Tesla's Revenge

by Renee Sebastian

  “How much you willing to spend?”

  “Thirty.” It would bring my money dangerously low, but Jeremy deserved at least a decent training set.

  He said, “Let me take a look see, to see what I got.” He closed up and came back quicker this time.

  Once he was situated again, he showed me two more knives of moderate quality. “Silver alloyed with steel. Has a touch of iron in it too. Got to keep it oiled, ya do.”

  He handed me one to examine, and I estimated their worth to be about twenty gold pieces. I said, “Twenty pieces for the two.”

  He said, “No. You will pay the full thirty if ya' know what's good for ya'.” Then he gave me a hard look. I knew that look. He knew something. He finished by saying, “I also take bounties, if ya' know what I mean.”

  Bloody hell. I paid the man his thirty pieces for the knives and rejoined the boys.

  I said, “Looks like the law may be on our trail in this city.”

  “All the better to get to Baltimore, as fast as possible,” Tesla said bitterly.

  Dorian said, “This just means it will be a bit less boring than usual. But I concede, we do need to get Jeremy settled and then proceed with Tesla.”

  “Agreed,” I said. I handed Jeremy his knives and he appeared most pleased by them.

  “Thank you ma’am… I'll treasure them always.”

  “Treasure them later, stash them away in a pocket for now. We don't want to scare the other children on their way to school.”

  With a gleam in his eye, he exclaimed, “Yes, ma’am !”

  We trudged onward in silence for close to an hour until Jeremy complained, “I'm hungry, somethin' fierce, ma’am.”

  We hadn't seen any food stalls for at least the past thirty minutes. So I replied, “I'm hoping your uncle will fix that when we show up unannounced during the breakfast hour. There might be a nice poached egg and crumpets in your future, if we get there in time.”

  Then he replied, “My feet hurt. Can we stop for a'while?”

  I had noticed, as we walked, a growing stream of servants walking children to school presumably. Apparently, there was a large portion of the city that were children. Their parents were motivated enough to maintain a fairly large school system in contrast to the many cities of this modest size that did not bother with having a centralized school system, preferring tutors or none at all. I didn't see any babies or very young children, so their mothers must have been at home tending them with their nannies.

  I finally said, “If we don't get you to your uncle's house before school begins, we will draw notice. Jeremy is of the age to attend the schools here. I think it best that we don't dally.”

  Dorian said, “Look here, we are on his street now.” I looked up and saw the name Stutter Street on the cross street. We had arrived at Uncle Toby's street.

  Then Jeremy started pleading, “I don't know him, ma’am. Not one bit. Only heard about him, to be sure, and that wasn't all that good. Do I really have to stay with 'im?”

  Tesla took him by the shoulder and said to the boy, “He is your family. He will be the best one to see to your safety and education. This world is not for you yet. But under a firm, kind guidance, this nation will need your skill set sooner than you think. America needs you, son. Will you become the man we need to meet the challenges that will face our nation in the days ahead?”

  Tesla's little speech had seemed to cheer him up a bit, since he raised his chin and said, “I do have valuable skills, don't I?”

  Dorian said, “Without a doubt Jeremy, what Tesla says is the truth. Hopefully your uncle will see your worth as well. But I'm going to give you my calling card just in case things don't work out. It has my employer’s home office information. Just place a telegram or a call and someone will come and retrieve you. You will receive proper training for your talents, with or without your uncle's assistance.”

  Jeremy solemnly nodded his head. Tesla and I exchanged a pleased look.

  ···•Ͽ Ѡ Ͼ•···

  The house was a stand-alone and was a rather fancy house, at that. It was two stories tall with a dying lawn surrounding it due to the turning of the weather rather than any neglect. Also, of all things, the house was painted white. A sure sign of exorbitant luxury. Someone would have to come out every couple of months to repaint it. There was also a ward surrounding the property in lieu of a gate or stone wall. It was a weak one, so I was able to cross it with minimal discomfort. Elven blood comes through again.

  I strolled up to the leaded glass, double door. Before I could pull on the door ringer, the door opened and a man dressed in a black suit appeared before me. He sneered at me as he asked, “Who do I owe the pleasure to, calling at this ungodly hour?”

  “I have a very special delivery for Master Earlmann.”

  “That would be Baron Earlmann, ma’am. I doubt you know him well enough as to deliver anything of true import.”

  Bea was a slippery one, for sure. The title of Baron was an elected title in many smaller cities. My hand slipped to my pocket, where I mauled that handle of my pistol. The butler's gaze narrowed to it also.

  I replied very softly, “Please let him know that I have his nephew.” I was not judging the Baron based on his butler. I was not judging the Baron based on his butler. If I repeated it enough times to myself, then I might come to believe it.

  The butler peered out over the lawn and Jeremy smiled and waved, as if on cue. The butler snorted rather loudly and then said, “I will inform the Baron. However, I must let you know that the house is heavily spirit guarded, and if you choose to cross the threshold of this house uninvited or choose to speak an untruth while in it, you will get a nasty surprise, ma’am.” He then went to a panel just inside the door of the house, removed a thimble lancet, and then pierced his thumb. He pressed his bloody print into the panel. Then he raised his eyebrows and said, “Very well. You, your friends, and the nephew of the Baron may wait in the parlor room.”

  To have a blood deactivation panel by a door meant only one thing. He wasn't joking with me. Spirit-guarded homes were illegal and often deadly, not to mention down right annoying. The butler was definitely threatening me. I would not allow myself to be bullied by the butler, especially when both my Iver Johnson pistols were loaded. He seemed Ordinary enough to die from a bullet in the back of his head.

  I had no doubt that I would most certainly be attacked by the pet ghost, but it might be worth dying once to shake them off. The spirit here was bound to protecting the house and occupants, when they should have been in the hereafter. I didn't think I cared so much for this Baron Earlmann; no, I think not at all.

  ···•Ͽ Ѡ Ͼ•···

  We waited in a flowery, pastel filled room, without tea or biscuits. This was a very uncivilized business, indeed.

  Tesla commented, “I don't like this. We've been waiting too long.” I had to admit that Tesla's paranoia was infectious and I took out one of my pistols. I opened it and then laid the bullets out in a perfectly straight line on the small gaming table. Then I reloaded them back into the chamber. I did this three times before Tesla stood, as if to depart, but finally, Mr. Butler returned.

  He brought with him an entirely too jovial and portly a man, resembling a stouter version of Benjamin Franklin. I felt his demeanor was entirely inappropriate for being so early in the morning. Mr. Butler, I got. This new man, I did not.

  Jeremy stood and asked, “Uncle?”

  He leaned in to examine Jeremy closely through thick, round spectacles and said, “Well, well... what do we have here?” Then he smiled an artificially white smile, which reminded me of a shark.

  His smile was infectious enough for Jeremy, to have him honestly return it. Jeremy replied, “It's just me, your nephew by my Pa's side.”

  Toby stood erectly and exclaimed, “Indeed you must be Jeremy Earlmann. But why are you here boy? Is your mother not well?”

  I then interjected and presented the letter she gave me to him. He exchanged one set lens
es for another, as he examined the letter at length. At last, he said, “I see.” Once he replaced his original glasses, he said, “I suppose I will have to have Gerald set another place at the breakfast table for you.” He clapped his hands and called for his butler, who was just hovering outside the room. When Gerald appeared, the Baron requested that he show Jeremy to his room. They left and then the Baron turned to Dorian and Tesla, and asked in a most suspicious manner, “What sirs do I need to pay you for the trouble of bringing the boy to me?”

  Dorian replied, “It was our duty as gentlemen to assist his mother. I would like to ask after your plans for the boy however.”

  He grimaced and all resemblance of joviality disappeared. I finally felt like I was seeing the real Earlmann. He replied in a rather insulted manner, “How very noble of you, I'm sure. The boy is now in the care of his family and that is all you promised his hillbilly mother, correct? He will learn his craft and become an upstanding citizen of Rochester.

  “If you hadn’t noticed, I am a man of power, means, and respectability in this community. Your motley crew is not what I would have chosen as an escort for my nephew to my home. What was his mother thinking?

  “Well, the only decent decision she ever made was sending him to me.” I was sensing the familial strife that I had suspected, and I had to wonder about his opinion of his brother for marrying a Tallow woman in the first place.

  “Please leave my home now before your presence is remarked upon.” He turned and left us alone in the parlor room.

  Tesla said once more, as if we needed a reminder, “I don't like this one bit.”

  Dorian turned to me and said, “Is your Westinghouse charged?”

  “Yes, why?”

  He went to the draped curtains and pulled them away from the window. Then he said, “I fear our Tesla may be correct.”

  “Do you see anyone?”

  “Not yet. Let's be gone from this place before there is someone out there who knows where we are.”

  ···•Ͽ Ѡ Ͼ•···

  There was a wooded lot catty corner to the Earlmann estate, which was part of the grounds of the manor across the street. We decided to go there and wait out whatever was making Dorian and Tesla's skin crawl. Best to meet any trouble head on and then determine the best way to proceed.

  “Do you think that he will be a good guardian to Jeremy?” I asked, even though the knot in my stomach told me he wasn't in a good place regardless of what Dorian or Tesla might reply. But I had to consider that I was not the best judge of character, since I spent much of my time alone.

  “Hard to say,” Tesla replied, “But at least Jeremy is done with us. His uncle is correct. Best for him to not be with us at the moment. We are, apparently, wanted by several factions.” Then he turned to Dorian, “Why exactly are we hiding here in the yard of some unfortunate kopile?” What was a kopile? “We need to make haste to Washington.”

  “Map please,” Dorian asked of me.

  I handed it over and then he pulled out his pad of paper and pen. He copied key parts of the map onto one of his pieces of paper and then gave me back the original. Next, he stabbed his forearm and wrote furiously on the back of the piece of paper. Then he took out his blood sword and flicked a flake of dried blood off the hilt of it and added it too the paper. After folding it into a makeshift airplane, he pitched it into the air. It artificially snaked around trees and went out into the street until I lost sight of it.

  “What was that all about?” I asked.

  “I sent it out to find out if any Necromancer's were nearby. I gave it explicit directions to avoid the Earlmann manor. Let's see if our little friend, Jasper, has decided to play with us here in town. He is currently the bigger of our problems. I couldn't do this spell with Jeremy so close, it would have caused the spell to go haywire and we haven't really needed it as badly as now. It won't tell us where he is, only if he is close by.”

  “What if he has created new recruits to do his bidding?”

  “If he is here, then I'd wager that he has not had enough time to make any new ones, because it would significantly weaken him, leaving him easy pickings for an attack. He would have to have ridden through the entire night to get here just as we did. It will take some time for even Jasper Jackson to make another proper zombie.”

  “Nothing proper about him,” I replied.

  We sat quietly for about ten minutes. Just when I thought about splitting my lone piece of jerky three ways, something abruptly hit Tesla in the head. He grunted and batted it away. It was the paper plane. Dorian picked it up and examined it. I looked over his shoulder and saw that besides the advanced glyph Dorian had written across it, there was a scorch mark on one side of the note on a street named Melville Boulevard.

  “Well, I don't like the looks of that. What's it mean, Dorian?”

  “It means he knows we're here just as much as we know he's here.”

  I smiled a smile with too many teeth showing. Dorian and Tesla looked at me as if I was the mad hatter. I said, “This has shifted to my expertise now. You two go back to the stable and ready the horses. Take my bags with you. I can carry what I need.” No need to mention to Tesla about the homing beacon that remained in was in the false bottom yet, since he had never even asked how I found him in the first place. He may be clever, but I was more cunning.

  “I'll be back soon.” I checked the special ammo that I had ferreted away in the pocket of my coat. I was hoping that they would work on him, but if they didn't, then I had my usual arsenal of weapons, skills, and crafty ways of finishing the job.

  Dorian scowled, while Tesla sized me up. I didn't need their approval, so once I loaded six of the special bullets into one of my pistols, I took off in the direction that the scorch mark indicated. I would just have to remember that if one of these special bullets didn't work, then I had to retrieve the lug to see if I could recast it for another chance at killing some Fae Lords in Neverland. No pressure.

  Chapter 20

  Showdown in a Cemetery

  “Desiring to be invisible in the world is absurd. Someone, somewhere, will have noticed and seen what you have done. Justice can be its own reward.”

  -Dorian, My thoughts on Wendy, October 2232.

  From Dorian's Journal of Memorable Quotes to Live By

  I kept close to the pruned shrubbery on Melville Boulevard. I knew I was going to have to do the one thing that I loathed. I was going to track Jasper Jackson while invisible. I needed the element of surprise and I definitely did not want to draw attention to myself in this residential district. Meeting up with the local constable was not high on my list either.

  But first things first, I slipped in between some topiary and touched the ground. I sent my consciousness out through the plants to seek out any signs of where exactly Jasper might be. I didn't just hunt plant species out by searching the roots of plants. I was able to sense the conditions above the ground through them as well. I knew it would look suspicious if I was caught kneeling down and touching the ground, so I forced the invisibility camouflage on myself. It was easier for me to become invisible nearer the greenery of the countryside, than in the city itself. To say it was challenging now, would be an understatement. Sweat broke my brow while I attempted to do both a Hedgewitch’s and an Elven skill at the same time.

  This was my little secret from S.O.A.R., from everyone really, excepting Peter. That was because Peter was like me. The main difference between us was that he was a purebred Elf and I was only a mutt. My brothers didn't get the gene code at all.

  Peter could turn completely invisible anywhere, anytime, and for a seemingly endless duration. I've never seen him fly, but disappearing one moment and reappearing at another location might give the illusion of flying if you were swift enough. And he was. Never bet a running race against an Elf, unless you were of Fairy.

  In contrast, I could barely blend in with my environment for more than a few minutes at a stretch. My technique was sketchy at best. If you looked in the ri
ght place at the correct time, and I was moving, you could see a warping of space that would reveal me every time. Peter thought I could improve on it, but I thought it was miraculous that he could teach me to do this trick at all.

  I sent out a tendril. I first encountered some Bermuda grass near me, then some oaks, followed some stubborn crab grass. It could survive in the toughest of environments, so I knew it was nearer to the city center. Then I had to go deep within the earth to search for some rhizomes that could breach me into the more populated areas. I finally found a larger area with a lot of grass, some plants, and some old growth trees.

  I searched a bit more in this area and was able to identify several weeping willows and some water lilies. It was a mansion, park, or a cemetery and it was about a mile down this road. I next discovered after a careful examination that the trees and flowers were dying since their presence was weakening even as I was sensing them. Odd to find so many dying specimens. It wasn't cold enough for the trees yet. Did death follow Necromancers as easily as they worked with Death? He must have been there.

  Somehow, he was leaching the life out of the plants surrounding the graves. He must have been juicing up for a big night on the town, taking life like a leech where he could get it. I wondered if he had killed anyone in this town yet or if he was trying his luck to raise the currently deceased from their family plots. How boorish it would be for a Necromancer to stay put in a place like a cemetery. By my estimation, he must be in one of the mausoleums or crypts of the cemetery. This was either a nastily laid trap or it was going to be easier than I thought.

  I crept back out of the topiary. Once out, I almost bumped into Dorian in my haste. He had his famous frown on his face.

  I decided to take the offensive, “What are you doing here?”