Ancestral

Wild Card

“I remember the Hathaway, or at least stories about it.” The archivist was a pleasant older woman who had a passion for the past. Were she not paid to fill her position at the museum I fully believe she would do it as a volunteer. “I was warned as a child to stay away form that area. My mother would just shake her head and say that evil people lived there. The other kids all said it was haunted. But since it couldn’t be seen from the road, we all kind of forgot about it after a while.” She thought for a moment and added, “When I ended up caring for mother in her final years, she spoke of it, but only once. She thought it was funny that everyone there disappeared one night and a few days later the Foster closed down too. Well, it didn’t actually close for a few weeks, but the owner disappeared. I think she thought there was a connection somehow, but she never elaborated on that idea.” She smiled and returned to the task at hand. “Well, give me a day or two and I’ll see what I can find. We should have something. Shall I give you a call if I find anything interesting?” I was pleased that my request for information on the Hathaway had led to an oral tradition that I hadn’t expected.

“Absolutely,” I agreed. “Or even if it’s not that interesting, or if you remember any more stories.” I asked her if she would allow Heather to borrow things from the box she was working on so I could see them and she agreed. I checked in with Heather before leaving, and it was clear that the diary was engrossing. I suggested that she could use it to compare the lives of the upper class, like Mariah with the lives of the underclass, like Sylas or Molly. This gave her permission to fully engage with the diary without feeling it was a distraction from her real work.

Back at the boarding house Ben helped me carry the boxes to my room and we both opened them and began seeing what we could find. One whole box seemed to be filled with things that concerned the hotel. There were some documents from its incorporation, as well as ledgers and records of the daily running of the place. Correspondences with regular clients and various businesses were also included. This looked promising for finding out a little about Markus, but there was very little concerning the building itself, only a few hastily drawn sketches of renovations to be done to make the entryway a lobby, but nothing concerning the basement.

The second box was quite surprising. This seemed to be filled with Mariah’s personal papers and a few of her books. She seemed to be heavily involved with the league of decency. We found many letters and documents to and from them. And at one point she even seemed to be in some sort of leadership position. The books were quite the contrast to her papers. The books were all about the occult. These ranged from respectable texts on ancient mythology to contemporary tracts on the evils of witchcraft and how to recognize it. There were a few spiritualist books and she even had a couple of books that appeared to offer instructions on how to do magic or summon spirits.

“I suspect she may be behind this violent spirit I met last night,” I told Ben. “And I found out today that she just disappeared. I’ll have to check for a death certificate, but I bet I won’t find one. I wonder where she went, and why she abandoned everything?” Ben shrugged and continued thumbing through a book on incantations and magic potions.

I heard a soft knock on the door and turned. We had left it open and Andi was standing in the doorway. “I hope I’m not disturbing anything, but I’ve found something that might be helpful.” She glanced at the pile of books and her jaw dropped. “Is that…it can’t be. There are only three known copies and they are in major collections. Is that ‘Words with Water’? the Hempstead book on spells and potions?”

Ben looked at the title page and nodded. “Yup, Abernathy Hempstead.”

“My God!” She was in awe. “Do you realize what you’re holding? It’s very rare and considered the most authoritative resource on the subject. Where did you find it?”

Ben pointed to the box. “It was in with Mariah Foster’s other books and papers.” He flipped the pages in front of her, adding, “And she liked to write notes in the margins too. Look at this one.” He found the page he had been looking at earlier and handed her the book. “Lots of notes on this one and even some little drawings. I guess she liked this potion.”

“Hmm, ‘Living Death: A Sleeping Draught for Eternal Life’. I wonder if she actually tried it. It looks pretty toxic.” She handed the book back to him. “This does not bode well. I have been researching Harpies and have made some interesting discoveries. They are elementals connected to air or especially strong winds and storms. Their main job is to carry evil doers off to the underworld, and as I feared, they are almost invulnerable. The only thing that can overpower them is…” She paused as she looked at her notes, “…the deepest heart.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Love.” She said simply. “The only thing that can overpower them is love. But she is not a true harpy. She is a provisional harpy. According to a number of traditions, a human can petition one or more of the gods and be granted the powers of a harpy, but they must declare a purpose, and they are then tied to that intention. I’m guessing that Mariah made such a request and is now tied to whatever she’s guarding behind those shelves.” She looked at us doubtfully, and continued, “there are more details, but I won’t bore you with those. The important thing is that I think I’ve found a way to remove her from the building. It will take all of us, and it may be dangerous. But the reality is that this spirit, having now shown herself to you, will never stop until she has dragged you to the underworld.”

“Should I stay somewhere else? You said she was tied to whatever it is she’s guarding and that’s here. Why don’t I just move?”

“She is based in this place. But once she has set her sights on you, she can follow you anywhere as long as it is in the service of her initial intention. You can’t get away from her.”

“What do we need to do?” Ben asked.

“We need to draw her out and banish her. Once she is separated from the thing she is protecting, she will have failed in her intention and the god or gods with whom she made the bargain will claim her. Supposedly a provisional harpy who fails is exiled to the darkest corner of the underworld, Hell.” Andi paused and took a deep breath. “We need to do this tonight, before she has a chance to take you by surprise.”

“Do what?” I looked at Ben with discomfort. “How dangerous? You said it might be dangerous.”

“Not as dangerous as just waiting for her to come and get you whenever she wants.” She smiled. “Don’t worry. You won’t really have much to do, but I need to ask you both a personal question?”

“Sure,” I responded, glancing at Ben and shrugging.

“What is the nature of your current relationship? It’s sort of important.”

I knew Ben was less comfortable speaking directly about our love life, and that he might be embarrassed to listen to me answering her questions. “Do you want me to take this?” I asked.

He nodded, grateful to be given a way out of the conversation. “I’ll just go…umm…see if Miss M. needs any help setting the table.” He placed the rare book back in the box and left me to talk with Andi, closing the door to allow the conversation to be private.

“How specific do you need me to be?” I asked.

“Very. I need to know about the emotional connection you have and the sexual connection as well. Have you made love yet?”

I laughed. “Define ‘made love’. We have certainly engaged in sexual activity, but he has not seemed to be ready for anal yet.”

“On the physical plane it is important that you each carry the other within you. Has he at least sucked you off?”

“No, but I’ve sucked him off, huge load straight down my throat”

“Good, that’s one side of the equation.” She smiled. “He needs to be carrying your essence in his body as well. Do you think you can do that before midnight?”

“I can try. So, you’re planning to do this at midnight?”

“Yes,” she clipped, “Don’t just try. Your life could depend on it.” She moved on to the other part of her inquiry. “And how strong is the emotional connection between you?”

“Well,” I considered. “We have both declared our love for each other, and he made a point of coming out to his parents so we could be together…”

“Good, that’s all good.”

“And you saw him at the hospital, how upset he was when I was hurt.”

“Yes, I did. I don’t think there’s any doubt he loves you, even though you couldn’t see it at first.” She hesitated for a moment. “The real question is, do you love him?”

This question caught me off guard. “Of course I love him. I have since the first moment I saw him."

“Are you sure?” She searched my eyes for doubt. “Was it love or just lust? That’s a kind of love but not strong enough to stand up to the test you will most likely face tonight. What have you sacrificed for him?”

“What?” I didn’t understand.

“Love requires sacrifice. He risked his relationship with his parents for you. We could hardly get him to leave your side when you were in the hospital, he couldn’t sleep, he didn’t eat. He also took you to the Hathaway even though it scared him out of his wits. He even keeps his distance when you’re engrossed in your research and need quiet time to focus. All of these things are sacrifices, proof of his love for you.” She gave me a moment to consider. “Just saying ‘I love you’ isn’t enough. It has to be so deeply rooted in the core of your being that nothing else matters. So I ask you, do you love him?”

I sat in silence for a moment, searching myself for the answer. Was it just a passing infatuation or was there something more? I knew how I felt, but I was hard pressed to identify a time when I had made a real sacrifice to be with him. He made me feel safe and loved, but that was all about me. Did I offer him the same safety, the same sense of being home? What had I done that proved I loved him? I looked at Andi and couldn’t speak. She saw the doubt in my eyes and understood.

“Consider what I have said,” she offered quietly. “This is the heart of the matter. It’s up to you.” She turned to go, saying, “I have made most of the preparations already, but there are still a few things to do. Everyone will have a part to play tonight and it will take the strength of the whole family to save you boys. Remember, since Ben also knows part of her secret, she will come after him once she has taken you, and we won’t be able to stop her.”