The Lucky Compass
For nine months they’d tried to get Regulus believe his uncle was dead, they said he was in denial.
Whatever. Denials underrated it’s highly effective and it’s only denial if your wrong.
None of it has made sense since the beginning, Uncle Alphard was the last guy who would ever get lost at sea.
He knew it like the back of his hand, it was his home, the very place he knew the best.
The compass coming back to him, his uncles compass, which had been passed down for generations, it was a sign.
His uncle was still alive and he was going to find him.
“Tilds, shut up.” Marlene shouted as she heard Matilda rustling about on the boat.
The sound of metal clanged and Marlene gasped as she saw who the figure was
“God.” She breathed out with a small sigh as she took in Regulus. “You're not Matilda.”
“Correct. Yeah.” Regulus sighed tilting his head like wasn’t that obvious.
“I'm sorry. I’ll get out of the way-” Regulus said politely as he tried to move out of Marlenes way.
“What are you doing?” Marlene interrupted as she watched him move shiftily.
“Uh... I'm just dropping off some scuba gear.” Regulus explained before turning to her a bit rudely. “What are... what are you doing... here?”
“It's our boat.” Marlene stated and she was about to say something harsh back, but she liked Regulus he seemed nice even for a pogue who didn’t seem to like her too much.
“It's also the only place with air conditioning.” She explained lightheartedly in the hopes of clearing the air.
“Right.”
“Did you, um... top up the tanks?”
“Uh... No. No, power's down, so the compressors were off.” Regulus said clearing his throat.
“So, you're sneaking onto our boat at 5:00 a.m. with empty tanks?” Marlene explained aloud. “I'll make sure to tell my father.”
“Okay. Okay.” Regulus nodded keeping his cool as Marlene turned away.
“Cool. Cool. Just drop these off. Yeah, yeah, the middle of the room is fine.”
“Yeah, this is pretty much what he told me to do.” Regulus nervously muttered as he tried to place the tanks back quickly.
“Bye.” Marlene waved cheerfully as she watched him turn to leave before he paused and span around back to her.
“Actually, you know, what... what exactly were you gonna tell your dad?” He chuckled softly.
“Nothing much. Just that you poached our scuba gear.” Marlene said smiling enjoying cool, calm Regulus Black getting a little worked up.
“Okay, fuck. I borrowed it for a few hours.” Regulus indignantly answered. “Alright? And then I brought it back intact and unharmed.”
“Minus air.”
“Look, please don't tell him.” Regulus responded a bit desperately. “Okay? He'll fire me.”
“What are you gonna do?” Marlene teased. “Pull a gun on me?”
“I didn't know Barty would do that.” Regulus said affronted and at least a little apologetic.
“That's convenient to believe.” Marlene scoffed really not happy to have had a gun pulled on her. “Maybe you should get better friends.”
“Well, maybe you should get a better boyfriend.” Regulus retorted as it hasn’t just been him and Barty starting that fight.
“Like one who doesn't poach other peoples tanks?”
“Look, please, just don't tell him.” Regulus asked
“Relax.” Marlene laughed before lightly hitting his shoulder. “I'm not gonna tell him anything.”
“Your secret's safe with me, Regulus Black.” She leaned closer and watched him stare at her impassively. “Okay, you can leave now.”
“Right. Yeah. Uh...I'll leave... I'll leave that right there.” Regulus muttered as he watched Marlene lay back down to nap.
“Bye.” She said turning around.
“Later.” Regulus replied with a nod as he smiled and shut the door.
Marlene went back to sleep and never even noticed Matilda had been in the corner watching the whole thing.
The rooster crowed outside but Regulus just groaned at the thought of getting up off the couch.
“DCS! I know you're in there!” A deep voice shouted as a knock came from outside the window.
“Whoa!” Regulus jumped up getting the fright of his life until he realized the figure outside was a Barty just trying to scare him.
“Gotcha, slick.” Barty laughed. “You should have seen your face. Your face was like...”
Walking inside he sat down on the couch and passed a beer as the two sat there silently exhausted.
“I'm just saying, I don't understand why you don't at least try with Dorcas.” Barty shook his head confused. “She clearly likes you. She's like, ‘Oh, Regulus’.”
“Is that what she does?” Regulus asked bemused, he wasn’t particularly into Dorcas that way and he doubted she felt the same either.
“She's sketching about you diving, then she was worried about you”
“Shut up she doesn’t like me that way and no pogue on pogue macking.”
“Low-hanging fruit, bro.” Barty pouted before pointing two fingers into his eyes and then into Regulus’s “Don't pretend you don't notice. I see it in your eyes. You're like, "I kinda like that," and you start blushing.”
“I blush?”
“Yeah.” Barty looked up.
“Really?” Regulus asked unconvinced.
“Yeah.”
“Hey, don't...” Regulus said as Barty picked up the compass from the table “I was just looking at it.”
“I gotta admit, your father's compass in Scooter's boat, that's freaky.” Barty acknowledged as he moved the compass from one hand to the other.
“Yeah. That's why we're going to talk to Ms. Lana, figure this whole thing out.”
“I'm sure she would just love to talk to us.” Barty responded sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. “It's not like her husband just drowned or anything.”
As he continued to suggest it was a bad Regulus stood up ignoring him and walked out of the door. With a sigh accepting defeat Barty got up to follow him and his half cooked plan.
They left the van close to the house and as they walked through the grass and up towards it the seabirds called in the distance.
“Know what this house looks like?” Barty said with his hands on his hips and adjusting his backwards cap. “Whoever lives here smokes too much weed.”
In fairness the house really was a shit show, if Scooter had Grady White level cash why did he live in a place that made the chateau in comparison to be a palace.
Standing to the side of the house inside the sound of glass smashing and things clattering and crashing to the floor stopped the pair from getting closer.
”Bullshit!” One of the voices shouted.
“Maybe we should come back.” Barty whispered.
“No, no, shut up. Shut up, Barty.” Regulus hissed back as he kept listening in.
“Tell me where it is, or I'll fuck you up.” A second voice yelled and Lana inside gasped loudly.
“I'll sink you in the fucking...” The voice clamored as Lana screamed and crashed around.
“You're hurting me!” She shrieked.
“I...” Barty panicked whispered again.
“Shut up. Come on.” Regulus whispered back as he led them to an open window os they
“Where the fuck is it, you bitch?” The man said indistinctly.
“I don't know!” Lana sobbed.
“Is it here in this house?” The person who could be identified as a large woman shouted as she threw things around the room.
“Is it somewhere else?” The man threatened as he placed a gun against her head.
“Please! I... I didn't...” Lana whimpered.
“You... Shut up.” The woman shouted as she leaned in closer ignoring Lana’s cries.
“Still think we should stay?” Barty raised his eyebrow and barely stopped a flinch as the clattering continued.
“The compass wasn't in the boat!” The man angrily hit the pane of the door with a loud thump.
“Where is it, Lana?” The woman softly hissed as she knelt down to the Lana hysterical on the floor.
“I don't know!” Lana whimpered.
“Don't listen.” Regulus whispered as they crouched down beside one another.
“Is that paint?” Barty asked as small flakes from the outside fell into their hair.
“Yes, it's paint.”
“Let's get the hell outta here” The man complained as Lana’s wails only got louder.
“We should just go. They’ve got...”
“Shut up.”
“...smuggler written all over him.”
“Shut up. Shut up.” Regulus demanded quietly, he didn’t want Bartys complaints to get their attention.
The two figures the burly man and women left the house ignoring Lana’s sobs and started the engine on their boat.
“Dude, those were the two that shot at us.” Barty pointed out as Regulus began making his way to the front door when the coast was clear.
“Ms. Lana?” Regulus called out as he walked past the door that had been forced open. “Ms. Lana?”
“Hey. Hey!” He murmured softer as the women sat in the corner shaking and sobbing with her hands over her head.
“Hey, are you okay?” Regulus asked again as he tried to get closer. “It's okay.”
“Dude, she's tweaking.” Barty murmured before steeping back.“Do you need a doctor?”
“Let's call the sheriff's department.”
“No cops, please.” Lana interrupted through her hiccups.
“Mm. That's not good. Come on, dude. Let's just go.” Barty said trying to pull Regulus away.
“You shouldn't be here.” Lana shouted narrowing her eyes and pointing for them to get out.
“That's enough for me.” Barty tutted his head as he tried to walk away.
“Come on. Wait, wait.” Regulus said holding Bartys shoulder as he turned back to Lana. “What do you know about these guys?”
“They were looking for something.” Lana admitted as she began trying to clean up.
“Does it have anything to do with this?” Regulus took the compass out of his pocket. “Do you know anything about this? This is my uncles, and Scooter had it. Why?”
“Scooter didn't have it, okay?” Lana whispered in fear before putting her hand over the compass as if to hide it. “Don't tell anyone you have it.”
“Come on.” Barty said to Regulus who was just stood still.
“Why?” Regulus asked ignoring Barty for the moment.
“They can't know!” Lana shouted in frustration. “You've gotta get out of here!”
“What do you know about the compass?” Regulus calmly asked again.
“Go! Get out!” Lana screamed as she began pushing them out.
“We gotta go. Let's go.” Barty pulled Regulus out of the door and back to the van.
All Regulus could think about as they drove away was how the death of Scooter, his uncles compass and those two people threatening Lana.
“Jeez, man, this is nuts.” Leo Nott said as they walked past the fallen trees and mess the storm had made.
“Agatha's a bitch.” Damon Avery agreed with a chuckle as he passed a beer to Amos Diggory and Chris McKinnon.
“Damn right, she is.” Chris nodded as he moved the sunglasses from his eyes onto his head.
“I mean, I just... I can't get it out of my head.” Amos complained as he repeated the story from the previous night from about the seventh time. “It's just on repeat. "Your move, broski."
“Bro, he had a semiautomatic pointed at your head.” Nott said as he did a mock hand gun.
“That's what I'm saying. It's insane. Safety off.” Amos nudged Avery.
“That Pogue.” Avery spat out.
“They're freaking Pogues, man.” Chris shrugged. “You know you should get a piece.”
“What do you mean?” Amos asked as he looked confused.
“You gotta fight fire with fire and defend the homestead.” Chris pointed out as he looked back at Amos with dead eyes.
“Right?” Amos said but on second thought added. “- Yeah.”
“Better than being caught without one. Listen, guys.” Chris laughed as he brought Avery and Nott in closer. “I-I'm gonna get him back, all right? I'm making it a little project of mine.”
“Yeah, you should.” Nott smiled with bared teeth.
“You know who was helpful actually Chris, Peter.”
“Peter who.”
“Little Pettigrew, Marlenes friend.”
“Puny Pettigrew.” Chris raised his head before slowly nodding. “Huh.”
“Yo, that's Marlene.” Avery pointed out as Marlene was balancing precariously on a fallen beam to get across to a boat on the other side.
“Oh, so you left her in the boat?” Marlene crouched down to a little girl no older than six.
“Mm-hm.”
“Okay, can you tell me what she looks like?” Marlene asked her.
“She has a trunk and blue ears.”
“Okay. I'm gonna get her for you.” She said smiling to the girl.
“Be careful of electricity. Marls.” Lily pointed out beside Mary.
“I'll be okay. Lils”
“It's dangerous.”
“What's she doing?” Avery asked dumb as a rock.
“Watch her fall and make a big drama out of it.” Chris scoffed.
“Hey, there's 14,000 volts in those wires.” Amos realized as he began running closer to Marlene to warn her.
“Hey, Marlene, be careful!” Amos shouted.
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” Rose, Logan’s younger wife complained as she walked out to the scene in front of her.
“Marlene, get down now!”
“Rose, calm down. I'm an athlete. I got this.”
“You're gonna get electrocuted! Get down!”
“She just wants attention.” Chris complained.
“You kidding me? Get...”
Marlene dramatically fell onto the wires.
“Oh my... No.” Amos cried out. “Marlene, that's not funny.”
“When I tell your dad about this, Marlene...” Rose threatened.
“Little fried Marlene.”
“Chris, your sister's crazy, man.” Avery said hitting Chris on the arm.
“I see her.”
Marlene only giggled on the ground in the wires.
“Marlene!” Rose shouted again. “When I tell your dad...”
Marlene gasped and screamed in the wires.
“Lord...” The woman muttered as she got closer. “Marlene!”
“Marlene!” Lily and Mary shouted.
“Ah.” Marlene gasped and screamed before laughing as she held up the wires. “It's disconnected. Holy shit!”
“For the love of God.” Amos breathed out.
“She got you.” Avery chuckled.
“Absolute sucker.” Nott laughed as he made fun of Amos. “Oh, my God.”
“Amos, you should see your face.” Marlene chuckled as she came close to him amused.
“Yeah. Okay, yeah, I'm sorry that I care. All right, guilty.” Amos said pissed off and felt embarrassed.
“Congrats, pussy, you're officially her bitch.” Chris whistled as he punched Amos in the shoulder.
“All right.” Amos retreated self consciously trying to laugh it off.
“Officially, did you know that? You're officially her bitch, all right?” Chris mocked as the other two goons joined in.
“You're worried, like a normal person.” Matilda explained as she watched Marlene laugh about it with Lily and Mary.
“I mean, she could have died. She does scary stuff like that all the time. If you say something, it'll be like you're trying to tell her what to do, and you'll end up like Denny.”
“Wait, Denny? What are you talking about? What happened with Denny?” Amos asked confused.
“She cheated on him. And the guy before that. Matilda explained.
”You know what that means?” Chris laughed. “You're next. You're the next sucker up.”
“You should have seen her flirting with Regulus this morning.” Matilda informed Amos.
“Regulus...Regulus Black? The guy that works on the boat?”
“Mm-hm.” Matilda scoffed. “She caught him stealing stuff off the boat.”
“Did she tell anybody?”
“Nope. She was all, "Regulus, what are you doing here?"” Matilda taunted.
“What's up, Amos?” Marlene ran over and ruffled Matildas hair. “Hey, Sneezie.”
“That's not my name.” Matilda complained and Amos watched Marlene closely and doubt crept into his mind.
“And we were right outside like this.” Barty was retelling the story from that morning on the deck of the chateau to the group. “And all we hear is just, "Bam! Bam! Bam!"”
“Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside.” Barty leant against the wall and hit his vape from nerves. “All right? And I'm just looking at him, like...”
“Wait, first off, look at this shit.” Barty shook his head as the bits of paint fell out. “Look at it. The house.”
“That's dandruff, disgusting.” Dorcas complained as the bits of paint fell on her.
“Okay, thank you.” Evan said in the hopes of stopping another argument.
“Look at all that. All right?” Barty shook his head again. “That's paint.”
“At that point, I was just, like... I'm waiting for death.
“Oh, okay, so you saw the two that shot at us, right?” Pandora asked. “Yeah. Did you get a good description of them?”
“What did they look like? Anything.” Dorcas added not hoping to complicate matters.
“Anything we can bring to a police report?” Evan said staring at Barty who was deep in thought trying to find the right word.
“Yeah…Burly.”
“Burly?” Evan asked in disbelief.
“Yeah. You know, like...”
“That's not very helpful.” Pandora piped up.
“Okay, well, no, like the type of guy at my dad's garage.” Barty explained. “I mean, you guys know he made cargo hides for drug smugglers.”
“Yeah. Yes. No, we know.” The others chorused back having met that particular man.
“I can tell you with full confidence, these two, these killers...” Barty paused with suspense. “They're square groupers.”
“They're square groupers, like narco square grouper?” Evan questioned as Barty plopped down beside him. “Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?”
“Yeah, man.” He said conspiratorially.
“You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie.” Dorcas groaned as she saw Evan starting to go along with Barty which was the first step in a downward spiral of chaos.
“What does this square grouper look like?” Evan nodded along in thought. “Specifically?”
“Uh….It was a man and a woman”
“You don't know what to look for.” Evan moaned.
“Dude!” Barty protested as he stood up and sighed. “I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time. I was under duress, okay? But I can tell you...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?” Pandora murmured.
“I'm not liking this very much.” Dorcas said pursing her lips.
“Why do they want the compass?” Evan sighed as he picked it up off the table. “It's a piece of shit.”
“You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to.” Barty added as he picked it up to inspect, realizing what he said he stared apologetically at Regulus who had been silently listening to the discourse. “No offense. I know it's in your family...”
“The office.” Regulus interrupted out of nowhere.
“What?” Evan questioned.
“My uncle. My uncle's office.” Regulus said as he got up and made his way to the office through the house as the others quickly followed.
“He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research.” Regulus muttered as he began looking through the desk. “We used to laugh at him like he was gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've just kinda... I just left it as he kept it.”
“Yeah, for when he gets back.” Pandora interpreted as she caught Dorcas’s wide eyes.
“Yeah.” He breathed out.
“I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door opened.” Evan acknowledged as he took in the room.
“Mm.” Barty nodded in agreement.
“Here, look. This is the original owner, right here.” Regulus pointed to a large board. “Okay. Arcturus Q. Black, 1880 to 1920. There's the lucky compass, right there.”
“Actually, um... he was shot after he bought it.” Regulus admitted on second thought. “Then the compass was shipped back to Phoenix. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Castor he had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam.”
“Let me guess, he died in action, right?” Dorcas asked as she sat on the opposing desk.
“Sort of.” Regulus shook his head as he pointed at the photo again of the young man in uniform. “Uh, a-actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In... in country. Anyways, after that, Castor passed the compass down to him, my uncle.”
“Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here.” Evan spoke up. “Yeah, you have a death compass.”
“I do not.” Regulus denied vehemently.
“You have a death compass.” Barty rolled his eyes as he pointed at the compass with his hands like a cross as if to ward off bad spirits. “Get rid of it. It's cursed, and made its way back to you to take your soul.”
“Look, my uncle used to talk about this compartment in here. Soldiers used to hide secret notes.”
“What's that?” Pandora pointed to the small piece of paper that fell out of the compass.
“That wasn't there before. This is my uncle's handwriting.”
“How can you know that?” Dorcas wondered.
“Because he does these weird Rs with the... See it?”
“Can I see it?” Barty asked as he began peering at the compass. “"Red... Rout..."No, I think that's an A.”
“It says Redfield.” Pandora offered.
“Right.” Barty said a little embarrassed.
“Okay, well, what's Redfield?” Dorcas said standing up to take a closer look.
“The most common name in the county.” Evan interpreted as he sat back down.
“Oh, maybe... maybe it's a clue.” Regulus shot his head up his eyes filled of wonder. “Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding.”
“Okay...” Barty nodded though clearly unsure as he sat down beside Evan.
“A clue? Come on, that's…” Evan ridiculed before being hit by Barty to shut up.
“But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?” Dorcas cleared her throat.
“Yes. Perfect. Anagram. You need paper.” Pandora said optimistically. “Okay. Here you go.”
“How can you concentrate with that thing crowing at you?” Evan complained.
“Barty loves the rooster.” Regulus muttered without looking up.
“I love the rooster.” Barty crowed as he leaned back to grin at Evan who was biting his lip in thought.
“Let me think.” Evan budged Barty out of the way with all his distractions. “Dedfiel. Colors... That's stupid. What about Ritalin?”
“Um...” Pandora murmured putting a finger to her chin’
“Dreidel? Fiddler?” He continued. “Let's stick with what we're... Defile. Does that mean anything to you?”
“Guys.” Dorcas interrupted in the hopes of getting their attention.
“You're missing a letter.” Regulus suggested.
“Guys! Somebody's here.” Dorcas shouted finally getting their attention.
“Guys, guys, is that them?” Pandora asked Barty as the two figures could be heard approaching.
“This is suboptimal.” Evan nervously whispered.
“Regulus, I told you.” Barty raised his hands in the air. “Why does it always...”
“Barty! Hey, look at me.” Regulus interrupted. “Where's the gun?”
“Gun? I, uh, I can't...”
“Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?” Dorcas moaned at Bartys rambling.
“It was in my backpack, and then I... Backpack...” Pausing to think he stopped pacing. “On the porch. It's on the porch.”
“Go, go.” Regulus hissed as Barty ran out of the office and attempted to grab the bad from the porch.
“Regulus Black!” The man shouted.
“Guys!” Evan warned as the situation seemed to spiraling quickly out of control.
“Come on out now! Fuck...” The woman shouted as she spotted Barty almost at the porch and raised her gun.
“Where's the compass?” The man called out again as he fired a warning shot.
“Where's the gun?” Regulus asked a Barty who had just sprinted into the office and locked the door.
“They're on the front porch, guys.” Barty confessed.
“Get out here!”
“Black!”
“Where you at, boy?”
“We gotta leave!” Regulus ordered.
“Guys, window. Window.” Pandora suggested as the closed window seemed the only viable exit strategy.
Glass smashed out in the hallway and the shouting got closer.
“Hurry.” Dorcas urged.
“Sack this place!” The woman declared.
“What... what's happening? Why is it taking so long?” Pandora asked Barty, Regulus and Evan who were struggling with the widow.
“It's painted shut, okay?” Regulus hissed as he saw Barty grab a pen knife and begin cutting the outside.
”I'll check the kitchen.”
“Black!”
“Okay, guys. Guys. Here, I got it.” Barty grunted as he began pulling it up slowly.
“Where the hell's that compass?”
“Hey, check the back room.” The woman yelled at the man as she hit something to the ground before it crashed as she searched the room.
“Come on.” Dorcas urged.
“I'm going as fast as I can.” Barty argued back as he and Evan struggled to pull the final bit of it up.
“Shh... Be quiet.” Regulus whispered from the locked door he was listening next to.
“You better not be in there!” The man yelled as he rattled the door which he evidently realized was locked.
Thankfully with a final grunt the window managed to dislodge and Barty jumped out.
Pandora jumped out with a small gasp behind him onto the grass outside the house, then Evan, Dorcas and Regulus as the sounds of a gun cocking could be heard.
Regulus silently pointed the chicken coop and all five of them managed to squeeze in.
“Ratter, check out these blueprints of the ship.” Amycus picked up to show Alecto.
“The mother load.” Alecto smiled.
Inside the coop the five of them in their effort to hide had started the chickens and roosters which had begun to cluck and crow loudly.
“Do something, Evan. Shut him up.” Pandora whispered as she hid in Regulus’s side.
“What do you want me to do?” Evan argued back quietly as he shifted away from the creepy and noisy rooster he didn’t particularly like.
“Pet it, or talk to it. I don't know.” Dorcas suggested as she stroked the chicken beside her which silenced its clucking a little.
The door to the chateau slammed shut and all five of them tensed in the silence, well except for the rooster which was so loud if they weren’t careful he might give them away.
“You do something.” Regulus ordered in a quiet hiss across the coop.
The steps got closer and Barty grabbed the rooster and in one quick move snapped it’s neck with a grunt.
Pandora quietly sobbed as Barty gentled placed the dead animal away from himself and sat facing away from the others.
“Amycus! What the hell are you doin'? Let's go.” The woman shouted as she started the engine of the car before the man turned away from the coop and they left the chateau behind.
Regulus held Dorcas who was shaking close to his side as Pandora quietly whimpered into his other arm.
Barty was breathing heavily almost uncontrollably until Evan extended his hand and grabbed Bartys gently like an anchor, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“You're lookin' a little unstable there.” Marlene laughed as her and Amos walked across the dock to her house with ice creams.
“All right. It's worth it for this view right here.”
“Oh, you mean, that? Oh, you too. No, you too.”
“Hey, uh...” Amos chuckled. “I heard you had a Pogue kinda sneakin' around here this mornin'.”
“Who told you that?” Marlene asked surprised.
“Oh, it doesn't matter. Um...” Amos stuttered as he ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. It's just like, you gotta be careful. These Pogues are all just lowlifes, I mean...”
“Don't say that, Amos.” Marlene interrupted upset. “You don't know them.”
“Oh, okay. I'm sorry.” Amos spoke down condescendingly. “I'm sorry that, uh... I'm sorry that they put a gun to my head.You know what that feels like?”
”No, I don't. But to be fair, Amos...
”They'e dangerous.”
“To be fair, you threw the first punch.”
”Oh. That's my bad. That's my... I deserved that.” He placed a hand to his chest upset that it was all suddenly his fault.
“I didn't say that.” Marlene tried to explain to no avail.
“Shit. You realize I'm just trying to protect you?”
“I know, and I appreciate that. I get it.”
“I don't think you're gettin' it.” Amos spun around. “You just gonna go hang out with them?”
“Amos, Regulus Black works here. What do you want me to do?”
“Regulus Black. Yeah.”
“What do you expect from me? Hand signals? I don't know.” Marlene retorted not understanding where all this protectiveness was coming from.
“I'm sorry that I just... just care about you. Yeah, just... you're just gonna walk away.”
“Yeah, I am. I can't deal with this.” Marlene stalked off into her house as she couldn’t bear someone else trying to control her life.
“Hey, Amos.” Logan waved as he walked down to shake his hand. “How'd your family come through? Is the house okay?”
“Yeah, we're doing all right.” Amos said cordially. “We, you know, had a few leaks, had a tree come close to the house, but, yeah, we're doing all right.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Yeah. Hey, listen, what's this I hear about a, uh... kid with a gun at the Point? Did that happen?”
“Yeah. Yes, sir.”
“My God. You know how those Pogues are.” Logan crossed his arms and shook his head. “You just gotta watch 'em.”
“Yeah. Hey, sir, sir. Actually, one of the, um...” Amos chuckled nervously. “I just want to say, one of these kids you gotta watch for, he works for you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It's... it's that Regulus Black kid.”
“What ab... He's not the one that had the gun, is he?” Logan eyed warily.
“No, sir, no. It's just, um...” Amos put a hand behind his head. “I heard he likes to kinda help himself to gear.So, I'm just...”
“What gear, Amos?”
“I don't want to be tellin' stories, sir.” Amos did a half smile fully aware he’d already said enough. “It's just, you got a lot of nice things layin' around. I'd just make sure everything's nailed down. Good to see you, Mr. McKinnon. Yeah.”
Amos smiled as he walked off the idea planted in Logan’s head, that would teach that Pogue to mess with him and his business.
“I mean, it's obvious, right?” Regulus explained as he steered the van. “A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?”
“Yeah. It's possible.” Dorcas said helpfully catching everyone’s eyes in warning.
“It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels.” Evan replied realistically to Regulus’s wild theory.
“Evan?” Pandora questioned with raised eyebrows.
“Bro, you know how I process my sad feels.” Barty muttered as he leant against the back seats and puffed out from his vape. “Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it.”
“I'm not concocting, okay?” Regulus argued. “My uncle's trying to give me a message.”
“If it helps you believe, Reg.” Dorcas breathed out a weary sigh with all these talks of mysterious messages.
“Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay Look, I'm not trippin' out.” Regulus argued back with a stutter. “Look, my... my uncle is missing, okay? Missing. You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering.”
“It's been almost a year.” Dorcas raised concerned.
“Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility.” Evan argued with a nod.
“Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere.” Barty murmured in agreement. “Absolutely. Uh... or Atlantis.”
“Barty.” Pandora warned. “Look, what do you think the message is?”
“Redfield.” Regulus stated quickly. “Redfield Lighthouse. That's my uncles favorite place.”
“Right.” Dorcas said as they got out of the van.
“You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?” Regulus turned to Barty.
“Wait... Why me?” Barty questioned confused.
“Because you're not coming.”
“Why?”
“There are independent and dependent variables.” Evan slugged his shoulder. “You're independent. We don't know what you'll do.”
“Shut up!” Barty shouted.
“Listen to me for a second.” Regulus interrupted before the two began arguing. “Evan, you stand look out with Barty. Okay? If we get split up, we meet back at The Chateau.”
“Great.” Evan huffed. “I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to keep felonies to a minimum.”
“All right, would you just shut up already?” Barty replied petulantly as he sat down by the tree and got a small ball out to play with.
“Remind me what we're looking for again.” Dorcas asked as the approached the lighthouse.
“We'll know it when we see it.” Regulus said convinced.
“Okay.” Pandora nodded as she knocked the door. “Nobody home.”
“Um... we're here for the lighthouse.” Regulus said to the man who was peering out the window.
“The lighthouse is closed.” The man shouted back as he went to shut it.
“Um...Actually, we... we aren't here about the lighthouse. We're here about the, uh...” Getting some of his nerve back Regulus continued with his friends encouragement. “The Royal Merchant.”
“Then you came to the right place.” The man nodded as he opened up the doors so they could come up. “I know more... Watch your step here....about the Royal Merchant than anyone else in Kildare County.”
“Holy shit.” Dorcas whispered.
“C'mon.” Pandora nodded as they carefully followed up the steps.
“Now, the Merchant disappeared in the graveyard of the Atlantic in 1829. With five hundred million.” Regulus added.”
”Correct.” The man said impressed. “You're a bit of a Merchanteer yourself, huh?”
“Uh... somethin' like that.” Regulus shrugged embarrassed.
“Well, follow me.” He chuckled. “I wanna show you somethin'. I've been workin' 30 years up here. The view's never changed till two days ago. The Point's almost gone. One more storm like that, it'll take the lighthouse. I'll go with her. Now, the trick to knowin' where the Merchant is... is knowin' whether she was on the north endor the south end of the eye of the storm. Now, most experts believe that she was on the south end. Now, she's on the south end, the bands from the hurricane would have pushed her back out to sea. But I don't believe that.”
“Uh-uh.” Dorcas murmured as she looked over the balcony.
“I think she was on the north end of the eye. Which means the bands would have pushed her...Closer to shore.” Regulus interpreted.
“That's right. Now, by my calculations, the Royal Merchant... is about ten miles thataway. Come on. Come on. Right here is where the Point used to be. My calculations say the Merchant's right about there, down about 1,000 feet.”
“That's what my uncle used to say.” Regulus said half in shock and half in awe. “Yeah, I... I know this is weird, all right?
“Do you know anything about this?” Regulus asked. “Look, it... it says Redfield in the back, in my dad's handwriting. Yeah, I don't know why I'm here, but I feel like I'm supposed to be here. Do... do you have anything to give to me, or to...”
“Where are you going?” Regulus said trying to stop him as he was backing away nervously. “Wait a minute. Look... Look, man, I know this is weird. I just thought, hoped, maybe you would know something about this, all right?”
“Sir, you won't believe what he's been through in the past 24 hours.” Pandora defended him but the man seemed impassive. “I mean, threatened, shot at, home invaded.”
“Home invaded?” The man questioned.
“My rooster was killed. Look, man, my uncle wanted me to talk to you, okay? If there's anything you could think of that would help us, please, just tell us, okay?”
“Look, man, please!” Regulus begged this whole situation was causing him to go out of his mind.
“Regulus.” Pandora warned as she saw the man pick up his radio.
“If you know anything, just... just...” Regulus continued oblivious.
“Wanda, I got two kids on drugs up here at the lighthouse.” The man said into his radio to get them to leave. “Call the police.”
“No! No, no, no!” Regulus stammered as thee man walked away.
”Let go!” He yelled before he pushed the man to the ground before Pandora held him back.
“What are you doing?” Dorcas asked worried “Regulus, we have to go.”
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.” Regulus whispered wondering how this kept going wrong.
“Oh, shit.” The man groaned before speaking back into the radio. “Wanda, I'm bleedin'. I've been assaulted.”
“Police en route.” Came out of the radio and sirens sounded as they approached.
“Oh, shit.” Evan realized before catching Bartys eye before they came to the mutual conclusion to run.
“Seriously?” Pandora panted. “Shit. This way. This way.”
“Hey, look. You've... you've got to admit, that was kind of promising.” Regulus grunted as they paused for a catch of breath.
“I mean, my uncle, the Royal Merchant, the ranger, the Royal Merchant. I mean, coincidence? I don't... I don't think so. It's his job to know about shipwrecks. Okay, but the Royal Merchant? That's like the most famous shipwreck of all time. Redfield's one of the most common names in the Outer Banks. That could mean anything. Look, as wild-goose chases go, this was a really good one. Look, I don't know. Maybe we missed something at the lighthouse. We... we should go back.”
“You believe me, right?” Regulus nervously laughed as Dorcas and Pandora looked between themselves in worry at Regulus’s nervous breakdown.
“Right? I think there might be some light to moderate concocting going on at this point.” Dorcas admitted finally seeing what Barty and Evan had been saying. “Look, uh... I get it.”
“Dorcas, come on.” Pandora warned.
“You miss your dad. I know.” Dorcas finished. “I just don't understand why he would put a clue on a compass.”
“'Cause he knew it would come back to me.”
“You're losing it. You gotta pull it together.” Pandora stated out of patience.
“Uh...I'm... Shit. I'm... I'm sorry.” Regulus snapped out of it and began pacing. “I... I...”
“It's okay.” Pandora reassured.
“Oh, God, I'm an idiot.” Regulus shouted on the verge of tears and his placed his head in his hands.
“No, it's okay. No, it's okay.” Dorcas soothed as she patted his back.
“I'm... It's because I'm freaking out...”
“No.” Dorcas whispered in the hopes of stopping Regulus’s panic.
“...about my dad and the DCS stuff. Stop. It's okay. I get...I can't breathe sometimes.”
“I know. Look, it’s going to be alright I promise.”
Sirens blared and Pandora gestured for them to run as she got away, Dorcas and Regulus got stopped on the road by Sheriff Bones.
“Regulus. I got you, son.” She shook her head in disappointment. “Now, why don't you just be chill and not make me chase you? Hands where I can see 'em. I feel for you, kid. I really do. I know since they never found your uncle, a part of you thinks he might walk through that door someday. I don't blame you.”
“You know I'm a minor, right?” Dorcas raised her eyebrows in question before another officer put her in a police car.
“But goin' on fandangos ain't gonna bring him back.” Bones kept pushing. “He's been missin' at sea for nine months. Your uncle's dead.”
“You don't know that.” Regulus argued.
“Yeah, I do.” Bones said with a sigh. “And as hard as it is, it'd be best for you to accept it and move on. You've been runnin' around gettin' caught up in things that do not involve you. And now you in a heap of trouble. It's not just foster care we're talkin' about. It's assault, battery, time. I can still help you out, but we gotta do a little tit for tat. And this time, you gotta tat a whole lot better. I know you've gotten hold of a compass.”
“I don't know what you're talkin' about.” Regulus stated staring straight at Bones unshakable.
”I know you took it off the wreck.” Bones questioned again undeterred. “There ain't much that happens in the OBX that I don't hear about eventually.”
“Okay, what do you want with this compass?” Regulus asked hypothetically.
“It's evidence in an investigation.” Bones explained gently. “I'm gonna need it, son. Otherwise, I'm charging you.”
“I don't know what you're talkin' about.” Regulus shook his head firmly. “I don't have a compass.”
Regulus and Dorcas both got booked luckily Mr. Meadowes paid both their bail and they got out that night.
“If you skip out on your bail and l lose my money, I'm gonna hunt you down and skin you.” Mr Meadowes threatened as they walked out of the police station.
“Dad! Cut it.” Dorcas snapped.
“Thank you, Mr. M.” He said politely.
“Don't thank me.” The man bit back clearly pissed off, which Regulus figured was fair.
“Yeah.” He said a little dumbly.
“Get in.”
“Give me a sec.” Dorcas said to Regulus as she stayed outside of the car with her dead.
“Dorcas.” He looked down disappointed.
“Sorry.” She said affronted and apologetic.
“I told you. You hang out with trash, you get dirty.” Was all he said before he got silently into the car and Dorcas followed hoping this was the end of this compass quest.
“Hey, employee of the month, where the hell you been?” A man on the docks mocked Regulus as he walked that morning to work. “You takin' some me time?”
“Logan’s lookin' all over for you. You know he don't like to wait.” The man beside him said through chewing his sandwich and pointed into Logan’s office.
“Have a seat, Regulus.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who dotted your eye?” He asked nonchalantly.
“Surf... surfing accident.”
“You've had a hard year, Regulus. A very hard year.” He said not looking up from his paperwork. “I feel like I've done what I could to help you.Would you agree with that?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Yes, sir.”
“I told you you could always come to me if you ever need anything.”
“Is that true?” Regulus asked curiously.“Yeah. I mean, you said you'd help me with my DCS case.”
“I need you to answer a question, and I need you to be straight with me.” Logan sighed. “Did you take gear off the Druthers yesterday?”
“Yes, sir, I did.” Regulus answered truthfully out of respect for the man.
“Look, Mr. McKinnon, I'm... I'm not a thief, okay?” Regulus continued. “It was two dollars' worth of air.Stale. You don't want your daughters...to breathe that air.”
“It's the principle of the thing. Regulus.” Logan looked up sad. “I cannot have employees that I cannot trust. I don't want to do this, Regulus, but you have made me do this. I have to let you go.”
Regulus in defeat gave a courteous nod and walked out onto the dock where an incoming Marlene McKinnon and James Potter, who seemed to haunting him recently, where walking opposite.
“Hey, Regulus.” James said with a goofy smile that suited his face a little too well and a wave far too friendly.
“I'm... I'm sorry, that's it?” Marlene argued as Regulus ignored them. “Not a, "Hey, how you doin'?"” She joked. “Or "kiss my ass"?”
“"Your secret's safe with me"?” Regulus hissed as he stared at Marlene betrayed.
“What secret are... Oh, that secret.” She breathed out with a little laugh while James just looked between the two confused the goofy smile gone.
“I just got fired because of you. And I know you can't imagine that, but some people need jobs so that they can eat.” Regulus said angrily pointing his finger in her face.
“What the fuck?” Marlene said having the nerve to look surprised.
“You are exactly who I thought you were, Marlene McKinnon.” Regulus spat as he hit James shoulder before storming off.
“Asshole.” Marlene called out before turning to see James’s hurt face. “Don’t worry about him.” She shrugged off.
Maybe his friends were right Regulus realized as he kicked a stone as he walked down the street home. For his own sake he should let this all go and move on, to pull himself together.
He should stop living in denial, leave the past behind him and bury the dead.
But if everyone wanted him to give up, to give in the compass and stop believing in wild theories. Maybe it meant he was on the right track, surely it showed their was some shred of truth in all of this.
And if there was Regulus was going to find it for himself, for his uncle and for all of them and the gold.
“Let's ride.” Regulus called out inside the chateau as he got in the van and the other four followed.
“This better be good.” Barty reasoned.
“Where’s Dorcas.” Regulus asked before they went to leave.
“She says she's not comin'.” Pandora answered.
“Why not?” Evan wondered. “What'd you do to her, Regulus?”
“Hang on. I'll deal with it.” Regulus paused as he got out of the van and walked into the sitting room.
“Um... Hey, uh, what... what are you doin'?”
“What does it look like?” Dorcas answered as she began making a bowl of cereal.
“We're... we're about to make history.” Regulus responded as he made his way closer.
“Are you concocting again?” Dorcas asked as she sat on the sofa with her bowl and spoon.
“Yes. Yes, I'm concocting.” Regulus acknowledged as he sat down beside her. “I'm concocting more than I've ever concocted in my life. Look, I know you're just being a good friend, and... and I know you're not trying to enable me in my delusion, but...”
“Dude.”
“And I know your dad doesn't want you to see me, but listen to me, please.” Regulus turned to her wide eyed and pleading. “Look, you are my best friend, and I need you right now. And I'm sorry about getting you into trouble Listen, I need you and I'm begging. I am begging you. I am begging you. And I just want to talk for...”
“Oh, my God! Shut up!” Dorcas paused before having a small laugh at the lines forming on Regulus’s face. “What? I get it. Let’s go huh?”
She stood up and walked out to the van leaving an abandoned bowl of cereal and Regulus realized once more how lucky he was to have friends like them.
“You mind if I just relax on this one?” Barty muttered as he put his hats over his eyes and took out some weed. “It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down.I'm just gonna lay low.”
“Oh, did you want a hit of this?” Barty looked up to see Evan watching him again with a weird expression on his face.
“Keep the signal clear.” Was all Evan said as he kept staring at him a little red faced and flustered when he took the weed and threw it on the ground.
“Dude, okay.” Barty said putting his hands up in defeat. “Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative, then...”
“Look, I... I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, all right?” Regulus interrupted as he wanted to explain his plan and apologize. “And wrong about everything else going on. But I... I was right about one thing. Okay? My uncle is trying to tell me something.”
He looked back in the window to see all four of them sat up and nodding determined looks on their faces as they made their way to the graveyard.
“Come on, hey.” Regulus said as they got out and began entering the graveyard.
“Hey, come on.” Barty nudged Dorcas who was staring warily.
“I'm coming. This place is scary.”
“Regulus, what are we doing?” Evan whispered putting his flashlight in his face.
“Shut up.” He said in thought. “You know how you're trying to remember a song and can't remember who sings it?”
“Yeah.” Pandora nodded.
“So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right?” Regulus carried on as they walked past the headstones. “But it's not a place. It's a person.”
“Voi-effing-là.” Barty nodded while Evan rolled his eyes.
“See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia Redfield. That was her maiden name. Help me with the door.”
“Come on.” Evan gestured as they pulled the door opened slightly.
“One, two, three...” They all grunted as they tried to move it.
“Are you pushing?” Evan complained
“Yeah, I'm pushing.” Regulus reasoned as he managed to hook his hand to get a better grip.
“Come on.” Evan huffed.
“Hold on. I got it.” Barty rolled his eyes as he breathed out while he pulled.
“This door is like 700 pounds. It's not gonna budge.” Evan whispered to Barty.
“We didn't come this far to get this far, all right?” Barty responded before reassuringly nodded. “We got this.”
Hissing came from the grass and shocked all five of them.
“Whoa!” Pandora shrieked.
“A snake!” Barty said in awe.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Evan stumbled back as he had a minor fear of snakes in actuality.
“That's a moccasin, all right.” Barty knelt down to get a closer look. “Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass.”
And then out of nowhere Barty started barking at it.
“Barty, shut up. Shut up!” Regulus whisper shouted to stop the shouting.
“You're gonna wake the dead, man.” Evan nudged spooked out.
“They're afraid of dogs.” Barty said confused no one else got that. “Everyone knows that, man.”
“Wait, hold on. What?” Evan realized as he finally understood what on earth Barty just said.
“If there's one, there's probably dozens.”Pandora muttered as she looked at the place the snake had just been.
“What?” Dorcas half hissed herself.
“All around.” Barty said in agreement.
“Stop. You're scaring me.” Dorcas admitted as she stared at the grass like it was about to jump up and attack her.
Barty started barking again louder this time.
“Stop barking at the snakes Barty.” Regulus rolled his eyes.
“Look, Regulus…Just making sure it's clear.”
“Shut up.”
“Regulus” Dorcas said trying to get his attention.
“It's a snake. It’s fine…We're not gonna get in there, all right? It's not budging.” Regulus said defeated. “We should probably just go”
“I can get through.” Pandora shrugged as she got closer to the small space.
“What? No, no, no, no. You think you're gonna fit through the hole?” Evan said stressed at the thought of telling his dad he lost Pandora in a hole in a graveyard.
“Look, this is about your dad.” Pandora smiled patting his cheek. “And honestly, I really don't believe in it, but you deserve to know the truth. I'll do it.”
“Come on.” Evan raised his hands in the air at her insanity.
“I'll get those...” Barty said grabbing her foot to give her a push.
”Ready? Come on. Nearly ready.” Dorcas breathed out as she helped her in.
“I got it.” She said as she shimmed into the space.
“You got it?” Regulus reiterated holding his breath.
“Yeah.” She put her thumbs up.
“Yeah, we got it.” Barty helped steadying her to get her footing.
“Give her a boost. I'm gonna boost you, all right.” Regulus said giving her shoulder a squeeze for encouragement.
“Ready?” Dorcas asked. “Remind me what we're looking for.”
“You'll know when you see it.” Regulus said a little unhelpfully.
“Hold my flashlight.” Pandora passed to Evan.
“All right, so put your hands right there.”
“Yep. Foot...”
“Your foot.”
“All right, on three.”
“All right...”
“Okay, never mind. Just forget about three.”
“I got it. Oh.”
“Okay, flashlight?”
“Yeah, here.”
“You alive? You got, like, a... a heartbeat and everything?”
“So far.”
“That's good. That's good. Yep.”
“Uh... I need some more light.”
“Yeah, yeah, here. Yeah, I gotcha.”
“Did you find something?” Regulus said when he heard Pandora stop.
“Is there gold?” Barty asked eagerly.
“Oh, my God.” She said in shock.