↣ 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴

"And we were right outside like this."As he retreated, JJ said, visualising himself standing in front of Lana's house. Telling the Pogues the narrative "And all we hear is just, "Bam! Bam! Bam!" "

As he leant against the wall, JJ roared and threw air punches in front of him. Nixie sat on the armchair and arched an eyebrow.

"Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside." When Nixie turned to see John B. staring at the ground, she pushed his foot to get his attention and tilted her head to the side. All he did was shake his head. "All right? And I'm just looking at him, like..."

JJ's story and his dramatics were not fully believed by the three Pogues who were not present. "Wait, first off, look at this shit." Nixie immediately gagged as he lowered his head and began to scratch at his hair, causing tiny white strands to fall out. "Look at it."

"That's dandruff, disgusting." Pope attempted to distance himself from the blond boy, to which Kiara replied with disgust.

"Okay, thank you."

"JJ, please stop; it's disgusting." Nixie remarked, glaring at him. JJ paused, pointing to the rug.

"Look at all that. All right?" They all looked down at the carpeting in question when he stated that. "That's paint."

"You are so dramatic; I am so excited for your encore." After Nixie said that, the blond boy glared at her, and she simply returned the look.

"Oh, okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" As he wiped his face in disbelief, Pope clarified with JJ. "Did you get a good description of them? What did they look like? Anything we can bring to a police report?"

Nixie rolled her eyes at JJ's theatrical demeanour as he gazed out across the lake. There was a pause before JJ resumed his remarks. "Burly."

"Burly?" Pope inquired, glancing at him, unsure of how in the world they were going to provide the police with that description.

"You know, like..."

"That's not very helpful." As she ran her hands over her hair, Kiara said. Nixie simply put a hand to her head and let out a long sigh.

"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." To help them see the vision he had in his head, JJ frantically attempted to conjure up a picture of the man.

"I can tell you with full confidence, these boys, these Killers..."He put his cigarette into his mouth and puffed out some smoke. "they're square groupers."

"They're square groupers, like narco square grouper?" Pope inquired as JJ turned and gave him a nod. "Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?"

Nixie leans back against the arm rest and murmurs, "We are stepping dangerously close into the world of delusion."

"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie." As she glanced between them, Kiara said.

"What does this square grouper look like?" Pope asked, leaning in JJ's direction. As he began to feel a little more anxious, Nixie rose from the arm rest and moved to sit beside him. it somewhat eased his mind.

"You weren't there Bro!" JJ disagreed with him, and as the conversation went on, he became a little more combative. "I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time."

"I was under duress, okay?" His remarks immediately made Nixie uneasy, and she glanced down at her shoes. She disliked witnessing her friends' sadness.

"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." JJ stated, attempting to convey the gravity of the situation and the speed at which it could turn into an issue. "It's a heavy vibe right now, okay?"

"Why do they want the compass?" Kiara inquired, turning to face JJ.

"You have no idea what their lives are like; perhaps they aspire to be Dora the Explorer." Nixie chuckled as Kiara kicked her in the leg, causing her to yell in response.

"It's a piece of shit...You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to." Pope remarked, but after seeing John B's face, he regretted what he had said.

"The office." Everyone stared at John B with scepticism as he spoke.

"What?"

"My dad. My dad's office." As he entered the house, John B departed the group.

"He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research." As they followed John B around the house, he gave them an explanation. "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." Kiara gave a hopeful response, hoping that Big John would return.

When John B eventually opened the door and everyone inside, Nixie spotted small fragments scattered about the room. "I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door opened." Pope said.

Nixie turned to see a picture frame of Big John; it resembled the picture in her mother's picture box, except this time it was just Big John. Why would he only have his own picture instead of that of his purported pals?

They all gathered around the board that John B had taken and carried over to the desk. "Here, look. This is the original owner, right here." He pointed to the note.

"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge, 1880 to 1920. There's the lucky compass, right there." Kiara pointed to the image of the man with the compass while reading aloud.

"Actually, um... he was shot after he bought it." Nixie looked at the other individuals on the board and nodded as John B continued.

"Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass." As John B read out the names, Nixie saw a pattern: each person was slain while clutching the compass. The family appeared to be under a horrible spell.

"Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here." Pope nodded in agreement as JJ spoke up, and Nixie moved away from the brunette boy.

"Yeah, you have a death compass." John B rolled his eyes at Pope's matter-of-fact statement and turned away from his companions.

"I warned you guys that he would be the reason we died." Nixie sighed and folded her arms across her chest. "Before the terrible curse of the Routledge family took us away, we were all very young."

"Get rid of it." As he observed the brunette boy shaking his head and clinging on the compass, JJ murmured. "It's cursed, and made its way back to you."

"Look, my dad used to talk about this compartment in here." Kiara approached him from behind to take a look at the compass herself, and John B sat down as they all stopped joking to stare at him. "Soldiers used to hide secret notes."

"What's that?" Kiara stated, indicating the inscribed portion in John B's hand.

"That wasn't there before."To get a better look, Nixie sat on the desk while the others gathered around John B to see what he was peering at. "This is my dad's handwriting."

"How can you know that?" Pope questioned incredulously, not actually thinking that it might be John B's father.

"Because he does these weird Rs with the... See it?" John B raised the compass so the others could see it. Nixie glanced at it and arched her eyebrow.

"Can I see it?" John B handed him the compass when JJ requested, and he muttered a few words a few times while attempting to read what it was saying.

"It says Redfield."

"Right." JJ said as he made a valiant attempt to put it off coolly.

"Okay, well, what's Redfield?" Kiara questioned, Nixie just shrugged her shoulders as she looked at her friend.

"The most common name in the county." Pope shrugged and mimicked Nixie motion.

"Oh, maybe... maybe it's a clue." John B proposed, glancing up to his companions. "Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding."

"John B. It's a compass, not a hint for an adventurous treasure search." After saying that, Nixie was nudged into silence by Kiara.

"But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?" John B immediately rose from his seat as excitement surged through him as Pope spoke.

"Yes. Perfect. Anagram. You need paper." He took a piece of paper off the desk and gave it to Pope, who began writing things down on it.

"How can you concentrate with that thing crowing at you?"

"JJ loves the rooster." When John B stood up for the rooster, Nixie laughed that they were doing so.

As they quarrelled, Nixie walked around the tiny office, watching for what might be a "clue." She was unaware that there was someone outside.

Nixie saw that someone was pulling up outside, and John B looked up and moved to the window.

"Guys! Somebody's here."

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Author's notes

Leaving on a note, since this chapter is to long we are moving into the next chapter.

Shout out to my favourite people.norasnetflix RuffieRoseStories arsvenal kiesluverr KleeAlise11 andorss

Well that's all from me. I hope to see you in the next update