3:2
Prairie walked beside Chase as he lead them across Gryphon Park’s broad green and to the pump house, a small castle made of stone with crenellations along its roof, which squatted at the far side. They were a study in contrasts, him large and broad and masculine in that way that made men relax around him and women pay attention and her tiny and seemingly delicate. What you didn’t see was the steel core of her which probably would bend his masculinity over if they were to meet head on.
“Second thoughts?” she asked, reading his expression.
“I’ve had no luck with the other Mediums. I’m not sure how another one is going to do anything differently.”
Prairie wrinkled her nose. “People who call themselves Mediums focus their Magick on contacting specific people. They get personal items and they focus their Magick on them. Did your Mediums ask for personal things? Maybe hair or something like her toothbrush?”
“Yes. Exactly that. Comb and toothbrush and some underwear.”
Prairie shrugged. “See? I’m not going to ask you for any of that. My Magick is broader. I read the Spiritis in an area.” At his look of mild confusion, she added, “All the Spirits, which gives me eyes and ears and minds sort of on a location. If your Nieve isn’t dead, and honestly it sounds like she isn’t, then a Medium looking for her isn’t going to help. But the Spirits in the area, even if they weren’t involved in what happened with Nieve, will have witnessed something. I want you to take me to where you found her bags, and then I’ll,” she made air-quotes, “’Look around’.”
“It’s in the pump house. Most people think there’s no entry but one of locks doesn’t catch right. I discovered it when I was providing security for a corps of engineers who had gone in to assess the place to see if it could still be viable. Nieve liked to go there because there are several varieties of mushrooms that grow near the pond behind it that she says…” he stumbled, “said were rare.”
“Says. Present tense. Until we know otherwise, right?”
Chase lead them around the back to a small door with an iron latch. He pushed gently and the door swung open with a creak, leaving a half arch streak in the dust that carpeted the flagstone floor.
Dan threw an arm out to halt him before he could step inside. “Have you checked tracks? With this dust there should be clear ones.”
Chase nodded. “Those,” he pointed at a set of tracks that seemed to have been made by a pair of small, sensible shoes with good rubber treads, “are Nieve’s. They go in but don’t come out. That,” he leaned in to point to the right, “is a trail of obviously obscured tracks. I’ve studied them extensively and was able to find a few distinguishers. Not enough to say what footwear made them or what size that footwear was but I’m fairly certain there were at least three people who entered and exited. See how the path is a wider here and here?”
Careful to step to the left of Nieve’s footprints so any tracks they left would clearly be theirs, he pointed out some scuffs in the dust which looked, to most of them, like scuffs in the dust. It was clear by Dan’s nod that they looked like more than that to his trained eye.
“I found a heel mark in a direction back to the door. They entered and exited, but Nieve only entered.”
The interior of the pump house was dim, with thin sunlight filtering in from mullioned windows that were lightly coated with dust. Several assemblies consisting of pipes, valves, valve releases, and other things that likely did the very important job of pumping whatever pumped in a pump house (a solid guess was water; another guess was gross) squatted on the floor throughout the space. Chase, and the diminutive sensible shoed tracks, led them across the space and behind one of these assemblies.
“I found her bags here. And, before you ask,” he directed to Dan, “they appeared undisturbed. Even Nieve’s laptop case was here with her laptop still in it.”
“Were her research notes on it?” Siobhan asked, stooping down to peer at the imprints in the dust made by Nieve’s luggage.
“Pretty sure. She didn’t like to leave them anywhere except on her laptop. It was a clean box. She never connected it to any networks. When she finalized her work she’d reinput it into another terminal.”
Siobhan’s expression reflected concern. “No researcher leaves their work behind.” She dusted off her hands and rose to her feet.
“Right then,” Prairie clapped her hands together. “Time for me to do my thing.”
She wandered in what seemed to be an aimless pattern. Pump. Wall. Wall. Wall. Pump. She drifted like a dandelion puff through the space. Chase made an exclamation of concern when she wandered near him and her eyes, rolled so the pupils were only half visible, made a sweeping survey of him.
The others made no such exclamation, having seen the phenomenon before. If asked to describe it Kim would probably say “She’s there, but not there,” and Gwen would expand, “Nice house, no lights, empty cupboards.”
Siobhan, being more politic and infinitely more sensitive, took it on herself to explain to Chase, “Prairie is seeing something we can’t see, a plane that sits besides our own or perhaps on top of it, where Spirit energy overlaps everything. From what she describes it sounds fascinating. I’d love to see it. But I think I’d have to be dead and I’m not that fascinated. Prairie gets a day pass but the rest of us would have to go full residency.”
Ivan came up beside the large man. “We can’t do anything but protect her when she does this. So,” he shrugged, “that’s what we do. It’s the job of those stronger to protect the vulnerable.”
Responding to the subtle influence from Ivan, Chase confided in a low tone. “I feel helpless.” His fists clenched at his sides and his jaw tensed. “What good am I if I can’t take care of people like Nieve?”
“You do what you can and when what you can do isn’t enough you find someone else to help. Like you did. Not every problem is a nail. Speaking as a hammer I completely get where your at.”
The corner of Chase’s mouth quirked then he seemed to remember the situation he faced and his expression went stoically still. He tracked Prairie’s movements, as if through his gaze he could decipher some mystery that would make this “all make sense”. Ivan could have told him sometimes things just didn’t make sense. But that observation was uncalled for in this situation so he left the words unsaid.
Finally, eventually, Prairie stopped moving almost on top of the marks of Nieve’s luggage in the dust. She shook her head and her gaze came back to plumb. Mostly. It looked like she was ninety, maybe ninety-five, percent there, but there was a distinct look of ‘focused elsewhere’ to her gaze.
“That way.” She pointed out the door and started moving, leaving the others to either follow or not. Their choice. She seemed to be being, not tugged along, but kind of urgently directed.
Gwen shrugged to Kim. Kim shrugged back and picked up her pace to catch up to Prairie’s side, her gaze going out and to the side automatically to assess for any danger that might befall the vulnerable Not-Medium. Ben fell into easy rhythm to the left, flanked by Ivan. As Prairie surged ahead they formed a kind-of v-formation with her in the vanguard and the other three falling back like wings.
As if by unspoken consent Dan dropped to Kim’s right and a little back while Siobhan subtly shifted Chase forward into the protection of the group as she and Gwen fell to the rear. In this way they moved like the tail of a kite, pulled along by Prairie and the wind of whatever was guiding her on.
She lead them through town, along the wharf with its low-tide smell that combined seaweed, silt, and decomp, to where factories clustered at the water’s edge, taking advantage of the natural energy provided to run their manufacturing and also the easy access to the shipping enterprises that dotted the wharf.
“It’s kind of cool,” she said in a quick aside to Kim. “I can actually see tracks in the Spiritis. I’ve used this before to find the death sites of Spirits but there’s never been actual tracks. It’s like a void in the Spiritis. Which totally is not normal but there is some weird stuff going on with this whole situation.”
“I hear that.” Kim tucked her hair behind her ear and doubled her pace to keep up. “It’s almost like we’re being pushed to expand our skills. Which is alternately wiggy and sort of cool. Mostly wiggy because what exists that can do that?”
“You don’t believe in god?”
“I don’t know.” Hesitation then, “Maybe. I hate to close that door if there is a chance of some ultimate being but I don’t know if there is someone or something watching over us like some genie in the sky and offers us wishes. I think we’re all aware of something bigger than us. I think we can’t be Magickers and not acknowledge the concept of Something Greater but… god? How do you define that?”
“Maybe you don’t.” Dan offered from her right. At her questioning look he shrugged. “Maybe its too big to define.”
“Everything can be defined.” There was certainty in her tone. “Its just a matter of figuring out the words to do so. I’d think you’d be the first to get that.”
Dan tugged his earlobe. “Also the first to admit that I may lack the vocabulary to do so.”
Kim nodded. “Valid.”
Prairie made a sweeping gesture. “I kind of have a constant reminder that there’s more.” Instead of expanding she suddenly veered towards a factory that sat on a promontory.
Bricks faded to a pink-tone under the constant subtle scouring of the salt breezes that lifted the scent of the tide while also providing energy to the air turbines that sprouted like antennae from the copper roof. Paint curled from the wood bracing the brick and from the sills of the many windows glazed with age and likely dust. All together the condition of the building gave rise to the suspicion it had been abandoned some time before. The turbines still turned, providing electricity to the dim lights that could be seen through the glazed windows which in turn likely kept out the worst of the various forms of life that would have encroached given a chance.
“Here?” Chase asked as the group picked up their pace. As they approached in neat formation a door to the side of the building banged open. Ben and Ivan who were closest fell into stances in response, Ivan holding his sword at the ready and Ben his hands before his chest in a cradling motion. When nothing came charging at them they relaxed.
“The wind?” Ivan asked.
“Maybe, but I say we check.” Ben had already started in that direction, hands looser but still near his core.
There was a stirring of loose gravel along that side of the building and then something thumped to the ground. A scrambling sounded then more gravel moving. Another thump.
As one the group turned and headed in that direction. Turning the corner they saw the source of the sound. A woman, dark hair bedraggled around her face, blue eyes intensely contrasting pale skin, pushed to her feet. She appeared to be wearing a white nightgown, old-fashioned in design with ruffles at the hem and along the edge of the cap sleeves.
“Nieve!” Chase’s yell confirmed her identity. He broke from the group and rushed forward to gather her up in his massive arms.
“Chase?” Her voice was broken, not hoarse like she’d been screaming but rather than odd catching weakness that comes out after a long sleep. She lifted a hand and touched his face, her expression disbelieving. “Are you real?”
Tears poured down her cheeks. He scooped them up with a thumb while letting his own fall unheeded.
“Oh, Baby. What happened to you?”
Nieve’s face crumbled, just dissolved, and new tears swamped her. She buried her face in Chase’s chest. Her shoulders shook with her sobs. They were so thin, Kim thought eyeing the delicate jut from the scooped neck of the nightgown. I wonder if she’s always been that tiny?
Thinking tiny her gaze immediately went to Prairie. Soft, silent tears fell down Prairie’s face, contrasting with the determined jut of her chin and the firm line of her lips. At Kim’s look she shook her head and made a small negating move with her hands. Kim nodded, respecting Prairie’s need for space.
In respect the crew fell back and gave Chase and Nieve their moment, though several of them slanted a glance at the door that Nieve must have come from.
“What happened, Baby?”
“I… Are you real?” Her repeating of the question seemed significant.
“Fuck yes I’m real, Babe. Feel this?” Chase took her delicate hand in his giant mitt and pressed it to his stubbled jaw. “Can’t fake this shit, right?”
Nieve patted his cheek several times and stared into his eyes. “I thought you were real. A lot. I thought you were real but you weren’t. You were just a dream. A dream of love that I could never have.”
Chase swallowed hard. “Damn it.” He closed his hand around Nieve’s, hard enough to elicit a whimper from her. When he went to loose it, she clamped her thin fingers are hard as she could around his.
“No. That feels real. Do it again.”
“Not happening.” Chase shook his head in the negative. “But I’ll do this.”
Very gently, very slowly, he leaned in and kissed her forehead then moved down to kiss each lid which fluttered shut as his mouth approached. He drank her tears, murmuring words that didn’t carry to the surrounding group.
“Uhm,” Ben tentatively offered, “We could, uh, go check out the interior?”
He jerked his thumb in the direction of the door.
“That,” Ivan stopped to clear his throat, “sounds like a solid plan. We should do that.”
“Yes.” Dan stepped around Ivan and headed for the door. “Give them a few. To catch up.”
“Will they be okay out here alone?” Gwen asked even as she moved to stand against the wall to the left of the door as Ben carefully edged it open to peer inside.
“I don’t know if they’ll be okay with us either,” Siobhan replied.
Kim walked up to the pair where they still clung together, Nieve held high against Chase’s chest. “Uh, excuse my interrupting this… moment but…”
Chase looked down at her with a soft smile, his features transformed from the haunted man they’d first met. “But it might be smart for me to get Nieve out of here.”
“Yup.” Kim’s head movements most closely resembled a bobble-head doll. “I think that’s the smart call.”
Nieve turned her face from where it was buried in Chase’s chest and gave Kim a look that was equal parts confusion and interest. In it Kim could see the curious woman who had likely spearheaded lots of very avante garde research that could turn the pharmaceutical industry on its head.
“Who are you?” The soft, gentle voice totally went with her fairy-tale princess presence and made Kim wonder how many rivals and coworkers had underestimated this woman because of it. Or maybe she really was just that sweet and people just kind of fell under the spell she cast.
Kim shook her head, pulling herself back from the edge of introspection. “Just someone Chase asked for help in finding you.”
“Do you do that often?”
A frown. “More often recently, yeah. It’s not a job but its kind of becoming a calling, I guess.”
“Hmmm, I understand a calling.” Nieve rested her head back against Chase’s broad chest and swept Kim’s features with a gaze that was equal parts analysis and interest. In that look Kim thought that maybe she could really enjoy spending some time with the woman. When she wasn’t wearing a nightgown, clinging to a man, outside of a structure she’s apparently just escaped from.
Way to mind wander there, Kim, she admonished herself.
“So, uh, I’m going to step inside with my friends. Is there anything you can tell us about what we’re going to find?”
Nieve blinked slowly, her look of concentration morphing to confusion morphing to concentration and then she pressed her hand to her temple and looked down. There were fathoms deep in her stunning blue eyes and in those fathoms swam monsters. “It’s very hazy. Not,” she hastened to add, “hazy like foggy. Well, it is foggy but that is…” She stopped, swallowed hard, then firmed her chin. “I was in a fog. Likely drugged. For most of the time. I don’t even know…” she turned to Chase. “How long?”
“Five days.”
“Five days.”
Nieve swallowed again. Sorrow floated through her eyes. She looked down then up again and in her steady stare Kim saw the woman who had stood up to a domineering stepmother and probably a whole lot of researchers who discounted her.
“I was likely drugged, put into a state similar to lucid dreaming. The majority of the time I thought I was dreaming. I’m not sure what I saw and what I didn’t. Or what was real and what was dreams. I’m not even sure, right now, how to tell the difference.”
“Are we facing any potential resistance to us entering?” Siobhan stepped up, entering the conversation seamlessly. Well, thank fuck, Kim thought, gratefully stepping back to let Siobhan take the lead.
Nieve frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe? I don’t think so? The only one,” she cast her eyes down, “the only one I think was there, besides the other girls, was Mother. At least,” she pressed a hand below her mouth, “I think there was Mother.” She went silent and looked down. When she looked up again her gaze was steady though the ghost of uncertainty lurked in the depths. “I am a very unreliable source of information as I am not certain what was real and what was dream or what was a combination but the only person that was not in a bed was Mother. Dream or reality I can’t say but that is all I can give you.”
“Beds? Girls?” Siobhan probed.
“The Girls!” Nieve’s eyes widened, her gaze darting for the door. “Why did I leave them! Oh, Chase,” she turned her face up to his. “I left them!”
“Sweetheart,” he tightened his grip on her. “I love you. You and your commitment to others is amazing but you got out. And these people are here and they will help. I promise you that.”
Nieve searched his face then turned her limpid gaze to Siobhan. “Will you? Will you help them?”
“Not even a doubt. Not even for a second. Yes.”
“Oh. Good.” The smile she gave Siobhan could have warmed the darkest night in Winter. Her head fell back on Chase’s chest and she closed her eyes. “I’m very tired now.”
Siobhan made encouraging and thankful noises as she stepped back. I have to remember that, Kim thought, because I am fuck all bad at ending a conversation gracefully. The two of them watched Chase’s back as he carried Nieve away from the building.
“Well, okay, that was…” Kim fumbled then burst out. “Someday I want some guy to care that much for me. It would be super cool if he was big and strong and apparently tougher than old jerky but… yeah…”
Siobhan smiled. “You and me both. Now how about we go save some girls?”
Enter The Woods 