Chapter 14 #2
“Hey, you’re trying to save my house. Of course I’m paying. By the way, how much longer do you think it will be?”
I sighed. “I’m not sure, to be honest. Penn bought everything we need to cleanse it.
I think. She’s going to go out there later today and give it a try.
I do want to warn you—she’s having an emotional crisis right now.
Her mother’s dying. But she needs something to do to keep her mind busy, because there’s nothing she can do, and she can’t even visit. ”
“I understand,” he said. “When your grandmother was dying, I was a mess. I think you would have gotten along, you’re a lot like her in some ways.
Next time, I’ll tell you about her.” He paid the bill and we walked out to the parking lot together.
“I’ve never had much opportunity to hang out with Supes.
I think I’m going to enjoy it,” he added.
“Thanks, Konstantine. You don’t know what this means to me. I’ll call you when I set up the next meeting with Seton. Have a good afternoon—and don’t go back to the house until I give you the thumbs up. Promise me?”
He crossed his heart. “I promise. I don’t want to get attacked.”
As I drove away, I thought about the lunch. It went better than I expected. And now, I felt like maybe this was real—maybe I would have a family connection after all. It wouldn’t ever replace my family of friends, but it made me feel less isolated in the world.
* * *
The office was jumping when I got back. Dante had a grin on his face that was a mile wide and he, Orik, and Carson were babbling. Sophia was at her desk, but even she was grinning.
“What did I miss?” I shrugged out of my jacket.
“Rowan! She’s under observation. I just got a call from her husband and he told me that the doctor, after talking to her for half an hour, has ordered her restrained for observation.
He says she’s a danger to both herself and others.
She won’t get out unless she can convince the psychologist that she’s not going to come over and bust my nuts!
” Dante looked so relieved that I grabbed him and gave him a hug.
“Oh thank gods. One big worry off our minds.” I shook my head. “I do feel bad for her husband.”
“Yeah, but now maybe he can move on and have a life,” Carson said. “Oh, Penn’s waiting in the break room. She wants to go out to your uncle’s house and get the cleansing ritual started. I asked her to wait, though, because I didn’t think you’d want her to go out on her own.”
“You thought right. Okay, let me get situated and I’ll meet you in the breakroom. We need to talk about the portal in that alley, too.” I shifted my pack to my other shoulder and headed toward my office.
I tossed my pack and jacket on the sofa, grabbed my tablet and notes, and headed for the breakroom, elated that Dante would be safe from the machinations of a loony-tune. As I slid into my seat, Dante offered me a maple bar but I was still full from lunch.
“Save it for me for later. Well, now that Rowan is out of the picture—though we need to keep tabs on her—we can relax on that front. I had lunch with my uncle, and he’s promised to stay out of his house until we’ve taken care of the ghosts.
” I sat back, glancing at Penn. “You still want to go over there this afternoon and work on the spell?”
She nodded. “I’ve prepared the charms and the powders. I’d like to give it a try.”
“Then Orik and I will come with you.” I glanced at my notes. “Penn checked out the alley that I told you about, where Winston saw Greg vanish.”
“What did you find?” Orik asked. “Carson brought me up to speed on what we’re working on.”
“Well, it’s a portal and it leads somewhere, but not like the portals that PortalWatch keeps an eye on.
And there’s no way of knowing where it leads, unless someone wants to volunteer to dive through it.
Even then, we can’t trigger it until we know more about how it works.
Greg might as well have fallen off the earth,” she said.
“The energy gives me the creeps, though.”
“So what do we do next?” Carson asked.
“There’s not much we can do right now. But I want to monitor it, and we need to somehow infiltrate Give A Hand Up and find out what they’re up to.
It’s probably going to take a while, and I want to go in cautiously on this.
The last thing we want is to attract their attention.
” I frowned, staring at my notes. “This is going to take longer than a few days.”
“What are you going to tell Benny?” Dante asked.
“We have to tell him something to make him stop asking around. I don’t want him making a target of himself. And one thing Benny can do, is attract attention.” I tapped my stylus on the table. “I’m open to suggestions, people.”
“Are we sure Greg is gone? That he really was abducted?” Carson asked.
“Not one hundred percent, but my intuition is telling me yes—that Winston was right in that he saw Greg vanish. And given all the homeless people that seem to have vanished over the years, I’m sorry to say that I think Greg is just one among the many. By the way?—”
“Got your numbers for you, boss. You wanted to know how many people were abducted?” Sophia asked. “I pulled together all the numbers I could find. The reports from all those incarnations of the organization comes to at minimum, two hundred and seventy-five.”
The number seemed both ridiculously high, and yet—and yet—something told me that there were more, never reported as missing.
“Okay, that means we have to do something. We can’t just let this go on happening. Now, what do we tell Benny?” I asked.
“I know it’s cruel, but there’s a good chance we’d be telling him the truth if we tell him that Greg is dead. We can tell him we’re on the trail and we need him to keep quiet so he doesn’t interfere with the investigation.”
“Good idea,” I said, after thinking it over. Benny would be heartbroken, but after Winston’s story, he probably thought Greg was dead already. And he might be scared enough to actually keep his mouth shut. “I’ll lean heavy on the possible alien theory and how he doesn’t want to become a target.”
“That might work,” Carson said. “Benny’s sense of self-preservation’s pretty good.”
“All right, we have a plan,” I said. “I just wish we could wrap this up right now.”
“Sometimes, you have to be patient. And in a few cases, you never do find out what’s going on,” Dante said.
“I know you take it to heart when we can’t immediately solve a case, but you have to just play the long game with something like this.
The cops aren’t going to be any help. I think we need to reach out to the other Supe groups.
If we take them out to the portal area, they might be able to give us some insight. ”
“Good thought. Sophia, can you make a list of groups we might approach?”
“Will do,” she said, jotting it down.
“Now, Konstantine’s house. Penn, Orik and I will go with you. Is there anything you need? And what will this spell do?”
She leaned forward, her elbows on the table.
“The Romalies were so powerful that there aren’t many hex-breakers for their curses, or for curses based on their magic.
But I found something that promises to do the trick.
Now, it won’t eliminate the ghosts, but it should give us a chance to exorcise the place. If it actually works.”
“What are the possibilities if it doesn’t?” Orik asked.
“It could stir them up even more. It could strengthen the curse. The hard part,” Penn said, “is that the Romalies were known for never breaking their curses. Once they made up their minds, that was it. You screw them over—or they think you screw them over—and you’re doomed.”
“Hasn’t there been any research done on their magic?” Sophia asked.
“Not as much as you’d think. The spells they used were so dangerous that researchers have been loathe to dive into the study.
I found an old tome written by a witch named Cassy Earthborn, and I’m basing my hex-breaker spell off one she created.
It broke a couple of the Romalie spells…
but she wasn’t able to conclusively prove her theories. ”
“Why?” I asked.
Penn met my gaze. “Because she died in the process. She was trying to find a counter to a complicated death spell, and her spell backfired. Her coven gathered her research together and put out the book in her name. This was back in 1930.”
“No, then. Absolutely not—you will not do this,” I said.
“Yes, I will. Because the one curse did find a counter for, is called the sovereign death spell , and it’s very much like the death wish spell.
I think maybe the counterspell will work for both.
So, that’s what I’m going to try.” Penn arched her eyebrows.
“I’m actually getting fascinated in the Romalies’ magic the more I look into it.
They may have played in the dark a lot, but they also had powerful spells that could help others. ”
Dante cleared his throat. “Be cautious just how far you dive into that world.”
I didn’t want to quash her enthusiasm, but Dante was right. “They were too powerful and, if there were any witches to counter them, they weren’t strong enough. Top of the food chain magic can corrupt, just like any form of power.”
“I know,” Penn said. “I’ll be careful, but never forget—I’m pledged to Hecate. She won’t let me do anything I shouldn’t.”
“True,” I said. “Then follow your passion. So, should we head out to Konstantine’s house?”
“Let’s go,” Orik said.
The three of us set out. Orik drove the van, while Penn meditated, building her power. I pulled out my phone and, with a deep breath, called Benny.
“Hey Legs, what’s up?”
“Hey Benny, how are you?”
“Everything’s hanging where it should,” he said. “I know you—you don’t call just to say hi. What’s going on? Wasn’t that crazy shit—Winston’s story?”
“Not so crazy, Benny. We went back to the alley and checked out the energy and…I think Winston might be onto something.” While part of me thought I sounded crazy, there was a little part who wondered if the aliens really existed.
Hell, we knew portals led to other dimensions. Why not to other planets?
“Are you serious?” He didn’t sound sarcastic, just surprised.
“I’m serious. I’m sorry, Benny, but Greg is gone and we think maybe aliens did kidnap him. I’m going to tell you a secret, and I need your promise you won’t tell anybody about this. I mean anybody . If I find out you snitched…”
After a pause, Benny said, “Okay, Legs. You’ve got my word. And I mean it this time.”
“We think over three hundred people have been kidnapped over the years by the founders of Give A Hands Up. The organization has changed names over the decades, but each time they appear, a number of the homeless vanish. And given that portal, we think maybe that—if they are aliens—they’re kidnapping people that nobody will miss.
Why? We don’t know, but we intend to start a thorough investigation before they disappear again. ”
Benny sighed. “You mean, they’re stealing people as cattle or something?”
“I saw that episode of the Twilight Zone, dude. But…truth is: We have no idea why. That’s why we need to keep things quiet.
If they find out we’re investigating them, they might disappear.
Or worse. They might come after anybody who they think is involved.
” Just as I hoped, Benny put two and two together.
“Meaning me?” He paused, then said, “I’ll keep this to myself. But…that means Greg is probably dead.” For one of the few times, Benny sounded sorry.
“We can’t say for sure, but yeah, we think he is.
We’ll still do our best to find him, but I wouldn’t hold out hope.
” We arrived at Konstantine’s house and Penn pulled into the driveway.
“Benny, I have to go. Don’t look for Greg.
Don’t even tell Winston we think he’s right.
Just keep quiet. I’ll let you know what we find out about Give A Hand Up, but it may take some time. ”
After a moment, Benny said, “I know you did what you could. This just blows. Greg was my friend.”
“And we’ll do what we can to find out where they took him and why.” Satisfied he understood the gravity of the situation, I said goodbye, hung up, and Orik, Penn, and I prepared for our first attempt on the house.