Spider-Bots Rising

Chapter Ten: The Compass

Good, the Dreamseeker thought, pulling the compass from her pocket. You take the lead. You tell me where to go. I'm tired of being the one who has to make all the plans.

Still breathing hard, she laid the glowing compass faceup on her palm. It was hot, but at least it wasn't burning through her glove this time. The thin red arrow spun around and around.

And then it stopped.

The Dreamseeker looked down at it, confused. The arrow was pointing at her. Its narrow red tip was pointing straight at her chest.

"Wha...?" she mumbled aloud. "I don't..."

The arrow was like a wagging finger. It was as if the compass was scolding her.

But then she turned around. Now the compass was not pointing at her, but back towards the center of the clearing. Back to the small figures of Chuck and Abby, who were talking quietly.

She shook the compass.

No, she thought. I am not going back there! Those two can do what they want but I am only going forward. Forward! Get it? Not back.

The compass glowed brightly. The arrow continued to point at Chuck and Abby. The Dreamseeker shook it again. She tilted it. She whirled it around. She held it high above her head and then put it on the ground. But no matter what she did, the arrow pointed in the same direction.

"What are you, broken or something?" the Dreamseeker asked the compass angrily. "Are you going to give up on me now too?"

The arrow, of course, did not respond. It just lay still, pointing. For some reason that made her angrier than anything.

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" she screamed at it. "Why do you want me to go back? Aren't I supposed to go forward? Aren't you supposed to be helping me?" Her words echoed off the tree trunks. When the sound of her voice came back to her, it sounded whiny, like a little kid. She didn't like the sound of it at all.

Looking up she saw Chuck and Abby still standing in the middle of the clearing. But now they weren't talking. They were both staring at her. After a moment, Chuck gave a small wave.

The Dreamseeker took a long, deep breath. Then she walked back towards the center of the clearing.

If the compass wanted her there, fine. She would go. She didn't know what else to do. Not yet, anyway. Besides, The Council had given her the compass. They had told her to use it. They told her the compass was the reason she was on this quest to begin with. So maybe it was best that she trusted it, even if she didn't understand what it was telling her. It hadn't failed her yet.

But still, she had to wonder: Why was the compass so hard to understand? Why did it only seem to come to life at certain times? If she and the compass were supposed to be a pair, why hadn't she figured out how to use it already? Could it be that she just wasn't a good Dreamseeker?

She took the last few steps and stopped in front of Abby and Chuck. For a few seconds they just looked at each other in silence.

"I'm sorry," the Dreamseeker said, feeling her face go red. She was glad she had her helmet on. "I know this whole quest is dangerous," she said finally. "Maybe even more dangerous than we thought. Maybe even crazy. You guys have the right to go home whenever you want. I shouldn't have–"

But the rest of her words were cut off by Chuck's fluffy arm smothering her in a hug.

"I'm the one who's sorry!" he blubbered. "I didn't mean to say none a those things! I'm stickin' with you no matter what! We're pals to the end, through and through!" He stepped back and looked at the Dreamseeker with watery eyes. Small streams of snot were running into his moustache.

"Me. Too. Dreamseeker," Abby said. Her sensors were glowing brightly again. "You. Are. Right. W-we must stop the sp-sp-spider-bots. It. Is. What's. Right. At least we must try."

The Dreamseeker felt her heart lighten a little. She already felt braver.

"Okay," she said. "Great. Thanks guys. But you're right, we have to figure out a plan."

She looked down at the compass. It had stopped glowing. The red arrow floated loosely across its face. It had gone cold. The Dreamseeker held the compass upright, as if she were looking at a clock on a wall. The arrow swung limply downward and pointed at the ground.

"Well, it seems like my compass has gone dead again," she said, looking up at the others. "It was really going a second ago. It pointed me back here, to you." She shuffled her feet a little. "I was hoping it would give us another clue about where to go next. But it doesn't look like there's much chance of that happening now."

Suddenly the ground began to rumble. They looked at each other in alarm. Then the earth beneath them started to crack and give way. They all took several steps backwards.

Something was coming out of the ground, right in front of them. Something was rising through the dirt. It was...a pair of scaly purple lips?

A jet of dark brown dirt shot out of the lips. It came showering back to the ground, sprinkling them with soil. But nobody moved to brush themselves off. Whatever the lips belonged to it was now wriggling out of the hole in the ground. The three of them stared at it, stuck to their spots.

After the lips came shimmering dark purple scales, then one big glassy eye. Next came fins that were on the sides and top of the creature, each of them as thin as tissue paper. Last to appear was its tail: long, silky, swishing, and red as crimson.

It was a fish. But it was bigger than a normal fish. It was at least the size of a party balloon. And like a balloon, once the fish rose out of the ground it floated five feet in the air.

Its long beautiful tail rippled softly behind it like a waving flag. It looked calmly around at the Dreamseeker, Abby, and Chuck. Then it smacked its lips apart with a sound like a bubble popping.

"Glad I nabbed you!" he said with a fancy English accent. "We don't have much time to spare."