Forlot: My Friend is a Human - Book Ten

Chapter Six

TRIS' P.O.V.

"A compass?" Wendy questioned the once hidden object that was now known.

I picked up the compass by the chain and placed it in my palm. I examined it further. The compass was a good size. Not too big and not too small. The inner layer was white, and the outer layer, the front, was blue. The back of it was pink, and its chain was a gold color.

Hmm. I wonder if it is real gold.

"Why would Kara keep some compass, even though that it is pretty, in a box that is much too big for it?" I asked this question to everyone. "I mean, she could have put something bigger that would easily fit in the box, not a compass."

"Tris," Dad said my name. "It may be a compass to you and Wendy, but to your friend Kara, it meant a lot to her."

"Maybe Kara desired to travel the world and was planning on using that compass to do so," Ms. Thompson guessed. "Does it still work?"

Wendy snatched the compass out of my hand and held it out in front of her.

"Hey!" I exclaimed angrily, but I did not get the chance to continue, for the strangest thing so far in this book happened.

As soon as Wendy had it quite aways from her, the thin, black stick that moves around and tells the direction that you are going began shaking and moving crazily, but only up. It never pointed down or at the sides.

"Ms. Thompson, it does not seem to be working."

"Kara probably used it a lot when she was alive," Lila explained. "Maybe it is that time that the compass runs out of gas."

"But Lila, compasses do not run on gas," Cara pointed out.

"It is a figure of speech, Cara. Get with the program." Lila held out an open hand. "Let me see the compass, Wendy. I could fix it."

Without no warnings whatsoever, a loud, beeping sound occurred. It was so loud, so extremely loud, that we all had to cover our ears.

"Ah!" Wendy dropped the compass and put her palms over her ears. "Where is that beeping coming from?!"

The beeping noise continued, echoing throughout the entire house. It was hard to hear anybody, and we were close to one another!

Cara uncovered her ears and quickly tossed the compass back in the black box. She put the lid back on the box, and the beeping stopped. Lila, our parents, Wendy, and I slowly pulled our hands away from our ears and stared hard at the black box.

"Was...the compass doing the beeping?" I asked, finally putting the pieces together.

"I think so," Wendy reassured me. "But compasses do not beep...do they?"

"Like I said beforehand, the compass is very old," Lila said. "It runs on batteries, and when it beeped, that was the battery's way that it is dying."

Cara cleared her throat and rubbed the front of her neck. "Do you girls have any batteries on you?"

Wendy and I shrugged and turned back to our parents, looking up at them.

"Mom? Mr. Bacon?" Wendy spoke. "Do you happen to know if you have batteries on you?"

"It depends," my dad said. He glanced at the lawyers. "What type of battery does the compass need? And how many does it require?"

Lila's glasses were sliding down, and she pushed them back up with a finger. "Any kind of battery." She patted the top of the box. "This compass is very old, so it does not matter what type or size of battery. And it only takes one."

"Well, in that case..." Dad hurried out of the kitchen and soon came back with an object in his hand. It was a small, thick battery." He dropped it on the table. "You are lucky that was my last one and that I packed it."

Lila scrunched up her face and scooped up the battery. "How...convenient."

"I was going to use it on a new invention of mine, but these girls..." He motioned to me and Wendy. "...they need it more."

I smiled a bit. "Awe. Dad."

Since Mom died, Dad has laid off work of any and resorted to building new projects. Inventions that people have never seen before. Alas, none of his inventions had worked the ways that he dreamed of, so he scrapped them. Poor Dad. I hoped that he would accomplish his dreams one day.

Cara gathered up the papers and neatly placed them back in the suitcase. Lila lifted the lid a crack, tossed the battery in the box, and placed the box back in the suitcase. She shut the suitcase and locked it with two clicks.

Click! Click!

"Wendy. Tris. You, Cara, and I must go to Kara's house," Lila said. "Right now."

"Are you sure?" Ms. Thompson said, her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Their friend...took herself...in that very house. We ought to wait."

"It is now or never, Mr. Bacon and Ms. Thompson. The leaders of Forlot have already ordered that the house be dismantled."

"Why can you and Cara or somebody else not visit the house and retrieve the possessions for the girls?" Dad demanded.

"This way will be best for the girls," Cara said. "There is a good chance, a very good chance, that your daughters will receive closure and move on."

Lila scooted back the chair that she was sitting on and stood up. "Please, Mr. Bacon and Ms. Thompson. Cara and I only want to do what is best for your daughters. Do you not?"

Dad and Winnie turned to each other. Then they held hands.

"Alright," Dad agreed. "Just...keep your eyes on them."

"If anything happened to them, Tri and I would not forgive ourselves," Winnie stated sadly.

Cara scrambled to her feet. "You have our word. We will keep them safe. It is not like that they will be abducted by aliens."