Faerie Storm, page 6
part #8 of Harbinger P.I. Series
“He didn’t think it strange that they offered to help and asked nothing in return?”
“Yes, of course he did. At first, he was very suspicious but the more he spoke with them, the more convinced he became that they could help him. They got Cathy placed into a facility near here called Butterfly Heights. Apparently, it’s very difficult to become a patient there. And because it’s so close, it’s convenient for Dan to visit his daughter.” Her eyes fell and she added, “Was convenient, I mean.”
I sipped the coffee and let my eyes wander to the fire flickering in the fireplace. Not too long ago, I’d discovered that the Pinewood Heights Asylum had been used by the Cabal up to the 1940s but I hadn’t entertained the idea that the place was still a Cabal operation. After Henry Fields had murdered nine members of staff in 1942 as part of some sort of blood rite that allowed him to escape to the Shadow Land and become Mister Scary, the Asylum had closed down.
The building had remained derelict for almost two decades before reopening as Butterfly Heights in 1959. I’d assumed that meant there were new owners but what if the Midnight Cabal had owned it all along and reopened the place to resume their work?
“Laura, did you ever meet these people?”
“Yes, I met them one time. Dan and I were visiting Cathy at Butterfly Heights and two men came into the room. They didn’t introduce themselves but Dan later told me they were the two who had visited him here in the house and convinced him that they could help Cathy.”
“And did Cathy’s condition improve after she became a patient at Butterfly Heights?”
She let out a long sigh. “No, not really. She still won’t speak. It’s like some part of her mind is locked away. She isn’t in a coma or anything like that; she walks around and she eats and all those kinds of things but she won’t communicate with anyone. She just stares into the distance most of the time.”
“Do you think we’d be able to see her?”
She answered without hesitation. “Yes, of course. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To find out what happened to her? That’s why Dan hired you.”
“Yes, that’s why we’re here. It’s just that we’ve been asked to investigate a supernatural angle and some people don’t like that.”
“If you can find out what is wrong with my niece, I don’t mind which angle you approach this from,” she said. “The police aren’t getting anywhere. Besides, Dan decided to hire you because of the symbols the police found in a cave. The same cave where they later found his body.” Her face collapsed for a moment but she seemed to force back her emotions. “I’d say there’s more going on around here than the local police are equipped to handle.”
“We want to help,” I told her.
She nodded and gave me a tight-lipped smile. “I’ll make an appointment for us to go there tomorrow. If you give me your number, I’ll let you know the details.”
I took one a business card out of my wallet and gave it to her.
“Thank you,” she said. “Now, I have a lot of things to take care of now that Dan is…gone. I’ll call you later and let you know when we can go and see Cathy.”
“Of course,” I said, placing my coffee mug on the table and getting up. “I’ll wait for your call.”
She led us to the front door. As we stepped out onto the porch, she said, “Mr Harbinger…”
“Please, call me Alec.”
“Alec, do you think you can help Cathy?”
“I’ll do everything in my power to help her,” I said truthfully.
She scrutinized me for a second, her eyes narrowing slightly as they stared into mine. “Yes, I believe you will. Thank you.” She retreated into the house and closed the door.
“She’s had some shitty luck,” Leon said as we hurried through the rain to the Durango. “First her niece and now her brother.”
I opened the passenger door and climbed inside the vehicle. “Yeah, the last thing she needs is for anything else to go wrong. What worries me is that Cathy might be in the clutches of the Cabal.”
“You think they’re still running Butterfly Heights, right? The same thought crossed my mind. But what would the Cabal want with Cathy?”
“I don’t know. The Cabal was performing genetic experiments in the basement in the 1940s and when Felicity and I went there a few months ago, it seemed that the patients had been chosen because they had a latent faerie gene in their blood. We thought the modern-day experiments were the work of one doctor but what if he was working for the Cabal all along?”
Leon nodded. “Sounds like they’re still running the show. But what do they want with Cathy? Why do they think she has the latent gene?”
“I think the answer to that lies in the events that took place on the night the girls went into the woods and Lydia Cornell disappeared. We need to know exactly what happened.”
He started the engine and turned the Durango around so we were headed toward the main road. “That night seems to hold the key that unlocks the case.”
“It does,” I agreed.
When we reached the main road, Leon asked, “What’s the plan now? Are we going back to the Lodge?”
“Yeah, I need to contact Carlton to see if he’s translated those Enochian symbols yet. I also need him to look into who actually owns Butterfly Heights.”
Leon accelerated out of the driveway and onto the main road. “I’m guessing it’s going to be the Cabal but it won’t be a company called Midnight Cabal Inc.”
“No, they’ll be hidden behind some other company name but we should be able to find out if it’s the same company that owned the place in the 1940s, when it was definitely a Cabal front.”
“You know what I don’t like about the Cabal?” he said.
“What?”
“The more rocks you turn over, the more places they seem to be hiding. They’re everywhere.”
He was right. The Cabal seemed to be hiding in every corner, lurking in every dark place. And something told me it wouldn’t be long before it pounced from the shadows.
9
Felicity wasn’t sure if Thomas Harbinger’s speech about the survival of the human race was a result of his dramatic personality or a sober warning of what was to come. She felt disorientated. It wasn’t all that long ago that she’d been in Manchester solving a case as a P.I. Now she was in a huge academic building which Thomas had said was humanity’s only hope of survival.
“I’m not exaggerating, Felicity,” he said. “The Coven has overseen the creation of the Academy so that humans will stand a chance of getting through the dark times to come.” He moved to one of the bookshelves and removed one of the books. Reaching into the space the time had occupied, he pressed a button and an audible click sounded in the room. The bookshelf opened on a hinge, revealing a passageway beyond.
“This is how we get to the realm of the Coven,” he said. “I know you have no reason to believe what I’m telling you—I might be a mad old fool after all—so I’ll let the witches themselves inform you of the grave importance of the work ahead of us.” He pushed the bookshelf further on its hinge until the opening was large enough to let them pass and then he stepped into the secret passageway.
Felicity got up from her chair and followed. Whether Thomas’s story was fanciful or not, her curiosity had been piqued. She wanted to meet the witches known collectively as the Coven.
The passageway was lit by a soft green glow that seemed to emanate from the walls and ceiling. Thomas didn’t speak until they reached the end of the passageway, where a stone staircase spiraled downward.
“In the Society headquarters building, I had an elevator that descended to the Coven’s realm,” he said, gazing down the twisting stairs. “It was much easier than this.” Taking hold of a braided rope that was fixed to iron rings in the wall, he began to descend.
Felicity followed. The same green glow that had lit the passageway above also emanated from the walls here and the air felt warmer than it had in Thomas’s office.
“How far down do these stairs go?” she asked.
“Well, it isn’t that simple,” he said. “They don’t physically go very far at all. At some point, we cross over from the realm we were just in to the witches’ realm. I’m not sure where the borderline is exactly but by the time we get to the bottom of the stairs, we’ve crossed over entirely.”
A few minutes later, they reached a small, featureless room made of the same stone as the stairs. A crude archway carved into one wall was hung with a curtain fashioned of strings bedecked with white beads. When Felicity looked closer, she realized that what she’d thought were white beads were actually tiny bleached bones and skulls that looked like they’d come from mice or rats.
“Are you ready?” Thomas asked her. He was breathing hard and Felicity wasn’t sure if that was because of the steps they’d just descended or because he was nervous.
She nodded. “Yes, I’m ready.”
He brushed aside the bone curtain with one arm and beckoned Felicity to step through. She ducked her head as she passed through the low archway and found herself in a huge roughly circular cavern. The center of the cavern was raised slightly, forming a low rocky platform ringed with stalactites. On the platform, Felicity could see shadowy, hooded figures sitting in a wide circle.
Thomas appeared by her side. “Come on,” he said, heading toward the figures in the distance.
As they got closer, Felicity noticed rough-hewn steps leading up to the platform. She and Thomas ascended the steps and now she could see that the nine cowled figures were sitting around a pool of inky black water, seemingly staring into it although she couldn’t see their faces because they were lost to the shadows.
“Felicity Lake,” Thomas said, as if he were a butler formally announcing the arrival of a guest.
A soft, feminine voice arose, not from any of the figures but from the pool itself. “She has many questions.”
A second voice, different from the first but also arising from the pool, said, “We shall answer them.”
Felicity cleared her throat and stepped forward slightly. She knew now why Thomas was nervous; a sensation of magical energy swirled about the rocky platform and she had the impression that these nine witches were the most powerful beings she had ever met.
“I want to know if what Thomas Harbinger told me is true,” she said. “He told me—”
“He told you of the great calamity,” a voice from the pool interrupted her.
Felicity nodded. “Yes, he told me that the barriers between the realms will be gone and Faerie and the Shadow Land will spill into the Earthly realm.”
“The realm of humanity,” a soft voice said.
“It was our realm once,” said another.
“Soon to be the hunting ground of preternatural creatures. Humans will become their prey.”
“So it is true?” Felicity asked.
“A thread may unwind in a thousand different ways. But humanity’s threads all lead to calamity.”
“The lost art of magic must be reclaimed.”
“A new band of protectors must rise.”
“It is humanity’s only chance of survival in the new world to come.”
So the witches were confirming what Thomas had told her in his office. The preternatural realms would spill over into the Earthly realm at some time in the future and when they did, all hell would break loose.
“How can I help?” she asked. Since the voices of all the witches all emanated from the pool, she addressed her question to the night-black water. As she looked into the pool, she saw faces in the dark depths. They were pale and indistinct—nothing more that fleeting images—but she was certain that these were the faces of the nine witches.
“Help us build the academy.”
“Seek out students who will study the forgotten arts.”
“Guide them to become the new protectors.”
“Recover the magic of mankind.”
“Before it is too late.”
“I don’t understand,” Felicity said. “Isn’t that what the Society does already?”
“Forget the Society of Shadows.”
“The Society of Shadows is dead.”
“Infected with a traitorous disease.”
“An affliction that cannot be cut from its heart.”
“Throughout its history, the Society has fought the few creatures that inhabit the Earthly realm.”
“But when all realms are interlaced, the Society shall be overwhelmed.”
“The evil ones have been plotting and scheming for a long time.”
“And their evil plans will come to fruition.”
There was a pause and then one of the voices said, “Will you join us, Felicity Lake, and assist the human race?”
Felicity didn’t need time to consider. She’d joined the Society of Shadows because she’d wanted to help people. From what she’d just been told, the only way to do that in the future was to join the Harbinger Academy and recover the magic of mankind so that humans would have a fighting chance against the supernatural creatures that would roam the earth when the realms were connected.
“Yes, I’ll join you,” she said. “But I have one request; I’d like to warn Alec Harbinger of the danger you’ve described. He has a right to know what lies ahead and he’s my friend.”
All nine of the witches’ voices rose from the pool, almost in unison.
“No.”
“No.”
“No.”
“No.”
“You must not tell him of the prophecy.”
“He must not learn of it.”
“He has a role to play in the events ahead.”
“If he is aware of what we have told you, he might not play his part.”
“If that happens, the human race is surely doomed.”
Felicity sighed. How could she keep something this monumental from Alec?
“Felicity,” one of the witches said. “When you see Alec again, you will have a choice. If you decide to tell him what you know—what we have told you—you will endanger the entire world.”
“Alec must play his part unaware of the future,” another said. “Otherwise, he will hesitate in his duty and the world will be destroyed by the king of the dead.”
“He must perform his duty,” a third voice added.
“What duty?” The witches’ words were confusing her now. What part could Alec possibly play in the downfall of the world?
“He must cast the spell that has been hidden.”
“The Melandra Configuration.”
“The spell that ends all spells.”
“Go now, Felicity Lake, and remember that when you see Alec, you must not tell him of the prophecy. The fate of the world relies on your secrecy.”
“All right,” Felicity said, turning away from the circle of witches. How could she argue with that? She knew that she couldn’t. But she felt a hollowness in her entire being knowing that she couldn’t tell Alec about what was essentially the end of the world as they knew it.
Thomas led her across the cavern, back to the curtain of bone. After they’d passed through the curtain and stood in the green-glowing room at the foot of the stairs, Felicity said, “They mentioned the Melandra Configuration. I assume that’s the spell on the Melandra Codex.”
Thomas nodded. “Yes, it is.”
“So Alec will find out where the Codex has been hidden?”
Thomas gave her a short grin and began to ascend the stairs. “The Melandra Codex is much closer than Alec thinks.”
Wishing that someone around here would give her a straight answer to her questions, Felicity followed him back to the academy.
10
By the time Leon and I got back to the cabin, it was late afternoon. The rain had finally abated and a cold sun had appeared, peeking through the gray clouds like a dead eye until darkness would finally overcome it in a couple of hours.
We were on the porch. Leon had two laptops open in front of him in a plastic table while he worked on breaking into the Cabal’s files. I was waiting for Carlton to call me back. He hadn’t answered when I’d called the office earlier so I’d left a voicemail. That had been two hours ago.
I called again, this time using his personal number. Again, there was no answer so I left another voicemail. Now there was a message from me on the office phone and on his cell. Where the hell was he and why wasn’t he returning my calls?
“Something has been bugging me,” Leon said, his eyes still fixed on the glowing laptop screens.
“What’s that?”
“If Dan Pelletier put his trust in the Cabal, thinking they could help his daughter, why did he also hire you to find out if she was possessed?”
I shrugged. I’d asked myself the same question a couple of times. “Maybe he thought that the more people looking into Cathy’s case, the more chance there was that someone could help her.”
“Yeah, that makes sense, I guess.” He cocked his head and said, “Do you hear that? Someone is coming this way.”
I listened and heard a car approaching. “Maybe it’s one of the other guests. There are more cabins along this road.”
But when a white Honda Civic came into view, and stopped next to my Land Rover, I realized it was Carlton’s car.
He got out and rushed over to the porch. “I came as soon as I got your message, what’s so urgent?”
I frowned at him. “I only asked you to call me back.”
Now it was his turn to frown. “No, I got a voicemail from you telling me to get up here as soon as I could. I almost broke the speed limit coming here. So what’s so important?”
“Carlton, I left you a message—two messages actually—to call me back. I didn’t tell you to come here.”
He sighed and produced a phone from his pocket. After jabbing at the screen for a couple of seconds, he held it toward Leon and me and arched his eyebrow in an “I told you so” gesture.
What I heard coming out of the phone was Merlin’s—or, more accurately, Sheriff Cantrell’s—voice saying, “Carlton, it’s Alec. You need to come here right away. Don’t call me back, just get your ass over here.”
