Cassie walked toward the shore in a daze. "El Dorado?" she thought. "Indonesian pirates? What in the world is my father talking about?"
Cassie's father, Nathan Drake, continued on with the story he had just started recanting to Cassie, but she barely heard a word he said as she tried to wrap her mind around what she had just heard. "My dad found the city of Gold?" repeated over and over in her head.
"So this mist came out of the coffin and began to turn everyone into monsters…" said Drake, a phrase that lifted Cassie out of her stupor.
"Woah, woah, woah, wait a minute. Monsters!?" Cassie exclaimed, stopping in her tracks in the sand as they approached the water, the family sailboat awaiting their arrival in the distance for a day on the water.
"Yeah, it was pretty crazy," Drake replied, barely noticing the look of shock on Cassie's face and continuing his stride toward the boat. "But I got out of there, held on to the coffin as it flew away with the helicopter, and finally landed on the shipping boat, where I had to deal with Navarro one last time." Finally, Drake noticed that his daughter wasn't walking beside him anymore and turned to face her. "Are you alright?" he asked Cassie.
"I just can't believe what you're telling me!," she said excitedly. "Why didn't you tell me any of this sooner? And what happened to the coffin?"
Drake smiled at his daughter, seeing her exuberance for the adventure he and his wife, Elena, had been on. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," he thought to himself.
"We wanted to wait until we thought you were ready. And the coffin went down to the bottom of the ocean with Navarro, hopefully where it stays forever. It's more trouble than it's worth."
Cassie stared at her father, left speechless by the last five minutes of her life. "My mom and dad used to be treasure hunters?" she thought to herself.
"Holy crap!" is all that she could think of to say.
"Language," Drake quickly responded as Elena caught up to them from the beach house. "Let's keep this conversation going on the boat. Besides, I have a surprise for you," he said, winking at Cassie.
"Because I'm not surprised enough as it is?" Cassie asked with a look of awe settling over her face.
The three of them walked silently down the dock to the sailboat, everyone wondering what the next few hours of sailing would entail. Cassie barely looked up from the ground, trying to organize her thoughts before settling in for what was surely going to be an interesting conversation, when a loud, familiar voice interrupted her train of thought.
"Hey kid!"
Cassie knew instantly who it was. Looking up and toward the boat, she yelled, "Uncle Sully!"
Victor Sullivan, cigar in mouth, spread his arms wide for Cassie as she ran onto the boat for their typical bear hug. For a moment, Cassie had forgotten about what she had just learned about her parents, before the image of her mom, dad, and Sully standing in a picture together during one of their adventures popped back in her head. She released her grip on Sully and stepped back.
"Why didn't ever tell me that you were treasure hunters with my parents!" she asked indignantly.
Sully quickly glanced up to Drake and Elena as they boarded the ship, looking for some indication of how he should respond.
"Yeah, she found out," replied Drake with a wry smirk on his face and beginning to prepare the ship for departure.
Sully looked back down to Cassie and smiled. "Well, kid, I always wanted to, but your parents would let me."
A voice came up from the cabin below. "Don't feel bad, Cass, they didn't tell me the whole story for years either." Cassie's uncle, Sam Drake, emerged from the deck below.
"Uncle Sam!" Cassie ran over for bear hug number two. After a brief embrace, Cassie stepped back and asked, "Wait, what do you mean they didn't tell you the whole story for years? Weren't you with them too?"
"No, I was stuck in a Panamanian jail at the time," Sam responded quickly without thinking of how Cassie might receive that big piece of news.
"YOU WERE IN JAIL IN PANAMA!?" Cassie couldn't believe her ears. Her entire world was starting to crumble beneath her.
"OK, OK, everyone, let's hit the pause button on story time right now," Drake said as he hurried over to the group. He turned to Cassie, who had a panicked look, and gently stroked her upper arm. "It's alright honey, I know this is a lot to take in, but we're going to explain everything I promise. Let's get the boat out on the water and we'll tell you everything from start to finish."
Cassie looked up at her father and nodded silently before sitting down on the seat next to her. Drake moved toward the wheel as everyone else got in position to push off the dock. "What else can they possibly tell me that's going to top what I've already heard," she wondered aloud.
Little did she know the next three hours on the water would change her life forever…
