𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣'𝙨 𝙋𝙊𝙑

I'm awoken to the sound of yelling and I groan, peeling my eyes open. The first thing I notice is that I'm not at home, nor am I at Topper's or Sarah's.

I pull myself out of the bed and as I spot my stained dress on the floor, things start coming back to me.

Kiara brought me here.

I slip on my white converse and take a glance down at the dirty dress before looking at the navy blue sweater I'm wearing, deciding to stick with what I'm wearing since it falls to my mid thigh.

"You weren't there, bro!" I hear JJ exclaim loudly as I exit the house.

"Well apparently you don't know what to look for!" Pope retorts.

"Dude! I wasn't taking little mental polaroids the entire time, man! I was under duress, okay?!" JJ shrieks.

"But I can tell you...I can tell you that by the way that Ms Lana was screaming...that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man" He adds.

"It's a heavy vibe right now, okay? I'm not liking this very much" JJ states.

"What's wrong with Ms Lana?" I speak up in concern.

All of the Pogues jump in fright, their heads whipping around to look at me and I suddenly feel very out of place.

"You're awake!" Kiara grins widely, very clearly trying to change the subject.

"How long has she been here?" Pope asks Kiara.

"She stayed the night" John B answers nonchalantly.

Pope gives the duo a wide eyed look of disbelief and they both give him a challenging raised brow to which he throws his arms up dramatically.

"I should get going. Sorry for the imposition" I tell the group guiltily, knowing that I shouldn't inconvenience them any longer than I already have.

"Pfft!" JJ scoffs loudly, bouncing over to me and throwing his arm around my shoulders "You're not imposing at all, princess"

"You don't have to go just yet" Kiara smiles warmly.

"Stay a while" JJ encourages me with a cheeky grin.

"As long as it's okay with you all" I reply, glancing at Pope who I'm sure doesn't like me very much.

His scowl fades away and a guilty expression replaces it, the boy's lips curling up into a smile.

"I don't mean to be rude. I'm sorry" Pope tells me, holding out his hand "Pope Heyward"

"Allison Blake" I counter with a small smile, shaking his hand.

My phone pings and I take it out of my bra, looking down at it to see I have many missed texts and calls.

26 missed calls from sleeping beauty ☾

32 missed calls from tommy ♕

10 missed calls from mom <3

15 missed calls from dad <3

1 missed call from rafe ♥

5 missed calls from topper ☺

"What's wrong?" Kiara asks me curiously.

"Looks like you're a wanted girl, Blake" JJ teases in amusement.

"I should text my family and let them know I'm okay. I'll be right back" I speak up.

"Take your time" John B smiles at me.

I smile back and head inside the chateau, searching for the bathroom which I find pretty easily. Sitting down on the closed toilet lid, I text everyone back before pulling my texts with Sarah up.

sleeping beauty ☾
tink, where are you?
rafe just told me you've left
i think you should come back, you're pretty drunk
allison?
alli, i'm worried about you
please let me know you're okay
allison, what is going on?
your brother and parents are worried sick
i asked rafe to call you but he said you didn't pick up for him either
tink, please answer your phone!

me
hi, i'm so sorry for worrying you but i'm okay! i'll be home later x

"My dad. My dad's office" I hear John B declare and I exit the bathroom to see him rush past me.

Kiara grabs my hand and tugs me along as the Pogues all follow John B through the house.

"He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. We used to laugh at him all the time about it like he was gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've just kinda..." John B drawls off as he pulls out his keys to unlock the door.

"I just left it as he kept it" The boy finishes.

"Yeah, for when he gets back" Kiara says.

"Yeah" John B sighs as he opens the door and Kiara shoots daggers at the other two boys.

"I've slept over here like 600 times, and i've never seen this door open" Pope states as we enter the room.

"Here, look. This is the original owner, right here" John B states laying down a board with pictures and names pinned on it.

"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge. 1880 to 1920. There's the lucky compass right there" Kiara speaks, pointing at the compass in the man's hand.

"Actually, um...he was shot after he bought it" John B says awkwardly and I raise a brow at the boy.

"Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam" John B explains.

"Let me guess, he died in action, right?" JJ asks.

"Sort of. Uh, actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In- In country" John B corrects.

"Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad" John B finishes, pointing at a picture of his dad and himself when he was a child.

"Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here" JJ says sarcastically.

"Yeah, you have a death compass" Pope states.

"No, I do not" John B denies.

"I am really confused" I mumble to Kiara who squeezes my hand.

"I'll explain later" She assures me.

"Seriously, dude. Get rid of it" JJ advises him.

"It's cursed, and made it's way back to you" He adds.

"Look, my dad used to talk about this compartment in here. Soldiers used to hide secret notes" John B tells us, unscrewing the back of the compass.

He sees it's empty and shakes it as if something will appear but it doesn't.

"What's that?" Kiara asks and I see there's writing in the lid.

"That wasn't there before. This is my dad's handwriting" John B states in surprise.

"How can you know that?" Pope asks.

"Because he does these weird R's with the- See it?" John B explains.

"Can I see it?" JJ asks and John B turns it to him.

"Red- Rout- No, I think that's an A" JJ struggles and I look over his shoulder at the compass.

"It says Redfield" I tell him quietly.

"Right, Redfield" JJ repeats, winking at me and my cheeks heat up.

"Okay, well, what's Redfield?" Kiara asks.

"Besides the most common name in the county?" Pope asks sarcastically.

"Oh, maybe- maybe it's a clue. Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding" John B suggests.

"Okay..." JJ drawls off.

"A clue? Come on, that's-" Pope is cut off with a warning look from Kiara.

"But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?" He suggests and I nod, smiling at the Heyward boy.

"Yes. Perfect. Anagram. You need paper" John B jumps to his feet, grabbing a piece of paper.

"Okay" Kiara mumbles.

"Here you go" He says, slapping the paper onto the desk.

"How can you concentrate with that thing constantly crowing at you?" Pope huffs as the rooster crows loudly.

"JJ loves the rooster" John B replies.

"I love the rooster" Kiara adds.

"Let me think" Pope mumbles, trying to concentrate.

"Seriously, think" Kiara groans.

"Uh, Dedfiel. Colours- That's stupid" Pope mumbles to himself.

"What about Ritalin?" JJ asks.

"Dreidel? Fiddler?" Kiara tries.

"Defile. Does that mean anything to you?" Pope asks and we all shake our heads 'no'.

"You're missing a letter" Kiara points out.

"Guys" John B says and I immediately look over at him as the others continue speaking.

"Guys! Somebody's here" John B snaps.

We all walk over to the window and I see two scary looking men get out of a car outside.

"Guys, is that them?" Kiara asks worriedly.

"No" JJ groans.

"Is that them?" Kiara whimpers.

"This is suboptimal" Pope says.

"What's going on?" I question worriedly.

"John B, I told you! Why does it always-" JJ gets cut off.

"JJ! Hey, look at me!" John B snaps, slamming JJ into the wall which makes my eyes widen in fright "Where's the gun?"

"Gun? I, uh, I can't-" JJ stutters.

"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?" Kiara yells in pure disbelief.

"Gun?" I mutter out in horror.

"It was in my backpack, and then I-" JJ starts.

"Backpack? On the porch" John B finishes for him.

"It's on the porch" JJ whispers.

"Go, go" John B rushes out as JJ bolts out the door.

"John Routledge!" I hear a scream and suddenly JJ scrambles back into the room with widen eyes, slamming it shut behind him.

"Come on out now!" The men yell "Where's the compass?!"

"Where's the gun?" John B asks JJ.

"They're on the front porch, guys" JJ whispers and my heart drops.

"Get out here! Routledge!" The men holler.

"Where you at, boy?!" One of them screams and I hear them trashing the place.

"What the hell is happening right now?" I snap, looking at the Pogues in fear.

"We gotta leave" Kiara hisses, looking around "Guys, window! Window!"

JJ and Pope rush to the window, yanking at it desperately with no luck.

"What- what's happening? Why is it taking so long?" Kiara rushes them.

"It's painted shut, okay?" JJ snaps at her.

"Okay, guys. Here, I got it" Kiara tells them as she grabs a letter opener from the table.

I can hear the men trashing the place and screaming outside the door as Kiara scrapes at the paint with the letter opener.

"Come on" JJ groans.

"I'm going as fast as I can" Kiara hisses.

"Shh" I hear John B and Pope whisper in unison "Be quiet"

I hear the doorknob jiggling and I tense up, inhaling sharply and clenching my fists tightly.

"You better not be in there!" I hear the man growl and he bangs on the door making me jump.

Kiara finishes just as the man starts kicking in the door, sending wood flying everywhere. JJ hauls up the window and Kiara immediately grabs me, pushing me to the window.

"Hurry" She rushes me as I climb out, my shoes hitting the grass below.

She is right behind me, Pope climbing out next with John B and JJ following behind him. My hand is grabbed and I'm dragged all the way to a rooster pen, the five of us scrambling inside.

I drop down next to Kiara and the girl squeezes my hand tightly as I try my hardest to block out the sound of the rooster crowing loudly in distress.

"Do something, Pope. Shut him up" JJ snaps.

"What do you want me to do?" Pope retorts.

"Pet it or something, or talk to it. I don't know" Kiara cries.

Pope tries to touch the animal and it freaks out, getting louder than it was.

"You do something" Pope tells the blonde boy.

JJ hesitantly looks at the rooster and sits forward on his knees, crawling towards the animal. He grabs the rooster and pins it down to the ground.
The bird squawks and shrieks until I hear a crack, the rooster's neck snapping and everything goes silent.

He lets go of the dead bird and sits back on his legs as I let out a silent sob. Kiara pulls me into her arms and gently rocks me as I cry, tears running down her own face as she does.

"Ratter! What the hell are you doin'? Let's go!" I hear one of the men yell at the other.

The sound of the car leaving the property sends relief running through my body and I look up at Kiara through my tears.

"We're okay" She breathes out.