When she received the compass from the Faceless, Lily had assumed that it would show her the way immediately. She'd wandered around the otherworld for the better part of an hour, watching a listless needle take her in circles until she was booted from the otherworld to the back lot behind Darlene's. Taking it as a sign from the universe that she was somehow not ready, Lily was willing enough to accept defeat, and when she drove home she placed the trinket on her desk, well within sight if it decided to want to cooperate.

It stayed there for weeks, months, and through the restructuring of the world (though it did move from her desk to her armoire, collecting a thin layer of dust along the way). Every so often, Lily would go searching for a particular lip gloss and remember it was there, shaking it softly to see if it would come to its senses, but never did she push it for answers. When the need became dire enough, it would function properly. That's how magic worked, right?

Some time later, Lily was in her room, lounging on her bed with her phone out as she toyed with snapchat. She thumbed through several lenses, taking pictures after each one with poses to match. Her favorites were the darker, creepy ones, but she paused for a moment when she switched over to the deer lens, her lips pursed as she considered the freckles, the way it warped the shape of her eyes. It wasn't really her aesthetic, but she could play along.

She snapped the photo and the taste of the air changed. Somewhere on her dresser, the compass began to glow.

Lily groaned, rolling up to seated. "C'mon, are you kidding--" And then she paused, looking at the glow of the trinket. "--oh. Dire emergency time." She grabbed a jacket from her bedpost and reached for the compass, stepping out into the dilapidated hallway of her apartment complex. There were holes in the ceiling, and Lily thought she could smell rain so she tucked her head under the hood of her jacket, hopping down a flight of stairs and into a soft drizzle. It made her almost nostalgic, if not for the fact that most of her rainy memories of the otherworld included blood, hers or someone else's.

She looked down at the disk in her hands, the needle pulling strongly to the left. On its face glowed a nebulous collection of lavenders and greens that, when she stared long enough, glittered with stars. It was mesmerizing to watch, but Lily forced her legs to move forward, down the street and towards a listless fog.

It was difficult to say how much time had past. In the fog, Lily had nothing but the vague shapes of buildings to act as landmarks, and all the while, she was more interested in looking at the nebulae inside the compass, charting the constellations with her eyes. Still, even the ground felt vaguely familiar, and when Lily glanced up she caught the sight of one of Blackfriar's crumbled walls.

"You're kidding me," she breathed, shrinking slightly into her jacket. She hadn't been back since the attack, and even if it had never happened in this universe it still felt real in her mind. The compass glowed, perhaps a little more brightly, and Lily swore that she could feel it begin to hum. Though she frowned and she gulped, and she very much did not want to go, Lily pressed forward. It would be helping.

Lily stepped slowly through the arched doorways framing the entrance of the library, raindrops echoing in the vast empty space of the main foyer. The last time she'd been here, the rain had been a baptism, a kiss from the light of the moon, but without the reverence of the rite of passage attached, Lily just felt damp. She wandered through the toppled shelves and darkened corridors unsure of what to look for, led only by the light of the compass, ever-present and cold. When she turned a corner and started up the stairs, the compass began to blink, and she took it as an indication that she was getting close.

She spotted the faceless when she reached the top of the stairs, slumped over a half-broken table on the opposite end of the room. Lily stopped at the edge of the room, unsure of how to proceed, but the compass blinked faster, a reassurance? This was where she was meant to be, and she edged forward step by step, the line of her mouth pressing thinner and thinner. "Hey. Buddy," she called out, even though by all accounts the figure looked like plastic and shouldn't be able to move. That was perhaps the most unsettling part of the faceless--how they could move like they were part of a stop motion film, except that it was happening in real time and always getting closer, reaching out to touch--

But this one didn't move, not immediately. It's body seemed to be pinning down whatever it had been looking at when the table collapsed, some sort of reference book. It was the first to move, falling from its suspension to slide down the table and to the ground. Lily jumped at the sound of book meeting floor, fumbling to keep the compass in hand as she hissed out a number of words indecent for plastic ears. The head of the faceless swiveled independently of its slumped over body, and Lily stumbled backwards. "Nnnnnnope, nope, nah, nadda," she began, but just before she went sprinting towards the stairs she caught a glimpse of the faceless, who just for a moment, had a face that was warm and human. Even when its expression faded, it still wore a spattering of freckles on its face that, to Lily's surprise, looked like ********," she shuddered, trying to compose herself despite how her body still screamed to leave and leave now. "Ummm....hello, this is Lily your friendly neighborhood moonwalker, I'm here to help you find home." It seemed to regard her for a moment, the stars on its face bobbing slowly in gentle repose, and then with its stunted alien movements it bent down over the table, stopping with arms outstretched towards the book.

"No, look," Lily continued, stepping sideways as a trick to get her away from the staircase and roundabout closer to the faceless in question. "Bossman...woman...Bossperson of indeterminate gender says you lost your way, so I've gotta help you back. I bet there's books at the theater, or, like...movies...?"

The starry faceless turned its head back towards her, tilting slowly with a clicking articulation of its neck. Like the others, it held out a hand.

"Ooooooooof course," Lily cringed, slowly returning the favor in kind. When their hands touched, she felt the twinge of unorganized emotions that slowly bubbled up to more concrete feelings, mostly confusion and loss with the slight color of regret.

I cannot find home, it said, the psychic voice muffled like it was coming from another room. The stars on its face began to fall with tiny trails of light, and Lily thought they looked remarkably like tears. I thought I would find it here but I cannot and if I can just read my book I can find my way home.

Lily glanced down to the discarded book in question, nudging it with the toe of her boot. The page that had been left open was empty, as was the next one and the one after that. Even the cover, when she flipped it over, was completetly blank. "I, ummm...I don't want to burst your bubble or anything, but unless you have special eyes then you're not getting anything out of this."

The faceless slumped, its hand limp in hers. I just need to read my book and then I can go home. I am certain it is here... It shifted in its seat and for a moment there was something startlingly human about its posture, before it became plastic once again.

"I mean, maybe there's a book for you but it's not this one," Lily said, her heart beginning to sink. Through the bond from their joined hands, she felt the sadness and hopelessness it projected. "...Maybe we can find another book?"

I just need to read my book, please, it responded, the voice a little clearer this time.

"What iiiiif..." Lily paused, looking around. "...what if we look around for it, and maybe we go check for it at the theater? Maybe you just left it at home."

I would like to go home, it nodded slowly, some of its star-freckles beginning to blink out. Lily's first instinct was to worry--had she done something wrong, for the stars to fade? But she felt less of the anguish from the faceless's side of things, so perhaps this was its preferred state of being.

"Well, let's, uh...let's walk for a little bit. Get some fresh air," Lily suggested, trying her best not to sink back into how creepy and unsettling this all was. The faceless nodded and rose, and more of the stars sloughed off from its cheeks.

I would like to go home, please, it repeated, waiting patiently for its charge to step forward.

"You got it, boss," Lily said blankly, looking down at the compass in her hand. It, too, was starless, but it pointed towards a different direction now. Still holding the faceless by hand, she began to shepherd it forward, the compass her guide. Now if only they could just teleport to the theater...