by J M Bannon
10:12 p.m. Outside the Monastère de la Prairie vallonnée
"Here hold this," Dolly said to Rose as he handed her the clock that somehow had allowed Allard to disappear. Dolly rummaged through the leather overnight bag Henri Allard had thrown at the clock.
"How can you see a thing out here?" Rose asked.
"Not well, I'm just making sure there isn't any other weird shit in his possession, besides a magical clock."
"Let me look," Rose dropped her goggles over her eyes and peered into the bag. Flipping them up quickly, "nothing on the ethereal spectrum."
When Rose looked up, she glimpsed Saint Yves and Angelica speaking to each other, "wait a minute," she said. Rose slipped out the Rod and summoned guidance, then quietly said, "Let's give those two a minute."
"We need to get after this guy," Dolly urged.
"Where?" asked Rose.
"My first instinct is to go back the Guild House in Paris. There may be something there this Allard needs, after that I'm stumped," Dolly professed, placing the clock into the duffle bag to enter into evidence.
Rose elbowed Dolly, motioning her head toward Saint Yves. "Here is my suggestion, those two are fire and ice, we need to keep them apart for the time being. I would like her to return with me to Hawkin's House to help her regain control, and keep an eye on her. I believe Enzo could mentor her in a similar manner to the way he has worked with me these last few months."
"That's a big ask, to facilitate her entry into the country after what we witnessed."
"You want to just let her roam free or leave her here with them? I think that plan is more dangerous."
"Point taken,” said Dolly.
Rose and Dolly returned to where Angelica and Saint Yves were speaking to each other. The Guild Master was argueing that she should stay with him.
"Well, he got away through some door to another dimension. Is this some Necronist trick?" Dolly broke into the couple's conversation.
"Nothing I know about unless this was astral projection," Saint Yves offered.
"No, his physical body left as well. It was like he opened a door to another place," said Rose.
"Apparently using this," said Dolly, holding up the clock. "Seen this before?"
"Detective, I hardly know this Allard, he is a Silver Seer in the White Wyrding who showed promise. He has served..., I think his whole service in the Guild has been here working with Hume,” said Saint Yves.
"So, all of this has been under your nose and you missed it?" accused Dolly.
The Guild Masters’ demeanor was stoic as they made their way to the runabout, "You can thank me for bringing you here and helping you to identify the prime suspect in your case. It is not common practice for my Wyrding to interfere with the work of the other Guild Masters or to let an outsider get involved," the Seer coldly stated.
"I do appreciate your help, just chalk up my questions to a simple police Detective witnessing extraordinary things. I suggest our next steps are to return to Paris and check in with the city police, and have a look for Allard there," replied the Detective.
"I'm afraid that with the current circumstances, I can't leave. I'll wire-type High Guild Master Crocus to look out for Allard and get the authorities involved," said Saint Yves.
"I can't argue with that," Dolly turned to the pilot of the runabout, pointing upward, "Get her stoked up, we're ready to go."
Rose turned to Angelica, "Please come with us back to London. I will help you and protect you."
"Do I look like I need protection?" The young girl said as her face scowled and the pattern of her dress swirled and changed.
"Yes, protection from yourself. You see only the fire, the rage; it's too strong and you will lose what you really want in that rage. I have resources, including others who can help," Rose stepped close to the teenager and whispered in her ear, "All that is here is in the past, he wants to relive what was. You are reborn, this body is innocent and untainted, I can teach you a new way Angelica, a way to achieve what you really desire and not follow the path of resentment and retribution."
"I left much back in London and I will accept your help in getting back what is mine, but don't fool yourself that I am some bird with a broken wing for you to fix. If I am a bird, I am the Phoenix," Angelica whispered back.
* * *
10:37 p.m In the Nexus
Henri lay on the floor of the Nexus catching his breath. How did it come to this? Be calm, I need to stay focused. Henri looked up and noticed for the first time a thin seam in the ceiling, a panel. Maybe there was a way out through it but it was too high to reach.
He stood and paced in the confines of the Nexus. Surrounded by the copper panels reflecting a distorted image, he knew the door he came through was now closed to him. If he opened it the Englishman would likely be waiting to arrest him, but the soul magnet was there, he desperately wanted it back. In front of him was the portal he knew lead to the laboratory under the slaughterhouse. The other portals were a mystery, Could he just pull the chain next to one of these doors to start the unseen machine that would allow him to walk through to somewhere and disappear? Maybe, or did every portal opening always lead back to this nexus and Caiaphas? He pulled the chain to go to the laboratory to see what he could devise there. It was better than standing in the vestibule waiting for someone to come through the portal.
Stepping through the portal into the laboratory, he was shocked to see Caiaphas and Doctor Bernard along with another man he didn’t know. His entrance had drawn all their attention.
"How good of you to join us, Seer Allard, we were just having a conversation about recent Guild developments."
"The police came after me at the Monastery," Allard blurted.
"Be careful, there is no need to share information unnecessarily," Caiaphas scolded. " An English Detective traveled to France with a Necronist Guild Master to investigate what I have been doing," said Allard in a panic.
"So, the Detective I met in Harpsichord has identified one of our members and upstairs we have the Marshal who has been following me. I think the authorities are closing in” said the stranger.
“A Marshal? Now the police are aware of this place too. I have to get out of here!" screamed Allard the consequences of his action now swirling around in his head.
"Settle down. We will adjust our plans and move forward Traveler..."
Allard interrupted Caiaphas ignoring the look of anger that passed over his face. "Stop with all this code and secret society bullshit. If I am being chased by the English police and you have an American lawman after you, we are done. Unlike you, I am a Necronist and when I am caught, they won't leave me to the justice system they will take me and obliterate my soul," Allard's voice indicated his cracking nerve. Now Bernard and the stranger were visibly worried.
"While we are a Brotherhood, I am the Director and it is in times of strife that the leader points the way forward. Since you're in no state to think straight I will tell you what you will do to remain safe," Caiaphas turned to the American stranger, "Go to your friends at the railroad and arrange for a dedicated locomotive with freight cars. Move all the critical equipment from the premises and onto that train. Start it moving towards Chicago." Caiaphas turned to Allard, "You, Seer Allard, I want you to use your Necronist methods on our captive and learn what that Marshal knows; then kill him. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I... do..." Allard nodded his head.
"Are you getting squeamish on me, Seer? Your hands are already drenched in blood; you have killed hundreds with your contraption, this is no time to have second thoughts or a moral crisis! How you finish him is up to you, if you're too tender to choke the life out of another man with your bare hands then by all means, use a Necronist trick and suck out his soul from a distance, but take his life, or I will take yours." Caiaphas walked to the portal and tugged the chain; the clockwork mechanism above the copper rectangle engaged a film of water descended filling the gateway. "I'll will return shortly and provide further leadersh
ip," finished Caiaphas, as he passed through the gate.
28
Friday the 29th of March
11:40 pm Guest Stateroom #4 The Peregrine
“My state room is next door, Dolly’s is down the hall to the left and the lavatory or as they like to call it the Peregrine, the head, is at the end of the hall on the right.” said Rose.
Angelica didn’t answer, she was looking at all the objects in the room. Running her fingers over the gilded finishes on the woodwork in the room, she caught a glimpse of herself in the looking glass. “She is a pretty girl isn’t she?” said Angelica touching her long platinum hair.
“She is. Do you have any recollection of what happened?”
“There were no memories left behind but I glimpsed her on the astral plane as I was expelled from that prison and drawn into her body. She was killed in an accident from what I collected from her as she moved on,”
“Where were you?” asked Rose.
She turned to Rose. “It was awful,” she said softly, “It was … a conscious unconsciousness drifting in a colorless, featureless limbo. I was terrified, I could find no way out, it was directionless, no up, no down, an endless nothing! How long have I been gone?”
“Almost four years,”Rose answered gently.
“I need to find the man who has my son. It was part of our agreement that if something were to happen to me my son would be cared for,” Angelica said.
“Who was that?”
“I’ll begin my search in London,” The girl said looking in the mirror again and ignoring Rose’s question.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“I don’t know. How are you supposed to feel when you have been killed, trapped in limbo for a number of years and then reborn in someone’s else body?” inquired Angelica wryly.
Rose chuckled “Funny, but I know someone you can talk to that has a similar experience. The Pwen Hanaan is the knowledge I sought to extract a spirit that has possessed my friend. Since our last meeting things have gotten worse, he suffers greatly trying to cope with two souls in the same body.”
“That must be a horrific experience,”
“Worse is that only a few know the truth behind his condition, most think he has gone insane,”
“What he is experiencing is worse than insanity. I know I walked the edge of sanity when I was in solitary confinement you begin to get lost in the nothingness; too long in that state could be irreparable,” offered Angelica.
“Can you still conduct the ritual?”
“With some preparation and rest I could,”
“If you will help me with Preston and Azul to find a way to separate them and save them both, then you have my word that I will do everything I can to help you find your son. All my resources will be yours to call upon, this ship, my knowledge, everything,” said Rose with passion.
“You are bargaining with a Voodoo Queen. Some would say that you’re making a deal with the devil. This man means something to you?”
“He has been a dear friend and one of the few people believed in me. As to deal making, I am making a deal with a mother who loves her son and wants to make sure he is safe. I believe in this matter your intentions are pure, I want to help you to go about finding him. I have an airship that we can use to scour the earth for your boy. You just need to help me and let me know where to start,” said Rose.
“I made a bargain with a devil,” said Angelica. She sat down on the bed.
“What do you mean?”
“After the attack on the village, after Lafayette died and I assumed his title as the leader, those of us left were scattered, wandering the jungle. My boy Gerrard and I, we were on our own. I was trying to find my way and to get what was left of my people back together. We arrived at this small village looking for a place to rest and to get some food and water. People were afraid to help because they knew the French had attacked us. As we walked into the town the villagers retreated into their houses; fear for their own lives drove them to shun us. All of them hid except, sitting in this open air cantina was an elderly white man.
He waved me over and had the owner of the cantina feed us. It was the first meal in over a week. I began to cry as I saw how hungry Gerrard was after me dragging him through the wilds.
This man offered to help us and my son. He offered to bring me to America and get us started again. I was skeptical; after all that had happened, culminating in Papa Lafayette being killed, and my home destroyed. I was lost not just geographically, but mentally. After we had eaten he challenged me to rethink my purpose, he explained that he was here for the boy. He had foreseen his capacity for manipulating the arcane and wanted to help him to take his rightful place in the world as a master of arcana and the first steps on the path were to reclaim his birthrights. This was music to my ears,” Angelica said as she lay down on the bed. Rose could see how the days events and the resurrection had taken a toll. Rose, herself was profoundly tired and she had manipulated a fraction of the aether that Angelica had handled, let alone risen from the grave in another body.
“We left the next day for America and he introduced me to the man that would foster my son while I worked with Dr. Caiaphas on a plan to win back my inheritance and my son’s birthrights,”
“Did you say Caiaphas?” Rose said wide eyed, but she received no reply, the body of Lilith Hume was asleep.
29
Saturday the 30th of March
12:20 a.m. The Peregrine over the English Channel
Dolly needed a drink, a large whisky. He had finished writing up the events that had transpired over the last week and was reflecting on his days patrolling as a beat constable. The simple days of drunks, prostitutes, and murderers who killed with a knife or a gun. He envisioned his presentation to the Home Secretary and the Police Commissioner on how he came to decide that the best thing for the Crown was to transport a resurrected teenage girl, who manifested powers that enabled her to control an unknown substance by her will, or mind, or whatever the fuck Rose was talking about. It was fortunate for the course of their investigation and continued existence that this girl had stopped the magically animated cow creatures that had come close to killing him and Constable Caldwell.
Their emissary from the Guild had identified someone who now was their main suspect in the Zeus Colonial and the Harpsichord eradications. It was unfortunate that he had escaped through a magic door, generated as if by a genie from a simple clock. "I wonder if I get full pay and a pension when they lock me up for lunacy?" he said out loud. After re-reading the report, he mused on how Rose and Saint Yves had negotiated for Angelica, Lilith, or whoever she was, to join them so that she could find her son. He decided he would visit the lounge for that whisky and a smoke.
Passing by the door of the laboratory when , Rose called out, "Detective, can you come in here for a moment,"
"What are you doing in here?" Dolly asked.
"Tommy came down from Engineering and was helping Lorelei and I figure out the mechanics of this clock."
"Who the hell is watching the Witch?" asked Dolly concerned.
"Dolly! now you know what I think about that term, and she is referred to as a Hougan or Voodoo Priestess, or Voodoo Queen. For that matter I am unsure how the succession will work with her dying and then coming back," Rose pondered.
"Enough, my point is you saw what she did in those catacombs, you know what she is capable of, and you have left her alone on this ship."
"She's asleep. I think all the events yesterday took its toll on her body and she is out cold. I am not concerned about her, she will cooperate. She needs our help and I have her Staff safely stowed away in the Reliquary."
"And you plan on giving to her?" Dolly asked in shock.
"Why not? It's hers," Rose said defiantly.
Dolly rubbed his forehead in frustration, "Oh, let me count the reasons; maybe because she is a murderess, and that is a powerful weapon, and after seeing what she did in the cave her power scares the shit out of me."
Dolly bit the inside of his mouth and pulled on his beard. He would not let Rose get under his skin. "I was on my way to the bar, but after this enlightening interchange, I have decided to get drunk instead. I'm going to the lounge to get a bottle of whisky and when I get back, you can tell me what I need to know about that clock while I lower the level in the bottle.”
Dolly walked into the club room.
“Sorry sir I was just closing up,” said the man behind the bar.
Dolly’s shoulders slumped as he looked at the sharply dressed fellow in a blue and green velvet coat.
“Now sir, I’ve seen that look before, you really do need a drink. What will it be?”
“Whisky,” Dolly said with a smile, “What’s your name?”
“Slade, Phineas Slade sir,”
"Well, Phineas, you have made an old Scot a wee bit happier. You ever get into a scrape and need the Metropolitan Police you be sure to throw the name Dolly Williamson at the Bobbie," said Dolly as Phineas poured him a drink
“What do I get if I let you take this decanter back to your stateroom?”
“Dolly smiled, are you planning on having multiple run-ins with the Crown?”
“No one ever plans too, but I took a job working on Reidun Falk’s ship so my judgment isn’t a strong suit,” said Phineas as he slid the decanter to Dolly.
“Fair enough, how did you get to stand behind this bar?”
"I’m old friends with Reidun, we met in America. I met her on a riverboat casino out of New Orleans,"
“And,” Dolly said.
Phineas refilled Dolly’s glass then plugged the decanter, “Like I said, I was closing up. Bring back that decanter and glass and I’ll tell you the story,” Phineas walked from behind the bar gave Dolly a nod and left.