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Estrella was in her shed finishing up a surf board. After finding the compass, everyone went home sorta kind of upset at the fact that they almost died for something so insignificant to them. John B swore it was his dad's compass, so they tried to hold out hope for him, but were still upset about it. She hears a knock on her door causing her to look up.
"Hey, Kie." She smiles before looking back down at her board.
"Hey." Kie says walking in and sitting on a stool.
"What's up ?"
Kie shrugs, "Not much. Have you talked to John B or JJ today ?"
"No." Estrella chuckles, "I mean JJ, yeah because he never stops blowing my phone up, but I haven't heard from John B."
Kie frowns at the mention of JJ. Estrella doesn't notice though as she gets up to grab a ruler.
"You know, I'm actually surprised you and JJ get along so well."
Estrella furrows her brows as she chuckles, "Why ?"
"I don't know. I just figured you guys would've fallen out by now. Especially since-" Kie starts, but stops. Estrella stands up straight as she looks at Kie.
"Since what ? What are you talking about, Kie ?" Estrella says
"Nothing." Kie sighs
Estrella sets her ruler and pencil down, "Kie-"
They're cut off by Kie getting a text from John B. "Something happened. John B says to meet at the Château."
Kie gets up and walks toward the door before turning around. "You coming ?"
"Yeah." Estrella mutters following her out. She closes the door behind her and follows Kie to her car.
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"And we were right outside like this." JJ says as he leans up against the wall on John B's porch, "And all we hear is just, "Bam ! Bam ! Bam !" Knocking paint off the wall, G ! From the inside. All right ? And I'm just looking at him, like..." He rambles
"Wait, first off, look at this shit." He says before he starts shaking his hair out. "Look at it."
Pope, Kie, and Estrella frown as white flakes fall from his hair.
"That's dandruff, disgusting." Kie says
"Dude." Estrella says backing up
"Okay, thank you." Pope says pushing him away.
"Look at all that. All right ? That's paint." He says, "At that point, I was just, like... I'm waiting for death."
"Oh, okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right ?" Pope says
"Yeah."
"Did you get a good description of them ? What did they look like ?"
"Anything would be helpful." Kie says
"Anything we can bring to a police report ?"
"Yeah."
It's silent as JJ looks off outside. He then turns to Pope, "Burly."
"Burly ?" Pope repeats
"Yeah. You know, like..."
"That's not very helpful." Estrella sighs
"Okay, well, no, like the type of guy at my dad's garage. I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers."
"Yeah. Yes. No, we know." Kie shakes her head
"I can tell you with full confidence, these boys, these killers..." He says going back to the wall and taking a hit of his vape. "They're square groupers."
"They're square groupers." Pope says, "Like narco square grouper ? Like Pablo Escobar square grouper ?"
"Yeah, man."
"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie." Kie says
"What does this square grouper look like ? Specifically ? If we're throwing it out there ?" Pope says
"You weren't there." JJ says
"You don't know what to look for." Pope snaps
"Dude !" JJ yells, "I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time, man. I was under duress, okay ?" He breathes
Estrella runs her hand through her hair as she sits back on the couch.
"But I can tell you..." JJ takes a deep breath, "I can tell you by the way that Ms. Lana was screaming... that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man. It's a heavy vibe right now, okay ? I'm not liking this very much."
"Okay, why would they want the compass ?" Kie frowns
"It's a piece of shit. You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to. No offense, John B. I know it's in your family..." Pope says
"The office." John B looks up
"What ?"
"My dad. My dad's office." He says walking into his house. Everyone follows after him, "He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. We used to laugh at him like he was gonna find it."
They all stand in front of the door as John B pulls his keys out, "But now that he's gone, I've just kinda... I just left it as he kept it."
"Yeah, for when he gets back." Kie tries. She looks over at the others who don't agree with her words at all.
"Yeah."
"I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door opened." Pope says as they walk in
"Mm." Kie mutters as they look around. John B takes a board off of the wall and sets it down for everyone to see.
"Here, look. This is the original owner, right here." He says as they gather around it.
"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge, 1880 to 1920." Estrella says, "There's the lucky compass, right there." She points
"Actually, um... he was shot after he bought it." John B mutters. Her brows raise as she blinks rapidly.
"Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass." He says, "After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam."
"Let me guess, he died in action, right ?" JJ speaks up from beside Estrella.
"Sort of." John B shrugs, "Uh, a-actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In-in country. Anyways," He tries to continue. Pope looks at Estrella with wide eyes, "after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad."
"Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here."
"Yeah, you have a death compass." Pope says
"I do not."
"You definitely do." Estrella says scratching behind her ear.
"You have a death compass, John B."
"Dude, get rid of it." JJ says as John B walks to his dad's desk, "It's cursed, and made its way back to you."
"Look, my dad used to talk about this compartment in here." He says pulling out the compass, "Soldiers used to hide secret notes."
He opens it and shakes until the cover comes off. On the inside, there's something carved into it.
"What's that ?" Kie points out
"That wasn't there before. This is my dad's handwriting."
"How can you know that ?" Pope says
"Because he does these weird Rs with the..." He shows Pope, "See it ?"
"Can I see it ?" JJ asks as he stands behind John B. Estrella stood by Pope at the front of the desk. "Red... Rout... No, I think that's an A."
"It says Redfield." Kie says
"Right."
"Okay, well, what's Redfield ?"
"Literally the most common name in the county." Estrella nods
"Oh, maybe it's a clue. Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding." John B says
"Okay..." JJ says
"A clue ? Come on, that's..." Pope tries, but gets a look from Kie. He clears his throat, "But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram ?"
"Yes. Perfect. Anagram." John B snaps his fingers, "You need paper." He digs around grabbing a piece of paper and handing it to Pope. "Okay. Here you go."
"How can you concentrate with that thing constantly crowing at you ?" Pope says
"JJ loves the rooster."
"I love the rooster." Kie says
"Let me think."
"Seriously, think."
"Dedfiel. Colors... That's stupid."
"What about Ritalin ?"
"Um... Dreidel ? Fiddler ?"
"Let's stick with what we're..."
"Defile. Does that mean anything to you ?"
"Guys." John B says. Estrella looks up, but the others keep talking amongst themselves.
"You're missing a letter."
"Guys !" John B exclaims, "Somebody's here."
They walk over to the window. "Guys, guys, is that them ?" Kie says
"No." JJ sighs as he recognizes them.
"Is that them ?"
"This is suboptimal." Pope says
"John B, I told you." JJ says as he paces, "Why does it always..."
"JJ !" John B says as he pins him to the wall. "Hey, look at me. Where's the gun ?
"Gun ? I, uh, I can't..."
"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun ?"
"Think, Jay." Estella says
"It was in my backpack, and then I..."
"Backpack... On the porch." John B says
"It's on the porch." JJ looks up before jumping up
"Go, go." John B says as JJ opens the door. He makes it down the hall before one of the men enter the house.
"John Routledge !"
JJ hurries and turns back around to run into the room. He closes the door behind him. "They're on the front porch, guys."
"Get out here !"
"Routledge ! Where you at, boy ?"
"We gotta leave !" Kie whispers
"Guys, window. Window." Estrella points as JJ and Pope run over.
"Hurry." Kie whines. They both try and get the window open. "What... what's happening ? Why is it taking so long ?"
"It's painted shut, okay ?" JJ snaps
Estrella rummages through the papers on the desk looking for anything sharp. She sighs in relief as she picks up something resembling a knife. She moves Kie aside as she approaches the boys.
"Move. Move. Move." She says frantically. They back up as she uses the knife to cut through the paint on the window.
"Come on, Star."
"I'm going as fast as I can." She says
"Shh... Be quiet." Pope and John B say. Kie jumps as one of the men push up against the door. John B and Pope push back against it.
"You better not be in there !"
"Estrella, hurry."
"Shut up, Kie." She says as she makes it to the end of the seal. The man starts kicking the door. John B and Pope run toward the window. Estrella drops the knife and she and JJ push the window open.
"Okay." JJ says. Kie jumps out first before JJ puts his hand on Estrella's back urging her to go next. As she jumps down, she looks around for somewhere for them to hide.
She reaches back and grabs Kie's hand as the boys jump out one by one. She runs toward the chicken coop and gets down to crawl in. She goes to the corner as they all pile in.
JJ sat by Estrella as John B watched the men come out with years worth of research. The rooster in the coop, starts to make more noise than usual. Estrella brings her knees to her chest as she sets her hands in her hair.
"Do something, Pope. Shut him up." JJ whispers harshly
"What do you want me to do ?"
"Pet it, or talk to it. I don't know." Kie cries. As they hear a door slam, John B backs up by Kie.
"You do something."
JJ grunts as he grabs the rooster by the neck. He slams it to the ground as he squeezes and wrings its neck. He slams it again before it stops making noise. He sits back as he finally lets it go.
John B looks back out as the men get into their truck and leave. Estrella letting out a deep breath as Kie cries harder.
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