𝐒𝐄𝐗 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐘 𝐄𝐗, ˢᵃʳᵃʰ ᶜᵃᵐᵉʳᵒⁿ

xiv. the office

EMMA WAS TRYING to fall asleep, quiet music streaming from the record player on her desk. She was almost fully asleep when her bedroom door was shoved open. "Um. Hello?" She sat up, her eyes landing on John B and the rest of the crew. "Can I help you guys?" John B shook his head before going over to her desk and began rummaging through drawers. "Is anyone gonna tell me what he's looking for?" Emma questioned with a yawn.

"Office key." JJ answered simply.

Emma nodded. "Right. Okay then." The girl threw her blanket to the side, getting up and moving toward her closet. She grabbed a shoebox marked 'DAD'S SHIT! DON'T FUCKING TOUCH!', Emma opened it up and pulled out the key. "Hey dumbass, quit tearing apart my desk and take this."

John B looked over his shoulder, smiling at the sight of the key. "Thanks, Em. We need you, c'mon." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the office. "Unlock it." Emma raised an eyebrow at the boy. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Please."

"Well, of course I will." She smirked then unlocked the door and pushed it open.

As she and John B walked in the others stood back for a second. "I've slept over here like a thousand times and have never seen this door open." Pope spoke as his eyes roamed around the room.

"Do I really need to be here for this? Can I go back to my nap please?"

"No."

Emma gasped. "Did you miss the please part of that question?"

"You're in here all the time, at this point probably more than dad has been." John B pointed out, with a shrug.

Emma nodded. "Wow, you're kinda right for once." She grinned as John B rolled his eyes. The others had walked in, looking over everything, the dust covered books, research papers scattered everywhere, photos and documents of The Royal Merchant. "Anyway, what're we looking for?" She asked, eyes shifting between the other four in the room.

John B placed their father's compass down on the table in the middle of the room. "How'd it get back to us?"

"Huh?"

"Em, dad left with this compass, I found it in Scooter's boat-"

Emma shook her head, an expression of disbelief on her face. "John B, hun no." She moved him to the side, taking a bulletin board off the wall and set it down next to the compass. The girl picked it up and opened it then set it back down shaking her head. "Listen, this thing, it's fucking cursed." Emma pointed to the first picture on the board. "Okay, this dude here, Robert Q. Routledge, he was the original owner of our lucky compass right here. Born 1880, died fourty years later in 1920, the compass can be seen hanging out of his pocket." She looked up making sure they were paying attention, JJ was slouched over opposite of her, his eyes shut as his head rested on his hands. "Look alive, Maybank. History time." The rooster outside crowed loudly.

He looked up at the girl, folding his hands together, setting them on the table. "Please do continue."

She smiled. "Thank you. So, Rob here, he was shot after obtaining this special little thing here." Emma gestured toward the compass. "Then it was sent to Henry."

Kie leaned forward, her hands against the table. "And what do we know about dear Henry?"

"Glad you asked, love." Emma's head tilted, examining the black and white photo of the man and his wife. "He was killed in a crop dusting accident while having the compass on him. Super great, right?"

"Wrong." Pope said, shaking his head. "So wrong."

Emma laughed quietly before she continued. "Okay, so after dear Henry met his fate, the compass was given to a man named Stephen." The man was dressed in a military uniform. "He had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam."