Lost But Not Forgotten

The shadows in the room indicated that Malina hadn’t left the workshop in at least five hours. The heaviness in her eyelids reminded her that she hadn’t gotten enough sleep in weeks… no in months. Not since that night. Shaking her head she told herself to focus on the now. The compass was almost complete. Looking down at her hands that were shredded from the hours spent working with slivers of metal; she told herself that it would be worth it. A few loose curls had fallen into her face - dark, soft, and just long enough to brush her jaw - but she ignored them, too focused to care.

“Malina, you were supposed to be resting,” Reimond said as he entered the workshop. He leaned in the doorway for a moment before stepping closer, his thick, messy curls catching the dim light. They framed his sharper features - strong brows and a serious expression that had only depended over the past year. Walking over, he took the pair of pliers out of his fourteen year-old sister’s hands.

Swiveling her stool around she glared at Reimond. “I almost had it!” she said, trying to take the pliers back.

Shaking his head, he placed the pliers back in their spot, reached past Malina and shut off the lights. “That’s what you said last week. We can work on it tomorrow. Right now you need to get out of this room,” he said, reaching down and grabbing her elbow and forcing her out of the workshop. She fought, but at almost eighteen he was able to hold his ground.

Pulling her arm free she used it to shield herself from the bright light of the sun set that was peering through the windows. She stopped as they walked past the family portrait. The picture was taken five years ago. The final vacation their family had taken, a year after their parents started working for Radiant Evolution.

Early the next morning, Malina opened Reimond’s bedroom door. She walked over to the bedside lamp and flicked it on. “Reimond,” she said, reaching down and shaking him awake.

He groaned as his eyes slowly opened. He sent a sharp glare at his sister as he saw the clock hands on his analog clock. “It’s not even seven am.”

“You said that you would help me finish the compass today. I made breakfast. Coffee is still warm. I’ll see you in the workshop in twenty minutes,” she said before leaving.

Though he really wanted to go back to sleep, twenty minutes later Reimond found himself walking into the workshop. His glasses on as it was too early for contacts and a second cup of coffee in hand. “How long have you been here?” he asked, taking a seat beside his sister.

“Only an hour. I let you sleep in,” she said, not taking her eyes from the compass in front of her. Malina squirmed uncomfortably under the stare that Reimond was giving. Sighing, she put down her tools and turned to him. “I got eight hours of sleep. I had breakfast and even showered this morning. After September's little fiasco I’ve been taking care of myself!” she said. Three months ago she let herself get to a place of frantic working that landed her in the hospital. Something that her brother and aunt often brought up when they thought she was pressing too hard.

Reimond didn’t say anything as he held his sister's gaze for another moment. With one more sip of coffee he sat his cup down and reached for the compass.

Malina reconstructed the compass to the best of her ability but she knew that her brother understood the machinery of the compass’s design better. She watched in silence as he worked. The two stayed in the workshop nearly the whole day. Their aunt brought them food, shaking her head and saying how much they reminded her of their parents holed up in the workshop for hours upon end.

And after over twelve hours in the workshop Reimond leaned back with a shaky breath. “That’s the last of it,” he whispered, turning the compass in his hand one more time before slowly setting it on the counter in front of them.

All the tiredness vanished from Malina as she sat up straight. Part of her hadn’t believed that the compass would ever be completed. “How do we know if it works?”

“We turn it on,” Reimond said, nodding to a small switch on the side. “Do you want to?” he asked his sister. She shook her head. This was the part they had been waiting for, but also dreading. With as steady of a hand as he could muster he reached out and pressed the switch.

Malina and Reimond held their breath. They watched intently as the lights on the compass began to flash. Red, then yellow and then nothing. Malina’s hand shot out and grabbed Reimond’s arm. “Reimond! Where’s the green then blue?”

Two more flashes. One green. One blue. Then the compass would take the required information to locate what you desired. Instead the compass sat dark. Reimond reached out and pressed the button again. The red flash. The yellow flash. Then nothing. He pressed it again. The same result. He pressed it two more times to no avail. Grabbing the schematics he read over them shaking his head as they had done everything correctly.

“No… no… Reimond, it has to work!” Malina said as tears streaked down her cheeks. “It’s the only way we will see them again!” she said, standing she grabbed the compass frantically turning it over in her hands. Pressing the button over and over. Nothing changed.

Reimond stood and pried the compass out of her hands, he wrapped his arms around his sister and held her as her tears turned to sobs. His own face wet from his tears of grief and frustration.

The two fell asleep and woke to the door to the workshop opening and a gasp from their aunt. After twenty minutes of silence passed Viviann stood, pulling Malina with her. “I know neither of you will want to leave this workshop, but I feel a cup of tea may help… then we can figure out what our next step will be,” she said, guiding the two out of the workshop and to the kitchen where a cup of tea and toast was shared in silence.

“Could I perhaps look at the schematics? I was never as technologically savvy as my brother… but I did introduce him to that world,” Viviann said. The siblings were reminded that before a severe car accident altered her brain function she had been accepted into a bioinformatics program.

The three quickly deserted their cups on the table and headed back to the workshop where Reimond handed their aunt the schematics. They watched in silence as Viviann poured over the papers. “What’s this?” she asked suddenly, startling Reimond and Malina.

The two leaned in and looked at where she was pointing. Malina was the first to recognize it. “That’s Queen Frostine’s wand. I made dad draw her all the time for me,” she said, shaking her head as the disappointment set in that her aunt hadn’t seen anything.

“Queen Frostine?” Viviann asked.

“She’s the queen from Candy Land. Malina made us play that game non-stop growing up,” Reimond explained.

Viviann didn’t say anything at first. Her eyes not leaving the wand. “Your father may have been a doodler, but never on something as important as this. Do you still have the game?”

Reimond looked at Malina who slowly nodded. The three exited the workshop and went to the game closet which hadn’t been used in years. After a few minutes of searching they found the box. Taking it to the dining room table Reimond sat it in front of Malina who shook her head and nodded for their aunt to open it.

Malina gasped, Reimond’s eyes widened. Viviann smiled. “The wand was the clue,” she said as she pulled out a thick, tattered, journal. She handed it to Reimond. “You two should be the ones to take it from here.”

Together the siblings walked to the couch in the living room and sat. Reimond slowly cracked it open. “This is mom’s expedition journal… an entry for every one they went on,” he said looking at the first date and flipping through.

The next several hours were spent taking turns reading entries. The first year brought smiles and feelings of pride and joy as they read about how their parents had saved countless lives. From the United States President’s son lost skiing, to a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean, and even three escaped monkeys from the San Francisco Zoo.

However, after a year the entries started to shift. They still spoke about the joy of finding people and reuniting families, but there were whispers of uncertainty of the direction their partnership with Radiant Evolution was going. The second year they had more contract jobs with foreign companies and even clients that were remaining anonymous. Radiant Evolution said that it was still in the way of helping change the world, save lives. David and Cathrine were starting to question it. The journal spoke of their expeditions in ways their parents never mentioned. Being pushed to avoid the police, because they didn’t understand the impact of what was going on, or so Radiant Evolution said. A year before they disappeared things took an even darker turn. There were no more reunions happening. There were no more stories to the news about saving lives. The expeditions all focused on finding material for anonymous clients. Materials that were illegal or highly valuable.

Reimond closed the journal. Malian gasped. “Reimond! We have to keep reading!” she said reaching for the journal. But he shook his head and held it away. “Mom and dad were being set up! They were being coerced into it! This journal proves they are innocent! Maybe the final entries will say where they were! We can find them, Reimond! We can find mom and dad!” she cried, grabbing for the journal.

He stood up. “We’ve read enough for right now.”

“You don’t want to find them!” she yelled, shoving him in the chest. “You don’t even love them!”

Reimond glared at his sister. “Don’t you accuse me of that,” he said. He held her stare as she glared back at him. “The entries we just read are enough to process right now. We will finish the journal, but not now.” And with that he turned and walked to his room taking the journal with him.

He did keep his word though. That night, after dinner, the two sat back on the couch to finish reading the journal. Tears streaked down Malina’s face as they did. The stories now told of lives their parents were forced to ruin or Radiant Evolution would take it out on her and Reimond. The final entry was unlike any others. It was written to Malina and Reimond. A letter speaking of the inherent evil of Radiant Evolution and then begging their children to not pursue what they had started.

Silence filled the living room as they read and re-read the letter. “We have to take this to the police! We have to finish the compass!” Malina said her entire body was shaking.

“Malina! That’s exactly what they didn’t want us to do! Whatever took mom and dad down will surely take us out in mere seconds. They also said that Radiant Evolution is highly influential so the police will not believe two kids defending their traitor parents!” Reimond groaned as his sister punched him in the arm. “Malina, you and I both know the truth. But take a moment and consider who in their right mind would believe us?”

She said nothing. She glared at her brother. She glared at the journal. Then she stormed to the workshop. Locking the door behind her. Grabbing the compass she slid to the floor clutching it to her chest and sobbed.

A week had passed. Malina barely spoke to either Reimond or Viviann. She spent her days reading the journal cover to cover. Though Viviann had been reluctant to do so she had left that morning on a three day work trip. The siblings sat in the living room. Reimond worked on his college applications while Malina re-read the journal. In the silence Malina’s gasp caused Reimond to jump out of his seat.

“The wand!” she exclaimed, tossing the journal on the couch and racing for her room.

Worry and confusion had Reimond following on her heels. “The wand led us to the journal.”

“But what if that’s not all?” Malina questioned. She dove under her bed and after rummaging around pulled out her old dress up box. “For Halloween one year I dressed up as Queen Fronstine. I have the wand.”

Reimond eyebrow raised. “What does that have to do with anything?”

She let out an exasperated sigh but said nothing as she dug through the box and pulled out the wand. “While re-reading the journals I noticed many of them mentioned the micro-chip. Did we put one in the compass?” she asked.

Reimond slowly shook his head. “How did we forget that?”

“It wasn’t in the schematics. It was mom and dad’s safety measure. Don’t put it all where one person can recreate it. But the wand… the wand led us to the journal… and…” she said, pausing as she focused on removing the battery casing. “...to the micro-chip,” she said, holding up a small circular chip.

Moments later the siblings found themselves back in the workshop. The red flash. The yellow flash. The siblings held their breath. The green flash. The blue flash. The compass seemingly came to life. “I am C.A.R.E - your Cognitive Analytics for Rescue and Extraction device. Please follow the directions to get started…” a gentle voice, much like their mothers, said.

“We did it,” Malina whispered, her hands shaking as she braced them on the table for support. “We can find mom and dad and take down Radiant Evolution.”