[Protect,Path]
Mid-morning at Enigmatic Parchments, the sun is shining brightly, it’s another beautiful day in Wyldwood.
“Hi Rose, theoretically how mad would you be if I’d been doing something secretly to protect you?”
“What have you done Lu.”
“Well remember when Mistralyn was after you?”
“Yes I remember vividly, quit beating around the bush.”
“Well I set up a smallish informant network. I’d just read the ‘Sign of the Four’ and Sherlock brilliantly used those kids as informants. That’s what made me think of it. It didn’t yield any valuable information because I’m not sure Mistralyn ever operated in town. So in the end it failed.”
“Oh, Lu, that was really thoughtful, it doesn’t matter that it didn’t work.”
“But it kind of has.”
“You mean Mistralyn, is back?”
“No, nothing like that. Beth isn't who she said she is.”
“Who is she then?”
“Her name is Beth White just like she said. But she’s from Veracity, a small violent city, controlled by a few rival gangs and a mostly corrupt guard. Her grandmother is the head of one of the gangs. She is the gang enforcer, extorting businesses, kidnapping and assassin for hire.”
“One of your informants got you this info? How?”
“They hired him to gather information on you and on Paula Becker, and by association Enigmatic Parchments and Madd Maggies.”
“My informant of course accepted, took their money, gave them information they either already knew or could find out easily by observation. Then they came to me, I paid them in turn to spy on Beth and get as much info as possible. Then I put a few more of my informants on the three guys she has working for her. She is staying at the Journeys End Inn and her three lackey’s are at the ‘Hole in the Wall’”
“Any idea why they’re after me or Paula?”
“Yes I know exactly why. Paula was overheard in a bar telling someone you paid her ten million not sure if that was dollars or gold pieces. The story got back to Beth’s grandmother who sent Beth to get the money by any means necessary. I’ll ask Paula to be a little more discreet in the future. Beth was at the tower so she knows they’d never get in there without our invitation. Let’s invite her. Ask her if she knows any men suitable for the play, hoping she brings her three accomplices with her.”
“That’s brilliant Lu, how much do you pay for this informant network?”
“Around five gold a week, a small percentage of my tips, but if it saves us another kidnapping or worse it’s well worth it. I’ve even turned over a few criminal plots to Dogberry on the stipulation that he kept it to himself who he got the information from.”
“I’ll have to start reading these Sherlock stories you love so much. Maybe you could read me one tonight after bookclub. Why don’t you invite Beth to the tower at 5, bring her and her men if she’s dumb enough to that clearing in the forest. I’ll get Juliet, Paula and Salome to help jump them to Juliet’s World.”
***
“Hi Rose, what can I get you?”
“You I hope and Paula too, how would you like to round up a criminal gang and Have you been practicing jumping?”
“Of course Rose, see.”
She blinked out of existence, and blinked back.
“Wonderful Salome now, jump me to sled hill.”
“How's this, great view right?”
“That was perfect, jump us back honey, I need to talk to Paula too.”
“Paula’s out, that new doctor is from Paula’s world. She just found out yesterday, and was kinda freaking out that she was fictional. Paula’s trying to calm her down.”
“That’s OK, I can find her with a locate spell, could I have a few portal muffins and would you be at the tower by four thirty at the latest.”
“Sure Rose, I was going to go to the tower around three to see Opal, here’s your muffins. Want anything to eat?”
“No honey thanks, by the way, the criminal is Beth. She has no idea we’re on to her so, if she comes in just act normal OK, but be careful and don’t go anywhere alone with her. Hopefully we will catch her and her gang all at the same time tonight. Please tell Lily the plan and that I’ll see her at the book club.”
Locate Paula. I used the portal muffin and jumped. I knocked on the door and a stunning Asian woman answered the door.
“Hello, I’m very sorry to bother you. Is Paula Becker here by chance?”
“Rose is that you, what are you doing here?”
“We have a small situation. Could you come to the tower by four this afternoon, it seems that Beth is not here for theater, but for your ten million. She has no idea we are on to her, so just act normal. Well I don’t need to say that to a world class spy. Sorry. Dr Li, I’m sorry I interrupted but I also need to thank you for checking on Opal yesterday, that was very kind of you. I’m sorry Doug was rude to you, that’s kind of his default setting. But please come to the book club tonight if you don’t have other plans around eight, and bring your son, he can play with Opal. Sorry again for the intrusion.”
***
“So that was Rose? She’s not exactly the All Mighty Wizard I was expecting. Paula. She’s lovely actually.”
“Yeah she kinda is, we all love her. She’d go to hell and back for us, if she believed in religion.”
“She’s an atheist wizard who lives in fantasy land.”
“Yep. So are you feeling a little better?”
“Yes, so much better, last night just felt like a fog, after it all settles in I’d love to hear more about your perspective on this along with Salome’s and who comes from Rose’s book?”
“Juliet, she’s very out spoken. She’s lovely but blunt and truthful to a fault. I think her situation is different from ours. Maybe because Rose is a Bibliomancer. Juliet and all the people of her world can see and hear what Rose sees and hears. In addition if Rose asks one of the characters to take over her body, they can. It really freaked out Lu, her girlfriend, who was working on the oven with me yesterday if you remember.”
“I can only imagine.”
“So will you come tonight? You’ll get to meet Talbert.”
“I think I will if I can have my neighbor sit with Ryan. He’s sick and I don’t want Opal to get exposed, especially since she herself is in a weakened state. But I’d really love to come. I have so many questions.”
“I have to get back to the bakery, I just wanted to check on you. I know the shock you’re going through. I went through it just a few months ago but it feels much longer. So hopefully I’ll see you tonight and introduce you to my girlfriend, Eldara.”
“Well you certainly are fitting in well here. I hope I do one half as good. Hope to see you tonight. Bye”
***
“Juliet, Juliet, do you have your clothes on?”
“She did the last time I saw her, ma’am.”
“Old.. erg, MacDonald, sorry didn’t see you there, I thought you were Ivy.”
“No ma’am, I’ve been a man all my life, no lady parts at all.”
“Right. Do you happen to know where Juliet is?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Umm, could you tell me please.”
“Yes ma’am she’s up in the hayloft with Ivy.”
“Thank you ol Mr. MacDonald.”
“Juliet, I’m coming up the ladder, I hope you’re dressed.”
“Rose, the mayor is up here.”
“Sorry Juliet, Sorry Mayor Corning.”
“Juliet, could you please come to the tower at four this afternoon, I have something urgent that needs doing and I really need your help. I’m sorry I interrupted you.”
“I’ll be there Rose.”
“Thanks I’ll leave you to the hay.”
***
Salome was chatting with Opal in the library when I got back to the tower.
“How are my favorite two girls doing today?”
“We’re good Rose.”
“Opal, how long have you been out of bed?”
“I’ve been in the chair all day. Rose. Like I told Ruby and Lu.”
“Good girl, do you want a snack?”
“No thanks, I've been eating peanut butter cups.”
“Were they good?”
“Yes they’re delicious. It’s a big blob of peanut butter surrounded by chocolate. You know how much I love peanut butter.”
“Me too honey, it’s the best thing to come from Earth, except for Professor Tolkien. Opal I need to borrow Doug, Daisy and Salome for a couple hours. Will you do me a big favor please. Would you go into your bedroom and lock the door for a few hours and read and wait until Lu, Ruby, or I ask you to open the door OK. If you promise to do that, I’ll ask Ruby if you can sit in for book club tonight. So do I have your promise?”
“I promise Rose.”
“Great, do you have a book to read?”
“God bless us every one”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“What, that’s one of my lines from the play, that’s the book I have, A Christmas Carol.”
“Perfect, that’s what we’re talking about tonight in the book club.”
“I don’t hear the lock, click.”
Click.
“Doug shrink, Daisy are you up for catching some bad guy?”
I heard a noise in the corridor.
“Salome stay behind me.”
I tiptoed to the door, noiselessly opened it. Got the fright of my life as McCracken was standing there getting ready to open the door.
“Gods, McCracken. Why are you creeping around?”
“I didn’t want to wake Opal, if she was resting.”
“Oh, good answer. I need a favor. Would you go in and sit with Opal for a few hours. We have a few bad guys coming over and I want to make sure that she’s safe. We’ll all be back for the book club, to talk about you directing.”
“I’ll help out any way I can, but shouldn’t Salome stay with Opal and I’ll come with you so I can fight.”
“Thanks for the offer, but we already have Lu and Paula for the fight and Salome is there to jump people to Juliet’s world, but I’d appreciate it if you'd stay with Opal and protect her in case my plan fails somehow.”
“Happy to Rose.”
“Opal, it’s McCracken, open up sweetie, we’re going to rehearse for a couple of hours.”
“I can’t, I promised Rose I’d only unlock the door for Lu, Ruby or Rose.”
Then before I could say a word.
McCracken said in my voice. “It’s OK honey, you can let McCracken in, he's a good guy.”
McCracken grinned at me and stuck his tongue out. Is this something I have to worry about? No, it’s just McCracken being McCracken. Meaning charming. That wasn’t lost on Salome who stood wide eyed and even more impressed by the actor breaking out his voice acting skills. I filled in Doug, Daisy and Salome on the plan. I asked Doug and Daisy if they’d help.
“Daisy I gathered around fifty small stones around the size of cookies, I placed them in a pile at the top of the hill. You will be our surprise back up in case it comes to a fight. I’m hoping we have the element of surprise and it’ll just be a quick jump to Juliet's World where I just float them all up one hundred feet in the air. I also left 10 stones in the same pocket I placed you just in case you need more fire power.”
“She’s fine with that Rose, what do you want me to do?”
“I was planning on hiding you in a tree, as our third backup. If things go completely in their favor, act like you are the town guard and have the entire forest surrounded. Use some of those sound effects from the war scenes in the “Return of the King” or the battle for Helm’s Deep. It’ll sound like an entire army is in here.”
“Good one Rose.”
“I know you’re just sucking up, because you were rude to Doctor Li. She might be coming tonight so I expect to hear an apology. A sincere one. Understand?”
“Yes Rose.”
Juliet and Paula were waiting for us on the hill.
“Paula, you and Dr. Li can jump over any time you want. I’d be happy to talk about it. I really find it quite fascinating.”
“What do you find fascinating, Juliet?”
“The fact that you never announce yourself, you just jump over to my world, every time I’m in the barn working Rose. I think you damaged Farmer McDonald, now he thinks I strip my clothes off in the barn.”
“See I told you he was an old pervert.”
“He’s not, he's a perfectly respectful farmer that got the wild idea from you. So maybe you’re the pervert.”
Paula and Salome stood there giggling, they’d heard it all before.
“OK, maybe now isn’t the time to figure out who the perverts are. Lets go over the plan, one more time then take your places.”
A little while passed before I heard Lu whistling, then Lu, Beth and two men came walking along the path I walked down the hill to greet them.
“Hi Lu, hi Beth, did you bring some more actors for the play? I was thinking of changing from the library to the hill. We can fit more people in to see the play, plus the stage will be a lot bigger. What do you think?”
“I think you’re a fool Rose. Grab her boys.”
“Yeah I get that a lot.” I waited for the two boys to grab me, then jumped to Sled Hill. I had the henchmen floating one hundred feet in the air. When Juliet, Lu. Paula and Salome appeared with Beth in the center I floated Beth to about twenty five feet I wanted to talk not shout.
“Where’s the third henchman?’
“Go to Hell, Rose”
“I don’t believe in Hell, I do believe in space. It's way up there and there is no air and it’s very cold, wanna see it.” I floated her to one thousand feet. I turned to the henchmen.
“One of you is going to die in space with your boss, the smart one is going to tell me what I want to know and go free. Which one of you jesters is the smart one?”
“We’ll never talk.” I slowly floated them to two hundred feet. “Lu, would you please jump back with Paula, see if you can scent the guy from their group bad guy odor then Paula and you can jump him back here. He’s probably outside the tower watching and if Beth and her pals don’t come back out he’ll head home for help. That’s what I would do. Do you mind Paula?”
“Not at all, let’s get them all. Come on Lu.”
I floated down the dumber looking henchmen to ten feet off the ground.
“How many people does Beth’s grandmother have? Before you answer if your answer isn’t one or two away from the other guy you both die, and unless you were smart enough to rehearse this question before entering my home you better answer truthfully. How many people does she have?”
“Ten more.”
“Is your third guy hiding outside the tower, watching?”
“Yes”
I floated the other henchman down and froze his partner.
“OK I want to know how many people Beth’s grandmother has, minus you four. If you answer within one or two of what your partner said you’ll live, otherwise a three hundred foot drop is painful.”
“Eight or nine, I’m not exactly sure.”
“Where’s your third guy and what are his orders?”
“He’s just outside the tower and he’s to go for help…”
Lu and Paula jumped back with a slightly beat up third henchman. I froze henchmen number two. Floated number three to two hundred feet then let him drop to five feet off the ground.
“How many people are left in your gang, if you answer truthfully you’ll live, otherwise enjoy the last few seconds of your death because I won’t stop your fall a second time. Five seconds, Four seconds. I started to slowly float him up. Three seconds. T…”
“Fifeteen total with the four of us and granny.”
Freeze, I now had three frozen henchmen. I floated Beth to the ground, froze her body, left her head free to talk.
“How many men does your grandmother have?”
“Hundreds and they’ll all be coming for you.”
“You know Beth I don’t like you, you came into my home, lied and tried to trick my friends. I think I oughta send you to Earth, a place known for its love of a dollar, let you earn ten million, then take it from you. Would that be fair Beth, they have very nice prisons there, and you can earn up to ten dollars a day so it’ll only take four or five hundred years to earn your way back. Now, Larry, Moe, and Curly told me within one, how many people are in your gang. Lie again and I’ll send your granny a pancake corpse. You, just in case you didn’t get the promise.”
“Ten more besides us.”
“You are the second in command, who takes your place now that you are off the board.
“Sergi Butin”
“With a third of her gang now gone, how likely is she to send more after myself and Paula?”
“Not very likely.”
“Tell me about the gangs in Veracity.”
“What do you want to know?
“I want names and numbers and rankings, if I want to go there and take over the town.”
“Finey he had the smallest gang with around ten, granny had fourteen and Richter he’s got about thirty. Granny’s going to have to make a deal with Finey or Richter will just pick them off one by one.”
I froze her and jumped her to fake Tranquility, the same place I’d left the Incel who’d attacked Sienna Rousseau. I took her memory away for ten years. Planted a memory that her parents were actors who died young, but acting is something she always dreamed of doing. Loaded her pocket full of money and pointed her towards town.
I then repeated the process with each henchmen asking if he couldn’t be a crook what other job appealed to them. I took their memories for ten years, planted memories pointing them to a career they’d expressed a preference for. Then loaded their pockets with money and put each in a different town.
In ten years when they’ll get their old memories back fully except they’ll never remember their time in Wyldwood or any of us. That memory was deleted. Hopefully by then they’ll have happy lives here.
***
By the time I got back to the tower, dinner and the book club was in full swing. Lu saved me a seat next to her. I quickly told her that we were good, we’d taken out one third of Granny’s gang and she was going to have a hard enough time just surviving in Veracity.
After dinner we got down to the serious business of the upcoming play for Samhain.
“I propose we all vote whether we want McCracken to be the director of the play, secret ballet or show of hands.”
He was voted in unanimously.
“I’d like to get the costumes, I’ll take small groups to Sherlock Holmes London and we’ll all get suitable dresses for the play. The next play we do, we’ll have a lot more time, so if people have their hearts set on making costumes they’ll be able to.”
It was voted in unanimously.
Then McCracken asked people the parts they wanted to play.
The Final A Christmas Carol Cast was:
Ebenezer Scrooge - McCracken
Bob Cratchit - Juliet
Jacob Marley - Lu
Ghost of Christmas Past - Lily - Daisy
Ghost of Christmas Present - Ruby - Daisy
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - Rose - Daisy
Tiny Tim - Opal
Fred - Salome
Mrs. Cratchit - Paula
The Portly Gentlemen - Rose, Salome, Paula
We couldn’t get Paula Talbert or Lottie to take part. Eldara couldn't, she already had plenty to do with all those guests in the library. Nim didn’t want to be onstage but wanted to build all the props, Eldara then volunteered to paint the newly constructed props. Doug agreed to do sound effects, Daisy was doing all three ghosts special visual effects and McCracken was director but also in charge of lights. We had no lighting and even if we could bring something from earth it’s be too big for the library.
Ruby came up with an ingenious solution, she’d kept her Ar Tech Magical samples and loaned the author’s light to McCracken. All he had to do was describe the lighting on the page and the room lighting matched. He tried it out right there in the library annex. Black as a crypt he wrote and the room plunged into blackness, then he tried sunny meadow at mid day and the room was flooded with light. A spot light on Rose, and a perfectly round spot light followed me around the room.
Doug played some storm sound effects clips along with some ghostly noises, and finished off with chains being dragged across the floor.
Next we did a table read, the only lines I had was for the portly gentleman I was playing asking Scrooge for donations. But I stood up for my ghost of the future role and tried to play it solemnly but everyone laughed.
The table reading finished and everyone clapped for their fellow actors. Then McCracken explained about the limitations of the stage, it’s round, the audience would be all around us so no background scenery can be used, only props. We didn’t have a stage crew to move props, so each actor was going to be responsible for taking certain props into a scene and either the same or another prop off the stage.
We had one week till our dress rehearsal. Eldara was going to stay late and watch us practice for the final time in eight days from today. It was our premiere. Everyone was very excited, this was going to be a lot of fun. I’m just glad I got the parts I did, I think I had to learn like three lines. McCracken and Opal knew there’s by heart already.
As everyone was leaving I promised over the next couple days we’d travel to London for our dresses. Ruby worried about paying for their two costumes. I told her I was paying for all the costumes, I just needed to author money when we arrived.
Becker, Lottie, and Talbert were huddled in the corner and it seemed a bit tense. I wasn’t sure if I should interfere. But then Eldara went over and told Becker she had to go. She had an early morning at the library and Becker, Eldara, and Lottie said good night to me and left.
I asked Talbert if everything was alright.
“I don’t know Rose. I have no idea how Lottie got here. I honestly don’t remember writing her. That upset her. Of course I remember Paula and McCracken, Henry and Martha, X, they’re the main characters. I told Lottie I’d go home and look over my notes for that novel. She doesn’t understand that I wrote that over a year ago. I’ve been working on two other novels since then. But I also see her side of it, she’s this brilliant woman doctor, a big deal in her world and her author doesn’t even remember her.”
“You don’t know how she got to Emain Ablach?”
“No, she was a patient in a hospital and claims some homeless lady sent her here.”
“OK, well Paula’s going to look after her, and I’ll try to help both of them anyway I can. How come you didn’t want a part in the play. You’re not mad at McCracken, are you?”
“No, No, not at all, he can move here if he wants. Paula loves it here, is making a life, has a gorgeous fey girlfriend. She doesn’t want to do another book. I’m not big on sequels. Well I’ll see you at the dress rehearsal. I might bring Henry and Martha.”
“Great I’d love to meet them”
