Valmont, Chris, Cole and Alfred waited for Charlotte at the entrance to the Museum and when she came running up the path Valmont unlocks the door. “Okay we are all here lets go.” Valmont leads the way into the museum and they walk past the older exhibits and he stops in front of a large picture of himself. It is a fantastically painted picture of Valmont in full monster hunter gear looking triumphant over a mountain of demons. It is a testament to his ego. There is a small bust of Valmont's head in front of the picture and Valmont lifts it up, underneath his head is a red button. Pressing the button causes the large picture to rise up into the ceiling and unveiling a hidden staircase.”
“I never knew about this one.” Chris commented to Cole. Chris made the comment because he thought he knew all the secret passages around Sharp Monster Manor. He knew that his father had the grounds build with lots of secret rooms and passages. It was part of Valmont really getting into the role of an eccentric hunter of the supernatural. The buildings in the Sharp grounds are designed after famous haunted houses and castles.
“I only knew about this once when my father finally let me join the show. By that time all the changes already happened. I did not want to believe it at first.” Cole responds.
“What changed your mind?”
“You will see.”
Valmont leads the rest of them down into the basement of the museum, he does not press any light switches but as they descend down motion activated lights turn on one at a time. At the bottom of the stairs Valmont stops before a steel door with complex door lock. A green light scans Valmont as he stands in front of the door, “DNA Scan complete, Valmont Sharp. Please place thumb on the scanner.”
Valmont made sure the security system installed for the sub museum was one of the most complex and foolproof security systems for the basement of the Museum that money could buy. Oh and really Valmont had no purpose for this room before three years ago. Valmont places his thumb on the scanner. “Scanning, scanning, scan complete, Valmont Sharp confirmed. Now prepare for retinal scan.”
“Yes this security system is over kill.” Valmont says he has answered that question multiple times. Valmont puts his eye close to the computer system and a small light scans his eye.
“Scanning retinal Pattern, scanning, scan complete, welcome Valmont Sharp. Museum powering up. How many people today.”
“There are five of us.” Even though Valmont knows the computer will only understand the number
“Recognized, please enter.” The steel door slowly opens up showing what looks like a normal but impressive looking museum. “Enter one at a time please.” As each person walks into the museum one at a time the computer voice counts down the number and after the fifth one enters the door closes behind them.
Chris looks around the room, “Now this is what I'm talking about.” He stops in front of the glass case holding the Book of Thoth, there is a faint yellow orb of energy surrounding the book. The book itself looks alive, like it is made of skin with an eye that looks mostly closed on the cover. Chris can see a small pupil in the open slit of the eye move back and forth, “Now this is the real deal.”
Charlotte had never seen the real exhibits ether even though she knew her father was a real monster hunter and that all the pieces up stairs were reproductions. Even pictures and videos could not prepare her for the book of Thoth, “I see what you mean uncle Valmont, it is fading in and out of reality.” The book seems to go transparent and even vanish for a second or two before becoming solid again.
“The book only exists to free Thoth and it wants to be where it's goal can be completed. Yosif theorizes that the book is an extension of Thoth's will. So it constantly fights us.” Valmont says.
“Now you said the book is magically kept here? How?” Chris asks.
“Well at first we had to trick the book, make it believe we were serving it's master and by extension it.” Valmont explains, “Then Yosif found this.” Valmont opens the case and connected to the security system is a small rock with a glowing yellow crystal, “This is a magic stone.” he looks at Alfred, “What does Yosif call it?”
“A Magus stone, artifacts from a clan of wizards that once existed throughout Europe. They are long extinct now but their artifacts occasionally pop up and are seen as unexplained occurrences. Many of them telaport people who come in contact with them to unknown locations. Others are the cause for cases of spontaneous combustion, this one projects a protective barrier. Yosif believes that when this stone had more magic it's purpose was to capture demons, now it's power is weak and it just holds a minor piece of a demon in check.”
Chris leans over and whispers to Cole, “Where did your father learn all this?”
“The reason I became my father's apprentice in the first place is because he became Yosif's assistance. Yosif is not long for this world.”
“Oh.” Chris knew Yosif was old but did not know the man was sick or dying he looked as healthy as ever yesterday however Chris does not want to ask that question now. Chris moves away from the book of Thoth and toward an exhibit for “The Living House.” There he looks at the urn of Ustence Griffith, the spirit that was haunting the house, “Why do you have this?”
Valmont closes the case and turns to his son, “Ustence was too stubborn to move on to the next world so I made a deal for him to cooperate.” Valmont smiles, “Hey you old fool.” He yells.
“Wha?” Chris says as he watches as a faint white fog start to rise out of the urn, the transparent fog continues to grow and eventually takes the shape of an old man, a man with a long nose, a long wispy bared and a few strands of hair on his head, oh and a humped back. “Shhhhharp. Can't you be nicer to me?” No he can't because Ustence only comes out of his urn when he is called an old fool.
“Like you would listen if I was nice?”
The old spirit smiles, “Nope.” He looks around the room and stops at Charlotte, “So that's why you called me out here.” He shows Charolette a big toothy smile which makes her take a step back in disgust. “You never brought a girl to see me before. Have I been good?”
“No you dirty old man, and she is not the reason I called you out here. My son is.”
Ustence detaches his head and with his hand moves it closer to Chris whose mouth is wide open in shock, “Close the door sonny.”
“What?” Chris closes his mouth, “Holy, a ghost. That's how you stopped the haunting of the living house by sending him here? That's crazy?” There is no more doubt at this point Chris knows everything his father has done in the last three years has been real. Until seeing Ustence there was a lingering doubt in his head, that there had to be a reasonable explanation for what was had happened. “Does he haunt the whole manor, just the museum or only this room?”
“Your damn father limits me to this room, well and my private entertainment area. Speaking of which.” The spirit floats over to the left wall near a barred door and fades in, his head then pops out, “Nice to meet you sonny.” He then looks at Charlotte, “You can join me if you want Missy.”
Charlotte shakes her head, “No thanks.”
“Your loss. Now LEAVE ME ALONE SHARP.” The spirit then fades back into the wall and a minute later sound can be heard booming from the other side of the barred door.
“Okay now lets move on.” Valmont says turning away from the urn. The next couple hours are spent showing Chris and Charlotte the different exhibits of the museum as well as telling a few details about the shows that were left out when the shows air on TV.
Chapter Sixteen
Valmont Sharp: Monster Hunter Page 16