"Kat! Get up! Everyone else is here so move your lazy butt."

"Ugh, P." I say groggily. "I was sleeping."

"I know, get up." I roll over, so I'm facing him. "Come on."

I pull the blanket off of me, climbing out of bed. "Okay, get out so I can change."

I climb out of bed and grab some clean clothes. I pull on a t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts. I pull my hair up into a messy ponytail before I head outside to where all my friends are. I sit on the couch next to Pope.

"Morning!" Kie calls out as I sit in a chair.

JJ continues to yell and dramatically tell a story. He pauses a split second when he realizes I had come outside. A small smile dances on his lips as he proceeds to talk.

"And we were right outside like this." He presses himself against the chimney. "And all we hear is just: 'Bam! Bam! Bam!'"

I look over to Pope. "What is he talking about?"

"They went to talk to Ms. Lana and apparently there was the same guys inside that attacked us."

I tune back into JJ as he tells the story. "Knocking paint off the wall, G. From the inside. All right? And I'm just lookin' at him like- Wait." JJ steps into the middle of the porch. "Look at this shit." JJ bends over shaking his hair out in front of us. White flakes of paint fall to the ground. "Look at it."

"That's dandruff, disgusting." Kie says, a disgusted expression crosses her face.

"Okay, thank you." Pope says having enough of JJ's antics.

"Look at all that. All right? That's paint. 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 confirms.

"Yeah."

"Did you get a good description of them? What did they look like?"

"Yeah, anything." Kie adds.

"Anything we can bring to a police report?"

JJ stares outside before turning around. "Burly."

"Burly?" Pope asks.

"Yeah."

"You know, like-"

Kie cuts him off. "That's not very helpful."

"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, we know." Kie says.

"I can tell you guys with full confidence, these boys, these killers.. they're square groupers." JJ lights up a cigarette, popping it in his mouth. I get up and take the cigarette out of his hand. I drop it on the ground before stomping it out. "Hey!"

"Don't start." I say. "They kill you."

"They're square groupers, like narco square grouper? Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?" Pope asks.

"Yeah, man."

"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie."

Pope ignores Kie's comment. "What does this square grouper look like?"

"Give it a rest, Pope. He clearly doesn't know." I speak up.

"You weren't there." JJ interjects.

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

"Dude!" JJ yells back. "I wasn't taking little mental polaroids the entire time. Man, I was under duress, okay? I let out a little giggle at my boyfriend's dramatics. "But I can tell you... I can tell you, by the way 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 asks.

"It's a piece of shit." Pope adds.

"True." I agree.

"You could pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to. No offense John B, I know it's in your family."

"The office." John B says suddenly.

"What?" Pope asks.

"My dad. My dad's office. He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research." John B walks inside as we get up to follow. "We used to laugh at him like he was gonna find it. Now that he's gone... I just left it as he kept it." John B pulls out keys.

"Yeah, for when he comes back." Kie says trying to support my brother. I shake my head, she wasn't fooling any of us.

"Yeah." John B says unlocking the door. He opens it, revealing my dads office. I hadn't actually seen it since my dad left.

I release a shaky breath, looking around the room. It was the exact same as the last time I saw it. The scent of old books fill the room.

"I've slept over here like 600 times and I've never seen this door open." Pope notes.

John B grabs a cork board with pictures and small slips of paper on it. He sets it on the table. "Here, look. This is the original owner, right here."

"Okay, Robert Q. Routledge. 1880 to 1920. There's the lucky compass, right there." Kie says pointing at the picture.

"Actually, um... he was shot after he bought it. Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. Henry 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."

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

"Sort of. Uh, actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In- in country. Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad." John B points at the picture of our dad on the bottom of the board.

"Hm, sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here." JJ points out.

"Yeah," Pope agrees. "You have a death compass. You better keep that away from your sister."

"I do not." JB disagrees.

"Seriously, dude, it's curse and it's made its way back to you." JJ says.

"Look, my dad used to talk about this compartment in here. Soldiers used to hide secret notes." John B screws off the lid to the compartment. He turns it upside down, shaking it out.

"What's that?" Kie asks pointing at the lid.

John B flips the lid over, looking at it. "That wasn't there before." I look over his shoulder to see what he was talking about. The lid reads: Redfield. "This is my dad's handwriting."

"How can you know that?" Pope asks skeptically.

"He does weird R's." I say. "He points the curve of the R."

"Yeah, see?" John B shows Pope.

"Can I see?" JJ asks. "Re- Rout- no I think that's an A."

"It says Redfield." Kiara tells the blonde.

"Right."

"Okay, well, what's Redfield?"

"Besides the most common name in the county." Pope retorts.

"Maybe, it's a clue. Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding." John B says.

"A clue? Come on that's-" our rooster crows loudly cutting him off. Kiara makes a face at him telling him to stop what he's about to say. "But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?"

"Or it's nothing and you're stretching for answers that aren't there." I speak up.

"Kat." Kiara says sternly.

"Yes, perfect. Anagram. You need paper." JB ignores me.

"Okay."

"Here you go." He hands Pope a piece of paper and a pen.

The rooster crows loudly again.

"How can you concentrate with that thing crowing at you?" Pope asks.

"JJ loves the rooster. So does Kat."

"I love the rooster." Kie says at the same time I say: "That rooster is my child."

"Okay, let me think." Pope says concentrating.

"Seriously, think." Kie pressures.

"Dedfiel. Colors- That's stupid."

"What about like, Ritalin?" JJ tries.

"Dreidel? Fiddler?"

"Why the hell would it be any of those?" I ask with a laugh.

"Yeah, let's stick with what we're.. Defile. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Guys."

I pick my head up looking at my brother.

"Guy!" He yells catching everyone's attention. "Somebody's here!"