𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟸 𝚎𝚙.𝟺 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎-

"salt air, and the rust on your door / I never needed anything more."

After what felt like a lifetime on the road, Pope rapped the large doorknocker on the oak front door of the Limbrey house. "You think that was too much?" he asked nervously.

"It echoed the entire house, that's for sure," said JJ. "So they definitely heard it."

They waited for a long minute. "Maybe nobody's home," Kiara said with the faintest note of hope in her voice.

Pope reached forward and knocked again, but as just as his hand grazed the knocker, the door swung open and revealed a young man with sandy hair and an unpleasant expression.

He gazed at the Pogues for a long minute, and then his eyes rested on Pope. A smile broke the unpleasantness of his face and he held up a finger. "You must be Pope.

"Umm..." Pope swallowed hard. "Are you Mr. Limbrey?"

"Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday," the man corrected him, ignoring the suspicious looks the four of them were giving him.

"Oh, I'm- I'm sorry," Pope stammered. "My car broke down on the way up here.

"Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville," JJ jumped in helpfully. "Sorry about that."

The man nodded and Tate was unsettled by how little he blinked. He cast his stare at JJ and she took a step closer to him. "Yeah, she was, uh, real upset when you didn't show up," the man said.

"We tried to call, but there's no number on the invitation," said Kiara, still holding the letter in one hand. "We got here as fast as we could."

The man ignored Kiara completely and looked back at Pope. "She also expected you to come alone."

'I mean, these are my friends," Pope said uneasily. "They helped find the Royal Merchant too. I-"

"The instructions were explicit," the man interrupted. "Your friends can stay outside."

Everyone fell silent. JJ looked over at Tate and she gave him the smallest shake of her head. They couldn't leave Pope alone. "We're kind of a package deal, man," said JJ.

"JJ," said Pope. "It's okay. I got this."

"You sure?" Tate asked softly.

"I'll be good," he reassured them.

Kiara nodded. "Yeah. We'll be right here."

"Keep the car running," Pope said to her in a low voice. She nodded her head and reached down to squeeze his hand.

Once Pope had disappeared into the big creepy house, Tate, JJ, and Kiara all headed back to the truck and JJ turned the key in the ignition. They all sat in silence for a long time. Tate kept fidgeting with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, still covering up the bruises on her arm. Kiara stared out the window, watching the house as if Pope would walk out at any second. JJ kept his hands on the wheel, ready to drive. Tate looked over at him, then looked away.