around at everyone.

John B. starts the van and pulls out of the driveway. "Yeah." He nods his head. "What'd you say to your aunt about all the stuff?"

"I told her we were looking for JJ's dog."

JJ popped his head up from where he was sprawled across the seat. "But I don't have a dog?" They all look at him with the same look of pity and shock at his lack of common sense.

"Obviously, dude." Pope shakes his head, muttering an insult under his breath.

Daisy chuckles, then giving JJ a sympathetic pat. "You smoke way too much, you're starting to lose brain cells." She teases him and earns a snort from Kiara, leaving her feeling oddly triumphant.

The sky turned to a deep shade of azure blue as the teens continued their venture into the night. Kiara helped John B. with directions in the front seat, while Daisy tossed M&M's into the air and Pope and JJ took turns catching them in their mouths. Daisy cackled at the two boys after they knocked their heads while going for the same M&M.

Wherever they were going, which Daisy realized she had no clue, it wasn't too far away from Lorelei's house. It was maybe a ten minute drive, max. After a while, Pope gave up on their game of tossing candy because he was clearly getting beat. JJ leaned back in his seat again and pulled out a blunt from behind his ear.

"You mind if I just relax on this one?" Using Daisy's lighter, he lit the joint. "It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down. I'm just gonna lay low." He starts to put it to his lips, but then, first offers it to Pope and Daisy.

"I keep the signal clear."

"I'm good." They decline his offer at the same time.

JJ takes it back. "Dude, okay. Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative then—"

"Shut up?" Daisy narrows her eyes at the blonde.

John B. interrupts them. "Look, I— I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, all right?" He stammers. "And pretty much wrong about everything else going on... But I was right about one thing! Okay? My dad is trying to tell me something."

When the van comes to a halt, Daisy looks around out the window. It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust before she can tell where they are. A cemetery? Great. Why is it that she continues to put herself into these situations willingly? She still doesn't know.

Cemeteries are pretty eerie places in general, but at night? Daisy has never thought of herself as scared of the dead until now. It's so dark, even with flashlights, that she half expects a hand to shoot up from the ground and grab her ankle. So she tiptoes across the grass with light and quick steps as they follow John B. through the rows of graves.

It is essentially pitch black out now, and the only noise is the sound of the crickets and the distant snap of a twig. Daisy frantically whispers words of reassurance to herself that they aren't about to be murdered at every crunch of a leaf beneath their feet.

"This place is creepy as hell!" Daisy hisses to the others. "John B. what are we doing here?"

He shushes her. "Okay so, you know how you try to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right?" John B. starts to slow down as the approach a large stone mausoleum. "But it's not a place... it's a person."

Daisy turns to Kiara who looks just as unsure as her, but shrugs, going along with it anyway.

"Voi-effing-lá." JJ blurts out.

"My great-great-grandmother, Olivia Redfield." John B. points to the name engraved into the stone in front of them.

They all look up at the lettering. The front of the crypt was covered by thick overgrown roots. It look as if it hadn't been cleaned, let alone touched, in ages.

"Help me with the door." And they do, because it's important to John B. Whatever's in there, he believes could help him to find his dad. Nobody wants to be the one to crush his hopes. So, they help him.

The boys push through the roots growing over the entrance, groaning as they use all their strength. It just won't budge. They all jump backwards when a very large snake slithers out of the crypt, hissing at them. Daisy squeals as the reptile slides right over her foot.

"That's a moccasin—" JJ starts muttering nonsense and chasing behind the snake, then barking like a dog, which ultimately pisses everyone off.

Daisy tugs him back away from it. "Shut the fuck up!" She scolds him.

"You're gonna wake the frickin dead, man!" Pope whisper-shouts at him.

"They're afraid of dogs. Everyone knows that, man." He looks at them like they're the crazy ones. "Wait hold on—" JJ pulls John B. and Kiara away from the entrance, holding them back. "If there's one, there's probably dozens."

"What?!" Daisy feels herself start to panic, and the others begin to shout at JJ again, to which he responds by barking. Everyone is talking over everyone and at the same time no one can understand what anyone is saying.

Finally, Pope shuts them all up. "John. Look, we're not gonna get in there, alright? It's not budging." Daisy nods her head in agreement, internally begging for him to listen to actual reason so they can get out of there as fast as possible.

"Yes, let's get out of here!"

"I can get through." Kiara declares at the same time.

Daisy whips her head around instantly. "I'm sorry, did you miss the part where a literal anaconda just came out of there?"

"Actually it's a cottonmouth—"

"JJ, I swear to god." Daisy shoots him a vicious glare and he immediately shuts his mouth. "Kie, you don't know what's behind there."

Kiara shakes her head, ignoring Daisy's worries. "This is about your dad." She then says to John B., "And honestly, I really don't believe in it... but you deserve to know the truth." They all remain silent for a moment, passing quick glances at each other. Despite wanting to he a good friend and help John B. find his dad, Daisy still doesn't think this is a good idea anymore.

"I'm doing it." Kiara looks at Daisy this time, her eyes still bright with their usual determination. Unable to change her friend's mind, Daisy ducks her head.

Together, they push the tangle of roots apart, and clear the small pathway for Kiara to crawl through. JJ kneels down with his back against the stone and cups his hands together, low enough for Kiara to boost herself up.

"I've seen this in the movies several times," JJ mutters to her as she prepares to climb up. "Ready?"

"Remind me what we're looking for." Kiara exhales tiredly.

John B. was staring into the dark opening, although his mind seemed somewhere distant. "You'll know when you see it." He mumbles.

Kiara nods one last time before passing Daisy her flashlight. JJ instructs her where to place her hands in order to lift Kiara up into the hole. They watch as she disappears into the other side, and after a muffled thud they hear her again.

"Okay, flashlight?" Kiara's voice echoed inside. Daisy quickly handed Pope the flashlight to give to Kiara.

They don't hear anything from her once she grabs the flashlight. Daisy could see the glowing light coming from inside, which meant Kiara was at least not dead.

"You alive?" John B. nervously held his ear to the wall. "You got like, a heartbeat and everything?" He waits impatiently for Kiara to respond, along with the rest of them.

Another second goes by before she answers. "So far."

"What do you see?" Daisy tries to stand on her tiptoes to see if she can spot anything, but it's too dark from where she's standing.

"I can't tell, I need some more light."

Daisy nods at John B. to use his lantern since it was the brightest out of all of them. He reached up and stuck his arm with the light through the opening. They all waited anxiously to hear back from Kiara that she had found something. This was turning out to be the longest thirty-seconds of Daisy's life, her eyes darted back and forth from the boys to the light inside the crypt.

"Oh, my God."

Daisy perked up again, "What is it?" She didn't like how long it was taking for Kiara to respond, and struggled to keep her 'cool'. Kiara stuck her arm out of the opening with a white envelope in her hand. They curiously peeked over John B.'s shoulder to see what it was. Behind them, Kiara climbed back out on her own.

"Holy shit." John B. uttered in disbelief. The envelope that Kiara had found inside the crypt was from his father. They weren't just on some wild goose chase anymore; this was real. Daisy felt her heart squeeze for John B., after everything he never lost hope for finding what happened to his dad.

The sound of a vehicle approaching, breaks up their bittersweet moment. With no time to run back to the van, they hide behind the Redfield crypt. Daisy crouches down beside Kiara and flicks the switch on her flashlight off. JJ cranes his neck to see who it is.

"Do you think it's them?" Kiara asks quietly.

Daisy leans around her to also try to get a look but it's useless. "Scary guys with the gun?" Daisy feels her stomach drop.

"Homie's got a gun." JJ responds.

Kiara jumps up from where they're crouched down. "Screw this." They take off running in the opposite direction of the shouting behind them and towards the cemetery entrance. Daisy's never hopped a gate before, and maybe it was the rush of adrenaline, but she's up and over before anyone. Unfortunately, Pope — of course — gets stuck at the top and they stop to help him down.

JJ pulls out his gun and aims it at the gate as the people that were following them get closer. "Pope, don't move okay?"

"Why do you still have that?" Daisy shouts at him while also trying to help Pope.

John B. wrestles with JJ to get the gun down. They successfully free Pope from the fence, however his shorts rip and he is left in just his underwear. Daisy feels a giggle threaten to spill from her mouth, but quickly remembers the situation that they were currently in.

"It's a little Tootsie Roll." JJ teases, and that causes all of them to crack up as they are quite literally running for their lives.

THEY ALL AGREE to go to John B.'s house in the aftermath. Daisy collapses down onto the sofa as soon as they get inside, relishing in the fact that they made it out of another break-in unscathed yet again. The first time Daisy's ever trespassed in her life, and of course she does it with the Pogues.

Kiara plops down in the seat beside her, "Regretting it yet?" She asks, looking oddly smug.

"Regret what?" Daisy leans her head against the back of the couch.

Kiara's body is facing Daisy's. She has her elbow propped up on the back of the chair, and her cheek resting against her palm. "Wanting to be a part of this." Kiara replies.

"Nope." Daisy flashes a smile, Kiara snorts.

"Liar." She mumbles under her breath.

Daisy rolls her eyes, looking up at the ceiling. "You're not getting rid of me."

"Me?" Kiara clutches her chest in fake offense. "I would never." She says dramatically.

"We both know you'd like that very much."

"I would, actually."

Daisy doesn't miss the hint of playfulness in Kiara's voice. Perhaps they were mending things between them. And suddenly, she felt very silly for stressing so much over a stupid text message.

John B. settles down at the dining room table with the mystery envelope from his dad. They crowd around him as he finally decides to open whatever it is. JJ takes a bite out of his moldy sandwich and very quickly after spits it out. Daisy grimaces, sometimes she really wonders what goes on in that kid's head.

Inside of the envelope is a piece of paper. John B. unfolds it and what turns out to be some kind of map. They all wait with baited breaths, wondering what it meant or why it was important. John B. curses under his breath, struggling to take all of this in.

"X marks the spot." Pope points to a highlighted point on the map.

Daisy tries to make sense of the map, but truthfully she failed geography and has no clue what she's even looking at.

"Wait there's something else in there—" John B. pulls out a small rectangular box from the envelope. A tape recorder.

"What's that?" JJ looks at the device in John B. hands.

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass." Kiara responds. The device then clicks on and an older male voice begins speaking.

"Dear Bird,"

"Bird?" Daisy repeats.

John B. is rigid in his seat. "That's what my dad called me." He answers quietly. They quiet down again when the voice on the recorder — that's apparently John B.'s dad — starts talking again.

"I hate to say 'I told you so,' but I told you so. And you doubted your old man. I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight—" John B. looks like he's just about on the verge of tears.

"—don't kill yourself just yet, kid." Daisy shifts uncomfortably in her seat, realizing that they're listening to a, probably, dead man's voice right now. "I didn't expect to find the Merchant either."

They look around at each other with curious eyes. "You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. Hopefully we're listening to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits—" John B. sucks in a sharp breath.

"If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for... There she is, the wreck of the Merchant." They look down at the X marked on the map together. "If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it." John B. grips the recorder in his hand like his life depends on it.

"I'll see you on the other side."

AUTHORS NOTE——

well. this was definitely something... but OBX3 IS COMING OUT THIS WEEK WOOO!!!

did i accomplish my goal and finish act one before the premiere? no 🙄 but! it's fine. (also ignore any typos in the chapter, i was rushing to get something out.)

anyways stan anna for being the star of her two second long appearances, dropping one liners, & being a sassy spoiled rich girl <3

you guys already know what im going to say... don't forget to vote and leave a comment!