The Compass
Letha’s shiny black hair was the only thing between Nerine and her new home. The invisible barrier Phoena and Nerine touched that one summer night was gone. It is now the end of summer and the Champagnes have successfully made it to the move-in day they have been anticipating since January. Nerine never thought she would be more anxious to go back to Wales than to be in France. Speaking her native language felt foreign, and pouring water into a cup felt unnatural.
Not even finding out from Lucy that Callum admitted his crush for Nerine had made her want to stay in France. They would play pretend on the playground and save each other from monsters for the rest of the year. During graduation she cried that she would never see him again but not because she was leaving. Callum wrote her his address so that she could mail him over the summer and when she moved in.
They've been sending each other things around their house, Nerine made him a bracelet out of string and he drew a picture of them with swords and monsters. One of the monsters, she remembers, had big fangs and red eyes. Callum would be the only connection to her human life. Now, she was starting her new life in her new neighborhood as a witch.
Nolan, Ollivander, and Phoena stood behind Nerine and her mother in quiet anticipation for the big reveal. Letha and Nolan had seen the house many times prior to this moment, but for Nerine it was her first time in person.
“Are you ready!?” Letha turned around with a big smile to Nerine. She gave a grin and a shake of her head in response.
Letha stepped out of the way and Nerine saw a big empty room. The wall’s lunette windows allowed for the morning sunlight to cast shadows on it’s hardwood floors looked historical but rich. It smelled like an old library, the ceiling had floral engraving and there was built-in bookshelves around the brick fireplace.
Nerine exasperated and laughed. She ran to the window to see her new living room’s view. Phoena joined her and pointed out the neighborhood’s wizarding chess board through the trees.
Everything was beautiful and just as she had imagined. Ollivander worked wonders, squeezing tables through their dining room door and couches through the foyer. He practically moved them in on his own with the levitation charm, Letha directing every detail. Nolan kind of followed everyone around at different points, first Ollivander, then Letha, and eventually he started playing hide and seek with the girls.
Phoena had found Nerine hiding in the master bedroom closet, and told her not to yell out for her father just yet. She walked her to one of the guest bedrooms and started to knock on the hardwood pieces near the far wall.
One of the pieces could lift up, and she pulled out a golden compass. She smiled and walked towards Nerine with it. It pointed away from Phoena, she spun it around in her hand and it continued to point forward.
“Look theres no direction engravings.” she said.
“Well it probably is facing north then, isn’t that what compasses face?” Nerine replied, dumbfounded.
“No, no. It’s a wizard compass they usually never point north. We knew before because the sun was setting to the right of where it pointed, so it was pointing south… hold on,” she walked past Nerine a few steps, then stopped.
She turned around, the compass still pointed ahead. She turned around again, her back facing Nerine. Finally, she made her way back in front of Nerine, then to Nerine’s right and started to circle her.
“It-” Phoena was at a loss for words.
It was pointed towards Nerine. Phoena gave it to her and it pointed at Nerine’s chest. She took it back and circled her again, the arrow spun accordingly.
“Why? Why you?” They were both stunned.
“Maybe it tracks french people?” Nerine offered, knowing that it wasn’t that.
Phoena shook the compass until Nerine said, “The blue glow, what’s that from?”
“What blue glow?” Phoena put her hand out for Nerine to investigate.
“Theres blue glowing dots, in the glass, see?” she pointed at one of the dots.
“I don’t see anything…”
“It’s there, its moving around and… glowing.” Nerine’s finger followed the dot’s trace.
“Girls!” Nolan shouted from downstairs. “Did you give up?”
“We need to show Iago.” Phoena said, “but I can’t let my dad know we have it.” she walked back to the floorboard that lay open and put it in. The blue glow reflected a stream of light off Phoena’s arms until she shut it back in the hole.
They spent the rest of the day setting up the house, and by the time the sun was setting, it almost felt like a real home. Nerine pushed for the guest bedroom with the compass to be hers and Phoena and Nerine lay on the carpet, Nerine teaching Phoena how to make bracelets from string.
“So how are we going to get to Iago? We have to sneak to see him right?”
“Yea… let's go to the wizarding chess board tonight. I have old enchanted coins I found in my dad’s collection, I can send him the time and place and he’ll come. He is kind of trapped in his house most of the time, his father has been worried he is talking to me.”
Phoena tied one more knot in her bracelet before continuing.
“I think there should be another coin, there was like a box of them.” Phoena said. “I know, when my dad leaves, I’ll ask if I can sleep over with you, and then we can both get my overnight stuff, including the coins.”
Nerine nodded, “Alright, do you think this blue looks good with this yellow?”
Ollivander and the Champagnes agreed that their sleepover sounded perfect. Nerine walked back to Phoena’s house with Ollivander, listening to the various bugs squeaking in the forest.
Nerine sat in Phoena’s room while she snuck into her dad’s study to find the box of coins. Nerine flipped the coin Phoena had in her hand. It was like the currency they used in Diagon Alley. Then the door opened and Phoena came in with her fist curled around Nerine’s new signaling galleon.
Phoena carried her bag of clothes and Nerine held her pillow. They said goodnight to Mr. Ollivander and made their way to Nerine’s new home. The night was so dark that from a distance, her house looked like floating yellow rectangles, like portals to a planet where everything was golden.
“The coins are already enchanted, so we won't be using magic, technically.” she rubbed the coin and it said ‘Wizarding Chess, ASAP.’
“It uses telepathy kind of.” Phoena said as Nerine began to notice the warming effect take hold of the coin she held in a fist around the pillow.
They dropped everything in Nerine’s room and said goodnight to Nerine’s parents. They put their clothes under the covers of Nerine’s bed and took nothing but themselves, the compass, and their coins while sitting next to the door in silence. When they heard the master bedroom door shut downstairs, they quietly opened the door and creeped down the staircase, holding onto the rails to make sure their weight did not make any more noise than necessary.
The window smelled of lavender cleaner, its latch hissed like a soda bottle when they clicked it open. Nerine went first, followed by Phoena who re-flatten the carpet that she shifted as she stepped through the window.
Their sneakers plopped right into the muddy yard that separated The Champagne's house from the woods.
“We’ll have to take off our shoes before we go back in.” Phoena whispered.
Nerine stopped and waited for Phoena to lead the way.
“Let's go through the forest, it’s less likely someone will see us.” she said, Nerine nodded, happily accepting Phoena as the leader of this risky operation.
The only thing guiding them were the trunks of trees, the sound of the river that Phoena pointed out as leading to the far side of the park, and some distant street lamps. Other than her almost invisible dark figure, Nerine could see the faint blue glow of the compass in Phoenas' hand in front of her.
As they got closer, she could see a dark figure of a boy. He was shifting back and forth of his legs and faced away from them.
“Iago!” Phoena whisper-yelled at him.
“Phoena!” He was less cautious about his voice’s volume.
She shushed him before approaching and turning to introduce Nerine.
“Nerine this is Iago, Iago, Nerine.” she said; they awkwardly waved at each other. “The compass, it point to Nerine!” She gave it to Iago. “Circle around her and watch it.”
“What?” he said, grabbing the compass and turning it in his hand to watch it stay facing Nerine. He then walked towards her and started to circle her like Phoena instructed.
“H-how?”
“Can you see the glowing blue dots?” she asked.
“What dots?”
“Nerine, show him.” she gestured between the compass and the girl.
Nerine approached him and pointed at a dot that swirled in a liquid-like circle inside the compasses glass.
“Here,” she said. The blue light refracted off her fingers, like she was pointing at a tiny illuminated pool in Iago’s hand.
“There’s nothing there…” he said. “Wait… sit down”
“What?”
“I want to see what happens when… just sit down.”
She looked down, the muddy grass was not appealing.
“I’ll sit over there.” she pointed at one of the tiles of the chess board. It was a black piece in front of a life-size pond.
They all followed as she sat, the tile still kind of wet, but better than mud. Iago put the compass on her head, then Nerine tried reaching for it.
“No! Don’t.” they said almost in unison. Nerine halted her hands just before she grabbed it.
They both stood behind her, expressing wonderments.
“What!” Nerine was frustrated.
“It’s spinning! Like… so fast!” Phoena said, then Nerine started to notice the compass’s shaking and warbling to prove this. She grabbed it off her head.
It still spun for a second or two more before it steadied and pointed at her face.
“Why did my dad have this? To track… you? What?”
“He is up to something Phoena, I told you, there is something bigger here.” Iago responded. “Nerine must have a connection to it… maybe to the magic he researched.”
Phoena said nothing, she was shocked into silence.
“I am the only one who can see the blue glow.” Nerine watched the orbs chase each other, pulsate, and flow around the compass. “And… if this is connected to something bigger, it has to be connected to your mother’s disappearance. Right?”
Phoena nodded and shrugged.
“Well, it all started with that wand Ollivander was researching. Your mother thought it could cure your aunt's disease.” Nerine stood and turned to Phoena.
“Your aunt! Maybe she knows!” Iago exclaimed.
“She is really sick, I don’t know guys… bringing that up might not be the best.”
“We have to get answers somehow. Nerine could be next.” Iago held out his hand to Nerine.
“Next?” Nerine exasperated, blindsided by the threat Iago made to her safety.
Phoena and Iago exchanged looks as Nerine crossed her arms.
“Ollivander was researching that wand that disappeared with Phoena's mother. He left the house they stayed in out of guilt and left this compass. This compass probably has the same magic that the wand had, the magic that you can see. For all we know, he wants to destroy any magic associated with this compass or that wand. So that means you.”
“How do you know that the compass is associated with the wand though?”
Phoena sighed, Nerine could see that she shifted her weight. Iago turned to Nerine. His right-side face was illuminated by the golden street lamp. His cheeks were elevated by the defensive expression he made.
“He did research on whatever kind of magic that was in that wand that killed her mother.” He pointed at Phoena. “What are the odds that there are two kinds of secretive magics that connect themselves to objects… or I guess people? When he finds out that the compass points to you, he probably already knows, in fact, he’ll come for you and you’ll vanish! Gone!”
She couldn’t believe that Ollivander would actually be a danger to her. He offered her parents a home in the neighborhood, a house to live in for her birthday, and was Phoena’s father, her best friend. She remembered the suspicions that Phoena voiced that night in her room, but now that it was tied to herself, now that it was a reality, she was awestruck.
“Phoena you believe this? Do you think your dad would want me to disappear?”
“There's no way of knowing for sure, but I believe Iago, something is wrong.” she answered.