

The Chardon Chronicles: Season One

The Harvest Festival

By Kevin Kimmich

### The Chardon Chronicles: Season One -- The Harvest Festival

### (cc) Kevin Kimmich 2015

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You may copy, distribute, display, and perform the work and make derivative works based on it only for noncommercial purposes. Commercial uses require written permission of the author.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

CONTENT WARNING:

This Book Contains Strong Language;

Descriptions of Graphic Violence;

Adult Content;

Descriptions of Men and Women's Bodies;

Gratuitous Use of the Word 'Titties';

Descriptions of Reckless Driving;

Recreational Drug Use;

Invocation of Supernatural Entities;

Conspiracy Theories;

Depictions of Corrupt Politicians and Law Enforcement;

Children ignoring their parents;

Adults Encouraging Children to Scoff at Authority;

Descriptions of Teenagers Drinking Beer;

Dogs Eating People Food;

Constant Reminders That You Might Live in Someone Else's Dream.

The Sun Tarot From 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith Deck

# EPISODE ONE -- Pilot

## Chapter One

Judge Marcus Rice was on the road almost every morning. Rain didn't bother him. Cold didn't bother him. He jogged his five mile route as long as the footing wasn't too bad. The rural roads of his route connected nowhere to nothing, so traffic was rare and drivers that did pass were usually courteous and slowed down as they went by. In spite of that, his wife made him wear a ridiculous, he thought, LED hat and jacket. He got the outfit for Christmas, and tweeted a picture of himself standing next to the tree, "Which one's the tree?!" Lots of retweets and favorites on that one.

He lived in the country on a gentleman's farm with his wife their four kids and a whole menagerie of animals. He made a point of keeping the place going year round as if farming were the family business. They rented horse stalls all year, did maple syrup in the spring, and firewood and hay in the fall. The kids usually enjoyed getting involved and the property was a great place to entertain and engage in the glad handing politics of the County: prosperous people helped other prosperous people be prosperous, but not in an unseemly way.

The miles ticked by under his feet. The dry grass of mid August was yellow and waving in a gentle morning breeze. The leaves of the maples and locust trees along the road were still mostly green. The sky was deep hazeless blue, and the morning sun a bright white disk. Fawns and their mother looked up at him as he went past. He waved, "mornin' fellas".

He had no idea death was bearing down on him. Sarah Cantoe pulled out of her sister's driveway and went north on the narrow chip and tar two lane. She barreled along and ignored the sounds of the tires slapping over potholes. A bootleg CD from the tween idol _du jour_ kept skipping and chirping and her kids were carrying on and fighting with each other. The light from the world poured through her eyes and into her mind, but the brilliance of the day only made a fuzzy impression on her.

She was under the influence of a cocktail of drugs and booze that would have rendered a typical person unable to walk, but for her it was just normal numbness. She saw Marcus' vest from a couple of miles away. A small voice inside her pleaded to just pass him and go home, but she ignored it. She gripped the wheel and pointed the car over the double yellow lines. Marcus heard the car approaching from behind, but didn't see it. His life was so routine and protected he barely imagined the possibility of an accident happening to him. He couldn't have conceived that a group of predators stalked him for months and coldly decided to erase his presence from this plane of existence.

He didn't really feel the impact. It was just a jumble of up and down and spinning sensations. A profound injury is a different sort of experience than a minor one. Get a paper cut, and a chorus of nerves shrieks against a background of quiet. The brain focuses all attention on a trifle. With a shattering injury, the attempt to regain equilibrium consumes all the brain's resources. The world just becomes a fuzzy dream.

## Chapter Two

Keith Marte woke up an hour before his alarm was set to sound and he got up to look in on his daughter Chloe. The condo was still stacked with boxes. Only the kitchen was unpacked and there was some sitting space in the living room. The timing of his lease running out in Nashville made the move a big rush, so they had no time to settle in before school started. He felt a little twinge of regret about it, but his daughter was amazingly resilient, or at least she pretended to be.

She was still asleep. Her cell phone screen was casting a faint glow up at the ceiling and shining against the empty boxes stacked near her dresser. He started the coffee and got breakfast going and picked up the paper from the concrete slab porch.

The activity nudged her awake, and a crusted rag slipped off her head onto the bed. "Oh... shoot! shoot... shoot!" She said. She walked out into the kitchen. "What's up?" he asked.

"I had a zit on my forehead last night, I was soaking it with peroxide, but I fell asleep." She ducked into the bathroom. Oh great! I've got skunk hair." She held the offending strands in her hand and stared at them.

Keith Marte glanced up from the paper. "Well, it's really not that bad. Maybe you'll start a trend?"

She rattled through some boxes in the kitchen. "I don't have any hair coloring! I tossed it before we moved. Grrr...."

"Wear a hat!"

"Do I want to be _that one kid_ who wears a hat? There can only be one per class; what if someone's already that kid, dad?"

"I've got some black spray paint in one of these boxes."

"Haha. very funny. This trauma's gonna scar me for life and all you can do is mock? I think I'll do the hat."

"Do you want a lift? I am going to the office and it's on the way."

"I think I'll walk. Soak in the scenery."

She popped earbuds in her ears and set out toward the school. It was a cool morning and dew was silver on the grass. She had hiking boots on so she left the sidewalk and cut across the lawn of the condos. The town was just starting to stir. The adult faces in the cars were heading off to jobs away from town. The baby faced sixteen and seventeen year olds were heading toward the high school.

The high school is the heart of any small town. It's one place where at least some patches of actual human life happen. Dreams are protected and even encouraged by adults who project their hopes on their children and at least attempt a vicarious escape from The Matrix.

The High School building was faced from reddish orange bricks and had two rows of dark framed institutional windows. Some were decorated with posterboard letters "CHS" and "Welcome Back!" signs. A smokestack towered above the building. Busses were stopped in a long line and the students without cars streamed from them into the building. Kids were hanging around by the doors catching up after the summer break, a few teachers and vice principals tried to keep the mass moving through the metal detectors.

A lanky black haired boy on a BMX bike shot past Chloe's shoulder. He was wearing a black concert T-Shirt that had the name _White Roses_ in script letters across the front with white silkscreened rose stems wrapped around his skinny torso. "Hey!" she shouted angrily.

"Sorrrryyyyy" she heard as he went by. "Steeeeeve!" he shouted and waved to a friend wearing the same T-shirt.

A convertible drove past on the way to the east student parking lot. It was a cream colored Austin Healey 3000 with red leather interior. The girl driving the car had shoulder length red hair that curled at the ends. She was wearing a bomber jacket and sunglasses like something out of the 1940's. Heads turned as she passed.

Chloe's 7:30AM class was Calculus. It was on the second floor of the building in a windowless drab cinder block room. The rear wall had a crack that ran from one side of the room to the other--the result of an earthquake in 1986. The crack had mostly been patched, except for a few places where the dark cinder block material was visible.

The room was already almost full by the time she found it. The two boys in the concert T shirts were sitting at the back chatting to each other and laughing. Tracy Wells the girl in the convertible was in the back row watching the class pile in. Chloe sat in front of her.

The teacher, Mr. Bartlett, walked into the room. He was a big man, with a big smile, and big hands. He wore a well worn dress shirt and some dockers with frayed cuffs and tennis shoes. He grabbed chalk and wrote on the board, sounding out the syllables. "Cal-cu-lus." with a flourish underneath. "What is it? What does it mean to you...Steve."

One of the concert T-Shirt boys answered with a shrug, "To me, it means scary." The rest of the class chuckled. His friend, Morgan, nodded.

"How about you, Tracy?"

"Integrals. Derivatives, I think..." her voice was a contralto, a little rusted from smoking for a couple of years and seemed out of place coming from a fresh faced teen.

"Yes, good." He wrote INTEGRAL and DERIVATIVE on the board along with their mathematical symbols. Then he stopped. "This is the most important thing I'll tell you all year." The class was very quiet. "Calculus was invented--maybe discovered--by two men; Just flesh and blood men, dudes even, only a few hundred years ago. Their names were Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz. It transformed the world..." he launched into a lecture on the history of the subject.

When the bell rang, the room exploded into noise and activity. The kids clumped into groups and went out the door into the crowded hall. Morgan and Steve and Tracy went together. Chloe started to follow them. Morgan stopped suddenly when he saw something glinting in the crack in the wall.

She almost ran into him, and complained, "Whoa! Again almost hitting me!"

"Oh, sorry. I thought I saw something in there. He pointed at the crack in the wall."

"What, in the wall?" She asked.

"New Girl, can I call you New Girl? Yeah, there's something shiny in there, I'll have to check that out."

"My name's Chloe, Chloe Marte. My dad and I just moved here."

Tracy said, "Nice hat."

"Thanks."

## Chapter Three

At the end of each school day, the high school becomes the nucleus of a cloud of activity that extends for miles. Kids head out onto the front field for marching band practice, others to football or gymnastics, some head into a garage to work on a car. Others go running miles for cross country. Some head home, or into the woods to smoke, drink, or get in trouble.

Chloe just started walking home with no particular plan in mind. At the crosswalk, Tracy pulled up. She was vaping. She blew out a cloud of mist through "O"'ed lips. "Hey, Chloe. Want a ride?"

"Sure. The car is so cool. What is it?"

"Oh thanks. It's an Austin Healey. It was my mom's. I just took it out of storage. I love it, even though it's actually pretty unreliable. Hopefully it will run for a few months before the next major repair."

"Your mom?"

"Well, I'll fill you in before you hear the sad story from people who want to weep for me... My parents are gone. If you Google it, there was a car accident, a total loss. Dental records... DNA... But I _know_ they're not dead."

"Wow. How long?" Chloe checked Tracy's face for any sign of emotion, but the sunglasses made it difficult to read her expression.

"It's been three years... My Uncle is around sometimes, but otherwise, it's just me in a big old house."

"I'm with my Dad in a condo. Mom's who knows where doing god knows what."

"Family, eh? Want to come over?"

"Sure, but can we stop at the drugstore first... bit of a hair emergency." She took off the hat.

"Dude, you could totally pull that look off."

"Maybe, but I want it painted black."

## Chapter Four

The wind whipped their hair as Tracy buzzed along Sherman Road toward the tree farm. A big faded sign "Wells Hardwoods" stood high above the driveway, which was a gravel snake winding through a field toward a boxy white farmhouse with black shutters. In front of the house, hay was waving in fields that rolled off to a distant tree line.

They parked in a pole barn next to a Ford blue tractor. The floor was hard packed dirt that had been polished shiny by decades of feet and the place smelled of oily mustiness and hay. Light shone in through vents near the roof at either end. Chloe followed Tracy along a concrete path to the back door. She fumbled with a big ring of keys and they went in.

The interior of the house was like an all-wood box with windows. The ceilings, floors, and walls were wood. Some trim had been hand carved into leaves and acorns and geometric patterns. Knick-knack shelves and book shelves were tucked into every available space that wasn't covered with a painting.

"If you want to do your hair, be my guest. The bathroom is down the hall on the left. Or if you want to use the kitchen sink, go ahead and we can chat. I'm going to get a beer."

"A beer?"

"Yeah, want one?"

"OK. I've never had one. I'd love one."

"If you don't like it I've got some hard cider. Or water or juice or whatever, too."

"I'll try a beer." Chloe opened the hair dye box at the sink. "You have a towel? This can get messy, so if you're a neat freak, don't uh, freak."

"Neat freak? Not me." Tracy grabbed a couple towels from a closet and threw them at Chloe. She popped open two Erie Brew House Red Ales with a bottle opener. "Let me know if you'd rather try something else."

"Um. Yeah... well, that's so good. It's so red. Looks like blood from this angle."

They chatted and drank in the den while her hair dried. The kitchen door opened again. "That's the guys. Hey guys! We're in here."

Steve and Morgan walked in. They were sweaty from riding bikes. Steve got a glass of water and sat in a big plush chair. Morgan grabbed a beer from the fridge.

"Hey! Chloe, was it?" Morgan said. He sat on the couch next to Tracy. "What's your story, anyway?"

"My dad grew up here--that's why we're here, now. We were on the west coast when I was a kid. San Francisco--which I don't really remember, then LA, then Nashville--that's where we were last where my dad got shot!"

"Holy shit! For real?" Steve said.

"Well 'just' in the shoulder. He was only in the hospital for a day, then lots of physical therapy. His arm was in a sling for a couple of months. He couldn't even make it move--and it basically atrophied into a broom stick. At therapy, they would just spin it around for him while he tried not to shout. It's basically back to normal, now, though."

"So back to sleepy Chardon to recover and put the pieces together?" Steve said.

"That and we have some family in the area--my Grandma on mom's side."

"Do you miss the city life?" Tracy asked.

"We just moved in last week, so I haven't had time to miss anything yet. Nashville was cool. It's a sort of small city/town, but there's always something happening. LA was the burbs---but the Ocean was close and I was at the beach all the time---I had a group of friends. I haven't been here long enough to judge, obvs."

Tracy, "Here, you have to make your fun. Every once in a while someone throws a party. But they're usually just _meh_ ," she wobbled her hand back and forth, "not worth going, or they're stupidly crazy blow outs with ambulances and cops and fights."

Steve, "And the cliques are basically set in stone at this point. You're the first new kid in years."

Morgan, "I think Tracy is the last one. She went from hanging with the rich kids at Tweedy Pines Academy to hanging with... us."

"Mom had me go there for high school. I was only there in ninth grade, and I was pretty miserable. I think I would have ended up back in Chardon no matter what. Anyway, once it was just me and my Uncle there was no argument."

"So now you're back with the poor kids..." Steve said.

Morgan nodded. "Well, at least one poor kid he pointed at himself."

"At Tweedy, I _was_ a poor kid. There were new money kids, old money rich kids, and old money 'poor'... I guess that's me... just draining the accounts, now. Well, trying not to."

"Old money poor?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, well, we really don't count for much in the money category. To me, this house is big and nice and comfortable, but it'd just be the guest house or maybe a _barn_ for some of those families at Tweedy. When I say my family is 'old', all I mean is we know our history--every family is the same age, right? But yeah, follow me for the Wells Family History tour. The parts I know anyway."

They walked into the library. It was a two story room with big bay windows and rows of stoutly built walnut bookshelves that formed aisles from the floor to the ceiling. Oil paintings and black and white photos hung from the sides of the bookcases and the walls. A plank walkway circled the second floor aisles.

"See that painting?" She pointed to a big portrait on the wall. "That's my great-great-something grandparents. They were part of the original Massachusetts Bay settlement. Eventually, my family came here to help set up the Western Reserve deal... which was a total flop my dad says... Then they just stayed here instead of moving back East. Really, we've been on this farm since--mothers having babies, grandparents dying in beds."

"That's amazing." Chloe said and looked around the room. A twinge of self consciousness crept into her mind. "My family history goes back to... my Dad and my Mom and Grandma."

"Well, don't feel bad, no matter what, it's better than mine." Morgan said and whistled twice into the beer bottle.

## Chapter Five

Keith's office was in an old industrial park in Newbury, only about 7 miles from the condo. When he called about the place, he got a rose-colored description, for sure. The carpet was threadbare, and the office furniture looked like it had been sitting in a warehouse since Ike was President. At least there was a big picture window and he could see a patch of blue sky above the warehouse next door.

He was setting up the computer on the desk when there was a knock at the door. "Hello?" a man called out. He was wearing a tan sport jacket and jeans and had thick bifocals. His hair was white, but still thick and wavy. He looked familiar. Keith squinted at him.

"You look so familiar... Chardon High?"

"Yes, that's right, Keith. I remember you, but really only because I heard you were back in town. I looked you up in the yearbook before I came by."

"Let's see if I can remember... Rrrrrrriiiich, Rich Simons, right?"

"Yeah, that's me, I think the white hair really throws people. It's a genetic thing."

"Tell me about the hair! Where did mine go?" Keith rubbed his head and sighed. "It doesn't seem that long ago, but man time just marches on faster and faster. I think once I hit thirty, the years started going by in the blink of an eye."

"Tell me about it! My _youngest_ is in college this year. I'm an empty nester!"

"Just curious, how'd you find my office? I haven't even put an ad in the paper yet."

"I saw you move in. My office is just across the road." He gestured over his shoulder. "I actually could use some help if you're ready to do some work."

"I'd be happy to."

"I'm an attorney. A friend of a friend asked me to look into a hit and run..."

"The Judge? I saw the driver was just sentenced."

"Yes that's it."

"I read about it in the paper this morning. Tragic accident."

"Yeah... well.... maybe an accident. I've heard gossip about your career here and there... you've had, let's say, an _exciting_ career while I've been doing Wills and Divorces."

"Yeah, it's been exciting at times...." he rubbed his shoulder. The muscle was still more like jelly than the solid mass it used to be--he still couldn't do a push-up.

"Well, people will be glad you're back. Things have changed here... a lot... and not all for the better."

"Fill me in over a drink?"

"Stop over later today and we can crack a bottle."

## Chapter Six

Tracy, Chloe and the boys walked through the woods. The leaves were just starting to change, and the tractor trail was dry and hard as concrete. The trail ended at the top of a hill. Hemlock trees shaded a fire ring, beyond it the hill sloped down toward a sheer sandstone wall, which plunged to the valley floor below. The woods was carpeted with centuries of leaves from ancient, tall oaks, smooth barked beeches and immense, gnarled maples. The brilliant bright field was visible in the distance.

The boys set down a cooler and popped open two more bottles. "Want any?"

Tracy, "No, I'm good. Please guys, don't get drunk. You're not staying over here again. Your parents hate me enough."

"Hate you?" Chloe asked.

Steve tapped the bottle with his fingernail. "She ' _undermines parental authority by living alone'_... that's what my mom says."

"I have to run into town, too." Tracy said.

"More online auctions?" Steve asked.

"I have to pay the property taxes on this place next month. That's the downside to independence."

Morgan asked, "Why not get the firewood business going again? Or sell some more trees to the Amish guy? Where's your Uncle anyway..."

"He's here one month then gone for six. It's too early for the firewood. Yeah, I need to scout around here again for some more trees to sell. I always feel bad selling them though. I'd rather just sell the shit we still have in the attic from Mom's shop."

"Some of that stuff is your history... Trees, well, they're just trees. Can you hear them scream or something?" Morgan screamed and mimed toppling over.

"I get it about the trees..." Chloe said looking around at the canopy. "These are old, old trees."

Morgan hit Steve's shoulder, "Should we climb the cliff before we go?"

"Oh you 'studz' with a 'z' have to show off? Geez don't fall again. Remember that?"

"Scared the shit out of us." Steve said. "That must have been twenty feet."

"No blood, no foul." Morgan said.

The boys ran down a path to the valley floor. Chloe jogged after them. On the steepest part of the path, the boys descended wildly, arms flailing. Steve kept kicking at Morgan's heels to try to knock him over. When they got to the bottom, they were both out of breath. Chloe stopped and looked up. "Hey, that looks taller from here."

"We don't try to go all the way up the face anymore. If you reach that root there, you can get into that crevasse between the rocks, then the tree roots are like a ladder back up to the top. It's fun. Watch me." Morgan followed a well tested path up the face to the root. Then he hoisted himself into the crack and wedged himself in so he could look down. "See, it's easy."

Chloe followed up to the root. Morgan held out a hand to help her. "Let's see if I can do this." She grabbed another handhold then scampered up the face to the top.

"Holy moly... are you a monkey?!" He could just see her face peering over, smiling at him. She flexed her muscles.

## Chapter Seven

Keith trotted across Kinsman Road to the "Law Offices of Richard Simons III". The office was a converted Cape Cod. There was a reception room and two lawyer's offices. The place still had a full kitchen. Rich opened the fridge. "Let's see. There's beer, I think there's some wine, and there's definitely some whiskey... the good stuff. I think there's even a couple of bottles of champagne in here..."

"Beer sounds perfect. You said things were changing for the worse around here. What's been going on?"

"There have always been drugs, right, but it's gotten a lot more organized lately, and more hard stuff, lots of heroin, believe it or not. It's got people worried."

Keith nodded. "That's a shame. Could be growing pangs. I guess more people means more bad people."

"You're probably right about that." Rich trailed off. He took a big drink.

Keith decided to push the conversation toward business, "What do you know about the accident?"

"My client--and before you ask, I should say the client will remain anonymous--suspects it wasn't an accident. A month before Judge Marcus was killed, Sarah Cantoe won the lottery. She redeemed a scratch off ticket worth $100k."

"She could just be lucky." Keith smirked.

"It's an ideal way to pay someone for dirty deeds, right?"

Keith scratch the stubble on his bald head. "Is there anything more to go on than that? That's some weak stuff, Rich. That's like putting a carrot in a bucket of water and calling it soup."

"Well, from my perspective her behavior was unusual, really out of character. This perpetually broke, druggie party girl didn't blow _any_ of the money in a month. For the first time in her life, she was prudent and socked it _all_ away."

"Interesting. It's possible someone managed her..." Keith raised an eyebrow. "That's definitely some smoke, at least. I investigated a couple contract killings on insurance cases. They were both done by dumb-ass criminals who left a trail a blind man could follow. An interesting question here is who could get their hands on a winning scratch off ticket like that?"

"Yeah, I've wondered about that."

"Any way we can we talk to Sarah Cantoe? That might save us a lot of time."

"Hmmm." Rich put his fingers together. "I think we can."

## Chapter Eight

Steve and Morgan raced Tracy and Chloe down the driveway on their bikes. She stayed parallel to them for a few seconds like it was a contest, then drove away. They shook fists in mock rage.

She and Chloe drove to the PO to drop off the package. The attendant knew her now as a regular. She'd mailed dozens of packages all over the country. "Hi Tracy, any insurance on this one?"

"Not on this one, thanks Emily." She patted the box and she and Chloe went out into the parking lot. The sun was starting to sink on the horizon and the heat of the autumn day was turning chill. The pavement smell wafted through the air.

"Cha-ching. Food for the next few weeks! I need a smoke... well a vape anyway. It's killing me."

"I'm glad I never started smoking."

"Yeah, it's a really bad habit. After my parents were gone, I smoked in the house for a while, really mostly just because I could. Then one day I was cleaning the windows in the library and saw how nasty the rag was from the tar. I switched to this, which seems better," she waved the e-cigarette, "and I'm tapering off."

"I think my dad must be starting to wonder where I am, first day and all. I should head home."

"I'll drop you off."

## Chapter Nine

Tracy pulled into a parking spot in front of the Marte's condo. MARTE was spelled out on the mailbox with some gold and black block letters. The condos were all the same. They were built on a small patch of ground evenly spaced around concrete cul de sacs radiating from a main road. Each one was small, tidy, white, and vinyl sided.

"Want to come in? I can't offer you a beer, but at least there's some juice in the fridge... I think, or tap water anyway."

"I have to warn you most of the time, parents hate me... In fact, let's put it off for a while. I'm going to go home and veg."

"No problema. My dad's cool. Sometime you should meet him."

The car pulled away and Chloe waved. Tracy beeped the horn.

Her father was breaking down boxes. "Look what I did!" the rest of their stuff was put away. The condo started to look like a home.

"While you were busy with that, I fixed the hair emergency and made some friends... A friend with a cool car."

"Nice. I saw it. We will definitely need to look for one for you--probably not an Austin Healey, though. Not too practical in the winter! Here, a car's basically a necessity."

"Vroom." she pretended to drive to a stool at the kitchen counter. "That was Tracy Wells. She's cool. _Very_ adult. We also met a couple of her friends. The Northeast Ohio version of brahs."

"Wells? I wonder if she's related to Matt Wells. I knew him back in the day... They had a farm over on Sherman Road."

"Yeah, maybe. I didn't pay any attention to the roads. It was a big old white farmhouse, really nice inside, fields, trees, and some cool rock formations in the woods. Her parents are gone."

"Yep, that's it. Matt and his wife--her parents--disappeared. I wonder how she keeps the place going... That's a lot for one person to take care of."

"She mentioned an Uncle. I didn't meet him though. She seems very independent."

"Independence is a nice quality in a young lady."

"How was your day?"

"Well, I got a job, so that's good. Local lawyer--actually I knew him in high school--wants me to look into a hit and run case. Other than that, I started looking up some old friends. Not many people stayed in town."

"They all went off for adventures in the big city, I suppose."

"I'm the only one who got shot. Seems to gives me some gravitas."

## Chapter Ten

Jerry's black Mercedes SUV rumbled along a rutted crushed limestone driveway. An old tow truck carcass with grass growing out the wheel wells was rotting next to the drive. "Pattie's Tavern and Party Center" was painted on its door. A hand written sign was staked into the ground "GOP FUNDRAISER". The gravel lot was full, so he had to park in the adjacent field.

The restaurant was in a cedar sided building with a shake roof. A crowd was standing around on a deck that was attached to the second floor of the building and people were just starting to assemble on the patio. A band was setting up and he could just hear the tinny sound of an electric guitar being tuned.

He shut the engine off and checked his look in the mirror. His black hair was slicked back, gray at the temples. His face was still tight across his forehead and cheeks but gravity was starting to work on his neck a little. He pulled the knot of the tie a little tighter. He wondered if he should start cultivating a "friend of the working man" facet of his persona and go with rolled up shirtsleeves and open collar. He watched a group of kids--probably college students--head into the building. They were all wearing his "Here's Jerry!" T-shirt. It was a caricature of him chainsawing a door. The caricature was wearing the same pinstripe suit and red tie, so he decided to keep it on while he was working.

Jerry worked for the Brotherhood for a couple of years before he even knew it, and before that he'd been groomed for the job during college. He was in a frat and taking business classes when he wasn't partying. In spite of a solid "C-" grade average, he got a sales job right after school when a professor hooked him up at an industrial supply company in the outskirts of Columbus.

He worked there for five years, traveling the state, making contacts, and growing his network. The nature of the work changed drastically when he got promoted to regional manager. At first, he thought it was a step backward in his career. Instead of managing the sales force or working clients, his boss asked him to run little errands any day of the week and at any hour of the day.

Jerry assumed it was all corporate business--deliveries that were too delicate to trust to the post office or UPS. But, finally, one morning he drove a few hours to deliver a package to a run-down farmhouse in a remote corner of Ashtabula County. A guy wearing biker leathers and carrying a shotgun answered the door and took the package. He got a big flat box in return. He could tell it was filled with bundles of cash. He returned to the office with the box and just sat at his desk the rest of the afternoon.

His boss came in his office and closed the door. "Jerry, you must wonder what you're doing for us, right?"

"I wonder, but not too much. I just do my job." His face didn't give anything away.

"You and I both work for Black Box Diesel Supply... but I _also_ work for a big, old multi-national company. The work you've been doing for me lately has really been an interview with them."

"So, is this a job offer, then? Are you offering me a job?" He was curious, but a little angry.

"I'm not. In fact, there's not much I can tell you myself. If you're interested, I'll send you over to talk to an old friend of mine who can advise you on some important matters."

"Hmmm.... so if I talk to him, can I say no."

"Absolutely. This is an offer you _can_ refuse. Either way, that box is yours--no strings--our way of saying thanks. There should be about two hundred and fifty grand in there. If you say no, you'll just need to resign here, and we'll help you get that money tucked away safely."

He drove to a patent attorney's office in Cleveland. The ornately furnished office overlooked Lake Erie. Jerry sank into a comfortable heavy chair and watched the sun shine on rippling water. The attorney was bald and wore glasses with thick black rims. His suit wasn't flashy, but was well tailored and he gave an overall impression of precision. He gave Jerry a thorough, methodical explanation without much personal interpretation. He set out the pros, cons and mechanics of working for the organization. He made sure to explain what it meant to be "let go"--at best, you just lost your job and spent years worrying what might happen. At worst people important to you died, then you did.

Jerry barely heard the cons, and was really flattered, almost swept away that he was being selected for a life beyond the norm. He nodded. "OK," he said.

"You can think it over as long as you want. This is not a choice that should be made on an impulse--you can't ever unmake it."

"I get that. It won't be necessary. I've been ready for something like this for a long time."

There was no ritual, no contract to sign. The attorney took out a copied-and-recopied picture of an ink drawing that depicted a few different handshakes. Jerry shook hands with the attorney as instructed.

All these years later, he realized the conversation was misleading in a key way. It was the only time information about the organization was presented in a frank and comprehensive manner. The rest of his career had been ridiculously cloak and dagger secret. He rarely knew why he was doing something, and sometimes didn't even know what he was doing.

A few years ago, they moved him out of Columbus to the boondocks of Ashtabula County. He bought a mansion that used to be owned by a boxer. The place was set on about 100 acres of scrubby old farm fields. Behind the house were steel cages where the boxer kept tigers and panthers as pets. Jerry started a new career as a Libertarian firebrand AM radio host. He broadcast from a studio in "The Compound" he called it, and his engineer played a roar, "a sabre tooth cat" every time he said "Compound".

He had no prior interest in politics. He got scripts emailed every day--written by god knows who, and he acted them out. He launched campaigns on topics he didn't care about at all, and hammered a few key points and catch phrases every day. The show really took off via the Internet when he got into a social media feud with "that libtard Danny Fitzgerald". Danny broadcast the "progressive" version of Jerry's show from Vermont from "The Pasture".

Both shows made it into the national spotlight when Danny stopped at "The Compound" for an in-person interview. To the audience, it appeared the two spontaneously got into a heated argument, which then became a chaotic fistfight. At first they pretended the footage would never be shown. He ran the audio almost every day for a week, steadily building audience interest. Then, they leaked the footage onto YouTube through a fake account, and pretended to fire his engineer for the crime of leaking it.

One still frame from the video, an image of Jerry's dazed expression, bloody nose, and bloody dress shirt became a popular meme. After the incident, he and Danny made the circuit of conservative or liberal mainstream media shows.

The whole incident was scripted and the blood was fake. They had rehearsed the fight with a stunt coordinator from LA that flew in for the week.

After the stunt, he spent a lot of time traveling and glad handing at fund raisers and rallies for red-meat, red state "conservatives". He used the events to conduct business for the Brotherhood.

## Chapter Eleven

Geauga County's thorough allegiance to the GOP went all the way back to the Civil War. Though factions and squabbles inevitably arose from time to time, the ugliness of politics, the struggle for dumb animal domination, hadn't appeared until recently. After the 2008 financial crisis, the county establishment's generic country club conservatism started to yield to more radical strands of thought. New, angry, insistent faces started showing up at fund raisers and party events.

Judge Ralph was one of those faces. Contrary to the wishes of the local party establishment, Columbus installed him after Marcus Rice died. The local party apparatchicks spent months frozen in a state of disbelief and indignation. In the meanwhile, Ralph hired friends and cronies for every patronage job he could find or create.

He showed up to Patty's with his long time friend, Skip, who was now employed as his aide. He shadowed the Judge with his gun holstered under his arm and with his cell phone camera rolling.

Wilma Barstow was one of the County's Country Club Republicans stalwarts. She clashed with the judge at every opportunity. She saw him enter the building, downed her drink, then sidled up to him and Skip.

"Hi Ralph, I see you trained your dog to work a camera. Good boy!" She patted Skip's head. He stepped back from her to film, but made sure to let his jacket fall open to reveal a holstered gun.

"That's _Judge_ Ralph to you, Wilma." Ralph said firmly.

She laughed hysterically. "Oh my god, you two are such freaks."

Skip filmed her picking up another drink from a waiter's tray. She toasted him and took a drink.

She asked, "Is this going on your YouTube channel? Think it'll go viral. Maybe reach number _one_." She held up her middle finger and shoved it toward the phone.

Jerry motioned to Ralph from across the room. Ralph was relieved for an excuse to step away from her. "Stay classy Wilma. Pardon me, but I have some business to attend to. Stop filming Skip." Skip put the phone in his jacket pocket and just watched the room, looking for any security breaches.

"Jerry, good to see you. I was just entertaining my biggest fan over there." Ralph pointed at Wilma.

"Well, if you get another one, you'll double the size of that club." Jerry sneered. "But hey, I don't have time to shoot the shit. I'm here on business: You need to speed up the progress on this farm job. Get it done ASAP."

Ralph blanched, "Jesus Jerry. I was doing exactly what they wanted, taking it really slow, getting ready to turn the place into a museum. It would just take a few more months."

"Well, things changed. I don't know why, but they just did. Get it done."

Ralph put his hand on his chin. "OK. Of course, but it's too big for the team out here. I need some help."

Jerry sighed. "Alright. I'll call you later and we'll work something out."

## Chapter Twelve

The next morning, Judge Ralph jogged up the courthouse steps and went past the clerk's office. He stepped inside and rapped his knuckles on her desk. "Good morning, judge." she smiled at him.

He made a forced smile. "Court's closed today, Marcy."

"Closed?" She frowned involuntarily, thinking of all the people she'd need to call and argue with during the day.

"Yeah, closed. There's a problem with the gas lines. Have George give me a call ASAP."

"OK... gas. right, got it." She was at least relieved to have an excuse.

He walked briskly out of the building. His cell phone rang.

"George, I smelled gas in the courthouse. I need you to check it out."

"Gas? Doesn't the county have people for that?"

"You turning down work? I need you to do a thorough inspection all day today."

"I'll be right over."

"When you get here, I really don't care what you do, just stay the entire day."

"Alright, we'll check it out."

He hurried to his car. He pulled a burner phone out of the glove compartment. A list of code names were programmed in the phone's contact list. He texted "bridge 30" to Fonzi. he got a reply a minute later. "OK".

The Sheriff was already there when the Judge arrived. His unmarked patrol car was parked in front of a guardrail barrier and a fading "DEAD END" sign. Beyond the sign, the road continued to a sandstone abutment where the bridge once stood. On the other side of the river, big white pines had long ago erased the road bed. Rocky sand colored banks were shining on either side of the black band of the river. The Sheriff stood on the bank. He was a tall wiry man with slicked back salt and pepper hair. He skipped rocks across a shallow pool in the river. They bounced over to the opposite shore.

The judge held his arms out, looked up at the sky and breathed deep.

"Chuck, this place, if it could talk. These stones soaking up all that energy. Can't you just feel it?"

"Blah, blah. You guys with the ooga booga bullshit. What's up?"

The judge sniffed. "No imagination, this one. We need to kick it up a notch on the farm."

"I thought you were taking it slow."

"Jerry paid a visit. They're not happy now."

"I don't think it's a two man job."

"We have some help coming in a few days."

"And who are they this time?"

"Well, the only ones I could get on short notice are Israeli."

"Think people won't find that... _odd_? A couple Israelis prowling around here?"

"Hear me out... First, I hit the local churches, we start talking about the holy land... a couple weeks later, a contingent from Israel shows up to spread peace and understanding or whatever."

"That could work." Chuck sighed. "Jesus motherfucking christ on a cracker. I'm getting too old for this bullshit."

## Chapter Thirteen

Morgan got to school early and went up to the calculus classroom before anyone else was even in the building. He started picking at the wall, gingerly at first. He blew dust away and saw the glinting edge of something round and gold. He worked at it for about ten minutes before he started hearing people out in the hall.

Steve walked in the door. "WTF? Dude, what are you doing?"

"Keep an eye out. I'm almost done."

Steve stood at the door. "Hurry up!" Other students filed in. Carrie Crossling noticed him chipping away at the wall.

"Almost got it...oops." The cinder block cracked and a big chunk fell on the floor. The coin came free.

Carrie said, "What the hell, Morgan? You're going to bring this whole shithole down! Loser." She walked away in disgust. The other students in the class kept looking back to see what was going on.

Morgan held the coin in his palm. "How cool is that?!" He showed it to Steve.

"Dude... don't get me involved." Steve slid his desk away.

Tracy hissed, "what is it?" Morgan passed it over just as Mr. Bartlett walked in. Morgan quickly slid his chair back and tried to cover the hole in the wall with his head.

Tracy palmed the coin.

The whole room was murmuring and looking back at Morgan. Mr. Bartlett sighed. "OK. What's going on?"

Carrie spat, "Morgan broke the wall."

"What? Move away from there, Morgan."

## Chapter Fourteen

Morgan sat with his dad outside the principal's office for an hour after the final bell. His father was still in work clothes from the garage. The principal walked in and out a few times and made a point of ignoring them. Morgan's dad just kept sighing and saying, "Geez, Morgan."

Finally the door opened and the principal leaned out. "Come on in." he made an absentminded gesture and picked up some papers from the desk and set the pry bar on his desktop calendar. He sat back and stared at it.

Morgan and his father sat down in creaky chairs.

"I deal with nonsense from these kids and from parents every day, but honestly, I don't know what to make of this. Broke a wall with this thing... Why?" the principal set the pry bar on the desk.

"I thought I saw something in there, in the crack. I poked at it. _It_ broke. I didn't _break_ it."

"Morgan, you're going to argue with me? You know the zero tolerance policy. You signed it. Your father signed it. Yet, _you_ smuggled _this_ \--which some might say is a weapon--and damaged the building. I could _expel_ you." He let that word sink in. Morgan just kept looking down at the floor. "Vice Principal Bowers thinks I _should_ expel you just to be safe."

Morgan's father leaned forward, "Principal Phillips, my son is a lot of things--mainly a moron--but he wouldn't hurt a fly. I can't even think of the last time he was in trouble. What if he repairs the wall? I'll make sure he does it right."

The Principal frowned. "A student repair a wall? I've got about five union contracts that are involved with building repairs. No, Mr. Klerc, we fix it, and I give you the bill. On top of that, Morgan is suspended for 2 weeks."

Morgan's father shook the principal's hand and gestured to Morgan to do so. "You are going to pay every nickel of that bill."

## Chapter Fifteen

The kids gathered at Tracy's after school. Chloe took a few pictures of the coin with her phone.

Morgan asked, "Is it real?"

"It looks real to me. Well, 24 karat gold looks like that anyway." Chloe said.

"What does the writing mean?" He asked.

"I can't read it." Tracy shrugged.

"Well, I hope it's worth something... I mean, I got suspended over it, and now I have to pay to repair the shitty wall. Sell that for me?"

Tracy put up her hands. "I have no idea what it's worth... I couldn't even guess. I mean, it looks _old_."

"Shit... well, where do I go to find that out?"

"Get online, find somebody that might have a clue... get it appraised."

Steve hit him on the shoulder, "Dude, my dad might know something... He's always talking about money, stocks and stuff."

Tracy shrugged and said. "Good luck explaining where it came from."

"Right. Steve. If we do that, your dad will tell my dad. I won't see a dime."

"My dad won't say anything to your dad. He doesn't like him."

"Why?" Chloe asked.

"Let's just say, he's got a bad reputation." Morgan offered. He hated talking about it. "Yeah, Steve, let's go talk to your dad."

## Chapter Sixteen

Steve's house was recently built McMansion. A concrete drive followed a gentle hill up to a roundabout. A faux white marble fountain with lion heads burbled water into a pool that was surrounded by shrubs and flowers. A couple of SUVs were parked in the drive. One of the plates read "2TH DOC".

Steve and Morgan propped their bikes on the garage wall and went inside. Ron Polloy, DDS was on the concrete patio behind the house. He was laying in a lounge chair with a book over his chest. He was half asleep. A ratty old Ohio State hat from his college days covered his eyes. Flip flops dangled from his chubby feet.

He stirred and grunted when he pulled the lounge chair up to a sitting position. "Oh hey boys, what's the good word?"

"Dr. Polloy, I found this out in the woods, I was wondering if you have any idea how much it's worth..." Morgan gave him the coin.

"Wow! Lucky. That is gold. How interesting! It's weirdly heavy stuff, isn't it. Do you boys know where gold comes from?"

"The ground?"

"I mean... originally." he looked at them over the top of his sunglasses. "Two neutron stars collide and explode into a supernova. Gold atoms are formed in the process. Look up stellar-nucleosynthesis sometime."

"Stellar-nucleo..."

"synthesis".

"Are you sure he's your dad? What happened to you?"

"Crack a book someday... At your age, I knew nothing about nothing. I hit the books in college... actually stayed away from partying... It worked out, mostly."

"Mostly?" Morgan wondered.

"Well... no matter what path you choose in life, can't help but wonder if the another one would be better somehow..."

"Dad... Life lessons some other time."

"Alright, alright. As a chunk of gold, it's probably $1200-ish. But as an antique coin? I really have no idea. So, it could be a lot, or just $1200."

"Wha.... wow. $1200? Man, I'd be glad to get that. I haven't seen that much money in my life!"

"Well, don't take that until you know what it's really worth... We can head over to a coin shop out in Pepper Pike. Maybe get dinner too."

## Chapter Seventeen

Judge Ralph and the two Israeli operatives drove to the Sheriff's campaign office, which had gradually turned into a satellite office for personal business. One of the operatives was a tall thin man with a short buzz cut, and perpetual 5 o'clock shadow. He was talkative, laughing and smiling all the time. The other was short, slight, and quiet, and very young, in his early twenties. He had a bushy mop of dirty blonde hair and had gold rimmed glasses. Both were wearing non-descript slightly oversized well worn clothes.

They exchanged the usual pleasantries, talked about weather and geography. The talkative operative, Saul, answered all the questions. Yuri fiddled with his phone.

"Does he speak English?" the Sheriff asked.

The Judge interjected before Saul could answer, "Like it matters, Chuck. who's he going to talk to?"

Yuri added, "A little."

Saul smiled, "He actually knows the language well--from TV--but is out of practice making conversation. Everyone watches BBC and American shows."

"Maybe he'll get some practice on this job. Right, Ralph?"

"That's Judge Ralph."

"Yeah, whatever, _Ralph_. Judge Ralph, Judge Fudge. It's all the same to me."

"Fudge?" Saul laughed. "I had fudge at a fair one time when I was in upstate New York. Can we get some?" He spoke Russian to Yuri. He nodded and smiled, but kept looking at the phone screen.

The judge laughed and clapped his hands. "I'll get you some maple fudge, boys. You'll love it. But first, work... We're looking for something, probably a rare book, probably in the house or on the property of the Wells farm, here." He rolled out a map. "My plan was to buy the farm and its contents... make it a museum, and take the time to inventory the contents. But I guess that process has been too slow. Now, we have to improvise."

Saul said, "I like improvisation. Like Jazz." He held his hands up by his face and shook them. "Jazz hands. hahahaha"

"Right, good. So, somehow we need to search the place, thoroughly search it and inventory it. It's a 100 acre farm. Caves, barns, old wells, god knows where it could be; or what it could be."

"Who lives there?"

"As far as we know, just a girl, and occasionally her Uncle. The parents are dead. Died in a car wreck a few years ago. Incinerated."

"Oh that's a shame." Saul tutted. He continued, "Sounds like a scavenger hunt. I have a first idea..."

## Chapter Eighteen

Steve's father stopped his car in front of the coin shop. The three got out of the car and Dr. Polloy pulled the door to go inside, but it was locked and rattled in the frame. He said, "Oh shi--oot, I hope they're not closed."

"There's an OPEN sign right there." Steve pointed at the window.

"There's someone inside." Morgan cupped his hand over his eyes and waved through the door. The door lock buzzed and the man motioned for them to come in.

"Hello, what can I do for you guys today?"

Morgan took the coin out of his pocket and bounced it in his palm.

Dr. Polloy said, "We have a coin to appraise. It's an old one... I think."

"Well, let's take a look." He put the coin on a piece of black felt on the counter and eyed it through a large magnifying lens.

"I haven't seen anything like this in person. To be honest, it's not my specialty... but let me make a few calls. It might take a while..."

"We were going to grab some dinner across the street."

"I can offer you $1500 right now. Cash. I'm not even sure it's worth that, honestly."

Morgan started to say "yes", but Dr. Polloy interrupted. "No, do the research, then let's talk prices. Who knows what we've got here?"

"OK. Go eat, let me make a few calls, and then I'll give you a call. Can I take a picture of the coin?"

They all looked to Morgan. "Yeah, no problem." The man took an old digital camera from behind the counter and snapped a couple of pictures of each side. Morgan picked it up from the felt and slipped it in his pocket.

"Wait.... wait.... wait... Put it in this." The dealer gave him a clear plastic case for the coin. "It couldn't hurt to protect it a little bit."

Morgan clicked it inside the plastic. He said, "Thanks, but it seems like it's really _trapped_ in there." He took the coin back out and gave the case back to the man.

## Chapter Nineteen

A prison guard led Sarah Cantoe into a room with a folding table and a few chairs. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. Keith and Rich were waiting for her. Keith had a chocolate shake that he slid across the table.

"Mz Cantoe, my name is Keith Marte, I'm a private investigator. I've been hired to help you with your case."

"Did my lawyer hire you? He didn't tell me."

"No, he didn't." Rich said. "Another party has taken an interest in your case, and believes you were put up to this and you're taking all the blame. That's just unfair."

She narrowed her eyes. She practically spat her words out. "It was an accident. I was drunk. I was stupid. I didn't see him there. I was afraid to call 911 after I hit him. I'm going to serve my time. I don't want any help. I've got nothing more to say to you..."

Rich leaned toward her, "Look, I can't make any promises, but maybe if you disclosed some information about people who put you up to this..."

She interrupted him. "Nothing more to say." She held the shake close and looked down at the lid as she drank.

Keith shrugged his shoulders and they left.

"She seemed scared." Keith said.

"I don't think she's going to cooperate." Rich said. "We might need to look from some different angles."

"I'm thinking I'll pound the pavement, see if anything turns up."

"I don't have a better suggestion. I'll give you a call later today."

They parted company and Keith took a drive to Sarah's trailer. The mailbox next to the walkway was overflowing. A light was on inside. He tried the door, but it was locked. "Nobody bothered to take care of this..." he said to nobody in particular. He flipped through the mail and sorted the bills and account statements from the pile of junk mail and magazines. He stuffed the junk back into the mailbox and stuck the statements under his arm.

A neighbor who was out walking a white Fox Terrier limped past. He was a stout young man, but was leaning heavily on an orthopedic cane. The little dog sniffed at Keith's pant cuff. He knelt down and scratched behind its ears. The dog smiled up at him and wagged his tail.

"Nice dog. Any chance you knew Miss Cantoe?" He pointed his thumb at the trailer.

"Sure. Sorry to be rude, but who are you?"

"I'm a private investigator working for a friend of the Cantoe family, trying to help out."

"A private eye? No shit? Like TV. Who would want to help that trash?"

"I take it you didn't like her?"

"She was a bad neighbor. Bad kids. Bad family. Bad friends."

"Does she have family in the area?"

"Her sister was around here a lot--sometimes she'd watch the kids. Chick was always wearing _tight_ clothes. She'd lay out in an American Flag bikini back here. Hard not to notice someone like that. I tried chatting her up a couple times, but no luck."

"Well, maybe you just needed to salute the flag?" He clicked his heels and mock saluted.

The guy laughed. "Maybe you're right."

## Chapter Twenty

Tracy's relationship with teachers was almost always determined by her loss. Usually they fawned over her, and imagined she needed help shouldering her burden, a few respected her for her effort to keep her life together, and a rare few held some type of grudge.

Her Honors English teacher Mrs. Rosewater was in the last category. She'd been at odds with Tracy since the first day of school, and Tracy responded by getting lax about class, and putting as much sarcasm as possible in her assignments.

She and Chloe were sitting together in class. Mrs. Rosewater walked into the room with a group of men and women. Constable Skip was with them. He was carrying a yellow notepad. Mrs. Rosewater introduced him to the class. Before he addressed the class, he walked slowly back and forth in front of the desks for a while eyeing each student in what he imagined was an imposing way. He cleared his throat and read from the notepad, "Hello class, the Rotary Club is sponsoring an essay contest on 'International Friendship'. Write an essay of just 150-300 words on what that means to you. The committee will select three finalists who will then give a speech on the subject."

Mrs. Rosewater stepped up alongside the constable, "This is also going to be a class assignment." The class let out a collective groan. "150 words? I'm sure only a few hardy souls will survive that hardship. Such a shame, there were so many bright futures ahead."

## Chapter Twenty One

Tracy and Chloe were tearing along Sherman road in the Austin Healey. The spectacular August sky was blue and a just few of the trees were turning yellow. The road had a succession of short steep hills, and was like a roller coaster. Tracy hit the gas as they crested each hill and they experienced a moment or two of reduced gravity which caused them both to laugh wildly.

Chloe shouted, "Oh man, that feels sooo weird. Soooo good in my dirty parts."

They whipped over the last hill before home and Tracy slammed on the brakes, the wheels locked and the car started to spin. "Pump the brakes!!" Chloe screamed and braced against the dash. Tracy just kept the wheels locked and the car pirouetted past a man who was walking in the road. He had a thick mop of dark hair flecked with gray strands. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a white T-Shirt with a print of the Three Hares and had a small pack on his shoulder. The Healey came to a stop in the middle of the road and the engine stalled. Tracy restarted the car and pulled into a driveway. The man walked over to the driver's side.

"You must be Tracy Wells! I'm a friend of your family. I knew your mom and dad! I know you... well, the younger you. I was just on the way to your house." he says.

"Oh man, I'm sorry, we almost hit you." Chloe said.

"Oh, well, no harm, just a little startling. Be careful!"

"Well, wow. Um. Hop in. You can sit here." Tracy patted the trunk.

"The name's David by the way, David Mathis." He stepped into the back of the car and sat down. He shook hands with the girls. Tracy drove carefully down the driveway.

Chloe asked, "Do you live nearby?"

"No, I am staying on a farm down in Hiram for a few days. I move around a lot. It's actually been a while since I stayed at your house. A couple summers, I practically lived there."

"Did someone drop you off?"

"I walked today. What a lovely day. How many of these beautiful fall days do we get in our life? A few hundred? It's bright and sunny but the temperature is perfect--not even a drop of sweat."

"Wow... that's a long walk!" Tracy said.

"Well, I look at it this way. On foot, I get to experience the whole country. So many of the roads around here follow rivers because back in the old days, you walked or took a horse and that's the easiest route. On foot I can cut through the woods--there are a surprising number of trails. I get to know the really huge and unique trees that are out there. Here's a little quiz--do you girls know the name of the river you just crossed?"

"River? I didn't even notice one." Chloe said.

"It's the Chagrin; the headwaters of the Chagrin River. See what I mean... When you're in a car, it's like your mind is also trapped in that metal box. Driving is like moving in a metal tube that connects one place to another. Very constraining. And if you think about it, the end points are usually some building. Some poor people live their entire life inside an entirely man made world."

Chloe cocked her head, "yeah, I never really thought of it that way."

"Aha! Next time you drive along there, kick off your shoes and stick them in the river."

"I'll do that sometime." Chloe smiled.

"I do remember you visiting. How'd you know my dad?"

"We were in high school together. Man that was a long time ago... in a galaxy far, far away. But we also worked together from time to time since then."

Tracy laughed. "I sometimes try to imagine them in high school. Were you in _The Breakfast Club_ with them or something?"

"Oh no man, no. Can you picture your dad or mom getting in _any_ trouble as kids? Man they were straight."

"Well, honestly, no."

"Let me paint a better word picture of the scene back then, I was friends with your Uncle Robbie since we were little kids. We had a lot of the same interests and I actually hung out here a lot. I practically grew up here. I'm the same age as Rob. I didn't know your parents nearly as well."

"You said you worked with them. What do you do for work?" Tracy asked.

"Oh man," he tapped his chin and smiled. "This is great. It's some really good exercise for my brain to shift gears like this." He closed his eyes. "I'm traveling back to when I was about your age and I lived in town with my family. We lived in the allotments. I was into cars back then. I had a yellow Firebird with T-tops and a sweet black interior." He opened his eyes again. "That reminds me, I should go see my parents, too." He closed them again, "Back then, I was going through the school system, getting _trained_ to enter the workforce, and was someone who only knew the orthodox interpretation of what it means to be a human being. OK." He tapped his temples and opened his eyes.

"What?" Tracy asked.

"I used to be a lot like you." he said. They nodded. He could tell they weren't really following along so he tried a different angle. "You see that doe out in the back yard?" He pointed. "Does she have a job?" The deer was browsing along the side of the driveway, munching at clover and looking from side to side between bites.

"Hmmm." Tracy hummed. "Well, you know, that's a good question."

"I'd say no." Chloe said definitively.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, she's just living. She just gets her food right outside."

"Right. That's insightful."

"So, what's your job?" Tracy asked trying to get him to the point.

"Well, I'm just living, too. I guess my line of business is doing this." He waved his hands around. "What we're doing right now. It's really your family business too."

"What do you mean family business?"

"Have you read any of the books in your library?"

"Yeah, a few."

He paused and his face got serious. "Have you talked to your Uncle about this at all?"

"About what?" Tracy wondered.

"So, you are green as can be." He drummed his fingers on the counter. "I guess I am going to be Mr. Miyagi here."

"The karate kid guy?" Tracy asked.

"Cool, you know that? We can build on that. So you remember 'wax on/wax off'?"

"Yeah... Daniel wanted to learn karate, but he had to wax the cars."

"I actually know some judo." Chloe said. "And we actually just learned it without waxing cars."

He laughed, "Oh dude... you're making this more complicated. So, Miyagi taught Daniel karate by having him wax cars. It's a metaphor for teaching something in a roundabout way. There are some things you can only teach in that manner. Our brain really runs on metaphors. Consequently, you need them to get at the subtle truths."

Both of the girls were concentrating hard, but their eyes showed no sign of understanding.

David apologized, "There's just so much to convey and there's really just no good starting point."

"No worries. I'm completely confused, though." Tracy said. "You want a drink?"

"Sure, I'll take some water." David said. They walked to the library.

"People have all kinds of ideas about the world, the way it works, and ideas about themselves. We get those ideas from school, from watching TV shows, from our families. In many ways the world we inhabit is built entirely from those ideas. The ideas seem so incredibly solid, clean and logical--and they seem like they've been around forever. But that's all wrong."

"Mmmmm.... Ohhh kayyy." Tracy said.

He gestured around the room. "This is a really unique collection. Knowledge of many very wise people, distilled, then distilled again by your family and friends."

"My family?"

"Yeah, they've been building this collection for a long time... This library's like the ideas of the western world distilled to the really good stuff. It isn't just a bunch of books. This collection is really a record of what went _into_ writing books." he gestured emphatically like a man pouring water from his hands. "There's authors notebooks, notes scrawled in margins, on napkins. It's like behind-the-scenes stuff."

"Wow." Tracy looked around the room with new eyes. Chloe flipped through some of the notebooks on a nearby shelf.

"These books are the record of people solving problems. It's lifetimes of eureka moments and epiphanies. The universe whispering directly in the ear of some authors. There's some totally crazy stuff in here, dangerous stuff, too. It's a truly amazing storehouse of wealth."

Chloe said, "Oh, speaking of wealth... You might know something about this?" She handed him the phone with the coin picture.

"Oh... Very interesting. Cool."

"Do you know what the inscriptions say?"

"Oh, it's a motto in Greek, an abbreviation of a motto, really, Philosophers and Dogs. It's a saying attributed to Diogenes: 'Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the least rewards.'"

The words had an immediate effect on Tracy. She crumpled onto the floor.

"Tracy!" Chloe ran over to her side. Tracy's eyes were closed, but moving rapidly.

"Let her be. She'll be OK." David said calmly.

A few seconds passed and Tracy woke up. "What... time is it?"

"You just like passed out a minute ago."

"I feel like I slept... hard... all night. Wow, weird dream."

David looked at her intently, "What sort of dream?"

"It was my parents... my dad and mom in my room... my dad was apologizing, said it was the only way to tell me what I needed to know... that's about all I remember." They helped her off the floor.

"Can I give you guys some homework?" David said.

"Ugh. That reminds me we've got those essays to write!" Tracy said.

"Oh yeah you're still in school--that sucks! Anyway, this is the assignment. Start poking around in the library. Most of it won't make any sense at all. Certain things will speak to you more than others. Oh, and you might want to write down what you remember any time you zonk out like that and what triggered it, or any dreams you might have."

"Sure."

"You guys, it's been great meeting you as almost-adults." He hugged each of them. "Do you think I could get a lift to my parents' before it gets dark?"

## Chapter Twenty Two

Tracy puttered around in the library later that night. She had fuzzy slippers on and was wearing a sweater and sweat pants. She had a big mug of cocoa in her hand. Its steam wafted up and disappeared in the air. The silver disk of a nearly full moon was visible through the big picture window. The house was creepily quiet, so she went around and bolted all the doors, and turned on the TV in the kitchen for some noise. It droned in the background as she wandered the shelves.

She'd barely paid attention to the library before. She hadn't noticed the labels on the shelves. Some were carefully carved from wood and gold lettered. Newer ones were taped on and she recognized her father's handwriting. The labels seemed to mark categories. The shelves held a mish-mash of materials. Some old leather bound books, some legal pads that were faded with age, some photocopies and few black and white photographs.

A black ledger book was leaning against the end of each shelf row. The book had handwritten notes with dates stretching back into the 1830s. In some cases the notes cross referenced other works. Sometimes they were just terse statements like, "Agricola's _De Re Metallica_ is the source."

She read late into the night, and finally just passed out in her favorite chair in the library. She slept soundly until the morning sun illuminated her face.

"Oh man!" She woke up with a start. She rushed into the kitchen and popped her laptop open. She dashed off an essay on friendship with Cuba. She threw on some pants and ran to the printer. She was in school ten minutes later.

## Chapter Twenty Three

Keith parked in front of a dive bar in Parkman. "MIKE'S" was written in black letters on a small sign over the entrance. It was just a bit after noon, and the place was almost empty. An older man with bushy white mutton chops was mopping the floor and a couple of customers were eating burgers. Lizzy Cantoe was sitting on a bar stool at the back of the building, smoking a cigarette and blowing the smoke out the cracked door. The light of the day was brilliant compared to the dismal darkness of the place.

Keith walked up to her. He was just an average looking man, but he exuded energy and confidence, and women usually warmed up to him after some conversation.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

"Oh Sugar, maybe some coffee, no booze yet. I am still feeling last night." She chuckled then frowned and held her hand up to her head.

She had a pretty, oval face with big blue eyes, but she'd lived a pretty rough thirty-two years of life. A couple of the teeth on the right side of her mouth were dead and gray. Her hair was a little frizzed from years of tanning and coloring--it was currently dark red. Her skin was still tight and smooth as moonlight on cream and her clothes accentuated her curves. She wore a gray hoodie that was open to her stomach. Underneath, she only wore a sports bra. It held her large breasts and accentuated her cleavage. She had a cherry tattoo on her chest and a pierced belly button.

"Nice tat. I bet that hurt, though. Kind of a sensitive area."

"Hell yeah, hurt like a bitch, but the guy's an artist, so I let him _do me_ there." She smiled. Not too subtle.

"Is it symbolic? What's the story with cherries?"

"Nah, I just like how they look. The red pops."

"Expensive, too, I bet."

"Yeah, not that cheap shit."

"I like a woman with expensive tastes."

"Well, sometimes I like to make a little extra money." She smiled at him and stumped the cigarette out on the door frame.

"Maybe I can help with an odd job."

"Not too odd..."

"No, a pretty basic job, want to get out of here?" He held his wallet open and flicked through a stack of twenties.

"Charlie, I'll be right back."

"OK." the guy with the mutton chops waved as they walked out to Keith's car. They barely sat down and she had his pants open. He'd never paid for it before. She sucked him off like a porn star. He slipped a hand down her pants. She was actually enjoying it. "Do me." she moaned. They climbed into the back seat and he slipped into her.

"Damn... I needed that. That cleared my head." She wiped herself with her crumpled up panties and tossed them out the window. "You know, there's guys that _pay_ for those?"

"I'm sure. Anything that you can imagine, people are into."

"Yeah, you're telling me... Well, it's been real, but I need to get back to work." she held out her hand.

"How much?"

"Well, how much do you think?"

He laughed. "Do I look like a cop or something? Would a cop fuck you?"

"You do have that vibe. Why not just give me what's in there? Call it a tip."

He handed her half the wad of cash. It was $200. "Could I call you sometime."

"Like for a date?" she laughed. "I've got a boyfriend..."

"Another playdate." he handed her the rest of the money. Altogether about $400.

"Yeah, I like your style." She wrote a number on his palm with a pen.

He watched her walk back into the bar before he drove away. The black lace panties rustled in the breeze.

## Chapter Twenty Four

It had only been a couple of days since the English class handed in their essays. Tracy didn't expect to get much of a grade on it, and nobody thought they'd select the finalists so quickly, but the classroom was full of people when she and Chloe tried to get in through the door.

The Rotarians were back, along with Judge Ralph and the Constable. The school newspaper photographer was talking with Saul who held a digital camera with a large lens and a big vivid display. Saul was giving her photography pointers. The Maple Times also sent a reporter/photographer who was chatting with Saul. Saul was keeping them both laughing.

The Judge took control of the room. His voice boomed, "Friends, we are very pleased to announce the finalists for the scholarship contest on 'International Friendship': Matty Earnest, Steve Polloy and Tracy Wells. Miss Wells?" He looked around the room.

She made a shocked face at Chloe. Mrs. Rosewater blanched. "Oh wow. That was... unexpected." She rifled through the stack of graded essays. Tracy got a "D+". She marked it into a "B+".

Tracy walked up to the front of the class. Steve and Matty joined her. The photographers took picture after picture. The judge filled them in on the details of the next round of the contest.

As the group prepared to depart, Judge Ralph pulled Tracy aside. "We'd like to take some pictures at your family home later today, if that's alright with you?" I think the paper is going to do a story, too.

"Wow, um surprising, but sure."

The group filed out of the class and the bell rang.

"Nice job!" Chloe punched her in the shoulder.

"That was weird. I wrote that essay in five minutes, maybe. I didn't think it even made sense."

"Well, maybe they like your style." Steve said.

## Chapter Twenty Five

Judge Ralph called Tracy on the land line. The kitchen phone rang so infrequently, that at first she thought it was her cellphone ringtone. She dashed into the kitchen and picked it up on the sixth ring. They arranged for the photographer and reporter to come over.

The reporter from the Maple Times asked her some questions. The Judge listened and occasionally asked some too.

"Do you mind if we take a look around the house? I want to find some good lighting." Saul said.

"Oh sure, no problem. Help yourself."

He turned the camera on. It was a gigapixel sensor array with a fisheye lens. It recorded everything in the room from the infrared through the visible light spectrum and into near ultraviolet. Later, they would process the images to produce a three dimensional rendering of the house interior in minute detail. They could use spectroscopic analysis of the data to identify chemical properties of the surfaces. He walked all through the house holding the camera at different heights in each room. He walked through the library very slowly and deliberately. The camera drank in the images and archived them on a solid state drive.

"The library is impressive." he announced when he returned to the kitchen.

"Yes, I'm glad you like it."

"Let's do photos there."

They stood in the library in various groups. Tracy with the Judge. Tracy with the reporter. All of them together. Saul snapped pictures. "I will email those to you. I think they came out well. Such a pretty girl. Such a lovely home."

They all shook hands with Tracy and left.

~End of Episode One~

# EPISODE TWO -- Gresham's Law

## Chapter One

A gentle breeze clanked the blinds into the sliding door of the hotel room. Robbie Wells opened his eyes and propped himself up in bed. He ran his fingers through his short red hair and over his face and beard. Now well into his 40s, waking up took a while and he didn't rush the process when he didn't have to. A lifetime of skeletal injuries didn't make it any easier. He sustained the first major one during high school. He broke his tibia and fibula when he crashed a dirtbike. Whenever the story was told at family gatherings, someone had to point out that his foot was pointing the wrong way when they put him in the ambulance, but he didn't remember anything about the incident. He just woke up in the hospital in a cast. The bone mended, but he had a slight limp for the rest of his life.

He put on a pair of linen pants and a sweatshirt and put a well worn baseball cap over his bed head. He ordered some breakfast, "and lots of coffee" through room service and went out on the patio. "Morning, Perry." his golden retriever was lounging on the patio. He got up and moved over next to Robbie who patted his side. Robbie opened his laptop. The battery was duct taped taped on, and the screen sometimes only showed the reds unless he jiggled it back to full color.

He had breakfast, and sipped the coffee. "Damn, that's good." He'd been telling the hotel staff how to make it for him for the past couple of weeks, and they were finally getting the hang of it. He liked it brewed strong so there was a slick of coffee oil floating on the surface. He liked it with just a drop of cream to tame the acidity. He dropped some toast scraps on the patio. Perry just lazed his head over and ate them on his side. "Lazy!" he chided.

He went through the morning routine while his energy level built up. Checked the headline news: as usual, the world situation was grim. The financial news was a waste of time as usual: better off with tea leaves. Looked at the twitter stream, answered some e-mail, then checked the Chardon local news and weather. He laughed when he saw Tracy's picture. He picked up the phone and snapped the screen and texted it to her, then read the article.

"Nice Job!" SEND.

A few minutes later his phone buzzed. "Thx! Good to hear from you! Where u at?"

He took a picture of the beach and sent it.

"SO JELLY!"

"@ FL Keys" SEND

"How's Perry?"

"Say 'hi' Perry". He sent a picture of the dog.

"Lazy! Loving life."

"What was ur essay?" SEND

"LOL. It was terrible."

"Being modest?" SEND

"No. Honest. Wrote in 5 mins."

He grunted incredulously. Something didn't add up. He called her. "Five minutes, really?"

"Yeah, I was running late for school and wrote it that morning in 5 minutes. I was really surprised to say the least. The next round is coming up and I need to give a talk."

"So, why the pictures at home?"

"There were photographers and a reporter at the house. They were taking pictures of everything. Asking a lot of questions. They were interested in the history."

"Yeah there's a lot of interesting history there. Ya know, as much as Perry loves the beach, I think it's time to head back to Chardon."

"Great!" She was really enthusiastic. "It's been too quiet here lately."

"I'll take care of some stuff here today then hit the road. See you soon."

## Chapter Two

Robbie started firing off emails. He was helping to bring up an ethanol fuel distillery in the Keys, and had been working for days to help set up local supply and delivery chains. He had his fingers in a few other projects, too, not only in Florida, but all over. He copy and pasted the same apology into a bunch of messages. He apologized for the short notice, but said he had to tend to some emergency family business and would be out of communication for some time.

Before he checked out, Robbie did a lap of the hotel and shook hands with all the staff he had interacted with during his stay. He chatted with them and wished them well. He went back to his room and packed two well traveled duffel bags with all his clothes and gear. He put a wad of cash on the dresser with a thank you note.

Perry waited for him on the bed. "We're going home, boy!" Perry's tail wagged and he hopped down.

They went out into the parking lot. His truck was in the shade provided by garden beds that lined either side of a covered walkway into the hotel lobby. It was an '86 Chevy Silverado M1008. He'd been driving it all over the country for years. When he got it, the forest camo color pattern was still apparent. But years of travel faded the paint to a uniform dull gray green. The odometer stopped working a little after it rolled over and perpetually read 9,577 miles, but the diesel still ran well, and all the other gauges still worked. He cued up a podcast on the phone and started heading north. Perry put his head out the window for a while, then fell asleep on the bench seat.

## Chapter Three

Morgan spent most of the days of his suspension working for his dad at the Klerc Tire and Tune. The shop was actually starting to look pretty clean and organized thanks to his efforts. He even spent a couple of days power washing the exterior of the building and the concrete drive.

The school hadn't gotten around to sending the repair bill, yet, and his dad wouldn't pay him until the whole thing was settled. He wasn't grounded, but since his time was no longer structured by class bells, he fell out of sync with what his friends were up to in just a couple days. When he wasn't working, he spent his time researching the coin.

The trip to the coin shop had been inconclusive. The owner held firm on his initial $1500 offer, but also offered to connect Morgan with an auction house. In return, he wanted 10% of the sale, on top of a 25% commission from the auctioneer. He strongly implied that $1500 cash was a better deal. Within a couple of days, Morgan's sense of urgency to sell the coin went away--he realized if it had any value, it would still have it tomorrow or next year.

The coin research was the first time he ever used his mind to _do_ something for himself. Morgan had never been interested in school, though he was actually one of the smartest kids in his class. He didn't ever engage with the arbitrary parade of material and mind numbing standardized tests teachers threw at them every year, and was just a solid C student.

He started the research believing the Internet would just tell him a price. His initial searches took him to precious metals websites, then to numismatic web sites, all dead ends. In frustration, and with nothing else to do, he thought to widen the search, and wandered off on related tangents.

As he amassed seemingly unrelated and useless facts, patterns in the information came alive. It was like happening upon a deer trail while walking through the woods. All of a sudden, a jumble of leaves, branches, and logs reveals a path that leads somewhere.

He sat at the desk in his room. The lights were off except for the desk lamp and the computer monitor cast a pale glow. He put a US quarter next to his gold coin and stared at them. A modern coin is mass produced. It's meant to be a metallic representation of a number. He read articles and watched YouTube videos about people hoarding nickels and copper pennies and looking for pre 1964 silver coins. The face value, the numerical value could be a lie. He was starting to think his coin wasn't really currency at all. He spent hours pouring through online images of coins from the era, and hadn't found a match.

The only number on the coin was a Roman numeral date: **MCDLXII** \--1462. He determined the coin was hand engraved and stippled; it was actually a miniature sculpture. The high spots of the engravings were worn, but most of the details were still evident and there was very little damage. Its edges were a thick border. The face of the coin depicted a bearded man who was sitting with his arms over his knees, and had a small image of a lamp over small stamped letters FRNZ. The back side had two greek words around the border, φιλόσοφος and κύων and depicted a small dog offering a paw.

As Friday rolled around, his teenage brain and energy kept him up all night researching and studying articles. He'd accumulated a giant mass of notes that were scribbled on a stack of notepads. He shoved the mess in a bag and took his bike to Tracy's.

## Chapter Four

He wore a jacket on the ride and was too hot by the time he climbed a couple of hills to the Wells farm. The cool air felt great on his damp shirt as he coasted down the driveway. He knocked on the door and tried the knob. It was locked.

He got out his phone and texted her.

"AT YOUR PLACE" SEND

He got the hidden key from under a rock in the flowerbed and went inside. He called out, "Hellloooo." The place was dead quiet. Tracy was probably out.

He went into the library and put the bookbag on the big table in the center of the room. He stripped off his coat and tossed it into a chair. His phone buzzed.

"OK. @ STORE." she replied.

"Doing research on coin" SEND

"Np cu." she wrote back.

He walked around the shelves. One aisle was labelled "Money and Finance". He said, "ok, maybe something there..." The shelves were packed with materials. Some were books with leather bindings and titles. He picked up a few books from the shelf and piled them on the table. One of the volumes was particularly striking. It was thin, and was bound in a silvery gray leather. The cover had an embossed image a serpent coiling around a wooden cross. He ran his fingertips over the image, "interesting..."

He browsed the other shelves, taking it in. He spent time hanging out in the library ever since he knew Tracy, but they'd never really looked at the books--the library just provided an interesting atmosphere. The aisles were tall. He was a tall boy, 6'2" but he couldn't reach the top shelves. He puttered around on the first floor for a few minutes, then climbed the steep ladder stairs to the second floor walkway. 4" oak planks formed a walkway around the perimeter of the room. He noticed that the planks were hanging off the shelves on iron braces and the shelves actually went all the way up and were anchored to the beams in the ceiling. A huge sculpture of the Sun was on the eastern wall. He'd never noticed that it was actually a lamp. He plugged it in and it glowed a pleasant yellow.

He climbed the stairs on the right side of the room. A silver sculpture of the moon was mounted on the wall. The label of the first row of shelves read "Magic and Divination". "Sweet. Weird. Have to check that one out." He walked very slowly through the aisle. He grabbed a few random volumes and carefully stepped down the stairs. He nestled into one of the comfortable chairs. He unpacked his pile of notes, then started browsing the books he selected.

He flipped through the pages of each, looking for a starting point, but kept coming back to the slender volume with the snake on the cover. He cracked it open. The pages were vellum. It was only 40 pages long. The frontispiece was an elaborate illustration. The title page was latin. There was some writing on the margin in a sloped, tight script.

"Finance and Belief, Library of J. Law". There were also some notes in what he assumed was German more in language he didn't recognize, which was actually Dutch. He thumbed through the book. The original printed text was double spaced lines of latin, but each line was translated to English in hand written text. He read about halfway through the book when he heard the Austin Healey crunching gravel outside.

He went out to help her bring groceries into the house.

"What's up stranger?" she asked.

"What a weird week. Been working like a working man." he smiled. "It's been semi-good all things considered. What's up with you guys?"

"Same old, same old. People are starting to get worked up for Homecoming."

"Oh, yeah... I forgot about that. Still weeks away, though, right?"

"Yep. Oh, yeah, and my Uncle's heading home. He could be here any time. Probably making some stops on the way up from Florida."

"Oh, cool! I haven't seen him in a while."

She started packing away the groceries. He usually would have stayed there chatting, but the wheels of his mind were still churning. "I'll be in the library."

"Oh, Okay." She felt strangely pained that he just walked away.

His head was down over the book when she walked into the room. "Did you find anything interesting?" she asked.

"Hmmm." he just kind of grunted, and he rubbed his chin. "I've been doing research all week. At first, I was just trying to figure out how much this is worth." He tossed the coin to her. "but, now, I'm just reading. There's so much..." he leaned back. "So much I don't know... I didn't even know it existed..." he folded his hands on his chest.

She flipped through his notes. There were single lines of text, dates, sketches, arrows, big stars. "Wow, you've been busy." she hefted the stack.

He looked at her, "maybe if I try to explain it, you'll notice something."

"Go for it. Want some coffee?" he rarely ever drank the stuff, "You know, yeah, that might be good."

They walked into the kitchen. He flopped the coin from palm to palm.

"At first, I thought this was a coin, money. So I looked through just about every coin image I could find. Let me tell you, there are a lot. But I found nothing."

She started the pot brewing. The hot water gurgled and steam puffed through the top of the maker.

"If it's not a coin, what is it?"

"Could be some kind of medal?" he shrugged.

She was about to reply, but zoned out mid gesture. "Tracy?" he gripped her shoulder.

"Whoa." she said. "I _know_ where we should look." She grabbed two mugs and poured the coffee.

He took a sip, "Oh wow, whew, that's strong. Do you have some cream?"

"Yup, hurry up." she poured some cream in hers and trotted into the library. She set the mug on the table and went up to the second floor. She climbed up a couple of shelves and grabbed a book and the notebook from the shelf.

She trotted down the steep stair ladder and put the books on the table and sat down. He raised an eyebrow at her and sat down across the table. "How..."

"I just do, I remember it. It keeps coming to me in little fragments during the day, sometime in dreams--really weird and vivid dreams."

"That's amazing, did you learn it sometime, then just forgot?"

"I don't think so. I think it's like ROY G BIV, except instead of a little thing remembering the colors, it's like remembering all the parts of a car and how they're connected." She tapped her head, "Somehow it's up there."

He just nodded his head and picked up the book and notebook. He opened the notebook first.

She pointed at the pages, "That's notes from researchers--that would be you," she pointed at him, "and then there are cross references."

"Paper Internet. Cool."

"I guess I'm a human search engine, now. I didn't hear about that one on career day."

The book was actually an author's galleys from a printer that were loosely bound with string and a piece of cardboard that had been hot glued to the edge of the papers. The copyright date was from 1963. The title was _Touch Pieces and Talismans._ He thumbed through, "Color pictures for once!"

She laughed. "Yeah, there is _no_ light reading material in here. Not one beach book."

"Hmmm. I think we're getting warmer." She came over and sat on the arm of the chair. He'd known Tracy since fifth grade. They'd been buddies for years and he took her presence for granted. He'd seen her puking, squatting in the woods to pee, drooling in her sleep, chewing with her mouth open, and just staring off into space. He never really noticed how beautiful she was.

She was tall for a girl, just about 5' 10". Her hair was deep red and had a buttery thickness with slight curls at the ends. She had it pulled back in two braids. Her eyes were large and light blue, and her eyebrows were fine and expressive. The light of fierce intelligence and an active mind and devious imagination animated her face. She was in shape, not from trips to the gym, but from just running around on the farm her whole life, but not thin, she carried a couple of extra pounds.

"What'd you find?" he felt conscious of her butt brushing against his arm. He froze in the chair a little to keep the contact going.

"Well, yeah, look at these." he pointed to the page. "See the letters there? FRNZ" he handed her the coin and pointed. "Firenze, Florence Italy." He read the text.

The City State of Florence issued sets of commemorative medals and tokens in the 15th century. Good examples were rare in those days, and exceedingly hard to find today. The photos [A,B,C,D] are courtesy the private collection of Doctor and Misses Milton Price III.

The tokens were given to individuals and members of organizations that were in Florence around the time of the fall of Constantinople in 1453 when the revival of Greek learning and thought spread rapidly through Europe.

"Wow!" she said "1453..."

"Well, there's a date on that one 1462." he pointed.

"You need to take good care of that!" she punched his shoulder and then rested her hand on it and squeezed. He looked up at her. Their eyes locked for a few seconds.

"What?" she laughed. She took a sip of her coffee to break the awkward silence.

"You what?" he laughed back. She stood up and shook her arms to dissipate some of the nervous energy.

"Want a warm up? I've got some food, too. We could do lunch out on the table rock."

"Sounds great."

## Chapter Five

Keith Marte spent a lazy Saturday morning at home. Some college football game was on TV and he was browsing around auto ads online.

"Hey kiddo," he called out to Chloe. She was in her room. Music was playing and she was just surfing the web and occasionally texting with friends.

"Check this out." he emailed her a link.

"Cool!" she shouted back. She walked out into the living room with her laptop. She had the ad for a VW Jetta. The car was $3000.

"How much in your savings account?" he asked.

"Around $1500." she'd accumulated birthday money, christmas money, and allowance money for a few years.

"Well, if you put down $500 with the bank of daddy, I'll front you the rest."

"A loan... or is this a gift?" she arched her eyebrow.

"Well, I expect to be paid back with happiness, grandchildren, and you not throwing me in a nursing home when I'm old."

"Oh," she feigned embarrassment, "Am I showing already?" and rubbed her belly.

He laughed. "Ugh! Don't scare me like that! Do we need to have 'the talk'?"

"No, no, no, that's alright. I learned everything I need to know from the Internet--Two Girls One Cup--Lemon Party. Don't worry," she gestured at herself, "This is a temple. I am Divine."

"Good! Don't give it up to the first dumb high school boy that comes along. That is literally my only advice on this subject..."

"Let me fill the awkward silence by saying 'awkward, awkward, awkward.'"

"I'm a little serious, but I know you've got good judgement... Probably better than me. Maybe you learned from my bad examples."

She nodded emphatically. She sighed and said, "Soooo, what's the plan?"

"Well, let's go look at this rusty bucket, then maybe go running at the observatory?"

"Lemme get my jock outfit on and I'll be ready to roll."

The car was parked on the lawn of a house on Wilson Mills. They pulled in and Keith honked the horn. An older man waved from the porch then shuffled out to greet them. He wore a white cuban shirt and white cabana pants and sandals. He moved like a cloud drifting across the yard. "We're interested in the car." Keith pointed at it.

They kicked the tires and took a test ride. Chloe climbed in behind the wheel and Keith sat in back. The owner eased himself down into the passenger seat. It was a manual transmission and had a little pep. She goosed it a couple of times, "OK, Chloe, take it a little easy."

The owner laughed. "Oh that's like my daughter, she loved this car. She's in grad school now, out in Boston," he pointed over his shoulder, then realized that direction was north, then emphatically pointed east, "No that-a-way. She just bought a new hybrid. This car's a lot more fun."

They pulled back in the yard after a quick trip around the neighborhood. Keith talked the car down. "It sounds a little rough. How long since the last oil change? You have service records?" There was a ream of papers in the glove compartment he handed them to Keith. He nodded in appreciation, then gestured at his daughter. "Honey, you take it from here."

"I love the car." she smiled brightly. The owner was charmed. She had an uncanny ability to make people happy. "How firm are you on the price?"

"Well, I'm selling it for my daughter. Ultimately, it's up to her, but I think she's a little flexible."

"Would you take $2000?" She asked.

He rubbed his chin. "Let me call her." He glided away around a flower bed and called his daughter. They chatted for a while. He walked back and put a hand over the phone, "would you do $2500?"

"How about $2250?" she countered.

"Yeah," he nodded and gave a thumbs up, "She says OK."

Chloe hopped in the air a few times. Both the men laughed. "First car!" she said.

Keith paid him the cash. The man handed over the keys. They drove back to the condo, then she drove them both to the park. She was beaming and singing every single car song she could think of.

"Two laps?" Keith was stretching.

"Let's take that little connector path over there?" she made a zig-zag motion with her arm.

"Oh, yeah, that little trail, sure. Warm up the first lap?"

'Yeah, yeah, I'll take it easy on you." She smiled.

Their footfalls crunched over the trail rocks. They loped along easily for the first couple of miles. The stone trail made a big loop around a field, then crossed into the woods. There was a little footpath that was worn in the woods that cut from one section of gravel path to the other. It wound through trees and over small dirt piles and went over a couple of logs. She sprinted ahead of her father through the section.

Her breathing increased and her mind was entirely occupied by determining where her feet should land on the irregular surface. Keith loped along behind her as she shot away into the foliage like a rabbit. He was careful not to trip and fall. When he got back on the main trail she was jogging lightly in place, "C'mon slowpoke!"

They finished the first lap. He said, "off you go tiger!" She sprinted away. He picked up the pace a little bit, but didn't even try to keep up. He was only about half way around the field loop when she was already a small dot heading to the woods. He shouted, "go, go, go!"

He cut the course short, and got back to the parking lot just as she was wrapping up. "Cheater!" she shouted.

"Man, you got jets, girl! Hey, let's go check this place out."

They walked around the main complex of buildings at the park. There was a small helical turbine spinning in the breeze. It was a white blur against the blue sky. A couple of people were setting up tables in one the buildings. A young woman in a green park sweatshirt walked outside to meet them.

"I'm sorry, the park's actually going to be closed for the evening."

"Closed?"

"Yeah, once we're done here, we'll put the signs out. We didn't get a chance to do it earlier. There's a big event tonight."

"OK. It's a lovely place here, keep up the good work." Keith said.

"Oh thanks! You guys have a good day!"

## Chapter Six

Thousands of years ago, glaciers carried a big flat boulder south from a river valley in the Canadian Shield to what became the state of Ohio. The boulder was greenish gneiss, shot through with pink veins of marble--it looked like something a giant would use to skip across the ocean.

When the glacier receded, the boulder slid down onto the muddy ground along with tons of debris and dirt. Year after year, rain and snow percolated through the soil around the boulder smoothing the massive pile of dirt into a gently sloping hillock. Moss and grass knitted the soil together but eventually the top of the rock emerged into the sun. For centuries, animals like deer and coyotes, squirrels and chipmunks would pause on the the rock for a rest. When the Wells family built their home, the rock became a picnic spot. Men, women, children, family pets, friends and visitors spent countless lazy hours basking in the sun and feeling connected to the mass of the planet.

When the sun shone on the rock all day, it became pleasantly warm. Morgan was basking in the sun feeling the rock press against the back of his head. "This right here is my favorite spot in the world." he said.

"Mine too" Tracy answered. She was looking up at fluffy clouds watching them roll past and thinking nothing in particular. She turned sideways on the blanket and put her head on his stomach. She started to doze off. He was watching a falcon circle high overhead. The bird watched him looking up.

A horn honked over and over. Tracy sat up with a start, "That's got to be Uncle Robbie." she got up and ran toward the driveway. Morgan followed. She waved at his truck and he pulled to a stop by them. Perry started barking and she opened the door. His tail wagged wildly and he danced in a circle around Tracy, then plowed into Morgan's legs. Morgan slapped Perry's side and gave him a good rub down.

"Hey guys!" Robbie said through the open window.

"Hey Robbie! how was the drive?" Morgan asked.

"Not bad. I was going hammer and tongs the whole way. But too long to do straight through. We stopped overnight near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Had breakfast in a great little diner down there with such an awesome view. Let me park this heap and get out!"

He parked the truck behind the house and Perry went romping off into the woods. Tracy and Morgan carried his bags into the house. He opened a beer, "you guys want one? let's go for a walk! my ass is flat!"

They followed him out into the yard. He put his arms akimbo and looked up to the sky. "I'm planning to stay a while, kiddo. I hope I don't cramp your style too much! It's good to be home."

"It's so good to have you back," she hugged him.

"It's good to see you, and you too Morgan, how's your family?"

"They're alright. My mom's got a new job. I've been working at the garage a lot this past week."

"Really? after school?"

"Nope. He got suspended for two weeks!" Tracy laughed. Morgan's cheeks went a little red.

"Ha! Oh, don't be embarrassed. I was no saint! If you're not getting in trouble, you're not trying hard enough."

"Good way to think about it."

"Well that's the 'lite' version." He stopped, and smiled broadly. "It's great that you guys are finally adult- _ish_. I can tell you stories now that would have twisted your young pure minds." He laughed. "Let's grill some steaks for dinner. You staying, Morgan?"

"Sure that sounds great."

## Chapter Seven

"Hey Morgan can you help me?" When Robbie walked fast, his limp was most noticeable. He went toward the pole barn. Morgan followed along.

"Can you drive the tractor?" he asked.

"Um, I think so."

"Let's slide the doors open." He shoved his door open with one arm. The heavy door slid out of the way. Morgan tugged a little on his side of the door till it started moving then heavily walked it open.

"Yeah just pull the tractor out there out of the way. There's a grill back here, I think."

Morgan climbed up on the old Ford. It had a front loader bucket that was down on the floor of the barn. An excavator arm was on the back. It was a heavy duty piece of farm equipment. He nervously turned the key, the diesel sputtered a couple of times then roared to life and settled into a pop-pop-pop.

Robbie was digging around looking for the propane tanks for the grill. Morgan took a minute to look at the levers that controlled the buckets. Four levers for the front end loader were on the right side of the steering wheel. The labels for the controls were long faded to smooth shiny metal. Robbie heard the engine rev, then go idle. He went around to the right side of the tractor. Morgan looked a little bewildered.

He pointed and shouted, "Throttle, brake, gear, bucket up and down, bucket tip up down." and gave a quick thumb's up then went back around. Morgan nudged the up bucket lever. It popped off the ground and the tractor rocked front and back. He nudged it again and the bucket rose to just level with his line of sight. The brake was set, so he shoved it down, and he felt a spring release. The tractor rolled forward slowly so he gave it some gas and it surged out. He pulled it off onto the lawn and re-engaged the brake and shut it off.

"That's my first time driving one of those in case you couldn't tell."

"You're a natural! That's a _great_ machine. It's older than me but I think it actually works better than I do! An absolute must for a place like this. Here take these." He handed the propane tanks to Morgan. "Can you throw the empty in my truck? I think the other one's still full."

Morgan walked over toward the truck and put the light container in the back. Robbie was wheeling the huge grill toward the back of the house on a dolly. There was a brick stand for the barrel next to an old stone patio. The patio was in the shade of a big old maple tree, and moss had grown over most of the stones.

"If you can help me guide this thing, it'd be a lot easier." Morgan grabbed one side of the barrel and they hoisted it onto the stand. Robbie beamed and patted the grill. "I made this last year. Check out those welds. Ever weld? Hardest part was cleaning the barrel. Hook that up." he handed the hose over to Morgan and Robbie started vigorously scrubbing the grill with a wire brush.

"I've never welded anything." Morgan answered.

"We'll have to build something this fall." Robbie said. He patted Morgan's shoulder then jogged over to the truck and grabbed a cooler. "Free range, grass fed," he mentioned as he walked into the house.

He grabbed an oval serving plate from the kitchen cupboards. "Hey Tracy!" he called out. She was walking back from the master bedroom. "I was getting you some flannel sheets and airing the room out. It was stale in there."

"Thanks! Hey, want to help with the steaks?"

"Sure."

"We could just throw these on the grill, but they'll be a lot better this way." They massaged salt into the meat then let it sit on the counter. "It'll sit for about 40 minutes. Makes a huge difference."

Morgan stepped inside. "The grill's ready. I think I'll head back into the library."

"Oh excellent." Robbie led the way to the room and thumbed through the stack of notes. "You guys are doing some research... For school?" Tracy and Morgan struggled to put an answer together. "Have you spent much time in here?" he asked Tracy.

"Well, yeah, just recently." she said.

"I was looking at these books," Morgan said. "My notes there. Trying to figure this out." he handed over the coin.

"Oh wow, what's that?" Robbie checked it out. He hefted in in his hand.

"I found it, believe it or not."

"Found? Where?"

"In the woooods...." he trailed off embarrassed. "In the wall at school." he said matter of factly.

"Hmmmm......" Robbie scratched his beard and tipped his hat back. "That's _really_ freaky."

"I hadn't even thought how weird it is that it was just jammed into the wall." Morgan said. "I just noticed it there on the first day of school."

Tracy said, "speaking of weird, an old friend of yours stopped by... David something..."

"Oh! David Mathis? I didn't even know he was in town." Robbie rubbed his beard.

"Yeah that's it... Oh yeah, more weird: I passed out, dreamed about Mom and Dad, then started remembering things about the collection. David tried explaining some things for us, but woosh..." she zinged a hand over her head.

"Oh, wow...." He looked slightly stunned. The gears of his mind were churning.

"Do you know what he was talking about?" she asked him.

"I can explain this better if you've seen _Star Wars._ "

Morgan enthused, "Oh yeah." and mimed a light saber and made the sound effect. Robbie pointed, "yep, good."

"Well, I haven't for a long time." Tracy said.

" _Star Wars_ is sorta like our bible. I mean for my generation." Robbie said. He gestured around the room. "This. This is the plans for the Death Star."

"That's no moon." Morgan said, pointing up at the Moon sculpture. Robbie chuckled.

Tracy scrunched up her nose. "What? Death Star plans. I don't think there are any Death Star plans here..."

"I mean if you were in the Rebel Alliance, you'd be able to blow up the metaphorical Death Star with what's in here."

"Like this?" Robbie picked up the copy of "Finance and Belief" and handed it to him.

Robbie nodded and shook the book in his right hand. "This book made France go broke in the 18th century. There's shit in this room that'd curl your hair"

"Why haven't I heard any of this before?" Tracy asked. "David said it is the family business."

"Oh you _did_ hear it in bits and pieces. Nobody ever _hid_ this from you. But nobody presented it to you. You were just too young. You didn't have any context to understand this stuff. Also, I need to point out that 'family business' is misleading. It's not the _family_ business. You can choose this life--anyone can."

"Well what about this?" she pointed at her head. "I didn't _chose_ this."

"What?" he was puzzled.

Morgan answered, "She's like a human search engine."

"Oh shit, he didn't." he rapped the table a couple of the times with his fist.

"Didn't what?"

"I think your Dad basically transferred an index of this place to you."

"How? I don't even remember."

"I don't really know exactly. I've studied the information in here since I was your age, but I just take what I need and apply it. Matt, your Dad, did the deep dive and extended and improved on what he found. He probably used some method he discovered in here. There are a bunch of memory techniques that can be used to recall huge amounts of data--and presumably to transfer huge amounts of data from person to person. At some point, he must have done that to you."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Beats me."

Morgan leaned forward and asked, "So are you? I mean, are you in the Rebel Alliance?"

Robbie laughed. "Yes, yes, in fact I am."

"Like a Jedi?"

"Ohhhh man. Well, yeah, I guess. The problem with communicating this information through movies is it needs to be visually dramatic. In the movie, the Rebels get the Death Star plans, then _pew-pew_ shoot a couple of bombs into it and it explodes. The reality's so much less dramatic--well, most of the time--and usually more subtle." They heard the clacking of Perry's nails on the kitchen tile. "In here!" Robbie called. Perry walked back and flopped down in a sun beam on the floor.

"So there's an Empire?"

"Yeah--this story goes way back, really thousands of years--maybe longer. The real history of the world is almost impossibly weird." he sat back and rubbed his eyes. "Alright, we're gonna cook the steaks and I'll just blab."

## Chapter Eight

The sun was dropping toward the Western horizon as Robbie started cooking the steaks on the grill. Perry waited patiently for his share.

"You guys both had world history, right?"

Tracy nodded. "Yeah with, Mr. Trouper. He's a cool teacher."

Morgan laughed. "Oh man, remember that movie we watched about medieval history, 'It's not my clothes that smell, it's me!'" Morgan said acting the part of one of the peasants.

Robbie flipped the steaks and took a sip of his beer, thinking about a way to dive into the discussion. "In a nutshell, some of what you learned might be actually be true. But the overall story is wildly distorted and missing major actors and events."

"Like what?" Tracy asked.

"This is going to sound crazy, but we think, and by 'we' I mean the 'rebel alliance', think that history is driven by the interaction between men and--how to put it... For lack of a better word these things are supernatural entities."

"You mean like ghosts?" Tracy was incredulous.

"A problem we're going to run into again and again is that myths and Hollywood versions of myths have provided a visually dramatic representation of these things. When you imagine a ghost, you pull up some mental footage of Patrick Swayze and imagine a disembodied person that you could 'see' with your eyes under the right circumstances. Right?"

"Yeah, I think so." she answered.

"Well, these supernatural entities, they are really more like _idea beings_. Humans connect to them through our brain--maybe with some type of sense organ---rather than through our eyes or ears. That connection brings them into this world." he made a pulling motion with the spatula.

"But they're just ideas..." Morgan was following along.

Robbie was thrilled Morgan was following along, and he pointed at him emphatically. "And so harmless, like an imaginary friend, or fake, just a comic book villain? That what you're thinking?"

Morgan nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, we discovered they actually have an independent existence apart from human beings, but become 3D _real_ by attaching to the human world."

Tracy rubbed her forehead and said, "Egregore."

Morgan asked, "E-gree what?"

"Well, if you wanted to read about it here, you'd read about Egregore." She shrugged.

"Yeah, that's one of the terms used for these critters. They've often been perceived and dramatized as gods, or angels, or demons. Since they really don't have a visual form, artistic or poetic interpretations give them monster like or angelic appearance depending on the being."

"So how does 'the Empire' fit into this." Morgan said, air quoting it.

Robbie put Perry's steak on a plate and set it down on the patio. Perry ate it remarkably slowly for a dog. He put the rest on a serving plate, and they sat down at the table to eat. They had steak, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes.

"There's a seeming two way relationship with these entities--they need _us_ to enter this world, and some men believe they can _use_ these beings to gain power. The men believe they're going to use the secrets the being whispers to them to achieve glory, fame, power. But in fact, the men give up their soul--they're emptied and refilled with one of these entities. And these entities worked to build 'the Empire'. I wish I could tell you more, but it'd take hours. That's the rough outline."

"Soul?" Tracy arched an eyebrow and looked at Morgan. "When did _we_ ever go to church?"

Morgan added, "yeah, I'm not the religious type either."

"Well, like I said, life's weird and life's complicated. Churches and souls ain't got a lot to do with each other in my experience."

The kids both nodded.

"And the idea that we're just animated meat--the materialist view of human life--is currently the dogma of the Empire. It's our modern mythology."

"So what about The Rebels?" Morgan asked.

"So, just as there are men who attempt to harness these entities to gain power, there are men and women, heck even plants and animals, who fight to keep the planet free and try to break the grip these beasts have on our world. Hell, some of these entities are benign. The struggle's been going for thousands of years. I'm sad to say we're not doing as well as I'd like."

"You said fight--is it a war?" Morgan wondered.

Robbie waggled his hand. "Most of the wars have actually been struggles between these entities and their servants. History's full of Empires expanding, clashing, collapsing and being replaced with yet another machine of dumb domination--countless lives wasted and lived on behalf of collective hallucinations. The rebels are a subtle group, a totally disorganized set of people."

"Well, if it was organized, how would it be different than the Empire?" Tracy said. "Makes sense."

"Bingo. We're all over, even working in the Empire from the inside, just poking holes, trying to get people _out_. There are writers, actors, people in TV, movies, teachers, professors, engineers, philosophers, musicians all doing their bit."

"Wow." Tracy said.

Robbie sensed she was overloaded. "Well, I know it's a lot to take in all at once, so let's just leave it at that for now."

"It's getting dark, I probably need to head home. Could I get a lift?" Morgan said. He took his notes and his bike and put everything in the back of Robbie's truck. As they pulled out of the driveway, a black helicopter flew overhead.

## Chapter Nine

A bull-like private security guard was standing at the gate to the observatory park. Two guards drove through the park on four wheelers looking for any straggling hikers. Guests began to arrive. The guard checked the plates on the car and checked the guests' ID against a list he had on a tablet computer. He had to turn several park visitors away with a thick southern drawl, "The parks' closed, read the sign."

As darkness fell, the parking lot lights came on automatically, then were shut off to keep the event cloaked in darkness. Groups of men stood around outside in the evening air, and sipped mixed drinks, beers and wine. A soft reddish orange glow emanated from LED bars that were positioned in a circle around the gathering.

The attendees travelled from all over the region. Almost all of the men had a day job, a front for their activities in the Brotherhood and they only knew a handful of others. The compartmentalization helped maintain secrecy, and control from the top, and protected all the men from infighting and preying upon each other. None of the men at lower levels knew who their hidden superiors were.

There was an unofficial, unspoken but extremely firm hierarchy in the Brotherhood. Currently, the core of the leadership was stable and on good terms, but from time to time, conflict broke out in a struggle for domination and control of a multi-billion dollar network of industry, trade, and crime. Sometimes the struggles manifested as war between nations, as conflicts that drove enlisted common men and women to kill and die for hallucinated causes.

Judge Ralph and the Sheriff mingled with the crowd. Men from as far away as Indiana and Western New York were present. "I guess this is the Great Lakes region?" Chuck said and looked around. The crowd kept growing. All the men who arrived--just men so far--were dressed in dark suits. The two Israeli operatives recognized them and walked over.

Saul shook hands with the two. Yuri nodded and sipped his drink. "There was a gathering like this in Connecticut a few months ago, except on the grounds of a _huge_ estate." Saul offered. All of them felt an odd tension between their natural human curiosity and the need to maintain a healthy ignorance about the activities and structure of the Brotherhood.

"I've never been to anything like this," Chuck offered.

"Me neither," said Ralph.

A few men emerged from the observatory building. They were holding microphones and were dressed in colorful _deel_ and held primitive looking musical instruments. A wan spotlight illuminated them from above. The light formed a faint cone in the dust and insects that occasionally flew through. The ring of orange-red lights began to flicker slightly like a campfire.

They began singing in an unusual style. Each men could simultaneously produce multiple tones with his voice. They stomped and played the instruments in time to a beat. They sang a low growl as a bass line, and a rhythmic, horse-riding melody floated from somewhere in their heads.

"Outstanding!" Ralph was beaming. Saul nodded in agreement.

Chuck raised an eyebrow, "and weird." Yuri acknowledged him.

Three big flat screens behind the men started showing images. The central screen was a live feed from the main telescope. The unmistakable shape of the planet Saturn took up most of the display. Unlike the spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the live image was slightly blurred by the atmosphere and the extreme magnification caused the image to vibrate from minute tremors, and the only colors visible were greens and bright whitish yellows.

Ralph put his hands up and swayed back and forth at the image as did a few of the other men in the crowd. Saul slapped him on the back and nodded and smiled at his enthusiasm. The other screens were in sync with the musical performance. The monitors were huge 4K displays and they showed a film of horses thundering over the steppe. It was like gazing through a window to the other side of the planet.

"Spectacoolar!" Saul laughed.

A distant rumble like thunder came from the West. Spotlights that had been setup in the field erupted into the sky and large work lights illuminated the ground with blue-white light. Heavy thumping helicopter blades became discernable, then the black form of the chopper could be seen against the dark sky. The craft landed in the center of the big field.

The ground crew opened the doors. Four men in military garb jumped out. They had M-16 rifles draped over their arms so the barrels were pointed at the ground. A small contingent of the Brothers took it upon themselves to form a greeting committee and walked out to the field. Jerry was one of the men. They waited for an overly long time, until a tall, slightly bent man carefully walked down the chopper steps one by one. He walked on a cane and stopped briefly to chat with the contingent. He shook hands with each.

His hand was slight and he didn't grip at all. His hair was thin and white and slicked back from his bony forehead. His face was long and angular. His suit was deep red almost black, and the pupils of his light gray eyes were dark and large.

"Welcome to Ohio," Jerry said. The man just looked through him. Jerry involuntarily sniffed in angry response at being ignored. The man's gaze focused on him briefly, then he looked away and smiled slightly and made a small gesture with his hand. The men with the guns stepped between him and the greeting contingent and the group started to walk slowly toward the Brothers.

The entire gathering fell quiet as the old man made his way across the field. He stopped to look at wildflowers that lined the path. He noticed a king snake among the stems of blackeyed susans and he poked his cane at it. The snake slithered off into the field. He plucked one of the flowers and put it in his lapel.

## Chapter Ten

The Brothers watched in silence as the tall man walked through the gathering. Any glad handing brothers who attempted to get close were waved off by his guards. The man stopped under the television and gazed at the Saturn display for a long time. He turned around and began to address the crowd. Rather than speak through the microphone, he talked in a quiet measured tone of voice.

His voice was smooth and polished, an accent all its own, though a Brooklyn twang occasionally tinged his words. The gathered men strained to hear him as if each word was gold they were panning from the background noise of leaves rustling and geese calling out from a distant pond. The men at the back of the crowd could not hear him at all.

"How fitting to visit Ohio. Cleveland was so important to the Brotherhood, so very important. In many ways it's like the Cuyahoga River is a tap root of this vast tree," he gestured to the crowd, "The headwaters are so close."

"I'm paying a visit because _this_ body," he motioned to himself, "is reaching its limit. In past generations, unplanned successions caused chaos. At best, that's bad for business, and at worst, it could mean the end of all things. He fingered the black eyed susan in his lapel and walked around as he gathered his thoughts.

Judge Ralph had a front row place. He was resisting a strong urge to throw himself to the ground and bow. Saul's eyes were like saucers. He was rigid and resisted a display of any reaction. To the old man, the crowd was just a blur of dark suits and staring faces.

"Many of you are involved in the succession plans, but of course you don't know it. And you should not wonder if you are. All the work we do is important.The smallest task conducted for the Brotherhood might be the very lynchpin the very key to make it happen..." he slowly shook his finger. He was finished with his speech and gestured to the guards.

They led him into the observatory building and he disappeared. A red glow slowly grew in intensity and illuminated the door. A piano player started playing some American standards, and women wearing sleek dresses walked out and started mingling with the crowd.

"Well boys, it's time to get some!" Ralph smiled as a lovely young Asian girl took him by the arm.

The gathering turned into a drunken bash. The old man remained out of sight for hours. As things wound down one of the guards caught Jerry's arm and said, "You can talk to him if you'd like. If so, go over there." he pointed to the chopper.

As Jerry walked away from the crowd, he tucked his shirt back into his slacks and straightened his tie. When he was alone, he said out loud, "I knew this was coming." He felt the same rush he had when he was first selected for the Brotherhood. "Life's one long interview for the next job..." he said to the sky.

The guards were waiting for him by the helicopter. "In there." One of the guards pointed. Jerry bounded up the steps. The guard followed him in. The spotlights on the ground relit as the engine spun up. He stood in the entryway. It was spacious for a helicopter, but he still had to stoop awkwardly. The two guards onboard were inscrutable. Jerry started to step for the main cabin. "Wait." the man stopped him with a solid shove to the chest.

"Ouch, alright." Jerry grabbed a strap that was attached to the wall as the chopper wobbled into the air. It climbed steeply up and around the field in an ascending spiral, then returned to hovering over high above the lit landing pad. The spotlight bathed the interior of the cabin in light. "Aren't you gonna close the door?" he pointed out.

One of the guards grabbed Jerry's hand from the strap by the thumb and twisted his arm behind his back. The guard shoved Jerry toward the door before he could even process what was happening. As adrenaline rushed he grabbed for the door frame, but only managed to slap at it as he sailed out. His knee struck the staircase and he started flipping end over end as he accelerated toward the center of the field far below. The spotlight illuminated him as he fell, cartwheeling and grabbing at the air for 1500 feet. He only had about 10 seconds to come to terms with his life and his fate until he hit the ground at over 100 miles per hour. The chopper swooped back into a descent. The old man walked past the mangled corpse, boarded and left.

The men who were outside to witness the event were stunned. As the chopper roared away the silence of the country night returned. Chuck murmured, "Fuck me." They all looked at each other with new suspicion. They contemplated all the small indiscretions they made in recent months, and thought about any missteps and tracks left uncovered. The guards collected the body and cleaned up the scene as the crowd dispersed.

## Chapter Eleven

When Sunday rolled around, Keith got out of bed feeling sore from the run. Chloe was already awake. He had a puzzled look on his face for a few seconds as he wondered why she was up.

"Oh, new car girl gets up early, but no car girl sleeps like a vampire..." he smiled.

"Yes, sir. Whole new world of possibilities."

"No doubt about it, but before you explore in depth, we'll go do some quick driving lessons."

"I can drive already."

"You can 'drive'," he air quoted, "but you can't _drive_."

"I admit it, I'm intrigued. Alright, once you wake up?"

"Yeah, this day's not getting started until coffee gets in my belly."

They had bagels for breakfast and he brewed a big pot of coffee. "I'm still feeling that run. I am getting old."

"Well, they say you're as old as you feel."

"I feel old." he turned on the news.

Radio host Jerry O'Sullivan died in a car accident late last night. He lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a concrete retaining wall at a high rate of speed. Reports indicate that alcohol and possible drug use were involved. O'Sullivan leaves an ex-wife and two children behind.

"Wow, nothing left of that car." He pointed at the TV. "The advanced driving skills can come in handy.."

"Yeah, and it probably wouldn't hurt to drive sober, right?"

"There's that, too. I know I don't have to say it, but I will anyway: don't drive drunk... call me any time. I don't care about you drinking or any friends drinking... well I do, but not so much that you should risk your life."

"Yeah no kidding. Gimme some credit."

"Even more important, don't let some other dummy drive drunk while you're in the car... Sometimes people choose to do stupid things no matter what you say. Just stay out of their car."

"But then they won't think I'm as cool as I really am right?" she stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes.

"I'm serious. I know you're a strong person, but when people are in a group--adults or kids--it's like the collective IQ drops to mongoloid levels."

"Mongoloid? is that the politically correct term?"

"I doubt it, but I'm pre-PC, Baby, and I don't care. Let's go!"

## Chapter Twelve

They drove way out into the country. Keith pointed at a quiet industrial park and said, "That'll do. Head back there."

She turned into the driveway. It was a couple miles long. "Speed up." he pointed down the road. She put her foot down. The car accelerated to about 50 mph and he cranked on the handbrake. The rear tires locked and the car fishtailed.

"Shit!" she wrestled with the wheel but the car spun out and hopped the curb onto a lawn backward. They were on the grass. He was laughing and clapping his hands. She was wired with adrenaline.

"You asshole!" she was actually angry.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I had an instructor do that to me once. Your reflexes were good. Good instincts." he said. She was still scowling and shook her hands.

"Good instincts? But we ended up here, and the engine died."

She got out and looked around the car. "I think it's all OK."

"If we do any damage, I'll get it fixed, don't worry. I swear I won't do that again."

He showed her some basic maneuvers on the pavement. They panic stopped several times. She learned how to do a J-turn and what it felt like to take a corner at high speed. He had her push the car past its ability to grip the pavement and understeer around a corner. They went onto a gravel road to practice the Scandinavian flick and to feel the car oversteer and spin out. At the end of the session she was a little tired.

"OK. That was fun, but I'm beat from all that anxiety, man! Poor car, too." she patted the dash.

"Don't let this little lesson go to your head--you're no stunt driver."

"Believe me, if you weren't here pushing me, I would not want to drive like that." she said.

He smiled. "Ice cream?"

## Chapter Thirteen

When Monday rolled around Tracy had a hard time getting out of bed. She stared at the ceiling for a long time and wondered what the point of school was. She heard Robbie milling around and the smell of breakfast wafted down the hall to her room. She got out of bed. The air wasn't cold, but she put on a thick robe as if it would insulate against a new, weird reality.

"Morning Perry..." she knelt down by the dog and put her head on his flank and gave him a good rub. He rolled over on his back and eyed her.

"Mornin'' Robbie was still pretty groggy. The coffee was still brewing and he stole a cup from the stream then put the pot back. "Bacon's there." he gestured to a plate where there was a big pile of bacon.

She made some toast and took a few pieces. She ate for a while in silence. Robbie was clicking around on his laptop. His eyes were scanning stories between sips of coffee.

"Uncle Robbie, that stuff was weird. Just weird. I can't process it all. I am trying to put all the pieces together."

He glanced over at her. "It's a lot to take in. It'll take a while to make any sense of it at all."

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this before?"

"There's really no right time to tell the story--and there's really no good way to start telling it. I learned about this when I was around your age. David Mathis really opened the door for me. One summer he just got interested in mythology and started reading... He basically lived here for about a month reading and talking to your grandpa. It was mostly over my head."

"Is that why he's a little out there?"

He laughed, "I'm glad you met him, what a great guy. Yeah, once you really _see_ things from this perspective, it can make you very deliberate about the choices you make. And those choices might end up taking you far outside the norm."

She became pensive and quiet.

"There's no recipe for dealing with all this. The only thing I can say is don't worry about it too much. The world is still the same as it was yesterday, you just have more complete information than a lot of other people."

She just raised her eyebrows and chewed her food. "When I got up this morning, I thought 'what's the point of going to school'?"

"Yeah. I get that. David dropped out. I almost did."

She laughed sardonically, "you're no after school special!"

"Nope! Not even a little bit." He laughed hard, then took a moment to provide a more considered response. "OK, look, Tracy, you're an adult, but you've got _really_ limited experience." She nodded. He continued, "High school. College. It's a certain type of experience. It's good. It can give you a certain type of a frame of reference, but it's one that won't hold up well against _that_ ," he pointed at the library.

"Yeah, I get that, actually I was going to say, 'I thought what's the point?' but then I realized I was really craving that dumb routine right now. So I'ma go."

"Alright, see you later."

"Bye! She rapped on his head with her knuckles." he ducked out of the way and waved over his shoulder. "Bye Perry!" she slapped the dog's side. After she got dressed for school and was out the door, the world seemed to tremble and pulse with a new type of energy and life.

## Chapter Fourteen

When she got to the parking lot, she saw Chloe Marte by her new car. Chloe was chatting with a group of kids. Tracy felt like she was stepping into a nice warm pool of familiarity, back into the world she knew and took for granted. She got out of the Austin Healey and walked over.

Tracy asked, "Oh man... is that??"

Chloe hopped a couple of times and gestured at the car in spokesmodel style, "It's a brand new car! Well, a used car."

A group of boys stopped by on their way toward the building. Two of them wore letter jackets. "Whoa, Jetta. Nice." one of the guys said. He had short buzzed hair, and coffee colored skin and hazel eyes. "I got a Golf GTI..." he pointed toward the back of the lot. "It's probably the same year."

"I like that GTI." Tracy said.

"Nobody's got you beat though." the other boy said, and pointed with studied casualness at the Healey. "I'd love to take a ride in that sometime." He was tall and had wavy blond hair and was tan from being out all summer. He was the tight end of the football team and was the only kid in the school that surfed. He actually went up to lake Erie in the fall to surf in his wetsuit in the frigid water, but he modeled his personality and look on the people in surf movies, like _Endless Summer_.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your gentlemen friends?" Chloe smiled and nudged Tracy.

The boys looked around, the buzz cut said, "Gentlemen? You mean us?" they laughed, "I'm Roberto Marquez--people call me Berto."

"Richard Golden." he shook hands with both of them. They started heading toward the building.

"Where you from?" Berto asked Chloe.

"Well, here and there--mostly LA then Nashville."

"A lady of the West, Nice. I got a cousin in Nashville. I was there last spring break. Oh man we partied. That was a cool town."

"Yeah, we just moved here before school. My dad's from Chardon."

"Oh nice. Nothing like coming home."

"Where you girls headed?" Berto asked. They stopped at the main stairs.

"We're upstairs in Calc." Tracy said.

"Tracy's a brain since 5th grade, bro. But she's cool... We're gonna go with the other glue eaters and sit in study hall."

"You busy after school?" Berto asked. The girls looked at each other and shrugged.

"No, I'm not." Tracy said.

Chloe added, "Me neither."

"We've got practice 'til 4 today, but after that?" they nodded.

"Yeah, I'm on twitter. Check me there." Richard said.

"Me too." Berto said.

## Chapter Fifteen

The clerk poked her head into Ralph's office. "Judge, there's a courier here. Needs your signature."

"Be right there!" he said. He received all kinds of things during the week--the vast majority of it was court correspondence. He trotted down the stairs to the front desk. A young man in a red vest and a red baseball cap waited. "That for Judge Ralph?" The man looked at the label.

"Yup. I need your John Hancock." He gave the judge a bulky electronic pad. Ralph scribbled on it with the stylus then walked back to his chambers. It was a flat stiff envelope. A red rubber stamp was on the front. "Pb".

He closed the office door and opened the package with a knife. There were two photographic prints that had been culled from the images taken at the Wells farm. Each one had side-by-side images. One zoomed out with an arrow pointing to the shelf location, the other zoomed in. One showed the spine of books. One of the books was circled in red. "That one." had been written by some unknown hand on a computer screen somewhere, then made into a print. The other print was similar, except two items, a book and a notepad were highlighted. "ASAP. We'll be in touch." was scrawled on the front in red marker and underlined twice.

He got out the burner and texted "Court ASAP" to Fonzi.

The reply from the Sheriff was immediate. "OK. There in 10."

He folded up the prints and put them in a "Thank You" card from a local Scout troop and went outside to meet Chuck. They met in the middle of the lawn, "I wanted to show you this." he said and unfolded the card.

"Really? That necessary?"

"Can't be too careful." Ralph said.

Chuck pictured Jerry cartwheeling in the night sky. "Yeah you're right." He looked at the pictures and breathed a sigh of relief. "This will be much easier than we thought."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves--who knows what they'll want tomorrow or five minutes from now. Got this covered?"

"Yeah, I'm on it..." Ralph started walking away. "Hey wait..." he turned and came back.

"What?"

"The books--or copies good enough? We could ghost in make a copy and ghost out."

"Shit." the judge said, put on the spot to decide. "Better to take them. Who knows what they really want--the information or maybe the physical book. Besides, you think anyone's going to miss those?"

"Guess not. OK. It'll get done, leave it up to me."

## Chapter Sixteen

Keith sat at his office desk with a notepad on his lap and a three ring binder propped against the computer monitor. The binder had detailed background reports on the Cantoe family. He'd been pretexting records for several days and had amassed a pile of paper in the binder. He made notes and flipped back and forth among the pages. He tapped his chin with a pencil eraser.

He saw Sarah Cantoe's network was her Sister, her kids and a couple of friends based numbers that she called regularly in months leading up to the accident.

He spent some time wading through bills and bank statements. He started to feel some sympathy toward Sarah. Her bank account regularly became overdrawn and she paid hundreds of dollars in fees. She scrambled from job to job over the years. When she won the lottery she opened a bank account at Hartsgrove Union Bank--a name he didn't recognize. There was only about $57 grand in the account--probably what was left of the $100k after taxes. Each of the Hartsgrove Union Bank statements showed the same amount and no withdrawals or charges.

"Geez they take a chunk..." he muttered, then slapped his forehead. Keith picked up the phone and called Rich. "So what happens when the Rice family sues Sarah Cantoe? They'll take everything... All $57,345 at Hartsgrove Union Bank. Why will she keep quiet, then?"

"Yeah, good point." he conceded. Keith could hear Rich's office chair squeaking over the speakerphone. "On the other hand, do you believe she would think that far ahead?" Rich countered.

"Probably not... She was living day to day. But wouldn't her employer think that far ahead?"

"Yeah, I can't argue with that logic... Did you say 'Hartsgrove Union'?"

"Yep. Why? Know someone there?"

Rich laughed. "I wish. Nope, Wills and Divorces pay the bills, but I don't have that kind of salad... I'll be right over."

A couple of minutes later Rich came in a little out of breath from jogging across the street. "Hartsgrove Union is a private client bank. I doubt you could get in the door with $57 grand. And it's not like they advertise."

"Yeah that's very interesting. Do we have the budget to bring in someone to help with surveillance? I'd love to just have someone sit on the bank for a while. I am going to chase down her two friends." he tapped the binder.

Rich grimaced. "Yeah, we can do that. Seems like we're onto something solid with the bank."

## Chapter Seventeen

Robbie propped his feet up on the library table. He had a video chat going. The thin, tanned face on the screen had a fuzzy biker beard and long blond-red hair. The cabin of a spacious vehicle framed his head.

"Hey Johnny, I'm settled in up here." Robbie said.

"Back in Ohio? What's that song--' _Hey, ho, way to go Ohio_ '", he tapped the table.

"Yeah, Chrissy Hynde out-of Akron, if I remember rightly."

"Oh yeah, that's it--I'm gonna listen to that later."

"I pinged you earlier this week because someone was poking around in the house here. I sent you the article. Could be nothing... but I thought I'd see if you know about anything going on up here."

"Well, man, there's some shit going down with the Brothers. Did you see this story?" he forwarded a link to a video.

Robbie watched the clip. It was Seth Kaswhetski--he still had the black eyed susan flower in his lapel, and he was being interviewed by a financial network anchor. Kaswhetski was the CEO of an investment bank, but rarely went on air. The anchor asked the usual questions about business conditions and estimates of future corporate earnings, but the old man gave a cryptic non-sequitur answer.

"I've long been a student of the motions of the lead market. The lead market is a very subtle indicator of things to come. All those who follow lead must know the time is come for some major changes."

Robbie closed the video window. "As the kids say, WTF!" he stuck his arms out wide.

Johnny laughed. "No shit. Man, sometimes I get sick of trying to figure out what these dudes are up to. But, habits being habits, I keep collecting the data. Obviously, this was some message to the minions."

"No doubt. But well, that was pretty... obscure..." he cocked his head and smirked. "Anything local?"

"Well, Jerry O'Sullivan tried to become one with a bridge abutment. Could be something going on there..."

"Yeah, I saw that. Well, do you think you could get some info on the Judge here?"

"Sure. He's new on my radar. He typed a few notes into his database. I'll get back to you."

## Chapter Eighteen

Robbie heard a car on the gravel outside. It was a Sheriff's cruiser. He started his cellphone recording video and put it in his front pocket so the lens was facing out. He walked outside.

Chuck got out of his car. "Are you the property owner?" he asked.

"Yep. Robert Wells." he shook hands with the Sheriff.

"Sorry to bug you on a day like today. This'll be quick."

"You caught me in the middle of some work, but no problem, what's up?"

"You're not going to believe this, but there's been reports of a brown bear in this neighborhood." he made a circle motion with his finger.

Robbie smiled and rubbed his beard. "Thanks, sheriff. That's really good of you to stop by yourself."

Chuck laughed and smacked his hands together. "Yeah, I heard this one on dispatch and decided to handle it myself. Anyway, we're warning residents because the warden and some deputies might come through later today and they'll be armed. I'm requesting residents stay inside while the warden is on the premises."

"I hope with tranqs! Poor bear."

"Yeah, we'll do our best to get him home safe and sound."

"OK. I'll let you know if I see anything. Guess I'll keep the dog inside." Robbie laughed.

"Time to make the rounds. Nice to meet you Mr. Wells."

"Call me Robbie."

The Sheriff pulled out of the drive and went across the street. Robbie shook his head. "Bear..." and went back inside.

# EPISODE THREE -- Meet The Parents

Flashback to Four Years Ago.

## Chapter One

For much of Johnny's adult life, he worked as an intelligence analyst and was a dutiful servant of the United States government. His hair was close cropped, like a soldier's, and he wore khakis, loafers and a polo shirt almost every day of the week.

For five years, he made a lucrative salary as a contractor at an inside-the-beltway glass building in Maryland. Each day on the job he collected information and wrote detailed reports that were, more and more frequently, sending unknown men, women, and children to an early violent death. Now, in his mid thirties, he perceived an inarticulate, but strong force pushing him and bothering him, but he couldn't interpret the sensation. It was sort of like a dog sitting by the door, wanting out.

One Monday afternoon, he started to attach a collection of news photos to a database entry about an assignment that culminated in an airstrike. He opened the collection, and clicked through the images: the bomb struck near a city square in a far off desert country. One photo showed a small boy, maybe 10 years old, attempting to guide an injured donkey away from the devastation. The boy's face was a mask of anguish and the donkey was bewildered and afraid. Johnny broke down and wept uncontrollably. He covered his mouth with his bicep so he could wail. He managed to pull himself together sufficiently to send an email to his boss saying he had food poisoning, and he left the office.

He was profoundly disturbed. He started to drive for home, but the idea of being alone in his spartan apartment seemed toxic. He couldn't close his eyes without seeing the kid's face. The company made a point of informing the staff that free, anonymous psychological counselling was available 24/7. He considered calling, but worried the doctor would just prescribe him some happy pills that'd let him get back to work as an automaton. Instead, he stopped the car in a funky neighborhood where he liked to hang out on weekends. He noticed that a crescent moon was out, even though it was only about 5PM. On a whim, he walked into a storefront that said, "Psychic Readings".

The psychic was a short, slightly plump twenty-ish girl with hipster glasses. She was wearing cowboy boots, and had on a short dark blue dress with white polka-dots. Her dark hair was pulled back in a bandanna from her pale white face. "Can I help you?" she asked with a polite smile.

"Um, I don't know. I was hoping you can." he sat down across from her in a comfortable, but well worn and creaky chair; she'd actually pulled it from a dumpster a couple of weeks prior.

"Would you like a reading?" she pulled out a deck of Tarot cards.

"Well, no, I don't think so. Really, I'd probably just like to talk."

She nodded. "That's fine. I can see you have a lot on your mind." She pulled out a cigar box with a bag of pot, some rolling papers, and a few pipes. "Do you mind?"

"Uh no... no problem." he sat quietly while she started loading an old carved pipe.

"Don't wait for me. Go ahead honey, what's on your mind?"

She took a toke and held her breath. He started to lean forward, half ready to leave. Then he just let go and slumped back in the chair. "Fuck it..." he said. He continued on, "Short version. My job's about killing people... we're supposed to believe it's for _reasons_ \--the greater good, national security, or whatever. But, it's just murder. I'm that guy pulling the lever on the fucking death star laser. Today, I saw pictures. This poor kid and a donkey..."

She breathed out. "You are way outta your zone visiting me, aren't you." He nodded. She handed him the bowl. He toked it and held the smoke. It burned. He coughed violently.

"If you don't cough, you're not doing it right." she said and smiled.

He felt it go to his head right away. He leaned back in the chair. "Wow... been awhile." he said.

She spoke, "So here's your problem," She made a cup gesture with her left hand and pummelled her fist into it. "You're at the end of your current path... You've outgrown your skin."

She said matter of factly. "People like you," she gestured broadly. "I mean people that live in your world don't have much awareness. So as this thing happens, you don't know what to do and it feels uncomfortable."

"Right... Right..." he pointed at her. "That's so right."

"Usually, people like you, instead of shedding that skin... they actually just die. Figuratively I mean. The inner light just goes out. Poof." She snapped her fingers. "This is a huge day for you."

"Hmmm. It really is." he answered.

She smiled sweetly.

"What you've discovered is that you've got a _soul_." she put a hand on his chest and patted near his heart. She took another big hit. "Wow, that shit is gooood." He took another draw. His head was swimming.

"A soul?" he said. "I felt it...." he said in recognition. "I felt this thing... this presence."

She nodded and stood up. She grabbed his hand. "C'mon." she said, and pulled him toward the back of her shop. She pushed a cheap hollow-core door marked PRIVATE with her foot and pulled him along and led him into her attached apartment. She was so short compared to him that he had to lean over to keep hold of her hand.

She took a deep draw on the pipe and pulled his face down. "Open... mouth..." she grunted. He did and she started to blow smoke in. He breathed it and she started kissing him. He held the smoke in for a long time until he had to pull away to exhale.

"Oh man..." his head was floating away on an electric sea. She did it again, and started pulling him closer. He grabbed her butt and she started to pull his shirt off, and pulled him onto a futon.

The futon sheets were covered in cat hair and were a little ripe, but he ignored it. She was on top of him, and the world was just her face and dark hair, and the sensation of her moving up and down.

When they finished she curled up against his shoulder. "Wow." she said. "I liked that."

"I wasn't expecting that at all." he laughed.

"Want to know a secret?" she said.

"Sure." he put his arm around her.

"Well, believe it or not, that was my first time."

"Holy shit, no kidding. Well, wow. You were aggressive."

The bell on the storefront door chimed. "Customer!" She threw a dress on over her nakedness. "You gonna stay?"

"Sure, if you want."

"Of course."

He lounged in the bed while customers came and went. The pot buzz started to wear off. He sat up in bed and started getting dressed.

Finally, she returned. "You going?! Sorry I took so long. I just closed up shop."

"I'm a little restless. Want to get some dinner?"

## Chapter Two

They walked across the crowded street to a restaurant with tables outside. A band was playing inside at the bar, but the music poured out through big garage doors that were rolled up. She shook her head and danced in her chair to the beat.

"They're great!" she enthused. He nodded.

"Geez. What's your name? I'm Johnny--two n's--Johnny."

She laughed and put a hand over her mouth, feigning mock opprobrium. "Oh mah goodness. We weren't properly introduced. I'm Dana. Pleased to make your acquaintance." she shook his hand. "And yours too." she reached under the table and gripped his dick and made a handshake motion.

He laughed, and nervously looked around.

Her face turned a little cross. "Oh man," she said, "When you came into my shop. You opened up. I saw a glimpse of your true face today--don't you dare go back on me." She tapped his chest.

"No, I got it."

"You've got to let it live!" she pumped her arms.

"It's bewildering, that's all."

She nodded, smiled and said quietly. "I suppose it really is. Let's go back home."

## Chapter Three

Johnny didn't go back into work the next day, although the routine of work and the life it supported still shadowed his mind. He went back to his apartment to pick up a few things. He ditched his khakis for some cargo shorts and an old comfortable T-shirt, and threw his loafers in the trash and slipped on a pair of sandals. He realized almost every single thing in the apartment was unnecessary, except in the context of his work life. He filled a box with some toiletries, a few changes of clothes, some keepsakes, photos of his friends and family, an old address book and his laptop and left.

He hung out in the shop during the day. Between bouts of talking, sex and Dana taking care of customers, he checked out the things she sold. She had some books in her inventory. Some antique volumes and a mishmash of new age and magic books.

In the afternoon, his Blackberry buzzed and the red inbox notification light blinked. His boss sent an email. "Everything alright? Come in tomorrow?"

He looked at the message and his stomach briefly knotted. In his mind's eye, he tried to imagine shuffling through work days and hanging out with Dana in the evenings. She crept up behind him and looked over his shoulder.

He felt her presence there and turned around. "Work..." he gestured with the phone.

"Well?" she asked.

He read the message out loud and typed his response."'Everything alright?' He typed and said out loud, "Yes."

"'Come in tomorrow?' He said and wrote, "No. Done. Bye."

She hugged him and jumped up to kiss his face. He went to toss the phone in the garbage.

"Wait!" she said. "Let's sell that shit."

## Chapter Four

As the days went by, the grip his former life held over his mind, body, and habits slowly sloughed off. He stopped shaving and his stubble had turned into the start of a blond-red beard.

He was lounging on the futon, surfing the web when her phone rang. He could barely hear her initial, "Hello." but then her voice went into high pitched laughter and happy chat. She jogged into the apartment and sat next to him.

"Hey David." She put her hand over the phone and said to Johnny, "an old friend of mine is coming into town." Her face took on a look of complete surprise. "Oh no way! I can't believe that." She covered it again, "he's got a school bus!" She smiled and laughed. "Am I in? Hell yeah! Let me hand the phone over to my lovah boy, Johnny." she chucked the receiver at him then dragged some suitcases out of her closet and began loading them up.

"Uh, hello?" Johnny said.

"Hey, Johnny is it? I'm David Mathis--Dana's a friend of mine. We're swinging through your town in a few hours on the way up to Hamilton, New York--that's a college town, then over to Ohio, then... well around. You in?"

He smiled. "Sounds great. Looking forward to it." She took the receiver back. "Well, we better get packing! See you soon."

She squealed and stamped her feet. She was a whirlwind of activity, calling people, packing, and sending him on an errand to take the cat to a neighbors. She locked up the apartment and they went out on the sidewalk to wait. They heard the unmistakable rumble of a diesel school bus and saw the yellow rooftop as it made its way toward them. She got up and clapped and waved.

David waved back. Other heads were visible through the glass. He engaged the brakes, and the bus grunted and wheezed to a stop. He leaned out the side window. "It's tough to park this thing on such a busy street. Can you guys just hurry on?"

They climbed on board. David was smiling, "What do you think of this?" Two other men waved hello. There was a spot for luggage in the back of the converted school bus. About half of the rows of seats had been removed, and a hardwood floor was put down over the steel. The bus lurched toward the freeway.

Robbie Wells was sitting on the floor. He got up to give Dana a hug. "Hey girl! It's been an age. How are you?"

"I'm really good. Heeere's Johnny." She flourished at Johnny.

"Nice to meet you." Robbie said. "That's my brother, Matt sitting over there in the chair."

Matt Wells was sitting in a leather armchair that was bolted to the floor in the place of a row of seats. He waved and got up to hug Dana.

"You are as pretty as ever, Dana! I hope this guy's been treating you right." he gave Johnny a stern look, then offered a hand.

"Pleased to meet you." Johnny said.

They returned to their seats and Johnny and Dana got comfortable on the floor by making a nest out of pillows and blankets.

"This guy used to work as an Intelligence Analyst..." she said.

"Yeah, and when she said 'used to' it was really until last Monday." Johnny offered.

Robbie eyed him, "that's an interesting line of work."

"Well, that's one way to put it... I'm actually an EE. Started out working as an engineer and sort of got sucked into the spy biz. It pays... paid well"

Robbie asked, "how long as an EE? doing what?"

"Oh for, gosh, five years out of school.... I did a little bit of everything... It was through working on remote sensing systems that I bounced over into the dark side."

Dana said, "yeah he woke up on Monday." She rubbed his chest again. He smiled.

"And here I am." Johnny said. He gestured around. "So what's in Hamilton?"

Robbie and Matt looked at each other. Matt spoke, "the dude was a spy a week ago."

"Analyst." Dana said.

Robbie took off his hat and ruffled his hair. "Geez, Matty. If Dana's good with him, then I am too."

"How do you know he's good enough for you?" Matty asked. Johnny was starting to get a little peeved.

"What's going on here?" Johnny asked. Robbie started to speak, but Dana held up her hand.

"You just joined the resistance." She said. Robbie shrugged and nodded.

"Resistance? Against what?" The gears of his mind were spinning but not engaging anything useful.

"Remember what you said when you walked into my store for the first time?"

"Yeah."

"What did you say?" she asked.

"My job was about killing people... I was the guy on the death star blowing up planets..."

Matty rolled his eyes. Dana glared at Matt, then continued. "You said 'they' told you there were reasons--like the greater good, but you didn't buy the reasons any more... Did you ever wonder what was fabricating the reasons... making you believe it?"

"Well, to be honest, not really too much." He shrugged.

Dana said, "it's like there's this grasping powerful presence."

Johnny laughed. "You mean the Emperor?"

She just nodded. Robbie said, "Bingo."

He was incredulous, "You are telling me there's an emperor..."

Robbie nodded. "This is really hard to explain at first without the context."

Matt interjected, "So, should we really explain to him?"

Robbie got angry. "Matt, how many times.... _We're_ not _them_. This stuff's a secret only because it's so hard to convey."

Matt said, "Just not sure it's wise... We just met."

Robbie shrugged it off and continued. "Anyway, yes, there's an Emperor, and in fact, some might call it a _god_."

Dana nodded. "But before you get too awed by the idea--it's important to ask yourself, 'self, what exactly is a god?'"

Robbie picked up the thread, "Good point. What if the god _s,_ " he emphasized the 's', "are real beings--but they're only empowered by _us_?"

Johnny was a little stunned, but he caught up quickly. "That makes sense." he said. "There's this concept 'emergent properties' in physics. Maybe these things exist because of us, but they also have an independent, objective existence sort of the way consciousness emerges from a bunch of neurons."

"Hey... this one's quick!" Robbie smiled. He popped open a cooler. "Beer?"

## Chapter Five

The drive to Hamilton took all day. They stopped for dinner at a rest stop just across the New York State line. Robbie got a grill going in no time, and he started pressing out some burger patties. David walked over.

"Oh man, that looks soooo good. I missed breakfast, think you could make me an extra?"

"Sure."

While Robbie grilled, the rest of the crew set the picnic table. Dana had a blue tablecloth with a big cartoon sun in the middle. They weighed it down with plates to keep a gusty summer wind from carrying it away.

David got up, "oh man, I forgot the tunes... be right back."

Robbie put the burgers and some grilled corn and peppers in the center of the table. "There's an extra burger there."

"Wow, it's been awhile since I've had any meat! All rice and beans lately..." Johnny grabbed two burgers. He was halfway through the first one when David returned with an old ghetto blaster. He started to set it on the table, but the handle disconnected from the body and it fell on the ground and broke open.

"Ohhh shoot." He said. "No tunes with dinner." He sat down in his place. "Where's the extra?" he looked around. Johnny looked down at his plate. "Oh man, you swiped my burger!"

"Oh sorry! I didn't know it was yours."

He gestured at Matt, "Do you believe this guy?"

Matt laughed, "oh get over it, David, he's a growing boy."

"We can split the burger." Johnny offered half to David. "Plus, I'll fix your radio."

David took the burger. "That's a really good bargain. Thanks man." He smiled and looked around at the table. "He's alright."

## Chapter Six

The bus rolled onto the campus of Hamilton College, which was summertime slow. A maintenance crew was at work on one of the buildings, so the whine of power tools and banging hammers drifted through the summer air. David shut the diesel down and got up to stretch.

Jack Godwin was already walking out to the bus. He had a briefcase and an overnight bag and was wearing a white short sleeve dress shirt, comfortable slacks, and black socks with sandals.

"Man that was a long ride." David said and rubbed his eyes.

"Now that's a way to get around in style!" Jack said in a lilting English accent. He gave David a hug.

"She's been running really well, but whoa what a fuel hog!"

"I bet it takes a lot to move that big yellow chariot! I've got a couple of students taking the trip. They'll be out in a minute."

The rest of the crew got out, too. David asked, "Mind if we take a walk before we hit the road--we've been cramped up in there for a day. It's so good to be on a college campus--so stately and serene."

Jack and his students loaded their luggage on the bus, then the group wandered the campus. Jack, David and the Wells boys fell in together, while the students gravitated toward Johnny and Dana.

"I almost take it for granted being nestled and coddled--you are all out there on the frontier." Jack said. He was a professor of music, but wrote a pile of books on the western esoteric tradition and had worked with the Wells family since the 70's with Matt and Robbie's father and grandfather.

Robbie patted his shoulder, "well we're always glad to have you join us for some adventures."

"Nothing, too exciting--I mean physically exciting I hope! At my age, I'm not sure I'd be of much use."

Robbie laughed, "Nah. Not this time. Dad sends his regards, by the way."

"Is he enjoying his retirement? It's hard to imagine!"

Matt laughed. "Yeah, he went back to running the farm full time instead, playing at the simple life. He still likes to hear what we're up to but doesn't get involved any more."

Jack shook his fists, and laughed, "Oh that sounds so pleasant. The Isles of the Blessed. Your father deserves his retirement. I'm getting there myself, but I've got a few more books in me, I'm afraid."

"That's good news for us!" David said.

The groups made the loop around the main campus streets then headed back to the bus.

## Chapter Seven

The bus rumbled west along I-90, _en route_ to Cincinnati where Jack was due to give a lecture on the influence of the Troubadours on western literature. He was enjoying some wine and cheese with the crew. They sat near the front of the bus so David could participate. The students lounged around in the back of the bus.

"Are you stuck driving the whole way?" Jack asked David. His face was becoming a little rosy from the wine.

"Robbie didn't get a chance to take his license test, yet. I don't mind though, kind of fun."

"I like this rig," Robbie said, "but I've got a line on an old Tour bus, now that'd be stylin'."

Johnny asked, "anyone famous?"

"Yeah, the thing is probably filled with DNA samples from plenty of groupies and classic rockers." Robbie laughed. "Probably needs a steam cleaning!"

Johnny laughed. Dana smacked his shoulder, "Imagine all the babies made on it--probably scattered around the country."

Johnny nodded. "No doubt. What kind of shape is it in?"

"Wellll, the good news is it's free. The bad news is it rolls, but doesn't go. Been stripped for parts for years."

"I've been working on cars and motorcycles since I was a kid." Johnny said.

"You're a man of many talents! That's great. If you want, we can swing down that way from Cincy. It's at a charter company just over the Tennessee border near Kentucky."

"Sounds cool." Johnny said.

David looked back in the mirror at Robbie. "Hey, isn't it time to tattle on Matty?" he laughed.

Matt groaned. Robbie laughed and squeezed his shoulders, "that's some role reversal, Matt. How many times did you rat me and David out to Dad!"

Jack was curious, "Tattle?"

David said, "Matt wants to start going over to the other side."

Jack's face got serious. "Oh? Really Matt, how?"

Matt sighed. "I think I found a way to go over safely, with no danger of possession. I think some of the shamanic mystics used chemicals as a kind of vaccine or maybe a purgative."

Robbie said, "can you talk some sense into him?"

Jack thought for a moment. "Do you know how many times people have played this game and lost?"

Matt answered, "maybe we only know about the losers."

Jack nodded, "I can't discount the possibility, but look at the cases we know well. Dee and Kelly--John Dee contacts them to help fight Spain and to empower England, but it cost him dear, and gave them a solid foothold in England... and from there to America."

Robbie punched Matt's shoulder. "That's why the Wells family got outta ye Olde England in the first place."

Jack nodded, "the problem is they're not human--they operate on a scale we can't comprehend. You won't be able to perceive them working on you and through you."

Matt said firmly, "Dad set a course--fostering the practical arts as a sort of route to individual enlightenment, but I think that's a limited path. It's capping human possibility. Also, I believe that strategy has its own risks and dangers... like the potential for total failure and enslavement of the whole human race!"

Robbie tried to keep calm, "Matt, you've found some really incredible, powerful, and useful stuff. Why not stop there?"

Matt shrugged. "I've been on this path for years and I'm going to follow it to the end. Isn't that what we do?" Robbie and David gave a faint acknowledgement, a slight nod.

Dana made a long sarcasm tinged, "Hmmmm...." They all looked at her. "It seems to me that burning for knowledge is exactly what'll open you up to them."

Matt's face was resolute, and he remained silent. They shifted the conversation to Jack's Troubadour research and carried on.

## Chapter Eight

At Cincinnati, Jack and his students said their goodbyes and thank yous and went on their way. Matt stayed in town, too, ostensibly to take care of some normal life business. His wife, Telia, ran an antique store and Southern Ohio was usually a good source of cheap merchandise. He'd buy a car and work his way back along the Ohio River Valley before going back to Chardon. They all knew, though, it was an excuse and he needed a break from the rest of them.

The crew continued on toward Nashville. Robbie felt the need to apologize to Johnny. "Sorry for airing some of the dirty laundry, there. The family, and by that, I mean _all_ these people in our circle is full of knotty, interesting, and opinionated people. Sometimes there's friction if not outright fighting."

David nodded, "Fights and disagreements happen among independent people. Also, Matty can be an imperious asshole."

Robbie agreed. "He's got that instinct, that urge for leadership, no doubt. He manages to keep it in line much of the time."

Dana said, "probably necessary since all his peeps are anarchists... _I am an anti-christ... I am an anarchist..._ " she sang into an imaginary microphone.

"No need to apologize. It's a good thing to hang it all out there." Johnny said. "My family's civil, but at the cost of a little chilliness. We live our lives and meet at Christmas at the parent's place but that's about it."

"Wait til they get a load of the new you!" Dana said.

"Wow, yeah. And you." He said.

She smiled and posed, fluttering her eyelashes.

Robbie said, "They might pleasantly surprise you... what you're doing, what we're doing is in human nature. It's taken a lot of years and abuse to whip and flog people into this so called life." He gestured out the window at the Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati with its car dealerships and shopping centers flashing by.

Johnny asked, "so when Matt said you guys were focused on the practical arts, what was that about?"

David answered, "yeah, long story... It really started with Robbie's great-grandpa... Maybe before that. The 19th century anyway. They saw a massive wave of nihilism and materialist philosophy rippling through the west, like this black billowing cloud that eats souls."

"Poetic!" Robbie said.

"Thanks. I try." David said. "It started to work its way into the US--dripping in from Britain."

"Is that related to Dee and Kelly?" Johnny asked.

Robie answered. "Yeah.... they uncorked a bottle. Let monsters in. The story's way more complicated than that, but good enough explanation for now. Actually that event caused a split within the Rebellion. My ancestors fled to America as a result. I'll send you a copy of my great-great-whatever grandad's journal. If you think this stuff we've been talking about so far is 'out there'... wait til you read that!"

David said, "yeah, this story gets weird fast. That black billowing cloud--it came here _inside_ people, a handful of people, then took possession of others... prominent names. Railroad barons, Wall Street Bankers, oil men. The usual suspects."

Robbie jumped in, "they built this system to completely cut off people from nature, from family, from even making things, from making a living outside corporations. In about a century, they were able to tap the resources of entire continents for their own ends."

Johnny whistled, "holeeee shit."

David jumped back in, "Don't forget we've been fighting back this whole time. We see the real game is spiritual--it's about discovery on an individual level--and connection with others and the world. So we try to foster that."

Robbie made a gesture like he was holding a ball. "Yeah, and this is important, we have sympathy with the other side and what they've created. We're trying to transform it from within."

"So what's 'practical' about any of that?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah that's the 10,000 foot view for sure." David said. "We--that is me and Robbie and Dana here--travel around helping people out. I do permaculture and local food. Dana's helping women and men with family stuff and babies." she put her hand up to acknowledge. "Robbie's been promoting the maker culture."

"Really? I love that." Johnny beamed.

Robbie smiled. "I thought so. Yeah, we've worked to spread that message for a while. It's catching on."

Johnny nodded, "I'm on board with this... I can _see_ what you're trying to do."

David added, "Let me play the demiurge's advocate for a minute. Matty's got a point, too. Our strategy doesn't have any immediate payback. We all struggle with that."

Robbie held up his hands and said thoughtfully, "Johnny, before you get too deep in _this_ life, take a point to heart. Much of the time, we're battling on a higher plane, _but_... when necessary, we get down in the dirt. It's not always this brainy."

Dana leaned over and pulled a Colt .45 1911 from her bag. It had been restored and elaborately customized by Robbie. The body had been colored a dark iridescent blue-black and the grips were mother of pearl inlaid with silver crescents.

"And you thought I was just a sweet innocent hippie chick."

Robbie and David laughed. Johnny was shocked.

## Chapter Nine

Matt bought an old Honda civic hatchback from a Craigslist seller for $500. The car ran well, but had a few rust spots, bald tires, and the seats were frayed and torn. He spent part of the day tooling around Cincinnati bringing the car up to snuff: new tires and minor repairs. He figured he'd be able to sell it back home for $1500. In the late afternoon as the shadows were starting to get long, he popped into a book and curiosity shop that had a black stained carved oak facade. The word ARCANUM was written in gold letters above the door.

The owner was a big man with a round, bearded ruddy face. He had gold rimmed bifocals that were a little too small for his big head. He was wearing a flannel shirt and worn blue jeans. His shoes and socks were off and he padded around the colorful oriental rugs on the shop's floor in bare feet. He stepped out of a back room when he heard the door open.

The store was never very busy. The owner was the heir of a dwindling estate that had been built from steel manufacturing in the 1920s. He ran the shop to support his collecting habit, and to acquire oddball knowledge and curiosities.

"Hi George, I'm Matt Wells, we spoke on the phone a couple weeks ago."

George's big face lit up. It was rare for anyone to come into the shop, and it was a special occasion for another person with the same interests to come in. He shook Matt's hand. Matt felt like he was shaking a catchers mitt. George eased himself onto a stool behind a glass counter. A few choice books were inside on stands and open so the pages were visible. The books were colorful illuminated manuscripts.

George pointed up into the air and recalled the conversation. "Ahhhh, yes, the Randolph diary... right? Paschal Beverly Randolph." he repeatedly recited the name out loud. The shelves were indexed by the author's name and he padded back to the spot. He pulled a slender, leather notebook from the shelf and opened the front cover, then nodded and handed it to Matt. The bottom right of the cover had gold embossed initials PBR.

"Still interested in a trade?" Matt asked. He put a duffle bag on the glass counter.

George nodded. "This diary's not much of a thing... It's a one-of-a-kind original, but there's only about fifteen pages of writing in there. The market for it is..." he held his fingers together to indicate it was small. "That said, I am _mostly_ interested in trades; things that get me closer to what I am after."

"I have that same outlook."

"What did you bring me?"

"As I said on the phone, this is a first edition of _Transcendental Magic_. It's mint." He pulled the book from the duffel. For him the value was in the information, rather than the artifact.

George's face lit up. "Wow. Looks like I'm doing the Alchemy today! I'll take that trade. In fact, if you want to poke around in here and find something else you like, we can talk."

Matt left the copy of Levi's work on the counter and wandered the shelves. He saw a hand sized sparrow hawk figurine that was serving as a bookend on one of the shelves. "Hey George, how about this figurine? My teenage old daughter loves figurines, especially colorful ones like this. It's a beauty."

George put on a French accent, " _Absolutment_! That's from Lavaur, France. Enameled brass, very unusual."

They shook hands and George spent a few minutes chasing down packing material for the figurine. Matt flipped through the pages of the diary. Only the first fifteen pages had writing. The last entries in the book were marked Toledo, Ohio, May 1873. Around that time, Randolph was thrown from a train platform and severely injured in what was reported as "an accident". Occasionally, the quest for knowledge spilled from the ephemeral world of concepts and imagination into the hairy, sweaty, flesh, bone, and blood world. Things could get exciting, and often very ugly.

George packed the figurine in a large box filled with crumpled newspaper. "I figured better safe than sorry." Matt put the notebook on top of the box, shook hands again, then loaded the car.

## Chapter Ten

He drove east along the scenic Route 52. The broad, deep black water of the Ohio River was in constant view out the passenger window. Several homes were built along the side of the road where the ground was flat enough to have a yard. A steep wooded hillside formed a backdrop. The two lane road snaked along the river bank for miles and connected a string of small river towns. The flotsam and jetsam of prior centuries of prosperity was stuck in those places.

He stopped at a bed and breakfast that was a block off the Main Street in the small town of Ripley. The B&B was a big old victorian house. The furniture was out of date and the bed was too soft, but the place was tidy. Every available section of wall in the house had an image of Jesus--his face on paintings, crosses, gaudy bloody crosses, baby Jesus, Jesus getting flogged.

He pocketed the Randolph diary, picked up a local paper and walked to a diner in town for an early dinner and some apple pie. His waitress was named Carrie. She was in her early forties and was very sweet and gracious and spoke with the twang of a Kentucky accent. It was before the dinner rush and she kept his coffee and water topped up regularly.

"What ch'all readin'?" she asked about the notebook.

"Oh this--I picked it up in the city today. It's a diary of an extremely interesting guy--his name was Paschal Randolph. See the date here--1873."

"Oh wow, that's interesting. I haven't ever seen something that old. Is he famous?"

"He was a bit of a rock star in his day, a doctor and an adventurer. He was controversial too."

"Oh really? 'bout what?"

He blushed a little. "Well, he was a practitioner of what's known as 'sex magic'."

She chuckled and her eyes went big. "Oh my! I'm no prude, but I've never heard of that!"

"Yeah, well it's not a widely known subject, probably since it's combining two taboos in one thing..." he meshed his fingers together. "He even went on trial for immorality, but wasn't convicted."

"Interesting stuff... I need to get back to it, though." she topped his coffee up one last time, he left a big tip and headed out.

## Chapter Eleven

He had an appointment to meet with a woman who was selling items from her parents' estate. The house was only a few miles down the road and he had some time to kill so he went down to a park on the river to read through the diary.

When Matt first read about Paschal Randolph, he gathered the man was versed in the lore of the Western Tradition, but was more of an actor than a true practitioner. However, over the years, as Matt trod along his own winding path, looking for knowledge of dark things in dark places, he started to recognize the man as a kindred.

Though Matt was the eldest of the Wells children, he was the last to get initiated into the family business. The Wells way was to leave their children ignorant about the lore and the contents of the library unless they happened to stumble into it. Matt remained in the dark through his entire childhood and well into his college career.

In those days, Matt was the black sheep of the family. All through childhood, their father encouraged wildness in the brothers and among their friends, and nudged them all to bounce out of normal American life. A parade of seekers, con men, hippies, gurus, farmers, mechanics, artists, and inventors visited the farm through his childhood and provided a dizzying bunch of unconventional life choices. However, Matt's self discipline kept him glued to his conventional path all through high school and into college. He was preparing for a career. He attended college on a scholarship, studied Physics, and planned on studying medicine. He also prepared for family life, he was engaged to Telia in their junior year. It was that summer, when he returned home to find David and Robbie completely absorbed in studying the material in the library, and having long conversations with their father.

Matt sat in on their conversation. His carefully constructed model of the world began to corrode. David was the first to completely abandon his former life. He was absorbed into the network of family and friends that were attached to the Wells farm and started traveling the world. Robbie hung on through graduation from high school, but then began his work in earnest. Matt returned to college for his senior year, but for the first time, he had difficulty with his classes. His sharp and strong mind was entirely occupied with trying to interpret what he'd learned, and he started trying to gather more information.

He was drawn irresistibly to the storehouse of odd knowledge in their library. He brought Telia home at the start of winter break. For nine days and nights, he read. He was so utterly absorbed that he barely ate or drank. On the ninth night, a cold dark December night, a few days before Christmas, he passed out and fell down the library stair ladder. He severely bruised his eye and remained unconscious for hours.

He woke up in bed, with Telia sleeping next to him. He sat up, in bed, completely disoriented.

"Where am I... Am I dreaming... Is this real..." he held up his hand and stared at it in the bluish darkness.

She was still groggy, "Yeah, sooooo real... Welcome back." When he fell down the stairs, Telia was secretly relieved. She'd been left alone for almost the whole break, now she felt he'd be all hers. "You knocked yourself out."

He muttered, "oh, there's so much..." He saw her body in the soft glow of light coming in under the door frame. Her long blonde hair spilled onto the bed like a pool. She was laying on her side with her head propped up on her hand. One of her legs was over the covers. She was wearing a baggy sweatshirt and shorts. Through the ringing in his head, Matt felt an irresistible impulse to take her. He flipped the covers back and scooped her into the middle of the bed.

"Whoa, what the...." she said. He started to undress her and she helped slip the shorts off. He just pulled his pants off and slid inside her and started pumping. She dragged his T-shirt off and pulled off her sweatshirt. His weakness and the pain in his head made the lovemaking a trial for him. As minutes went by sweat beaded on his forehead and dripped on her. She writhed beneath him biting into the pillow to keep quiet. Finally he had a shuddering orgasm.

## Chapter Twelve

Matt's phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Ya. I got your message about the sale... I'm home." a young woman answered.

"Be right there."

He put the diary back in his pocket. He read through the text a few times already. He was starting to think Randolph really cracked it and had contact with "the other side" in the weeks before he was attacked. There were subtle clues about his methods all through his works. Unfortunately, it was a lot of chaff and only a few kernels of wheat.

Matt drove the Civic to an expansive house on a peninsula in the River. The house was still spectacular, a large Georgian with a brick driveway that was guarded by two large lion sculptures. He stopped at the end of the drive and checked them out. They had been carved from limestone. The lawn and landscaping weren't tended to, however, and the house was surrounded by nature's return. Tall grass waved and saplings had cropped up everywhere in the lawn.

He knocked on the front door then pressed the doorbell button. An actual bell sounded, a deep chime.

The door opened. A scrawny thirty-two year old woman held it close to her body. She wore a sweatshirt and some dirty sweatpants.

"Hi, I'm Matt Wells, I called earlier."

"Yeah, c'mon in. I'm Amy." she said. Her skin was pale and she had dark circles around her eyes, and her lips were dry and cracked. She absentmindedly scratched her arm. Her eyes sort of wandered around.

"Your ad was pretty general--are you selling everything?" he looked around. The place had already been picked over. There were dusty outlines of long-sold furniture. The hardwood floors were all bare and slightly darker where rugs had protected the floor from the sunlight.

"Yeah... there's still some stuffs here. My parents place. They're both dead now." she gestured vaguely. Her speech was slightly slurred.

"OK. I'll take a look around. Want to walk with me?" he said. His heart went out to her. The tendrils of the Brotherhood extended from opium fields in Afghanistan and crept into her blood. She sold off the wealth of prior generations of her family to keep her addiction fed, and she enriched and gave power to a hidden force, an invisible empire.

They walked through the house. Nothing was left for him.

"Amy, look, there's nothing here that I'm interested in. I'm sorry. Maybe the lion statues... I couldn't take them today, but I can get them trucked home in a couple of days."

"Can you pay me now..." she mumbled. She rocked back and forth. "Or if there's anything I can do for you instead..." she twirled a finger in her oily hair and tried to look coy.

"I'll give you $1500 for the lions." he said. Her face brightened. "I'll give you $500 in cash now and the rest when they're picked up."

"OK. That sounds great." she smiled. "They have names."

He smiled. "Oh really?" He pulled out the notebook. "What are they?"

"The one on the left's Leo... the right one's Aslan." He smiled indulgently and jotted them down.

He fixed her with his gaze. "Two more things. I want you to remember a phone number. When you need to call, someone there will help you. Understand?" He spoke the number.

She nodded. The words didn't make much of an impression through the fog of her mind. Then Matt sang it, something like a Gregorian chant. The digits lodged in her long term memory. She looked a little puzzled. "Mmm. OK." she said and repeated the number.

"And one more thing... Can you feel a presence, a goodness, that there's something that cares about your existence? I see you're on a really dark path right now, but you can always go back into the light when you're ready. The world needs you." He patted her shoulder.

"Mmm." She nodded blearily. He paid her the $500 and left. He made arrangements for the statues to be picked up.

## Chapter Thirteen

The school bus pulled into the parking lot of _Star Chariots_. Dana hopped out and ran around the bus and put her hands up to the sky to stretch. Robbie, Johnny, and David piled off behind her.

"Damn! I need a shower." she said.

"Yeah, I think it's time for a hotel. My back needs a break." Robbie said.

"You're getting soft!" David laughed.

There was a tall metal sided building with an office on one corner. They went over and Robbie peered through the dark panes. He banged on the door. One of the bay doors slid open and a stocky man in coveralls walked out.

"Oh shoot, is that Robbie Wells?" he asked.

"Hey, Kenny!" Robbie went over and hugged the man.

"You guys wanna come inside, lemme shut this parts washer off." Kenny walked over to the other side of the shop. Two shiny tour busses were parked in the building.

Dana climbed inside one of the busses. She poked her head out. "Wow, now that's what we need. That's traveling in style."

Kenny got back and was drying his hands off. "Hands can get so dirty. It's amazing they ever get clean again."

"Speaking of dirt..." David let the segue fall like a lead brick, "what's going on in Necropolis?"

"Oh man, I tell you what, the freak show there gets worse every year, I swear."

Johnny asked, "What's Necropolis?"

David said, "Oh that's just our name for the Vampires in Nashville."

Johnny said, "Vampires? Metaphorical, I hope."

Kenny said, "No, these blood suckers are real."

"What with fangs? Sleeping in caskets?"

Robbie laughed, "Ha! That's the fictionalized version, but they are real blood suckers. You ever hear of Elizabeth Bathory?"

"Nope. Who's that."

Robbie said, "Well, every once in a while, one of these freaks gets caught, and she is maybe the most famous case. The reports say she bathed in virgin blood."

Kenny jumped in, "but it's not a bath; today these guys get transfusions from kids. They keep 'em locked up. Some local, although lately they fly the blood in from god knows where."

Johnny was aghast, "that is fucked up! Who does that?"

David said, "you see their faces on TV all the time--politicians, diplomats, some 'elite' business men."

Johnny was still trying to process it, "Why??"

David answered, "keeps 'em young--well younger anyway. They can't _stop_ the aging process, apparently, but the blood slows it down and keeps them trucking into their hundreds. They don't like the risk of switching bodies, apparently. I guess it's not a foolproof process."

Robbie chimed in, "Remember those 'entities' I told you about? When they move into a body, they don't like to move out."

Dana smacked Johnny's ass. "Sometimes we help em move along ahead of schedule."

Johnny went pale. "Wait... How?"

Dana said, "we hunt the fuckers down and snuff them out."

"I need to get some air..." Johnny spun on his heel and went outside quickly. Dana shrugged and followed.

Kenny asked, "Who's that? Seems totally green."

Robbie answered, "he's a good kid... a former intelligence analyst and electrical engineer. Dana speaks highly of him."

Kenny nodded. "That's really a good guy to have. We need some brains in this outfit." he cackled.

David said, "yeah, we're going to show him what we're really up against here. The Necropolis is a good place to do that."

Kenny said, "Your timing's good. A whole bunch of shit going on this weekend. Music Awards downtown. All kinds of VIVs in town."

David raised an eyebrow, "VIV?"

"Very Important Vampire" Kenny laughed so hard he started coughing. "Oh shit. Anyway, I got your number. I'll call when I have a good lead."

## Chapter Fourteen

Dana caught up with Johnny. He had a hard time looking at her.

"What's up?" she said matter of factly.

"The crazy just keeps coming." he said. He rubbed his face.

"What do you think we've been talking about for the past couple of days? A game?" she said angrily. "This shit's for real."

"Wow. I believe you... but man, it's so far out. I mean, holy shit."

"OK." she said. "I get it. I remember what it was like to be in your shoes. You can walk away now. I'll be hurt, but I'll get over it."

"No. I don't want that." he said.

"Well, soldier, things are about to get interesting. You're going to see this shit with your own two eyes." She said.

"Alright. I'm in your hands."

She grabbed his ass cheek and pulled his face down. "No. _Now_ you're in my hands."

## Chapter Fifteen

Kenny loaned them a Black Lincoln with livery vehicle plates. They loaded a few bags of gear in the back in addition to their clothes. The crew climbed into the car and Robbie took the wheel.

"I'm glad you're driving. I can take in the scenery." David lounged back in the seat, "or nap. Wake me when we get there."

Dana and Johnny were sprawled in the back seat. "What's the plan, man?" Dana yawned. The comfy seats were sapping her will to stay awake.

Robbie said, "well, we will drive into town and hang out in a hotel until we get the call, then the plan is to catch these guys on camera and get some audio... and then distribute it as widely as we can."

Johnny was also getting ready to doze off, "so, to kill a vampire, do you need to do the whole stake through the heart thing?"

Robbie chuckled, "I'm not sure what the origin of that lore is; I think if there's any basis in reality, maybe those was some kind of ritual to kill the thing thats _inside_ the Vampire."

"Ritual?"

"Yeah, for some reason, whenever humans are dealing with these beasties, there's almost always ritual involved. If Matt was here, he could talk your ear off about it."

## Chapter Sixteen

They rented a couple of rooms in a hotel that overlooked Centennial Park. The replica parthenon was lit by sodium lamps. The streets were busy. Groups of college students strolled down the road on the way to restaurants and clubs. The girls were barely wearing anything in the summer heat.

Robbie unpacked some of the gear. There was a camera with a huge telephoto lens, plus a little black box that was mounted on a tripod.

"Hey Johnny, can you help me with this thing?" Robbie asked.

"What is it?"

"It's an I/R laser remote microphone. Let's try it out. Looks like there's a couple of output jacks. I want to be sure they're both active."

They went out on the balcony. There was a couple in a car below.

Robbie pointed the box in their direction. Johnny said, "oh cool, check it out, the camera picks up the I/R dot. It's on the street over there..."

Robbie smiled. "Oh excellent. Stealthy! now we can aim." he pointed the box at the car window. A faint indicator LED labeled 'LOCK' illuminated. "I think that's a good sign... But man, we need to cover that up with some tape... might give us away."

They both plugged headphones into the jacks. They heard the couple's conversation. It was filtered by the signal processing electronics in the box and sounded like a tin can phone. Robbie and Johnny smiled.

"Hey, now that is cool! It'd make sense to build that into the camera... like a lens ring." Johnny said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Robbie said. "You think you could do a job like that?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't know about the software that's processing that signal. That might take a while."

Robbie said, "don't worry about that, we got a guy--he's out in Nevada."

Robbie's cell phone rang. "Kenny?"

"Ha yeah, it's me, what no code names?"

Robbie put the phone on speaker and they sat around it on two queen beds. "If you want a codename, you needed to let me know ahead of time!" Robbie laughed.

"Call me Turd. Turd Furguson." Kenny laughed hard, and Robbie smiled.

"OK, Turd." David said. "What's the word?"

"I got a guy working the Music Row corner... he sells papers... Great guy. He'll call you 'Kings and Queens'. Give him a good tip."

"Alright. See ya Turd. We'll be back tonight... I think."

They loaded up the gear bags and changed into dark clothing and went down to the car. The summer air smelled mostly sweet from blooming flowers, but there was an undertone of rot wafting up from the city storm sewers. They made the quick drive to the Music Row roundabout.

A tall African-American man was standing on the corner flagging cars down, looking for donations for the homeless produced newspaper. He had close shaved hair and a soft face and eyes. David put his window down and the man leaned over.

"What's up Kings--oh and Queen, good evening little lady." he tipped an imaginary hat. "Would you like a paper or two? every donation helps the homeless."

"Hey, what's your name? We're friends of Kenny." David said.

"I'm Stan." he shook hands with David.

"Kenny said call him Turd Ferguson." Robbie leaned over and said through the window.

"Oh that Kenny." Stan laughed. "Say, I bet you guys would like to know about two friends of mine."

"Yeah, we sure would."

"If you look for a yellow Lambo... the only one I've seen in town, you'll find 'em. The one guy's a producer... dude's got bad implants... I mean bad. Looks like a brillo pad. That's his car." He laughed. "The other guy is his buddy. They always together. The dude's tall, always wears a dark suit, has white hair, big ass gold ring." he squeezed his ring finger. "That guy works right over there," Stan pointed at a glass office building, "He's some executive. Man the dude _looks_ like a vampire. Looks like, if Elvis lived, then became a lawyer."

"OK, thanks. Keep up the good work." David handed over a wad of cash and did a fist bump with Stan.

"Lemme know how it goes, King."

They drove around the hot spots in town. Parked for a while at each, and watched slow moving traffic. They found a whole lot of nothing.

"I see nothing but hay in this haystack." Dana said.

They crossed over the Cumberland River into East Nashville and stopped as the neighborhood went from cityscape to residential neighborhoods. Hipsters in skinny jeans rolled by riding fixies with cowhorn bars. Tattooed girls wearing wispy dresses and flip flops strolled to local shops like flowers in motion.

Johnny said, "Hey, why don't we split up. Me and Dana can rent some bicycles--there's a bike shop there. We'll go down by the river--looks like we can see a lot of road from that spot."

David and Robbie nodded. Robbie said, "sounds good. You got my number?"

Dana checked her flip phone. She picked his number and started the call. His phone started playing a crackly version of Moondance. "Yup" she said.

## Chapter Seventeen

Dana and Johnny went into the bike shop and rented a couple of sky blue cruisers. A young guy with a thick mop of hair helped them set up the rides. They rolled downhill toward the river, where an elevated pedestrian bridge called to them like a beacon. From the bridge, they could see along several streets, plus the view was pleasant. People walked over the bridge between events at the parks on the river bank and at the stadium.

They took up a position on a deck that was cantilevered off the side of the bridge. The river was a brown-green placid mass rippling by far below their feet.

"Oh man, this is a nice day." Johnny said. He held his arms up to the sky.

"This is the life." Dana put a hand over her eyes and looked around. "I'm gonna go get an umbrella. My skin in this sun--I'll be a lobster in no time."

She walked down the steep incline to a vendor selling parasols. On the west side of the river, the tourist crowds rolled by. Cowboy wannabes in new boots, jeans, and hats stumped by, stifling in the roasting heat. Asian tourists in pressed khaki shorts and polo shirts went by in big groups. She spun the parasol and hiked back up the steep incline.

"Dude, this is like a mountain!" she grunted as she got back to the deck.

"Oh man," Johnny stood up and pointed. "I guess that's a lucky umbrella."

"Parasol," she corrected him.

"Well, whatever it is, there's the Lambo." he pointed along the river. The car was at a stoplight working its way from the east side back over toward Music Row.

She called the boys on speaker phone, "let's see, uh 'john has a long moustache. john has a long moustache.'"

They heard laughter from the other end. Robbie's voice broke up a little, "....ere are they?"

Johnny announced. "It's just crossing the river now, near a big fountain... Just went out of sight. Seem to be heading this way."

"OK. Great. Probably back over toward Music Row. We're en route... head back up that way and we'll pick you up."

"Let's roll!" Johnny hopped on the bike and took off. Dana gave the parasol to a little girl and followed. The bridge was so steep Johnny had to shift his weight back when hitting the brakes to keep from pitching forward. The brakes squealed in protest. The Lambo was a few lights over. They crossed the street and started riding hard to stay ahead for as long as possible, but soon they were at the same light as the car.

Johnny glanced over through the heavily tinted windows. A sixty-ish man was behind the wheel. He was wearing a sport coat over a dress shirt with a bolo tie. His hair was thinned, and permed. "Brillo pad is right." Johnny said to himself. The V12 rumbled as the car slowly pulled away up Demonbreun Street, a hillside road that was lined with shops and restaurants. The license plate was "PRDCUR".

Dana shouted out, "let's stop here." They put the bikes in a rack and waited for their ride. Ten minutes later Robbie and David picked them up.

## Chapter Eighteen

Matt fixated on one of the entries in the Randolph notebook. Randolph wrote, "the veil is thin in certain _places_... had profound experience at Serpent Monument." The Serpent Mound State Memorial was only about an hour away, and he drove along in that direction.

He'd been formulating and refining a theory for a few years--that the other side was accessible through the brain, which acted as a kind of receiver. He started thinking about it in terms of radio signal demodulation.

The mystics, authors, and researchers that were involved in the occult tended to be poetic and artistic in their descriptions, and old lore that was written by men like John Dee, who had a methodical, even scientific bent, were written in archaic, or encoded terminology that didn't translate well. Matt had been filling in the gaps in their method one scrap at a time.

He realized the mind, as a demodulator, needed to apply a matched filter to extract signals from the background noise. The methods long employed by occultists--smoke gazing, scrying with magic mirrors or crystals, even the modern practice of listening to static--suggested the conscious mind interfered with this dormant ability to tune in the signals. Some stumbled on it as children, others found it through long practice, and still others found it after accidents or illness. Matt, as yet, failed to even a glimpse the shadow of the other side.

He pulled into the State Park. The sky was getting a little overcast, but the weather was still pleasant and warm. The park was quiet, and the only sounds were bird song and the wind in the trees. A few other people were walking around in the park. He wandered around the trails and chewed on the problem. He tried to picture the ceremonies in ancient America, and his mind flitted around to the other ancient monuments, Stonehenge, the pyramids.

Maybe, the structures were something like the reflector on a satellite dish. He followed the path to what might be the focal point, at the head of the serpent, sat down and cleared his mind and waited for any signal. He didn't really know what to expect, he'd long assumed that the connection, once it was made would be a completely novel experience.

A high school group wandered the path as Matt sank deeper into meditation. The group split up and strung out into two long lines on either side of the monument. As they flanked him, Matt felt a sudden shift, almost a sensation of expansive motion as his mind opened and his imagination shifted color--instead of 'seeing' nothing but black with his eyelids closed, he experienced a vague kaleidoscope of mottled gray forms. He gasped and opened his eyes and lost the feeling. He had one thought upon returning to a normal frame of mind, "Bananas Foster".

He wasn't sure how to interpret the experience. He started walking back toward the car. The kids filed past him behind their teachers and a park ranger. Two of the girls were wearing the same T-shirt, a cartoon of a banana with a startled expression running away from a cartoon dog. The words "Bananas Foster" were written in script characters under the picture.

He stood by the path as the kids walked past. He looked back toward the serpent's head and saw the kids on either side and finally, he understood how it worked. "Ahhhhh...." the epiphany was sweetly satisfying.

He got out his own notebook and quickly noted an entry.

June 16, 2004 -- Serpent Mound State Park, Peebles, Ohio

_Made first connection to the other side. The monument acts as a reflector--the geometry of the monument might be important and help focus the signal; the connection is actually made through the minds of a_ _group_ _of people. I made the connection through a high school class field trip. Gives new perspective to religious ritual and mega structures. Some might be in hands of real practitioners, others a cargo cult imitation._

## Chapter Nineteen

Robbie stopped the car on the curb. The yellow Lamborghini was in the lot of a small brick office building with a subdued sign in the front 'Transcendent Productions'. They waited for about 20 minutes and nothing happened.

David said, "Well... maybe if we had two cars, we could cycle through watch duty."

Robbie scratched his beard, "by the time we get a second car, we could miss him leaving. Who knows where they're going to go?"

David responded, "This might be a long haul... waiting. I'm not really sure how often they do the blood thing."

Dana was inspecting the ends of her hair and lounging on Johnny's chest. She spoke up, "I think something's going to go down soon. Be patient."

Only a few minutes after she spoke, a limo pulled into the lot. Two men got out. One of them was in his early thirties, and short, maybe only 5' 4". He wore a dapper charcoal suit with a blue tie. The other one was tall, older, and had wispy white hair.

Robbie laughed, "that's definitely Vampire Elvis."

Dana pointed, "Man, check out that ring, it's like he's doing curls.That left bicep's got to be toned!" she laughed.

Robbie said, "Johnny! bust out the mic, I'll patch it through the car speakers."

Johnny took out the I/R audio transducer and aimed it at the plate glass windows and robbie turned up the audio.... there was horrible feedback. "Oh shit..." Johnny said.

"There's a wheel there on the side to cancel out the local vibrations. Lemme turn this down while you dial her in."

Johnny tried again. They heard the men talking. It sounded like an old time wax cylinder recording. Vampire Elvis and Brillo Head embraced and warmly greeted each other.

Vampire Elvis spoke, "Tony, you know Jeff Goldstein, right?"

Tony shook the dapper man's hand. "I sure do. He helped us out in New York--made for a memorable night."

Jeff smiled a robotic smile, "Well, we aim to please. Our customers are always satisfied."

Vampire Elvis put his arm around Tony's shoulder. Vampire Elvis was a skyscraper. He was at least 6' 2", and in his youth had probably been 6' 4". Age was compressing him, but he still moved well and had an animated face and bright eyes.

"What are you gentlemen in the mood for tonight?" Jeff asked.

"We've been talking about this all week... The anticipation is delicious." Tony said.

Vampire Elvis said, "We want a couple of girls--tweens--that's what they say now. One black, but not too black."

Tony threw in, "Caramel."

"Right, caramel," Vampire Elvis said, "and a white, really pale one. Some freckles would be nice. Not slutty girls. Good, wholesome girls. Fresh."

Tony added, "Oh and a red headed boy--young, like 8 tops. Any kids with pets?"

Jeff replied, "Yes, I have just the boy, he's got a rabbit. Loves it."

Vampire Elvis said, "Oh that one's all mine..."

Tony laughed. "Oh man, you with the boys. What's up with that?"

"It's an acquired taste... Give it another couple decades and you get tired of the snatch and start to explore."

Jeff just nodded. "Party supplies?"

Tony said, "yeah, why not? I already got a guy, but if you can handle it, great---just don't fuck us on the price."

Jeff responded, "Oh I wouldn't dream of it. And this is a 'fountain of youth' treatment, too?"

"That's the highlight of the night!" Vampire Elvis said. "It's such a good way to wind down."

"OK." Jeff said. "You've got the address?" they nodded. "How about 9?"

"Sounds good. We'll get warmed up and meet you there."

Jeff walked out of the building and climbed back into the limo. The limo backed onto the street and pulled away.

"What the fuck was that?" Johnny said.

"That sack of shit." Robbie pointed at the limo, "is Jeff Goldstein. He's a pimp for these freaks. I'm not sure if he's one, or just a servant. I'd like to get that guy, too."

David interjected, "The 'Empire' is really big on the flesh trade, especially the fringe freak stuff."

Dana said, "if you didn't catch on, they're going to rape kids and transfuse their blood."

Johnny said, "I got that... Jesus Christ... I mean, why don't we call the cops."

"We _are_ the cops on this one." David said.

"Can't trust Five-0, son." Dana did her best gangster rapper voice.

"She's right." David said, "we might get lucky and there'd be an investigation. Or we end up arrested on a bogus charge. Or these guys get arrested and pay a shitload of money to bribe everyone involved in the prosecution.'

Dana said, "Don't you get it yet, we're out on the frontier fighting these fucks. No law out here."

Johnny's eyes hardened. "OK. I get it now."

## Chapter Twenty

8PM rolled around. Vampire Elvis and Tony piled into another limo. They were both already really warmed up on cocaine and shots of bourbon. The limo pulled away. Robbie waited for another car to pass before pursuing them.

Dana pulled out her 1911 and checked the chamber and the clip. She pulled out a second clip.

David said, "whoa, whoa, whoa. That thing's too loud."

She pulled a short compound bow from the duffle. "The gun's the back up. Always need a plan B."

Robbie said, "Remember, we film first..."

Johnny said resolutely, "We're not letting these guys fuck kids. No way."

"Right, of course, no way." Robbie said, "But, trust me, they'll take their time. We want to record as much as possible before we go in."

They followed the car down Hillsboro past a few mansions. The limo pulled into a house with a high wall and a wrought iron gate. The gate was swinging shut as Robbie drove past. He circled around the block and parked on the side of the road at the rear of the house.

Robbie laid out the plan, "Johnny you get over that wall with the camera and laser, and start recording. If you get caught, you want to make a scene. Here take this." he handed Johnny a handgun with a silencer. He pointed, "safety on/off. A round is already chambered. It's a semi auto, just point it and pull the trigger." Johnny nodded. Robbie continued. "If you get found out and fight back, they'll get spooked. You get out of there. They won't call the cops, obviously. We'll follow them and do the rest in that case."

Robbie continued to lay out the plan. The rest of the crew would move into position, and wait until Johnny texted them a message, then they'd get inside. Johnny was going to mop up any stragglers.

"Oh, and don't film us!" David said.

Johnny looked to see if there were any cars or any people on the sidewalk. They were parked under some shade trees and the spot was inky black. The streetlights only illuminated the front of the house. His heart was pounding as he walked along the tall brick fence through the sultry night air. The corner had ornamental bricks that were jutting out like a ladder. He climbed over and hopped onto the ground behind shrubs that lined the interior perimeter of the yard.

The large manicured yard was softly lit from the interior lights of the house. Every window shone with the yellow glow of incandescent lights. Johnny looked around for any signs of motion lights or security cameras. Nothing was obvious, even so, he struggled to stay between the fence and shrubs and looked for a vantage point from which to film. He could see people through a huge line of plate glass windows. The house was stucco sided, and a terraced garden led up to a big patio at the rear of the home. He saw Tony and Vampire Elvis.

He setup the camera and the laser. He double checked that it was recording, and quickly looked around the front to make sure no LEDs were shining. He plugged in the headphones and hooked up the audio to the camera.

The two men sat down on a huge cream color leather sofa. They were sipping drinks and occasionally doing a line of coke from a silver tray.

Tony said, "whew! that's some good shit. Do I still have a nose?"

Vampire Elvis laughed, "I know. My face is numb. I'm so worked up... damn."

"How old's that body?" Tony asked.

"I think I hit the big 100 a few years ago. I lost count."

"Damn! That one is holding up well. You might get another twenty years."

"Maybe. That's pushing it. I need to start working on a new one." Vampire Elvis said.

Tony laughed, "No doubt! I remember the black plague. Shit. I ate it before I was ready. I didn't get back for another three hundred years. Boooring."

Elvis lounged back, "Hey, uh Tony, I don't know if you go this way, but man, I got some wood. This one is well hung."

Tony laughed, "get it out! It's been awhile since you showed me."

Elvis stepped out of his dress pants and carefully folded them, "These suits, the tailor is so good. Money's not a problem, obviously, but you just have to wait." He was wearing boxers. He slid them down and a giant semi hard cock flopped out.

"Shit son! That's like a midget's leg. This guys pretty normal." Elvis sat back on the couch and Tony got on the floor and crawled over.

"Ever been a woman?" he asked.

"Sure... but only a couple of times. It's so rare for the women to reach out."

"I'm going to try to take all that in..." Tony eyed the cock.

"Good luck, fella!"

Tony tried to swallow the enormous member, but gagged and backed away. "Man... Ugh. Too much!"

Vampire Elvis said, "Well at least you got me warmed up. At this age, it takes a while. The coke helps, but still."

"No problem..." the door rang. "ohhh they're here!"

Vampire Elvis slipped his underwear back on, which now was like a tent. He sat back down on the couch. An eastern european looking man wearing a black turtleneck ushered three kids into the room. A second man carried a cage into the room. There was a rabbit in the cage. A little red haired boy stood near the rabbit and avoided looking at the men. His eyes were puffy and red.

"Awww, he's been crying." Vampire Elvis said. "Give him some of this." he gave the cocaine tray to the man. The man dipped his finger in the coke and smeared it in the boy's mouth. The boy spit and backed away dazed. The men all laughed.

Johnny typed the text and had his finger poised on the "send" button.

Elvis took the rabbit out of the cage. "You can pet him." he said to the boy. The kid held on to the rabbit like a life preserver. "But then you're going to kill him." the boy didn't comprehend. "You'll do it, too." Elvis stroked the boys hair.

Johnny clicked send. He held the gun in his hand. It was all he could do not to walk out and shoot the men.

Tony spoke, "Girls, come to your uncle Tony. I've got some presents for you." the girls shuffled over to him. "Take these... it'll be trippy." The girls took a pill, and drank water to wash it down. He stroked their hair.

Elvis knelt down, "you're gonna kill that bunny, boy, then I'm going to wreck you. Then I'm going to take your blood."

Tony spoke, softly, "did you hear that, girls, he's going to kill that rabbit while we watch. I'll be fucking one of you, but you'll need to watch. When I'm done with you, I'll take your blood."

Johnny could hear the sound of a scuffle in the background. The eastern european man ran back into the room. "Go! Go!" he shouted. An arrow lept out of his chest and he collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"Oh fuck!" Tony said. He gripped the girls and hid behind them.

Johnny killed the recording, and then Robbie and David burst into the room. He could still hear the audio. He clutched the gun and watched.

"It's going to be alright girls." Robbie urged. He had a gun leveled at Tony's head. David was holding his on Vampire Elvis.

Vampire Elvis pulled a bowie knife from his bag, and grabbed the boy by the neck. The kid was wailing. He spoke icily, "Everybody stay calm... Don't move or the kid gets..." an arrow from Dana pierced his head. By reflex, his arm reached up to grab it, but he collapsed to the floor in a quivering heap.

"Wait.. Wait... I can get you anything you want!" Tony pleaded.

Robbie said, "Well, how about you go back to that shithole you came from?"

Robbie kept stepping closer and Tony pulled the girls together and ducked behind them. The group backed into a corner of the room. The caramel colored girl wrenched her arm away from Tony, and Robbie stepped forward and put the gun against Tony's chest and pulled the trigger twice. Tony crumpled backward into the corner and David pulled the other girl clear. Tony gasped and bubbles of blood frothed on his lips. Robbie shot him in the head.

"Check for security tapes and wipe it all down," Robbie said, "then let's go."

They did a quick tour of the house and found nothing. When they got back to the car, Johnny was already inside, reviewing the footage. They put the rabbit's cage in the trunk, the kids in the back seat and pulled away into the night.

"Did you get it?" Robbie asked.

Dana sat on Johnny's lap, and the three kids took up the rest of the space. He looked over her shoulder and said, "Yep. Cut it just before you got in the room. That was the most twisted thing... Nobody will believe it. It's worse than a nightmare. People will think it's a movie or something..."

Dana put her hands out, "Let's not talk shop right now with the little ones here..."

David turned around. "You guys speak English?" The kids were too traumatized to respond.

They drove in silence back to Kenny's. He met them outside. Dana mothered the kids over onto the bus and the men stood around.

"How'd it go, greenie?" he asked Johnny.

"We got amazing footage and audio."

"Take 'em down?" Kenny asked.

Robbie replied, "yeah, they're back on the other side. A couple of nasty ones."

"Two down... thousands to go?" Kenny laughed at the futility of it.

~End of Episode Three~

# EPISODE FOUR--Divine Cow

Present Day

## Chapter One

Steve and Chloe trotted down the main staircase of the high school heading toward the cafeteria. A tall girl with thick blond curls blocked their way at the bottom.

Monica Merchant folded her arms and got in Chloe's face. She squeaked, "Don't think I don't know what you're doing."

Chloe looked at Steve. He shrugged. Chloe said, "Ummm... I'm not sure what you're talking about, so why not tell us?"

"Stay away from my man, you trash. You, freaking cow!"

"Who? Steve?" Chloe pointed.

Monica rolled her eyes and shook her finger in Chloe's face. "Oh, as if! You know who I'm talking about." Steve put up his hands and walked past.

"I'll save you a seat. When you're done with this freak, I'll be in there." He walked through the cafeteria doors.

Chloe said icily, "Look. I have no idea what your drama is. I'm going to go get some lunch. You should too. It's _sloppy joe_ day." Chloe started to walk past.

"Oh, and a cow like you would know. Cow." Monica was a volleyball player--the captain of the team this year. She was a head taller than Chloe and she wanted a physical confrontation. Monica shoved her. Chloe absorbed the push and gracefully took a step back and eyed Monica.

Chloe breathed. She worked hard to keep her temper under wraps. "Don't touch me again... I'm going to go in there and eat and talk to my friends. I suggest if you have a problem with 'your man' you bring it up with him, got it? I can't imagine anyone would want to let a prize like you go." She started walking past Monica.

Monica attempted to push her a second time, but Chloe grabbed her arm and let Monica's momentum carry her past. A dozen possibilities flashed through her mind before Monica even began to understand what happened. She could destroy Monica's knee with a kick, or punch her in the neck or kidney or in the bundle of nerves by her shoulder, but instead, she grabbed her index finger and bent it back.

Monica knelt on the floor. She said, "Ow ow ow ow ow... Please..."

People were starting to gather around the scene, so Chloe let her go before any teachers got involved. Monica held her hand and started crying and went for the bathroom.

Chloe said, "Drama. Drama. Drama." and held her hands up over her head and did a stage bow, then joined Steve at their table.

"Who was that crazy chick?" she asked.

Steve had a mouthful of sloppy joe. He held up a finger until he swallowed. "Oh, that's Monica Merchant. She's a jock chick. Her dad's in real estate has a few McDonald's too. She's got the beemer out in the lot."

"What was her problem? Is she always like that?" Chloe started eating, too. "Oh man, you can't beat a good sloppy joe. Why do they serve anything else? Food of the gods."

Steve laughed. "Wanna hear what my Dad'd say?"

"Sure..." she chuckled as he got into character.

"Son, high school is a _lek_. That's a 'breeding' arena. The males and females compete for dominance and the ability to breed with partners with desirable characteristics..." he laughed.

"Hmmm... what'd you call it?"

"A 'lek'. He had me watch a documentary on it. It actually made some sense."

"How so?" She was intrigued.

"You're new... you're super fit, attractive. Definitely the best hair and smile of any girl here. Competition..." he blushed a little. "I'm so used to being around Tracy as a buddy--she's a hottie too--that I kind of forget about the whole dating drama. But now, homecoming... People starting to go crazy, competing." he chomped another bite.

"I think you're dad's pretty smart." she said.

"Yeah. He knows a lot of stuff. He's into science."

Morgan and Tracy sat down. Steve said, "Monica Merchant got all up in Chloe's face."

Tracy said, "That chick is crazy. Last year, I saw her in a hair pulling fight with Amber Rose in the parking lot."

"About what?" Chloe asked.

"Her boyfriend 'cheated' on her with Amber."

"Ah, she's a jealous one, I guess. Accused me of the same thing."

Morgan asked, "Oh, and who's the lucky boy?"

Chloe said, "I honestly have no clue. I'm the new girl... been making the rounds talking to everyone. I'm friendly. It's what I do."

Tracy tapped the table, "I know! It's Richard Golden. We talked to those guys in the parking lot this morning."

"What? That? Please..." Chloe answered. "She _is_ crazy."

## Chapter Two

Robbie finished the video chat with Johnny and dug out some binoculars and went up into the attic. The attic had windows on each face of the house, so he had a decent view of the yard and the woods. He shifted boxes out of the way so he could move around. Perry followed him up the steep stairs.

"That's a good boy. Chill out up here with me."

It took about a half hour for a truck to show up in the driveway. Two men in generic security guard uniforms got out. "Game Warden" had been stencilled on the side of the truck.

"I wonder if that paint's still wet." he snapped a picture of the license plate and sent it to Johnny. It was a normal Ohio plate, not a state vehicle.

A reply came a few seconds later. "ON IT"

Two guys got out of the truck. Robbie didn't recognize the faces--it was Yuri and Saul. Yuri's uniform was overly large and the pants were rolled up. They unloaded a cardboard box from the back of the truck. Saul carried the box and Yuri slung a rifle over his shoulder. Robbie watched them with the binoculars as they went into the woods.

Once they thought they were out of sight, Saul boosted Yuri into a tree and tossed him something from the box.

"Must be a camera..." he said to Perry and patted him on the head.

They repeated the procedure at another location in the woods with a different sight line on the house. They circled around through the woods and he lost sight of them.

They installed cameras. SEND

Johnny emailed him the registration information on the vehicle. It was registered to the Charles Smith, the Sheriff.

That's odd... Sheriff's personal truck. SEND

"Interesting... I'll dig." Johnny replied.

Another thirty minutes passed and the two men returned to the truck. They put the empty box in the cab and climbed in. They honked the horn and drove away from the house, turned left and accelerated away.

Robbie walked out to his M1008 and Perry hopped in with him. "Let's follow these bastards."

He stormed down the driveway, turned left and accelerated to catch up, but a few seconds later he stomped on the brakes since a sheriff's car was parked in a drive at the bottom of the hill. He wasn't speeding, but the bubble lights lit up anyway.

"Oh sheeeit." he grumbled and pulled over. The car continued past him up to the stop sign. He continued on slowly. One of the sheriff's deputies climbed out and held up a hand.

"Sorry, sir the road's closed up ahead... Accident. You can go around on 322 or Wilson Mills."

"OK. Thanks..." Robbie turned around and went back to the farm.

Perry was puzzled by the short trip, and stayed in the truck after Robbie got out. "Well, boy, seems like things are getting interesting, here. C'mon."

He texted Johnny, "Need backup. Busy?" SEND

He got a reply from Dana, "On the way. :x"

He went upstairs and started to set up the guest rooms.

## Chapter Three

Keith Marte tracked down Sarah Cantoe's friends by doing a reverse phone number lookup on the numbers from Sarah's statements. The addresses were both in Portage County but on opposite sides of the proverbial tracks. One of the addresses was a rented house in Windham. The other was in Hudson in a big Greek revival house.

He drafted an official looking letter and put a headshot of himself in the upper right hand corner. It was addressed from "The Office of Unclaimed Wealth" to Dickie Parsons, Sarah's friend. It read that an unclaimed bank account registered to Sarah Cantoe was going to be turned over to the state of Ohio unless someone claimed the funds. He included the phone number of a prepaid phone. He sealed up the letter and stamped it with a fake postmark and drove to Windham.

The address was for a run down house with a view of the turnpike. A sad chainlink fence surrounded the property, but had collapsed in a couple of places. A big willow tree swayed in gentle wind and shaded most of the yard from the midmorning sunshine. The driveway was gravel and had several muddy potholes. The white paint on the house was peeling and the wood underneath was battleship gray from the weather.

He got out of the car and knocked on the rattly screen door. Nobody home. The mailbox only had a few pieces of junk mail, so he put the letter inside and climbed back into the car and drove toward Hudson.

He was more intrigued by his next target, a man named Fredrich Reichstaff. If Sarah had a handler before she killed Marcus Rice, he could be the man. He stopped at a bagel shop to pick up some coffee and a snack. A short balding man in a suit was berating the counter girl.

"I'm sorry sir, we don't have any cinnamon raisin today." She said matter of factly. She was short, only about 4' 11" and had dark red dyed hair that was pulled up under a black baseball cap with a logo that said "BagelCo".

"What do you mean? How's that even possible. This is a bagel shop. I get that every fucking day."

The girl said, "I don't know what to tell you. I can't make them magically appear."

"Don't you get smart with _me_ you trash..." the man stepped around the counter and the girl backed away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Keith grabbed the man's shoulder. The man twisted away. He was apoplectic.

"Who the fuck are you?" the man said.

"Look, dipshit, I think you need to get some perspective. It's a _bagel_." Keith folded his arms.

"Asshole. You stepped in it. What you just did... grabbing me... that was assault."

"No that wasn't," Keith asked and shook his head.

"Yes it was, and now you're fuckegaaak." Keith grabbed his throat and squeezed.

"Where's the dumpster?" he asked the girl.

She was shocked, but she pointed through the double doors, "Out back." She followed them outside.

Keith dragged the man by the tie and slammed him against the dumpster. Keith pulled out his gun and stuck the barrel against the man's forehead. "If there's one thing I truly despise, it's bullies. My guess is you're a weasel who uses other people to do his dirty work... Unfortunately for you, I do my own."

"Whoa!" the girl shouted. "Hey, it's not that big of a deal!" she pleaded with Keith. He looked back at her and winked.

The man was frozen in terror. Keith rifled through the guy's pockets. Keith took his wallet and smashed his cellphone on the ground. "Now I know your name and know where you live." He grabbed the guy's neck and holstered the gun, then picked him up by the belt and threw him in the dumpster. Keith's bad shoulder throbbed at the effort.

Keith rubbed the shoulder and said, "Owww. Too old for this tough guy act." and he walked back into the bagel shop.

After Keith was inside, the man shouted to the girl, "Aren't you going to call 911?!"

She shrugged, "Nah." She followed Keith inside and locked the door.

"You mind if I take the surveillance tape? That was a _little_ over the top." Keith said.

She said, "I think they get it every night, that might get me in trouble."

He nodded, "I'll just erase it. They'll think the machine is on the fritz."

"Ok, then."

Keith took the tape and smacked it on his palm and went out to the car. He had a magnetic media eraser in the trunk. He plugged it in the lighter and it start to buzz. He slid the cassette back and forth over the device several times, then popped the cover open, and rubbed the tape between his thumb and index finger until was warm enough to stretch. He nudged and pulled it like taffy. He went back in and loaded it back into the machine.

"That should do it. Oh here's that asshole's wallet. Between you and me, there's about two-thousand dollars in there. I got his name, address, and number by the way. Here's my card, If you get any more trouble from this creep, give me a call."

She flipped through the cash. "I'm no thief. But thanks for the offer, Mr. Marte,"

"No problema... Hollie is it?" he pointed at her nametag. I'll wait for him to leave so he doesn't vent on you. Oh, and I'll take a cup of coffee and a plain bagel... I just eat em like a donut." He left a fifty dollar tip.

He got out to the car and waited while the adrenaline subsided. The man walked around the building, passed Keith's Toyota and opened the door of a shiny black Jaguar. Keith rolled down his window.

"Hey asshole, Hollie's got your wallet." he pointed inside the building.

The man froze in his tracks. He left the Jag's door open and went inside. He came out with the wallet in his hand.

Keith raised his coffee cup in a toast, "Too bad you didn't get the coffee--it's nice and fresh."

The man drove out of the parking lot. He almost pulled into traffic. A car layed on the horn as it drove around his Jag. Keith could hear the guy screaming in rage like a caged animal.

Keith stayed in the parking lot for a few minutes then went to the Reichstaff house.

The Reichstaff house was on a quiet side street. The house was a stately greek revival. It looked a little like a mini parthenon. It's walls were silver gray and the trim was a dark charcoal gray. Its concrete driveway was flanked by neat hedgerows. A black Mercedes S550 was sitting in the drive. A clergy sticker was on the plate. A squat gothic style stone building was on the opposite side of the road. A tasteful placard was on the road facing wall next to elaborately carved double doors.

"Old Stone Gathering Hall, est. 1883"

Keith looked it up on his phone. The church had a simple web site: at the bottom of the page was a picture of Brother Reichstaff. He looked to be in his early sixties. He was a slightly jowly man who wore square black rimmed glasses and had wispy white hair.

"Well, maybe it's time for me and Chloe to get religion." He got out a camera with a telephoto lens and took pictures of the house, the church, and the car then drove back to the office.

## Chapter Four

When the final bell rang, Chloe and Tracy walked out to the parking lot together. Cars were already streaming out.

Tracy's phone buzzed. She got a text from Richard Golden.

"Sup. U2 wanna get 2geth latr?"

She laughed and grabbed Chloe's arm. "Hey wait. Read this."

"Our gentleman friends?" Chloe asked. She read the message and let out a long "hmmmm...."

Tracy asked, "Well?"

"I dunno. I worry about guys who keep that kind of crazy around."

"That's a good point... But, those guys are pretty cute."

They debated the pros and cons for a few minutes. As the lot emptied, their cars were among the handful that were scattered around the lot.

"Oh shit!" Chloe said. She sprinted over toward her car. "Shit, shit, shit."

Tracy jogged after her. "What's up?"

The word "SKANK" was scratched onto her hood and "COW" was keyed into the driver's side door.

Chloe was seeing red. "Grrrr...." she growled.

Tracy was actually a little surprised and slightly afraid of her animal ferocity. "Wow..." she said, "that crazy bitch."

Chloe centered herself. She breathed deeply a couple of times. "OK! Let's meet up with those two."

Tracy said to Chloe, "Oh you want to come over? My uncle knows like a million people that can fix your car for free."

"Nice!" the sweet and gentle demeanor returned.

Tracy invited the boys over too.

## Chapter Five

Morgan got home and went right into the kitchen to grab some juice. A big note was on the fridge in his dad's handwriting. "Morgan, work, now!"

He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He figured the bill had arrived. He got right back on his bike and rolled down the street to the garage. His father was with a customer, so Morgan waited in his office.

There was an envelope with the school system's logo stamped in the upper left corner. It was already opened and a letter was sticking out of it. Morgan picked up the envelope and his dad came into the office.

His dad pointed at the letter, "read it..."

Morgan unfolded the heavy weight paper. His eyes flitted across the text and stuck on the number--it was in bold text **$3700**. He wouldn't be able to graduate until that amount was paid in full. Interest would start accruing in seven days.

Morgan complained, "Dad, it was one cinder block... How could it cost that much?!"

His father kicked a chair. It bounced off the desk and clattered on the floor. "I mean, what the hell were you thinking, Morgan!"

Morgan said, "I can pay it off. I'll work every day after school and weekends."

"That's right. You do the math. You know the hours."

"Yeah, 370 hours... That's a lot of weeks! I'll also see if I can get money some other way, too."

"What other way?! You got another job I don't know about?"

"I dunno. I'll sell something, find some other way." Morgan said. He fingered the coin in his pocket.

"Alright smart guy. Get to work. The shop's a mess." He kicked the chair again.

## Chapter Six

Chloe followed Tracy back to the Wells farm. They passed a bunch of cyclists who were attacking the hills on Sherman Road. They gave them a wide berth and waved as they went by.

The Ford tractor was out in the sun. Robbie was rebuilding the whole thing. A couple of folding tables were out under a shade tree and the garage door on the shop was open and he was listening to music.

The girls parked on the grass. Robbie walked around the car to pretend like he'd hug Tracy. His arms and hands were filthy. "C'mon and hug Uncle Robbie."

She laughed and ran around the car. He noticed the damage on Chloe's car.

He groaned, "Oh sheeeit. What happened here?"

Chloe leaned against the car, "I'm a cow... and apparently a skank. Don't get me wrong, I love cows, but I'm not sure what a 'skank' really even is."

Tracy asked, "You know anyone that can take care of that?"

He wiped his hands and went and stood in front of the hood. His eyes flitted over the car. He beckoned to Chloe to stand next to him.

"Tell me, Chloe, what do you see here?"

"My beautiful car... all scratched up."

"I'll tell you what I see... It's an opportunity for you to really own this thing. Put yourself into it." He stepped around the car. Tracy was smiling as she watched him go. He continued, "Most people pass like ghosts through this world... never really even notice it. Don't ever learn anything about it. This," he pointed at the scratch, "is a chance for you to do some art, form _this_ thing to _you_. Bring it alive." he ran his hand over the body of the car.

"C'mon _chicas_." he walked into the garage.

He had a bunch of car books on a shelf in the corner of the garage. He pulled a few off and handed them to Chloe, and pulled some others and handed them to Tracy. "There's, a couple of paths here," he said, "we can just fix it... that'll take a couple of days... _or_ you can go read through these and start thinking about what you want to do with it."

"OK... Let's go take a look." Chloe smiled.

"Uncle Robbie, there's a couple of new boys coming over. Don't scare them too much?" Tracy said. They walked off toward the table rock.

"Alright. I'll do my best." he laughed.

## Chapter Seven

Keith stopped at Punderson Lake on the way back to the office. He found a shady spot and started researching Fredrich Reichstaff and the Old Stone Gathering Hall. Reichstaff was a bit of an Internet ghost, but the church showed up in a few wedding announcements. From the wedding announcements, he got family names, and from the names, he started to build up a picture of the congregation--a wealthy and influential little group.

"Maybe the Cantoe family was a charity case..." he mumbled to nobody. He rubbed a hand on his bald head stubble. He decided to look for any Cantoes in Hudson. A smattering of links popped up, one, and old digitized newspaper.

A man named Harold Cantoe died in a car wreck in 1977. He left behind a wife and two young daughters. A private memorial service was held at Old Stone Gathering Hall. "Well, hellooo daddy."

He spent a few more hours digging, and the laptop battery started to die.

He called Rich, "Hey... I just found something really interesting. Want to get a beer?"

They made plans to meet at a bar in Newbury on the corner of Auburn and Kinsman -- Zippys. Rich was waiting for him on the patio.

Keith's binder on the case was getting heavy. The last quarter of the pages were hand written notes.

The waitress brought them a couple of tall beers. Rich offered his glass for a toast. Keith clinked it.

Keith said, "I want to bring you up to speed. So far, nothing too exciting from the bank surveillance. The place has very few clients and it looks like the bankers mostly go out on the road to do business. As far as I can tell, it's an office with a vault and a computer."

Rich nodded. "Do we need to keep watching it? That's doubling our expenses."

Keith took a long drink. "Yeah... let's keep at it another week. But I have a much better lead, I think."

Rich sat up and leaned in a little closer.

Keith said, "Get this, the dirt poor white trash Cantoes didn't start out that way."

"Interesting..."

"In fact, they were once pillars of the community, well, down in Hudson anyway. But once Daddy Cantoe died in a car accident, things took a hard turn in the wrong direction. The details are sketchy.. but there's an intriguing connection with this church and the Brother Fredrich Reichstaff."

"Whoa! Isn't that a character on _Hogan's Heroes_?" Rich laughed.

"Sounds like it, right?" Keith shook his head, "but no. The church is like a nest of aristocrats. He was my candidate for a handler, but now, who knows..."

Rich leaned back and theorized, "yeah could be anything... Maybe he was a friend of the family? A glutton for punishment trying to keep her on the straight and narrow? Maybe sexual?"

Keith answered, "could be... Before the drugs, I bet Sarah was a looker. But these calls are recent... Would you hit that?"

"Not just no, hell no. Meth's pretty hard on the ladies."

"I'm also working the other friend 'Dickie Parsons'." Keith said. "He's the ghost of Cantoe Present, I think."

Rich leaned in close, "Good work, Keith." He almost whispered, "my client is really wondering, and especially interested in any possible, _local_ connections."

Keith narrowed his eyes. "Are there local suspects you know about?"

Rich grunted in frustration and leaned back. He blurted out, "Oh shit, Keith, I can't tell you anything." Then he returned to a normal tone. "It's for the best, anyway. This local politics shit can turn nasty. Also, I wouldn't want to taint your investigation... That said, if any leads point up here, maybe put those at the top of the list."

## Chapter Eight

By the time his work day was over, Morgan was too tired to think of going to Tracy's. He flopped on his bed and took the coin out.

"How much are you worth, my little golden friend?" he took the coin out of the plastic case and put it on his forehead. It was remarkably heavy.

He fell asleep on his back--something he rarely did, he was a side sleeper--and woke up minutes later with a sudden start. He'd had the most vivid, visual dream of his life. The colors and textures were as real as reality, so real they almost spilled out of the visual sense, they took on a flavor.

He'd been standing in the woods in a grove of oak trees. The forest floor was hard packed dirt and a small stone altar was at one end of the circular grove. On top of the altar was a bowl made of a human skull. The skull was filled with dark red rose petals. Tracy was there; she wore a white dress and a white cashmere sweater. The sun shone through the oaks over her shoulder. She handed him the bowl, and he drank the petals.

He plopped the coin on his pillow, and grabbed a notepad and scribbled the dream details down so he wouldn't forget.

His first impulse was to call Tracy, but instead he texted her.

"Weird ass dream!" SEND

His phone was quiet. The screen went to sleep and she hadn't responded. "Oh well, probably busy." The two of them had been friends for years and talked back and forth constantly through the day and night. When she was slow to respond, she'd usually reply back with a pseudo-cheesecake picture. Once, she took a picture of herself making a sexy face, and her knees as fake cleavage. However, his heart sank a little when the phone stayed quiet.

He shook his head hard as if to discard the emotion. "WTF..." he said out loud. He had a flash of insight... in his mind, he'd sort of turned the coin sale into a joint project with her. What prevented him from selling it himself?

He did Craigslist first. He snapped a few pictures and wrote a long article based on all his research. When it came time to put a price, he wrote "Negotiable". He posted the item in 'antiques'.

He started to setup an account on a coin auction site but got to the final setup screen and was stymied, "Ugh! Fuck. Not 18." He put his middle finger up and held it against the web page. His phone buzzed. He thought it had to be Tracy, but still no response from her, it was an email about the coin. "Already?!"

The message was short. "That's a treasure. I want it. Call me to arrange details. -AdF"

There was an international code phone number. Morgan didn't recognize the pattern of numbers. He wrote back with his number. "Can you call me instead?"

Seconds later his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"'Ciao, uh hello, to whom am I speaking?" the voice had a heavy Italian accent.

"I'm Morgan Klerc, what's your name?"

"I'm Alfonse de Ficino. If you haven't guessed, I'm in Italy. I was very excited to see the item come up on Craigslist, Craigslist Cleveland no less!"

"How'd you find it so fast?"

"Ah. I'm a dealer in all kinds of rare items. I have software scouring sites for specific treasures like that coin. Fabulous!"

"It is really unique." Morgan said.

"Do you know what it is? Your posting is close... but not _quite_ right!" his voice was excited.

"Ummm. To be honest. I'm not 100% sure."

"Good man! Yes, best to be honest, why pretend when you're talking to an expert.... I can be there tomorrow. Can you meet me at the airport?"

"Whoa! Wow. You mean you're flying out here?"

"Oh yes. This is my business. It's always a race." Morgan could here the stamping of feet pretending to run.

"Um. OK. Let me get back to you."

"Fine, ciao!"

"Ciao..." Morgan hung up.

## Chapter Nine

The GTI hesitated at the end of the Wells Farm driveway, then crunched down the gravel. The two boys got out. Perry walked over to them.

Richard Golden knelt down and scratched Perry's head. "Another Golden!" he smacked Berto's knee.

"Hey bro! That knee's golden... don't mess with it."

"Hi boys," Robbie waved and walked over to them.

"'sup Mr. Wells" Richard shook Robbie's hand.

"Hi, I'm Berto Marquez and that's Richard." Berto offered a firm handshake.

"Richard Golden."

Robbie nodded and shook his finger in the air, "yeah, you two play football, right? I remember your names from the paper. I keep up with the local news when I'm on the road. Sometimes I even read the sports section."

"Yep. We do... but my thing's really surfing. Berto's the baller." He shoved Berto.

"Surfing?" Robbie raised an eyebrow. "Where?"

"Yeah, this dude is hard core, I mean he's up on the Lake in _November._ "

Richard shrugged, "can't surf with no waves bro... well maybe _soul_ surfing." he got down in a stance.

"Weirdo." Berto said. "He loves that lifestyle. How many times did you make me watch _Endless Summer_?"

"That's a good flick!" Robbie said. "Ever build a board?"

"Nah. I got one for my birthday a couple of years ago."

"Did you know the Hawaiians made the original longboards from carving trees? You ever try cutting a tree down to a board by hand?" Robbie asked.

"No, but that's cool, brah! I'd like to try that someday." Richard fist bumped him. Robbie laughed.

"The gals are over there, can't miss em."

The boys walked toward the table rock. Berto noticed the damage to Chloe's car. "Oh shit!" he said.

Richard shook his head. "Man, Monica is a slave to the Golden comma Dick." He pointed at his crotch. "They _all_ are!"

"Man, that's just one crazy biatch." Berto whistled.

"Don't make her mad... that's for shizzle."

They found the girls lounging on the rock looking at the car art books. "Hey ladies!" Berto said. The girls waved back. They were both pretty lazy from being out in the warm autumn sun.

Richard ran his fingers through his hair and plopped down. He looked up in the sky and rolled flat onto his back, "Oh man, that sun is just the _shit_!"

Berto sat Indian style next to Chloe. He was a little short for a football player, but solidly built. He'd avoided 'roids and kept a classic muscular physique instead of turning into a gorilla. He said, "That's brutal what happened to your car!"

"I don't need to be Veronica Mars to figure out who did it." Chloe said. "But anyway, no worries... We're going to customize it."

Richard casually propped himself up on his elbow and shoved the hair out of his face. He said thoughtfully, "Monica's, well, _intense_."

Tracy casually asked, "You dating her?"

"Well, 'dating'? What's that even mean? I've been out with her a few times. I've known her a while. Her dad and my dad are buds."

Chloe asked, "apparently she thinks you are dating--possibly married."

"Can I help what she thinks?" he said earnestly.

Berto laughed, "the truth is she's obsessed with you, bro. I think you like it..." he laughed and pushed Richard.

"Nah. I can't help what she does. I can't tell her to fuck off. That's not my thing."

Tracy stuck up for him, "I get that... It's her problem."

Berto gestured around at the trees, "This all yours? Man, this place is great... It's like a vacation here."

"Not 'mine'. But yeah, this is the family farm... been here as long as this was a part of the United States practically. We can go take a walk. Chloe hasn't seen the spring, yet. Let's go there."

## Chapter Ten

Keith was vacuuming the condo when the prepaid phone started to ring and vibrate in his pocket.

"Ohio Office of Unclaimed Wealth, Steve Martinez speaking."

"Umm.... I got me a letter today about Sarah Cantoe's money."

"Is this Mr. Parsons?"

"Yeah this is Dickie Parsons."

"Well, Mr. Parsons, Mrs. Cantoe designated you her in-prison beneficiary on the account. If you don't claim the funds, they'll go to the state."

"Oh really.. thought her sister, Liz would be the bennie fish ary."

"Her sister is the beneficiary in case of death..."

"Mmmmok. How much is it?"

"Fifty seven thousand dollars and change."

There was long silence, and Keith could hear crying. Keith asked, "Mr. Parsons, are you alright?"

"Oh jesus. Yeah, yeah. I tell you what, better than ever. How do I get the money?"

"I'll deliver it to you, tomorrow good?"

"Oh hell yeah."

"11AM?"

"Any time is good to get money." he was cackling with glee.

"Alright, see you tomorrow."

## Chapter Eleven

Tracy led the group down a steep trail into the valley behind the farm. Tall sandstone rocks were like enormous green sentinels that stood guard around a spring fed pool. The pool fed a stream that spilled down the sandstone toward a waterfall.

She said, "In the winter, this is all frozen on top and the stream continues underneath."

Berto looked over the pool, "looks deep..."

Tracy said, "Yeah, I've only just dipped my feet in there on really hot days. It seems bottomless."

Chloe said, "this place is really great... When we moved here from Nashville, I worried there'd be nothing going on, but wow! I was wrong."

Richard said, "looks like there's all kinds of caves and tunnels around through here."

Tracy answered, "yeah, there are a couple of actual caves... hard to get into... but mostly there are big fissures between rocks and when they lean against each other it makes a tunnel."

They heard a distant airhorn bleating. Tracy's face lit up. "Uncle Robbie didn't mention that!"

"What?" Chloe asked.

"That's Johnny and Dana. C'mon!" she was walking fast up the trail. She got out her phone to text her Uncle to see what was going on and saw the message from Morgan.

"Hey! Sorry I missed U!" SEND

"NP where @?" he wrote back.

"Home; w Chloe, Richard Golden, and Berto Marquez." SEND

"time to talk?" he wrote back. The phone rang.

"Hey! What's up?" she answered, out of breath. "We're heading up from the spring."

"Nice! Hey, There's a guy who's interested in the coin... Get this. Flying in from _ITALY._ Tomorrow."

"Whoa! How'd that happen?"

"From a craigslist post... like in five minutes... says he monitors everything all the time for certain items."

"You know, my Uncle's the one to talk to on this thing...."

"Yeah... I didn't think of that."

"I texted you his number... I'm on the way up to the house, now."

"I'll call him. I dunno if I can make it tonight. Dad's on the war path..."

"OK. Talk later..." she hung up.

Once she got onto the flat, Tracy started jogging up toward the house. She was well ahead of the others.

Chloe smiled and stopped the boys, "I'll race you two up to the side of that barn." she pointed at the side of Robbie's shop.

"Alright..." Berto laughed. "You don't stand a chance. I won't go easy on you."

"Me neither." Richard said, getting down in a crouch. "You count it down."

"3... 2... 1... go" she said. She let them get a little head start. Berto was pulling ahead of Richard. She started loping and closed the gap on them. She looked over then waved and turned on the afterburners. She came to a stop and waited for a second for them to get close to the wall, then slapped it.

Berto slapped the wall second, and crouched over. Richard stood up then tapped it with his head.

"...holy shit, girl!" Berto said. "I run 100s in track... I thought I was fast!"

"I guess it's good genes." She shrugged and walked over toward the driveway.

## Chapter Twelve

Johnny and Dana's motorhome rolled down the driveway. It was a vintage Red and White Flxible Clipper with the name _Flying Fox_ painted in script on the side beneath a picture of a fox with wings. A satellite dish was folded down on the top of the bus, and a few other antennas and sensors were attached to the top. The bus pulled over into the field in front of the house. The door opened and Dana ran out. Johnny climbed out more slowly and stretched his arms and back all the way over to the group.

Dana and Tracy saw each other and hugged.

"Girl! Look at you. You are a _woman_ now." Dana exclaimed. "That face would launch 1000 ships... and that ass!" she smacked her butt.

Tracy threw an arm over her shoulder. "It's so good to see you Aunt Dana."

"Oh man, if you call me 'Aunt' I'm going to puke. Call me Dana."

"You can still call me Uncle Johnny, though" he hugged her. She tugged the biker beard.

"ZZ Top cover band?"

He laughed. "Nah, I just like to cover up this baby face so I don't get carded as often."

They did introductions all around. The Wells farm had been quiet for a few years, since Tracy's parents went missing, but Tracy was starting to feel the familiar crunchy and funky vibe that permeated the place for her whole life. She stayed glued to Dana and they disappeared into the house.

Berto said to Chloe, "We gotta get going. It was fun. Let's talk tomorrow." She gave him a quick hug.

"Say bye to Tracy." Richard added. They drove away in the GTI.

## Chapter Thirteen

The whole group gathered in the library. Everyone except Chloe had a beer. She had an iced tea, since she was driving home soon.

Robbie's phone rang.

Tracy said, "Oh... that's probably Morgan."

Robbie answered the phone. "Hey Morgan, what's up?"

"You know I have that gold coin?"

"Yeah sure."

"Well, I've got a guy flying into Cleveland tomorrow from Italy."

"Whoa! That's really interesting."

"Well, I don't have any way to pick him up... And really, I don't have anywhere to take him... Plus it's during the day."

Robbie laughed. "So you want me to do what?"

Tracy mouthed, "help him out..." to Robbie.

"Hmmm...." Morgan said. "Can you pick him up?"

"Look, Morgan. If you want, you can borrow my truck and go get him. You're always welcome to come here, any time. You know that."

"I can't drive..." Morgan said.

"Can't? Do you know how?" Robbie said.

"Well, sure. I just don't have a license."

"License schmiscence." he waved dismissively. "If you want to, you can borrow the truck, just don't get pulled over. If you do, well, just leave the truck and run like hell and we'll pick you up in the evening."

"Ummm...." Morgan said.

"Well?" Robbie prompted.

"OK. I'll do it. I'll be there in the morning." Morgan said with conviction.

"Good! I like that. See you then." Robbie hung up.

## Chapter Fourteen

"I learned to play guitar." Johnny said. He had a beat up acoustic guitar and he started playing, first a rhythm, then shifted to a flamenco tune, then back to rhythm.

Tracy was sitting on the floor in front of an armchair and Dana was braiding her hair. Dana said, "Can you believe he learned that in about two months?"

Robbie smiled, "He's quick!" Dana got up and walked around to Chloe's seat. She was in an armchair, just absorbing the scene. Dana sat down on the arm rest and put her hand on Chloe's shoulder.

"Hey sister. We're the only black hairs in the room!"

"Yeah, look at all these red heads! It's like a convention."

"Well, I think Johnny's more of a blonde, but there's some red in there, too." she ran her fingers through Chloe's hair and felt her skull. Chloe arched an eyebrow but didn't move away. "Girl, even though it's dark, your hair _shines_ like honey. Like dark buttered honey. Mind if I braid it?"

Tracy walked over to the two. "Chloe's new to Chardon."

"Could you sit on the floor?" Dana asked Chloe. She moved to the foot of the chair and Dana climbed in behind her. "You two girls, you shine! It's like you're sisters from another mother."

Tracy sat on the floor next to Chloe and leaned against her. "Dana's psychic. She can do Tarot and what else..."

"Girls, I don't need the room to be dark to see your aura. I'm glad you're here Chloe. You belong in this place." She had finished braiding and was just massaging Chloe's head. Chloe decided to go with the flow and just relaxed.

The pause in conversation prompted Robbie to bring up the Sheriff's visit. "Hey Tracy, just to let you know, someone installed cameras on the property. You can hardly notice 'em in the trees. They're monitoring the house."

Tracy stiffened, "What! that's weird... Who?"

Robbie scratched his head. Johnny looked at him to take the lead.

Dana put her hand on Tracy's shoulder, "don't sweat it... why we're here."

Robbie said, "We're trying to figure it out... I didn't want to alarm you, but I think you should know about it."

Chloe leaned forward and looked back at Dana. "Are you guys also part of this.... thing?" she asked.

Dana said, "Ohhhh good. So you know."

Robbie held up his hand. "I haven't told the whole story."

Tracy frowned, "Ugh, there's more?" she stood up. "I've almost gotten back to normal life..."

Robbie said, "If you want to stay out of it, you can. We'll take care of everything. You just go on with normal."

Chloe was intrigued. "I have to say, I thought everything you told us before was totally crazy. I thought maybe you guys were part of some strange religion. I'm from California--we had neighbors, really nice people, that were Satanists. No biggie. I'm curious to hear the rest."

Tracy sat down by her again. Chloe's strength gave her a boost.

Robbie sat down and leaned forward in his chair.

"Remember the Egregore?"

"How could I forget?" Tracy said and tapped her head.

Chloe answered, "Yeah, the 'thought entities'."

"Well, when I introduced this, I focused on the idea aspect of them." Robbie said.

Johnny added, "really in a lot of ways that's the most important part."

"Right, that's true, and I also said these things are basically attached to our world through humans. Really through consciousness..." he waved his hand, "but that's getting too complicated."

Dana was getting impatient and said, "My god, why hold back?"

Robbie looked at her and held up a hand. "Dana, go easy..."

Dana furrowed her brow, and acknowledged him and tried to stick with generalities. "Our world--the human world--and their world are like this." She entwined her fingers together. "They enter our world, through people, take them over like a virus." She was getting angry. "When they're totally infected, they look and sound like any other person. Over time--thousands of years--they've built up organizations. So, they've got helpers and hangers on. It seems like some of their minions are focused on the farm right now."

Tracy deflated; she leaned on Chloe.

Robbie said, "Look, it's not as bad as it sounds."

Tracy said, "It sounds really bad."

Robbie made a diminishing motion with his hands and said, "They're almost always extremely careful and try to accomplish their goals indirectly. We believe they won't hurt us--certainly not you."

Dana looked at Robbie and frowned. She said, "You _need_ to know they can be dangerous. They're not human.... they don't give a shit about anything human."

Johnny said, "nothing's going to happen. You're safe."

Dana followed up, "I look like a hippie chick, Johnny looks like ZZ-Top, and Robbie looks like a mechanic, but we are _bad asses_." She patted Chloe's shoulders, "and this one. This one is a lioness-to-be."

Tracy sighed.

Chloe said, "You want to stay at my place? I'd have to ask my dad, but he'll say OK. I'm pretty sure you could stay, ya know, however long."

Tracy's face brightened. "Sounds like fun."

"Can your dad give me a call?" Robbie asked. Chloe nodded.

Dana said, "just make sure you girls hang around here, some!"

## Chapter Fifteen

Morgan woke up extremely early. He was a bundle of nervous energy. He waited until the sun came up, then rode as hard as he could to get to the Wells house. Robbie was already out on the patio going through his slow motion morning routine.

"What time's the guy getting here?"

"10:30" Morgan was pacing back and forth.

"Morgan, sit down." Robbie couldn't take the pacing. "You're a good kid, and that's why you're nervous. Being nervous isn't all bad, either. But it is bad if it gets in the way of what you're trying to do."

"Yeah, so much on my mind doing this..." Morgan said. He breathed out.

Robbie folded his paper and closed his notebook. "When I was about your age, I worked at a bicycle shop... There was a mechanic there who was so deliberate and slow when he worked we called him Mol-A, as in molasses. Plus, he had thick ass glasses, so like a mole."

"Huh?" Morgan asked. "What's this got to do with me?"

"You're spazzing. Spazzing is always bad. It's a habit. If you were a mechanic, you'd be flinging wrenches all over the place and breaking stuff."

Morgan nodded. He tried to calm down.

"It's good to have that nervous energy, but apply it toward your goals. Think about what you're trying to do."

"OK. First problem, I don't know how much the coin is worth... Not at all."

"Alright." Robbie took a sip of his coffee. "What else."

"Well, getting to the airport. Driving without a license."

"Billions of people drive. You know how to drive. Believe me, there are worse drivers on the road _with_ a license than you."

"What if I get caught."

"Like I said, leave the truck, run like hell. The odds of you getting caught are slim to none. Does your phone do GPS?"

"Yeah."

"Just listen to what it says. It's easy peasey. You'll need some cash for parking--there's some in the glove box."

"I'll pay you back."

"Don't sweat it."

"Well... I guess I'll go. Is Tracy around?"

"She's staying over at her friend Chloe's."

## Chapter Sixteen

Keith Marte put on a suit and tie. The girls were sitting on the living room couch eating breakfast and getting ready for school.

Chloe said, "ooh, Dad, when did you start selling cars?"

He chuckled, "Very funny. Gotta look sharp for work today--need to impress someone."

She nodded. "I was just kidding about the salesman thing. I'm impressed."

Tracy said, "Me too. I think it's a nice suit."

Keith nodded, "Thanks."

Chloe put her hand over her mouth, "Oh dad! I almost forgot to tell you: call Tracy's Uncle. He wants to talk to you."

Tracy knitted her brows, "that's a little weird."

"Hey don't kill the messenger." Chloe said.

Keith said, "I'm sure it's nothing. I'll let you know what he says?"

She nodded. "Sorry to be paranoid. I'm not used to being a kid."

Keith said, "Well, I'll do my best to respect that. Heck you two are basically adults."

Chloe laughed, "Oh I should have recorded that!"

He said, "Well, it is true... I haven't totally accepted my little girl's all growed up, but I'm getting there." He kissed Chloe on the top of the head. "I'm outta. Lock up?"

"'kay." Chloe waved. He left. "See? I told you he's cool."

"Yep. I was wrong." Tracy shrugged.

## Chapter Seventeen

Keith went to the office and printed out a fake check paid to the order of Dickie Parsons. He put the check in a black folder and printed a label for the front. "Office of Unclaimed Wealth: In-Prison Transfer". He printed out some boilerplate legal documents and stuffed them in the other side of the folder.

He got back in the car and headed toward Windham. He called Robbie on the way.

"Yello." Robbie answered.

"Hey, Robbie Wells?"

"Oh hey! Keith! I remember you, just barely."

"Yeah, I was in Matty's class. But not in many classes with Matty. Smart dude."

"No doubt. My brother is a genius."

"I was a dumb jock... Somehow my daughter ended up with some smarts."

"Chloe's a really special girl. You must be proud."

"Thanks! That means a lot. Tracy seems like a really sweet kid."

"She really is a mix of Matt and Telia... but a little more fun loving and wild than they are."

Keith thought it was a little weird he kept using the present tense about Tracy's parents but let it go. "So, Chloe said to call. What's up?"

"Yeah, I didn't want it to seem too weird. I assume the girls filled you in?"

"No, not really, just said Tracy'd be staying a while. It's fine with me. We have plenty of space."

"Ahh. Yeah. Say, I wanted to ask you a favor, and believe me, I'm happy to reciprocate in any way."

"Oh speaking of, Chloe told me about her car. That's really exciting. Thanks!"

"Sure... So, Chloe's mentioned some of the skills you've taught her."

"Yep... Like?"

"Driving... She knows Judo."

Keith laughed. "Yeah, that's our daddy-daughter bonding."

"Any firearms training?" Robbie asked matter of factly.

"Umm. Just a little. To the range a few times."

"I was wondering if you'd get Tracy over to the range... teach her the basics. I haven't had a chance to do it. I'll talk to her about it so it's not totally out of left field. I am completely tied up here."

"Yeah, OK. I guess so."

"Great! I hope we get a chance to meet soon."

"Likewise. Take care Robbie." He hung up.

He was intrigued about the request, but put the thought out of his mind and focused on the upcoming meeting. He hoped to get a sounding from Dickie Parsons about the account if he could. Any other information would be a bonus.

He pulled into the driveway and honked the horn. He stepped out of the car. He held a briefcase and tried to exude officialdom.

Dickie opened the door. He had mutton chops that were only about 2 inches apart from being a full beard. His hair was black and wavy and close to his head, like a helmet. One of his eyes squinted habitually. He had on overalls and a green T-shirt and was carrying a pet ferret.

"Mornin' c'mon in. Don't mind the mess."

The house was stacked with several boxes, some opened, some still taped shut. The boxes were from different online retailers, and Keith noticed they all had different addresses--none of them to Dickie. The stuff would soon be sold online. He was a small time thief.

Keith looked around for any weapons, but didn't see anything. Dickie cleared off a spot on a chair for him, and he slumped down onto the couch.

"Mr. Parsons, I was wondering how you knew Mz. Cantoe. You must be important to her in some way to be her beneficiary."

Dickie smiled. "Oh, I can't kiss and tell, now, can I? We wuz friends at work years back. Stayed in touch all this time. She'd crash here when she wuz still married. Them days are long gone. That man's longer gone." he laughed.

"Did she ever mention anything about her parents?"

Dickie laughed, "oh yeah... Rich bitches... freaks. Did you know her dad raped her?"

Keith was genuinely shocked. "No. Goodness no."

"Yeah not just once... Like all the time. Can you imagine the sick mind? Anyway. She told me about it when she'd get stoned. Not only rape, but weird shit, too. Killing animals. Weird costumes and robes and shit. Oh yeah, and locking her and her sister up in the basement."

"My goodness. That's an amazing story. You mean, down in Hudson?"

"Yeah... family was in a cult or some shit. She called it something..." He held up a finger. "Jupiter something... Anyway, some weird shit happens." he laughed.

"No doubt. Well, thank you Mr. Parsons. Down to business! Here's a check for the total amount from the account."

"I thought it was bottomless?" Dickie said.

"Oh, really? How did you hear that?"

"Oh shit, 'tween you and me we partied large on that account for a long time... barely lived through that!" he smacked his knee. "the balance was always the same."

"Interesting. Anyway, endorse the check, and I guess you can party with what's left. Don't spend it all at one place!"

His eyes gleamed, "wooo woooo!" he fist pumped and he danced in his seat. "I'm gonna get laid tonight!"

## Chapter Eighteen

Morgan started the truck. He adjusted the rear view mirror and the seat. He put it in drive and stepped on the gas. It lurched away down the driveway.

"Whoa!" he said out loud. He stepped on the brake and skidded to a stop. "OK. I need to be more gradual..." he slowly accelerated up to a normal speed, then braked to an easy stop. "Alright!"

He started the GPS and started following the instructions. After about 10 minutes he felt comfortable--then he got to the freeway. There were a few moments of terror getting into the traffic, but once he merged he relaxed. He stayed over in the right lane and went exactly the speed limit for the rest of the trip.

He got to the airport about an hour too early. He parked in the lot and walked to the terminal. He'd arranged to meet Alfonse at a coffee shop on the main concourse. They'd exchanged pictures of their faces to make the process easier.

He had a cup of coffee and waited. 10:30AM rolled around, and passed. He waited until 11:30AM and was getting annoyed. He was about to get up and leave when Alfonse stopped in the door. He was a short, thick man. His neck seemed to merge directly into his bullet head which was bald, shiny, and polished. His eyelids and earlobes and lips were thick.

Morgan waved. "Alfonse!"

"Morgan!" he smiled broadly. "What a long flight... thank you for waiting."

Morgan waved it off, "No problem at all. Do you have any bags?'

"Just this one. I travel light." He had a wheeled carry on.

"Shall we?" Morgan started walking back toward the car.

"Let's go. I am eager to see the coin." Alfonse said.

"Oh, here..." Morgan dug the coin out of his pocket and handed it over.

Alfonse hefted it in his hand and pulled out an eye loop. He broke into a broad smile, then laughed for nearly a minute. Morgan smiled back but furrowed his brow. He said, "Morgan, you have a good eye. Can I ask how old you are?"

"Seventeen... I'll be 18 in June."

Alfonse laughed again. "Oh, to be 17 again! Your research on this was really good."

He handed the coin back. They walked out to the truck and started on the way back to the Wells farm.

"Forgive me, Morgan, but I need to sleep before we do business. I can never fall asleep on an airplane, but this seat is very comfortable."

"Be my guest."

## Chapter Nineteen

When Keith got back to the apartment, school was out, and the girls were at the condo.

"Tracy, I talked to your Uncle today, and, I admit this was a surprise, he asked me to take you girls to the firing range to teach you some basics."

Tracy blushed, she was a little embarrassed about her weird family. "Yeah, we talked about it... well texted today."

He asked Chloe, "You up for it?"

"Hell yeah!" she said. "It's been a long time since we did any shooting."

Tracy put up both of her hands then slapped her knees and stood up. "Mr. Marte, um, well. I don't know how much Uncle Robbie explained, so maybe I should."

"I'm glad you brought that up... It was a surprising request." He had been mulling over how to broach the subject all day.

"Well, my house has a lot of valuable and rare things. My Uncle's been worrying that someone is watching the place. That's why I'm here... and probably why he wants me to learn gun stuff."

"That's prudent. I'm glad you're here. Let's go shootin'!"

They drove to the range where Keith practiced. It was outside, at a large field with a two story earthen backstop.

Tracy said, "It's not like TV. Where's the rope thingie that hangs the target?"

Keith said, "We have to hang it."

Tracy asked, "Isn't it bad to walk in front of the guns?"

Keith nodded, "Yes and that's rule #1. Chloe?"

Chloe recited, "Don't point the gun at something unless you plan to kill it."

Keith said, "Even if you're absolutely 100% sure the gun is not loaded, assume it is loaded. Never point a gun down range unless we're all clear."

Tracy said, "Makes perfect sense."

He went over the parts of the gun and how it worked. He had the girls load up several clips. He took a pair of pliers and pulled the bullet out of the casing and poured the grains out in Tracy's hand.

"Charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur combined in the correct ratio. Very plain ingredients."

"Saltpeter's from bat shit." Chloe said and laughed.

"Hey! You stole my line!" Keith said.

Tracy flicked the gunpowder onto the ground and made a mock "yuck" face.

"You ready?" Keith asked. Tracy nodded. "Eyes and ears." he said. They donned their safety glasses and earplugs. He demonstrated. "Here's how I learned. Hold the gun comfortably in your dominant hand. Keep your finger off the trigger until you're going to shoot. Safety off. Support the gun with your other hand cupped like this. When you're ready to shoot, use your fingertip to pull the trigger until you're surprised by..." BANG.

He explained how to sight the target and handed the gun to Tracy.

"Wow, it's heavy!" she said. She pointed the gun and squeezed the trigger. She shot. "Woooooo!" she smiled and laughed in spite of her previous anxiety.

"Hey, you hit the target!" Chloe said. "Off center, but for the first shot, that was excellent!"

Keith said, "I think you jerked the trigger a bit... It's tough, but try not to anticipate the shot."

She breathed out and tried it again. BANG. It hit in the circle.

Chloe said, "nice shot!" and clapped. "Try a couple."

BANG BANG. One hit, and the second was off.

Keith said, "That's much harder, right? So if you need accuracy, then aim, shoot, aim shoot."

Tracy went through the rest of the clip methodically and hit the target each time.

"Wow!" Tracy said. "That is surprisingly fun. I never knew..."

"Your turn, girlie." Keith told Chloe. "Don't show off!"

Chloe loaded her clip and took aim. She stood like a samurai holding a sword. She methodically went through the clip and put each shot near the middle of the target.

"Holy shit!" Tracy laughed. "What are you, girl?!"

Chloe smiled and shrugged. "Just a natural."

Keith had them run through a few more clips, then had them shoot from a knee. By the end, Tracy had improved significantly.

"OK. I'm exhausted!" Tracy said, finally."It's fun, but stressful."

"That's a good description." Keith said.

## Chapter Twenty

Morgan and Alfonse got back to the farm. Alfonse woke up as the truck turned onto the gravel driveway.

"Here we are!" Morgan said.

"Oh goodness. I slept! Apologies for being such bad company."

"Don't worry about it. Saves me from apologizing for my driving."

Alfonse rolled the window down. "Country air! And what a wonderful place. Is this yours?"

Morgan laughed, "oh no! I'm a friend of the family that lives here."

They passed the Flying Fox and Morgan parked on the driveway.

Robbie came out to greet them. "You made it! I kept my phone with me all day!"

Morgan said, "it actually wasn't that bad."

Robbie shook Alfonse's hand, "I'm Robbie Wells. You're from Italia?"

"Si, yes, from Milano. The landscape in the countryside there is much like this..." he gestured around. "Beautiful."

"You must be exhausted. I've got a room here for you if you need it." Robbie said.

"I am very much obliged."

They walked inside. Alfonse eyed all the tchotchkes in the house looking for any treasures, but nothing was as extraordinary as the coin. Robbie showed him to a room. "We'll be down in the library whenever you're ready. Make yourself at home."

When Alfonse entered the library, his mouth gaped. "Oh my! Amazing. Do you mind?"

"Please do." Robbie answered. Alfonse wandered the shelves.

"This is an amazing collection... truly a one of a kind." Alfonse announced, beaming. He'd changed into comfortable clothes, a burly white fisherman's sweater, comfortable pants and moccasins.

"Morgan, can I see the coin again? I will tell you all about it. I feel this audience can appreciate the story."

Morgan handed him the coin. He took it out of the case and put it on the table. He took two other coins from his pocket. One was a large silver dollar sized coin. He put it on the table. The other was a gold coin that looked about the same size as Morgan's, he put it down next to Morgan's.

"There is a fascinating story behind your coin. I can explain it with these two pieces." he pointed at the two coins he brought. "This silver one started as an American silver Peace Dollar, but it was hand carved to this. The general term is 'hobo nickel'. It's a piece of folk art. This is an exquisite example. Collecting these is a personal hobby."

Morgan picked it up. It had once been a 1927 Peace Dollar, but someone had carved the profile of Lady Liberty into a garish skull and neck bones. They cut stylized flame shapes into the background.

"So, my theory, is someone hand carved this," he pointed at his gold coin, "to this." he pointed at Morgan's. "My coin is a commemorative coin from Firenze, produced the same year as Morgan's, 1462. You see the FRNZ marking and date is all that remains from the original. That year was the establishment of a new academy--like Plato's Academy--in Firenze. Really, that's the start of the modern world."

Morgan picked up Alfonse's gold coin. It showed a man's profile on the face side and six bumps on a shield on the other side.

Morgan nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. Very cool... But what does it mean?"

Alfonse held up a finger, "On my coin, it is Cosimo de Medici. Do you know who is pictured on yours? This is Diogenes--in his famous barrel." he traced his finger around the raised edge.

"Barrel?"

"Yes, the philosopher Diogenes is famous for stripping his life to its simple essence, really mocking the rest of us for our ties to materialism and to constructs like the city state. He lived in a barrel." Alfonse took out his phone and brought up one of many paintings showing Diogenes sitting in his wine barrel.

He flipped the coin over, "and this, a dog! And the famous saying... remarkable. Of course, it refers to the Cynics--his school of philosophy, sort of mocking Plato."

Morgan asked, "So, why would someone carve up a coin like that?"

Alfonse's face brightened. "This is the truly exciting and interesting part. As you may know the Renaissance 'started' when Greek scholars fled Constantinople for Italy. They brought Greek thought--and many other ideas--to Europe. This ignited the fire that burned away the medieval order."

"These two coins are artefacts from that era... One from the Medici, a token, a touch piece that indicated membership in a very select circle of philosophers, artists, and intellectuals. One carved up as a sort of protest... a breakaway group!"

"Rebels?" Morgan asked.

"Precisely." Alfonse said.

Robbie asked, "What do you know about these 'Rebels'?"

Alfonse said, "oh unfortunately not much. In histories, there are only glimpses."

Robbie stood up and went to one of the shelves and pulled a couple of volumes from the shelf. He put them on the table. Alfonse picked them up and thumbed through some pages. He smiled and tapped the cover.

"Wow..." he laughed. "I'll leave it at that for now."

Morgan asked, "So, how much do you think it's worth?"

Alfonse shrugged, "Wellll. Let me give you an example. Think of stonehenge... can you picture it?"

Morgan nodded, "Sure."

Alfonse continued, "So at the time of its construction and use, Stonehenge was a sort of public building, as far as we now, something like a stadium, maybe, or a church. People used it for centuries, but at some point, it was forgotten, and became a pile of rocks in a field."

Morgan said, "Well, now it's famous."

Alfonse smiled, "now it has a _story_ tied to it. Imagine if Great Britain sold it, maybe they'd get tens of billions of Euro."

Morgan nodded. "I get it." He picked up his coin. "It has a story...."

"Stonehenge has a _huge_ story. This coin," Alfonse grimaced and held his fingers together, "a thin story. But, imagine a sexy story, drama, and adventure, beautiful women, and gold, shiny gold." he stared into the mid distance and pictured the tale.

Morgan said, "I can imagine it..."

Alfonse smiled, "Good! So the task would be to promote this tale... Possibly get a TV show produced. If we do that... Maybe millions?"

Morgan nodded, "OK. This sounds like a good plan."

Robbie asked, "Alfonse, can I get you anything to drink. Coffee, tea, beer, wine?"

Alfonse replied, "Espresso?"

Robbie made three double shot Espressos and brought them back to the library.

Alfonse kissed his fingers, "Oh my! Fit for gods!"

Robbie smiled, "I learned from an Italian, years ago. I think we were in Texas..." He rubbed his chin. "Hey Alfonse, I think I'd really like to help out on this project. I have a lot of friends who are in this line of work."

Alfonse nodded, "This is a big undertaking for sure, and wildly speculative. _I_ think it is a good story, _you_ think it is a good story, but unless we reach the _right_ audience, people with money, 'poof'. Lot of money gone."

Robbie sipped his espresso. "Well.... the way we work really reduces the financial risk..."

"I'm intrigued. I admit, but I need to know the details, of course. And, I'd like to outline a deal in principle before we proceed to a more formal arrangement?" he looked at Morgan and Robbie. Morgan nodded. "I will act as the agent for the eventual sale of the coin, and I will act as the head of this enterprise. Consequently, I will take 75% of the net proceeds of the sale... All expenses will be paid, eventually, from that sale."

"75%?" Morgan put his hands together in front of his face. "Well, this entire thing is only possible because of you, so..."

Robbie held up a hand, "Morgan, if I might jump in." Morgan nodded. "Alfonse, I think you've got a really good plan. Let me make a suggestion, though. Let us put together a team to make this thing happen, then get to brass tacks later. I want to introduce you to the way we work. You can take those books."

Alfonse smiled, "Take them?" Alfonse couldn't help assign a price to the volumes. The books already covered his expenses for the trip, then some.

Robbie said, "In my opinion, not everything has to be a deal that's settled in digits. Think about it this way, those books, all these books, this house, this land what does it mean to 'own' them. Those books will outlive you and me. We just use them temporarily--hopefully to do good."

Alfonse agreed. "I think your approach is good. Anyway, there are countless details to work out. I'll take these books to bed... my body clock thinks it is bed time. Is there a car rental agency nearby?"

Robbie held up a hand, "I'll take care of it. I can probably have something here by morning."

Alfonse went to bed.

Morgan looked at Robbie. "Wow."

"Exciting stuff." Robbie said.

Morgan's face darkened. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do all this... and go to school."

Robbie said, "Well... I don't know. It might take a while for things to really get started, so don't panic, yet."

Morgan complained, "The problem is I have to pay a $3700 bill to get my diploma, and I have to work every day and every weekend to do that."

Robbie sat down, "Morgan, you're a smart kid. Mull over that sentence you just said." he sipped his espresso. "Say it again, slowly."

"I _have_ to pay a bill to get my diploma. I _have_ to work to do that."

"Now, imagine the bigger picture of choices... literally endless possible choices. But _somehow_ you _believe_ there's only one."

The point didn't really sink in with Morgan, he still look troubled. Robbie sighed and stood up, he hammered a fist gently on Morgan's head.

## Chapter Twenty One

Judge Ralph met the Sheriff at the old bridge at the end of Wisner Road.

"What's the good word Sheriff?"

"Nothing, yet. There's been someone at home 24/7 since we planted the cameras."

"You can't just wait for them to leave, Chuck. The clock is ticking."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"We _make_ them leave." Judge Ralph said.

Chuck said, "I thought about that... maybe a fire?"

Ralph nodded, "Could work, but what if we burn the library down?"

Chuck nodded. "Yeah, that's a problem... What about starting rumors of a cult?"

Ralph laughed, "That could work--but would take too long. Drug raid?"

Chuck shook his head. "Nah... Too many people involved. Real chance for escalation and damaging the goods."

Ralph's face lit up. He pointed at Chuck. "Pull my finger." he said.

"What?"

He let one rip. Chuck stepped away.

"Chemical spill!" Ralph beamed.

"That could work." Chuck said.

"Benzene... Chlorine.... Something noxious."

~End of Episode Four~

# EPISODE FIVE--The Other Side

Flashback to Four Years Ago

## Chapter One

Telia Wells gazed into the depths of the spring. The water was crystal clear, but its bottom was obscured in inky darkness. It seemed to bubble up from the heart of the earth.

"It's so dark down there!" the Tracy said. She awkwardly bent over to look in the water. She was a willowy fourteen year old.

"Look, it's like a portrait." Telia pointed at their reflection. She looked over at her daughter and smiled. Tracy's red hair blew around in a mid summer breeze. Tracy managed to force a smile.

They'd been fighting for most of the summer break. Telia insisted that Tracy attend Tweedy Pines in the fall. Tweedy was a girl's boarding school in the Chagrin Valley. Telia had been very ambitious when she was a child, but as the chance to fulfill those dreams passed her by, she boxed them away for her future children. Tracy was an intelligent, precocious youngster, but she was impossible to motivate. Telia knew that life on the Wells Farm tended to make normal, healthy ambitions seem commonplace even silly, so she thought boarding school, and being around the right people would get Tracy on track. Matt couldn't understand Telia's insistence. He tried to remain neutral in the fight, and finally agreed on a compromise solution where Tracy would go to Tweedy for a year, then they'd reconsider next summer. The compromise ended the war, and they were slowly returning to normal.

The rocks around the spring felt cool compared to the sultry July air. Telia was sitting on a blanket on a tarp. Matt was lounging in a folding chair. He had dark wayfarers on and was looking up into the cloudy sky. The July sun was an intense fuzzy white ball behind the clouds.

"It's going to rain," Telia said, "feel that?" She stood up and held her arms out. She was an impressive looking woman. Her maiden name was Fensalir, and both her parents had Scandinavian ancestry. She was tall, nearly 6', and had long thick blond hair that she wound in a ponytail. She had a curvy, substantial body, and a pretty face, that had an angular, slightly masculine quality. She was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and a pair of jean shorts and sandals.

Matt held up his arm. The wind ruffled his arm hair. "I'm not sure how you do it, but you're always right about the weather. Let's get back up the hill."

They folded up the tarp, which was damp on the bottom from the spring's moisture, and stowed the blanket in an old ammo case and put it on a natural shelf in the rock. He folded up the chair and propped it against the stones.

"Remember when I had to carry you up there?" Matt asked Tracy.

"Nope. Not even a little bit!" Tracy said. She trotted up the hill ahead of them, but stopped every few steps to watch her parents climb.

By the time they reached the tractor path, the trees were starting to sway in an insistent breeze. The temperature dropped noticeably and the light took on a distinct blue-green tint.

"Uh oh! We better hoof it." Telia said. They got to the edge of the yard as the first droplets fell. They jogged back the rest of the way. By the time they got inside, their skin was shiny with rain, but they beat the torrential downpour. Thunder rolled in the distance.

"Wow! Good timing." Matt said. The rain drummed against the windows and wind whistled in the doors.

Telia walked over to the front door to get a better view of the storm moving over the house. "Oh, hey, Matt, you got a delivery--there's a package on the front porch." She brought the box in the house. "It got a little damp. No big deal though."

She set the box on the kitchen table and started to get ready to go to work at their antique store, "The Red Barn", for the afternoon. Telia managed the store while Matt spent his time on the road, and spent lots of time engaged in his research.

Matt checked the box. It had no return address. "Aha." he said. He'd been waiting for the package for a while. He locked the box inside a desk drawer in his study.

He went into the bedroom where Telia was getting dressed. "Hey Tee, I am going to try an experiment tonight... I'll head into Cleveland and stay there overnight. If you wanna go, we can get a hotel room and leave Tracy with Mom and Dad." He kissed her on the neck and she looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"Experiment..." skepticism pervaded her voice. "What kind of experiment?"

"Oh, the usual hoodoo." he waved it off. He tried to keep her informed about his research, but he was so far down the rabbit hole, now, that he gave up explaining the details.

"Sure, sounds like fun."

## Chapter Two

Telia and Matt left Tracy with his parents and drove downtown. He rented a hotel room that overlooked the baseball stadium. The game was set to start at about 7PM, and they got there a couple hours early and had dinner on W6th street. They made small talk about customers in the store, and made some vague plans about another prospecting trip down south.

"So...." she said, "what's this experiment about?"

He put his food down. "I told you what happened at the Serpent Mound... I want to try that again."

"Bananas Foster?" She arched her eyebrow.

"Yeah. I know that was some pretty weak tea, but I think I figured out a formula for doing it on a larger scale."

"Maybe this time it'll be Cherries Jubilee?" she laughed. Telia was aware of the Wells family business, but hadn't really been initiated into its deeper secrets. She considered it to be a weird hobby of an eccentric family.

He laughed. "Maybe that'll be the message this time. Anyway, I want you to participate."

"How?" she was surprised he asked her.

"Stay with me while I'm doing it. Also, I want you to write a sentence on this paper--anything, something I can't just guess at. Put it in this envelope, and don't show me." He handed her a piece of hotel stationery.

"You're going to do a magic trick?" She was smiling devilishly and started thinking of crazy things to write.

"I'm going to go take a leak... Don't write it until I'm out of sight so I can't cheat."

"Alright." she said in a sing-songy voice. She waited for him to go into the bathroom, then wrote " _Our waitress has nice big titties_." She sealed up the envelope.

He returned a few minutes later. "You did it? Something I couldn't guess accidentally."

"Oh, never in a million years." She laughed.

## Chapter Three

Matt meditated in the hotel room and cleared his mind. He was very relaxed. He pulled a flask out of his bag.

"You're going to have a drink?" she asked. "I'll have one, too."

"I'm not sure you want this." He sniffed it and frowned.

"What is it?"

"Peyote tea... that's what came in the mail. Well the extract anyway."

"You're gonna trip balls?" she asked. She was incredulous. He never did drugs and neither did she.

"No... well, I don't know. I'm just doing a low dose. Anyway, the idea is not to hallucinate, this is really _protection_."

"From evil spirits...." she chuckled.

"Tee, if you've seen what I've seen... Well, I'm glad you haven't." He sniffed it again. "OK. Down the hatch!" he swallowed. "Ugh. That's gross." he made grimacing faces.

"How long does it take?" she said.

"I can feel it already... OK. I'm going to meditate again, sorry for being so boring, but if you can hang around, I'd appreciate it.. I have no clue what this stuff will do to me."

"OK. But if you run naked down the hall, I'll probably just take a picture."

He lounged back on the bed and started to reach out with his mind. She curled up next to him and watched him breathing, and in a few minutes she actually dozed off.

He had the same expanding, deepening feeling he felt at the Serpent Mound, but he managed to remain relaxed and focused inward. The stadium full of people were a sea of minds that together provided a doorway to the other side. The inky black of the back of his eyelids give way to shapes, indistinct gray billowing shapes.

"Hello?" he sensed a voice.

"Uh, hello?" he thought. "Who is this? I'm Matthew Wells."

"I'm Paschal Beverly Randolph."

"Wait, what?" Matt thought. He sensed mirth.

"I assume you made it over based on my work. When one of you crosses over it's like a beacon. In this case, it's like a pinhole camera into the physical world."

"Can you see me?" Matt thought.

"My perception of you is indistinct. I perceive a purple fuzzy form. Are you taking my elixir?"

"Peyote actually." Matt thought.

Matt felt a sense of mirth. "You will only remember this like a dream."

Matt thought, "Where are we?"

Matt perceived a feeling of loss and sadness, "It's no place. It's no where. What year is it?"

Matt thought, "2010. It's summer, July 2nd. It rained this morning. I'm in Cleveland."

He felt Randolph's sadness mix with anger and loss. "What I'd give to feel the rain on my skin again and smell the breeze! With no heartbeat, no legs to swing, no days and nights, and no music, time is indistinct."

"Do you sense anything when I'm not here?"

"Yes... This place is consciousness, not only of people, but of animals, plants, the Earth itself, the planets, and that deep sonorous hum you feel, that's the Sun."

"What can you tell me of the other entities that are here?" Matt thought.

He felt a sense of fear and foreboding. "Do not speak of them lest they come for you! There are some like me who crossed over and retain some sense of humanity, however most are twisted malignant things, and there are ancient ones, much older than mankind, powerful ones who manipulate men, nations. They are very dangerous. They're toxic to a mind like yours."

Matt thought, "I come here to learn, to protect humanity from them."

He perceived anger, "Fool! Go back. I've given you warning."

He felt Randolph depart. Matt searched for Telia, but it was futile, like trying to find an outlet to plug in a lamp in a dark room. Gauzy shifting shapes flowed past like tiki torch smoke. He stopped wandering and tried to focus his imagination on their time at the restaurant earlier in the day. He perceived the heavy stationery paper but the effort to concentrate pulled him back into normal consciousness and he lost the connection. He opened his eyes.

"Shoot." he muttered.

Telia stirred. "Hmm... Wha?"

"It's only 9:30?" he said. "Very weird. It's exactly like a lucid dream. Absolutely no sense of time."

"What happened?" She sat up.

"Well, I think it worked. Yeah, I think it did. I met Paschal Randolph, well, I think. I couldn't really _see_ anything, just billowy shapes. He said I looked purple. Unfortunately I don't remember much. Really it's exactly like a dream."

She perked up. "I had a dream, too. We were at the restaurant. You went into the bathroom, and I heard you talking. Someone said, 'Fool! Go back'. Then you came back and looked at the envelope."

"Hmmm." he grunted thoughtfully.

"What?" she was annoyed. He had a habit of punctuating his inner thoughts with sounds. It was a habit that drove her crazy. "Use your words, buddy."

"Believe it or not, you picked up on my conversation with Randolph. He said, 'Fool! Go back. I've given you warning!'"

"Oh come on! Bullshit." she said. "Maybe you spoke in your sleep and I heard it."

"Yeah and then I tried to imagine I was looking at what you wrote..."

"Pshaw." she said. "Well what did it say?"

"'Cherries Jubilee'?" he laughed and rubbed his face. "Oh, shit. Unfortunately, that's when I snapped back. It's a really delicate balancing act, remaining in that state and doing anything useful." He pretended to be balanced on a high wire. "But I did much better this time 'round."

She handed him the envelope. He opened it and started laughing hysterically. "You're right! I _never_ would have guessed you wrote that. But she did have some big titties!"

Her eyes narrowed and she swung her leg over him and wrapped her arms around his head. "You better only look at these, mister!"

## Chapter Four

Robbie and David drove the kids to a dairy farm in the country southeast of Nashville, while Johnny and Dana stayed behind at Kenny's _Star Chariots_.

Johnny and Dana monitored the fallout from their Vampire raid in Nashville, and tried to map the Nashville connections to Goldstein's flesh trade network. The raid didn't make the news, and apparently wasn't reported to the police. Any trail to Goldstein's people dried up and blew away. As the days passed, they started helping out at _Star Chariots_. Johnny helped Kenny in the shop, and Dana put the office into order and worked the phones.

As the weeks went by in his new life, Johnny began to realize how incredibly constrained and domesticated he'd been before. He began to understand how Robbie's network of friends and family worked. It was a surprisingly large economy and culture that paralleled the mainstream of the United States. It was a very _human_ , non-system of barter, favors, and gifts that functioned without finance and without a discernable organization. Johnny began to realize he could employ his full set of talents, his entire intellect, and his whole moral self as one of the individuals who lived outside the walls of the Empire. Every individual out there was a free agent.

In their down time, Kenny and Johnny worked to bring the old Flxible Clipper tour bus back to life. It was slowly turning into an improbable ground-based surveillance and communication satellite.

When they finished work on the engine and transmission, they decided to take it on a test drive around the property. Kenny brought out a bottle of cheap sparkling wine.

"Yo Dana!" Johnny shouted inside the shop.

She trotted over and said, "You called, sir?"

Kenny pushed his ballcap back on his head. "She needs a name," he gestured at the bus.

Dana put a hand on the steel body. "She's alive. You brought her alive."

Kenny said, "Just barely! Needs some new paint, too. Make her shine!"

"I kinda like the whole rat rod thing." Johnny said.

Kenny grimaced, "Ohhh she needs to be all dressed up to be a proper _southern_ girl. Right now, she barely fit for cookin' meth!"

Dana hugged the bus. "Hey! She's sensitive."

Kenny chuckled, "Ooohhh sorry." he went over and kissed the metal.

Dana said, "That's better." and stroked the metal.

"Hey! Hello there!" Johnny pointed up at the roof. The red and white face of a fox was looking down at them.

Dana and Kenny backed up to look. Kenny laughed, "well ain't that the most amazing thing... she's likin' that warm metal. Clever! She went up the ladder..."

" _Flying Fox_?" Dana asked.

"That's a good name!" Kenny laughed. Johnny nodded.

"Well, let's leave her alone before we do a proper christening. She'll find her way down." Kenny said. They all went back inside and let the fox keep her comfortable perch.

## Chapter Five

Robbie and David drove the kids to a farm that was about 60 miles outside Nashville. None of the kids spoke a word since their ordeal, and they remained huddled together at the back of the bus. Robbie and David were also quiet and trying to process the nightmarish scenes.

David finally said, "I think Johnny had a good point about that video."

Robbie was glad to return his thoughts to strategy. He moved over in the seat opposite David. "You mean that it's unbelievable?"

David nodded. "Even worse than that, if we get it out there without the context... It's really just a snuff film."

Robbie took off his hat and rubbed his hair vigorously. He tossed the hat on the seat. "Shit. I think you're right. But... hear me out, say we get this out there in a mini documentary at least it reaches some audience. Maybe that causes a few cracks. A few more people see the rot."

David drummed on the wheel a little while he thought. "Could work... On the other hand, this is such a shocking, horrible example of the rot, it might just be a trap for people's minds... Get them stuck looking for new horrors all the time, just feeding their need for strong stimulus."

Robbie smirked, "do you remember bigfoot..."

"What?" David was annoyed. " _Apropos_ of nothing... What are you talking about?"

"You remember what got you started doing research in the library?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Sasquatch. I loved _'In Search Of'_ when I was a kid. It was a report for school! I started poking around in the farmhouse library because I was too lazy to go to the Chardon library, really. Seems like a lifetime ago."

"So you went from _sasquatch_ to all this craziness in what, three months?" Robbie laughed.

David quickly meshed his fingers together and steered with his knees. "The mysteries are all connected..."

"So, yeah, some people will get stuck in the maze forever, but a few will find the breadcrumbs that lead out."

David finally agreed, he held up one hand. "Alright, alright. You heard about podcasting?"

Robbie nodded, "Sure."

David continued, "Yeah, so how about we get the story out through that channel. Bypasses the regular media, right to the people. Boom."

Robbie slapped the top of the seat. "Hell yeah. Good plan. You know anyone?"

David shrugged, "Maybe. I say we go meet with the guy."

Robbie nodded, "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Where's he at?"

"San Diego."

Robbie grimaced, "Well, OK, but I think we need to switch rides."

David patted the school bus wheel. "Yeah, she's a beauty, but not exactly practical for a two person road trip."

## Chapter Six

A few plain white buildings were at the end of a long gravel driveway that terminated in a parking lot. The buildings were surrounded by hillside pasture fields. Cows noted the bus's arrival as they chewed cud. Some miniature donkeys walked up to the fence by the driveway to see what was going on. Goats, dogs and chickens wandered around through the yards.

David honked the horn as they slowly rolled down the driveway. The kids stood up in back and looked out the windows.

David and Robbie got off the bus, but the kids just stared out the windows.

Robbie said, "I don't think they trust anything. Can't even imagine how they see the world."

A woman and a young girl came out of a barn. Both of them waved. The girl trotted over to the bus. "Come see the donkeys!" she called out and ran over to the fence. She had a bag of carrots. Robbie and David followed her over to the fence and helped feed the donkeys. She scratched their stubbly bony heads while they crunched the big orange carrots.

"If you hold out your hand, they'll check it out with their lips!" she laughed at the weird sensation. "Sometimes they nibble." her voice bubbled with affection and joy.

Rose caught up with them. She was a full figured forty something woman. She was wearing a light green T-shirt and jeans, and had a flannel shirt tied around her waist. Her hair was sweaty and pulled back behind a bandana. She'd clearly been working.

"Hey boys. I haven't seen you guys in ages..."

Robbie shook her hand. He casually walked away from the donkeys and she and David followed. "Hi Rose. We picked up three kids, very, very traumatized. I have no idea how long they've been in Goldstein's ring. They haven't said a word since we picked 'em up. I'm not sure they speak English."

"Poor babies..." she sighed. "Are they a group? Brothers sisters?"

David shrugged, and Robbie answered, "We don't know anything about their background. Let's just say we happened upon them during a dispute with their captors."

Rose made a pushing motion with her hands, "Oh lord, don't tell me any more!"

David asked, "Do you have any room for them?"

"Oh we can always make room." Rose smiled.

Robbie put a hand on her shoulder, "if we can get _any_ leads about Goldstein, that'd be great, but I don't think they'll want to talk about it any time soon, maybe not ever..."

She nodded. "Understood. I never ask about their past. If they offer anything up, I'll let you know."

"Hey, by the way, can you use that school bus?" Robbie pointed at it. "It's all yours."

"Of course, sure!" She said. "Might chop it and make a big flatbed."

"Yeah, call Kenny. I'm sure he'd be able to help you out with that." Robbie said. "Could we get a lift into town? We'll pick up a new ride and be on our way."

"Where you going?"

"San Diego." David said.

"Oh gawd, that's a haul. I haven't driven out to California since I was in my twenties. Why not fly?!"

David shrugged. "How many laps of the country have we done, Robbie?" David asked.

"Shoot. I hate to count. A lot! We _always_ drive. Usually do a lot of business on the way." Robbie said.

"Suit yourselves. Yeah, we can get you into town no problem."

## Chapter Seven

Telia and Tracy were already in bed, and the entire farmhouse was dark and quiet, except for the library, where Tiffany style desk lamps illuminated the tabletop in a warm yellowish glow. Matt was contemplating several large format prints of churches, ancient temples, and megalithic monuments. He thought about his own drive to reach over to the other side and contemplated it as a general human instinct, no different than the desire for sex, food, or prestige. He thought about the invisible ecosystem that intertwined with the visible one; and guessed the variety of relationships that pervaded the visible world had their analog in the invisible one: predator and prey, parasite and host, symbiosis, cooperation, pets, friendships must exist there, too.

His work now focused on building a better connection between the realms. He now understood that the connection to the other side was made by melding one's own conscious mind with the larger _field_ of consciousness. Apparently, the brain had an innate ability to do that, but generally the signal was so weak that the flow of information back and forth was just a trickle.

He suspected many religious rituals and ceremonial spots were meant to amplify this signal. Having a congregation sing, or listen to music would have the effect of synchronizing their brains and might produce a coherent signal that could be orders of magnitude stronger than the incoherent mishmash of private thoughts. He considered that mass entertainment spectacles broadcast through television might have a similar effect on an industrial scale. Likewise, astronomical events, like a solar eclipse, might affect a vast population of people, animals, and even the planet itself for a short duration, anyway.

As he chewed on the problem, he struck up an email correspondence with Johnny, who had a much deeper practical understanding of signal processing than he did. They tried to devise a method and apparatus to amplify the signal. Johnny immediately steered the discussion to fractal antennas and arrays. Matt had been laboring through the articles and papers Johnny kept forwarding in emails. His eyes flitted over the latest as he zipped the scroll wheel on his mouse.

"Holy shit!" he muttered. He called Johnny. The phone rang and rang, then went to voicemail. He hung up the call.

Johnny rang him back, "What's up Matt?"

"Hey, sorry if it's too late. I just saw something really intriguing in the latest article you sent--the one about the Minkowski Island. This might be nothing, but... well, look." he forwarded an image to Johnny.

"Hey, wow. That's definitely interesting... definitely." Johnny stared at the Occitan Cross.

"That's the Occitan Cross, an insignia used by the Cathars."

"Seems likely it's just a coincidence--only so many cross shapes and aspect ratios." Johnny was skeptical.

"True... That said, why don't we go forward with that as our starting point?" Matt was staring at the two shapes.

"Alright, we're going to wrap up some work down here at Kenny's, then we'll hit the road. Probably two or three days."

## Chapter Eight

Robbie and David rolled onto Carlsbad Boulevard after a few days on the road.

"I never get over that Pacific Ocean view!" David said.

"Oh man, no kidding, what a life out here." Robbie held his hand out the window.

"There's something about seeing that sunset over the ocean that freaks me out a little. Makes me feel so tired, too." David yawned.

"Oh man, I guess it's my turn to drive, you were going all day. At least I napped."

"Yeah, sounds good, while we're at it, let's stop at the beach before we go meet this guy. I have a bad case of road brain."

Robbie agreed. They parked and kicked their shoes off and walked out in the sand. David stretched and tried to shake off the feeling of non-stop driving. After a while, they plopped down to watch the sun sink toward the horizon.

Robbie said, "I listened to a whole shitload of this guy's podcasts on the way out here... I'm not sure about him."

David nodded. "Yeah, the whole shape shifting lizard thing is pretty crazy. But c'mon. It's not that far off the mark, right?"

"Literary propaganda performance art?" Robbie laughed.

"He's also ties in the child abuse story. That's what made me think he'd be a good outlet for this information."

"Will this video add anything to his repertoire?" Robbie wondered out loud.

"One way to find out, right?" David shrugged.

"I wish Dana were here... she'd get a good read on him. For all we know, he's one of the bad guys." Robbie got up and brushed the sand off.

David put his hand over his eyes and watched the sun go behind clouds on the horizon. As they walked back to the car, the whole coast took on a reddish tint and the periodic rustle of light surf breaking on the beach gave way to the sound of cars on the Boulevard.

## Chapter Nine

They met Jacob Eisenhauer at a seafood restaurant a little way down the road. The building was barn red and the outside was decorated with nets, and traps, and other nautical knick-knacks. David recognized him at the bar and the two went over to greet him. Jacob was a short stocky man, with hobbit body proportions, and had big hands and big blue eyes, and his head was framed by curly salt and pepper hair.

They made small talk over drinks, then sat down to dinner at an isolated table.

"You have a tape for me? David here played excerpts. Really gripping stuff." He chewed while talking. In spite of the enthusiasm in his voice, his eyes and face gave no sign of excitement or interest.

Robbie folded his hands, "Jacob, one of our main concerns is that this information...without the complete context is really only salacious. We're not sure what the audience will get from it."

"You mean other than the truth?"

Robbie continued, "I guess I see this tape more as a fragment of the truth rather than 'the truth'."

"Surely, it's an impossible task to unfurl the supposed whole truth, isn't it? I see my job as a way to get bits of it to my 1.5 million person audience."

"Wow, really 1.5 million..." Robbie stroked his beard.

David put his arm on the table and leaned closer, "Another concern we have is that this information could endanger you--and of course, us."

Jacob wiped his mouth. His eyes were still not giving anything away. "Look," he said emphatically, "Over the years, I've presented the wildest information about the most dangerous and powerful people in the world and here I am."

Robbie nodded, "Fair enough..." he put a copy of the video on the table.

"It's a video!?" Jacob's eyes actually lit up for the first time.

"Yeah, I've got a camera out in the car if you want to watch it now."

They paid the bill and went out in the parking lot. Jacob sat in the back and watched. When it was done he whistled. "Holy fuck. I see what you mean."

"About what?"

He put the camera down. "Well this, it's astounding. I've heard audio before, seen grainy pictures before, but never have I witnessed such clear footage and audio of them setting up the horrors for these children." He paused and continued on with emphasis, "What I've presented to date, is largely based on rumor. I believe it to be true, and it is corroborated by some evidence, but nothing like _this_... When it's just rumors, _they_ can pretend it doesn't matter... and frankly so can we." He remained silent for a second. "But with this..." he pointed at the camera, "not only the footage that captures the crime, but then the start of some type of vigilante attack... well, that's a whole different ball game, isn't it?"

David said, "Yes, we believe this really could be a game changer."

Jacob asked, "What was the fallout from this, do you know? Are the kids alright?"

Robbie answered, "As far as we know, the children are fine. Not one news mention or police report. Like it never happened."

Jacob said, "I guess that's not so surprising." He clasped his hands together. "How to use this..."

Robbie offered, "Well, how about just going with the audio... It's useful information for the audience, but still keeps it more in the realm of rumors than fact."

Jacob nodded. "I was thinking something similar. In fact, how's this. Here's my address," he handed them a card, "Mail me the audio on a thumb drive in a plain envelope, no return address from the location of your choice. That'll keep you anonymous. I'll refer to you as trusted sources. We can go from there."

## Chapter Ten

Girls were permitted one bag of personal items, and that bag was provided by Tweedy Pines. Tracy stared at it as it sat open and empty on her bed at home. She knew that somehow this bag, a leather trimmed canvas bag with the school's logo was meant to be very significant just as the pile of branded uniform clothing was supposed to be significant. Her mom treated it almost reverently and was very wrapped up in the ritual of preparing Tracy for leaving home. Telia kept sniffling. Tracy was resigned to going, but the only emotion she felt about the experience was dulled anger.

"Mom, I think _you_ want to go to Tweedy Pines."

Her mother smiled and wiped her eye. "I know you don't like this right now, but someday, I hope soon, you'll thank me for being such a bitch."

The word 'bitch' shocked Tracy. Her mom usually didn't swear like the rest of the family did. She was usually relatively reserved and proper, especially in front of her. Tracy felt her mom was dropping her guard.

"Mom, I'm going for this year, then I'm going to Chardon." She said matter of factly. She started to pack underwear and socks.

Telia sighed. "I know. I just hope you can give it a chance. take some opportunities to explore a different way of living, experience more of the world. The girls go on trips all the time."

Tracy groaned, "So do Robbie and Dad." she shrugged. "I am sure I could go with them."

Telia stood up, "Maybe someday. I'm just hoping you can see there's more to the world than just this place. Our family can be, well, overwhelming."

"Mom, I'm not dumb. I get what you're saying. I don't want to do it, but I'm going to try."

Telia gave her a big hug. "That's all I ask. Besides, it's not like you're going to a different planet. It's not even ten miles."

"I'm going to miss my friends, like Morgan." she said.

"Well, he can come over and visit when you do. Honestly, it might not be a bad idea to give him some space. His family has a lot going on right now."

"I think I should be there for him. We should." Tracy said emphatically. Telia rubbed her daughter's head.

"You're a really good person." Telia beamed at her. She wiped the corner of her eye. Then she became all business. "Now finish packing. Remember toiletries!"

Tracy finished filling up the bag. There was only enough room for clothes, a journal, and she shoved the sparrow hawk sculpture into the center of the bag.

## Chapter Eleven

Her dad drove them to the Tweedy Pines campus. The new students entered the campus on a service road then went into a recital hall, which was a replica of a gothic church. The recital hall was a few hundred yards from the main cluster of school buildings. The girls turned over their bags, like they were checking in at an airline counter, then they were to walk across the green with their new "sisters" and leave their parents behind.

"Well, I guess I'll head over there." Tracy said to her parents.

Matt let out a long sigh and crouched down. He hugged her and put a phone and charger in her hands. "Can you stash that? I'm not sure how strict they'll be."

Telia said, "Matt, they're not supposed to..."

He held up his hand and smiled at Telia, "It's Tracy's first lesson of the _real_ world."

Tracy stashed the phone in the waistband of her skirt. "Can you see it?"

Matt smiled, "No. You can text us any time."

Telia hugged her. "I'll be happy to hear from you, I admit."

Tracy waved and walked across the grass.

They watched her until she merged with other groups of girls and they milled into one of the red brick buildings.

## Chapter Twelve

The _Flying Fox_ received her finishing touch--a logo of a Fox with wings flying above a crescent moon.

Johnny loaded their equipment into the cargo bay. They converted the bus into an RV. The _Flying Fox_ was about the length of two full sized cars. The interior space felt snug and homey with almond colored leather, walnut wood trim, and pistachio carpet. Dana could easily walk the length of the bus without stooping over, but Johnny had to keep his neck bent. Two monitors were mounted into the wall near the front of the bus, and a fold-out desk was attached to the wall beneath them. The _Flying Fox_ was their nerve center and communication station.

Kenny stood out on the concrete driveway waving goodbye as the bus rolled out of _Star Chariots_. They started north on I-65 heading back to the Wells Farm.

Autumn was already kissing the leaves as they entered Summit County and crossed into Northeast Ohio. Dana was behind the wheel and Johnny was sketching out antenna designs on a piece of paper. She called back to him, "I never noticed there's an actual difference in the trees and landscape when you hit this point." she pointed out the window as a sign demarcating the Great Lakes basin rolled past.

He was lounging on a couch in the back deeply absorbed in his work. He put the papers down and stood up. "You're right, I think. Seems more green. Must be from being so close to the Lake." He watched the road rolling underneath the nose of the bus.

Dana looked back, "Dude, I have to warn you, sometimes Matt's wife and I don't get along so well."

He raised an eyebrow, "Whaaaaaaat? I find that hard to believe."

"You know how Matt can be?" Dana said.

"You mean bossy?" Johnny asked. "He's not that bad."

"Right, he's not that bad, because he's really all about the knowledge."

Johnny nodded. "Yep. That's about right."

"She's got that queen of the world quality, and is _not_ about the knowledge. As long as I've known them, she's just ignored this crazy shit we're into."

"To be fair, it's a total accident I found out about this stuff. Maybe Matt protects her from it. I can see that."

"She just doesn't fit in with _us_. I don't trust her."

They got to the farm in the early afternoon, but the shadows were already long and the sun was just above the trees on the Western horizon.

Matt helped them carry bags into the house. "You guys want a drink? It will be a while until dinner's ready. Tee's at the store 'til six."

"Sure, anything would be good. A beer?" Johnny said.

"How about whisky? I've got some really good stuff. Really smooth and smoky." Matt said.

Dana put an arm around Matt, "Where's your bright shining star of a daughter?"

"She's actually away at school. Too bad she's missing that bus!"

Dana furrowed her brow, "What? How away?"

Matt frowned, "It's not far. She's just down the road at a boarding school--Tweedy Pines."

"Wow... I never expected that. She wanted that?"

Matt held up both hands, not wanting to rehash all the summer's arguments. "Not exactly. It's Telia's idea. It might be good for Tracy... but if she doesn't like it, next year she can go back to Chardon High."

Dana harrumphed and went back to the Flying Fox to unload more bags.

Johnny and Matt went into the library. Matt had a big corkboard that was filled with notes, articles and photos. He said, "it's amazing there's a certain, logic, that pervades all this religious ceremony; dancing, chanting, singing that I never noticed before."

"Matt, I gotta say, I'm still not convinced yet, but it's an intriguing theory."

Matt nodded, "Frankly, I'm not either. I've been at this for years now and the progress has been incredibly slow. Could all be my imagination." He took a long pull on his glass of whiskey.

Johnny asked, "Do you worry that the peyote might just be causing hallucinations?"

"My theory's been that shamans used hallucinogens not so much as a bridge to cross over, but as a type of inoculation against what was there. But yeah, I do worry it's all just a figment of my own mind."

Johnny drained his glass, then put a sketch of his device on the corkboard.

"That it?" Matt asked.

Johnny pointed at it, "this is the first one. This is a reflector, not an antenna. We're not plugging it into your brain. See how I used different shading on each segment?"

Matt nodded, "Yeah I was wondering about that."

"It's actually encoding the three dimensional position of the sub-units of the reflector. It will take a while to fabricate, but it's made of cheap materials. Just copper and some inexpensive electronics."

"How do we aim it?" Matt asked.

"It will be gimbal mounted, with a chair in the center at the focus of the reflector. It'll be about 20 feet in diameter. You'll need a ladder to get in."

Matt sat down, "Damn! 20 feet. That's not exactly portable!"

"I guess we need to build it somewhere near people."

Matt walked over to a corner of the corkboard. "I hoped we'd just drive it around in a box truck, but we'll have to put it in a warehouse. Right here..."

## Chapter Thirteen

It took about a month to build the reflector. They built it in a warehouse near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. From the perspective of the chair at the center of the gimbal, the the reflector looked like the Occitan Cross, but from the side, it looked like a giant mesh ball that was suspended in a large wooden frame. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead and cast a wirework shadow on the floor. Sunlight filtered in from dirty frosted glass windows and cast rectangular boxes of yellowish light on the slate gray concrete floor.

Matt took a hit of the peyote tea, and offered it to Johnny, too. He sniffed it and frowned. "Nah, I'll pass this time."

Matt said, "for the first time out, let's aim it at the sun."

Johnny said, "Seems appropriate somehow." He typed in the coordinates and the controller swung the gimbal mounted reflector around.

Matt climbed up a wooden ladder and took his seat. He barely closed his eyes for a moment when the now familiar feeling of his consciousness opening up struck him, this time with clarity and power. He mumbled, "holy shiii......."

A feeling of stately power washed through him with the force of a tidal wave, but Johnny broke the connection by moving the reflector and Matt came to.

Matt asked, "Whoa! What happened?!"

"Dude, that did not look healthy. Think _'Scanners'_. That reminds me, we probably should hook up some heart rate monitoring at least. I didn't think this could be physically dangerous. Frankly, I didn't expect anything to happen."

"Yeah, that was intense. I still feel it. Wow... Alright, see that book I left on the table?"

"Aha. Yeah, _Pi To 1 Million Digits_. I hear they're making a sequel." Johnny held it up and laughed.

Matt groaned, "Very funny. Pick a random spot and highlight 7 digits."

Johnny flipped the pages open and highlighted a segment. "Alright. Do you want me to memorize the digits?"

Matt shrugged, "Yeah, maybe, why not? Couldn't hurt." Johnny gave him a thumbs up after a few seconds. "Try aiming me at the city." Matt said.

"OK. I'll aim it at the terminal tower." The gimbal spun around.

Matt said, "We should sell tickets to this thing. Fun ride!" He settled down again and in a few moments, the connection was made, except this time instead of gray amorphous shapes the black faded to a twilight landscape beach.

## Chapter Fourteen

Matt focused his mind on the book and the digits of Pi. He saw the numbers clearly " _525-637-5679_ " and saw a fuzzy ghost of Johnny shimmering in mid air. He memorized the numbers, thinking of them as a phone number, then he turned his attention the landscape.

The twilight illuminated a pebble covered shoreline. The sky was featureless and gray as if it were a cloudy November evening. He moved away from the beach, climbing up a gentle slope to a grassy plane. He felt the presence of the sun. It was the same sensation he experienced a few minutes before, but much less intense. He also felt the earth, which produced a distinctly different sensation. The sun was like a surging beacon of majestic power, while the earth exuded solemn solidity.

He felt a gaze fall on him from above. He saw a crow circling overhead. Then, a man appeared a few paces ahead of him.

"Whoa!" Matt thought.

"Hallo." the man hailed him and held out a hand.

Matt felt a friendly presence, a jocularity. Matt shook the hand. "I'm Matthew Wells."

"You can call me Montigo--that's what I've been going by lately. You, sir are very interesting. I see a thing glowing around you, like a cross, and a drunken feeling pervades."

"Aha. Very interesting." Matt thought, "the cross is actually a metallic reflector I am using to cross over, and the drunken feeling is a drink I take to protect me."

"I have _never_ heard of this!" Matt felt a sense of excitement flow from the man. "You sir are like me, a man of natural philosophy. Such a rarity! It's almost always men of business, politics, and of course, religion. They are often the worst."

"How so?"

Matt sensed a feeling of questing curiosity. "Well, I assume, like me you have been driven to see what is over here by a thirst for understanding. A sip from Mimir's well, you know that story? Anyway, the men of religion come here and are always, _'Take me to see the heavenly father!'_ and are so disappointed. They are so easily duped, fall in with the worst of the worst."

Matt was excited, "I am very interested to know of the others who cross over."

Montigo held up his arms and gestured around. "Crossings have been going on, well, for as long as it's all been here. Even before the first man, there was a correspondence between this place and the Earth. Certain animals perceive this place as you are doing now. You saw the crow?"

"Ohhhh, that was on my side. Fascinating." Matt thought.

"However, I suppose you are interested in other men who cross over. Formerly, it was all types, farmers, musicians, priests, men and women, children, slaves and kings. Now, though it's almost always men on _official_ business, just the cold business of empires and enterprise. Nobody with just love of knowledge, nor poetry, nor _love_. Now it's always just business."

"Business?"

"Yes, the nations and empires of earth have their seats _here._ The horse trading deals that one might make on Earth--you get what you want when I get what I want goes on all the time."

"Amazing. We've always suspected that." Matt thought. Matt felt his concentration start to ebb. "Montigo, I feel pulled back to the other side. I hope we can talk again soon."

"Matt, it's been a true pleasure. Before you go, might I ask a favor?"

"Uh sure." Matt thought.

"When you open your eyes over there, I will actually _see_ the real world."

"It's a pretty disappointing view, I'm sorry to say." Matt thought.

"No matter! Maybe next time, do something different. Do you have a cat? I would like to see a real cat." Montigo said.

"OK. I am going." Matt opened his eyes. For a moment he felt Montigo's presence, then was back to himself.

"Hey! There he is." Johnny said.

"Holy shit... Just holy shit. That was beyond wild. This thing works." Matt said.

"What was the number?"

Matt put a hand to his head and said, "I think it was _525-637-5679._ Is that even close?"

Johnny let out a low whistle. "Weird... You got the wrong number, _but_..."

"But what?"

"That's the group of digits right next to what I highlighted. I might have been looking at those."

Matt climbed down the ladder, "I sort of saw you... It's a very weird experience. Let's head back to the farm. I'll tell you all about it. I actually remember it much better this time, but still, it is like a dream. The memory of it fades rather quickly."

## Chapter Fifteen

Robbie and David got off Interstate 90 near Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

"My back wants a bed. And a shower." Robbie said.

"What a baby! But yeah, a shower would be welcome. Hey let's look for some WiFi. I want to download Jacob's podcasts." David said. He popped his laptop open and put it on the dashboard. They'd been driving a 1997 Chevy Impala since Tennessee.

Robbie started to follow the street toward distant signs of civilization. He saw the glow of a truck stop in the distance. They passed a long chain link fence that enclosed a salvage yard.

"Oh man, pull over up here. I got a signal." David said.

Robbie pulled in a driveway next to the salvage yard. "OK, Signal thief. Have at it. You know, in another life, I would own a scrap yard."

David clicked the mouse a few times and downloaded a couple of weeks worth of podcasts to

his media player. It was an old brick-like device from Korea with a bright screen and a few glowing navigation buttons. "Alright... that'll do it."

They continued down the road and David started playing the podcast.

Jacob did a weekly podcast. He started each with a monologue, then had a guest or two. The monologue invariably worked its way back to the main touch pieces of his view on the global conspiracy--that earth was subject to extra-dimensional shape shifters, and that they preyed on the weakest among us and had a special taste for children. In between the segments Jacob hawked products, fluoride filters for water purification, vitamin supplements.

David started to skip past the commercial breaks. "Man, the guy's always selling something."

Robbie nodded, "Well, I guess he's gotta eat, right?"

David shrugged, "I'm thinking eat, make a boat payment, a car payment, possibly some rounds of golf..."

Robbie laughed. "Hey, did you ever see _They Live_?"

David furrowed his brow, "Is that the one with Rowdy Roddy Piper?"

"Bingo."

David sighed contentedly, "Yeah that's a great one."

"The podcast reminds me of that movie, but with no action. I mean, the movie's probably a better vehicle for this type of information, it's a more compelling depiction." Robbie said.

"Oh wait, here we go..." David turned up the volume then backed the podcast up.

Ladies and gentlemen, I received a thumbdrive from an anonymous source that records the audio of an encounter with these entities. I have absolutely no way of verifying the authenticity of this information, but it is very compelling stuff indeed.

The podcast included some of their audio, but Jacob edited it to fit his trans-dimensional lizard narrative. Robbie groaned.

David shut the podcast off and tossed the media player on the seat. " _C'est la vie_! Robbie, we made a long trip for _that_." he said.

"Look on the bright side. We don't have to listen any more of that stuff." Robbie pulled into a motel.

David unloaded his bag from the trunk. "I think we're on the right track with this Internet thing. We really need some more direct media outlets. But, we'll need to cultivate more decent, authentic people, not salesmen types."

They checked into the room. The walls were wood paneled from the slightly worn out green patterned carpet up to a yellowed stucco ceiling. The window glass was starred and pitted from years of exposure to the weather, and the window panes were chalky gray pitted aluminum, but the beds were clean and there were clean towels in the bathroom.

"Did you read the _Conan_ books?" David asked. He flopped onto his bed and contemplated the stucco ceiling. There was a long crack from the middle of the room to one corner.

"Yeah, read the comics, too, and saw the movie: _The Riddle of Steel_." Robbie intoned.

David pointed at him, "That's the stuff, right? I thought about the Riddle of Steel for years. It sticks with you, sort of a guiding thought."

Robbie thought for a minute as he unpacked a few things from his duffel. He asked, "Out of the millions of people who watched Conan, how many thought about that question once they left the theater?"

"Probably a lot, well, maybe some. OK. Like maybe five." David sighed. He hopped out of the bed. "I think we all might need to take a step back and refresh the Big Plan. But right now, I'm going to take a shower and shave this stubble. Starting to itch."

"I think you're right, maybe call home base later?"

## Chapter Sixteen

Dana, Johnny, Telia and Matt sat around the dinner table at the farm house. A lamp with an iron framed shade hung six feet above the worn wood surface and illuminated the table with a soft glow and two candles cast a flickering light on the walls. The rest of the room was dim. They were having wine and cheese before their meal.

Matt bubbled over with enthusiasm. "It's incredible what Johnny put together. You sit in this chair that's suspended in the middle of a big ball of copper, and he rigged a control system to point the thing in any direction."

"Did it work?" Dana asked.

"Yeah..." Matt nodded. He paused, deep in thought, trying to put the experience into words.

Johnny pointed at him, "We aimed it at the Sun. I was pretty sure his head was going to explode."

Telia furrowed her brow, "The Sun? Oh come on..."

Johnny nodded, "And Matt saw me... He read some digits of _π_ I picked out of a book, well, saw the digits that were next to the ones I picked."

Matt continued, "It was like a fairly vivid dream... Apparently the crows can actually see into that other world."

Dana was suspicious, "I still think it's dangerous. But I admit I am intrigued."

Telia waved it off, "Oh please! You'll have to let someone else get into that chair. Shouldn't it work for everyone?"

Matt shrugged, "I think it should, but I really don't know. I was actually going to ask you, ask you all actually."

Telia held up her hand in protest, "No, no, no. Not me."

Dana asked her, "Why not? Aren't you curious?"

"I'm the only sane one in this family. Someone should keep a foot in the real world." She said, however, her curiosity was piqued.

Dana rolled her eyes, "This 'real world' is actually totally batshit crazy. Count me in. I'd like to try it out."

Johnny nodded, "Me too... maybe we should build a few of these things... I think we can get some more data from the prototype and make the next ones smaller."

Matt said, "Alright, well why don't we all go down there together tomorrow and play around a little bit before we make any major plans."

Telia said, "Well, I'll go. I want to see this thing."

Dana clinked glasses with her, "That's the spirit!"

Matt snapped his fingers, "And don't let me forget to bring a barn cat..."

## Chapter Seventeen

The farmhouse was quiet and Matt was in his office writing down his recollection of the day's events. As before, the experience was a bit faded like the memory of a dream, but he recalled specifics quite clearly, like still frames extracted from a movie.

The phone rang, Robbie's number came up on the caller ID.

"Hey, bro, how'd it work?" Robbie asked. Matt could tell he was on the speakerphone.

"Hey guys. It actually completely worked. I was _over there._ I was walking on a pebbled shoreline, then up to a grassy field. It was dim, like dusk on a cloudy night. I talked to one of them."

"No shit?" Robbie asked breathlessly.

"Wow." David said.

"He, his name was Montigo, said basically the other world is exactly like this one. All the same bullshit, politics, struggles for power, and the two worlds are linked together. Oh, and mostly it's businessmen and politicians that make the connection, now. Just all business."

"So, what did he look like? I mean, is it like a ghost."

"No, not exactly. I mean I _saw_ him. He was a balding middle aged man with a thin beard. But I also felt him. His emotions. Really just like being inside a dream. A lucid dream."

David asked, "Did you try the numbers thing with Johnny?"

"Yeah, that was a good test, by the way. I didn't get the right numbers, but I got the next group Johnny looked at. Maybe he was looking at them at the time. I sort of saw Johnny, but he was really indistinct."

Robbie asked, "So what's next?"

"Well..." Matt sighed, "We're all going down there tomorrow to try it out. I still don't have a solid plan."

Robbie grunted, "You think it's safe?"

There was a long pause. Matt replied, "Yeah, so far it's been innocuous." he remembered the instant where Montigo looked through his eyes. "Well, I think the peyote does the job anyway."

David smiled, "I'm really curious to find out what Dana makes of it. She seems to be partly in that world with no mechanical help."

Matt chuckled, "Me too. I think we might even get Telia into the chair."

David and Robbie laughed. Robbie said, "get her to take some peyote! I saw her drunk once, that was a hoot."

Matt laughed, "Oh man.... So how did you guys fare?"

Robbie and David looked at each other. Robbie said, "Swing and a miss for sure."

"Major wiff." David added.

"Oh really? How come?"

David answered, "Well the guy's basically just a salesman and he already has his pitch worked out. He just worked the audio into his schtick to sell more fluoride filters."

Matt rubbed his forehead, "Well, we all thought that was a likely outcome."

Robbie said, "that's what we really are kicking around right now, how to build a better media outlet. I think the Internet's going to be a very powerful channel for distributing our story, but right now, we lack contacts. We can leapfrog the bad guys if we get on top of this. "

Matt said, "I am with you on this general theme, but we're pretty far from a plan, right?"

David answered, "well, we're thinking about it. We're basically smack dab in the middle of the country right now trying to figure out what to do next."

"Alright, I'll mull it over, too. I'll let you know if I think of anything."

## Chapter Eighteen

Telia and Dana walked around the contraption in the warehouse. It towered over their heads.

"How do you get in?" Dana asked.

Matt walked her to the ladder. "First, drink some of this stuff."

She took a swig of the peyote tea and grimaced. "Ugh! Ick!"

Matt said, "Climb up there to the platform and sit in the chair."

She clambered up the 2x4 ladder and stepped onto the platform. It was very solidly built, but had no railings and it hung from a heavy cantilevered arm. The chair was an old leather arm-chair that was attached to the platform with stout wooden legs. It remained at the focus of the reflector array.

"Sit down and hang on." Matt said. She plopped into the chair and Johnny started moving the gimbals through their paces.

She laughed and whooped. "Oh man! This needs a seat belt!"

Johnny spun the reflector so she was looking down at them from about 12 feet in the air. She said, "OK. Let's give this thing a try. Point me at the moon."

Matt stayed Johnny's hand, and called up to her, "You sure about that? The Sun pretty much kicked my ass."

She nodded. Matt let Johnny go. He typed in the coordinates of the moon and the gimbals swung the chair and the array around.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Basically you meditate and reach out with your mind... Unfortunately I can't explain any better."

"Mmmm. OK. Let me try."

She relaxed and let her body sink into the chair. "Oh wow!" she mumbled. She felt the feeling of a caress breeze through her whole being. A tear ran down her cheek. The connection snapped when Johnny repositioned the reflector.

"Well?" Matt asked.

"That was incredible, a very, very powerful pure feeling like a mother's caress of my whole self."

Telia's curiosity was mounting. "Do I have to drink that tea?"

Matt said, "to be honest, I don't really know. But so far, it seems like it protected me. Anyway, it's not harmful and wears off in about an hour or two."

She said, "OK. Hit me!" she drank a swig. "Holy cow, that's nasty." she spit a couple of times. He followed her up the ladder.

"Just sit back, relax and just reach out with your mind--not like you're trying to grab something, but like you're trying to expand your inner world."

She guffawed. "Oh man, that's the corniest thing I've ever heard... OK you, get down." she shooed him off the platform.

Dana nudged Johnny. "Think she'll be able to do it?" she whispered. He shrugged and pointed the reflector at the terminal tower.

Telia relaxed. She let her mind rest and go quiet like she was going to nap. She began to drift off, but instead of blackness, she was sitting on the shore. Waves lapped at the pebbles. "Oh my god!" she thought, and snapped back to normal consciousness.

Her mouth was hanging open. She scooted forward on the chair. Johnny spun the reflector around so she was facing them. "That was the most amazing thing..." she said. She clambered down the ladder and hugged Matt, then shocked Dana by hugging her too. She kissed Dana on the hair. She put a hand on Johnny's shoulder.

"What did you see?" Matt asked.

"It was a different place... I was on a beach. A stony beach, all pebbles. It was dim, like you said, overcast. Waves were just lapping against the rocks. That's all I remember, as soon as I tried to do anything I came back."

"Yes, it's an acquired skill to remain over there. If you try too hard, you snap back to normal consciousness. Poof." Matt snapped his fingers.

Dana put her hands on Johnny's shoulders, "You gonna try?"

"I will next time, I want to work on my meditation skills before I have a turn. Let's send the man over, next."

## Chapter Nineteen

Matt returned to the beach. He ascended the hill and walked across the grassy plain. He tried to follow a gentle rise in the landscape, hoping for a better vantage point, but the plain seemed to roll on for miles.

"Hello my friend," he felt Montigo's presence return. They shook hands again.

"Montigo, is there anything _here_ , like a city or buildings, or do these plains just go on endlessly?"

"Yes in a sense, but this place is not like Earth. On Earth, two people who walk through the same room and look in the same spots will see all the same things. This place is a shared dream, like the set of a play. Let me show you something."

Montigo struggled for a few seconds to pull a clump of grass from the ground. Roots dangled from the bundle of dirt. He tossed it on the ground. He motioned for Matt to follow him a few yards away from the divot.

Montigo pointed up in the distant sky, "see there are crows over there?" Matt focused his attention on the birds. Montigo tapped his shoulder and they walked back to the spot where the divot should be, but it was gone and the clump of grass was gone.

"Like it never happened." Matt said.

"Yes, there are rules, consistency, but not like Earth. It's maddening!" Matt sensed frustration. "So you must imagine the great yearning from this side to be over there."

"And vice versa."

"Twins separated at birth." Montigo laughed.

"Montigo, tell me, if you can, why are so many beings who cross over to my side so twisted?"

"Soldiers in a foreign country can see the citizens as prey. I think the principle is similar. Also, imagine what you might be like after decades, even thousands of years apart from your friends, your family, your body, even your pets. Then, imagine being dependent upon humans to have a full life. _Resentement_."

"Speaking of pets. I did bring a cat. I hope she's still in my lap."

As Matt regained consciousness, he felt Montigo's presence for a few lingering moments as he stroked the fur and felt a sense of great affection mixed with loss, then he was completely awake.

# EPISODE SIX -- Birth of A Goddess

Present Day

## Chapter One

Yuri put his thumbs under his cheek bones and rested his elbows on the tabletop in the Sheriff's campaign office. It was a habit he developed as a child when he was completely bored and irritated in school. He held his head completely still and shifted his eyes back and forth between Judge Ralph and Chuck, with Saul occasionally interjecting some nonsense.

Time and again, he marvelled at how the Brotherhood amassed so much wealth and power. He decided it was not the result of cunning or even competence, rather it was simply from taking the initiative to _do_ anything. With orders flowing down from the top through thousands of people it was possible to topple a mountain by swabbing at it with cotton balls.

Ralph, Chuck and Saul had been talking about using chlorine gas to drive the people out of the Wells farm to try to accomplish two main goals: recover the books and to minimize the risk. The conversation went in endless circles.

He couldn't take it anymore. He started bumping his head on the table, softly at first, but then finally with a great, surprising rap. Chuck, Ralph, and Saul looked at him. He sat back in the chair and adjusted his glasses.

"Guys, this is the craziest thing I've ever heard. Did you know Chlorine is heavier than air? Do you have any idea how much you need to flood that much territory? What if they simply refuse to leave? It will never, ever work." he said flatly, and succinctly in good English with a slight eastern european accent.

Chuck and Ralph were stunned. Saul just smiled with a poker face. He was used to Yuri providing such criticism in Russian as a private side conversation, but Yuri never rocked the boat.

Ralph smiled a plastic smile. "Aha! So you do speak English! Do you have any better ideas--it would have been great to hear them a couple of weeks ago!" he smacked the table with his hand. Yuri was unmoved.

"Yes." Yuri said.

Chuck and Ralph looked at eachother. They waited overly long for him to continue. Just as Chuck was to ask him to explain, he did, "We get a young girl and tell her which books to steal. Her car breaks down in their driveway. They help her. She works her way in and steals the books." he wiped his hands together. "So easy."

Saul nodded and pointed emphatically at Yuri, "I like this. If it doesn't work, she just leaves. We try something else, then something else."

Chuck agreed, "Alright, so where do we get her?"

Yuri said, "There is a Gathering Spot nearby. We go there and find someone suitable."

Ralph put his hand on his chin, and nodded. "I have to agree, that's a much safer plan. What happens if she gets caught with the books. That's a total disaster."

Yuri nodded. "In this case we will need to intervene. We can observe the compound while she's in the house and communicate with her to guide her out safely."

Ralph smiled a broad smile. He stood up and grasped Yuri's slender shoulders in his big hands. "This is a smart young man!" he slapped his shoulder. "Smart young man!" and laughed. "I'll be so happy to get this off my plate."

## Chapter Two

Tracy settled into life at the Marte house with remarkable ease. They created a new family almost out of nothing. Chloe and Tracy had been only children, but they were happy to act as sisters, and Keith's easy going relationship with his daughter made it easy to fall into the same pattern with Tracy. They all fell into the routine of having breakfast together on school days.

"Hey Tracy, do you think I can borrow your car today, it's for work? The Camry just won't cut it." Keith asked.

Chloe laughed, "I think he just wants to drive your car and feel the wind through his baldness!"

The two girls laughed. Keith defended himself, "It's not nice to make fun of the handicapped like that."

Tracy nodded, "Of course, no problem." she took the key off the keychain. "She's been running well lately, but sometimes the engine just goes Gaak. You can call my Uncle if the engine won't start."

"Hopefully I won't need to do that. But it's good to know."

"Hey, you want to ride with me today in the Cow Mobile?" Chloe asked. It still had COW scrawled on the side. Robbie already sanded off the SKANK from the hood. They were going to do a new paint job over the weekend.

"Sure! That'll be fun." Tracy and Chloe finished breakfast and went out the door together. Keith finished his coffee then went out to the Austin Healey.

The body was cream colored and the interior was maroon leather. He put his bag on the passenger seat and climbed into the driver's seat. It felt like he was sitting down in a gocart compared to his Camry. He was about the same height as Tracy, so the seat and the mirrors were already adjusted. The engine roared to life. He gripped the wooden steering wheel and pulled out onto the road. The car was not extraordinarily powerful, but it was very light and accelerated like a jet. It put a smile on his face as he drove down to the office.

He texted Tracy, "Thanks! this is a good car for a PI."

She texted a smiley back.

Yesterday's mail was still in the box. He grabbed the bundle and took it to his desk. There was the final report for the bank. There was a photo of each bank employee. Those who were identified had a background report attached. No clients visited the bank office in the two weeks they watched it.

He flipped through the pages of the report. There were a couple of handsome younger men, an older man with thinning hair and the gaunt, wiry look of a marathoner, and an extremely attractive brunette with curly brown hair, who habitually wore tight sweaters and skirts and red heels. Keith chuckled at the number of photos of her that were attached to the report. He flipped through the background report on her "Susan Heart Sandiron".

"Oh! Aha!" he smacked the desk. He flipped through the case notes binder to the section on the Old Stone Gathering Hall in Hudson. Susan Heart married Jeremy Sandiron a few years ago. He spent a few hours researching the families. The Heart family were the descendents of Boston Brahmins and the family still had what looked to be a castle near Boston. The Sandirons were local commercial real estate developers.

He texted Chloe, "if you wanna be classy you need at least three names."

A few minutes later, he got a reply: "WUT? LOL?"

"Dems da rules." SEND

He searched his email for the name of a web site he rarely used. "Backstory4U" until he found his username and a link to the web site. The site did not show up in search engines and you could only create an account with an invitation. The service would create a fake Internet footprint and profile with just a name and a short biographical description.The service compiled a list of hits on the fake sites and sent a daily report. He filled out the forms and picked an alias.

"John Martin Vandevaal" -- that's money. He said out loud. He assumed Internet gnomes did the rest of the magic.

He climbed back into the Healey and cruised down to Hudson and pulled into the Old Stone Hall parking lot. He was wearing a chunky red cashmere sweater over a white dress shirt, khakis, a knock off Tag Heuer watch, and a pair of wayfarers. He did his best to exude the idea that he owned a yacht and was thinking about upgrading to a mega yacht because there wasn't enough space for a helicopter landing pad.

He walked up to the front doors. The doors were elaborately hand carved and stained in multiple tones. A light toned serpent wound around the gap between the doors. On the left side of the door were representations of the planets, the moon, and the Sun, and on the right side of the door there were several human forms, carved in the greek classical style, linked to each planet. There were no handles.

He walked around the side of the building. It was surrounded by low immaculately trimmed shrubs. The grass was close cropped and perfect, like a putting green. The building had narrow gothic stained glass windows, and the roof was tiled in slate with heavily patinated copper flashing. Keith didn't see any utility hookups, apparently they were tucked away in some underground hidden place.

There was a garden at the back of the building. A crushed gravel path cut through beds of flowers and knee high hedges that formed concentric arcs around a fountain. The fountain was a simple flat polished black stone slab. Water was pumped out underneath a polished black stone cube that was about six feet on each side. The cube was actually suspended on a film of water, and slowly spun on its central axis.

Keith snapped a couple of pictures with his phone. The back doors of the building were simple wooden slabs, but they also lacked handles. Finally he circled around to the parking lot side. A set of six polished black slabs served as steps and led up to black steel slabs that served as double doors. They did have handles. Keith tugged the handles, but they were locked. There was no discernable keyhole.

"What are you doing?" a man called out to him from across the parking lot. Keith recognized Reichstaff.

Keith waved and walked over. Reichstaff looked him up and down, then looked through him with a practiced indifference. Keith said, "My daughter and I are new in town and we are looking for a church. I noticed this building when driving through. It is a striking place. Do you know anything about it?"

"We're not a church." The man spoke carefully and coldly.

Keith gestured at the building, "It has that look..."

"You said you have a daughter. Do you have pictures of this girl?" Reichstaff said.

Keith paused. Reichstaff's eyes gave nothing away. "Yes, in fact, I do." Keith opened his phone and flicked to a picture of Chloe at her birthday the previous year. She wore a dress and they went out to dinner.

Reichstaff assessed the picture for a minute, then handed the phone back. "Our congregation is an exclusive group, but _all_ can be of use. Come here Saturday at 6PM if you are interested in playing a part. Your daughter must come--she should wear a red dress with a zip-up back." He put a hand on Keith's shoulder and examined his face. "What is your name?"

"John Martin Vandevaal."

"Mr. Vandevaal, I will see you and your daughter on Saturday." Reichstaff said coldly and walked to the steel doors. He pulled one open and disappeared into the building.

Keith felt a creeping unease. He shook it off and climbed back into the Austin Healey and drove to the office.

He texted Chloe, "We have an important, exciting chore to do on Saturday at 6PM." SEND

She texted back, "'Exciting'? Doubt it. Have plans already! ;("

He tapped his fingers on the table. Reichstaff left him cold and he was reluctant to bring Chloe to the Hall, but he thought it might crack the case wide open. He knew how to pique her interest. He very rarely talked about work, but Chloe was always itching to get involved whenever he brought it up.

"OK. Well, it's for a case, but never mind." SEND

A few minutes later she replied, "do tell..."

"Deets later! U in?" SEND

"OK. I'm a sucker. I'm in" she replied.

He looked forward to sharing the experience of working on a case with his daughter, but was also vaguely worried. "We'll just need to be careful." he said out loud.

He texted her again, "Ask Tracy if we can borrow her car again?" SEND

"Ugh. OK. 1 sec..." she replied.

"Yeah. NP" she wrote a few seconds later. "But she says I need to drive."

## Chapter Three

Morgan's life was becoming a real drag. He woke up and went to school, uncertain he'd be able to graduate, then he went to the garage and worked until close, which only knocked $80 less federal, state, and local taxes off his bill every day. When he got home, he corresponded with Alfonse and did research. The coin project, they were calling it 'Project Diogenes' was fascinating to him, but he was so tired each night that he felt completely empty and drained when he got into bed. His school work went completely by the wayside and for the first time, he really struggled in his classes. He was irritable with everyone about everything.

Saturday rolled around, and his father banged on his door. "Let's go, Morgan, rise and shine."

Morgan put his arm over his eyes and sighed heavily. "What's the point? What another $100? Fuck it." he never swore in front of his parents. The F-bomb hung in the air.

"You brought this on yourself, buddy. I'm trying to help you out here."

Morgan sat up. He looked at his father. "I'm not going in."

His father pursed his lips together, stifling his anger. He said, "Fine, take a break this morning, but if you don't get those units in that South Range Rover repaired by mid-day, there'll be hell to pay!"

For the first time since he broke the block in the school wall, Morgan saw he had a choice in what he would do. It was a slightly scary feeling, but he also felt an invisible burden slip off his shoulders.

He took a long shower, then loaded up a bag with his research materials and rode over to the Wells farm.

He said hello to Robbie, who was out on the patio, and went inside to the library. He'd familiarized himself with the library's index system. It really was like a paper Internet. He'd find a book and the associated notebook on a shelf. The notebook had cross references and commentary that could lead him to another shelf. He found the handwriting in the notebooks was also a clue--it seemed the same person or small group of people had at times, been interested in what he was looking at. He occasionally added his notes and joined the age old conversation. He spent hours spelunking through the library following leads about the two groups that formed in Florence around 1462. He called one Club Medici, and the other Club Diogenes.

More often than not, Morgan ran into something he had never learned about, or didn't understand. He wrote it down, then went off on the tangent doing more research. He kept at it because, little by little a story was emerging, and the gaps in his knowledge were shrinking.

He was tapping a pencil eraser against his head when he heard a car door slam. He looked out the window and saw his Dad's shop truck.

"Oh shit." Morgan said. It had been years since his father went to the Wells house. He got up and hurried outside.

Robbie pointed a thumb at Morgan, "Hey, there he is!"

"OK, Morgan get your stuff. Let's go. We have work to do."

"Dad, I'm not working today." Morgan said calmly.

"What are you doing that's so much more important than graduating?" His father held out his hands.

Morgan shook his head. "I just don't want to work today."

His father looked at Robbie, "Can you believe these kids?! My old man would _never_ let me talk back."

Robbie sipped his coffee. "Hey, Mike, can one day off work for a seventeen year old kid really be such a big deal?"

Mike Klerc tried to remain calm. He said, "Robbie, I've known you a long time. You've been good to Morgan, a good customer, and were decent to me when a lot of other people weren't, but this is none of your business."

Robbie nodded, "No it's not. It's between you and Morgan."

"Look, Morgan, you're a smart kid. You've got a chance to go to college and make something of your life. Why not just get this bill paid _then_ do what you want?" His father pleaded.

"I'll be back in the garage tomorrow." Morgan said firmly.

Mike Klerc stifled the urge to shout. He nodded stiffly and climbed back in his car. He closed the door calmly, though he felt like slamming it off the hinges. He turned around and drove down the drive.

Morgan apologized, "Sorry about that, Robbie."

Robbie held up his hand, "From what I've seen it can be difficult to be a parent. My job with you kids is a lot easier--to give you a taste of real life, then you can do with it as you like. These past few years, I never once parented Tracy. I just answered questions when she got in a jam. I dunno." He shrugged.

## Chapter Four

Keith and Chloe drove to his office a few hours in the afternoon, while Tracy drove the Cowmobile over to the farm.

Chloe was wearing a red shoulderless dress with a zip up back. She brought black heels, but was wearing tennis shoes in the office. Keith gave her the cliff's notes version of his case and showed her the binder.

She flipped through the pages. "So, you did all of this?" she hefted the binder. It was getting heavy and held a thick phone book's worth of paper of all types. He had organized it with dividers.

"Yep, and you thought my job was all about the glamor. So, flip to that section that says Church."

"I never thought your job was about glamor of any kind." She smirked. She flipped through the pages and looked at the photos. She paused on one.

"That's Susan Heart Sandiron. Of course, you don't know that."

"Who am I again?"

"Chloe Martin Vandevaal."

"Is that supposed to be Dutch?"

"Yep. Only the most Dutchest blood flows through our imaginary veins. Our family settled here before the Revolutionary War. If you search for us on the Internet you'll find our whole biography."

She searched and laughed, "Oh man, how did you do that? The fake me even exists."

"I have my secrets. I'll tell you later. So listen, we need to be a little serious here. I feel a little uneasy about these people, so let's go over some worst case scenarios."

"Worst case? It's a church!" She said.

"Well, Jim Jones was just a preacher."

"If they offer me Kool-Aid, I'll decline." she deadpanned.

"First thing, I'm not going to take a gun inside... But, there will be a gun in the glove compartment."

"Of Tracy's car..." she added.

He rubbed his bald head, "Yeah, of your 17 year old friend's car. Omelettes and eggs." he shrugged. "We'll also leave the keys on the driver's side wheel. If something weird happens and you need to take off without me, wait at BagelCo for an hour. If I don't show, go to the Wells farm."

"Whoa! Sounds heavy. Well, what if something happens to me?" She asked nonchalantly.

"I'll move heaven and earth, Hon." He said. "But... I don't think anything weird will happen. It is a church after all. What, maybe some singing? Cookies?"

"Hailing Satan?" she laughed.

Chloe drove the car down to the Hall. The front doors were closed, but several cars were in the driveway. Chloe parked on the street and put the keys on the tire. Keith opened the glove compartment and showed her the gun. She winked conspicuously and they walked toward the side doors.

Keith noticed Judge Ralph and Sheriff Chuck. They were talking with Reichstaff. "Oh that's interesting..." he said out loud.

"What is?" Chloe asked.

"I'll tell you later, get in character. Mz. Vandevaal." Let me take your picture. He snapped photos of the church and the Sheriff and Ralph.

They started up the steps into the building. It was dark inside. The interior was stone with old hand-hewn rafters and simple bench like pews. Keith couldn't see the altar. Several people were inside, but it was too dim to make out any faces. A muscular man in a sport coat stopped them and said, "There's a reception in the garden for aspirants."

"That's us, I guess." Keith forced a smile. His mouth went a little dry.

Chloe took a step toward the back of the building. Reichstaff trotted down the stairs. "Mr. Vandevaal?"

Keith smiled, "Yes, and this is my daughter Chloe."

Reichstaff nodded and looked her up and down. He backed up a step to take her all in. Chloe was about 5' 9" and feminine, but her arms and legs were taut and powerful. Her black hair was shoulder length, and she'd curled it for the occasion, but she usually wore it straight. Her eyes were dark brown and fiery and expressive. Reichstaff nodded curtly and beckoned Chloe, "She should come with me and meet the others."

Chloe slightly raised her eyebrow and looked at her father. Keith hesitated a moment, then nodded. Chloe said, "Pleased to meet you..."

Reichstaff looked at her and motioned toward the door. After they went inside, Keith wandered around to the back. Several people were gathered there, a few men about his age were standing together and were obviously new. The other families disregarded them and chatted and laughed.

A waiter approached them. He was a tall thin man in his twenties. His long hair was slicked back and pulled into a tight ponytail.

"Here," the waiter said, "You must drink these." he handed each of the new men a glass. One of the glasses had been set aside for Keith. "Here you drink this one."

Keith sniffed the wine. It was a dark red pinot noir. He swirled it in the glass and held it up to the sun. He sipped it.

"No, they said _drink_." The other men drained their glass. Keith waited a few seconds then drank it, too. They put the glasses back on the tray.

"That was odd." he said to the others. They smiled nervously.

One of the men laughed, "Reminds me of a frat initiation. They just tell you what to do, and you do it."

"Have you been here before?" Keith asked.

"This is our fourth time." He nodded.

"You here with your family?"

"Yeah, my wife's in the congregation already. Guess her blood's bluer than mine. My daughter's inside with the other girls."

Keith's lips started to go numb. "Wow, that's weird." he said and smacked them together. "Holy shit, that was strong, I guess." he took a step, then collapsed to the ground. The other new men rolled him onto his back.

"Is there a doctor?!" one of them called out.

The burly guard at the door walked back, "Leave him." he waved them off. He hoisted Keith off the ground and threw him in the Austin Healey. He put a note on his chest. It said, "don't call us again. We will notify you."

## Chapter Five

Chloe was led into the building. She glimpsed a simple stone altar in the front of the pews. A coffin was sitting on top of the altar. There was a black pole mounted in the stone floor a few feet beyond the coffin. An articulated bronze snake sculpture was mounted to the pole. The room was full of men in dark suits, women in dark dresses, and a girl in a white gown who was the center of attention.

"Follow." Reichstaff pointed at Chloe, "Go down the stairs."

She followed a few men down into the basement of the building. It was dimly lit from small copper sconces mounted to the walls.

"Creepy..." she whispered. The men went into a room where five other girls were sitting on a couple of couches. The girls were all wearing red dresses, too. They were nervous, but attentive. One of the men closed the door behind her, and high school aged boy dressed all in black gave her a white rose.

She sat next to a pretty blonde girl who had her hair up in an elaborate style. "Oh I love that!" Chloe said. The girl smiled nervously. She had big blue eyes, and full pouty lips. Her face was soft and feminine and more childlike than womanly.

One of the men walked to a table in the center of the room. He wore a sport coat with leather elbow patches, a black turtleneck, and tweed pants. The man was a little older than her father, but was remarkably fit and healthy. His hair was thick, black and slicked back away from his shiny forehead. He knelt one knee on a table and leaned back in a studied pose.

"Girls, young women, please stand." he gestured to them. The girls all got up from the couches. He smiled and gestured around the room. "It's like a bouquet," he said in a voice fit for a theater. "It even smells flowery." He breathed in. Chloe suppressed the desire to guffaw.

"For those of you who are new, I want to welcome you, when you speak to me call me John. You are at the beginning of a long road. If you are worthy, have the right strength of body and mind, a whole new world of possibility will open up for you. For a special few," he pointed up, "like Stephanie, there is a possibility of gaining immortality. She is garbed all in white, preparing, now with her true family to make the crossing."

Chloe looked around the room. The other girls were hanging on every word. The man gestured casually and the nervous young man walked around behind them. He kept his eyes cast down at the floor.

John stood up away from the table and walked in front of the girls. He stopped in front of the blonde girl. He moved a curl out of her face and made a slight gesture with his right hand. The nervous boy unzipped her dress and pulled it down. The girl made an effort not to flinch.

Chloe stepped aside and said, "What the fuck?!" She was shocked when John wound up and slapped her hard across the cheek. Tears welled up in her eyes. In spite of all her Judo training, she'd never been struck in anger by someone who meant to hurt her. It took her out of herself for a moment.

John stared at her with malice. "Silence! Who are _you_ to speak." She regained her composure and started assessing the man. John returned his gaze to the blonde girl. She was standing at attention. The man was inspecting her like she was an animal. She wore black lace undergarments. Her panties hugged her hips, which were a bit wide for his taste and he tutted and touched the skin. He said, "As you mature, your shoulders and hips might come into proper proportion. Pull your shoulders back?" She had soft, full breasts that were cupped in a black lace bra. He frowned and rubbed a finger on stretch marks on the sides of her breasts. "A shame... You grew too fast for your skin."

Chloe heard a droning chant come from the altar room. Above her head, all of the people in the congregation were fixated on the bronze serpent, which undulated hypnotically. They all stared at it and chanted nonsense syllables.

Oh-wannnnn. Bahhh Ruuu. Oh-wannnnn. Bahhh Ruuu.

Stephanie was in the coffin. She was meditating and letting the voices carry her away to meet with her friend on the other side. She opened her eyes and was in a grassy meadow that was encircled with trees. Crows looked at her and cawed in excitement.

Her friend was next to her in an instant. "Stephanie! You blessed child! You special girl, you made it."

She embraced the woman and felt nothing but warmth and affection. "I'm ready, my Mother Demetria."

"Close your eyes and repeat, say 'I am ready. I am ready. I am ready."

"I am ready. I am ready." Stephanie felt the warmth wash over her again for a moment, then cold, and the light in the meadow faded to a dim gray. The crows flew past. Demetria was gone and she was alone.

The coffin lid flung open. Demetria jumped out. She felt her body, her breasts, and fingered her pussy.

"Yes!! Yes!!!!!!!!" She screamed. "I am alive! I am alive!"

Chloe heard the congregation cheering, "She lives, she lives, she lives!"

Chloe made a measure of each of the men in the room. John was fit and violent, but he was no fighter. He moved with no sense of balance and no power. The other men looked like business men, they were soft. They were ogling the girls and joking with each other.

Chloe started to walk toward the door, "How about you take this rose and shove it up your ass... _John_." She threw the rose on the floor. "I'm outta this freak show."

John tried to grab her arm, but she twisted out of it and pointed at him, "Don't touch me." The two business men stepped in front of the door and folded their arms. They smiled and laughed.

"She's a live wire!" One of them said to John.

"She'll know her place soon enough." John said. He gestured to the young man. He tried to maneuver behind her. The other girls watched the scene and remained at attention. They weren't sure if it was some kind of test. Chloe knew she needed to act quickly. Surprise was on her side, but she gave them one last chance, "just let me walk out of here and nobody will regret it."

John nodded to the boy, he clumsily tried to tackle her. She moved aside and he lost balance over her outstretched leg. As he stumbled forward, Chloe punched him hard transferring her body weight through her legs and hips onto the small bone behind his ear. The blow was like a flash bulb exploded in his brain. The boy went to the ground on all fours. She stomped on his forearm and felt the bones snap. He yelled and cradled the arm and she kicked him in the side of his neck. He went to the floor.

John rushed her with a hand raised to slap her. From her perspective, he seemed to be moving in slow motion. She could see all his vulnerable spots. She easily stepped aside and punched him hard in his floating rib, and drove the force through the bone, which cracked, as he bent over to protect his midriff, she hit him square in the kidney with the butt of her hand. He spasmodically fell to a knee and she kicked him hard in the back of the skull. John's brain rattled hard against the bone and he went out and crumpled forward to the floor. For good measure she stomped the hand he slapped her with. It felt like stepping on a box of pasta.

She turned to face the businessmen at the door. One of them was laughing at the spectacle and opened the door with one hand. He said, "I got no argument! Go!" He sipped a wine glass.

She sprinted up the stairs. The congregation was surrounding Demetria who was now sitting on a golden throne that had purple upholstery. They all hoped for her to speak with them or to touch them. Judge Ralph was bowing on the floor saying, "The gods walk among us! they walk among us!!"

The burly man was still at the side door, so she shoved the heavy front doors open and sprinted toward the car. Some of the congregation noticed the door open, but it barely registered with them.

Keith was unconscious in the seat. Chloe shouted, "Dad!!!" and shook him. He was out cold. She grabbed the keys and started the Healey and sped away. The burly guard trotted out after her, waited a few moments, then went back into the building and shut the doors.

## Chapter Six

The burly guard went down into the basement. The businessmen were standing out in the hall. One of them asked, "Did she leave?"

The guard responded, "Yes." He walked into the room and took a look around. John was still out cold laying awkwardly on the floor. The young man was on his back cradling his broken arm. Something was wrong with his neck and he was afraid to move. " _She_ did this?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it was something else! She was very well trained. She hit these two like a truck!" the man said with admiration.

The guard just grunted. He knelt down by the boy. "You'll have to wait for Demetria to leave, then we'll get you an ambulance, OK. You just fell down the stairs, and landed on John. Right?"

"Yes." the boy said. He didn't move his head. He stared at the ceiling.

The guard felt the boy's neck. "I think you're going to be fine. Just soft tissue damage. Can you wiggle your toes?" The boy's foot moved. "The other foot?" he moved the other foot. "Good."

He knelt at John's side. The business man stood over them. He was sipping on another glass of wine. "She fucked him up but good. He slapped her. Bad idea!" John's fingers looked like a jenga tower that collapsed in a pile.

The guard felt for a pulse. "He's alive. How long has he been out?"

"Just a minute or two. She kicked the back of his head."

The guard looked at the other girls. They were sitting on the couches, still not sure what happened. He stood up. He spoke to the room, "Dustin fell down the stairs and broke his arm. He landed on John. Got it?" The girls nodded.

He walked back out into the hall. The two business men stopped him. One said, "These girls are wrecked, right? I mean, how will they obey after that?"

The guard stifled his sense of disgust at the two vultures, and nodded slightly. "Yes, most likely, but we can't make that call."

He trotted back up the stairs. Demetria was strolling around the interior of the hall drinking in every detail. An entourage followed her around the building. She stopped and turned to face her admirers.

"I am very bored." She announced curtly. "Is there something to do?"

"There will be a reception in the garden." Reichstaff said. His voice quivered. It was the first time in years that his gathering had brought one of the gods over. Their mere presence electrified and almost hypnotized some people. She tweaked his nose. He gasped.

"Boring..."

Yuri, Saul, Judge Ralph and the Sheriff were at the back of the group. Yuri glided through the crowd like he was a snake moving through tall grass. The other three watched with a sense of shock. Yuri was not in awe of Demetria. He wasn't sure what the spectacle was all about. His parents had been part of the Brotherhood in Russia, then Israel. That's the only reason he was initiated into the organization. He ignored the religious ceremonies, the different cults, and the mythology that was attached to the group. He found it annoying.

Yuri told her, "We have an operation in progress. A young girl would be a perfect cover. It could be an interesting thing to do."

She paused a moment and regarded Yuri. He was slender, with a tubular, small body, slightly shorter than her and about the same weight. He wore thick, gold rimmed glasses and his clothes were shabby compared to the rest of the crowd who wore their wealth on every square inch of cloth, leather, and jewelry that covered their bodies. But he looked at her like she was just a normal human. She smiled broadly and put an arm around him. Her new body was a half a head taller than Yuri. Stephanie had been avid in several outdoors sports, and the body was fit and toned.

She walked with him to the front of the hall and the entourage followed them a few paces behind, "I feel completely ridiculous in this outfit." It was an elaborately brocaded white gown that shimmered in the soft light of the building. A master seamstress had labored long hours every day over the course of three months to make it. "Undress me," she said to Yuri.

"Here?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Of course!" she said. She turned slowly and pulled her hair aside. He fumbled with a zipper for a moment and pulled it down to the center of her back. "Well?" she asked. He peeled the gown forward. She pulled her arms free and the gown slipped down her back. The material was a bit stiff and had a plastic corset inside. Yuri took a good look at her back. The skin was white and flawless except for a small birthmark on her left shoulder. The round globes of her young breasts were visible from behind, curving away from the graceful arc of her chest. She leaned forward on the altar and waggled her ass in his face. "Keep going!" she said and smiled.

He pulled the gown over her hips. Demetria's body had a heart shaped, firm ass. The gown fell to the floor. Demetria wiggled her ass slowly in front of Yuri's face. The rest of the congregation watched silently. Yuri regarded her firm legs, they were in white sheer stockings up to her thighs. Her ass was bare, and her pudenda was ripe and firm.

She turned around and tousled his hair, then kicked the dress away. She sat down on the stone altar. The feeling of the cold stone on her ass was a novelty as was every sensation.

"Everyone needs to start fucking." She announced and grabbed Yuri's belt.

Reichstaff snapped out of his reverie now that he had something to do. The rest of the congregation started to kiss and grope each other. He motioned to the burly guard. "Strip the girls and bring them up!"

The guard pulled him aside, "One of them left... In haste."

"Left?" He was surprised. "The new one?"

"Yes. She apparently knew martial arts. John is unconscious."

Reichstaff grimaced slightly and sighed. "Oh well. Such a waste of our time. Can you take care of it?"

"Of course. We'll have an ambulance come after everyone leaves."

"Ambulance? Oh no. You'll need to get them outside away from the hall."

The guard nodded. "Alright, when it's dark, I'll get them out and make it look like a car accident."

"Good." Reichstaff said. "Bring the girls up now. All they're good for..."

The guard trotted down the stairs. The purpose the girls would serve suddenly changed. Instead of being groomed and weeded out one by one down to a select group, they were tossed as a bunch onto a different path. They'd be pimped out, sold off, or traded for favors. But first, they'd be initiated into their new life by being shared among the men in the hall.

The two business men were still waiting outside the door when the guard got down the stairs. "Well?" one of them said impatiently. He was a man in his late fifties, his forehead was bony where the years had deflated his youthful skin to a tight shiny covering on his skull. His hands were large and bony, and the nails were weirdly shiny and manicured.

The guard stepped into the room. "Girls, in honor of the goddess Demetria, you must remove your clothing. You will be presented to her as you were when your earthly mother first gazed upon you. You will be reborn tonight, too." He said, reciting a script he'd said several times. All of it a lie. He left the room, and stifled a sigh and hardened his eyes.

The blonde girl was still in her bra and panties. All the girls had been put through months of training to follow odd instructions without question or hesitation. They stood up and barely glanced at each other. The business man with the bony head went in the room and helped unzip the dresses. The girls slipped out of their clothes, revealing a suite of different body styles that nature's genius labored for a billion years to produce. Their training, and the avarice of their parents now turned them into slaves.

The blonde girl was the queen of the group. The business man with the bony head eyed her and asked, "How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen."

He smiled and sucked his teeth. "Girl, do you know that you're a handle I can attach to the cock of any politician and make him do what I want?"

"No, I didn't know that."

"Did you know how dangerous you are?" he smiled, and stroked her cheek. She was placid and kept eye contact with him.

"No, I don't know."

He rubbed a finger over her lips. "Kiss it." she complied. Her lips were soft and full. He motioned to the other girls, "You go on up." They filed out of the room, moving awkwardly because they fought all the natural urge to cover themselves.

"Are you a virgin?" he asked.

"Yes." she said. She kept her eyes focused on his.

He scoffed. "Nobody ever touched you? Not a relative? A teacher?"

"Well, yes. But never intercourse." Her cheeks flushed red.

"There it is..." he murmured. "Shame." She continued looking at him. He put his hands on her hips and guided her to sit down on a couch. "Lay back." he said.

She leaned back against the cushions. Her feet were still on the floor and her stomach was arched. He knelt between her legs and gripped both her ankles. He rotated her legs up in the air so she was exposed.

"I'm going to teach you something." he said. "Shame is the most powerful weapon. Even more potent than this." He tapped her pubic mound with a finger. He rolled her over. She looked back over her shoulder. "I own you now." he said. He rested a hand on her back. "Do you understand?"

"I think so."

"Think?!" he barked.

"Yes." she nodded.

"Good. Don't think and you can live a good life and retire when you're 35. Thinking's bad. Now, get dressed, we're leaving."

## Chapter Seven

Keith woke up as the night air streamed through the Healey. "What..... where am I?"

"Dad! Finally. I'm taking us to the Wells farm!" Chloe's voice was sharp, but she was steady and in control.

"What happened?" he sat up in the seat. "I don't remember a thing. Just driving down to Hudson, then it's black."

"They must have drugged you." she said.

"What?" he was startled.

"Yeah, then they took me into a freak show." She spit the words.

"What happened?"

"I went into a room, this creepy dude made one girl undress. She just stood there like a zombie. He slapped me!"

"What?!" Keith was fully awake.

"I kicked the shit out of two guys and ran. That was about a half hour ago."

"Did they follow?" he opened the glove box and took the gun out. He looked over his shoulder. The road was dark except for the pool of red from the tail lights.

"No. I was out the door before any of those freaks knew what happened."

"Good! Thank god! Honey, I'm so sorry..." he rubbed his eyes. Guilt weighed on him.

"There's no way you could have guessed." she said. "Anyway, it's alright. I'm angry beyond belief at those people. I want to kill them all."

"There's something big going on." Keith said. "We really dove into the deep end."

The Austin rumbled down the driveway. All the lights were on in the house and the Flying Fox's windows glowed. Chloe honked the horn repeatedly and pulled to a stop in the drive. The engine stalled. She ran around to the passenger side.

Robbie, Dana, and Johnny trotted outside. Tracy and Morgan followed them out.

"Help!" Chloe said, "My Dad's been drugged."

Robbie opened the passenger door and knelt down by Keith. "You OK?"

"Yeah, I think so, feels like waking up after anaesthesia." Keith said. "Help me up."

Robbie took Keith's arm and helped him stand. "Johnny, some help." he nodded at Keith's other side. The two men helped him stump into the house.

Tracy hugged Chloe, who burst into tears and sobbed.

Dana pet her arm, "What happened?"

Keith held up a hand, "It's all my fault."

Chloe backed up and wiped her eyes with her arm. "We went to this church, well, this weird temple in Hudson. They drugged Dad, and tried to rape me or sacrifice me, or god knows. But I got out of there. They messed with the wrong girl!" Her eyes flashed.

Dana said, "They sure did!"

Robbie asked, "You said temple?"

Keith answered, "Yeah, this weird building, I was following a lead..." he handed over his phone to Robbie.

Robbie flipped through the pictures, with a thoughtful look on his face. He handed the phone to Dana and she and Johnny looked at them.

"Keith, we've got a lot to talk about." Robbie said. "You want some coffee?"

"Hopefully without rohypnol?" Keith managed a smile.

Robbie chuckled, "No, but cream? Actually, everybody into the library. Lots to discuss."

## Chapter Eight

Robbie turned on all the lights in the library. He even walked up to the second floor and plugged in the large wall fixture that looked like the sun. It shone against the wall and the frosted glass in the light fixture glowed yellow.

Robbie sat at the head of the table. He put his arm squarely on its surface. Dana sat close to him on the arm of the chair. Keith sat on one side of the table near Robbie, and Johnny sat on the other so the sun lamp was just over his shoulder.

Morgan took a seat at the other end of the table. He nervously tapped the armrests. Tracy and Chloe flanked him.

Dana surveyed the room. "All good?" They all nodded.

Robbie spoke, "The two of you just stumbled into our world."

Keith looked sideways at him. "Chloe's mentioned a few things, but can you explain a little better?"

Robbie said, "Let's start with this." He flipped his laptop open and clicked through a few files, then played a video of their raid on the Nashville Vampires. "Johnny recorded this through the window."

Keith leaned over, and the girls and Morgan gathered around the screen.

Vampire Elvis knelt down, "you're gonna kill that bunny, boy, then I'm going to wreck you. Then I'm going to take your blood."

The eastern european man ran into the room, "Go! Go!" he shouted, then an arrow sprang from his chest.

The video stopped. Keith put a hand to his head. "Wow." he muttered. Tracy and Morgan were aghast.

Dana said, "We rescued the kids and killed those two."

Chloe snarled, "These people are disgusting. They were going to rape me."

Keith said, "But she kicked their asses."

Chloe said, "But they got five other girls...."

Keith said, "Apparently sold or traded by their parents. Lovely people."

Robbie filled them in on the background. They talked for a couple of hours, and finally he said, "I think they're interested in something _here._ The Sheriff's been poking around. There are cameras out back."

"Sheriff?" Keith said.

"Yeah, the Sheriff. These guys get their fingers into everything. National governments, state governments, crime, businesses." Robbie said.

"Believe it or not, the Sheriff was _there_ tonight. Him and that Judge... I can't think of the guy's name. He always uses his first name..."

"Judge Ralph?" Robbie asked.

"Yeah... That's it."

"He was here... in our house!" Tracy shouted.

"Death star plans..." Morgan said.

"What?" Keith asked.

Robbie deferred to Morgan. He walked around the room and climbed up to the second floor near the sun lamp.

"Robbie told us a few weeks ago that this room contains the plans to the Death Star." he gestured around. They all watched him as he walked the catwalk. "Maybe they're looking for the 'droids."

Keith was flustered, "Morgan, you totally lost me. I'm not up on my _Star Wars_ trivia."

"With the knowledge in this room, you could build a death star..." Morgan said.

"Or blow one up." Chloe said with firm resolve.

Robbie gently thumped his fist on the table as if he were forging an idea. "We have immediate problems and longer term problems."

Keith nodded, "first things first?"

"We don't want to get Waco'ed or Ruby Ridged." Robbie said bluntly. "With all of us here, they could trump up some reason to raid this house, come in guns blazing."

Keith offered, "We'll get back to the condo. Plus, the case I'm working on leads back to the apparent murder of Marcus Rice. That's the trail that led me to Hudson. There might be a line of attack there."

Johnny chimed in, "Now that we've got names, we can start to get after them and dig up their dirt. I already started on the Sheriff, but now with the information from Hudson, and the Judge, we can start to trace out their networks. I'm going to start squeezing."

Robbie asked, "Before you get to that, can you take those cameras out in a non-obvious way?"

Johnny smiled, "Yeah. I'll go do that, now. Then I'll park the Fox back in the woods." He went outside.

Morgan asked, "What about me?"

Robbie said, "I think we're still relatively safe here, but it might be a good idea for you young folks to stay away from the house for a couple of days. The best thing for you to do is go back to your 'normal' life."

Tracy, looked at Chloe and Morgan. For her, normal was already a distant memory.

## Chapter Nine

Demetria sat in the back seat of the Sheriff's Escalade with Saul and Yuri. Ralph sat in the front and Chuck was at the wheel.

"I will need a car. This one won't do." Demetria said.

"Anything you want, we can get." Ralph said eagerly.

She frowned. She didn't like him. He and Saul were overcome by her presence. At least Saul stayed quiet and just smiled like an idiot. His normal gregariousness, combined with his reverence for her just tied his mind in knots. Yuri and Chuck just treated her like another person, with only slight acknowledgement of her status.

"Two of you are _men_. Fully human. Two aren't." she announced. "What's the matter with you two?" she looked at Ralph and Saul with disgust.

"I am... awestruck..." Ralph said.

"That's a nice thing to say. An admirable sentiment, but is it worthy of a man, or just slaves?"

Saul cast his eyes down. She sneered at him. "I thought so. I bet your ancestors stomped bricks." she squeezed his chin and stared into his eyes.

She made him feel very small and insignificant. "How do you do this?" he asked.

She shoved his face away. "Do what?"

"I feel this way, now. But I met this girl, Stephanie was her name, before you inhabited her, and did not have this feeling."

"Are you a philosopher?" She laughed. "Are you probing into the nature of things?"

Saul nodded. "I suppose I am."

"Did you know people used to throw their infant children into fires to talk to us and to please us?" She laughed ruefully.

"Moloch?" Ralph asked quietly.

"Yes, that was one they fed children to." She nodded. "For centuries, they thought I brought the _spring_. It took sooooo long to instruct them in the proper way to help me cross over here. So many piles of poor dead virgins. So tedious."

They pulled into the driveway of a palatial house on Fairmont Road. The house was surrounded by immaculate landscaping and an entire forest had been mowed down to open up a view of the valley. The walls were illuminated by floodlights.

"Is this mine?" she put a hand on her chest and feigned gratitude.

"Yes." Ralph said. "We're at your command. Anything you need, let us know."

"Get me a vehicle. Something fast and dangerous and appropriate to me. I will need to assemble a household staff." She got out of the car. "You two _men_ , come with me, and we will discuss this plan of yours." Yuri climbed out.

Chuck rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you insist? I think Yuri can take care of you."

She knitted her brow together. "You are a man, but not a _man_? How can you resist this?" She gestured at her body.

Chuck climbed out of the car. She leered, "If we had a third, I'd have one per hole." She led them into the house.

The foyer was two stories and a marble staircase that arced up to the second floor. Demetria took it all in quickly, then shooed them into the house. "It's been many years since I've been here. Show me things."

They led her around the house and showed her the bathrooms and hot tub, the TV and the Internet. There was a folio with a set of credit cards, a drivers license. There were guns and knives and a sword. She was enamored with a tablet computer and started browsing the Internet. Yuri and Chuck got bored and sat on a couch.

"I'm going to get a car tomorrow..." she announced. "Actually, ooh... a motorcycle."

"That could work." Chuck said.

"For what?" She asked. She plopped down between them.

"I mean, for the mission."

"Aha. The _mission_." she intoned with mock seriousness. "Always such important business to do. Grubby deals. Money to make!" She sat between them on a couch. "Tell me about this mission." She undid their pants and slipped her hand inside.

"Uhhh... Well." Chuck struggled to stay focused as she tugged on him. "We are trying to recover two books from a home. We want someone, you, since you are a young woman, to infiltrate the home and take the books."

"You want _me_ to do this spy's work?" She fixed him with her gaze.

"Well, yes." he said.

"Is it dangerous?" she asked.

"Quite possibly." Yuri said.

"It can wait until the morning. You both come with me to bed."

Chuck shrugged and looked at Yuri. They followed her.

~End of Episode Six~

# EPISODE SEVEN--The Night's Embrace

Flashback to Four Years Ago

## Chapter One

Telia, Matt, Johnny and Dana left the warehouse and drove back to the farm. Telia was quiet and stared out the passenger window. She occasionally sniffled. The rest of them were contemplative. Matt looked back in the rearview at Dana.

"I'm starting to think we are wrong about the big picture." he said.

She was still a little groggy from the peyote tea, and had been trying to hang onto the feeling she experienced. "Huh? That's a broad statement... break that down, Matt. I'm still a little toasted."

"Yeah sorry. I think our assumption has been that the other side is the source of evil, but now I'm not so sure. The two sides are mixed--connected even. Maybe we've been too simplistic, obviously part of the problem is with _us_ , human beings, I mean." Matt said.

"Matt, it's really not complex." Dana said. "All the beings over there might not be malignant as the Vampires, but all of them are inhuman. So, even a good person, reaching out to them with good intentions will end up tricked or corrupted. All we can do is protect what's human."

The sense of satisfaction he felt about actually making it to the other side had been short lived. A sense of depression and doubt began to nag at him. Reaching the other side was not a finish line, it was merely another bend that led to a much steeper and more dangerous path.

Matt remained silent. Telia reached over and held his hand.

"It was an amazing thing, Dana." Telia said. "It changed _everything_ for me to see that something else is out there. I think other people would really love to experience that. Knowing, first hand, that something else is there."

Dana's face hardened. "It is an incredible experience, but don't be confused, Telia. It's not the afterlife. There aren't any answers over there."

Telia sighed and looked out the window.

Matt tapped his hands on the wheel and said, "I'm going to take tomorrow and regroup."

Johnny said, "I've got a little more work to do on the rig. Anyone want to be a guinea pig tomorrow?"

Telia sat up. "I'll do it. I'd like to get more practice and explore much more."

## Chapter Two

All through the next morning, Telia helped Johnny rework some of the sections of the reflector array. It was tedious, exacting work to reposition the elements. They took a coffee break.She sat on a flipped over five gallon bucket and Johnny tapped away at the computer.

"Hey Johnny..." she interrupted him, but trailed off leaving a pregnant pause.

He stopped typing. She'd been very diligent and thoughtful all morning and all their discussion had revolved around getting the job done. He was used to working with people like Dana, who were not so serious and would go off on crazy tangents all the time. He replied, "Hey Telia..." and chuckled at the awkward silence.

She laughed, "Yeah, I'm all up in my head. Like Matty!"

Johnny said, "You should work with him sometime. He was goofing off all the time we built this thing.""

She smacked his knee, "No way!"

"I think he was a little delirious, so close to the end of an enormous project, it can be intoxicating and disorienting."

She pursed her lips. "I can see that. Anyway, I am not sure if you or Matt realizes how _amazing_ this is. This is huge--almost like the invention of fire huge."

He grunted and nodded his head. "Holy moly, I never thought of it from that point-of-view. I was so focused on the task."

She continued elaborating the thought, "I mean every single person wonders what's _out there._ Now basically everyone can find out."

"It's _really_ like a ride at an amusement park." he said.

She shrugged extravagantly, "Why not?"

"So far it seems safe, _but_ ," he held up a finger and made the pause last a long time. She sipped her coffee and waited. "But maybe it is dangerous. The first day I met Matt, we talked to a man named Jack who warned that they are extremely subtle and act on scales we can't perceive."

"I am wary of that... but there also have to be good things there, too."

He nodded. "Well maybe you can find some today."

## Chapter Three

Telia sat in the armchair and Johnny positioned the reflector. She barely closed her eyes and she was on the shore again. This time, there was more color in the scene. She could feel the presence of the Sun and the Earth. Her hair fluttered in a light breeze. She walked up to the grassy plain and decided to follow the shoreline. She saw a couple lounging on the ridge just ahead of her.

She called out, "Hello!"

A young man propped himself on his elbow and waved. "Hello! This breeze is amazing. I can actually smell things." He smiled and wafted the air to his face.

The woman who'd been sitting next to him stood up. She moved with lithe grace. She walked next to Telia. "You are most extraordinary!" She said. She brushed a hand over Telia's face. Her touch felt like hundreds of butterfly wings. "You are glowing. There's a white light that permeates you." The woman was fascinated. She had red hair and green eyes. "How have you done this?"

"We have a machine, a reflector, that makes the connection stronger." Telia said.

The man stood up and stretched. "A machine?!" He asked with a look of amazement animating his face.

"Yes and we will build more of them, too." Telia said. "I want to bring more people over."

The man nodded and smiled. "Yes!" he clasped her shoulders and hugged her. She felt a warm presence flow through her. The woman hugged her and held her hand and stood very close to her.

"What are your names?" Telia asked.

"Oh, of course, how rude of us." the man said, "I am Louis, and she's Samantha."

"I am Telia."

Samantha tipped her head slightly and probed, "Telia, what is your goal in bringing others over?" She locked her arm with Telia. They began strolling together. In the distance, Telia saw some small white stone buildings. Crows flew past and called.

"Well..." Telia started to explain.

"Wait. Try something." Louis stopped them. "See the crow. Reach out to him with your mind and look down on us."

Telia paused, then felt for the crow. Suddenly, she was looking down from high in the air. She saw the top of her head and saw Louis and Samantha looking up. "Wow!" she said.

Samantha gripped her hand, "Telia, you just did what other people spend a _lifetime_ , no the culmination of thousands of years of cultural practice attempting to do!"

A tear welled up in Telia's eye and rolled down her cheek. It fell to the ground and the moisture sank into the soil. Samantha wiped her cheek with a thumb. She was amazed to feel the moisture. She tasted the salty fluid. She was astounded.

Telia continued, "All this," she gestured around, "is why I want to bring others over. This experience is _profound_. It's like Columbus discovering a whole new world."

Samantha's expression subtly shifted, she'd spent millennia talking to new arrivals. The conversations were almost always the same and she stifled an urge to mock Telia. She wanted to get her on track quickly. She said resolutely, "Yes, it _is_ important. This machine you have is incredibly important. We can help you understand this place, what it means."

"Thank you." Telia said. "I feel like I'm fading here."

"Before you go..." Samantha said. Telia felt Samantha's presence, a very powerful presence surge through her body, like an injection of adrenaline. As Telia returned to normal consciousness, Samantha stayed with her like the memory of a flavor.

## Chapter Four

That evening, Matt's cell phone rang. He didn't recognize the caller ID number, but he answered anyway.

"Hello?" he said.

He heard a feeble scratchy voice through the earpiece. "Hi, um, you probably don't know me, but this nice guy gave me your number in case I ever needed it.... and I need it, now."

"Oh, is this Amy?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, this is Amy."

He met her when hunting for antiques in southern Ohio. She'd been on a steady glide path to a heroin fueled crash.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm still at my parents place. There's absolutely nothing here. The water's even not working now. No power, either. Getting bad."

"You know what... I'll just come pick you up. Are you ready for something different?"

"Yeah, I really am this time." she said absentmindedly.

He ended the call, then grabbed his car keys put on a jacket and went to find Telia. She was laying on top of the bed covers, just looking up at the ceiling.

"Hey, Tee..." he sat on the bed and grabbed her hand.

"Are you going somewhere?" she asked.

"Remember that addict I bought the lion sculptures from?"

"Yeah, I remember you talking about that."

"Well, I sort of promised to help her out and she just called." He half expected Telia to jump down his throat about being such a pushover. She just nodded and patted his hand.

"You're so kind to people. Such a good man." she said. She teared up.

"Hey, what's the matter?" he held her.

"Nothing, nothing at all." she sobbed. "It's just the emotions feel so _strong_. I think it's from being over there."

He patted her hair. "I can understand. I'm completely wrung out from it... That's really why I'm heading down there, now. I think a long drive will do me some good."

"OK. You go. I'm still just trying to get my head around this whole thing." she wiped her eyes and sighed.

## Chapter Five

Matt arrived at Amy's house in the wee hours of the morning. The house was a dark hulking thing against a shimmering backdrop of the Ohio River. He pointed the headlights at the front door, and left the car running. He grabbed a flashlight and a bag from the trunk, then went and knocked on the front door. He waited a minute, then knocked again. He tried the knob and the door was open. He went back to the car and grabbed a gun from under the seat, then went inside the house.

The smell of rot and stale air hit him. He left the door wide open and light from his headlights illuminated the interior with a white glow. "Hello?!" he called out.

"I'm in here. Just a second." he heard from down the hall.

Amy padded out of a side room. The clothes she was wearing were stained and worn thin. Her arms were thinner than the joints and her face was chalky. She had an afghan wrapped around her shoulders.

"Hey, I brought you a change of clothes if you want. They might be a little big, but they're warm... and clean," he handed her the bag.

"Oh thanks. I'll go put them on." She changed into the clothes. It was a pair of Tracy's sweats and a chunky hooded sweater. They fit his 14 year old daughter, but Amy was swimming in them. "These are nice, thanks, mister. I forgot your name already. I'm sorry."

"That's fine. I'm Matt. At least you remembered my phone number."

"Yeah, that stuck with me all this time. How'd you do that?" she remembered his singing trick.

"Oh, it's a trick I read about in a book. Hey, do you want to go?"

She nodded. "I'll die here if I stay. I'm so thirsty. Do you have any water?"

They went out to the car. He pulled a bottle out of the trunk and gave it to her. She washed her mouth out and spit on the concrete drive. Then she drank a sip. "Matt, can I tell you something?"

He nodded and shrugged, "Sure, of course."

"I'm a junkie. I'm a total mess. Nothing really works right anymore..." she gestured at her body. "Just so you know, cuz I don't want to mess up your car, but I might not be able to help it."

He laughed, "I actually brought a bunch of towels."

She managed an awkward smile.

He said, "Do you own this house?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I inherited it."

"You have keys?"

"I don't know where they are anymore."

"That's OK. I'll go lock it up anyway. I'll be back."

He went inside the house and she dozed off in the passenger seat. She was asleep when he got back and he actually checked to see if she was breathing. His network of contacts didn't really have anyone that had experience with drug addicts. He texted Robbie, but he was probably asleep, so Matt just started heading back toward the farm.

It was still dark when he rumbled down the driveway, but the color of the eastern sky had shifted from dark blue to hazy gray.

He nudged her shoulder. There was barely any muscle there. She opened an eye and looked around.

"I actually slept." she said. "Where am I?"

"This is my family's farm. We're in Geauga County, on the north side of the state. It's about a four hour drive."

"I haven't been _anywhere_ for so such a long time." she said. "Went to Florida when I was a kid, but otherwise, just up and down along the River."

He showed her to a small guest room on the second floor. The stone chimney made up part of one of the walls. There was a twin bed and a short dresser. He showed her the bathroom across the hall and gave her a toothbrush and toiletries.

She gave him a weak hug. "Matt?" she said. "I'm going to go back to bed. I'll probably sleep a long time. When I wake up, I'm going to start having, um, a problem."

He said, "You can quit cold turkey, or maybe try methadone?"

She put up a hand, "I can't deal with that right now. I'm going to bed! 'Night!"

He went down to the library and tried to find a way to help her, but fell asleep on the table.

## Chapter Six

Telia woke up to the bright morning sun. The master bedroom had a row of windows that faced East. Over the years, she'd grown to really love the bedroom's view of the eastern sky in the morning. The procession of the sun from south to north and back again marked the year. She spent a few minutes stretching and greeting the daylight.

She found Matt asleep on the library table. She gently shook his shoulder and he woke up slowly and sat up.

He grimaced. "Owwww. Man, my neck. That's gonna hurt a while." He awkwardly got to his feet and stooped over and followed her into the kitchen. He downed a couple of ibuprofen while she got breakfast going.

"So, did you go save the junkie?" She asked with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice. He was glad she was back to her normal self.

"Yeah, well, I went down there and got her anyway. Her name's Amy. She's upstairs in the small guest room." he said.

"You brought her here?" she snorted and smiled. "Dude..." She shook her head, "you realize her whole world revolves around getting high. She emptied her parents' house into her veins already. She sees you as another means to that end."

He took a cup of coffee and cradled it in his hands. He nodded very slightly. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But I think there's got to be some way to help her."

Telia rolled her eyes. She patted him on the head and kissed his cheek. "Silly boy. Just remember, she's not a puzzle to solve, she's a human with a nasty habit." She made a washing motion with her hands. "She is your problem. I'm just going to watch this one."

Dana and Johnny came into the house for breakfast. Dana had her hair up through a scrunchy and was wearing a tank top and no bra. She and Johnny sat at the kitchen counter on bar stools and started putting eggs and toast on their plates. Telia put her hand on Dana's shoulder and looked her up and down.

Dana eyed her, "What's up, Tee?"

"I never noticed how lovely you are, Dana." she said. Telia was staring at her.

"Well, thanks." Dana smiled. "You seem different... wait...." Dana looked Telia up and down and put a hand on her belly. "No?"

Telia shook her head and leaned over and nibbled on Dana's ear, then said "No!" and laughed hysterically.

Dana raised an eyebrow. "What's gotten into you?" She asked.

Telia leaned back again and walked over to Matt. "I'm in a weird mood." she said. She hugged Matt and kissed him on the head. "This guy brought us a junkie last night. Is this your mid life crisis, Matt?"

Dana said, "It's never dull here!"

Matt drank a big gulp of coffee. "Mid life crisis? Shouldn't I get a sports car and _another_ girlfriend?" he laughed. Johnny high fived him.

Telia held up her hand and shushed them, "Quiet!" she whispered. The others listened. "Hear that?"

They heard Amy retching. Matt got up. "I guess that's my mid life crisis calling me. Hey Dana, do you know anything about addiction? I thought you might be able to get a read on this girl."

She stood up and followed Matt up the stairs.

Telia walked around behind Johnny. She put her hand on the back of his neck and stood very close. "Do you want to go work on the reflector today?"

Johnny was used to Dana getting into his personal space and being sexually provocative at random times, but Telia was throwing him severely off balance. His brain zeroed in on all the spots her body was bumping into him. He tried to remain casual, but his voice cracked a little, "yeah, sure. There's always more to do."

She lightly kissed the back of his neck and rubbed his shoulders and pressed her body against him. "Excellent. Let me know whenever you're ready. I'll be on the patio."

## Chapter Seven

The bathroom door was open slightly. Matt knocked. "Hey, Amy? You alright?"

"No." she groaned.

Dana opened the door. Amy was on the floor next to the toilet. Her nose and the side of her face were crusted with snot. Dana knelt down, "Oh, ugh." she put her arm in front of her nose.

"Sorry about that smell." Amy mumbled. "Can't help it."

Dana inspected Amy and put a hand on her chest. Dana could feel her heart racing. "Well, girl, you are nowhere near death's door physically, I can feel that, but man, there's not much _you_ left." She stood up and looked at Matt and shrugged.

"Well?" he asked. "What's your take?" They stepped out into the hall.

Dana said, "I really don't know. When I do readings, all kinds of people stop in. Believe me, there are lots and lots of addicts walking the streets that are otherwise normal functioning adults. They all feel the same: nobody home in there." she patted his chest and left her hand there. "You, or Johnny, or Telia, I feel a presence. With _you_ , it's really strong."

Matt asked, "What did you do for them?"

She furrowed her brow. "Unfortunately, they are really hard to reach and pull back. I did work with a college girl who was an Adderall tweaker. It was like she had to work her way out of a maze, and eventually she did. But, she was _really_ intelligent."

"Alright, so I guess it really depends on her. We can try to help, but maybe not expect much."

Dana nodded, "seems about right. Anyway, good luck."

## Chapter Eight

Dana grabbed a couple pieces of now cold toast and walked out toward the Flying Fox. Telia was on the patio, stretched out luxuriously on a lounge chair.

"Dana!" she called out.

Dana stopped in her tracks. She rolled her eyes, then turned around. "Yeah?"

"Oh come here, girl!" she beckoned.

Dana took a bite of the toast and walked over to the patio. Telia was stretched to her full length on the lounge chair. She was wearing a light weight T-shirt that hugged her curves and some light weight white linen pants. She shifted languidly onto her side and patted the lounger.

Dana sat down. Telia rubbed her back and said, "I am in the mood to do some clothes shopping today. I know it's not your normal thing, but I think it would be really fun for us to go together. I've always liked your style. Maybe you can help me try something new. A real change of pace."

Dana laughed, "You mean hipster pin-up girl with practical shoes?" She put her arm on Telia and kicked one leg in the air, striking a pose.

Telia laughed and Dana put her hand on Telia's chest and looked at her. Telia smiled slyly, "Aren't you at least going to pinch my nipple?"

Dana laughed. "Tee, you sure turned over a new leaf! Why don't we go this afternoon?"

"OK. It'll be fun!" Telia said.

Dana continued on to the Flying Fox. Johnny was on the computer answering some emails. She kissed his head. "Hey, I'm going shopping with Telia later, she likes my style, now." she chuckled.

"I thought you didn't get along?" He said. "Is she always like this? I mean, extremely, well, what's the word, aggressively affectionate?"

"As long as I've known her, she's been really square, I mean totally constrained. Maybe we finally rubbed off on her." Dana smiled.

"Well, she almost rubbed off on my back this morning." he laughed.

"Oh reaaalllly, whatever do you mean?" she asked coyly and wrapped her arms around his head and pressed her womanhood against him.

He laughed, "a little like that, but not that much."

"Maybe she just likes your man stank." She inhaled.

## Chapter Nine

Telia walked slowly around the reflector while Johnny booted up the computer and powered up the control electronics. The quiet warehouse hummed with the sound of cooling fans. He kept a wary eye on her. Telia had dropped all boundaries she had with him previously and he still wasn't sure how to respond.

She made her way around and stood behind him, "hey can you show me how to do all this myself?" she gestured at the controller.

"Oh sure, it's really easy. I'll walk you through the steps." he shut the systems down.

"Really, all you need to do is power up this panel," he flipped a switch on the controller, which was mounted in a tall narrow rack. "Wait a few seconds until this light turns green." He pointed at the light. It changed color from yellow to green. "Then power up the computer. It'll start the right program automatically."

She nodded. He plopped down in the chair by the computer. He pointed at a notepad on the right of the computer and said, "These are the coordinates."

She sat on his lap and said, "let me see. Then put them in here?" She typed in the terminal tower coordinates.

"Yep. Click on the 'GO' icon. Then the system will point the reflector. It's that easy."

She clicked the mouse button and the gimbals swung the reflector and chair around.

"I feel something else pointing." She laughed and wriggled her butt. She put her arm around his shoulders. "I'm going to go over now." she took a swig of the peyote tea. "It's an acquired taste." she kissed him on the lips.

"Ugh, yeah." he wiped it off. "Hey, by the way Telia, I really _like_ your openness, but I'm not sure what it means. I'm not too swift when it comes to these things."

She pointed at the reflector. "Did anything ever happen to you that completely changed your perspective, that totally rendered your prior beliefs ridiculous?"

He nodded. "Yes. Really that's why I'm here."

"Going over there makes everything _here_ seem so extremely real and beautiful. I can barely stand it." she embraced him with all her strength. He squeezed her.

She climbed up into the chair. "See you soon!" she waved at him in a few moments she connected to the other side.

## Chapter Ten

Robbie called Matt, "I got your text about Amy. I know a guy in Phoenix that does an intensive addiction recovery program. Does stuff with psychedelics and meditation, but that's about all I know."

Matt sighed, "She's a wreck right now. It's hard to imagine a cross country trip in that condition. She's basically living in the bathroom."

Robbie grunted. He scratched his head and asked the question that puzzled him since he got the text. "How did this happen? What's your connection to this girl?"

"I really don't know how it did. She seemed completely lost when I met her, and I thought we could help her out. I mean, that's what we do, right?"

"I can't argue with that." Robbie said. "So have you put the work with the reflector on hold?"

"I'm taking a little break. I hit a mental roadblock on it, but Johnny is refining the thing and Telia's been helping him out."

"Really? Telia helping. That's great!" he laughed. "Is she building the thing? It's hard to imagine her wrenching on a project."

Matt laughed, "yeah, I guess she was actually really good at it. She's also made a couple of trips to the other side."

Robbie frowned, "You think that's wise? We really don't know what might happen, Matt. She's totally new to this world. She hasn't seen what we've seen."

Matt was quiet for a few moments. "Who am I to prevent her from trying it? I think it's OK, anyway. It's been a life changing experience for her."

Robbie sighed, "I guess you're right. I'm going to head back home tonight. David's going to stay out here, but I need a break from the road. Is there room?"

"Oh yeah, plenty. Johnny and Dana stay out in their tour bus."

## Chapter Eleven

When Telia arrived on the shore, the scene was almost as vivid as real life. The gray sky was now a dark blue and high wispy clouds rolled by. She imagined the computer screen back in the warehouse, and she saw a ghostly image of the room and saw Johnny sitting there making notes.

"Johnny, you should shave your beard." she thought. She tried to run a hand through his beard, but it was like touching vapor.

"Hallooo." She heard voice call her. She returned her attention to the caller. It was Louis and Samantha. She embraced them both and held onto Samantha's hand.

"You seem different!" Samantha said.

"People keep telling me that." She smiled.

Louis held his arms out and breathed deep. "Oh, you bring that breeze. It is wonderful."

Telia asked, "You mean it's not like this all the time?"

"No, you bring this with you. Usually it is very dim and dull." Samantha said. She stroked Telia's arm, then pulled her close. "Let's go back toward the city. We have some plans to talk about."

The walk to what they called the city seemed much shorter than last time. There were a few houses with walls of white stacked stones that were built into the hillside.

Louis sat on a rock and invited Telia to sit. Samantha sat next to her.

"We think your machine could help it be like this all the time here. It would heal this land, which is so sick." Louis said.

Samantha hugged her, the touch was electric again, "If we heal this place, we heal your world, too."

Telia's face became serious. "We do have plans to make another one. I'm not sure what it will take..."

"Money?" Louis asked.

"That's part of it. We usually don't need any money to do these projects, but it makes it much easier." She said.

Samantha chuckled, "Oh dear thing, money's no problem." She stroked Telia's thigh.

Louis laughed and nodded and held his two fingers close together. "Tiny problem. Money is as fake as this place!"

Samantha asked, "Do you remember that trick with the crow?"

Telia nodded and smiled, "I tried something else today. I could _see_ into the other world. I tried sending a thought to my friend. When I get back, I'll see if it worked."

Samantha's eyes grew large, "Oh my goodness! You are a truly amazing woman." She kissed Telia on the lips. Samantha's lips were warm and soft. Telia felt a soft surge through her whole body, like she'd been suddenly immersed in a tub of warm honey. "You are halfway there."

Louis held Samantha's hand, and Samantha held Telia's. He said, "A lesson, If I pull Sam's arm, does she not pull yours?" He leaned over and pulled Samantha and she leaned over and pulled Telia.

Samantha said, "In terms of _connections_ , your world is actually very small. You could be a queen of influence, see?"

Telia nodded. "I do understand that."

Louis said, "So really, there is no problem, right? Especially if you have any wealthy friends already."

"I actually do." Telia nodded. She thought about the parents at Tweedy Pines.

Samantha and Louis both smiled.

"Maybe next time you come, you should bring such a friend? It couldn't hurt. We can't see where the road leads until we start down it." Samantha looked deep into her eyes. Samantha stroked Telia's hair, then kissed her again.

Telia regained normal consciousness. She felt a strong, lingering, sensual energy like she'd been the object of hours of foreplay. She could almost taste the sensation. She held up her hand to see if she was in the real world. She climbed down the ladder.

"Oh my god..." she said. Her pupils were dilated and she was flushed and sweating lightly. "It was _more_ intense than last time."

"I guess it all goes on up there." he pointed at her head. "Your heart rate and breathing were normal until the very end, then shot up. Then you woke back up."

"How long was I over there?" she asked.

"Just like five minutes. Actually 5:45." he looked at his notes.

"It seemed like an hour, at least. Whew! That time it was like I closed my eyes and was somewhere else, it was like real life."

Johnny smiled. "I think we're perfecting this technology and the technique." He scratched his beard.

"Is that thing bothering you?" She ran her hand over his beard.

"I've been farming this thing for about a year, now. It is really scratchy this afternoon. Maybe it's time for it to go."

She smiled impishly. "Maybe it is..."

## Chapter Twelve

Matt spent part of the morning in the library researching opiate addiction and part of the day playing nurse to Amy. She could keep a dilute sports drink down for a while, but couldn't eat anything. They were keeping the washing machine running continuously. He feared he'd probably have to take her to the hospital, she was getting so weak she could barely stand up.

He was folding laundry when Telia returned.

"Oh gawd!" she said, "A man who changed the world is working as an orderly for a girl he barely knows!" she sat next to him and kissed the side of his face.

"Yeah... I think I might need to get her to the hospital. She's in rough shape." He sighed. "What do you mean: changed the world?"

She tapped a knuckle on his head. "Hello?! You still don't _see_ it. You created a way to connect to a whole 'nother world." she groaned with exasperation. "It's incredible, now that we've adjusted it. It's like I close my eyes here and am transported to a different place. It's green and breezy."

Matt raised his eyebrows and put the laundry down. "You're right..."

Telia cut him off, "Matt I've been able to do things in our world, too. I was able to see _through_ a crow's eyes." She leaned back on the couch. "I mean that alone was the most amazing thing that's happened in my life... It's like magic is real."

"That really is amazing, Tee." he said. "You're right, I think my preconceptions about what we'd find really soured it for me."

"Anyway, I'm gonna go shopping today with Dana. I hope you can get out of this," she waved at the laundry pile, "and get back to your _real_ work. Oh! I'm going over to Tweedy tomorrow for Parents Night."

"Yeah, I'll go too. I'll get Amy taken care of, somehow."

She kissed him. Johnny and Dana walked into the house. Johnny was rubbing his clean shaven chin.

Dana said, "Check out this baby face. It's so smooth." she felt his cheek.

Telia laughed. "You look sooo different. It looks good." she lightly pinched his chin.

## Chapter Thirteen

Telia and Dana drove to Cleveland Heights to do some shopping. Dana picked a few different stores to check out: some boutiques and some thrift shops. They went to a thrift shop on Coventry. The place was in an old building with scratched up hardwood floors and exposed brick walls. There was no discernable system to the racks of clothes.

"Do you remember the 80's?" Telia asked. "Well, of course you don't you were, what, 5?"

Dana snickered, "Yeah, I was born in 1985."

"I had huge hair. Enormous. I am going to bring that back. Well a version of it." She stopped in front of a full length mirror that was attached to a pillar.

"You do have great hair." Dana said. She ran her fingers over Telia's ponytail.

"Well, it used to be great, now it's just a little dried out. I think I'll see if I can get that glossy sheen back."

Dana grunted and furrowed her brow. "Telia, I never thought you were really concerned about your look."

Telia nodded, "I really wasn't. Growing up, my family put less than zero value on appearance. Matt's family is the same. But, I'm really just starting to appreciate its power."

She took off her jacket and hung it on a hook. She undressed down to her bra and panties. Dana's mouth was hanging open. Other people in the store noticed her and pretended to continue shopping while they stole glances.

"Check out the stomach. Still got it." Telia said. She was a tall, solidly built woman with classic proportions and large, heavy breasts.

"Telia, you're amazing me lately." Dana smiled. Telia put an arm around her and pulled her close.

"Feel that." she put Dana's hand on her butt cheek. Dana squeezed it.

"Firm." she laughed.

"Yeah, maybe too firm. I need a couple more pounds of fat. My face tends toward a mannish look."

"Tee, you're really beautiful already." Dana said.

Let's see what you've got going on. Telia started unbuttoning Dana's top. Dana let her do it, then she undressed. They were starting to collect a crowd of shoppers. A couple of cell phone flashes popped. Telia smiled at the attention.

Dana was almost a full head shorter than Telia and her body more solid and square. Her dark hair was straight and shoulder length. Her face was oval, and her skin was very pale. Telia looked at their reflections in the mirror.

"I think you could pull of a schoolgirl look." Telia said. She smacked her butt. "Look at that jiggly thing."

"Telia, you're like a queen..." Dana said.

"And that's the problem. It doesn't really work _that_ way" she frowned. "That's why I need your imagination. Turn me into someone you'd fantasize about."

Dana guffawed. "You _already_ did that, but I get it." She stepped around Telia and examined her. She put her hand on Telia's chest again and looked through her. They were both quiet for a few moments.

Telia smiled, "When you do that, what exactly are you doing?"

Dana shushed her and continued staring. She announced, "It's really a conversation--you, the real _you_ , talks to me. Not really with words, but images, feelings. With Matt, and now with you, it's a little like looking into the Sun. <BOOM>" she made an exploding motion with her hands. "You and Matt are all up here," she pointed at her head. "I get that you are trying to move _down_. You want off your pedestal and to roll in the mud with me and Robbie and David."

Telia considered a moment. "I think that's very perceptive. I can see that, now. I never appreciated your _power_ , Dana."

Dana picked up their clothes, and grabbed Telia's hand. She looked around the store for the fitting rooms. "Follow me." The rest of the shoppers went back to their business.

Dana grabbed a dressing room key from a colorfully painted rack and pulled Telia into the room and locked the door.

Telia was puzzled, "Dana, what are you..." Dana kissed her and pulled her close against her body. Telia tensed up and pushed Dana back a little and looked into her eyes.

Dana said, "You have to let it go...", she patted Telia's chest.

Telia nodded slightly, "Alright." She kissed Dana back.

They emerged from the dressing room about a half hour later. They were holding hands and laughing.

Telia said, "I'm going to get my hair colored black. Let's go."

## Chapter Fourteen

Matt went up to Amy's room to take her to the hospital. He expected to find her passed out or laying on the bathroom floor, but she was standing up and looking out the window. She was drinking a glass of orange juice.

He smiled, "Hey! How are you feeling? Better, I guess."

She smiled, "Yeah. I woke up with an incredible craving for this." She held up the glass. "It's the first time I've had any real food, well drink, in days and days."

Matt leaned against the door frame. "Well, make yourself at home, I guess. Don't feel like you need to stay in this room. It's pretty warm out today, there's a patio and a nice picnic spot in the back yard."

Amy said, "I am going to take a shower and put on some fresh clothes. Do you have internet?"

Matt nodded, "Of course, yeah, whenever you're ready come get me and I'll show you the computer."

He trotted down the stairs and warmed up some chicken noodle soup. A while later she padded down to the kitchen. She was wearing some of Tracy's sweats and a sweatshirt. Her skin tone returned to a more natural color, but her lips were still pale.

"I almost feel human." she said.

"You feel ready to eat some soup?" he asked.

"I can try a bite. I really don't feel hungry. Incredibly thirsty though. More citrus."

He filled another big glass of OJ. She gulped half of it down in one shot. "So good!" she said and smiled.

He pointed across the library. "There's a computer in there. It's on all the time. Oh, here's a tablet computer." he gave her a tablet. "It's good for surfing the web. The WiFi reaches out pretty far from the house, too."

She looked around, "This house is so nice." she sighed heavily. "My parents' place used to be a little like this. I mean all these things. I sold just about everything, though."

He asked, "What happened to them?"

"Oh mom died a few years ago--cancer. Then dad just sort of faded away. Lost interest in being alive, I think, and he died in his sleep. I found him." she shuddered at the memory. "They were older. I was a surprise baby."

"I have a daughter. She's just turned 14. She goes to a boarding school."

"Do you miss her?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, it is great having her around here. But at least with the phones and email now, we're in contact a lot. I am going to see her tomorrow." He furrowed his brow at the prospect of her being alone in the house. "You think you'll be OK?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know. So far so good. I've been through this a few times. The first couple days are bad, then it's normal."

Matt scratched the stubble on his chin, "So you've gone through all this before? I imagine it's really hard to break free."

She nodded, "No doubt. But I think being in a new environment around decent people for once will help."

Matt said, "I hope so. Well, listen, my family has a big network of friends with a lot of different skills and knowledge. They're into all sorts of things, so this is sort of a new day for you if you want it."

She teared up and wiped her eyes. "I really, honestly do... I really do." she said. She ran a finger over the tablet.

He smiled and said, "Oh and before I forget. I got a crew to head over to your house and they cleaned it up. You can stay here for a while. We can figure this whole thing out."

He felt pretty good. He decided to go down to the warehouse and get his research back on track. He and Johnny drove down again.

## Chapter Fifteen

Robbie pulled into the driveway a couple hours later. A rusted 1990s vintage Buick LeSabre was on the grass. He didn't recognize the car, but at the Wells farm, you never really knew who would show up driving what. He heard people talking on the patio, so he walked around to the back of the house.

Amy was sitting in one of the lounge chairs and she was chatting with a chubby young guy in a white T-shirt and a pair of very baggy pants. The guy looked at Robbie with a note of hostility in his gaze.

"You're Amy?" Robbie asked and offered them his hand. "I'm Matt's brother, Robbie. It's good you are up and around."

She shook his hand. Her fingers were thin and her grip was slight. "Yeah, I'm Amy. Nice to meet you."

Her eyes were vacant and wandering.

"And you are?" he asked the guy.

"Oh, I'm nobody." he said. "You about ready to go?" he asked Amy.

"Huh? What?" she mumbled.

"C'mon." the guy stood up and pulled her to her feet.

"Why? I don't want to go anywhere." she said.

"Do you have 50 bucks?" he asked her.

"No..." she mumbled.

"Let's go then..." he pulled her. She pulled her arm away and looked at Robbie. He was disgusted. He sighed. He didn't really feel like dealing with this.

"Alright, buddy, beat it." Robbie said. He put his bag on the ground.

"Maybe you got $50?" he asked Robbie.

Robbie sighed. "I guess this will be easier than kicking your ass." he handed the guy 3 twenties. "Keep the change. If I see you here again, well. Don't ever come back here, got it?"

The guy jumped into his car and peeled down the driveway spraying gravel into the yard and leaving a cloud of dust wafting over the lawn.

"That one's a winner..." Robbie took his hat off and tossed it onto the bag in exasperation. He said, "My brother can be a total shithead. So let me guess, you got online and found a dude who'd bring some shit here in exchange for a fuck?"

She nodded and looked down at her feet.

Robbie sighed. "Where's your self respect, girl? What happened to you?" he walked into the house.

She followed him mostly because she had nothing better to do. She tapped a finger on her chin and said in a dreamy voice, "really nothing happened to me... I was a spoiled girl. I was an only child. My life was nothing hard. It just happened."

His anger was building, but he knew he wasn't angry at her, he was angry at Matt. He bumped his fist on the countertop a few times. "Alright, well, I know nothing anyone will do or say will actually change your life at all. It's completely up to you. I am going to walk down to the neighbors' house today to pick out a puppy. Their dog had pups and I want one. If you want to walk with me, you're welcome to come."

She nodded. "Mmm Kay... I'll go too."

He shook his head and managed a forced smile then went up to his room. He hopped onto the bed. It wasn't especially comfortable, but it was home. As he got older, it became more difficult to stay on the road for an extended period. David was happy no matter where they were or what they were doing, but Robbie always felt tethered to the farm, and as weeks or months went by the elastic pull got stronger.

He took a quick shower, then fished his most comfortable clothes out of his dresser. He had an old sweatshirt--he had it since he was 18. It was almost held together by magic at this point and was impossibly soft and almost see through thin. He put on a pair of linen pants he liked to lounge around in and wore a pair of old mocs.

"You ready?" he asked her. She nodded and tugged at her hair. "Sorry if I was a little brusque before. I have just been on the road a loooong time and was looking forward to an uneventful afternoon."

They walked down the driveway. She moved with an elderly person's gait. He had to pause every few steps for her to keep up. They cut across the lawn and through the woods onto a trail that led behind the neighbors' houses.

"My family used to 'own' all this land. They used to farm, I think wheat and corn, back in the 20s and 30s. But when they got out of that, someone sold the property." He said to her to break up the silence. She seemed to be listening. He stopped and pointed at some of the big sandstone slabs that were visible from the path. "Oh, and we're standing on top of an ancient shoreline, or maybe the bed of an ancient river from like over 300 million years ago. Left the sandstone here. Lake Erie is that way," he pointed North.

"I've never seen it." she offered.

"The Lake?" he asked.

"Yeah. I haven't seen much. This is my first trip from home since I was a kid." she said.

"Ha!" he laughed. "Some trip, huh?"

She was a little hurt. He wasn't used to being around vulnerable people. He softened his tone, "Hey, sorry. I know you're having a tough time. This must be totally weird for you. It is for me, too, frankly."

They walked through the back yard of the neighbors' house. There was a play pen out back. A bunch of gold retriever pups were wrestling with each other and playing with squeak toys. Robbie waved to an older couple who were sitting out on their deck. "Hey guys!"

"Robbie!" the man said, "It's been years since I've seen you. Literally years." The man had thinning white hair. He shook Robbie's hand and embraced him.

"Who's this?" he asked Amy.

"Roger, this is Amy. She's a friend of Matt's. Don't ask me for details, because I don't know."

"Well, hi there, Amy. Anyway, I guess you guys are here about the puppies." Roger's wife joined them.

The woman said, "They all have greek names! Pttthh." she made a raspberry at her husband.

Roger shrugged, "I was a classics prof at JCU. What'cha going to do with it except name puppies?"

Robbie laughed a deep belly laugh. "I missed you guys. Come over for dinner some time this week? I'm home for a while."

Robbie stepped into the playpen. "Hey fellas!" the puppies swarmed around him. "Oh Amy, you should get in here and lay down."

Roger said, "watch out for their poops."

She managed a weak smile and got down on the grass. The puppies swarmed all over her. She started giggling, then let loose with shrieks and laughter. "Oh this one!" one of the little guys was particularly insistent and whined at her as she sat up.

Robbie picked the dog up. "What's his name?"

Roger pointed at the dog. "That one's Periphetes."

"The name's Perry, now!" Robbie said.

As they returned to the farm, Perry padded along behind them. "Hey, Amy, I'm going to go get him some food and toys, maybe we can swing up past the Lake?"

She nodded and smiled, but then barfed next to the trail. Robbie said, "guess we'll need to bring a bucket!"

## Chapter Sixteen

Matt climbed up into the reflector chair and connected to the other side. It was like being instantly transported to some unknown shoreline in a remote corner of the earth. He held up his hand. It looked like a younger version of his hand. He plucked a blade of the grass and squished it in his fingers. It left a green stain and he could smell the crushed vegetation.

A crow cawed in the distance. He reached out his mind to the bird and looked through its eyes. The crow saw both the worlds. When he focused, Matt saw the brown muddy ribbon of the Cuyahoga River and the red brick buildings of the flats.

"Amazing." he said. He walked along the shoreline to the settlement.

"Here he is!" Louis said to Samantha. She sidled up next to Matt and thumped him on the chest. He felt the slap.

"You are _real_ and substantial." she said. "I can smell you." She stuck her nose in his armpit and inhaled deeply. She swooned a little and held onto him.

"We have a proposal for you." Louis said matter of factly. "This machine of yours can bring life to this place. Create an even exchange between the two worlds. We believe," he pointed at Samantha. She nodded and kissed Matt's neck. It felt like an arc of electricity down his spine, "that such an arrangement would radically alter the balance of power..."

"For the good of all..." Samantha added. She was looking deep into Matt's eyes and was pressed against him like she was using his body as a mattress.

Matt was skeptical. "Balance of power? I have no idea what you are talking about. Who are you two anyway?"

Samantha frowned, "I've known your family for a long time. Don't you trust us?" she kissed him. He felt her full, moist lips press against his and adrenaline surged through his body.

"Sorry, no." he maintained his composure. "The history of this place and earth is, well, an unhappy one."

"That's just it!" Louis groaned. "Don't you understand? It is like a relationship driven by the depravity of desperation."

Samantha pressed herself against his groin. "Instead it could be a happy union of love."

Matt could smell her, a scent of deep and dark spices and sweet heavy liquor. He shook his head a little to refocus. "What do you call this place?" Matt asked.

She said, "Arcadia." She stroked her fingers through his hair.

"Are there other places, like this?" he asked.

Louis sighed, "Yes, yes." He was exasperated that Matt wasn't following him down the path, "Look," he said to Samantha, "maybe we are being too hasty. Rushing things." She sighed and lightly tapped Matt's solar plexus with her knuckles then backed away. Matt felt a cool breeze where she'd been. He regretted that she wasn't so close. She smiled slyly at him over her shoulder.

Louis continued, "but let me offer this, anyway, what _we_ have," he gestured at Samantha and himself, "is profound knowledge. What we _want_ is to replace the existing order between the earth and this place, an order that's corrupt and parasitic."

Matt nodded, "that's what we want, too. But, it will take some time for us to trust one another."

Samantha frowned sweetly and tapped his nose. She wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "But what if time's actually limited? We will send our emissary from your world to your home to discuss further." She kissed him again. He returned to normal consciousness with her taste on his lips.

"Wow..." he said. He looked at the reflector with new eyes. He clambered down the ladder. "Johnny, apparently there are _other_ worlds. We just happened to connect to this one, called _Arcadia_. There's a woman over there, Samantha that's like distilled sexuality." He wiped his face with his hand. The memory of her stuck with him. "Apparently, they're going to send one of their people to the farm."

Johnny's eyes lit up, "Oh wow, that's really great!" he enthused.

Matt looked at him, his skepticism showed on his face. "How so?"

Johnny smacked Matt's arm. "It's a chance to compare notes. We have no idea how other people do _this_ ," he gestured at the reflector. "I've been staring at data from this thing for weeks now, and I have no idea how it actually works. There's no discernable electrical signal that I've been able to detect."

Matt laughed, "I guess we should head back to the farm. Of course, Samantha didn't say _when_ this emissary would show up."

"No email from the other side? It's always like stone tablets, tea leaves, dreams: all that bullshit." Johnny chuckled.

Matt slapped his shoulder, "holy shit! You're a genius."

"what? You want to hook up email?"

Matt shook his head, "Well, no. You just gave me a simple strategy. In three letters: FBC."

"Face Butt Cunt?" Johnny laughed uproariously.

Matt laughed too, but his inner eye remembered Samantha's body. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "No, Familiarity Breeds Contempt." He held up a hand, "Picture this: we do this on an industrial scale. People go across as regularly as they use the Internet. We can destroy its power by killing the mystery."

Johnny stroked his chin. "We need to build at least one more of these and put it somewhere else. It might be particular to this location, or particular to you and Telia. If we know that, then it's pretty easy to build as many as we want."

## Chapter Seventeen

Telia and Dana walked into the house with large shopping bags hanging from their arms. Dana set the bags down and sang "taa-daaaaa" and pointed at Telia. Her hair had been colored a shiny dark black, and it had been styled into voluminous relaxed ringlets. She wore a charcoal black leather jerkin that was trimmed in the blackest velvet. The top of the jerkin was open and she wore a thin, black cashmere turtleneck. She wore a silver chain around her neck. She wore charcoal pants and knee high leather boots.

Matt, Johnny, Robbie, and Amy just stared at her as if hypnotized. She exuded confidence and energy. "Hi Robbie!" she said. He snapped out of his amazement and got up to hug her. She held him close. "It's so good to see you--you've been out there for such a long time!"

Matt said, "Wow! I like this look." he kissed her.

"I'm glad you like it. I'm going to go change back into something more comfortable--this is for the parents' meeting at Tweedy."

Robbie laughed, "thanks for sharing with the peasants! And the dog, too."

She tapped Robbie's nose, "Oh you're the royalty Robbie." She scratched Perry behind the ears.

Matt said, "speaking of royalty, Samantha is sending an emissary from god knows where."

Telia arched an eyebrow, "Really... You mean a real live person?"

He nodded, "I guess so--although who knows, maybe it will be a talking crow."

She added, "Well, that should be interesting. Sort of like making a telephone call through an invisible operator."

## Chapter Eighteen

The next day passed at a leisurely pace. Robbie spent hours bringing them up to date about his time on the road, and Matt and Telia told their incredible stories of the other side. Matt and Telia felt confined to the farm during the day as they weren't really sure when Samantha's emissary would show up.

Matt stood up, "I guess we need to start getting ready to go to Tweedy." he announced. Just then a raven landed on the window ledge and rapped with its beak.

Robbie guffawed, "Are you fucking kidding me?" He pointed, "Check his leg."

Matt opened the window and the bird walked onto his hand and eyed him. A message was tied around his leg with a ribbon.

Dana snapped a picture with her phone. She texted David the picture. OMG!!! SEND.

Matt untied the message and handed it to Telia. The bird kept looking at him.

Dana smiled, "I think he wants a tip!" she ran into the kitchen and got some bread and tossed it out the window. The bird deftly hopped from Matt's hand and winged to the ground.

Johnny laughed, "alright, have we seen it all, now? I mean, right?"

Telia read the note. "There Friday. - _OWK_ "

Matt said, "I guess those are initials. I assume it means tomorrow."

Telia shrugged, "Oh well, let's get ready to go to Tweedy. Hey Dana, want to help me get dressed?"

"Sure." she hopped up from her chair, and Telia put her arm around Dana's shoulder. They walked up the stairs.

## Chapter Nineteen

The parking lot at Tweedy Pines told the entire story of the socio-economic structure of the students that attended the academy and the staff that helped with the Parents' Night festivities. A handful of weathered, older Japanese cars were tucked away in the remote corner of the lot. The rest of the cars were curvy Bentleys, boxy Range Rovers, and sports cars, like Porsches and a fleet of Maserati Quattroportes. A handful of vintage collectors cars dusted the lot.

Previously, Telia felt out of place, and slightly intimidated by the other parents at Tweedy. Matt easily fit in with a clique of professorial types, while a subtle pecking order she hadn't understood sorted her into a group of second wives. But tonight, she seemingly blazed with an internal fire that drew the attention of people in the room.

"Dad!" Tracy trotted across the hall to Matt. She did a double take on Telia. "Mom?! Wow. What'd you do to your hair?"

Telia grabbed Tracy and hugged her hard and kissed her all over her face. "I missed you, Tracy!"

"Well, you should have thought about that before you sent me here! I'm thinking about getting a tear tattoo and making some Pruno in my dorm room."

Telia laughed at her joke. "Oh Honey, you were totally right!"

Tracy regarded her with suspicion. ""Um, about what?"

"It was foolish to send you here against your wishes. I was wrong." She shrugged. "Please forgive me."

"Well, yeah..." Tracy said. Telia hugged her again.

Telia gestured at the room. "There's nothing here that you can't get at home. Really, I hadn't appreciated how special our family is."

Tracy looked at her. "Mom, you look totally different. This outfit is bad _ass_!"

"Mom's still got it, eh?" Telia smiled slyly.

"Yeah, people are _looking_ at you." Tracy said out of the side of her mouth.

"Good!" Telia pinched her cheek like she was a baby. "Hey, let's go talk to Bethany's mom."

Heather Madher was holding court by the bar. She had a martini in one hand and had the other hand on her hip. She was wearing a classic black cocktail dress, and had a sixties style hairdo with a white headband. She looked a little like Dianna Rigg's character Emma Peel from _The Avengers_. She was an actress that had been in a string of successful TV shows in the 90s, and then got married to Charles Harris Madher IV, who was the son of wealthy Cleveland shipping family.

Her face lit up as Telia and Tracy entered her circle. "Tee, I _love_ that 'do!"

"Yours too. Very _mod_."

Heather made a shooting gesture at her, then blew her fingertip like smoke was coming out. "Exactly. I'm working on a character."

"Where's Charlie?" Telia asked.

Heather waved a hand dismissively. "He's in Florida doing something with coral reefs. Playing scientist."

A band started playing. Heather whispered into Telia's ear, "Bethany's gonna sing next."

Telia recognized the opening strains of _La Vie en Rose_. Bethany Madher took the small stage at one end of the hall. The lights fell and a spotlight shone on her. When she started singing, the entire room became attentive. Her voice seemed impossibly mature and each lyric was dripping with genuine emotion. When she belted out the refrain, goosebumps rose on Telia's arm. Heather was rapt.

When the song finished the room exploded in applause. Bethany bowed deeply and kissed her hands and saluted the audience.

"Oh my god!" Telia said to Heather. "That was an incredible performance." She dabbed a tear away from her eye.

Heather was sniffling. "She's been working on it for weeks--that one song. She stayed with her voice coach in a Paris apartment for a month. How's _that_ for a French class? What an amazing experience!"

"Heather, I had a completely amazing experience of my own just a few days ago. I thought you might be into it."

Heather's interest was piqued. "You do seem _completely_ different. I can barely keep my eyes off you, girl. I was gonna ask what you did."

Telia smiled and stroked Heather's arm. 'If you've got a few minutes this weekend, I'll show you."

"I'm intrigued, I'll admit. OK. Text me the deets later. I'm going to go mingle."

Tracy asked, "What life changing experience? I'm so far out of the loop!"

"You are! Why don't you come home for the weekend? Robbie's home and he has a new puppy."

"What about class tomorrow?" Tracy said.

"Meh, it can wait 'til Monday" Telia said. "This is going to sound so lame, but I never really realized, deep down realized how important our family is."

Tracy smiled deliriously. "A puppy! What's its name?"

"The dog's named Perry." Telia looked around and sighed. "This place does have amazing opportunities, but so does home."

## Chapter Twenty

"I half expect this _OWK_ to arrive in the form of a crow that transforms into a man." Robbie said.

The entire gang was waiting in the library. Amy and Tracy were on the floor playing with Perry. The rest of them were sitting around the table. It was a somewhat overcast day, and they'd turned on every light in the room to compensate for the dimness. The bulbs in the room were a pleasant, warm color, and the sun lamp on the second floor wall was shining a cheery yellow.

"We could be waiting all day," Matt said. "I guess there's not room on a crow message to put a date or time."

Dana said, "you have to admit, though, you can't really beat a crow message for drama."

Matt chuckled. "No doubt. Is it too early for drinks?"

Robbie said, "Well, no, but we might all be too drunk to listen to this guy. I'll stick to coffee for now. I'll go fire up a fresh pot."

Amy said, "I'll go make it, I watched you last time." She got off the floor and went into the kitchen.

A taxi rolled down the driveway.

"That's no crow." Johnny said.

Matt and Telia went outside and waited for the man to get out of the car. He had thin white hair that whipped around in the autumn breeze. He wore a tweed three piece suit and put a hat on against the chill. He pulled a small suitcase from the back seat of the car.

Matt and Telia greeted him. Matt said, "Hello, I'm Matt Wells and this is Telia. This is our family's farm. Can I help you with anything?"

The man paid the driver with a wad of cash he had in his breast pocket. Then he patted his pockets. "Passport, keys, wallet. Good." he smiled. He had kind, light blue eyes, and expressive bushy white eyebrows. He looked in the taxi to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything then closed the door and the driver left. "Hello, I'm Owen Wells Kearnby. I think we're distant cousins on my mother's side anyway." he had an English accent, and spoke from his chest and throat.

"Where did you travel from?" Telia asked.

"I live in Wales." He looked around. "I flew out of Heathrow. Spent the night at the airport hotel. Dreadful!"

They walked inside and he introduced himself to everyone, including Perry. Matt showed him to a room so he could take a nap before they chatted. They put out a spread of meat and cheese and bread and cracked open some beer.

Owen found his way into the library. "Oh my! This is an amazing room. My family has a similar collection, but the books fit inside an old cedar chest."

Telia asked, "Owen, how did you find us?"

He smiled, "we have a mutual friend, of course. Samantha told me to come here a few days ago. It is always so intriguing to meet others who share this experience."

Matt said, "Owen, we're all wondering how you cross over?"

Owen smiled. "When I was seventeen, I had a crush on the most beautiful girl in my town and I pined after her. My mother told me I could have her if I asked for the help of Samantha."

Telia raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? How did that work."

Owen continued, "Mum gave me a fairly ordinary piece of polished copper. I looked into it and reached out with my mind and thought about my girl. Her name was Jean." He sighed at her memory. "So I did, and to my complete amazement, I saw Samantha looking back. At first it was just a dim glimpse, like a face in a cloud. But with practice, it became clearer and clearer."

Telia and Matt looked at each other with recognition.

Owen said, "Samantha helped me court Jean. But really, the point of the exercise, of course, was for me to make contact. My family's been doing it for generations."

Matt said, "Really. Does it go all the way back to John Dee?"

Owen nodded, "Yes, yes, yes. Our involvement--your family and mine--does anyway," he gestured around to the room, "They were members of that circle."

Robbie said, "Our great-great etcetera grandfather came to America to escape the fallout."

"I guess Wales was far enough for us!" Owen laughed.

Robbie scratched his beard, "I wonder how they were related at the time?"

Owen closed his eyes, "Let me ask." He opened them again, "She says my ancestor was your ancestor's younger brother. Samantha lost contact with your branch of the family until you two reached across." he gestured at Matt and Telia.

Telia was startled, "So you just close your eyes and talk to her?"

Owen smacked his hands on his thighs, "Oh I wish it were that simple. I explored the other worlds for years using that copper plate, but over time, I found I could cross over just by closing my eyes. Unfortunately, I also found Samantha can also talk to me at any time, which, as you might imagine can be fairly inconvenient." He sighed.

Matt said, "Samantha called you an _emissary_. I took that to mean there are others, an organization?"

He rolled his eyes. "Emissary? She's always so grandiose." He stood up and paced the room. "I'll attempt to put your experience in context. Have you ever watched squirrels, I mean really watched them?"

There were blank looks all around the room. Tracy had barely been paying attention, but finally spoke up, "Yes!"

Owen smiled, "Me too. Imagine the squirrels in your neighborhood are all members of different families. Imagine each family has a human trainer. Only a handful of the families can even take the advice offered by the human, and then fewer really are _aligned_ with the advice given. For example, one human teaches organization, how to keep track of nuts and plan for winter. Another one teaches how important knowledge is, another teaches how to dance and sing, another one, how to fight, and so on. Individually, the training is not _supremely_ useful. The organized squirrel family gets robbed by the violent one, or barring that, their life is exceedingly dull and gray without songs, just lists and lists."

Robbie nodded, "I think I see where you're going with this, we have some of the history here, well, the human history anyway." He pointed to one of the rows of shelves.

"Oh good." Owen said, "I can give a more succinct explanation. Samantha and Louis are very, very old. They're actually one being, at least I think so. Together, they're basically _knowledge_. Our family is obviously aligned with them."

They all nodded. Robbie said, "that makes sense... So what really happened in England?"

Owen continued, "Well, the story goes back further. As I was hinting, the shortcomings of one _type_ can be mitigated through alliances. However, the alliances are necessarily very fragile. Imagine the knowledge seekers combining with the fighters." He bumped his fists together. "Oil and water. They both can only see each other as a means to an end. That's the broad brushstrokes view..." He held up a finger to indicate he was in the middle of a new thought and took a sip of beer.

His eyes hardened as if he were staring off into some impossibly remote distance. He spat the words, "The more detailed picture is a _list making bureaucrat_ tapped into a deep primal power and started to feed the gods and mankind to this _thing_." He sneered. "The alliance that sparked the Renaissance blew apart. Samantha had been central to the defeat of the Roman coalition, but was ousted."

Telia looked to Matt. His eyebrows were knitted together in concentration. He said, "I know what she wants..."

Owen smiled slyly. "Of course you do."

Telia was in the dark, "What does she want?"

Owen sat down again and gestured to Matt.

Matt looked at Johnny, "She told me already. Johnny and I created a thing that can tip the balance of power."

Owen nodded, "Precisely, and she wants you back. All of you."

Robbie leaned forward on his elbow and tapped his fist on the table as if forging his thought. "I am intrigued by what Matt's been doing, no doubt, _but_ ," he drew out the word. "I believe my family didn't lose touch with this entity Samantha by accident, rather they abandoned the whole game as a dead end."

Owen sniffed and frowned slightly, "Possibly, however, I quibble with your characterization of this struggle. There's no abandoning it--it's part of life."

Robbie nodded, "I concede that point, perhaps a better phrase would be that my family went down a different road in pursuit of the same goals."

Telia asked, "What does it mean to 'come back'?"

Owen smiled warmly at her. He gestured at her and Matt, "For you two, it is literally a coronation."

Matt guffawed, "Owen, what does that even mean? Be serious."

Owen's face became very serious, then became animated as if his skin enclosed incredible surging energy, "You will lead us, be our beacon, shine on the _snake_ that would devour us all and we will destroy _it_." He settled back into his chair, "I would say it is your choice, but there really is none."

Matt was skeptical, "That did not clear it up, Owen slash Samantha."

"I have delivered the message, I can do no more." Owen said and held his hands out. "Now will you show me around this wonderful place? I really, truly love watching birds."

Robbie stood up, "I'd love to show you around, Owen, follow me."

## Chapter Twenty One

Matt, Telia and Owen met Heather Madher at the warehouse. Matt was brooding and quiet and manned the reflectors' controls while Telia chatted away with Heather and Owen. Heather wore yoga pants and a skin tight top and a lavender track jacket. She had her hair up in a tight bun. She had a yoga class in the morning and was going to pilates later in the afternoon. Owen was almost impossibly charming around the women.

"Well, what does this thing do?" Heather asked.

"It's almost impossible to explain." Telia said bluntly. "You actually would not believe me if I told you."

"Oh come on, I've seen some weird stuff, believe me." Heather said.

"Alright, well take a swig of this." Telia gave her the tea. "Don't smell it, it's a little stinky."

Heather took the cup, "Bottom's up." she chugged it down. "Ack..."

"Climb up there and meditate, but instead of staying focused inside, pretend your mind is inflating, going out, not like you're trying to grasp something with your hand, just expand it."

Heather clambered up the ladder. Matt pointed the reflector. Heather laughed as it moved. "This is just like a movie set!"

"You ok?" Telia asked.

"Yep, let me give this a try." Heather calmed herself and meditated.

Owen closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Heather was on the shore of Arcadia. The young Owen was standing there next to her. He had chestnut brown hair and a very regular face with a square jaw. Samantha and Louis were sitting on the beach.

"Welcome!" Owen said to her. Samantha stood up and embraced her. She felt warmth flow through her body.

"Oh my god!" She exclaimed, then returned to normal consciousness. "Holy shit!" she said. "What was that?" She climbed down the ladder. She was bewildered and slightly off balance. Telia helped her to a chair.

Telia was smiling, "That place is called Arcadia."

"Is it virtual reality? I swear I was somewhere else. There was a man there, he said 'Welcome'! A woman hugged me. I felt it. I still feel it."

"It's amazing, no?" Owen asked.

"Where was I?" Heather asked.

"It's basically, in lay terms, another dimension." Owen said.

"Wow. That's like sci-fi." Heather said. "That was amazing, Tee."

"You'll have to try it again. Once you learn to stay focused in that state, you can see more." Telia said. She took a drink of the peyote tea and climbed up in the chair.

When she crossed over, Samantha and Louis were waiting for her.

Samantha embraced her and kissed her mouth and neck. Telia stayed close to her and looked deep into her eyes. Telia could smell her breath. It was like an intoxicating spice. Samantha said, "I am glad you are back."

Louis said, "You know what to do?"

Telia nodded. She concentrated on Heather. Her ghostly form shimmered before them. She felt Samantha flow through her into Heather. She heard Samantha whispering. The syllables were barely audible but they caused Telia's whole body to tingle.

"OK." Telia said and shifted her concentration back to Louis and Samantha.

Samantha brushed her hair away from her face. "Have you thought of what Owen asked?"

Telia nodded. "Matt is still skeptical, though."

Samantha smiled broadly and kissed her again. "He will come around." Her hand slipped down Telia's back to the base of her spine. Telia felt electricity flow through her entire body. "It is too important we will have to convince him about the danger." Samantha said. "In the mean time, you coax him, but do not push hard."

"I will." Telia breathed.

She returned to normal consciousness. She was panting and her face was flushed and red and sweat beaded on her forehead. "Wow." she said. She slowly climbed down the ladder.

Heather was waiting for her, "Telia that _really_ was incredible. I haven't even started to process that, but I need to get going to make my class, walk with me?"

Telia put an arm around Heather's shoulders and she gripped Telia's waist. "I told you it was life changing."

Heather said, "It was indescribable. I still feel it. It's just there, like a taste."

Telia brushed a few straggling hairs from Heather's face and looked at her with appreciation. Her voice was still a little husky from Samantha's touch. "I know people tell you all the time, but you're radiant."

"Thanks, you too, Telia. I could just eat you up." Heather hugged her and then kissed her cheek.

"Say Hi to Bethany and Charlie." Telia patted Heather's car, then she pulled away. Heather honked the horn as she turned onto the road. Telia sighed and went back into the warehouse.

"What a lovely young lady. She looks familiar." Owen said.

"She's an actress." Matt said. "Maybe you've seen her?"

"Oh yes, maybe." Owen nodded.

"Are you going?" Telia asked Matt.

"Not today. I think we need to get Owen to the airport."

"Quite right, my flight's in a couple of hours, and with the security these days, I'll be lucky to make it!"

~End of Episode Seven~

# EPISODE EIGHT -- Homecoming

## Chapter One

Present Day

Demetria looked through the pile of photos of the Wells house and the family. Judge Ralph kept going over various aspects of their plan. She didn't intend to follow any of it.

"Oh shut up, already." she said. "I'll get these books. If I need help from you, I'll tell you what you need to do."

She stood up and picked up her motorcycle helmet. She was wearing fitted gold and black leathers. Ralph attempted to start another sentence but she glared at him, "Not another word from you."

She climbed on a black Ducati that was parked in front of the campaign headquarters, lit the rear tire up and swung it around in a circle then rode off.

"Well, Yuri, I hope you're happy." Ralph said.

Yuri shrugged. "You don't think _she_ will succeed at this simple task?"

"I think she might get the books, or just forget about it in five minutes. God knows what else will happen. I don't think she's good at taking orders." Ralph said.

Chuck nodded, "Yeah, I agree with Ralph. I guess we need to do our best to back her up, but stay out of her way."

## Chapter Two

Tracy and Chloe drove to school together in Chloe's car. It had been repainted a dark bluish black and a faint white arc of stars splayed from one wheel well to the other. The old steel wheels had been replaced with new alloy wheels and low profile tires.

"I love my car." Chloe hugged the wheel as they waited at the light.

"How are you so calm?" Tracy asked.

Chloe took her hand, it was clammy. She said, "Even though I was in danger, I was still in control of the situation, I took the initiative to act and chose the outcome. I kicked ass." She smiled.

"I wish I could be so calm." Tracy sighed.

"Girl, you're doing alright, but as my dad says, I think 'you're wrestling with ghosts.'"

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"It took me a long time to figure that one out, too. He means, you need to think about these problems in concrete terms. From my point-of-view, you should be confident, your family is awesome and you are very intelligent. Put that intelligence to work. Don't just wait for this to be resolved." Chloe emphasized her words by poking the dashboard.

Tracy nodded curtly, "Yeah, I think I get it. Still, it's not easy, right?"

"I didn't say it would be."

They pulled into the lot. Berto and Richard Golden were waiting for them. Richard had a knit hat on over his curly blond hair and wore ridiculous mirrored aviator glasses and had a candy cigarette in his mouth.

Berto opened her door and said, "Good morning ladies."

"Oh such a gentleman." Chloe climbed out of the car.

Richard took his cue and hurried over to Tracy's door. "What up Trace?" he said.

She laughed at him, "Oh man, I love those glasses."

Berto said, "If you need to do your hair in them, you probably can."

Richard said with mock seriousness, "Hey, quit clowning, Berto, we're here on business."

Chloe scrunched up her nose, "What are you talking about?"

Berto looked around the lot, "We have a proposition."

Tracy was intrigued, "OK, well, what is it?"

"Tracy, how would you like to be homecoming queen? Chloe you would be on the court." Richard offered.

Berto added quickly, "We," he gestured back and forth between Richard and himself, "thought that was fair, since Tracy's been here a while and you're relatively new... That's the only reason."

Chloe laughed, "How?!"

Tracy said, "Yeah really, I mean, how can you even make the offer?"

Berto said, "We have our ways."

Chloe said, "Wait, what's the catch?"

Berto looked confused, "Catch?"

"I mean what do we need to do in return."

He laughed, "Oh! Nothing. I mean, we were also going to ask you two to the dance, but no strings attached."

Tracy smiled, "I leave it up to Chloe."

Chloe nodded, "Sure that sounds good, I really just want to see if you can do it."

Berto and Richard high fived then fist bumped. "It's already did, well, not quite yet, but by the end of the day."

They started toward the school building. Demetria's Ducati roared past. Her blond hair was flowing out of the back of the helmet. She turned into the front drive of the school and then rode up onto the sidewalk and parked in the front of the entry way. A vice principal walked out to her waving a finger.

"You cannot park there."

She took her helmet off and hung it from the bars. She fixed the man with her gaze and unzipped the top of the leathers down to her hips. She was only wearing panties and a tight white tank top with no bra beneath. A crowd of students was gathering around like iron filings to a magnet.

The vice principal became completely confused. She ignored him and pulled out a slip of paper from the hip strap of her panties. She announced, "Is Steve Polloy here? Someone go get him."

A boy sprinted into the building. She sat down on the bike.

"I'll just be a minute." She smiled at the vice principal. She lounged back and soaked in the morning sun.

Steve walked out the front doors. He was a slender boy with short blond hair. He dressed like a skater, even though he wasn't one. The crowd parted like wheat before the wind.

"Steve?" She said in a pouty voice. She brushed her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, that's me." he said. The crowd formed a half moon around them.

"I'm your cousin, Demetria from the old country." she stood up. She was slightly taller than him. She put her hands on his face and kissed him on the lips and pressed her body against him.

"What?" he mumbled.

"Does it even matter?" she asked.

"No. It really doesn't." He said matter of factly.

She kissed him again, and put an arm around him. He saw that her armpits were noticeably hairy, blonde wispy hairs glowed in the morning sun. He felt disoriented. She handed him a phone number. "Call me. We will meet later today."

She put the helmet on again and fired up the big engine. It rumbled and roared to life. She patted the gas tank and zipped up her leathers. The crowd instinctively moved out of her way. She lit up the rear tire until it smoked, then rode off the sidewalk and roared away like a lightning bolt.

Steve was dazed, he turned around to go back into the building. Everyone was gawking at him. He noticed the girls were now eyeing him in a completely new, interested way. He smiled and nodded at the crowd and walked back into the building.

Morgan was waiting for him by his locker. " _Who_ was that? I saw it from the window."

Steve said, "She said she was my cousin from the old country. Demetria." he breathed. "Wow. This day is going to be _so_ slooow. I got her number."

Morgan nodded, "Why don't we get out of here early?"

Steve thought about it a moment, "yeah, why not?"

"Why not now?" Morgan added.

Steve laughed, "Hell yeah."

They rode away from the building on their bikes. Steve whooped as they went out of sight of the school. "What a great feeling!" he said.

Morgan added, "I know, right? Freedom of the open road." he laughed as they rolled along the sidewalk.

They made their way to Steve's house. Steve said, "Dude, let's have drinks, then I'll call her."

"Whiskey?" Morgan asked.

"It's like 7:55AM" Steve laughed.

"So?"

"Right, right, right." Steve poured a couple of shots into ice filled tumblers. They went out on the patio.

They sipped their drinks and relaxed in the sunlight. "Are you going to call that girl?" Morgan asked.

"Hell yeah! Be patient, dude." Steve said.

"Why not now?" Morgan asked.

Steve nodded. He called the number. A woman with a spanish accent answered. "Is this Meester Stefan?"

"Uh yes, it is." Steve said.

"What is your address?"

"Uhhh. Why? Is this Demetria's phone number?"

"Yes. She said you might be confused. She'll send a car for you."

"A car?" Steve asked. Steve looked at Morgan, "Oh and a friend is here, too."

"That should be fine. Address?" she asked curtly.

Steve read the address. She repeated it. "Thank you, Stefan. The driver will be there shortly. Both you and your friend, please be fully showered and completely clean. I mean every square inch."

Steve answered, "Uh, OK I guess." He hung up.

"Well?!" Morgan asked.

"Come on! Hurry up." Steve stood up and gestured to Morgan. "You go in there." he pointed at the guest bathroom. "Shower and scrub your ass and balls." he laughed and trotted up the stairs. Morgan shrugged and went into the shower.

A black livery car honked the horn. Steve and Morgan hurried outside. Both of their faces were rosy from scrubbing. The driver was a tall broad shouldered man. He addressed them, "Gentlemen, please enjoy the ride." he pointed into the back seat.

"Um, thanks." Steve said. He slid onto the leather. The car was brand new. "New car smell." he said to Morgan. They were both vaguely tense.

Morgan said, "Dude, my life has been so crazy, lately."

Steve nodded, "No doubt. I guess this is my walk onto the wild side."

They drove to Demetria's palace. The motorcycle was parked in the driveway. The driver stopped in front of the walkway. Morgan started to open the door. Steve grabbed his arm, "Dude, wait for him."

The driver walked around to their side and opened the door and stood rigidly at attention. Morgan stepped out and Steve followed him. They nodded thanks at the driver, but he was like a palace guard and stood impassively until they were at the front door, then he drove away.

A thirtyish year old woman opened the door. She wore a gray top and a gray pleated skirt and black shoes. She looked Latin and had jet black hair that was pulled back in the clean arc of a pony tail that was held in a silver clasp.

She announced, "Meester Steven and Friend."

Demetria padded down a flight of marble stairs. She was only wearing a short floral print silk kimono that was open in the front.

Steven waved to her. She smiled coyly. The boys were both completely off balance, but did a noble job keeping some sense of composure.

"Oooh, a friend! Nice." Demetria said. She put her hand on the maid's arm. "Turn around." she said firmly. The woman turned around and faced away from the boys. "I'm going to show you something." she said to Steve and Morgan.

Steve nodded and Morgan shrugged slightly. Demetria lifted the maid's skirt and revealed her naked butt. It was heart shaped, firm and jiggly. Demetria patted it and giggled.

"That is a nice one." Morgan said.

"I know!" Demetria said. "It's really why I hired her, plus she's really good at her job." she patted the maid's bare ass again. "She dresses me and undresses me and washes me." Demetria said.

"And I run the household." the maid offered over her shoulder.

"That too. Thanks Marta, you can go now." Demetria said.

Demetria looked them over. "I am very pleased." she announced. "You are both actual men." she concluded. She put her hand on Morgan's shoulder and looked at his face. "This one is very interesting. He knows things." She put her arm around Steve and pushed her naked body against him. "You're very innocent, at least for now."

Morgan asked, "Pardon me, Demetria, but who are you?"

"This is really intriguing." Demetria said to Morgan. "Look at him," she pointed at Steve. "He is having such a hard time concentrating, but you are all _present_."

Steve said, "Maybe stand next to him. I think it's your smell."

She laughed. "You like it, don't you. She shoved her hairy armpit in his nose."

Steve breathed her smell in. "Yes, I do."

"Somehow the body _changes_. Some people just turn to jelly, but you are OK, Steve. You are enjoying it like a greedy little boy enjoys cookies." she pinched his cheek. She walked over to Morgan and put both arms around his neck and gazed into his eyes. She was slightly shorter than him.

Morgan looked at her face. She was extremely beautiful. "You do smell nice." he finally said.

She took both their hands, "Let's go have a steam." she led them back through the house to a workout room with a herringbone zig-zagged hardwood floor and several machines and free weights. The room had a wall of windows that looked out on a meadow. She dropped her robe, "This steam room has a window that _doesn't fog_." she marvelled. "You _people_. Always making things interesting." She went into the steam room. "The view is nice, come on."

Morgan and Steve looked at eachother. Steve said, "I don't know where this day is going, but I decided to just go with it wherever, so..." He dropped his shirt on the floor and stepped out of his pants into his boxers. "Here goes." he announced. He dropped his boxers.

Morgan nodded, and said, "OK." He stripped too and the boys joined Demetria in the sauna. The heat hit them.

"Oooh the sweat! I just love it." she ran her hand over their chests. "Ohhh hello." she laughed as the boys both became aroused. "So young! I should have saved myself for you two..." she shrugged. "Ah well."

"Is this place all yours?" Morgan asked, "I mean you're our age, right?"

Demetria laughed and stood up and hopped. Her body barely jiggled. "Isn't this body wonderful? I think she was 17." She asked, "What year is it?"

"2014." Steve offered.

"So that makes _me_ ," she pointed at her chest, "Ohhh, something like 4000 years old. I don't like using the brain on math. I have people for that." she said mock sternly.

Morgan looked at Steve. "Are you one of them. An egregore?"

"See!" she looked at Steve pointed at Morgan, "I knew it. You know some things, but not all things." She knelt in front of Steve and scooted him over toward Morgan. They bumped sweaty arms.

"Wouldn't it be so good to have a really nice carpet in here that wouldn't get moldy? The glass doesn't fog, why can't a carpet be in here." She picked up an evergreen bough and dipped it in cold water. She whipped the boys across the chest.

"Owww. Watch it." Morgan covered his erection.

"Doesn't it actually feel _good_." She said.

Steve nodded and she whipped him again. Then she gave the bough to Steve. "Do me!" she laid down on the opposite bench. He whipped her back and ass. "Harder!" she said. "You too!" she pointed at Morgan. They both flailed away at her until she was completely red and her skin was a little irritated.

She went limp. "Mmmmm. I like that scent."

The boys sat down again. She pressed a buzzer. Marta brought them cold water and some champagne and strawberries. "Can you clean this one up." she stroked Morgan's pubic hair. "Maybe let him calm down a little bit. I want that seed myself. Don't you give it to her," she said to him and shooed him away.

Demetria drank some ice water. She poured the rest of the glass on Steve's crotch. "I like yours." she smiled at him and gave him a deep kiss. He responded and pulled her close. Her breasts were sweaty and slippery on his chest. "Ah. Ah. Ah." she put a hand on his shoulder and backed him away. "Take your time. You are a virgin, right?"

He nodded, "Yes."

She laughed. "Oh, you won't leave here a virgin!"

He grinned. "I was hoping that would be the case."

"Did you know I was a princess, well am one?" she said.

"You seem like that." Steve said.

She eyed him, "And how would you know?" she touched his nose. "Boop."

"You have no boundaries at all. You showed us the maid's ass when we just walked in! So does she just walk around here all day with no panties?"

She smiled slyly. "You like her too, right?" Steve nodded. She laughed, "When I hired her, I pretended it was a normal job, well as much as _I_ could. Then the first day she was here, the first thing I had her do was shave my pussy."

Demetria touched herself. "She did a really good job." She stuck her finger in Steve's mouth. "After that, it was anything goes." she laughed. "Sometimes I send her out to the sign for packages naked. She loves it, too. I _love_ her!" She sighed.

Steve grinned, "My father gave me a talk about women 'like you'."

She laughed, "Oh, did he? I wonder if it actually might apply. What did he say?"

"I need to be aware of what my boundaries are and not let you violate them."

"Aha! Well, that is good advice. But..." she smiled and let the sentence trail off.

"But what?"

"You have no idea what your boundaries are. Let me give you some counter advice."

"OK."

"All _his_ boundaries are completely fake." she took his cock into her mouth and swirled her tongue around. Then she sat up. "Calm down! I want this first one to last. It's always the best," she slapped him hard across the mouth.

"Ouch." Steve said. He wiped his mouth. There was blood on his fingers. She took the wounded corner of his lip into her mouth and tasted his blood.

"Steve, I was a princess with slaves tending to me night and day, then I was literally blown into the underworld by a volcano, and I've gone back and forth dozens of times. I have a cult that's been around for thousands of years. Tell _that_ to your father."

"Is this real, or a dream?" he held his hand up.

"Oh it is very real." she smacked him with a pine bough.

"Oww..." he nodded. "OK!"

Morgan returned with Marta. She said, "Is good, Mizz Demetria?"

"Oh much better! On second thought, do this one too?" She poured a pitcher of ice water on Steven's lap. "Can you bring a towel in here? Get naked, lady."

Marta smiled devilishly and stepped out of her skirt and joined them. "Sit." she said to Steve.

"You see how she left those heels on?" Demetria said. "She knows what I like. I bet you like it too." she shook Morgan's chin in a yes motion. "You're a virgin, too?" she asked Morgan.

"Well, yeah." he said. He sipped a glass of chilled champagne. She took it and took a sip then kissed it into his mouth.

The clippers buzzed. Marta worked on Steven like she was trimming hedges. She was business like but careful. Demetria said, "You're giving us a good show Marta, but bend over more, I don't think Morgan can see your glorious asshole."

When Marta was done, she rinsed Steve off with more ice water and wiped him down with a towel.

"Alright, you two sit there, she pointed at Steve and Morgan. They moved onto one bench. We'll give you a lesson."

She spread her legs apart and gestured for Marta to come to her. "She's really very good at this. You can learn from her."

Morgan looked at Steve, "they say you'll always remember your first time."

## Chapter Three

Four Years Ago

Matt's phone rang. The caller ID was blocked so he ignored it. A few seconds later he got an email.

Hey, pik up.

-Seth Kaswhetski

The phone rang again and he answered. A man with a slight brooklyn accent said, "Hey, we need to talk."

Matt asked, "Who is this?"

"Look, we have a friend in common, she calls herself Samantha these days. A helicopter will be there in maybe an hour. It'll bring you and your wife here."

"No."

He heard a heavy sigh. "I don't know why you'd refuse a meeting. It's extremely important. Look, if you don't come now, I hate to do it, but we'll just kidnap you."

The tone in Seth's voice left no doubt that he was serious. "Well, OK." Matt agreed. Seth hung up immediately.

He found Telia in the kitchen. "Hey Tee, we have a meeting with a guy Seth Kaswhetski. He's actually the CEO of Black Cube Financial. I just Googled him."

She furrowed her brow, "That's odd."

"He knows Samantha."

She said, "I'll go change. What should I wear?"

Matt shrugged. "I'm wearing something I could run away in."

She frowned. "Run away? Well, that's probably not a bad idea." She returned dressed casually in jeans and a black commando sweater with some walking shoes.

They heard the rotors thumping and the chopper landed in their front yard. Matt and Telia went outside. Robbie, Amy, Johnny and Dana were all gathered on the driveway.

Matt said, "It's for us... We'll be back. I think." They walked out to the aircraft. A man helped them aboard. The door closed and it took off and went east.

"What the fuck was that?" Robbie said.

## Chapter Four

The interior of the chopper was simple and elegant. A persian rug was on a wood floor. The seats were soft leather.

A tidy, almost boyish man sat opposite them, "Hello Matthew and Telia, such a lovely name, I'm Francis. Can I offer you a drink? We have a fully stocked bar."

"Sure, I'll take a Manhattan." Matt said.

"Gin and tonic." Telia ordered.

"Lime?" Francis asked her. She nodded.

The man exuded pleasant manners. He had short brown wavy hair and a squarish slightly pudgy face.

He handed them the crystal glasses. "I have to apologize in advance. We don't have any food today. We left in haste." he shrugged.

Matt said, "this helicopter looks like the President's.'"

The man beamed, "It's part of the same production run as Marine One. Oh, and I am supposed to put you at ease, feel free to ask me anything. I can answer without reservation."

"Where are we going?" Telia asked.

"Black Cube's corporate headquarters, to Seth's suites. It should take about an hour." He looked at his watch.

"What's the topic of the meeting?" Matt asked.

"I would answer that if I knew. All that I do know is it is very important. He cancelled every meeting today to prepare. He never does that."

"Who is Seth, really?" Matt asked.

The man clasped his hands together. "He's our King, for lack of a better word."

"Our?"

"We have lots of different names, but I always think of it as the Brotherhood of Saturn."

Matt nodded, "You mean the drug running, child prostituting, murdering Brotherhood?"

The man frowned, "I have to apologize about all that. Really, I am guessing, those things are the main topic of the meeting. That is, how to end them."

Matt raised his eyebrow. "End them."

"Yes. End them. They're a severe problem. Unfortunately, as bad as all that is, there are more dangerous things to worry about."

Telia was shocked, "Worse than child prostitution?"

"Yes, unfortunately. Seth thinks we can end it with your help."

Matt leaned back with the realization, "Ah. Samantha and he somehow talked?"

"Yes!" he smiled. "Seth and Samantha have been talking again, actually for decades, then you two came along and click." He shook his two hands together.

## Chapter Five

The helicopter landed on the roof of a black glass building on Wall Street. The man led them to a stairwell and buzzed himself in with a keycard. He handed cards to Matt and Telia and then led them down a hallway with thick red carpet. Gory mythical paintings hung from the walls, Cronus eating his children. A gory Spanish painting of the entire Saturn cycle. A photo of the Cassini spacecraft with Seth signing the side of the probe.

He tapped on two black handless double doors. "Sir, they're here."

The doors slid open. The man gestured them inside. "A pleasure to meet you. I'll be waiting out here. If you need or even want _anything_ just let me know."

"Thank you, Francis" Matt said and shook his hand. The man nearly teared up.

Telia and Matt went into the room and the doors closed. The office was impossibly large and had panoramic views of Manhattan and the Hudson. Every square inch of the room was covered with sumptuous, expensive materials. The walls were dark carved mohagony rails and stiles with tooled leather panels.

The inner sanctum of the office was a plush carpet with a short table at one end and several pillows that served as chair backs. Seth was sitting at the small table drinking tea. Owen was with him. He recognized them, "Aha! There they are now. Come join us."

They kicked their shoes and socks off and walked on the carpet. Seth said, "This was Genghis Khan's! He sat right here. This table is a repro, though. Watcha gonna do? Can't find the original."

Seth was wearing a pair of gray gabardine trousers and a white dress shirt. It was as casual as he got. Owen's tweed jacket was hanging on the back of a chair. His shirt had a hole in the elbow.

Matt sat down and Telia sat next to him.

"She speaks highly of you two." Seth said.

"Samantha?" Telia asked.

"Of course. Anyway, let me cut right to it, I fucked up. I need your help, and I'll help you." He gestured to the whole group.

"What do you mean? How did you fuck up?" Telia asked.

"Long story short, version: back in the day, I started building this. Excuse me, 'we' started building this," he gestured around the room at the opulence, "truth be told, per usual, the others did all the work, and I was the last one they pulled in just to organize it. But I got greedy. I discovered how to cross over and I cut Sam off." he made a chopping motion. "I figured out how to tap into _it_. It will remain nameless, by the way. Let's just call it Nihilism for lack of a better word. I thought it was dumb, just a force that could be used, but I was totally wrong." He shrugged matter of factly.

"I think of it as a great snake," Owen offered.

"So how do we fit into that?" Telia asked.

"The problem was this thing started infecting my organization. I didn't perceive it _myself_ until the A-bomb. Our guys did that. Dropped it on Japan." He sighed. "I knew we _really_ fucked up. I started seeing how this snake crept into everything. I see neither of you is grasping the gravity of the situation."

Matt shrugged, "I really don't see what you're driving at, yet."

Seth said, "OK. I'll get to my point. Let me point out that the last President who wasn't an employee was McKinley."

Telia gasped. "No way."

Seth gestured to a corner. A man brought a laptop over and put it on the table. He clicked on an icon. A man answered the video chat request, "Hey Barry, say hi to Telia Wells."

"Hello Telia." The President said. The color drained from Telia's face. She shook her head.

"Thanks, later." he shooed the laptop away. The servant closed it and carried it away. "Anyway, while this organization has never been about puppies and candy, it's never been _this_ bad, and gets worse every day. _I_ shudder about the possibilities. I tried to reign it in, but really it's been out of my control for decades. I think _it_ took over."

Owen said, "So, to use an awful phrase, we plan to get the band back together."

Seth said, "My plan is to destroy this organization, but more importantly we need to drive the snake that it's feeding back into the dark."

Owen said, "This might be extremely hard to believe, but we need to tap into the power of that." he pointed out the window.

"What?" Matt asked. He didn't see anything out there.

Owen laughed hilariously and rolled back on the carpet, "the Sun!"

Seth saluted it with a cup, "We cut people off from Him."

He put a pendulum on the table. "I like this sculpture. I talked with the artist for a week about this. He made it out of titanium. You like the colors? That's not paint, just from a blow torch oxidizing the metal. The guy's a genius." He started it going. The pendulum sped up and slowed down. "There's actually a pattern to it, but you have to watch a long time to see it repeat."

"What's that?" Telia said.

"It's the opposite of a clock." he said. "You see, the sun goes up, goes down. That's a day, not the tick, tick, tick of a watch. Not the 9AM timecard, not the 30 year mortgage, etcetera, and so on. We systematically cut people off from the Sun." he pointed out the window.

"I haven't mentioned this, but I pointed my reflector at the Sun, and it was power that I couldn't channel, understand, or control." Matt said.

Owen said, "Oh, of course not, who could?"

Seth said, "Nobody--nothing could. You need to be more subtle in your thinking about these things." he handed him the not-clock. "Like that. Take it and meditate on it."

Telia said, "what if we don't do this?"

Seth shrugged, "This is not just another dark ages of limited human possibility--that was bad enough--that's what got us together last time around. This time it's BOOM!" he mimicked a mushroom cloud. "End of everything."

Matt frowned. "My family has already been trying to bring the Sun back in a way."

Owen nodded, "Yes indeed, but they're like kids in the park playing ball. This is international league play."

Seth nodded, "Full fucking contact. So I want to help you out in the transition."

Telia asked, "How? What do you mean?"

Seth said, "We're basically going to war with super powers... I mean that word in both senses. It's full-on, no rules at all. So first things first, to protect your family, we'll fake your deaths. You'll have a new identity. You'll also have full access to my resources. Hell, they'll be yours."

Matt said, "This feels very much like a deal with the devil."

Seth smiled archly. "It is. I don't deny it, but it's to save the world. We've done it multiple times throughout history. I mean, literally me and you, Matt. Cycles."

Owen put a hand on Matt's shoulder, "This is the game." He shrugged. "They make alliances, break them, shuffle the deck over and over. Cycle after cycle. But we have to play our part."

Telia said, "We need time to think."

Seth said, "It's not like the world will end tomorrow... probably. But, let's keep things moving. You've got a week. Use that to prepare. There's really no deciding here. I'm not going to bother you again if you decline, but if you do, we're all fucked. You'll die, your kids, your friends, pets, everything, poof. _It_ wants that. If you want convincing, we can go see it."

"No, I believe you." Matt said. He stood up and helped Telia up. "Well, thanks for your time, I guess." Matt said.

"I'll give you a call next week. Go home and get your shit in order. Keep this hush, hush, the fewer people who know the better. It's really for their safety." Seth said.

Francis waited for them at the edge of the carpet. They were both slightly delirious and his friendly presence bolstered them a bit. He handed them two gift bags and led them back to the helipad. They boarded the chopper and flew back to Ohio.

"Seth said Ohio--Cleveland is where it all really started. He visited the place multiple times in the 1800s when they really solidified the organization. He was there as early as 1756 on a scouting mission. A french fur trapper took him in a canoe. Incredible, no?"

Matt nodded, "Indeed, totally amazing."

"So," Francis traced a circle in the air with his index fingers.

Matt said, "Yup." He sighed and thought about the farm being dead and barren.

Telia dug through the black gift bag. There was a diamond necklace, a gold cased iPhone and a black credit card. "That's nice, I guess." she said. "Thanks."

"Our pleasure. Just a small token of appreciation for your time. That card has no limit. Buy what you want anywhere. You can get a cash advance of up to one million dollars at a time. If you need more just call the number on the back 24/7."

Matt dug through his bag. There was a heavy gold Rolex and another phone plus a black credit card. The Rolex just showed the position of the sun in the sky and the position on the solar wheel of the year. It had no hour or minute hand.

Francis pointed at the watch, "That's literally one of a kind. I commissioned it myself. Also, your card is just like hers. Oh, either of you can call that number any time and get anything you need or want. There's a password 'Ragnorok'." He smiled. "I picked that."

"That's fitting." Matt laughed.

The chopper settled in the field and they climbed out. It flew away and they stood there looking at the setting sun. "Look the watch is right." Matt said.

## Chapter Six

Present Day

"Have you seen Morgan?" Tracy sat next to Chloe in the lunch room.

"I thought he was here this morning. Did you hear about Steve? Maybe they left together." She said.

"Weirder and weirder." Tracy sighed.

The PA crackled on, a man's voice spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen... May I have your attention.... drum roll please." A snare drum roll started then faded to a persistent hiss. "I am happy to present Miss Pamela Wilcott, last year's homecoming Queen to announce this year's homecoming court. Pamela had emailed in a recording. Her bored voice recited the list of names: seven boys and seven girls. Berto and Richard were on the court and so were Tracy and Chloe. The King and Queen would be announced at the game.

"Oh gawd." Tracy shook her head, but was smiling ear to ear. "They did it, somehow."

The cafeteria applauded as the court members stood up. Chloe ran around the table and hugged Tracy and kissed her cheek. "Now we have dates to the dance, too!"

Mrs. Rosewater collected all the court into her room and congratulated them and walked them through the process. "I'm the homecoming committee chairwoman. There's a lot for us all to do, but it is simple stuff. There's a schedule on the desks in front of you. On Friday morning, we'll do pictures. Girls, wear a red dress and black shoes. Boys a dark suit. For the football players, wear your jersey and dark slacks. We'll announce the King and Queen at halftime. Congratulations to all of you, what a special group." she clasped her hands together and wiped a tear away.

Berto and Richard bumped fists. Richard winked hugely at Tracy and Chloe. They giggled. They were excused from classes for the rest of the day and spent time talking to the school newspaper, and a local reporter interviewed them all.

The final bell rang and Chloe and Tracy went out to the lot. "Let's hope the car is OK." Chloe said.

"Well, Monica Merchant is on the court, too. She seemed pretty happy." Tracy said. "I've got to say, I'm happy too. Giddy even."

"Me too." Chloe said.

## Chapter Seven

Morgan was on one side of the enormous bed and Steve was on the other. Marta was napping in the middle and Demetria was in the bathroom.

"Dude, I think we just lived every penthouse forum letter ever written in a single day." Morgan said.

"The amazing thing is, I don't think she's done with us." Steve said.

Morgan said, "Marta's hot." he stroked her hair. "I'd like my own Marta."

Steve nodded, "No doubt. What a life, right?!" He bent over and kissed Marta's fleshy butt cheek. She smiled at him over her shoulder and wiggled her hind end.

She said, "I like you boys very much."

Demetria called her from the bathroom, "Marta can you come bathe me?"

Marta rolled off the bed and straightened her hair then went into the bathroom. Demetria was in a large tub that was on a dais. The room was softly lit through skylights. The boys dozed a while.

Demetria hopped on the bed between them. She was wet and naked. Morgan's phone buzzed. He checked the text.

"Hey Steve, go have a bath with Marta." She said. Steve rolled off the bed and padded into the bathroom.

"Oh hey, look at that." Morgan said as he held up his phone.

Demetria laid her wet haired head on his chest. "Look at what?"

"Oh my friends Tracy and Chloe are on the homecoming court."

"Court?"

He laughed, "Oh it's just a dance. We peasants pretend to be royalty sometimes."

She looked at him and said matter of factly, "You could be royal. Both you and Steve."

He showed her pictures of Chloe and Tracy. "That's them."

Her eyes got big, "Oh my, these two. She put a hand on her chest."

Steve padded back to the bed. "Your turn." he pointed back to the bathroom. Morgan went in.

Demetria said, "I absolutely love these girls."

Steve yawned, "yeah, they're great people."

Demetria kissed his cheek. "We will go to this homecoming dance."

"We?"

"All of us. Me you Morgan and Marta."

He laughed, "Might be fun."

"Steve, will you be _mine_? I'll ask Morgan when he gets back, too."

"Seems like I already am. You did some things to me, well, that are illegal in some states."

"No, it's more than just this." she grabbed his penis and balls. "Marta's my employee, but she's mine. I love her. She loves me."

"I don't want to be an employee." He said.

She pouted, "Oh not an employee. My consort. It's like a friend with benefits, but more than a friend. So much more."

Morgan and Marta returned. "All clean." she said.

Demetria straddled Steve's head. She looked at Morgan from underneath her brows. "Morgan, I want us to go to home.....coming. I want you and Steve to be my consorts." She crawled over to him. "I _need you_. Together we can do so much." She embraced him.

"OK, let's go to homecoming. What does it mean to be your consort?"

"You'll be mine. I'll be yours. Marta's mine."

"Si." she nodded and smiled dreamily.

"I like Marta." Morgan said.

"I like Morgan." Marta said.

"If you like Marta, we can get you a Marta, two, or three, or fifty."

"Am I right in thinking this is a _real_ commitment?" Morgan said. "There's no consort divorce."

She shook her head no.

"Demetria, I'm seventeen. You're 4000. It's a hard choice for me to make. Can I think about it?"

She pouted.

Steve chimed in, "Me too. I can't think about this here, now."

Demetria said, "I suppose you're right. I felt this passion to ask you both when I saw those girls and thought I might lose you. Anyway, I would really like to get to know you better. I want to meet your friends, too."

Morgan said, "I think they'd like you, too."

"Take this car," she tossed them the keys. "Just head down to the garage. Come over any time you like. I'll call you tomorrow." She kissed them both. "I'm going to nap with Marta."

## Chapter Eight

The boys got dressed and walked down to the garage. The keys were to an Audi convertible. The driver pulled the car out of the garage and gave the boys an overview.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Morgan said to the man.

"Sure. Shoot."

"First off, what's your name?"

"Mike."

"OK, Mike, nice to meet you thanks for driving us earlier."

"No problem."

"Is this normal? I mean, are there guys coming here all the time and taking cars?" Morgan asked.

Mike looked around to make sure the coast was clear, "Well, no, not really. She's eccentric, aggressive. I can't tell you how many times she grabbed my ass or my dick. But she's actually sort of sweet and loving and careful about the people she lets in. She hates people who fawn over her."

Morgan nodded, "Thanks, Mike. I'm sure we'll see you again."

Mike gave them a very subtle knowing look and opened the car door. Steve said, "I'm driving this beast."

Mike said, "Oh! wait. Here's a card. If you get in trouble call me."

"Nice!" Steve said. He pulled out onto the road. They drove away from the house.

They looked at each other for a few seconds when they came to the next stop sign. They both just screamed and laughed like wild animals. Morgan stomped the floor. He got out of the car and did a little dance.

He sat back down. "I never thought my first sexual experience would be an orgy with a goddess, her hot maid, and my best friend. Whatever inhibitions I had, well, they're gone. Life is completely fucking ridiculous."

"No doubt..." Steve said. He sighed. "Man, that was incredible."

"That Marta, wow." Morgan said. "Demetria was like if you took all the sexy sexiness of every girl in Chardon and poured it into one person, but there was something about the way Marta loved her that was mesmerizing."

"It was intense." Steve nodded. Then he just said, "So..." he left that hanging.

"So what?" Morgan said.

"I mean, how do we follow up on that experience? I mean an orgy every day? Where does it go from there?"

Morgan stroked his chin, "I see your point, but dude, you're overthinking this."

Steve nodded, "My brain was off that whole time, and I enjoyed it, but... Man, that might be my one walk on the wild side. I don't think I even want to go to homecoming, really. What'd that be like?"

Morgan was saddened. "Oh no! Bro. I mean, what are you ever going to do in your life that will be remotely like that. We could be princes!"

Steve shrugged, "I know if we go down that road too far, weird, bad shit's going to happen. It's back to normal life for me, well, right after I haul some ass in this bucket."

"Ah well. I'm more open to the possibilities. I want to find out more about this consort thing."

Steve opened the Audi up all the way. The 10 cylinders barked and sputtered to a roar. They were pressed back in the leather seats. They both howled in delight.

## Chapter Nine

Flashback

Robbie, Dana and Johnny were waiting for Telia and Matt in the house.

"What was that?" Robbie asked.

"We went to New York City." Matt said. "We met with the Brotherhood's head--I guess frankly the King of the Western World--Seth Khaszzz...whatever."

"King?" Robbie said incredulously.

Telia said, "To make his point he called the President like it was no big deal and hung up on him like it was no big deal."

Robbie scratched his beard, "Well, we always thought it was something like that."

Matt shrugged, "Well we were a little wrong too."

"How so?" asked Dana.

Matt said, "Well, he wants to destroy the organization too."

Johnny was skeptical, "Sure it's not a trick?"

"Yeah pretty sure. Look, after that, it's totally obvious to me that we're small potatoes. They don't give a shit about our little schemes against them," Matt said. "Seth's working with Samantha now, and.... I can't believe I am saying this: they're teaming up with... the fucking Sun." he pointed at the Sun lamp in the library.

Robbie made an exaggerated "what" face and said, "Huh? How the fuck does that work?" He was angry.

Telia said, "I feel the same way. Show them the watch."

"I'm pretty sure we could buy a few more farms with this thing." Matt said. He handed the watch to Robbie.

"That's really nice craftsmanship." He smiled. "But I don't get this whole crazy thing."

"I don't entirely get it, either. I mean, the gist of it, yeah, but how do you hook up the Sun to any of this?"

Johnny said, "When we pointed the reflector at the sun, you just about blew up."

Matt nodded. "I know. I brought that up as a concern, they didn't explain the plan. Really, it's just in or out."

Telia said, "But they said if we don't do it <BOOM> mushroom clouds everywhere."

Matt said, "I believed him, too."

"Fuck." Dana breathed.

Telia gave Dana the necklace. "Here, hon. This is yours."

"Holy moly." Dana said.

"Robbie you keep that watch." Matt said.

Telia took Matt's hand. "We're going to go out for a while to talk," she said. She wiped a tear away.

Robbie said quietly, "Yeah, sure..."

## Chapter Ten

Matt and Telia got into the car and drove. They ended up on Chagrin River Road and went very slow, as if time would slow down if they didn't go the speed limit.

"I think we have to do it." Telia said.

"Yes." Matt agreed.

"So, let's get cash advances and set up a fund for Tracy."

"She's too young. Robbie will have to handle the money. I think we need to hide it a little." Matt said.

Telia sobbed, "Is our will up-to-date?"

Matt grabbed her hand. "Yeah. It's at the lawyers."

Telia said, "Alright, I want a fucking car. Let's use these things and make sure they work. She took out the black card."

Matt and Telia drove to a specialized car dealership in Shaker Heights. There was no sign, just a brick driveway that went between some hedges. Within the hedge, there was a large barn. Where the horse stalls had been there were vintage sports cars.

A man in a polo shirt and shorts walked out to greet them. "Hi, I'm Dale. Just buzz this if you need anything." He handed them a little single button remote and left them alone.

"I like that!" Matt said.

"Oh my god!" She said. She found the Austin-Healey. "I've always loved these." she buzzed the buzzer.

"I'll take it." she handed him the card.

"Would you like a test drive?" Dale asked. "She's as solid as these can be, you'll love it, I know."

"I already love it."

"OK. I wish my job were always that easy. Follow me." They did the paperwork. "Did you want to buy it outright or finance some? Interest rates are ridiculously low."

"Just buy it." Telia said.

"Do you care how much it costs?" He chuckled.

"Not really." She shrugged.

"Alright, then!" he swiped the card. For a second, he considered adding a few thousand to the price, but didn't go through with it. The machine printed a receipt and Telia signed it.

"I'll put tags on it, and you're all set."

They went to the bank. They tried to get the maximum cash advance, but the bank was unable to come up with the money. They called the service number on the back.

Matt said, "Ragnorok."

Francis said, "Hello Matt!"

"Say, Francis, we're trying to get a cash advance using the card, but our bank won't do it. We can only get $10K."

"Alright, we'll send a banker to your home tomorrow. You want all cash? How much do you want?"

Matt shrugged and looked at Telia. "Um, how about ten million. What do you recommend?" Matt asked.

Francis didn't skip a beat, "For such a large amount, I'd do part cash, and the rest assets, including precious metals, stock, real estate. If you prefer, I will set it all up."

"Can you put it in my brother's name?"

"Sure, we'll send a banker and a lawyer."

## Chapter Eleven

Present Day

The rest of the school week went by very slowly for Morgan and Steve. Tracy and Chloe had been swept up in the homecoming activities during the week and were incommunicado. Thursday seemed like a prison sentence punctuated by bells. Demetria sent them texts when she was bored, which was most of the time. The phone would buzz, and there'd be a picture of Marta posing for her, or Demetria nude on the bed, in the garden, on the motorcycle.

She sent Morgan an angry text. "They wouldn't sell me groceries. :(" The attached picture was Demetria standing in line at the grocery store in the nude. He stifled a laugh.

"You should have gone to a male cashier." SEND

"Why would that matter?" she wrote back.

"Hey Morgan!" the study hall teacher snapped. "No texting. Give me that phone."

"No." Morgan said matter of factly. He realized some of Demetria's tone snuck into his voice.

"OK, but just put it on mute..." the teacher said.

Morgan was surprised at the effect. He wasn't really sure how it worked.

"Bored!" she wrote him. "Come, now?"

"OK." SEND he got up from his seat and walked out of the building. The Audi was parked in the school lot. He clicked the remote to unlock the car even though the top was down. He just loved the sound it made. He fired up the engine. The car roared to life. The V10 engine rumbled like an angry animal. He pulled onto the road and headed to her house.

He rang the bell. Marta answered the door in a French Maid outfit. "Mr. Morgan, nice to see you."

"You too, Marta."

Demetria ran up to him. She had been working out and was in a sweaty shirt and short shorts. She hugged him. "I missed you so much."

"Me too." he said.

She looked into his eyes and said matter of factly, "Morgan, I can tell you are starting to love me. Really love me." She walked him back to the den.

"I admit, I am having feelings for you. I've been wondering about what it means to 'be your consort'."

"Oh, it is the best relationship. We'd be married, but you'd be no husband, and I'd be no wife. Marta, come sit with us." She sat down between them. Demetria stroked her hair.

"Not a husband but married?"

"The bond surpasses that." she straddled his lap. "For you, it is a chance to grow into who you are really meant to be. I'm distilled, over and over into a very pure, strong thing. You are mixed and confused, but real and beautiful. We could be together until the end of time, you'd outlive this feeble vessel." she touched his face and lips. "I will show you more today..."

"More?"

"Yes. Marta can you call them?"

"Yes, Demetria." Marta left the room.

"What is it?"

"You'll see."

About a half hour passed then Marta entered the room, "Miss, they are here."

"Send them out to the garden." she said to Marta. "Here come." she took Morgan's hand and led him to a balcony.

A handful of teenage girls walked into the back yard and started singing. Their voices were eerie and beautiful. They wore sheer white gowns that clung to their bodies.

The harmonies were alien to Morgan's ears. She held his hand. "These songs are praises for _me_. They are ancient songs of harvest time."

He nodded. "It's beautiful."

"You see it in them. I can tell. It's their devotion to _me_ that's so lovely. They could be as devoted to you, too." She held his hand, then bit his ear and whispered in a husky, tickling voice, "Pick one, or two, or all of them."

Morgan smiled dreamily, the girls were like a box of candy. "Which one do you like?" he asked her.

"You know my type," she smiled and eyed Marta.

"It works for me, too." One of the girls was like a younger version of Marta. Demetria called to her, "Child come." The girl clasped her hands together in ecstatic joy and climbed the steps up to them. The other girls continued singing and tried to conceal their disappointment. "You will all have a chance. Don't be sad!" she called out to the rest of them and blew a kiss.

Marta led the girl to the bathroom and bathed her. Demetria led Morgan to the bed.

"What should I wear to this homecoming dance?" She asked him.

"Clothes are not my department, as you might have guessed." he pointed to his outfit. He wore jeans and a sweatshirt.

"Do you understand this homecoming ritual?" She asked.

"I hadn't thought about it that way." Morgan looked puzzled, "But yeah it is one."

"The warriors fight on the field to honor the god. It's a blood sacrifice." She laughed, "Sometimes the victors were honored by dying for their god. Blood sewn into the field."

"That really makes no sense at all." Morgan said.

She giggled. "There is a certain logic to it, no?"

"Hmmm.... Yeah, if their blood contains their power."

"Also, the king and the queen of this homecoming dance should go fuck in the fields and the people should watch, then join in."

"There is a certain logic to it--I mean, it's crazy, but I think I understand."

"I knew you would. You _really_ understand. So many pretenders." She kissed him. "I have something to confess to you. I hope you will still love me. You see all this," she gestured to the room, "All this opulence. It's actually a cage." her face hardened.

Morgan sat up, "What do you mean?"

"The explanation will have to wait." Demetria smiled at him. The naked girl walked into the room. She covered her chest as if she were cold. "Oh don't hide yourself. You are lovely." Demetria stood up and walked around the girl.

The girl smiled and looked at her adoringly, "Thank you Demetria."

Demetria gestured at Morgan, "This is my consort-in-waiting, Morgan."

The girl eyed him with the same wild eyed devotion. He felt a slight tingle and energy from it.

"Have you seen a man naked before?" Demetria asked her and stroked her silky black hair.

"No," she shook her head.

"Well, this will be a real experience for you." Demetria kissed her.

## Chapter Twelve

"Wakey wakey!" Chloe whispered in Tracy's ear and nudged her shoulder. Tracy's room was still dark. Only the trickle of light from the kitchen down the hallway illuminated the side of Chloe's face.

"Whaaaa...." Tracy stirred. "What time is it?" she mumbled into her pillow.

"It's five in the A." she whispered.

"Already? Ugh." she pulled the blankets over her head.

"We have to get you ready for your coronation!"

Tracy laughed and it turned into a groan. "I really hope _you_ are the queen Chlo. I hope you practiced your wave for the parade all night!"

Chloe held a hand up by her face and rotated it back and forth. Tracy giggled, then sat up. "Alright, I'm up."

Keith was awake already, too. There was a big breakfast on the counter with lots of slices of fresh fruit, pancakes, and scrambled eggs and bacon.

"There are two queens at my table! Ma would be so proud of her son, entertaining royalty in his condominium."

"Well, we don't know if we're royalty, yet. And frankly, the homecoming queen doesn't have a lot of power, does she?" Tracy said.

"It's not about power. It's about attitude." he said.

Chloe pointed at him, "I don't know what you mean, but I think you're right."

Keith shrugged, "It's too early to form a coherent thought. I'm going to eat and drink coffee for like, hours this morning."

Tracy looked at the schedule, "Wow, there's a lot going on today."

Chloe guffawed, "Football supercedes school work, I guess."

They ate breakfast at a quick pace. "Let's go get pretty." Chloe said.

He took a picture of the girls before they left to go get styled. He sat on the couch and drank coffee and wondered about how The Old Stone Gathering Hall led back to Marcus Rice and Susan Cantoe. He texted Rich Simons. "Possible local involvement in case."

His phone buzzed. Rich wrote back. "In office at 8:30. Come any time after."

## Chapter Thirteen

"Hey Rich," Keith poked his head into the office.

"Keith! Come on in. Coffee?"

"Sure. Got up at four thirty this morning. The girls are in the homecoming court and they started getting ready at six. Can you believe it?"

"You must be so proud." Rich smacked Keith's arm.

"No doubt. They're both stellar. Just amazing girls."

"So, you mentioned possible local involvement."

Keith sat down, "Rich, this thing could be big. I mean, I hate to jump ahead, but wow, some crazy shit is going on."

Rich nodded. He took out a notepad. "OK. Give me the story."

Keith put photos of the Old Stone Hall onto the table. Then pictures of Reichstaff, the Sheriff, and the Judge. He pointed at them. "So the Cantoes led me to this guy, and this guy led me to the sheriff and the judge."

"Hmmm.... That's, well, that blows my mind."

"I won't even tell you the rest of the story unless you tell me what's going on with your people." Keith said.

Rich sighed. "Alright, Keith, this is just between us, OK."

Keith nodded, "Fine."

Rich said, "What you've found is so far beyond the pissant bullshit my clients wanted. They wanted some leverage to force Ralph to resign and retire. But, now the Sheriff's involved. It looks like a conspiracy! I'm going to need to bump this up to the prosecutor, now."

Keith said, "No way." he took the photos.

"Keith, we have to. This might need to bubble up to the state level, maybe the feds."

"Rich, you have no idea how far, or where the rot might go. It's flat out dangerous, not only for you, but for me, too."

Rich pounded his fist on the table, "Keith, it's our duty to confront this shit. If we don't who will?"

Keith rubbed his face with his hands. "Dammit, Rich! I hope you're right. You need to keep me informed every step of the way, now, and you really need to be careful."

"I'll let you know what happens. I'm going up there now. I need that evidence." Rich said. Keith handed over the photos and his binder. "Keith, you did excellent work. You'll get a bonus. I'll bring it over later."

"OK. I guess I'm done for now. Give me a call. I'll probably be at home today."

## Chapter Fourteen

Flashback

Matt and Telia sat with Robbie on the patio. He was still in a daze as they continued to unload on him. Everything they'd worked on for years was suddenly moot.

They were waiting for the lawyer and banker to arrive.

"I don't want Tracy to be spoiled." Telia said. "She shouldn't get the money until she's able to handle it. I won't put an age on it. I leave it up to you. Make her work, get to understand the value of it."

Robbie said, "I just can't believe this is actually happening." He tossed his cold coffee out of the cup onto the ground, then tossed the cup at a tree. It popped into fragments.He put his hands on his head.

"Neither can I." Matt said.

Telia wiped a tear from her eyes, "Tracy's smart and strong. She'll be OK."

"You really want me to take care of her?" Robbie said.

"She's pretty independent already. She got used to being away from home at Tweedy." Matt tried to rationalize it. "Besides, who knows how long we'll be gone."

"Bullshit, Matt. These assholes work on projects for hundreds of years."

"But maybe it won't be dangerous for long." Telia said hopefully.

"Maybe not." Robbie brightened a bit. "Look, I guess we won't know for a while, but I'm going to hope for the best. I am not going to let her think you died."

Matt nodded. "That's good, but we'll be out of touch for who knows how long."

A black car pulled into the driveway. Two men got out. Both of them were wearing three piece suits. Their hair was styled and they were both clean shaven and fit.

They were incredibly quick with the business. A corporation had been set up in Robbie's name. It had $10 million dollars in assets, stock, cash, real estate, and precious metals. He signed a few papers. The banker notarized them and they left.

Matt said, "Hey you're a millionaire!" The joke fell flat with Telia and Robbie.

Robbie picked up the folder the men left with him and went into the house.

Matt said, "I've got to do one more thing."

Matt knocked on Tracy's door, "hey girl!" she was laying on her bed, reading and listening to music on headphones.

"Hey Dad!" she took the headphones off. She'd been home for days and was loving the time away from school.

"I have something to teach you."

Telia sat down on a chair. "How does this work?"

Matt said to both of them, "Before there was writing, people passed knowledge along with stories and songs. It sounds so poetic and imprecise, right?"

Tracy nodded. Telia shrugged, "I guess."

Matt said, "They also had techniques for passing along perfect, precise information about complex subjects, basically whole worlds of knowledge that could be folded up and tucked away in memory."

Tracy said, "That's cool. So, why do we go to school?"

He grinned, "That is a really good question, right? Well, this technique is not well known. It used to be a secret. People liked to control information, because they used it to control people."

"That's not nice." Tracy said.

"No it's not." Matt said. "But that's the way some people are."

"OK, well, that's cool, thanks for sharing with me, Dad."

He laughed, "Well don't thank me, yet, because I'm going to teach you The Library. Actually, I should probably apologize because this will be so weird."

Tracy narrowed her eyes, "Weird? What do you mean?"

Matt said, "Unfortunately this technique is the only one I know that actually works. We'll basically build a map in your mind, but it won't make any sense, maybe for years. You won't even recall this session until your mind has fully digested it."

Tracy asked, "I don't understand..."

Matt said, "That's alright. You will someday. Anyway, this will take a couple of days, sorry."

## Chapter Fifteen

Present Day

There was a pep rally in the gym. The Hilltopper marching band was impossibly loud and the antics of Topper fired the crowd up into a frenzy. The football team was presented. Richard and Berto were co-captains of the team, and they were also on the homecoming court. Richard wore his knit cap and mirrored sunglasses and had a candy cigarette hanging from his lip in studied indifference to the proceedings. Berto wore his letter jacket over his jersey and joined in the ceremonies. He presented the homecoming court with a little funny, charming, but slightly off color story about each.

He put his hand on Richard's shoulder, "This is my buddy Richard Golden. I 'member in elementary school our teacher, Miss McLeland read through the list of names, last name first. She says, 'Golden, Dick' and the whole class laughs, but even back then Richard was just too cool for school." The audience chuckled. Richard bowed and there were whoops and howls from the rest of the football team, "GOLDEN DICK, GOLDEN DICK, GOLDEN DICK." they chanted. Berto calmed them down.

He presented the girls. They were standing in a row, all wearing red gowns and beaming at the crowd. Berto started with Penelope Bruce, she was a special education student with Downs syndrome. He gave her a hug, and worked his way down the line. There were ripples of laughter, applause, whoops and catcalls as he told their stories. He was a natural. The crowd was hanging on his every word.

The red gown was giving Chloe flashbacks to the basement of the Old Stone Hall. She tried to ignore the memories, but her pulse was racing. She was working hard to keep composed. Berto saved her for last.

He started the story, "I don't like to brag, well, I _do_ like to brag." the crowd laughed, "I have a shot at breaking the state record for the hundred this year, something I worked for every day these past four years," the students applauded, "But I had the misfortune to be in a footrace with Chloe and Richard at the Wells farm. This girl blew my doors off--I was running my hardest--for her it was like a Sunday jog in the park! I'm pretty sure if we put football pads on her, she'd tear up Lincoln High like they were tissue paper!" the room whooped and stamped the bleachers. "But she's got it all, grace, beauty, and intelligence, miss Chloe Marte." The crowd applauded and whistled.

She was relieved it was over. She wiped her brow with her hand. The court walked out of the gym to have pictures, yet again.

Tracy asked her, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, flashbacks, weird flashbacks. The energy here is more positive, not as creepy, but still, this is very weird to me. Standing up in front of everybody as what? A slab of meat? An idol?"

Tracy agreed, "Yeah, plus I didn't think it would be so much work. Don't worry. People will forget all about this tomorrow."

"I can't wait to get it over with." Chloe said. She sipped a bottled water.

"The parade should be fun, anyway. So cheesy!" Tracy laughed. "I can't wait to get out of this fucking gown. My tits are chafing."

Chloe guffawed, "You're all class baby! I am literally taped to this. I hope my sweat doesn't make it slip or I'll be holding it up all night."

Tracy whispered, "I think I actually like Richard."

Chloe smiled slyly, "Ohhhh. That bad boy thing getting to you?"

Tracy said, "He really just doesn't give a shit about this. I asked him why he said," she imitated him, "Brah, there's dudes surfin' in tahiti right now.'"

Chloe chuckled, "That was good. Hey Richard," she shouted, he walked over. "She can do you." She winked at Tracy.

"Oh god, thanks for that, you subtle chica." Tracy shoved her.

Chloe said, "Do it again."

"Brah, there's dudes surfin' in tahiti right now.'" Tracy said again.

"Dude!" he high fived her, "That was classic. But man, there _are_ , and we're _here_. We're getting trotted around like slabs of meat and cheesecake. If I get my picture taken again, I think I'll go blind."

Tracy slapped his butt football style, "Tough it out." She laughed.

He slipped the sunglasses down and eyed her. "I'll see you tonight, Wells. I gotta go ball now."

Chloe stifled a laugh until he was a few feet away. "He is cool. Like he studied the cool book and took some cool classes. I'll give him that."

Tracy said, "Well let's go do this parade already. I'm tired of sitting and waiting."

## Chapter Sixteen

The parade cars lined up in front of the school. Local businesses sponsored some floats. The girls and boys had been separated onto two flatbed trucks. The boys sat on bales of hay that surrounded a giant plaster hilltopper statue. The girls were on a truck that had corn stalks and wheat sheafs. Chloe and Tracy kept doing their fake royal wave like automatons, and would occasionally burst out laughing. Monica Merchant took her role seriously and kept giving them dirty looks.

The marching band fired up a drum cadence and the truck lurched forward. All the girls stumbled a couple paces, "Whoa!" Tracy almost fell. Chloe grabbed her. "My tittie almost popped out!" Tracy said. Chloe laughed hysterically.

Monica said, "Would you guys shut up? You might not take this seriously, but some of us do."

"Fuck you, Monica." Chloe said bluntly. "If you take this seriously, you're seriously deluded."

"It's a tradition. It's important." Monica managed to say, even though she was afraid of Chloe.

"Bitch, I've got one thing to say to you. If you fuck with my car again I'll kill your ass." Chloe snarled. Her temper was rising.

Tracy grabbed her shoulders, "Whoa! Easy tiger. Chill. Just do this." Instead of waving at the crowd she held up her middle finger and waved it at Monica.

"Geez, you guys are weird." Monica tried to ignore them.

The parade plodded along the route. People who were walking down to the stadium from around town stopped a few minutes to watch it go by. Richard was sprawled on top of the bales of hay soaking in the rays of the autumn sun. He was almost asleep.

The parade made its way around the square. Chloe noticed a set of black cars were parked inside of some traffic cones and there was a group of people gathered inside the cones. She recognized Morgan. "Holy shit," she gasped to Tracy, "look." she pointed Morgan out.

Morgan was arm in arm with Demetria. She was wearing a clinging golden gown that was slit all the way up to her hip. She was flanked by girls in white robes. A crowd had congregated around them. She and Morgan walked out in the street and her driver Mike stopped the parade by stepping in front of the truck.

Morgan helped Demetria climb up onto the back of the truck and Morgan hopped up after her.

"Tracy and Chloe, this is Demetria." He said.

Demetria wiped a tear away and hugged each of them tight. They were a little dazed. "Sisters. Oh, you are such bright visions. You are stunning, both of you. You do your town proud."

They gaped at Morgan. He said, "I'll try to explain later. We'll be at the game and the dance, so I hope we can catch up." He helped Demetria down. They stepped away from the parade and Mike let the truck continue.

The other girls looked at them quizzically. Chloe just shrugged. Monica said, "Was that Steve's cousin?"

Tracy said, "I don't think _that_ was Steve's cousin!"

As the parade continued, everyone in the procession tried to get a look at Demetria. She waved and blew kisses to them all. The kids who really got a good look at her or caught her eye smiled dreamily.

After the parade passed, Demetria greeted the crowd. She shook hands with men, hugged women and children and patted dogs on the head. Then they piled into the cars and drove in a slow procession to the field. All eyes in the crowd followed them.

## Chapter Seventeen

Demetria's staff cleared a central row of the bleachers. She stood at the end of the row and greeted all the parents and family who'd been ousted. Their angry faces melted into smiles and somehow they felt lucky to have been displaced. A younger couple worked their way down the row to her. They had a five year old boy.

"Oh he is so handsome, just like his father." She brushed the boys cheek. He smiled at his parents. They beamed back.

"Thanks! I keep tellin' my wife that." The man guffawed. Demetria put her hand on his forearm.

"You're a lucky lady." Demetria said. She kissed the woman's cheek and embraced the man. "Can the boy stay with me a while?"

"Oh yes!" the mother said.

"Marta show him to our spot." she pointed to the center of the row. The boy was bewildered but happy. Marta took him by the hand, then the entire ensemble took their seats. Demetria and Morgan sat together, and the boy was between her and Marta.

The loudspeaker crackled. "Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the playing of our National Anthem."

Everyone stood up. Demetria slowly rose to her feet and then gestured to her girls. They sang along with the anthem. The crowd around the group was mesmerized. When the band concluded the anthem the girls sang a hymn to Demetria. She sent the young boy to join them. His eyes were as big as saucers. Cell phone cameras were popping all around. Demetria's face was radiant under the glow of the fields' lights.

She took Morgan's arm, "When is the fertility ceremony?"

"It's in the middle of the mock combat ritual."

She nodded, sensing the moment she stood up and shouted to the crowd with her fist raised, "To our boys! Victory!" The stands erupted in howls.

Morgan felt a visceral thrill course through him. Demetria's pupils were dilated and her skin was rosy as if an inner fire burned. He could smell her, a delicious honeyed spice scent. The crowd around her shifted uncomfortably as it reached them, and whispered directly to their animal self. Husbands and wives moved closer and eyed each other hungrily.

"Oh it's starting." she breathed. The kickoff went to Lincoln. The return man was fast and agile and he worked his way toward the sideline looking for a seam, but the Hilltoppers were much better trained and disciplined and there was only a wall of black and red.

A man yelled, "Destroy him!"

The boy absorbed a crushing hit from his blind side and was knocked over the sideline. He fumbled the ball out of bounds into his teammates. One of the Chardon players picked it up and started to return the ball through the crowd. The referees had to break up the play. Whistles were blowing and the crowd roared wildly. Demetria goaded them on. She was radiant.

For the first time in his life, Morgan enthused at the game, he felt the waves of energy from the crowd and started working with them. In prior seasons, a shell of irony and cynicism shielded his mind from the bestial energy that coursed through the mob, but Demetria was acting like a bottle for the lightning, and he started to understand the mechanics of it.

Lincoln went three and out and punted. Berto received the kick and started up the field and broke free. Only the punter was left to beat. He attempted to tackle Berto, but he hurdled the boy and continued onto the endzone. He spiked the ball then sprinted all the way back down the field pointing up in the stands at Chloe.

The crowd roared. Demetria said, "That was magnificent! He carries all the hopes of his people admirably." She leaned over as whispered to Marta and pointed over at Chloe and Tracy. Marta leaned over and talked to Mike. He nodded.

"Tracy? Chloe?" he leaned over and talked to them. The homecoming court sat together on one side of the bleachers.

"What?" Tracy asked. She was a little confused.

"Come with me." he said firmly.

They shrugged and followed him. Demetria was beaming and the entire crowd was watching them. Photographers had gathered around the bleachers and cameras were popping. Somehow the crowd decided the gathering of these three women was especially important.

Demetria put her arms around the two girls and they posed for the cameras. "You two are so _special_. Transcendent beauty and power. You help fulfill all their hopes." she gestured to the crowd. Hundreds of eyes were on them.

Morgan asked Tracy, "Do you _feel_ it?"

Tracy said, "I do feel something."

Demetria asked, "Will you sit with us?"

Chloe shrugged, "Sure."

Demetria whispered in her ear, "I think that boy loves you." she pointed at Berto. "He's very spirited."

Chloe's ear tickled down her spine. She pulled her hair aside and glanced at Demetria. "Love? No. Maybe something like love, though."

Demetria ran her fingers through Tracy's hair. Tracy was so used to Dana's aggressive affection that she merely put an arm around Demetria's waist instead of pulling away. Demetria said, "you are very much like Morgan. I think you two are somehow attached?"

Tracy blushed slightly. "I've known him for _years_. We are very close."

Demetria sighed, "I would like to be close to you, also. There is a lot to you. You're like Morgan in that way, too."

Tracy smiled at her. She basked in Demetria's warmth.

## Chapter Eighteen

Chardon was well ahead as the second quarter wound down, but the boys were still playing hard. Lincoln was starting to get frustrated. The red lights on the scoreboard showed a slaughter unfolding. They managed to kick a field goal and get on the board.

The kickoff went to Berto. It looked like he'd broken clear again, but the kicker was dogged and angry. Berto tried to hurdle him again but as he planted his foot to jump the boy dove at his leg. The knee snapped and he flipped over the kicker and landed flat on his back and his lower leg whipped around like it wasn't attached to the rest of his body.

The kicker was appalled. He took his helmet off. "Doctor! Doctor!" he screamed and waved at the Chardon sideline.

Chloe was shocked. She stood up and started toward the field.

"Oh no!" Demetria said. The rollicking joy of the crowd turned to stern concern. She deflated. Morgan felt it too. Tracy followed Chloe down but they couldn't see anything from their vantage point, so they climbed up higher in the bleachers.

The PA crackled, "That's Alberto Marquez injured on the play." the crowd was deathly quiet. "He's giving a thumbs up to the EMTs." the energy started to return to the crowd and light applause started. Demetria looked around, she stood up and walked to a couple who were fixated on the field.

"He was playing magnificently!" she said and stifled a sob.

"Thank you!" Mrs. Marquez said. Demetria gestured down to one of her girls. She brought a huge bouquet of roses up the stairs and bowed to the Marquez family and handed the flowers over to Mrs. Marquez. Demetria returned to her seat.

They rolled Berto off on a stretcher and he waved to the crowd. The energy started to return. "How noble!" Demetria wiped away a tear. "He sacrificed himself and they appreciate it."

Morgan nodded, for the first time, he could feel the ebb and flow of all the energy back and forth from the crowd, and somehow, Demetria was at the nexus of it. He realized he could partake in the energetic flow. It was at once intoxicating and frightening. He took her hand and smiled at her. She smiled back and squeezed his palm. She felt his decision click into place before he even knew it happened. She kissed him.

Demetria beamed. She was incandescent in the crowd. Tracy watched them together and felt a pang of loss, but didn't know why.

Chloe tugged her arm, "C'mon sistah. It's our big moment."

Tracy refocused her energy on being positive, "Oh I hope it's you, or anybody else but me!" Chloe raced down the stairs and Tracy struggled to keep up with her. They joined the rest of the court, except Berto. Keith was at the game to stand with both girls. As an inside joke, Tracy had signed her name as "Tracy Marte Wells" in her biography and she wrote that Chloe was her sister.

Mrs. Rosewater presented the entire court, then cued the drum section. The snare drums, and bass drums started rolling and the cymbal player got ready. She read the King and Queen from a sealed envelope.

"The Homecoming King for 2014 is..... Berto Marquez."

A cheer went up from the crowd. His mother cried on her husband's shoulder and hugged the bouquet of roses Demetria gave them.

"And the Queen is.... the lovely Chloe Marte!"

Tracy exploded into a roar and threw her arms around Chloe's neck and hugged her hard and kissed her over and over. Keith just hugged each of them, then stood aside and applauded. In spite of herself, Chloe wept. She hugged Mrs. Marquez and shook his fathers' hand.

Mrs. Rosewater put a tiara on her head and gave her a sash, then handed her the microphone. Chloe said, "Thank you all!" she waved at the sea of faces. "I wish Berto could be out here. Let's all give him a hand." The crowd applauded and Mrs. Marquez wept. Chloe concluded simply, "I'll see you all at the dance." and handed the microphone back.

The court filed off the field, except the few football players who trotted back to the locker room.

Demetria wiped tears away. "I feel we should go get ready for the dance, but first, I want to congratulate the people from the other town for putting on a good display." As the crowd murmured and shuffled around she cued the girls to sing again. They started another hymn, and the entourage departed.

With Demetria gone, there was a gaping hole in the bleachers where her people sat. The crowd's energy level deflated, and they felt sorry she wasn't there. The empty seats slowly filled as other spectators returned from the concession stands.

The small group of friends and family of the visiting team watched Demetria's procession make their way around the field. She climbed the bleachers and walked through the crowd and thanked them and reassured them about their future prospects. When she departed, they were all beaming. The line of cars pulled up to the main gate and swallowed her entourage.

She and Morgan and Marta climbed into the Audi. Morgan drove. Demetria sat in the back seat next to Marta.

She said, "What a brilliant show. I'm exhausted!" She cuddled up next to Marta. "Do you see it, yet?" she asked Morgan.

"Yes. I did, very clearly." Morgan said.

"Good, I know." she smiled. "You might not know the whole story. For years, the Brotherhood has used me as a whore, but I feel a change is coming."

He looked in the rearview. "What? I didn't follow the whore part."

She patted his shoulders. "You saw that emotion, that feeling, that energy, all genuine, human, and tied to _me_ , and actually to you. At least a little bit. I'm tied to them, too."

"Yes. I did, it was incredible. I've never felt that before. It's like a living energy."

"The Brotherhood uses that, not for the people, but to feed a beast."

"A beast?"

"Yes, but we are going to kill it, or die trying." She said calmly. She hugged Marta.

Morgan nodded, and the gears in his mind were almost audible. "You said it's a gilded cage? Like this car."

"Yes, endless grubby deals. I am supposed to steal books from your friend, Tracy, to earn my keep."

"Whoa! No way." Morgan said. He stopped the car in a driveway. "Grrr.. A freaking trick. A scam." He got out and started walking down the sidewalk. She trotted after him and grabbed his arm.

"I am telling you now!" She said.

"For _money_... Bah!" he threw up his arms and backed away from her and wiped his face with his hands.

She hugged his waist. "Yes, and because they took over my cult and I need them to bring me over. It's pathetic. I've failed my people. But I feel a change coming. I need you!" She kissed him.

He sighed. "OK. I understand this consort thing much better, now."

She looked at him and he wiped a tear from her eye. "You do?"

"It's you and me against the world, even the fucking gods."

Her strength returned and she pressed herself against his side. "It is that. You are my consort, now."

Marta clapped and hugged them both.

"It's time to dance!" Morgan shouted.

## Chapter Nineteen

For the first time in years, the Hilltoppers held their homecoming away from the school. It was in the ballroom of the lodge at Punderson. Morgan dropped Demetria and Marta at the lodge then parked the car far away. He jogged back. The ladies took his arms and they entered the hall. Music was already thumping away.

Saul was sitting in one of the parked cars, "They are here." he said into an earpiece. "She's with a boy and the maid."

Ralph was monitoring their conversation, "Yuri? Got eyes."

Yuri said, "10-4 good buddy." in a mocking tone. "She's dancing with them. Now she's pulling the Wells girl into the dance. It's very provocative. She's really turned the energy of the room up. She's like a force of nature."

"Stop the admiration." Ralph said.

Saul countered, "You're a fine one to talk."

Ralph cleared his throat, "Point taken. We need to get back on top of this."

"She works for us." Yuri said matter of factly. "She's not doing her job. Why should it be any different for her than any of us?"

There was a long silence. Ralph finally said, "She takes up millions of dollars. Inefficient."

Saul said, "Plus she's a bitch."

"You changed your tune." Ralph said.

"I haven't experienced them directly before." Saul said. "All lies."

"Take her out?" Yuri asked.

"Yeah, and the boy and the maid. We'll roll it all up, then just B&E for the books." Ralph concluded.

"My apologies for this scheme," Yuri said. "It was a big mistake."

"Hey, we all make mistakes. You're a go. I'm off. Contact me when it's over."

## Chapter Twenty

Flashback

Each day Matt hypnotized Tracy then sang to her, encoding the contents of the library in song. It was exhausting for him and Tracy remained asleep for hours after. When she woke up, she was groggy like she had the flu. Telia sat with her and stroked her hair.

They really weren't sure what was going to happen on the day Seth called. Telia put the phone on speaker. "Well?" was all Seth said. She nodded. Matt said, "yes, we're in."

Seth said, "Good. Hold for instructions." Strains of Holst's _The Planets_ played.

Matt shook his head. "Geez. I bet they commissioned that, too."

Francis' cheerful voice came on, "Hello?"

"Yeah, hi Francis." Matt said.

"Drive your car to the first rest area east of state route 306 on I90. You'll see two tractor trailers parked there. The cabs are black and the trailers are black. Can't miss 'em. Park behind those and we'll take it from there."

"Should we bring anything?" Telia asked.

"Oh no. Just like you were running an errand. We'll take care of you, don't worry."

"OK."

"See you soon." Francis said.

"Well?" Matt sighed heavily. "Should we go save the world?"

Telia wept and sobbed. "My god, it's impossible."

Matt said, "Yes, it is. Let's say by to Tracy. She's still a little out of it."

Tracy was asleep. Telia kissed her forehead and she mumbled. Matt did too and said, "Goodbye kiddo. We'll see you soon. We'll always be with you."

Telia slipped a short love note under the Sparrow Hawk figurine. Then they left the room. Telia was almost numb with grief as they drove to the rest stop. He parked behind the semis. A man with close cropped hair was waiting between them. He gestured, and said, "Quick. Follow me. In there."

A man in a lab coat swabbed their mouths with test tubes and walked into a room at the back of the trailer. Some 90's grunge music was playing.

"With the lights out... It's less dangerous..." he sang.

Another man led Telia to a chair. "Hold still." A bar of lights spun around her. Then he donned a lead robe. "Don't worry, it's actually really low dose." There was a buzz as another bar swung around.

They repeated the procedure with Matt.

"All done." he announced.

"What was that?" Telia asked.

"Shhh...." he said, you hear that. They heard whizzing and clicking from the room. "Come on." he smiled.

He pointed at a large table. Two bodies were being 3D printed.

"No way!" Matt said. He was impressed.

"It helps to have an unlimited budget." the man smiled. "Anyway, you guys can go across to the other trailer, and I think that's about it. We're done here. Have a good.... Well, a good new life." he shook their hands.

The other trailer was a rolling living quarters. They felt the truck start to move. Through a dark tinted window he saw a couple of men working on their car. He waved goodbye to his former life. Telia put her head on his lap and curled up on the couch.

The phone rang. Telia put it on speaker again.

Francis said, "You're on your way. I'll be meeting you at a cabin in the Adirondaks. Everything you need is in that trailer, and it's going to go there non stop. If it does happen to break down, just stay in the back. If you absolutely had to evacuate wear the hoodies up over your head--they're in the dresser."

Telia said, "Thanks Francis." and hung up.

Matt poured a couple of drinks and they just sat quietly and watched the scenery.

## Chapter Twenty One

Present Day

Demetria was in the center of the dance floor and she kept moving through the crowd, dancing with anyone and everyone. The girls and the boys, the hotel staff, the DJ, and the entire homecoming court. Tracy and Chloe began to adore her, but she kept returning to Morgan.

Yuri was looking for a good place in the hotel to get her alone and kill her. He wore a maintenance worker's jump suit. He decided he'd slit her throat, and he skulked around the perimeter of the room and waited for an opportunity.

The DJ stopped the music, then invited the homecoming court to the stage. Richard stood in for Berto. Chloe waved at the crowd, but she felt a great sense of unease. She caught Yuri out of the corner of her eye, but didn't get a good glimpse.

"What the...." she said and shielded her eyes.

The crowd thought she was kidding around, looking for Berto.

Yuri whispered, "I might be made... Get in here Saul. Chuck, Watch the gate."

He heard Chuck. "Roger." He pulled his sheriff's car up to the exit and shut the lights off.

Chloe stepped off the stage and walked through the crowd. Yuri slipped around the group making his way toward Demetria. Chloe started trotting. The rest of the crowd was watching her wondering what she was doing. Richard hopped off the stage and went to cut Yuri off. Tracy watched them.

Saul slipped into the room through the back door. He was wearing a black turtleneck and black cargo pants. The other students were all preoccupied with Chloe's motion, so he moved toward Demetria who was glowing like a star in the center of the room. A spotlight shone on her golden dress.

Chloe caught up with Yuri. "Hey, who the fuck are you? I know you."

"No you don't I've never met you before." he shrugged and looked at her. Richard stood behind him.

"You're one of _them._ " she snarled. Richard did a double take.

Yuri let the knife slip into his hand, and folded his arms. He imagined if he cut her, the chaos that would ensue would let Saul finish the job, and he'd be able to make a clean get away.

"I get that all the time," he said. "I look like everyone. Maybe you need a closer look." he moved toward her. Chloe read his body language and saw his right arm tensing up she wheeled around to his left side as he slashed the air.

A girl screamed and backed away from the scene.

Chloe collapsed Yuri's knee with a powerful kick. He went down awkwardly backward, still holding the knife. She stomped on the knife hand and drove the blade into his upper chest. "GRaaahrg." he gurgled and pawed at the air as the knife punctured his right lung.

She looked around the room. Saul was moving toward Demetria. "Stop him!" she shouted. Morgan saw the man and clumsily jumped in front of him and caught a bullet through his right arm. It fractured his humerus and the fragments of the bullet tore into his bicep. He groaned and collapsed to the floor. Demetria screamed.

Richard Golden grabbed Saul's gun arm and they spun around together in a crazy dance as the crowd parted like scared horses. A couple rounds discharged into the parquet floor and they both become wildly desparate. Richard was much stronger than Saul, but lacked his training and couldn't get the gun away. Saul kept trying to break his hand free or point the gun at Richard's body.

As Saul wheeled around, Chloe stepped in, and stabbed Saul in the side of the head. Blood sprayed all over her face and arm. He went limp and crumpled to the floor in a spasming mass. She pulled the knife out and stabbed him again.

Richard said, "the dude's got an earpiece." He picked it out of his pocket and put it in his ear. He held up a finger for quiet.

He heard Ralph, "Is it done? Chuck? Yuri, Saul?"

He tried an imitation of Yuri's voice. "This is Yuri."

"Is it done?!" Ralph said.

"Of course." Richard said.

Chuck spoke up, "is it clean?"

"Yes. Clean."

"I'm at the front gate now, I'll pull up at the chalet for extraction."

"Over." Richard said.

He looked for a mute button. He clicked it with a shaking hand. "Holy fuck!" he said. He climbed up on the stage and took the mic. "We were just attacked. There's more of them. Umm.. Everyone stay calm keep an eye on the exits. Scream if you see anyone that shouldn't be here."

Some of the girls were screaming and crying. Several of the boys actually formed up quickly and stood watch at the doors.

Demetria was holding onto Morgan. Chloe knelt down by him, "Oh god, Morgan!" Tracy ran to their side.

"Direct pressure. Elevate it." she grabbed a tablecloth and tried to tear it. Chloe shredded it for her. She took Morgan's jacket off him and made a pillow.

"Owww..." Morgan said as Chloe moved his arm and felt his side.

"I think it's his arm." Tracy said. "Hold this on." she put the bundle on the wound and put Demetria's hands on it.

Chloe said, "Richard, what did you hear?"

"They're waiting at the Chalet."

"Where's that?" she took Saul's gun.

"Follow me." He said. They trotted down the road.

"They keep saying 'Chuck' this and 'Ralph' that." he said. "The Ralph guy's nervous."

"It's the Sheriff and the judge." She sneered.

"Holy shit. Dirty dirty."

"It's a long story."

They stopped before the Chalet driveway. She said, "look, this is some nasty shit. If you don't want to get involved, I won't blame you."

He thought a moment, "Thanks, brah. I'm good. Let's do it."

Chloe asked, "Got any ideas?"

"How about I walk right up to the car, you follow right behind, like hidden. Then pop pop."

"That's crazy... What if there's more in the car?"

"We could just wait..." He said.

"What if more come?" she said.

"I say element of surprise. We've got the initiative, now."

"OK. let's go."

Richard loped toward the car. Chloe followed him across the expanse. The lot was completely dark and the Sheriff's car was a black lump on the far side. Richard knocked on the window. It buzzed down.

"Get in." Chuck hadn't really been able to see them and assumed it was Saul and Yuri.

Chloe shoved the gun in his face. "Hey asshole. You breathe wrong you're dead."

Chuck sighed. "This was a gen-u-ine clusterfuck."

"Who are you people?" Chloe demanded.

"It's just a job." Chuck shrugged. "Just a really fucked up job. Nothing personal." He shifted the car into drive and tried to step on the gas but she unloaded the rest of the clip into his head. The car accelerated over the ski hill and roared down the grass, crashed through the dock fence and dropped into the lake. They watched the car's interior lights bob in the water.

"Whoa!" Richard said.

"You have a phone?"

He pulled it out of his pocket and offered it to her. She shook her head, "Ick. Can you dial? Unless you want it smeared in blood?"

He put it on speaker. Her father answered.

"Dad, something horrible happened. Get to Punderson immediately."

"I'm coming! Be there in five minutes."

They started jogging back toward the lodge.

Richard said, "You know what happened here, right? Those two dead guys, they shot the sheriff and then came after us. I wrestled the gun away while you kicked ass."

"Then we ran outside to get help." Chloe said.

"Then your dad picked us up here, and we noticed the car in the lake."

She nodded. Keith roared down the road and Chloe waved him down. He slammed on the brakes and stopped. He jumped out of the car.

"Holy cow!"

"Hey Mr. Marte!" Richard waved. Chloe and Richard were pretty relaxed considering what happened, so Keith chilled out. They heard an ambulance wailing in the distance.

Chloe said, "Let's get down to the lodge."

She filled him in on the story. He said, "Hey give me the earpiece."

He unmuted it. "Hey Ralph."

"Who is this?" Ralph said.

"Whatever you were trying to do here tonight, it totally failed. Chuck's dead. Saul's dead. Yuri's dead. Guess what chuckles, the county prosecutor has a file that links you to all this shit."

Keith heard an angry sob. "You can't prove a fucking thing. You're in way over your head."

"Does the name Reichstaff mean anything to you, asshole?"

Keith heard a click. "Guess he shut it off."

They walked into the lodge. Two ambulances roared into the drive and EMTs ran into the building.

Tracy and Demetria saw them. Chloe asked, "How's Morgan?"

Demetria sobbed. Tracy held her. "He was completely out of it and in a lot of pain, but I think he's basically OK. They're loading him onto a gurney, now."

"Why don't we all regroup at the farm?" Tracy said. "Will you come, too Demetria? Richard?"

"Absolutely." Richard took her arm.

"Ride with us?" Chloe took Demetria. The EMTs rolled Morgan by.

"Wait!" Demetria hailed them. They stopped. She kissed Morgan on the forehead, then they continued on.

She sent Marta home, and rode with Chloe and Keith. Demetria fell asleep in the back seat.

"Who's that?" Keith whispered.

"Oh that's Morgan's ' _friend_ '... I think they're in love. She's possibly the nicest person I ever met."

## Chapter Twenty Two

Chloe showered and changed into some of Tracy's most comfortable clothes. They had to help Demetria change. She was almost inconsolable. They led her down into the library. She sat on the couch and wept softly.

Johnny was listening in on a police scanner. He said, "Responding to shots fired... at a familiar address."

Keith asked, "The judge?"

Johnny nodded. He said, "10-56?" then scanned through a list of codes.

Keith nodded and spit out the word, "Suicide. Thought so."

Demetria stood up and wiped her nose with her sleeve. Her hair was matted down. She said, "the Brotherhood wanted me to steal two books from you."

Robbie was startled, "What?"

"It's a very long story." she held up a hand. "But maybe if you knew which ones, it would be useful."

Robbie nodded. She led him over to the case.

She sniffled. "It was these two." she touched the jackets.

Robbie grunted, "Matt's notes and Johnny's plans"

"I apologize. I didn't want to do it in the first place."

He said, "Thanks. I'm sorry you had to go through all this."

"Believe me, I've been through worse. I'm just very attached to Morgan. When he's not here, it's like death. He needs me, too. I should go see him. I tried calling Marta, but no answer... that's bad. I loved her."

Keith offered, "Hey, why don't I take you to see him."

Her eyes lit up and she hugged him.

"Yes. Yes. Let's go. Can we stop by my house first? I think it's not too far out of the way. I just need to know..."

Keith nodded.

## Chapter Twenty Three

She saw the fire from far away. "Oh no." she said in a whisper. "It's too late."

Keith stopped the car. She sobbed. "Keep going. Let's see it. It's better to know."

Her house was engulfed in towering flames. The fire department had not arrived. Keith tried calling 911, but the phone kept hanging up. He pulled into the driveway. She got out and walked over to a dark form in the yard. She patted Marta's hair. Her back was marked with bloody red bullet wounds.

"At least it was quick." she said a prayer in an ancient Greek dialect.

"Let's go see Morgan." she mumbled. "There's nothing more to do here."

Keith helped her back into the car and they drove to the hospital.

## Chapter Twenty Four

As the clock ticked away into the wee hours, Richard finally got up from the couch. "I really need to go home." he said to Tracy.

"Why?" She asked matter of factly.

"Let me call my mom. She's probably crawling the walls with anxiety. She's not chill."

"I would like it if you could stay here. With me." She said.

He smiled. "I would like that too." He dialed his phone. A groggy voice answered, then shifted into hysteria.

"Mom, I'm fine. Sorry I didn't call earlier. I'm gonna stay at Tracy's. Nah. It's all good. I'll tell you all about it in the morning."

She led him up to bed.

"This is the most amazing night of my young life." He announced. "I need to tell you all about what happened!"

"Not right now, tell me later." She wrapped her arms around his head and gave him a kiss.

They made love for a long time. Finally, they both just passed out.

She dreamed she was on a white sand beach. The ocean was crystal clear and blue. The sun was hanging in the sky like the lamp on their wall.

Richard was next to her on a blanket. His skin was the color of a leather belt and his hair was shocking blond. He had white sunblock on his nose. His surfboard had a bright yellow sun on it. He scrubbed the wax with sand, then trotted out into the surf.

"Oh hey dad!" she said. Matt was sitting on her other side on a long green blanket. The green reflected onto his skin.

Matt pointed out to Richard, "He seems like a nice guy. He's standing tall in those waves."

Telia leaned forward out of nowhere next to Matt. "He's beautiful." she smiled.

"Thanks, Mom."

"We just want you to know we're OK. Everything is good."

"Why's that big black serpent out there?" Tracy said.

Matt sighed, "Yeah, sorry. We're still working on that, but see how far away it is."

Tracy said, "Yeah. Man it's big if it's far away."

Telia leaned back and enjoyed the Sun. "I'm not worried." she said. "You shouldn't be, either."

Matt said, "I love you Tracy."

Telia patted her back. "We'll see you again soon."

"Bye, Baby. Tell him we think he's cool." Matt kissed her head.

She woke up to the morning light streaming through the window.

Richard was awake already, "Your parents seem like really nice people." he said.

"My parents? Did you ever meet them?"

"I had a dream."

She grunted, "Hmmm... Me too. Well, that happens to us. They like you."

"That's good to know."

~End of Episode Eight~

~End of Season One~

Thor and the Midgard Serpent (by Emil Doepler, 1905)

The Children of Loki (by Willy Pogany, 1920)

