Justin, Tony and David were in the middle of a hand, when Justin saw Jerry pull up in front with Aiden’s new truck. He laid his cards face down and went to open the bay door.

When the new storage box for the back of Aiden’s truck had been delivered, Jerry had come to get the truck to install it. He’d left a note, so that Justin wasn’t worried when he got back from lunch.

Justin was a little surprised to see that it was practically spotless inside when Jerry got out. “Yeah. I went ahead and had it detailed, too,” Jerry told him.

“How much do I owe you?” Justin asked, reaching for his wallet.

Jerry rolled his eyes. “I put it on the shop account. Duh.”

“Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, I wasn’t thinkin’.”

“I know. It’s OK,” Jerry said sympathetically. “I’ll see ya later!” He went out to his car, which was parked out front, and Justin closed the bay door. Then he positioned the bow on the hood.

“So, guys...” Justin said, going back inside. “Jerry just brought back Aiden’s new truck. Think we oughta give it to him now?”

“Led ‘im sleep,” Tony said.

“And sit down and play...or fold,” David told him.

Justin sat down and picked up his cards.

By the time Karen pulled in around 5pm, Aiden was awake. He had food spread out on the kitchen table, and was eating some of it straight out of the plastic containers, rather than wasting time putting it on a plate.

He’d had a little to eat before going down to ‘meditate’ with Master Naka. But now that he’d caught up on his sleep and woken on his own, he was ravenous. It looked like anything that didn’t move away fast enough would have gone in Aiden’s mouth.

Justin got up from the ‘poker table,’ and hugged Karen. Then he went to the kitchen. Aiden had taken a break from stuffing food in his mouth to wash it down with a sip of beer.

“Come on. I’ve got something to show you out in the garage,” Justin told him.

Aiden wiped his mouth. “Did’ja finish with my truck?”

“Sort of.” Justin held the door open for Aiden to go through. The new truck was parked right in the center of the bay.

“So, where is it?” Aiden asked, looking around and not quite understanding.

“Right there.”

“But...I can’t let you buy me a truck!” Aiden objected immediately, noticing the bow on the hood of the new truck Justin pointed at.

“Then you can finance it and pay me back. And the old one is posted on AutoFinder. I got it running OK, but it wasn’t good enough anymore for the guy who keeps saving our lives.”

“How much?” Aiden asked, eyeing the brand-new-looking truck.

Justin told him what he’d paid for it.

“What’s wrong with it?” Aiden asked. He knew that was way too cheap for a truck in this condition.

“Nothing. I checked it out myself.”

“Come on. Even I know that’s too cheap.”

“The guy who owned it died,” Justin finally admitted.

“Oh, so it’s haunted?”

“No,” Justin told him, and explained about the kid dying in Iraq and his mom selling it.

Karen was standing in the doorway, watching. Justin had been ‘geeked’ about surprising Aiden, and she liked seeing him joyful like that.

“Karen?” Aiden asked, looking from her to the truck.

“Nope. Nothing. No ghostly body in the driver’s seat, no spirits trying to get between you and the truck....”

Aiden climbed inside, and started playing with the seat adjustments. Justin stood beside the open driver’s door and listed off all the bells and whistles the truck had, both the ones it came with and the ones he’d added.

When Leigh hadn’t come home by 6:30, Justin, Karen and Tony decided they should go get dinner then head for the rectory. They didn’t want to wait too long to, hopefully, finish this thing off and free Uncle Jerzy for good.

“I’ll stay here with your uncle,” David offered.

The three looked at Aiden and Master Naka. “It might be good if we have a little more help,” Karen suggested. “We’re not exactly sure it’s definitely the pipe we’re looking for, and that it’ll still be where Gramma N. thinks it is.”

“I’m in,” Aiden said. “I’m tired of just hanging out here and sleeping.”

“I will go with you,” Master Naka agreed.

Tony ran to the workshop and came back with a small five-pound sledgehammer in one hand. “Fer smashin’ da t’ing when we find it.”

The five climbed in Justin’s truck and went to get something to eat, first. By 7:30pm, they were climbing back in the truck to go to the rectory.

That was about the same time Leigh got back to the clubhouse. She’d spent the afternoon with Grandma N., having tea and cookies, chatting, and trading recipes. She hadn’t realized just how late it was getting until she noticed it getting dark outside. By that time, Grandma N. was starting to nod off anyway; so Leigh thanked her for a wonderful afternoon and left.

The clubhouse was quiet when she got there, the only light coming from the security monitors and the stairwell to the basement. She checked the monitors and found David sitting outside Fr. Jerzy’s cell, cards spread out on a TV tray in front of him.

“Have they left already?” Leigh asked, coming down the stairs.

“Yeah. They were going to get something to eat, then heading for the rectory. They left about 6:45. Tony had a sledgehammer.” David snickered.

Leigh went to the kitchen and got something she could eat in the car on her way to the rectory, then left.

It was shortly before 8pm when Justin drove up the driveway between the rectory and the church. It led to the large parking lot behind the church. Another driveway came into the lot from the far side of the church, running between the church and its original graveyard. There was a detached garage along the edge of the lot directly behind the rectory.

Justin parked behind the church, about halfway between the driveways, so that lights from passing cars wouldn’t spotlight the truck. The five got out and went to the side door. Tony carried the sledgehammer in front of himself with both hands like he was cradling the hammer of Thor. Justin got the keys out and put them in the lock, then hesitated.

“Think we oughta wait for Leigh?” he asked.

They could hear the sound of tires on damp pavement, and they froze. The sound faded off into the distance.

“Now that we’re here, we probably shouldn’t waste too much time,” Karen suggested. From the moment they’d pulled into the driveway, Karen had been trying to open up her senses to catch some feeling of the Apostate before it spotted them and hid itself. She was being careful, though, since she knew that there were a number of ghosts hanging around the church, too. She couldn’t afford to allow herself to be overwhelmed by feeling them and end up missing the Apostate.

Justin turned the key and twisted the knob. The sound of another car coming up the street made them all freeze again. They weren’t really doing anything wrong. As Justin had pointed out earlier to David, they had the key. But just knowing that Berowski might try to prevent them from taking his things made them nervous and hyper-vigilant. Only Master Naka appeared calm and relaxed.

When the headlights passing the church turned into the driveway, Karen’s heart climbed into her throat. She could feel it pounding, and her breath got shallow.

Then she recognized Leigh’s car. Leigh waved as she went by, and she parked beside Justin’s truck. A moment later, she joined them at the side door.

Justin had already opened the door and gone in, Karen right behind him. Tony was next through the door with Master Naka following. And Leigh followed Aiden in, closing the door softly behind herself.

The six stood and got their bearings in the dark. It was freezing cold inside, at least 30 degrees colder than it felt outside. They could all see the fog of their breath as it left their mouths. Fr. Jerzy had mentioned, in passing, that the new deacon who’d been assigned to the parish was away at a conference. But, even so, they wouldn’t have turned off the heat, since Jerzy was still home.

A thin beam of yellowish light cut its way between the front room curtains and slashed across the rug...the light from the mercury vapor street lights. Across the front hallway, that same light left orange and purple gashes on the rug in the parlor, colored by the stained glass windows in that room.

They listened for any sounds, but the house was deathly quiet. Karen almost felt like talking, just to break the oppressive silence; but she was afraid to open her mouth.

The unexpected sound of tires on wet pavement, that sound like tape being stripped off a roll, made all of them but Master Naka jump a little. Oddly, it sounded farther away than the 50 feet or so that separated the front of the rectory from the street. Other than that, the only sounds they could hear were their own hearts pounding and the blood rushing in their ears.

Suddenly, Justin had a thought. He slipped the keys into his pants pocket and started checking all his other pockets, at least any that might even remotely be large enough, for Drew. Somehow, the cat always seemed to show up in the most unexpected places. And this was one place and time that he didn’t need that furball with the razor sharp claws getting spooked.

It took Karen a second to figure out what he was doing and begin searching her own pockets. The others looked at her curiously. “Drew,” she whispered. They all checked their pockets. No sign of the little cat.

Back at the clubhouse, David was sitting and playing solitaire on the TV tray when he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to see Karen’s little black cat looking up at him. “Wanna play poker?”

Drew jumped onto David’s lap and began pawing at the cards on the tray. David gathered them and began shuffling.

Justin moved toward the stairs to the second floor. Master Naka began to follow him, but noticed that the other four weren’t coming. They all seemed to be looking at something he and Justin hadn’t seen.

They weren’t looking at something so much as feeling it. All the hair on Tony’s body stood on end when he sensed the Unknown presence in the house. If he’d had his shirt off, he would’ve looked just like an angry cat, puffing itself up to intimidate a rival. Karen, Leigh and Aiden felt it, too...that heat like they were standing in front of an open, hot oven.

And Karen could tell that this wasn’t just some random, disinterested Unknown creature passing by. It was malevolent, it knew they were there, and it was anticipating their deaths.

The four looked at one another, understanding that they’d all sensed the same thing, but that Justin and Master Naka hadn’t seemed to. They moved to join the two men at the bottom of the stairs.

“Leigh,” Karen whispered. The others all looked at her. She signaled that she was going to raise a Mental Shield. “Save yours, in case we need it later,” she told Leigh. “This will only last a minute, so let’s get this done as quickly as possible,” she said to everyone.

They looked up the stairs into the darkness above. Justin started to pull out his flashlight, and Tony said, “Why not jus’ turn on da lights?”

Of course. They were so used to going places where that wasn’t a option that it hadn’t crossed Justin’s mind. He flipped the switch at the base of the stairs.

As the compact florescent bulb in the fixture at the top of the stairs grew brighter, Karen spotted a figure on the landing. He was fairly old, thin but ramrod straight, dressed in the cassock that priests used to wear early in the last century. And it was definitely not Berowski. He smiled sadly down at her.

“Do you know why we’re here?” Karen asked, looking up at him.

He gazed down with an infinitely sad look of understanding.

The others clustered behind her. “Who is it?” Leigh asked Justin from the back of the group. “Is it Berowski?”

“I don’t know. Someone I can’t see...” Justin told them.

Without taking her eyes off the priest, Karen described him to the others.

Justin looked at the framed photos lined up one wall of the stairwell. The photos had been hanging there forever, it seemed like; but he’d never really taken an interest in them before. He studied the first, then moved up a stair to look at the next, and then the next.

“Can you help us with what we need to do?” Karen asked the old priest.

He held his hand up, palm toward her, as if to say ‘wait here.’ She told the others what she’d seen.

Justin continued up the stairs, looking carefully at each photo. They seemed to be scenes from various parish functions over the years. The first couple were from within Justin’s own lifetime, one from the retirement party of the last pastor, the other from the celebration when Uncle Jerzy was made pastor of the parish. As he continued up, the photos got older.

At the very top of the stairs, there was a sepia-tinted photo showing the priest Karen described, along with several other men in clothing that he’d been told during their first case was from the 1920s. All the men were holding shovels, and the earth in front of them looked freshly turned.

“I think he must be the first pastor of St. Lads,” Justin told them. “This picture looks like it’s from the church’s groundbreaking.

“I know he told us to wait,” Karen said nervously, “but the Shield is going to go down, and I don’t think we should hang around too long after that.” She began moving up the stairs, and the others followed.

Justin was already on the second-floor landing, so they were all shocked when the bulb and fixture above them exploded with a bright flash and a rain of sparks as Karen got to the landing. They were thrown into pitch darkness.

There was a rustle of clothing as everyone dug for their flashlights, then the clicking of everyone trying to turn them on. Not a single flashlight worked.

There was a SCHINK and fwip as Justin flicked open his Zippo and lit it. The flame flickered, but held.

Leigh held up a box of matches. “I have these, too,” she said, lighting one. The match flared up, then wavered as Leigh adjusted her grip on the wooden matchstick. A moment later she had to blow it out, before it burned down to her fingers. “Are there any candles?”

Justin thought for a second. “Yeah, on the table....” He pushed past the others on his way down the stairs. “Nobody else move until we get these lit. They’re over here, Leigh.”

She followed the flame of the lighter to a small table that had a cluster of decorative candles. Justin lit one and handed it to her. She used hers to light another, while Justin lit the third one, then closed the Zippo.

On another table at the opposite side of the room, they found a fourth candle and lit it, then carried the candles over to the group. Leigh handed one of hers to Master Naka.

Justin sniffled. “Great. We’re fighting Evil to the scent of Lilac, Vanilla-Spice and Peach,” he grunted, taking the stairs two at a time to the top.

He handed one of his candles to Karen, then rubbed his nose to stop the sneeze that had been threatening since he picked up the second candle. The others followed him up and they gathered around the panel that hid the stairs to the attic.

As they stood there, some of them noticed the slightest film of fog drizzling out from under the panel and flowing down the stairs. It was very thin, but it swirled around their ankles like a cat rubbing against them.

“Da youse guys see...?” Tony asked the others, not sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

“The fog...?” Leigh said.

Tony nodded.

“Yeah, me, too,” Justin told them.

Karen nodded and moved closer to Justin. Master Naka looked from one to another. He did not see any fog, and was convinced that their fear was beginning to delude them. And they had not yet even reached the attic.

Aiden didn’t see it himself, but he trusted the others. He tensed, expecting an attack.

“Here,” Justin said quietly, holding his candle out to Aiden.

“Be ready for anything,” Karen whispered to Master Naka. “We have no way of knowing what other powers It has.”

Master Naka looked rather bemused at the warnings and the sense of tension among the others.

Aiden took the candle and Justin slowly moved the panel aside.

The attic stairway rose ahead of them, narrow and steep. The stairs were bare wood, and the fog oozed thickly down them. Even Aiden and Master Naka could see it now, as it gathered around their legs. It was as thick as the fog created by machines, for stage productions, but without any smell at all.

In the flickering light, Karen signaled the others that she was prepared to raise a Sphere the moment they needed one. “When I do,” she told them, “I’ll keep it up as long as I can. But let’s not dilly-dally.”

Aiden handed the candle back to Justin, and Justin started up the stairs. Karen was behind him with her free hand touching his back. Tony was behind her, the sledgehammer held like a ward in front of his chest. Master Naka was next, then Leigh, and Aiden bringing up the rear.

“We’re looking for a trunk, maybe a little bigger than a footlocker,” Justin said over his shoulder, describing the trunk for Master Naka and Aiden, who hadn’t been at lunch with them.

When Justin got to the top, he took a couple steps to one side, to give the others room to come up. Karen moved next to him, and Tony stepped to the opposite side of the stairwell. Master Naka followed him, and Leigh moved next to Karen.

As Aiden stepped into the attic, everything suddenly went black.

Karen raised a Sphere, and within the 20-foot radius the still-burning candles lit the space again. “Come on,” she told them, moving further into the attic.

They clustered around her and began looking for the chest Gramma N. had described. The chest held all Fr. Berowski’s belongings; and the last time she’d seen it, it was at the far end of the attic, she’d told them.

The boxes and furniture stacked here and there around the attic were covered in dust and cobwebs. Gramma N. may well have been the last person to actually clean up here.

Master Naka couldn’t believe his eyes. Though he’d been able to feel the heat from his candle, it’s light, and that of the other three candles as well, had been snuffed out. Then, just as suddenly, the candlelight had come back, but it lit only the small space around them.

He went to the edge of that space and plunged his free hand into the darkness beyond. Fascinating! His hand disappeared completely, though he could still feel his fingers moving. He pulled the hand back and pushed the other hand and the candle out. It’s light disappeared along with his hand, as if he’d blown the candle out! He pulled it back in and saw the candle still burning.

Leigh concentrated her energy, and used her Art to raise the perception of her teammates as they searched for the trunk.

Karen moved slowly forward, looking around, while the others searched to either side of her along the long narrow attic.

At the far end, Justin and Tony finally spotted the trunk under a pile of other boxes. Tony pushed the top box off the back, and they all heard the crash of glass breaking as the box hit the wall and then the floor.

“Works just as well and just as quickly to lift ‘em off and set ‘em down,” Justin told him, moving the next box off the stack.

The others crowded around the stack of boxes, and in less than a minute they had the trunk uncovered. Justin handed his candle back to Aiden, and grabbed the handle on one end of the trunk, while Tony grabbed the other. The two lifted it and the six fell into a line with Leigh at the front. Karen was behind her, then Justin and Tony with the trunk; then Master Naka and Aiden. The four carrying candles held them up to light the way for Justin and Tony.

As they got to the stairs, they began to notice that it was no longer dark beyond the edge of the Sphere. Justin, Aiden and Leigh glanced at Karen. She shrugged. She could feel that her energy level was dropping, but she hadn’t ended the Sphere yet. She mentally prepared herself for another attack.

At they approached the second floor landing below them, Leigh and Karen suddenly saw a very angry-looking man in a clerical collar, with long-ish hair in a ‘comb-over.’ He glowed with a bluish light. They paused....

He raised his hand and pointed at Leigh. Rage twisted his face. “STOP!” he commanded in a voice like a thunder clap. Even the guys, who couldn’t see the apparition because of the steepness of the stairs, could hear him.

“Go, GO, GO!” Tony urged them.

Justin had his hand on Karen’s shoulder already, to steady himself as they came down the stairs. He could see that she was looking a little paler, in the wavering light of the candle she carried, so he restored as much of her energy as he could.

The six hustled down to the landing below. When they didn’t stop as he’d commanded them, the spirit of Fr. Berowski dissipated.

On the landing, the team took quick stock of their situation. Master Naka was surprised to see that Karen looked so pale, as if she’d been running a marathon and her blood sugar had dropped too low. She hadn’t looked like that when they’d first gone into the attic. Whatever had happened to her had happened quite suddenly.

Aiden, Tony and Leigh noticed it, too. Leigh was ready to put up her Sphere, expecting Karen to have to drop hers. But Tony set the sledgehammer on the lid of the trunk, leaned forward to put his hand on her arm, and restored some of her energy.

She looked a little better now, but they could see the flame of her candle waver as her hand shook. “I’m afraid I’m going to drop it,” she whispered, blowing the candle out.

Aiden squeezed past the trunk and put his hand on her shoulder, restoring more of her energy. She nodded her thanks to Tony and Aiden, and squeezed Justin’s hand. “We should get going,” she whispered.

They started down the next flight of stairs. About halfway down, Karen stumbled. She tried to grab the railing to stop herself, but felt her knuckles slam into it instead. The candle she’d been carrying tumbled down past Leigh’s feet. Karen closed her eyes and braced herself for the fall...

There was a THUD as Justin dropped his end of the trunk and leaned forward to grab his wife’s belt with one hand.

Then a couple more THUDs as Tony dropped the sledgehammer, sat back on the stair behind him and braced his feet on the stair below, and grabbed the trunk handle with both hands to keep it from sliding down into the back of Justin’s knees.

Justin jumped down beside Karen and grabbed around her shoulders with his other arm, then threw his back against the wall to keep himself from falling too.

“Are you carrying her or am I?” Aiden asked, sliding past the trunk with his butt on the railing.

“Grab the trunk,” Justin grunted, pulling Karen against himself. Karen grabbed Justin’s arm with both hands and leaned back into him, panting. Her grasp felt much weaker than normal to Justin. He let go of her belt and turned her so that he could slip that arm behind her knees to pick her up. She put her arms around his neck and let him.

At the bottom of the stairs, they regrouped again. “I..can’t hold it any longer,” Karen whispered, and her Sphere went down. She felt awful, like she was abandoning her friends.

Leigh raised hers immediately. “Mine’s smaller, so stay close,” she warned the others.

Justin led the way to the back door and turned the knob with one hand, then nudged the door open with his toe. Karen leaned a little more into him, and Justin turned to go through the doorway and down the three stairs to the driveway. Leigh was right behind them, with Aiden and Tony carrying the trunk next, and Master Naka at the rear.

Justin had taken two steps toward the parking lot when he stopped. Was that newspapers rustling across the parking lot, pushed along by the wind?

Leigh came up beside him, and Aiden and Tony came around to his other side to pass him, not realizing that Justin had stopped for a reason. It wasn’t newspapers....

It was a small army of crawling and squirming and wobbling body parts coming right towards them...disarticulated arms, legs, hands, feet...even a head.

Leigh’s mouth fell open, her eyes got wide.... Her brain froze in panic at the unexpected sight...and then she dropped like a stone, the Sphere going down with her.

Tony and Aiden exchanged a quick glance and set the trunk down, taking their eyes off the army of body parts for only a split second.

Justin turned and set Karen down behind him. She took a step backwards, her eyes as wide as Leigh’s had been. But she didn’t pass out or run or scream. She didn’t have enough energy left to do much of anything but stare in horror.

Justin pulled his gun and slipped the silencer from its pouch. He didn’t say a word, just screwed the silencer onto the barrel and looked for a target.

They weren’t moving very quickly, their movements awkward and jerky. The head rocked from side to side, the jaw opening and closing, going only a fraction of an inch with each movement. The hands crawled, inching themselves forward by digging in with their fingernails. The feet did the same, but more slowly. Legs and arms moved by stretching and bending at their joints, advancing only slightly more rapidly than the head.

But all moved toward the team unceasingly, without pause, no matter how slowly. If they’d come from the church’s small graveyard beyond the parking lot, then they’d been doing so since the team arrived, unnoticed while the living searched the attic for the trunk.

Master Naka spotted the...things...when he stepped off the last stair. He bent forward and slipped his hands under Leigh’s armpits. He dragged her back a few steps, then moved in front of her and took up a defensive posture.

Aiden just stared. He almost couldn’t believe that the things made a noise as they moved, a scratching, slithering, dragging noise, kind of like the zombi that Reg had spiked to the ground in the alley behind O’Malley’s Pub, but smaller and...more. He wouldn’t have believed it was possible except that he was hearing it with his own ears...and it made him want to be sick.

Leigh rolled onto her side and put her hands to her temples. She had a splitting headache, but she was coming around. She opened her eyes and saw Master Naka standing protectively in front of her. She looked past his legs and saw the...the things. She pushed herself to her knees, then lurched to her feet. She swayed for a second, then got her balance.

Tony looked at the body parts, then down at the trunk, thinking. He set down the sledgehammer and opened the trunk lid. They should’ve just gotten the pipe out in the attic and crushed it there. But the others weren’t willing to trust their instincts–that the pipe was the object they needed and that destroying it was the way to kill Berowski.

He squatted and began digging through the trunk, looking for anything that looked like it might hold a pipe. There were 4 small boxes about the right size. “Eenie, Meenie, Minee, Moe...” he said quietly to himself. He picked up a box and opened it. Wrapped in a soft cloth was a heavily carved pipe. ‘Baroque,’ he thought to himself, remembering an art history class he’d taken as an elective back at State.

A moment later, he knelt there in front of the trunk looking confused. The last thing he could remember was leaving the clubhouse with the others. They were going to get dinner, then coming to the rectory. But why? For the life of him, Tony couldn’t remember why they were there or why he was kneeling in front of an open footlocker.

Justin aimed at the three closest body parts. FOOP! The first bullet hit its mark, and the Thing exploded.

Now that Leigh was on her feet, Master Naka moved forward and began attacking body parts, moving around to one side of the tiny army, out of Justin’s way.

His movement drew Leigh’s attention back to the ‘battle,’ and she also moved up to attack.

Karen shuffled over to stare at whatever Tony was staring at. Somewhere in the back of her brain, she knew that there were things she should be doing, helping with. But it was like her mind was going in 20 directions at once. Were there more body parts in there? Why would anyone bury them in a trunk in the attic?

FOOP! Another body part exploded on impact. “Found that pipe yet, Tony?” Justin asked over his shoulder.

“Uh...wha’ pipe?” Tony replied.

Karen was wondering the same thing. Weren’t they looking for body parts?

Justin’s shoulders sagged. Something must’ve scrambled Tony’s brain...more than it normally was. “The one we need to break in order to kill Berowski and stop him from possessing my Uncle Jerzy.”

Slowly, the CF bulb warmed up over Tony’s head. “Oh, yeah!” He grabbed the pipe, and set it on the ground beside the trunk, then grabbed the handle of the sledgehammer.

FOOP! One more down....

Leigh focused on the head, wobbling its way toward her. She pulled back her foot and booted the thing into the air. She lost sight of it as it flew up past the dusk-to-dawn light that lit the parking lot.

Master Naka stomped on a hand and felt a rather distasteful crunch as the bones broke under his heel. He moved on to a foot, fully mindful of the texture of the flesh and bones compressing against the pavement. An interesting meditation on impermanence....

Before Tony could raise the sledgehammer and bring it down on the pipe, a ghostly bluish hand plunged into his chest, squeezing his heart. He dropped the hammer and clasped his hands to his chest, gasping for breath.

“Tony!” Karen screamed, drawing Justin and Aiden’s attention.

Justin grabbed Tony’s shoulder and pulled him away from the trunk, not exactly sure what had happened. He could see the pipe lying on the ground...

Aiden grabbed Tony and lowered him to the ground, then felt for his pulse.

Justin knelt and pressed the end of the silencer against the bowl of the pipe. FOOP!

He covered his eyes with one arm as the pipe shattered into dozens of pieces, and the Envoys all turned to look....

There was a brilliant flash of dark bluish energy. In the afterimage, they could see the visage of Fr. Berowski, enraged and frustrated, like he was being torn apart by the explosion of energy. The flash spread out in rays, and Berowski’s mouth opened as if screaming as he was shredded.

Then it got very quiet. They could hear the dripping of moisture from leaf to leaf, and Tony still gasping for breath.

Justin spun back to face the army of body parts. They laid motionless now, some nothing more than smears of flesh and fat on the pavement.

Leigh rushed to help Aiden with Tony. She had suddenly realized, in the near-silence of the aftermath, that her Sphere had gone down when she’d passed out.

But Tony wasn’t actually doing too bad. Berowski’s hand plunging into his chest had certainly been a shock, but it hadn’t done as much physical damage as it felt like. He pulled up his t-shirt and saw a large bruise spreading across the center of his chest. Heh! Chicks dug guys who were tough enough to take a hit like that and walk away.

Aiden stood and went into the rectory. It took a minute, but he finally found what he’d been looking for. He came out carrying a broom.

“What about shovels?” Leigh asked, surveying the mess spread across the parking lot.

Aiden went back in and came out with a snow shovel and a garden shovel. “Are you OK?” he asked Leigh as he handed over one of the shovels.

“I will be,” she shrugged. Justin came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, restoring some of her energy before she could object. Her color came back a little, though it was kind of hard to tell in the shadows between the buildings. Justin went over and held out his hand to help Tony up.

“Not if yer gonna do dat ta me,” Tony objected, pushing himself to his knees. “I don’ need it. Jus’ some sleep an’ I’ll be fine.”

Aiden confirmed it as he headed toward the parking lot. “He ain’t perfect; but it didn’t look like he needed much Healing, either.”

Master Naka took the broom that Aiden had leaned against the railing. He was fairly certain that what he’d just experience was NOT special effects. He began sweeping up body parts, letting go of his thoughts as he focused on moving the broom. This was not unlike cleaning at the temple...except for the matter he was sweeping up....

Aiden came up beside Leigh and put an arm around her shoulders. He hugged her, and she felt the warm glow of energy being restored. She and Aiden began using their shovels to scoop the body parts into a pile.

Justin came up behind Aiden. “How about you?” Aiden turned around, and Justin was surprised to see that he looked fine. Interesting. If he managed to keep from Healing people, he could actually avoid draining himself too much.

Aiden, on the other hand, realized that Justin had been expending a lot of energy helping everyone else. He put his hand on Justin’s arm; but when he tried to focus on restoring Justin’s energy, he instead felt the energy sucked into himself. He got a head-rush, like he’d been laying with his feet up for too long then stood up too quickly.

Justin gasped and put a hand to his head. All of a sudden he felt dizzy and a little nauseous.

“Wow...that was weird,” Aiden said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Justin. I...I’m not sure what that means....”

Karen shuffled over and wrapped her arms around Justin. “Maybe...um....” She paused for a second, trying to gather her thoughts. It was like herding cats...or body parts. “A...um...no...I mean...a Shield!” She said it triumphantly, like getting the thought to come out had been a major achievement. And right now, it was.

“Uh, I probably shouldn’t right now,” Aiden told them, feeling uncertain of himself and his abilities after that major screw-up.

“I’ll do it,” Leigh told them. She focused her energy for a moment, and raised the Mental Shield. It wasn’t a cure-all; but it should dispel any lingering mental effects from everything they’d just been through.

Tony stood and tipped the trunk lid shut. Then he grabbed the handles and lifted it, and started waddling toward the back door.

“Where are you going?” Justin asked him.

“Puttin’ dis back in da attic.”

“Maybe we should take it with us, just in case,” Justin suggested.

“I’m not sure we need it anymore,” Aiden said. “Maybe it’d be best to put it back.”

“Why don’t we finish cleaning the parking lot up, and then worry about it,” Leigh told them.

The others nodded agreement. Tony set the trunk beside the stairs. Then he and Justin went to the garage to look for more shovels or brooms, and a tarp or something for moving the pile of body parts back over to the graveyard.

Karen watched the others working. “Ya know...” She shuffled over and squatted down beside the growing pile, seemingly unaffected by the sight and smell of decaying flesh. “I think I can figure out which grave each of these came from, so we can get them back where they belong....”

She reached out to pick up a hand...

“Here, hon!” Justin said, grabbing her arm and helping her up before she actually touched it with her bare hand. He thrust another garden spade into her hand. “I think it’ll be fine if we just put them all in a single hole. Maybe you could start digging one...?” He gave her a gentle push toward the graveyard.

“Oh! Sure...I suppose...but....”

She tried to turn back, and Justin urged her away from the pile again, with a hand on her arm. He took a few steps with her, knowing that if he could just break her focus away from the body parts, she’d forget about them.

It wasn’t often that she pushed herself this far, but he’d seen her like this once or twice. She usually got a little goofy, kind of like he got when he’d pulled too many all-nighters in a row back in college.

He turned her slightly, putting himself between her and the head Leigh had kicked, which had splattered across the back corner of the lot when it landed. “Come on, hon...why don’t you dig us a hole...right...here.” Justin found a good spot in the graveyard, out of the way, where people shouldn’t notice the freshly turned dirt and ask questions.

If there was one thing his wife was good at, it was digging holes. By the time the others had gathered all the body parts onto the tarp and carried the tarp over to the graveyard, Karen had a perfectly rectangular hole started. The sod had been carefully peeled back and set to one side, and the 3-foot by 5-foot hole was about 6 inches deep. More importantly, the process had kept Karen busy doing something basically productive, and out of their way.

“Here...let us help,” Justin said, taking the spade from her. He and Tony started digging deeper.

“Wait! Be careful!” Karen stepped forward trying to stop them from making a mess of her test pit.

“It’s OK, Karen,” Leigh told her, taking her arm. “We already know the top layers are sterile. We won’t start hitting artifacts until we’re down about three feet.” This seemed to satisfy Karen enough that Leigh was able to lead her away. They discussed what they might find in this pit while the guys worked, getting the hole dug, the tarp of body parts in, and dirt thrown back on top.

Leigh kept an eye on their progress. As they got the hole filled back up, she told Karen, “Maybe we should cover the pit to protect it from the rain, and come back in better weather.”

Karen looked up, and a drop of rainwater from a leaf hit her in the forehead. “You’re right. We should probably wait.”

Leigh led her back to the hole and they helped the guys reposition the sod. When they were done, it was hard to tell a hole had even been dug there.

Tony had gotten the hose and Master Naka the push broom, and they were scrubbing down the smeared flesh-paste that they hadn’t been able to scrape up with the shovels.

The team stood in the parking lot and looked around. When they were satisfied that it looked no worse than when they’d arrived, they went to the trunk. After a few minutes of debate, they agreed to return it to the attic.

Tony and Aiden hauled it up, and Justin, Leigh and Master Naka straightened up elsewhere...carefully sweeping up the remains of the exploded CF bulb and wrapping it tightly to take for proper disposal, returning the candles to their places, straightening the frames along the stairway.

Karen sat and watched the others work, part of her wishing she could be useful, part of her wanting only to curl up next to Justin in bed.

Justin picked her up gently and carried her out to the truck. Master Naka rode with them, and Aiden and Tony rode with Leigh back to the clubhouse.

The next morning, Friday, Apr. 25, Aiden was still asleep on the couch. The team had also let Master Naka sleep through the night, rather than waking him to take a ‘watch.’ And Fr. Jerzy slept like the dead.

In fact, the only person who didn’t sleep well was Leigh. When she finished her ‘shift’ watching over Fr. Jerzy, she spent the rest of her night having nightmares. She dreamt she was a little girl, wearing a Catholic school uniform. She was in church...alone? No, there was someone else there. The priest. But when he approached her, and she looked up at his face....

She ran from his demonic red eyes. She ran between the pews, hoping to slow him down. But he moved through as if they were parting before him. She crawled beneath them, and he picked them up and flipped them out of the way. She didn’t understand...weren’t churches sacred spaces? How could a demon move so freely within one?

She ran down the aisle and hid behind the holy water font. From here she could see him searching for her, his mouth open as if he was calling out to her, checking behind each pew.

Strange. The demon didn’t look like Fr. Jerzy’s description of Berowski, she thought to herself. Then the demon priest spotted her, and the chase was on again. She ran, hiding behind pillars, the pulpit, pews. The confessionals looked so inviting. She could rest in there, if only she could get inside one without tipping him off.

She crawled beneath a pew for its entire length, until she was only a couple feet from the row of confessionals. She listened. She looked around, but didn’t see his legs anywhere. This was her chance. She crept out from under the pew and slipped under the curtain that covered the confessional doorway. She huddled in the corner, afraid to breath, afraid to move....

The curtain was torn from its rod and the light from those evil red eyes pierced the darkness. Leigh screamed....

And sat straight up in her bed, dripping with sweat. It was 6:30am. She got up and took a shower, the hot water stinging her face as she tried to wash away the red eyes. When she got downstairs, only Justin was up, sitting outside his uncle’s cell in the basement. They hadn’t bothered strapping him to the bed, since he wasn’t possessed right now. But they did lock him in, in case something happened during the night.

Leigh went to the kitchen and began cooking and baking. She was determined to have all of Aiden’s favorite foods available for him when he woke up. Then there would be no way he could refuse to eat. Thinking about that reminded her that it was possible the hospital could page him. It was time to call in some favors.

First, Leigh carefully searched Aiden’s pockets and belt, and got his pager and cell phone. She turned both off and put them on chargers on the bar. Then she called the hospital. “This is Leigh Sorensen,” she told the receptionist who answered. “I was calling to check when Dr. Aiden Carter was due back at work.” The receptionist forwarded her call to the administrator who scheduled the ER staff.

Leigh had met this woman one morning when she was dropping off some fresh bread and muffins. When Leigh told her that Aiden was actually sleeping for a change, and that she was hoping she didn’t have to wake him yet, all her food deliveries paid off.

“I think we can manage to avoid paging him for a while,” the woman told Leigh. “Things are pretty quiet anyway, so I’ll just spread the word.”

Soon, the smell of bacon and biscuits and coffee began to draw the others into the kitchen. Downstairs, Justin opened the cell door. “Uncle Jerzy?” he whispered.

“Hmmm? What? Justin?” Jerzy rolled over and rubbed his eyes. The smells from the kitchen made him sit up. He hadn’t felt this hungry in...well, he couldn’t really remember how long. This was going to be a glorious day!

“I think Leigh’s making breakfast,” Justin told him. “Interested in having a little something to eat?”

“A little something? I’m starving!” His pajamas were rumpled, but his face was fairly glowing as he stood and hugged his nephew. “I haven’t slept that well since....” He let the thought go. He wasn’t going to let memories of the last month and a half ruin today.

He hugged Justin again, then grabbed his bag from the chair outside the cell. “A shower first, I think!” He practically sprinted up the two flights of stairs, Justin right on his heels. Justin sat outside the bathroom door, listening to his uncle hum as he undressed and showered. Leigh brought Justin a cup of coffee, to hold him until Fr. Jerzy was ready to come to the kitchen.

Karen woke feeling much better than when she’d crawled into bed. Leigh was just handing Justin his mug when Karen came out of her room. David must have heard them, because he poked his head out of his room and waved them inside conspiratorially.

“So, are we doing like the Church, and just letting him walk away now that he’s ‘cured’?” he asked the three.

Leigh and Karen looked to Justin. Both of them knew what they thought about it, but weren’t sure how Justin would feel about treating his uncle like a criminal.

“No,” Tony said, poking his head into the room.

“No,” Justin agreed.

The women let out the breaths they’d been holding. “We don’t know that the thing won’t come back,” Karen told him. “But I figured he could at least move freely around the clubhouse. We just need to stop him if he gets near any of the exits.” The others nodded.

“Then we need to have him sign this,” David said, holding up a sheet of paper crammed with text. “It’s a basic release form, saying that he’s here of his own free will, he won’t hold us responsible for anything that happens to him while he’s here, and he won’t press any charges against us after he’s released.”

They heard the shower shut off, and they all went back to what they had been doing. Fr. Jerzy bounded out of the bathroom and practically ran into Justin and Karen. He wrapped Karen in a bear hug, then hugged Justin again. The three met up with Leigh, Tony, David and Master Naka in the kitchen. Jerzy hugged Leigh, and shook the hands of the men vigorously. Then he went to the counter and began piling food onto his plate.

When Jerzy had settled at the kitchen table, Justin took the release form from David and sat beside his uncle. “We think you should sign this,” Justin said, holding out the sheet of paper, “in case anything happens.”

Jerzy took the paper and began reading through it as he shoveled food into his mouth like a starving man. And he didn’t just skim through it. It was clear he was actually reading every word carefully. “I think you’re right,” he told Justin. “Do you have a pen?”

David stepped up and handed the priest a pen. “You have a video camera here, right?” he asked Justin. “Because I think it might be good if we tape him reading it aloud, too.”

“Ooo! I could pud a pillowcase over my head, and stand behind 'im holdin' a gun!” Tony suggested. David stared at him and frowned. Master Naka simply raised an eyebrow.

“No.” Justin, Karen and Leigh all said it simultaneously.

Tony pouted and went to the counter for more food.

When Jerzy had finished eating, he carried his plate to the sink. Then he hugged or shook hands with everyone again. He was so happy to be relieved of the burden he’d been bearing, even if it was only for a little while.

David and Justin led Jerzy to the office, where Justin set up the video camera. It didn’t take long for Jerzy to read through the release form, and when he was done, he hugged Justin again and shook David’s hand. “I truly do appreciate what you’re doing for me.”

“Would you like to know what we’ve discovered so far?” Karen asked him as he came out of the office.

“Everything.”

Karen stared for a second. “But, that would mean...”

“I’m serious. I want to know everything.”

Karen looked at the others. If she told him everything, he’d have to be given The Speech. He already knew more than Justin and Karen would have liked, and they’d been trying to keep him at arm’s length from the whole truth for the past 3 years.

Justin shook his head. He wasn’t ready to drag his uncle into the thick of this. When it was all over...then, if he still wanted to know, he would be able to make a fully informed, rational decision.

“Da t’ing is called an Apostate,” Tony told him. “It’s da spirit of a devout person who renounced ‘is fait’ an’ died in a state ‘a sin. It’s pissed off an’ tries ta make udder people do da same t’ing.”

From behind his uncle, Justin glowered at Tony and made a cutting motion across his neck.

“An’ dat’s about all dere is ta tell right now,” Tony said, getting the message.

David was sitting at the big table in the front room, playing solitaire with a deck of ‘corner cuts’ from the casino. “Anyone up for some poker?” he asked the others.

“Absolutely!” Tony said, pulling out a chair.

“What kind?” Justin asked, sitting down too.

“Can you play in the kitchen?” Karen asked quietly, nodding toward the couch where Aiden was still sleeping.

The guys nodded and stood, David collecting the cards from the table and shuffling them quietly.

“Texas Hold’em,” David answered Justin’s question as they moved into the kitchen. The three joined Master Naka, who was sipping tea at the table. “Are you in?” David asked Naka.

“Thank you, but no,” he replied politely, standing.

“Deal me in,” Leigh told David.

“What’s da stake?” Tony asked, pulling a gold money clip stuffed with $20s from his pocket. The other three stared the clip. “Oh, right.” Tony slipped the clip back into his pocket, then pulled out a wad of singles.

“Strip bar cash?” Justin chuckled. Tony just grinned.

Karen and Uncle Jerzy were leaning against the counters, watching David shuffle and deal. Karen could see that the initial adrenalin rush of being free from his burden was wearing off of Uncle Jerzy, and the month and a half of little or no sleep was catching back up to him now. It was almost 8:30. “I think I’d like to get a little more sleep,” he said. “Downstairs?” He looked at Karen.

“It might be best,” she told him gently.

“At least it’s comfortable, even with all the straps.”

“We try,” Justin said over his shoulder. “If the Zombi Apocalypse does happen, come here.”

Jerzy looked at Karen. “He’s joking. It’s just one of his little obsessions,” she told him. She led him out of the kitchen, and they met Master Naka in the front room.

“I will sit with him, if you wish,” Naka told Karen. “I am quite well rested.”

Karen nodded and the two got Uncle Jerzy settled into his cell. Then Karen went up and started straightening up the kitchen before she had to leave to conduct some of her final exams. Poker wasn’t her thing.

Justin, David, Tony and Leigh seemed to be enjoying themselves, though. Justin, of course, wasn’t doing as well as he’d hoped. He couldn’t bluff at poker any better than he could lie.

Leigh got up and went to the fridge for a beer. When she closed the fridge door, she bumped the cluster of magnets holding notes to the front of it. It was strange how magnets on refrigerators seemed to mysteriously multiply like empty hangers in closets. Another one of the oddities of nature.

Leigh glanced at the notes. Some of them were months old, since no one ever bothered to clear them off the fridge after reading them. But one in Justin’s handwriting appeared to be new. “NOTE TO SELF–Call Gramma N.”

“Justin? Is this note yours?” Leigh asked, tossing the note onto the top of the pot in the center of the table.

Justin picked it up. “Shit! That’s right! I was thinking last night...”

“Too bad you didn’t keep it up, Moose,” David teased him, raking in the pot he’d just won.

Justin flipped ‘the finger’ at David. “My Gramma Nadjosinski has been around for a long time. She’s, I think, ninety-something. So I figured she might know something about Fr. Berowski. I was gonna take her to lunch today....”

“Want me to give her a call before I leave?” Karen asked him, hugging him around the shoulders from behind and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

“I’ll do it,” he told her. “I’m losing spectacularly anyway. You’ll come, too, right?”

“Of course,” Karen replied. “My first exam is over at 11:30. So if you can make the reservation for noon?”

“I was just gonna take her to Roma,” Justin said. “Anyone else coming?”

“Sure. You payin’?” Tony asked.

“With what? You guys...and gal...are cleanin’ me out.”

“I’ll come,” Leigh said. “I like your grandmother.”

“I’ll just hang out here,” David told them.

“Are you sure?” Justin asked. “The food’s really good, best Italian in town.”

“OK. Well, I’ll think about it,” David finally conceded.

“I wonder if...” Justin started to say, getting up from the table. He went to the front room.

Leigh realized his intent before Karen did, and she got up to try to stop him from waking Aiden. But she couldn’t move fast enough, and shouting would only have woken Aiden anyway.

“Aiden, do you wanna....”

“Hunh?! What?!” Aiden sat bolt upright and began frantically searching for his pager. He’d been sound asleep, and when he didn’t find the pager in his pocket, he rolled off the couch and began pulling off the cushions.

“They haven’t had any work for you,” Leigh told him, coming into the front room a few steps behind Justin.

“Very funny. Why didn’t you wake me?!” He couldn’t find the pager, so he started patting down his coat, looking for his cell phone.

“No, seriously,” Leigh said. “There hasn’t been a single call. We’d have woken you.”

“They’re on the bar, dude,” Justin told Aiden.

“What?”

“Your cell and pager. They’re on the bar, plugged into their chargers.”

Aiden vaulted over the back of the couch and sprinted for the bar. He checked both, but there were no missed calls or pages on either one. He checked back in the memory for the last incoming calls on them, thinking maybe someone had answered for him then forgotten to mention it. There were no pages since the one he’d gotten while he was eating a breakfast burrito in the cafeteria yesterday afternoon. And no phone calls since Justin called him...wow...was that yesterday evening?

Aiden ran his hand through his hair, thinking. That meant he’d been sleeping for over 12 hours. That couldn’t be right. There must have been people coming into the ER during that time. He opened the phone and speed-dialed work.

“It’s Dr. Carter,” he told the nurse who answered. “I think there’s something wrong with my cell and pager. I haven’t gotten any calls on them since yesterday evening. But I’ll be there right away.”

“But, we haven’t called you, Dr. Carter,” the nurse told him.

“What do you mean you haven’t called me? It’s been almost 18 hours since I left on a break. You can’t really expect me to believe no one’s come into the ER in that whole time.”

“I didn’t say that. But we haven’t needed you.”

“How could you not have needed me? I was the physician on call last night.”

“Look...HR said we weren’t supposed to call you in unless there was a massive disaster and every ER in town was full.”

“Funny. Is this someone’s idea of a joke? Or is someone trying to get me fired?”

“If you don’t believe me, then you can talk to HR. Hold on a second while I transfer you.”

Aiden was put on hold, then heard a click as he was transferred.

“Rebecca Gonsalves, Human Resources.”

“Becky, it’s Aiden Carter. Did you really tell the ER not to call me in unless there was a massive disaster?”

“Aiden, hi! Actually, yes, though I didn’t put it exactly that way. When I was reviewing payroll records for the quarter, I noticed you’re at your vacation accrual cap. Do you have any idea how many OSHA regs that violates, you not using any vacation time in that long?

“Personally, I don’t care if you never take a vacation. In fact, I kind of wish all our staff were as dedicated as you. But, first of all, until you use as least 3 days worth of your vacation hours, you won’t be able to accrue any more.

“Second, the regulations for the maximum continuous hours a hospital physician can work without at least 24 hours off were written for a reason. We don’t need you here if you’re going to screw up because you’re so worn out you can’t think straight.

“But, Becky, I....”

“Aiden, don’t make me write you up.... Look, just use your 3 vacation days and I’ll be off your back for another few months at least. Harper’s on call, and since you trained him....”

“Yeah, yeah. Alright. When am I allowed to come back?”

“Monday. Have a nice weekend!”

Becky hung up before Aiden could argue anymore. He flopped onto the couch dejectedly. “They’re forcing me to take the weekend off. Something about ‘I have to use some of my vacation days,’ or something.” He was practically pouting.

Justin dialed his grandma’s number. “Gramma? It’s Justin.”

“Well, it’s good to know you haven’t actually died.”

“No, ma’am.”

“So you decided to actually call me.”

“Yes, ma’am. But I didn’t know it was my turn.”

Karen and the others cringed. They could only hear Justin’s end of the conversation, but smarting off to his grandma wasn’t a good idea. She was a tough old lady, and it might come back to bite him on the ass.

Justin spotted the reaction. “Sorry, ma’am. I just mean...well...you hadn’t called me, either.”

More cringing from the others made Justin stop talking for a moment.

“I haven’t seen you at Mass,” Gramma said.

Justin didn’t say anything this time. He managed to stop the thought that was forming, ‘That’s because we don’t get up that early,’ from coming out.

“And you haven’t stopped by my house.”

More silence from Justin. Gramma N. was enjoying this. She smiled on the other end of the line, waiting to hear what her grandson had to say for himself.

“Are you doing anything for lunch?” Justin finally asked her.

“I think I can clear my busy social schedule.”

“Well, we could have dinner, if you’d rather....”

“Lunch will be fine. I have trouble staying awake for supper these days.”

‘That’s because you’re up at the crack of dawn, usually,’ Justin thought to himself. “Yes, ma’am. I was just thinking of Roma Café, if that’s OK with you.”

“That will be fine. And you should bring that nice Italian boy from New York.”

Justin paused for a minute. Nice Italian boy? “You mean Tony? He’s the only Italian guy I know from New York.”

“Yes, that’s the one. He’s so nice. Weren’t we going to introduce him to Marie?”

Justin quickly changed the subject. Tony was a nice enough guy and all; but he didn’t want him dating Marie. “I wanted you to meet a couple new friends of mine, and it’s kind of a business lunch.”

“But I don’t need a new car....”

“No, Grams, you need a driver.”

“Why would I need a driver when I have family?”

“Technically, family can say no.”

“What world do you live in?”

Justin sighed. She was right, of course. He couldn’t think of anyone in his family who was brave enough, or stupid enough, to say ‘no’ to Gramma N. “Do you want to be picked up, or should I send a car?”

“Actually, can you bring Karen’s Jeep? It feels so adventurous riding in that.”

“She’ll be there about 11:45. See you at Roma. Love you.”

“I love you too, dear.”

Justin closed the phone. “Karen? Can you pick up Gramma? She wanted to be picked up in the Jeep. She thinks it feels adventurous.”

Karen grinned. “Sure. I’ll head over to get her as soon as I can get away." She grabbed her jacket and bag, and headed for the garage.

“One ‘a these days I’m gonna take Gramma for a bike ride,” Justin declared.

“You’re gonna put your grandmother on a ‘donor-cycle’?” Aiden asked

“Why not? I think she’d like it. Besides, I wouldn’t go far...or fast. Just a slow ride around the block. Anyway...Tony, Gramma told me to make sure you come to lunch with us. She thinks you’re a nice boy.”

Tony grinned. “I am. And I’ll even shower.”

“I’m going to the dojo to do katas,” Leigh told Justin. “I’ll be back here in time to clean up for lunch.”

“Are you coming, Aiden?” Justin asked.

“I’m not really hungry,” Aiden replied.

Leigh crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, tapping her foot.

“What? I ate before I went to sleep,” Aiden said.

“That was last night,” Leigh countered.

Justin came around the couch and straddled Aiden’s knees. Then he leaned forward and tipped Aiden’s head back.

“You’re not my type,” Aiden told him.

“I’m not here to give you tongue,” Justin replied.

“Hold on! I’m gonna go get my camera!” Tony said.

David just shook his head. This place really was just a glorified frat house.

Justin was actually studying Aiden’s face for signs of malnutrition or any stress-related illnesses. He didn’t look great, but the only real problem was the lack of skin elasticity, a sign of dehydration.

Justin went to the fridge to get Aiden a bottle of water. He noticed that Leigh had put several containers of food marked with Aiden’s name in the fridge. At least one of them looked like it had soup in it.

He took the water, and dropped it on Aiden’s lap. “Drink this. And there’s soup in the fridge, too, with your name on it. Eat it.”

Aiden frowned, but opened the bottle of water and took a sip. “I’m just gonna hang out here. If I go along to lunch...your gramma knows me and she’ll wanna know what’s going on, what’s wrong.”

Aiden had a point. Justin realized it was gonna be hard enough to keep from spilling the beans himself. “When this is all over, I’m takin’ you out and gettin’ you drunk so you’ll talk about whatever’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Aiden insisted. “It’s nice that you guys care, but...”

Tony coughed out the word “Bullshit” into his hand.

“I agree with him,” Justin said, nodding at Tony.

Aiden just gave up and drank some water, then fell asleep again. Leigh left for the dojo, and Tony went upstairs to shower. Justin called a mobile auto-detailing shop and made an appointment for someone to go detail Karen’s Jeep, so it was spotless when she picked up Gramma. He called Karen to let her know they were coming, then went back to work on Aiden’s old truck. Master Naka sat and meditated outside the cell door as Fr. Jerzy slept.

When David got tired of playing solitaire, he went in the office to check his email. He’d cleared out his mailbox and was about to log off when a single email popped up. Finally It was an email from Angie:

“Thanks for the legal advice.

“I never buy a bike before I’ve kicked the tires and driven it around the block a couple times.

“A”

Well, that wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. It sounded like she’d at least have dinner with him. But, with the way everyone else was worrying about Aiden, David couldn’t help but wonder what the message meant as far as Aiden was concerned.

When Leigh got back, Justin realized he’d lost track of time working on the truck. He followed Leigh in, and he showered in the locker room while Leigh went upstairs and took over the bathroom Tony had been using.

Tony, Leigh and Justin met up in the front room, all ready for lunch out. Tony was wearing a casual suit, perfect for lunch with Gramma N., right down to the gold chain shown off by having his top two shirt buttons undone. He’d even managed to achieve that slightly unshaven look, though he’d clearly shaved.

“So, Justin...ain’t yer gramma gonna wonder why ya ain’t working?”

“She knows I’m the boss. And if you bring up the stripper pole in front of her, I’ll kill you.”

“Do I haf’ta let her run her fingers t’rough my chest hair again?”

David came out of the office, and he could see Justin trying to decide between throwing something at Tony and laughing. Tony was obviously entertaining himself by pushing Justin’s buttons today.

“You comin’?” Justin asked David.

“I don’t have anything to wear,” he replied, looking Tony up and down. “And unless there’s some reason I need to be there....”

“Dude, free lunch,” Aiden said, sitting up.

“It’s great Italian,” Justin told him. Then he shrugged. “But...it’s an open invitation. Come or don’t, it’s your choice.”

“Dere’s a can ‘a Chef Boy-ar-dee in da cab’nit,” Tony said over his shoulder, heading for the garage door.

“There’s also food that Leigh made, in the ‘fridge,” David retorted.

“But dat’s Aiden’s,” Tony countered.

David looked at Leigh.

“I just wanted to make sure Aiden got some of it before it all disappears,” Leigh said.

“Wait. Wouldn’ it be an insult in your culture, ta refuse an invitation to a meal?” Tony challenged David.

“First, I try to be adaptable to the culture in which I’m living,” David explained. “Obviously joining the group for a meal isn’t required, since Aiden and Master Naka were allowed to refuse. Second...” David grinned broadly, “I wouldn’t want to interfere with any designs you have on Justin’s gramma.” This game of pushing Moose’s buttons was pretty amusing.

Justin stuck a forefinger in each ear. “La la la la.”

Leigh crossed her arms over her chest and stared at David.

“What? I thought Tony was going for making Justin call him ‘grandpa.’”

“And you weren’t the one who had to drag him away from the cheerleaders,” Leigh told him.

“And you’re not the one Tony’s fantasizing about, either,” Aiden added.

“Wait...Tony’s fantasizing about you, Aiden?” Justin asked, confused.

“Not me ” Aiden replied, nodding toward Leigh.

“Well, you know, since Angie left, I suppose Aiden’s needed some consolation,” David said. “And, well, Tony IS so compassionate....”

At the mention of Angie, Aiden got up from the couch and headed briskly for the basement. “I’d better check on Fr. Jerzy and Master Naka.”

As Aiden disappeared around the corner and down the stairs, David followed him.

“Does this mean we need to get Angie drunk, too?” Justin asked, looking from Leigh to Tony.

“Next time I’m out there, I intend to,” Leigh told him.

“Don’t try to match her,” Justin warned. “She’s a Marine.”

“What kind of idiot do you think I am?” Leigh asked.

“The rest of the group is freaking out about you and Angie,” David said, approaching Aiden. “I figured you might have an easier time talking about it in front of two people who you don’t really know.” David nodded at Master Naka, sitting on his zafu beside the cell door.

“Why would I need to?”

“So you can get it off your chest, and then I can let the others know so they stop talking behind your back.”

“No, thanks. I don’t think so.”

David could see the ‘shutters’ going down behind Aiden’s eyes. In fact, his whole posture changed, his body language telling David to just let it go. David shrugged and headed back upstairs, pulling out his cell phone. He dialed Karen’s number.

Karen was just getting in the freshly cleaned Jeep. “Hi, David. I was just going to get Gramma. Wha’ did’ja need?”

“About lunch, Essiban...it feels like Justin and Leigh are pressuring me to come along. Is this some initiation ritual? You know, ‘go meet Gramma and get her approval’?”

“No. Honestly. You don’t have to come if you don’t want. We’re just gonna be grilling Justin’s gramma for info about Berowski, since she’s been in town forever and going to St. Lad’s for about as long. But the food really is good, too. It’s entirely up to you.”

When Karen got to Gramma’s house, she got hugged, and kissed on both cheeks. Then Gramma took Karen’s arms and held her out at arm’s length. “Let me look at you, dear.”

“Sorry, not pregnant yet, Gramma.” Karen smiled.

Gramma N. grinned back. “I’m sure it will happen in God’s own time. But it doesn’t hurt to check.”

Karen had meant every word she’d said to David, so she was a little surprised to see him there with the others, when she pulled up to let Gramma off at the front door of Roma.

Gramma hugged and kissed Leigh. Then she turned and pinched Tony’s cheeks before kissing him. Justin got hugged and kissed, and if his grandmother had been stronger, there might have been broken ribs from the hug.

Justin and Tony each took one of Gramma’s arms and helped her inside to the private room Justin had reserved. When she was seated, she asked, “And who’s this young man?” looking up at David. She looked at Justin first, but then at Leigh, anticipating that he might be Leigh’s new beau.

“He’s a friend of mine from the Tribe,” Karen said, coming in after finally finding a parking space. “Gramma, I’d like you to meet David Red Elk. David, this is Justin’s Grandma Nadjosinski.”

“Pleased to meet you, Grandmother,” David said, standing and shaking her hand.

“Please, call me Gramma. Everyone does.”

“Of course, Grandmother.”

Food and drinks were ordered, and were brought to the table. And Gramma N. kept up a steady stream of conversation throughout the meal. She asked about David’s family, asked Leigh about her trip home, talked about Justin’s family. She didn’t ask Tony anything, as if maybe she was a little afraid of what his answers might be.

“I’m doing some research on comparative religions,” David told her when she asked if he lived in Detroit now or was just visiting. “Moose and Essiban suggested I talk to you about the Catholic Church.”

Gramma smiled. “One of the great pleasures of old age is being able to share the stories of the past with others.”

“And one of the pleasures of youth is getting to listen to them,” David replied.

Gramma smiled even more broadly. “What a nice young man! Are you married?”

Justin cringed.

“Not yet,” David answered.

“Well, I have several young family members I’d like you to meet sometime.”

The group had a very pleasant lunch, with Gramma N. guiding the conversation, clearly aware that her grandson and his friends had an ulterior motive for inviting her. She let that fact slide in the interests of digestion.

Finally, when all the dishes had been cleared and a plate of cannolis had been brought to go with everyone’s choice of after-dinner beverage, Justin mentioned the elephant in the corner. “Grams, there’s some other, not so pleasant, business we wanted to talk to you about.”

She simply folded her hands and waited for her grandson to spit it out.

“Do you remember Fr. Berowski?”

“Oh! The priest who...” she looked around, then leaned in and whispered, “committed suicide. Yes, I do remember. My! No one’s asked about that for years.”

“Some things have come up recently...” Justin pushed ever so slightly.

“It was quite the scandal. It’s not going to give you a very nice picture of the Catholic Church, dear,” she said, looking over at David. “But he certainly wasn’t typical. Now, my nephew Jerzy.... You should meet him.”

Justin started choking. Karen poured a glass of water for him.

“Is there something wrong, dear?” Gramma asked.

Justin took a sip of water and suppressed more coughing. “No, ma’am,” he squeaked out.

Gramma raised one eyebrow, dubious.

“He’d already suggested that to me,” David said, taking her attention off Justin before he broke.

“You should play poker with him,” Gramma replied.

“I have.” David grinned. “He suggested inviting you next time.”

“Oh! I haven’t had a good game of poker in years! All the old ladies want to play canasta or bridge. I haven’t played poker since my husband died.” She didn’t mention that that had been almost 20 years ago.

“About Fr. Berowski, Grams?” Justin said. Karen caught David’s eye and nodded her thanks.

“Jerzy was very upset about that,” she told them. “He was so young then, and full of ideals. He never talked to me about it. He’s a better liar than you are, dear.” She eyed Justin. “But he wouldn’t admit anything was wrong. He found the body, you know.”

She could tell from the looks on their faces that they hadn’t known that. The Envoys all wondered why he hadn’t mentioned it, and if it might make any kind of difference.

“The young priests get the dawn duty, you know. He tried to revive Fr. Berowski, but it was too late. The only thing he ever said about it...it was the oddest thing...he said it was ‘a shame that he evaded what he so richly had coming.’ He never explained what that meant. So I assumed Fr. Berowski was one of those priests who abuses little boys.”

Justin’s face darkened.

“Ah! So I was right,” Gramma said, seeing the change immediately.

“It was little girls,” Justin mumbled. That didn’t stop his grandmother from hearing him.

“He smoked cherry tobacco...nasty-smelling stuff. The smell just clung to him. It smelled like if you soaked your socks in Kirsch and burnt them.”

“What?” Justin asked.

“It’s a cherry-flavored liqueur,” Leigh explained.

“I remember a lot of the young mothers all avoided him. A lot started going to the early Mass. I went because Jerzy officiated; and I thought maybe they were following my example. But...thinking about it now...they all had little girls. Maybe they were just avoiding Fr. Berowski.”

“How long was he a priest there?”

Gramma thought for a minute. “Eight years. He’d come from another parish, and I remember, especially the first few years, one of the older priests was always with him when he was serving Mass or hearing confessions. Maybe about three years before he died, that stopped. But, of course, they had started mentoring Jerzy, who’d just been assigned there.... I don’t know why they didn’t just retire him.”

“It would make the Church look bad,” Justin suggested, a hint of disgust in his tone of voice.

“I suppose Jerzy knew something about it. Hanging himself over the altar wasn’t a very nice thing for him to do, though,” Gramma said.

Justin leaned toward Karen. “Isn’t that where Uncle Jerzy said he saw him?” he whispered in her ear.

Karen nodded. Gramma didn’t show whether she’d noticed the exchange.

“You said he smoked cherry tobacco, Grams. Did you ever notice if he had a favorite pipe, or anything else that he always kept with him?”

“Why, now that I think about it, he did always seem to use the same pipe. I believe he’d gotten it overseas somewhere. He was quite fond of it. It was dark brown, heavily carved. I don’t really know if it was made of a very dark wood or if it was one of those very old Meerschaum pipes. Yes...he was very fond of it.”

“I suppose you know where all the ‘skeletons’ are buried, huh, Grams,” Justin said.

She smiled slyly. “I suppose.”

“Do you know where Fr. Berwoski’s things would have gone?”

“I remember that the parish could find no family. And, oddly, none of his previous posts wanted any of his things. So, unless someone else has cleaned out the attic of the rectory, I expect it’s all still up there. When I was younger, and my knees were better, I was up there often, cleaning, taking things up or down. Ask your Uncle Jerzy, though. He’d know for sure.”

Justin was drawing on the table with his finger, trying to remember the layout of the rectory. When he was a kid, he’d been all over the place, when his mom took him and Marie along to visit her cousin. But it had been years since he’d been beyond the first floor.

“Grams? How do you get up there?” he finally asked her.

“The stairway is hidden behind a panel at the top of the stairs to the second floor. You’d find it very interesting up there, dear,” she said, turning to Leigh. “The building is old enough to have a real attic with a full stairway.”

“Do you know if Berowski was his real name, Gramma? I know that sometimes religious people take different names when they take their vows....” Justin asked.

“Yes. It was...Peter...I think.”

“Did you happen to save any of the newspaper clippings about the incident?”

“Heavens, no! It never made the papers! It was a terrible scandal, and papers back then didn’t write about that kind of thing. Everyone knew about it, though.”

“And I don’t suppose you know where he was buried, do you?”

“I’m afraid not, dear. Certainly not in the Church graveyard.... But enough about that whole sorry event. I haven’t talked to your sister lately. How’s Olivia doing in school?”

The conversation turned back to family, with Justin, Karen and Gramma trading gossip. Justin and Karen were pleased to hear that Marlene had been released from Rehab, and was walking with just a cane now.

“So, David...is what Shina told me true, that the Tribe is just like any other large family?” Gramma asked.

“Yes, ma’am. I....”

“Who’s Shina, Grams?” Justin asked, instantly confused.

“Weeping Sparrow, of course,” she replied.

“Wait...she told you her real name?” Justin was flabbergasted. He didn’t even know she had a ‘real’ name. “I thought....”

“Of course she told me her name,” Gramma laughed. “We chatted for quite a long time. What else were we supposed to do at your wedding? Neither one of us dances much anymore. We had a lovely chat. I like her a great deal, and she likes me, too, I think.”

Justin leaned over to Karen. “See...I knew there was some sort of ‘old lady conspiracy’ controlling the world,” he whispered.

He didn’t whisper quietly enough, though. Leigh looked at him with exasperation. Gramma just laughed. “There is not an ‘old lady conspiracy,’ dear. Don’t you think we’d be doing a much better job with this world if there were? In fact, that’s not such a bad idea....” She laughed again.

“So...do you have a real name, too? I mean, I know you....” Justin asked sheepishly. In all his years, he couldn’t ever remember hearing Gramma called by anything else. Well, except by Grandpa. He’d always called her Mother, at least whenever Justin and his sister or any of his cousins were around. He never understood that.

Gramma burst out laughing. After a minute, she took a sip of her coffee. “Of course! It’s Olenka.”

“Anyway, to answer your question, Grandmother,” David finally said, “yes, it’s exactly like any other large family. For instance, when my cousin Susan took the name Mankiller, out of respect for the Cherokee chief Wilma Mankiller...”

“Whoa...she’s your cousin?” Justin asked.

“Yes. Anyway, my father considered it scandalous, even though most everyone approved of it. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him say anything really nice about her, though he’d never say anything to her face. But he’s not exactly a misogynist. I think he’s mostly afraid she’s going to eventually try to live up to her namesake’s example and take over.

“Now, if he could get her to be his protégé, you know, so that it looked like she was following in his footsteps, that would be different. That’d be great, as far as he was concerned, and he’d probably have nothing but good to say about her then. But she’s a little too independent-minded to fall for that.”

“By the way, Grams, Weeping Sparrow is doing much better now,” Justin blurted out.

“Much better than what, dear?”

“Since she...um...didn’t you know that...uh...” Justin fidgeted. “Uh, I have to...I’ll be right back.” He practically bolted for the door, and turned toward the bathrooms.

Gramma looked suspiciously at Karen. “What’s going on?”

Karen sighed. “A few months ago, Weeping Sparrow was with a bunch of us visiting another friend at the hospital when some guy went crazy, grabbed her and tried to slit her throat. She’s still building up her strength, but she’s out of the hospital now and doing much better.”

“Oh! I wish I’d known sooner! Well, I’ll have to write her a letter.”

Justin finally came back from the bathroom, and pointedly avoided looking his grandma in the eye. “I took care of the bill,” he told everyone.

Karen glanced at her watch. She had to get going soon if she was going to make it back to campus for her next class.

“Well, I think I should be getting back home,” Gramma said, noticing Karen’s movement. “Leigh, dear, would you mind taking me home? I know that Karen has to get back to her classes soon, and Justin’s truck is so big. I’ll admit, it’s a little bit scary riding up so high over everything else.”

“Of course, Grandma,” Leigh replied. Everyone stood, and Tony appeared behind Gramma N., holding her chair and helping her stand, then holding her coat for her.”

“Such a gentleman! If only I was 30 years younger....” She grinned and Tony returned the smile, putting his arm out. She took his arm and patted it with her other hand.

David came around to her other side and offered his arm. “It was very nice to meet you, young man,” she told him, taking it.

“Yes, you too,” David replied. “And thank you for the history lessons.”

“Oh, my pleasure, dear. And if you’re looking for a girlfriend, I know a few very nice young ladies.”

David just smiled.

Outside, as Justin and Karen hugged Gramma goodbye, Leigh ran to bring her car around. David and Tony helped Gramma into the passenger seat, then followed Justin over to his truck. The three went back to the clubhouse, while Karen went back to campus, and Leigh took Gramma home, then stayed for tea and a chat.

The main floor was silent when Justin, Tony and David came in from the garage. Justin went to the security monitor. Both Aiden and Master Naka were sitting on cushions outside Uncle Jerzy’s cell door. Justin couldn’t tell whether they were awake, asleep or dead. So he went downstairs to check. On his way past the kitchen, he noticed a bunch of the plastic containers from the fridge were now on the counter near the sink, empty.

Tony followed him, and Master Naka opened his eyes when he heard the two men coming. He looked up at Justin, then over at Aiden, who was sound asleep. Naka shrugged. “I was teaching him Waking Mindfulness. It is a meditation technique which I thought he might find useful for refreshing himself at work.”

Justin grinned. He quietly explained what they’d learned from his grandma. He peeked in the cell window as he talked. His uncle was sleeping peacefully, a smile on his face. Then he checked the pockets of his uncle’s coat and pulled out the keys to the church and rectory.

“Dr. Carter did check your uncle’s medications,” Master Naka told Justin. “I believe he said they were for treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol and...G..E..R..D?”

“At least there were no little blue ones,” Justin said.

“Nex’ confession,” Tony told him, “dat bedder go on yer list. Id’s a sin ta even t’ink sump’in like dat about a priest, ya know.”

“What? There’s other things it’s used for...” Justin objected.

Tony just shook his finger at Justin. That was true, but it wasn’t what Justin was thinking about when he made the comment.

Tony and Justin went upstairs, and Master Naka picked up the book that had been lying on the floor beside him.

“So, are we supposed to be breaking in and stealing the pipe?” David asked, looking up from the solitaire game spread out on the table. He’d been through enough of the old ‘case’ files with Karen to have an idea of the way this group worked, and to know the sorts of things they keyed on when trying to solve their ‘cases.’

“It’s not breaking in if we have the key,” Justin said, holding up the key ring he’d taken from his uncle’s coat pocket.

“Right.”

“Why don’ we have yer uncle write a note dat says he wanted us ta pick stuff up for ‘im?”

David’s head sagged. These people didn’t know much about the law. He was surprised they weren’t all in jail by now.

“We aren’t doing anything until Leigh and Karen get back, anyway,” Justin told the guys. “And that’ll give us a little more time to let Aiden sleep before we go.”

"Up for more poker?" David asked the two.

He gathered the cards and began shuffling as Justin and Tony pulled out chairs....

Master Naka was tired, having been up for more than 24 hours. The Tai Chi he’d done with David and Leigh earlier had refreshed him somewhat. But the long hours of watching Fr. Jerzy and looking for clues in the dozen cases similar to Jerzy’s had muddled his ability to think clearly. He excused himself and went to bed.

Leigh hadn’t been up quite as long as Master Naka, but staying up late working on the waffle batter and cinnamon rolls, and then getting up early to get the rolls in the oven meant that she hadn’t gotten quite as much sleep as she would have liked. So she also went upstairs to take a nap.

Justin and Karen were waiting impatiently for Aiden to arrive, hoping he had some better way to keep Uncle Jerzy calm and quiet than repeated choke holds. David didn’t even know who Aiden was, other than the guy who may or may not be Angie’s boyfriend, so he wasn’t impatient...just bored. He checked his email again, hoping for something from Angie. No such luck. Just a couple emails from friends, a notice from U of M that single tickets for football games would go on sale soon to the general public, and an ad for a ‘male enhancement’ drug that slipped through his spam filter.

The three heard one of the garage bay doors opening, and Justin and Karen stood, looking expectantly at the door. But it wasn’t Aiden. “What?” Tony asked, looking back at them and holding a couple food bags.

“You aren’t Aiden,” Justin said, sounding disappointed.

“No. I’m much better. Who else’d bring back cannolis from one ‘a da best rest’rants in Liddle Idaly?”

“Sorry, but...we were hoping it was Aiden, because Fr. Jerzy’s gotten much worse,” Karen told him.

“Oh. Well, lemme eat my Coneys, an’ I’ll tell youse whad I found out from Fr. Claudio.” Tony went and sat at the bar and started emptying the bags onto it. “Where’s everyone elts?”

“Master Naka and Leigh are upstairs catching some sleep while they can,” Karen told him.

David’s phone rang, and after looking at the caller ID, he went in the office. A moment later he came out. “So, since nothing much is going on now, is it OK if I take off for a while?” he asked Karen. “I finally got a seat in a really hot poker game that I’ve been trying to get into for a couple weeks now. If I pass it up....”

Karen shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I’d appreciate it, though, if...I mean, I know that Justin usually thinks better when he’s under the hood of a car. If you could keep thinking about the case in the back of your mind while you’re playing...?”

“Sure. No problem. But no promises, either.”

Karen nodded, and David grabbed his coat and headed for the garage.

“Yo, get me a seat in da game nex’ time!” Tony shouted at David’s back as he went out the door.

About 7pm, they heard the garage door open again. This time they knew it had to be Aiden. His poor truck sounded awful, sputtering and coughing, with this kind of screeching-grinding noise of metal rubbing on metal.

Justin met him at the door. “You take care of my uncle...I’ll take care of your piece of shit truck.”

“What? There’s something wrong with it?”

“You can’t tell? No vehicle is supposed to sound like that!”

“It doesn’t have a pulse, so...no, I couldn’t tell.”

It was the first time the Justin and Karen had seen Aiden in a couple months...since Angie went to New York. He looked 10 years older. His forehead was creased with stress lines, and he’d lost weight that he didn’t have to spare.

Justin propped up the hood of the truck, and Aiden stood in the open doorway watching him.

“Wanna Coney?” Tony asked Aiden.

“No, thanks.” They could hear the sound of a rachet turning...turning...tur....

“Maybe you should get a little more sleep and do a little less work...” Karen suggested.

Aiden rolled his eyes.

“There’s other food in the kitchen,” she offered.

“I dunno. I’m not really...” There was a clatter of metal on cement, and some muffled cursing from Justin. He sounded hollow, like he was upside down in a metal trash can. Which was basically his opinion of Aiden’s truck.

“I got cannolis, too,” Tony said. “Fresh from Liddle Idaly.”

“Now you’re talkin’!” Aiden told him. “Why didn’t you say that before?" He went over and grabbed a couple of cannolis and began stuffing one in his mouth before he even got back to the garage door.

“Cannolis aren’t really ‘food,’" Karen objected.

“Cloze enuf,” Aiden said, crumbs dropping from the cannoli and powdered sugar puffing off his lips.

“I got good news and bad news,” Justin hollered from inside Aiden’s engine compartment. He lifted his head up, so he didn't have to yell. “The bad news is I’ll have to keep this thing overnight.”

“Wha’?!‘Ow am I...” Aiden tried to talk around the cannoli, then paused to swallow.

“Anyone here can get you back to the hospital,” Justin told him.

“Ya know, if there’s too much wrong with it, I was kinda thinking of trading it in soon.”

“The good news is that I’m workin’ on it.” Another tool clattered onto the floor.

“I’m starting to question your abilities...” Aiden teased Justin.

“Oh, and we should say the same thing about you...after you put yourself in a coma trying to fix Angie?” Karen countered. She knew that Aiden was just teasing; but there was no better mechanic in Detroit than Justin, and the retort just spilled out before she could stop it.

“OK...OK...you’ve got a point,” Aiden agreed.

“So, what would you be looking for, if we haul this piece of shit to the scrap yard?” Justin asked, wiping his hands on a rag and moving around to the other side of the truck.

“What do you mean ‘piece of shit’? It was all I could afford when I was a starving med student, and it’s not that old! It’s only a ‘96, and it’s done very well for me for the past 6 years!”

Justin just rolled his eyes. Karen just laughed to herself. This was almost identical to the ‘discussion’ she and Justin had last year over her Jeep. The Jeep was even older than Aiden’s truck. But having grown up in Detroit, Karen was more conscientious about keeping up with standard maintenance on it. She wasn’t a ‘gear head’ by any means, but Aiden took absolutely no interest in cars beyond the necessity of having one to haul stuff or get to work dry in the pouring rain.

So Justin and Aiden went back and forth for the next hour, narrowing Aiden’s broad ideas down to some concrete likes and dislikes. A regular car would be too small, and too low for Aiden’s taste. He had a tendency to crack his head on the top edge of the door, getting into something shorter than he was.

Plus he needed some hauling capacity. Not that he hauled that much, or things that were really big. So it didn’t have to be a full-sized pick-up, either. Another of the smaller-sized pick-ups, like the one he had, would be enough. And he seemed fine with something like an SUV or one of the new cross-overs, too. He was also amenable to getting one that used the new hybrid technologies. But he didn’t feel any compulsion to get something new.

When Justin suggested a mini-van, Aiden almost visibly shrank from the idea, with a look on his face that said “Don’t ask.” No one did, but Karen wondered if it was either because his parents had driven one when he was growing up, or if it was because he’d considered getting one if Angie had chosen to keep the baby.

“Maybe I should think about a sports car,” Aiden sighed.

“Two words,” Tony piped up from the bar, “Chick. Magnet. How else do you pick up cheerleading squads?”

“How would you fit them all in?” Aiden and Karen asked at the same time.

“They don’t have to be in it for very long,” Tony said with a grin that bordered on leer.

Karen rolled her eyes. “So, Aiden, would you like....”

“Oh, geez! That’s right! Where is Fr. Jerzy now?” Aiden asked, suddenly remembering why he was there.

Karen and Justin began filling him in on the whole story...how Fr. Jerzy had called Justin pleading for help; what Justin saw at the church after Mass; the story Jerzy told them yesterday evening; how the little sleep he got last night was restless and disturbed by the dreams; the results of their research so far; Fr. Jerzy’s behavior this morning, and then again just a couple hours ago when he’d come around.

“We couldn’t let him leave, so I had to knock him out again and put him in one of the cells, downstairs,” Justin finished, sounding weary. While they were talking, Justin was on the computer in the garage, looking at AutoFinder.com for a ‘new’ vehicle for Aiden that he could get locally. He was hoping that, if it was close enough, he could either have it delivered to the clubhouse by tomorrow or even go get it tonight.

Karen started to lead Aiden toward the stairs, and Tony hopped off his bar stool to follow them. “Whad’ve ya been up ta in da las’ mont’?” Tony asked Aiden.

“Working.”

“Have ya looked in a mirror lately?” Tony asked.

“Why?”

“Ya look like hell.”

“Everyone here is so complimentary,” Aiden said, “it’s a wonder I don’t get a swelled head.”

Justin found a small pick-up for sale in Dearborn. It was only a year old, but the price seemed rather low. Justin wondered what was wrong with it as he dialed the phone number in the ad.

A woman answered, maybe middle-aged from the sound of her voice. Justin started asking some questions about the truck, and the answers the woman gave were the kind of answers he would expect from someone who hadn’t actually been involved in buying the vehicle. That is, they didn’t really give him the information he needed. “So, if you don’t mind my asking, why is the price so...reasonable?” Justin finally asked her.

“It...it belonged to my son,” she said slowly. “He was...just killed in Iraq and...he won’t be...needing it anymore. I guess...just seeing it in the garage reminds me...of him. His...body...hasn’t even been...returned to the States yet.” She didn’t break down as she spoke, but Justin could tell that talking about it wasn’t easy for her.

“I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am,” Justin told her with true sympathy. “That always seems to take too long.”

“My husband and I...we divorced years ago, so it was just my son and me. He was only 19. I was so proud of him, not just because of what he’d accomplished, but because he was so proud of himself, so proud to have joined the military, to be part of the job they were doing over there.”

“I understand, ma’am. I was looking at the truck for a friend of mine who served over in Afghanistan...” Justin mentioned.

Upon hearing that, the woman tried to drop the price even lower; but Justin wouldn’t let her. From what she told him, he figured that she was already asking less than it was worth just to get rid of it. And he hadn’t mentioned Aiden’s service just to get a better price. He’d mentioned it to let her know that he truly did understand, at least a little, what she was going through. “It’s already a more than fair price,” he assured her. “If its alright, I could bring you a check tonight. Would a cashiers check be OK, or should I bring a company check? Or would you prefer cash?”

“Gosh, I hadn’t really thought about it. I figured whoever bought it would have to get financing from their bank and all.... I’m sure a check would be fine.” After about 20 minutes of chatting with Justin, she was about ready to invite him over just for coffee, even if he hadn’t wanted to buy the truck. She gave Justin her address, and he told her he’d be there within a couple hours.

Downstairs, Aiden stood by the cell door and waited, looking from the keypad for the digital lock to Karen and Tony, and back to the keypad. “You never gave me the code,” he finally told them with exasperation.

“You’re never around anymore,” Karen retorted, punching in the code as she told it to him.

Through the small window in the door, they could see that Fr. Jerzy was lying still, his face toward the wall. But they couldn’t tell if he was awake or still unconscious. They’d left the lights on low, so they couldn’t make out details very well.

Aiden went in, and when he got close enough to the bed, he could see the strain on Jerzy’s face. He looked around for a chair, and Tony brought one from the outer room. Aiden pulled it close to the bed and sat, speaking softly to Jerzy as he leaned forward over him.

Suddenly Jerzy’s head whipped around, startling Aiden, who jerked back so hard the chair scraped backwards. “I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to get out of here!” Jerzy began struggling against the restraints.

Aiden tried to take his vitals, but Jerzy wouldn’t lie still. His head was rolling back and forth so much that Aiden was afraid to even try to check his pupils for fear of poking him in the eye. And though the restraints kept his arms from going far, they were moving around enough that it took too much work holding them still for Aiden to get a pulse. Getting a carotid pulse was pretty much out, too. So, finally Aiden pulled the stethoscope from around his neck and tried to at least listen to Jerzy’s heart.

His heart was racing, much too high to be safe. Aiden bent over to dig in his bag. He pulled out a syringe and a small bottle, then thought for a second, calculating the dosage. He drew liquid up into the syringe, tapped the side to loosen bubbles, and squeezed the excess liquid back into the bottle.

When he turned back to Fr. Jerzy, actually administering the medication took less time than measuring it out had, even with Jerzy moving like he was. This, Aiden had experience with.

After a minute or two, Jerzy calmed down, and Aiden examined him as thoroughly as possible without unfastening the restraints. He asked the priest a few questions about what he’d been dealing with, but got answers that were less than useful, because of the drugs.

Aiden’s shoulders sagged, and when he came out he looked really discouraged and more tired than he had before. “I need to get his medical records,” he told Tony and Karen. “I have to know what conditions he has and what meds he’s on, if any.”

“We did have him pack a bag to spend the night here,” Karen told Aiden. “So if he’s on any meds, we should have those here.”

“Maybe I oughta go out ‘a body, and see if anyt’ings changed since yesterday,” Tony told them.

“Not alone,” Karen told him. She got comfortable on the floor beside Tony. They both slipped out of their bodies easily.

“Well, hello there,” Tony said to Karen as they both appeared in the astral plane. It was kind of funny...he always said that. That ‘lounge lizard’ greeting was as much a part of Tony over here as the gold chains and bare chest.

Karen was shocked when they turned to look at Fr. Jerzy. The shadow now obscured his whole head and neck, and tendrils stretched down his body. If the tendrils had been more solid, it would have looked like there were black claws digging into his chest, and arms wrapping around his hips, holding on.

The thread was still there, too...only thicker. Yesterday it had been about the thickness of a finger. Now it was as big around as a forearm. And it.... ‘pulsed’...was the only word Karen could think of to describe the motion. It was like watching a very long neck swallowing repeatedly; and the undulations moved toward Uncle Jerzy’s body, like something was being pumped into him.

“I t’ink we oughta try ta get it off’a him,” Tony told her, staring at the thread as if mesmerized by its motions.

Karen hesitated a moment. What if that only made things worse, made it grab on harder? On the other hand, it had grown considerably since yesterday. If they didn’t do something soon, it would consume him entirely. “I wanna tell Aiden what we’re doing first...in case something goes wrong.”

Karen slipped back into her body. “Aiden, the shadow...it’s covering his whole head and neck now, and grabbing onto his chest and hips. Tony and I are going to see if we can get it off. Maybe you oughta get Justin and anyone else who’s awake....”

Leigh had just woken from her nap, and was disoriented for a minute by the quiet. Usually when she slept here she could hear the TV on, or the sound of video games drifting up the stairs. She’d been sleeping soundly for a change, though, with no nightmares, so it took her a second to remember in which direction the stairs were with no noises to guide her in the dark.

After listening carefully, she could hear various clanking sounds, the clicking of a rachet, the banging of a rubber mallet on metal. Justin must have been doing something in the garage. She went downstairs, and was a little surprised not to see anyone else around. She peeked into the garage, and saw Justin leaning over Aiden’s truck engine. He seemed to be gutting it, since there was as much of the engine carefully laid out on a tarp as there was still inside it. No one was in the kitchen or gym, either, she found.

She went to the security monitor and flipped through the cameras, and saw Karen, Tony and Aiden downstairs by Fr. Jerzy’s cell. Aiden was leaning with his back against the open door of the cell, and Karen and Tony were sitting on the floor outside the cell, with that boneless rag doll look of being ‘out of body.’ She checked on Fr. Jerzy. His eyes were heavily lidded, and she could make out a line of drool running down his cheek.

Aiden hit the intercom button. “Justin? Anyone else up there? You should probably get down here....”

“On my way,” Leigh told him.

Justin had been half-listening to the intercom while he worked. He knew Karen and Tony had gone ‘out’ to check on Uncle Jerzy, and had come back because he’d heard Karen talking. But he didn’t really hear what she said because he’d been trying to ease off a piece of extremely rusted tubing without breaking it. When he heard his own name, he dropped what he was doing and headed for the stairs. He actually beat Leigh down them.

“What’s going on?” he asked a little breathlessly.

“A commando mission, of sorts,” Aiden told him.

Karen barely heard Aiden as she was pushing herself back into the astral plane. It seemed much harder this time, maybe because she’d been expending so much energy already today.

“It really freaks me out when she does that,” Aiden said, with a shudder.

“Yeah,” Justin agreed. “I hope she never does it when we’re in bed....”

Aiden explained to Justin and Leigh what had happened during his exam, and what Karen had told him.

“Well, hello there,” Tony said cheerfully as Karen popped into the astral next to him.

“I was thinking that maybe if we, you know, attacked It at the same time,” Karen whispered to him. “I mean, I don’t know if it’ll make a difference. But I figure maybe it would be a bigger shock to Its system if we do all the damage we can at the same instant, rather than at different times.”

Tony shrugged. “Dunno. But whadever ya like. On t’ree?”

Karen nodded, and Tony counted off with his fingers: “One. Two.” He simply nodded for ‘three,’ and both grabbed at the smoky thread and pulled.

It was like sticking their hands into a freezer at the height of summer. Worse. Like they imagined it would be like to stick their hands into liquid nitrogen. Once they got past the shock of the cold, it felt wet, gooey, and oily like smoke. All in all, it was one of the most unpleasant things Karen had ever felt, ranking right up there with the tentacle of that thing that had been inside her mom.

Then, before they realized it was happening, the thread parted, and the loose end snapped off into the distance faster than they could follow with their eyes, leaving no trace to follow even if they’d wanted.

And they didn’t right now, because the rest of the shadow was bundled around Uncle Jerzy, and it was sucking into his body through every orifice...and even through the minuscule gaps between his skin cells. In only a few seconds, it was gone from sight.

Karen looked helplessly at Tony. “What now?” she asked silently with her eyes.

“Maybe ya oughta do a Sphere,” Tony suggested.

“I...I don’t know if it’ll work over here,” she whispered, as if someone might be listening to her, the Thing that had sent the shadow there in the first place.

“Can’d hurt ta try.”

“Just be prepared to get pushed back to your body,” she whispered. “Remember what happened when Dee did that Sphere when you and I and Fr. Andrew went after Jody?”

Karen took a deep ‘breath,’ and raised the Sphere...

And the shadow shot out of Fr. Jerzy the way it had sucked in, an oily black blob that moved like a swarm of bees, but without the hum. In seconds, it shot away to the outer edge of the Sphere...and then off out of sight.

Karen looked a little woozy to Tony, so he slapped her on the back. “Nice job,” he said, pumping a little energy into her. Hey, if her powers worked out here, then his should, too.

Justin was squatting next to Karen’s body when he heard Uncle Jerzy sigh. He stood, and watched Jerzy’s eyes drop shut and all the tension drain from his body. Justin wasn’t sure what it meant yet, but he figured it had something to do with Karen and Tony’s ‘commando mission,’ and had taken some effort. He knelt back down and put a hand on Karen’s lifeless arm, and pumped some energy into her. Then he did the same for Tony.

Tony and Karen waited, expecting the Thing to come back but not knowing how long it would take. The Sphere had gone down a moment ago, and there was no sign of it returning immediately. If there had been a way to track it, Karen was pretty sure Tony would have been after it already. He seemed eager to do something with the ‘adrenalin rush’ of attacking the Unknown. They looked at one another and decided to hang around as long as they could without having to force themselves to stay out.

When the two didn’t come back right away, Leigh became a little concerned. Justin had pointed out the difference in Fr. Jerzy, so they must have released the creature’s hold on him. But maybe they had to continue to fight it.... When almost a minute had passed and they still weren’t back, Leigh raised a Sphere of her own, hoping it would give Tony and Karen a small break to...well, to help with whatever was happening.

Tony came back first, since his ‘time’ ran out before Karen’s. A couple breaths later, Karen came back. They were surprised to hear that Leigh had also done a Sphere. They hadn’t gotten thrown back into their bodies by it. Maybe it was something different that Dee had done that time.

Aiden noticed right away that both Justin and Karen had been pushing themselves a little too hard today. “Don’t you guys ever sleep?” he asked, putting a hand first on Justin’s shoulder, then on Karen’s hand as he and Justin helped her up, and pumping some energy into both.

“Not when we have to stay up all night working to keep someone from doing something horrifyingly bad and then killing himself,” Karen told him. If he was so devoted to his job that he wasn’t sleeping and eating right, then he would certainly have to accept a similar explanation from them.

“I won’t let him die with sins on his soul,” Justin said, going in to check on his uncle.

“We can’t let anyone do that,” Aiden agreed, understanding implicitly that Justin would have allowed himself to die that way in order to save someone he loved as much as his uncle. He and the others followed Justin into Jerzy’s cell, and Aiden began checking him over, again.

He was still slack-faced and drooling, because of the drugs, and he looked older than his years from the stress he’d been under in the past month and a half. Battling the Unknown, even unwittingly, seemed to do that to people. But there was a subtle difference about him, the release of tension that Justin had seen happen. He was no longer engaged in the struggle against the creature that was trying to ‘move in.’ Even after Aiden had drugged him, the tension had been visible in every muscle. But he was resting peacefully now.

Justin put a hand gently on his uncle’s forehead, and transferred a little of his own energy to the older man. “Maybe that’ll help him fight it off again, if it comes back.”

David came in, and was a little surprised not to see anyone around. The door to the garage was standing open, and there were tools and truck parts lying around. But no sign of Justin...or anyone else. The high-rollers he’d been expecting at the table hadn’t been able to make it tonight; so he’d played a couple hands just to be polite, then headed out. Maybe he should’ve stayed to play longer....

He didn’t want to just wander around shouting ‘Hello. Anybody here?’ for a couple reasons. First, when he’d left, both Leigh and Master Naka were sleeping. But second, and more importantly, he didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

He didn’t even think that consciously, at first. But this was similar to the one paintball scenario they’d run him through...the one where they were supposedly hunting some psychotic vampire creature in an abandoned warehouse. “Hunh. Maybe that ‘training’ is good for something besides an entertaining date,” he thought to himself.

Then he grinned. That was it. Those nut-jobs were all hiding, waiting for him to go blundering through the building so they could plaster him in the name of ‘training.’ He chuckled. Not this time, ‘Nibwakawikwe Essiban.’

David moved as quietly as he could to the security panel. Leigh had left the monitor on the view of the cell, so he could see Leigh, Karen, Tony, Justin and some other guy clustered around Fr. Jerzy’s bed. He didn’t recognize the new guy, who was pretty good looking. But he looked ‘rode hard and put away wet.’ The guy obviously hadn’t slept in a while, and looked like he could use a good meal.

Aiden stood and stretched, slinging the stethoscope around his neck. “We can wait for the drugs to wear off and see,” he told them, “but I think we can probably let him out when he wakes up.”

When the guy stood and turned, David saw the stethoscope. The guy bent and picked up a medical-looking bag. David wondered if this was the doctor Karen said was a part of the team–-Aiden something, the one Angie might or might not still be dating.

Just to be safe, David moved carefully to the stairs and listened before starting down. Considering the capabilities these people seemed to have with special effects, he wouldn’t put it past them to have rigged the monitor to show something they’d taped while he was gone, to mislead him and make him do something stupid.

David was almost as startled as the others when he got to the cell doorway and almost ran into Tony coming out. “David! Dude! Glad ya made it back! Get knocked outta da game dat fast?”

“No. It wasn’t as hot as I’d been led to believe. So, I take it the exorcism worked?” he said with a smirk, peering past the others to see Fr. Jerzy still unconscious on the bed.

“Well, you could say that,” Aiden told him.

“David Red Elk, this is Aiden Carter...doctor extraordinaire. Aiden, David Red Elk, my ‘student,’” Karen said. “Anyway, it worked for now, except that we did it from the other side, and skipped all the hand waving.” She started up the stairs, and the others followed. “No offence to exorcists or anything.

“But there’s no telling if the Thing will be back. Maybe It’ll just look for an easier target. Or maybe It’ll be back, only pissed off. At least now we know how to tell if It’s attacking him, and It’ll probably have to start from scratch again, so we’ll be able to get It off him before It gets too ‘attached.’”

“So, are you ready to eat something now?” Justin asked Aiden. “I’ve got a little more work to do just to get your piece of shit truck to where it won’t fall apart driving back to the hospital. You may as well use the time constructively.” He turned and headed out to the garage, to get back to that rusted tubing.

“Fine, fine.” Aiden trudged off to the kitchen, hands waving over his head like he was swatting away a swarm of annoying gnats. Big ones. He filled a plate with this and that from the ‘fridge, and carried it out to a couch. Stuffing fork-fulls of food into his mouth like a starving man, he flipped on the TV and started surfing.

The others were sitting around the large table, the printouts of the twelve old cases spread out on it. “So, Tony, what did you find out from your contact in New York?” Karen asked.

“His name’s Fr. Claudio,” Tony started, talking as he went to bring the tray of cannolis from the bar to the table. “Kinda reminded me ob a gnome,” he said around a bite of cannoli. “Tiny, old. Prob’ly ninedy if ‘e’s a day. He mighta been av’rage height...once. But, man, you never saw a dude eat like Fr. Claudio! I met ‘im at dis great place in Liddle Idaly, best pasta in New York. Dat’s where I got da cannolis, too.

“He was really packin’ id away! Pasta, breadsticks, antipasto...an’ washin’ id all down wid glass after glass ‘a Chianti. Id woulda made his sainted mama proud.... I figure he’s got a tapeworm.”

Leigh, Karen and David started laughing, then Karen ‘shushed’ them all. They all continued snickering behind their hands, though. Aiden had been slumping farther and farther into the couch, until they could no longer see the top of his head. Karen tip-toed over to check. Sure enough, he was sound asleep. She motioned toward the kitchen, shooing them all away so they wouldn’t wake him. This time David turned back to grab the nearly empty tray of cannolis.

Once they were gone, Justin dropped the charade of working on the truck and want back to the computer. A new truck deserved a new storage box, something secure enough to store Aiden’s med kit. When he found one he liked, he ordered it and had it shipped the fastest possible way to the shop. That way he didn’t have to worry about no one being here when it got delivered.

Then he called Jerry. He needed to have someone go with him to pick up the new truck, to drive his truck back; but he wanted at least a couple people here if Uncle Jerzy woke. Plus, he’d save a trip out to the shop to get the check cut if Jerry could get it on his way over. He’d drag one of the others out with him if Jerry was busy.

He wasn’t. In fact, he was kind of tired of just sitting around watching TV every evening, so he was glad for the chance to get out of the house. It’d just take him a couple minutes to set his DVR and get shoes on....

“Anyway,” Justin heard Tony saying over the intercom, “firs’ t’ing, he has me tell ‘im everyt’ing about da case. Which wasn’ much, since youse guys hadn’ found out abou’ da udder cases yet. So I do, and he’s getting more an’ more serious lookin’ da more I say. He asked a bunch ‘a questions, I t’ink tryin’ ta make sure it wasn’ jus’ some pervert inta kids.

“Finally he asks if I can tell ‘im da guy’s name. An’ when I say it’s Fr. Jerzy Nadjosinski...I t’ought his grey caterpillar eyebrows was gonna crawl right over ta the back ‘a his head

“‘Oh, well dat's-a diff’rent!’ he says.” Tony was waving his hands and mimicking Fr. Claudio’s heavy Italian accent as he spoke.

“He starts talkin’ about what da Church was like t’irdy years ago, while he’s eatin’ a cannoli and a chunk ‘a tiramisu about da size ‘a his head, and drinkin’ maybe his t’irdyith espresso. He’s da archivist for da New York Diocese, ya know. He seems to know priddy much everyt’ing about da Church.

“Anyway, he leans back an’ puts his hands over ‘is belly. He wuz really skinny before, an’ now dere’s dis bump from all ‘a da food ‘e put away.

“‘Yous-a gonna hafta gimme more info as-a you get dis,’ he says.” Tony went back to mimicking Fr. Claudio. “‘Where you say dis-a happening? Detroit?’

‘Yeah, Detroit,’ I tell ‘im.’” Now, even when he was speaking for himself, Tony was talking with his hands more than he normally did.

“‘Dere’s a kinda spirit,’ he says, ‘I have-a heard about. It’s-a...for lack of a better word...I’d-a call it an-a apostate. Dat’s-a someone who commits apostacy...you know...abandoned a previous-a loyalty, or-a renounced his-a religious-a faith. It-a could-a be. It-a sounds-a like it. But I need-a much-a more informazioni...as-a you get it. It’s-a not exactly a possession...not exactly a demon...it’s-a....’

“He paused so long I t’ought he fell asleep in spite ‘a da espressos!” Tony told them. “Den he finally says,

‘Ah! I can’t-a t’ink ‘a da word, but-a like a svengali. You know-a dat word? Like-a controlling.... It was-a once a devout-a person, who turned away from his-a faith very strongly, no? Den he-a dies in a state of-a sin, full of-a rage against-a da Church and-a mankind. Dis-a ghost is not-a happy. It’s-a not enough-a to turn his-a back on-a God Him-a-self. Now he must-a make others-a do so, too.

‘Dere is-a only one-a way to get-a rid of-a dis type of-a ghost. Dere is-a always some-a article, it-a could-a be anyt’ing dat-a had-a meaning to him, not-a only in-a his faith but in-a his renunciation of-a his faith. But...when I say-a article or-a object...it-a could be a building, a watch-a fob, a doll. You must-a know who da ghost is, and-a find-a dis out.’

“So I told ‘im it was Fr. Berowski,” Tony said, “an’ he says,

‘Ah! I-a remember da Berowski affair-a. Very big-a. Very messy.’

“Den he gave me his card an’ I gave him one ‘a mine.

‘I’ll-a see you in a couple of-a days,’ he says.

“Are you comin’ ta Detroit? I asked ‘im.

“Yes. I’ll-a find-a what I need-a dere. So you must-a find me a nice-a place to stay, no? Maybe at-a da Diocese? I’ll-a give you a call-a when I know when-a my plane is-a land.’

“So I told him ta let me know if he has any trouble gettin’ a flight, ‘cause I could always go get ‘im myself.” Tony shrugged, finally done with his story. He rarely was the center of attention like that, and it kind of wore him out.

“He can probably stay with Uncle Jerzy...or at least at the rectory, if we wanna keep Uncle Jerzy here,” Justin said, walking into the room. “Anyway, I’ve gotta run out to get some parts for Aiden’s piece of shit. Jerry’s gonna go with me, so I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Karen got up and gave him a hug and kiss, and Tony made ‘smoochy noises.’ After he left, the others worked out a schedule so that someone would be keeping an eye on Uncle Jerzy all night. Karen left the schedule taped to the white-board in the garage so Justin would see it when he got back. She knew he’d be out there with his head under the hood until he got the thing in running condition again, even if that was just so that Aiden could drive it to the junkyard.

Fr. Jerzy slept peacefully through the night, his watchers trading off every few hours. Justin sighed when he saw the schedule. At least Karen had given herself the last ‘watch,’ so that she could get some sleep herself. She’d been really putting a lot of energy into this whole thing today, and she looked worn out when she’d hugged him.

On the way out to Dearborn, he and Jerry stopped at Meijers, and Justin got the biggest bow he could find, to put on Aiden’s new truck. It wasn’t exactly a gift, but it was kind of going to be like opening a present on Christmas when Aiden finally saw it. After Jerry left, Justin put the bow on the new truck, and went back to working on the old one.

It was the middle of the night and, except for his uncle’s ‘watcher,’ everyone else was asleep. Justin was tightening a bolt just outside the firewall when he had a revelation. It wasn’t the best place to be for revelations....

“OW!” Justin dropped the wrench. “Shit!” he blurted into the hand covering his mouth, while the other rubbed the spot on the back of his head where he’d connected with the underside of the hood. “Gramma! Why didn’t I think of that before? She must’ve known Fr. Berowski....”

Jerzy sat down at the kitchen table and rested his face on his hands, his elbows on the table supporting the weight of his head. He knew he was among friends now, and he let the facade drop. He looked as awful as he felt.

Leigh was getting things out of the ‘fridge for breakfast. She’d mixed up some waffle batter the night before, and had fresh fruit washed and ready to slice or eat whole. The cinnamon rolls had been resting in the refrigerator, too, and she set the second cookie sheet of them on the counter while the first batch finished baking. The comforting scent of cinnamon began to fill the clubhouse.

“Yo, guys,” Tony said, grabbing an apple from the bowl, “I gotta head ta New York. My friend at da Vatican said I oughta talk ta dis guy in da New York Diocese, da priest in charge ‘a records. All he said wuz ‘sum t’ings can’t be discussed over da phone.’ I got ‘em gassin’ up da plane at City, an’ I’ll be back soon as I can.”

“Fly right,” Justin told him.

“Have a safe flight,” Leigh said, handing him a bag with cookies, fruit and juice for the trip.

David checked his email. Still nothing from Angie, so he went to take a shower. Justin poured himself a mug of coffee, and was already back at the large table in the front room, sifting through the print-outs from last night, looking for connections.

Master Naka had taken his tea into the front room, and made himself comfortable on his zafu to enjoy it. Karen put a few things on a plate for Uncle Jerzy, then filled a plate for herself. Jerzy’s plate sat untouched beside one elbow.

Justin glanced up, giving his eyes a rest from reading, and he froze. On the big screen LCD TV, which wasn’t on, blood dripped down from what looked like wounds opening in the screen itself. The blood oozed up and rolled down the screen, and at first Justin though the deviations in its path was from dust on the surface of the screen. But the blood trails began to form letters....

R...E...P....

Justin stood and flipped on the surveillance cameras in the room, then moved to block Uncle Jerzy’s view of the TV.

E...N...T....

Master Naka sensed Justin’s tension and opened his eyes to see what caused the sudden change in mood. He spotted the blood on the screen and rose from his cushion, setting his mug on the floor.

S...I...N....

From the kitchen, Karen could see Justin’s back tense and straighten, as he planted his feet for a fight. She came up beside him and saw the words forming, then moved so that Leigh, who’d come out behind her could see it, too.

N...E...R....

In the silence that filled the room, the sound of David singing in the shower floated down the stairs. He had a nice tenor voice, and was singing a traditional Ojibwa rain dance song.

Master Naka cautiously approached the TV and began looking and feeling around the edges, and pressing his head against the wall to look behind it. It was mounted on the wall with a standard flat-screen mounting kit. He was looking for a reservoir from which the blood could be released onto the screen’s surface, or any indication that the television had been modified to create this illusion.

Karen quickly went to her bag and got the sampling kit. She pulled on latex gloves, and pulled out cotton swabs, wooden craft sticks and an assortment of small vials and bottles.

Leigh went to the liquor cabinet and got a bottle of whiskey. If Fr. Jerzy saw this, he was going to need a drink.

Jerzy looked up and saw Leigh there with the bottle. “I...I can’t take it anymore,” he groaned. “I can’t resist it anymore.” A sob escaped his throat, and he pushed back the chair to stand. Justin heard his distress, too.

“I will never let your soul be damned,” Justin whispered in Jerzy’s ear, slipping up behind him and wrapping his arm around Jerzy’s neck. He squeezed as gently as he could, and after a few seconds, Jerzy’s body went limp as he lost consciousness.

Master Naka could not find anything to indicate that the TV had been tampered with, at least not without taking it down from the wall. He would have to do that now, since what he was seeing was just not possible. It was not anything he’d ever encountered before, and this reinforced his belief that one or more people in this group were extremely skilled special effects artists.

“Dr. Riley,” Master Naka said as Karen approached the TV, “we have spoken before of your abilities to protect us.” The strange thing was that Dr. Riley seemed to be genuinely intrigued by and concerned about this occurrence. Was it possible that she was unaware of the hoax?

“Yes, I....” Karen spoke distractedly as she reached out with one of the craft sticks to scrape up a sample of the blood.

“Can you affect this...” Master Naka asked. But as Karen’s stick touched the surface of the TV screen, the blood faded, before he could even finish asking his question...and before Karen could get a sample of the blood.

Justin carefully lifted Uncle Jerzy’s unconscious body from the kitchen chair and carried him to one of the couches in the front room. He was just making his uncle as comfortable as he could when David came back from his shower.

“What’s up with the TV?” David asked, seeing Master Naka and Karen studying it intently.

“Oh, sure. We have a major manifestation, and you take a shower,” Justin complained. “It was bleeding...in letters.”

David joined Karen and Master Naka in front of the TV. “Oh! I see it now!”

“No you don’t! It’s gone!” Justin told him. “Don’t try to humor the large white man.”

“Sorry, Moose,” David apologized, coughing over a laugh.

“Ya know, I’m actually getting used to that,” Justin said, mostly to himself. He’d just gotten Uncle Jerzy stretched out and put an afghan over him, when he realized that his uncle might be more comfortable in a bed. Justin picked him up again, and headed for the guest room. Leigh met him near the doorway, to help him maneuver his load through it.

“I understand that is not a standard feature,” Master Naka commented. Karen couldn’t tell if he was joking around or not. He sounded quite serious, and had his face right up to the screen, studying it from various angles.

David picked up the remote and turned the TV on. “Oh, look! I found the Horror Channel on the first try!” He began pressing the button to surf through the channels. “No bleeding screen...no bleeding screen...no bleeding screen.... Sorry, I can’t find the channel you were watching.”

“The TV wasn’t even on!” Justin shouted at him as he came out of the guest room. Leigh stayed behind to keep an eye on Fr. Jerzy.

David turned the TV off. “So...what’s for breakfast?” he asked, heading for the kitchen. He found every breakfast food he could think of spread out on the counters and table, and he began filling a plate.

Master Naka could find no chemical residue on the screen that could account for what he’d seen. In fact, when Karen swabbed a spot where blood had definitely been, she found nothing either.

“Doubt you’re gonna find anything, Doc,” Justin told him. “It’s bolted to the wall.”

“But I must examine.”

“It’s just a standard wall-mount,” Justin said.

“Where are your tools?” Master Naka asked. Justin pointed to a door which opened into the workshop. He, Tony and Angie had amassed in that room at least one of just about every tool ever made, since they never knew just what they might need when. Master Naka came out with several tools and, setting most of them on the floor, he began loosening the TV’s mounting bolts. “I have seen the ‘Blair Witch Project,’” he told Justin, by way of explaining his insistence.

“Oh, hey...that reminds me...” Justin said. He went to the guest room and poked his head in the open doorway. Karen had noticed that Leigh was sitting in there to keep an eye on Uncle Jerzy, so she’d taken her own and Leigh’s laptops in so they could work on the research. “If it’s OK, with you guys, I’m gonna turn on the camera on Uncle Jerzy. Just in case, ya know?” The two nodded their agreement.

Master Naka got the TV down and inspected the back of it, to make sure that the power cord supplied nothing but electricity. Then he inspected the wall where it had hung. There was nothing there but brick wall, and the metal brackets that supported the weight of the TV.

Satisfied, though not entirely pleased, he lifted the TV to put it back on the wall. He got it up to about waist height and attempted to change his grip to lift it further. But the top began to tip dangerously away from him. He took a step forward, to get it balanced again, and it tipped back. The side of Naka’s face against the screen was the only thing that prevented it from toppling right over him and onto the floor.

“Mmm.... Thangs, Leigh!” David said around the food in his mouth. He’d carried his plate into the front room, and was watching Justin rescue Master Naka from the ‘scary TV.’ Master Naka actually looked pretty strong himself. But the TV looked a little too bulky for one person to maneuver it onto its mounts.

Suddenly, Master Naka felt the TV’s weight partially lifted from his hands. “Move to your right,” Justin instructed him from the other side of the TV. Master Naka carefully slid his hands along the bottom of the TV. He got one hand on the right side of it while the other supported it from the bottom, and Justin did the same on the left side. The two were able to get the TV back on its brackets; then Justin left Master Naka to finish tightening down the bolts.

In the guest room, Leigh and Karen were finally getting some results from the pattern-recognition algorithms they were running David’s research data through. The key factor that the programs seemed to be latching onto was that the people who died all seemed to be devout religious people, specifically, who violated the tenets of their religions then committed suicide or died in some other unclean manner to escape the consequences.

The team had been on the same track last night, as they’d all pored over the hard copies David had printed. The threads they’d teased out had helped them set the parameters for the algorithms; and in return, the programs confirmed their suspicions by sifting through the data faster than they could have themselves.

From the hundred-plus hits David’s search had returned, the programs had distilled out a dozen cases which matched in almost every important detail. The women began flipping through the flagged files. The first one was about a Buddhist monk in France, who’d killed a traveler to steal his money....

David had finished eating, and was a little bored. His contacts didn’t have anything for him to work on today, since they needed time to go over his case notes from yesterday. He put his dishes in the sink and came back out to the front room. There was a large open space in one corner. David began doing Tai Chi in the center of the space.

Justin caught the movement from the corner of his eye as he studied the papers hung on the two white-boards. Wow! He wasn’t gay...but still, he could see how someone might appreciate David’s body. The man was well-built, and, more than that, he seemed perfectly comfortable in his skin and confident in his abilities. “Ya know, there’s more space for that in the gym,” Justin told him. David said nothing, concentrating on his slow, measured movements.

Master Naka put the tools away, and saw David working out when he came out of the workshop. He went over and motioned to the space beside David. David nodded, and Master Naka bowed then stepped into the space. He immediately joined in, seamlessly matching David’s movements as if he’d been there the whole time.

Justin watched them. Master Naka’s movements were more reminiscent, to Justin’s experienced eye, of Karate training. Justin himself had been studying Krav Maga, the martial art developed and practiced by the Israeli Army. About the only martial art more violent than Krav Maga’s no-holds-barred style was the Russian 'Sambo,' and that was only because the Russians had thrown in guns, too. Justin shook his head and went back to the white-boards.

Leigh came out of the guest room to stretch her legs and let Justin know what the computers had sorted out, and she saw the other two men shifting, leaning, sweeping, their movements soft but controlled. She gave Justin the new information, then stuck her head in the guest room. “Karen, do you mind if I...?”

Karen looked out to where Leigh’s gaze had gone, and she saw David and Master Naka. “Of course not. Enjoy!” She looked back at the laptop, scrolling down through one file then opening the next. Leigh stood before the men and pointed to a space on the other side of David. Both men nodded, and Leigh joined them, matching her movements to theirs.

Justin gathered up all the cases that the computer programs had rejected as not fitting the ‘mold’ of their case. He looked through them, just to make sure, and realized that the computers had definitely saved them a lot of time. He set the stack of paper aside and began sorting through the twelve cases that were left. One of those was Berowski’s. As he finished reading each case, he hung it on the empty white-boards, to look for new patterns.

Over the course of the afternoon, the 3 Envoys and their 2 new associates split their time between studying the case; relaxing, whether that was by working out or napping; and keeping an eye on Fr. Jerzy.

In the back of his mind, Master Naka still puzzled over how the TV had come to have blood oozing out and spelling the words REPENT SINNER. He’d proven to his own satisfaction that it was not rigged by the SAVE members in any way that he could discern. But it left him having experienced an event that had no rational cause or explanation.

David had noticed that, while these people might be crazy, they approached their research in a professional, skilled manner that he had to respect...and they had mostly really good food.

The computers had winnowed the data down to a dozen cases occurring over about 40 years, cases where the similarities emerged after all the extraneous information was peeled away. Those cases had been narrowed down to two basic types. In all twelve cases, the person was known to be devout, and had committed some particularly heinous sin against the commandments or precepts of his...or her...religion.

But for four of the sinners, one of them being Berowski, the act hadn’t been a one-time occurrence. Each of those four were found, when the team had teased out more details, to have committed the sins repeatedly until they were finally caught, and then evaded punishment by committing suicide.

For the majority, the sin was a one-time occurrence, coming out of the blue and without warning; and all committed suicide soon afterward, before they could sin again.

As the team stood and stared at the cases Justin had arranged on the white boards, other patterns became apparent. The occurrences seemed to be clustered into 4 discrete religious groups, with one of the Type 1 offenders (which the team began to refer to as Patient Zeros) in each ‘cluster,’ and one or more of the Type 2 offenders in each cluster.

Besides the Buddhist monk who killed the traveler, there were 3 other Buddhist offenders over the course of 11 years. There were 3 other Hindu offenders after the Hindu Patient Zero. There were 2 Muslim offenders after the Muslim Patient Zero. And Berowski seemed to be the Catholic Patient Zero, with Fr. Jerzy the next Catholic to fit the pattern.

The team charted the time-lines of the 4 clusters, looking for possible connections between them, but found nothing that might indicate a pattern. The briefest period between incidents within a cluster was one and a half years. But some clusters had much larger gaps between incidents, with the 30-year gap between Fr. Berowski and Fr. Jerzy the longest.

There was also no clear pattern in the order of the incidents, either. Clusters overlapped other clusters in an apparently random way. Not even all the Patient Zero incidents happened in any particular sequence. The only thing that they could say for sure about the timing of incidents was that each Patient Zero incident was definitely the first within the cluster's population to occur.

Karen and Leigh carefully checked each incident date for special significance, whether it might be astronomical, historical, cultural.... They could find nothing that allowed them to predict on what day or date the next incident would occur.

None of the team could find any concrete way that the ‘curse,’ whatever it was, could have moved from one cluster to another through direct contact. Each incident within a cluster happened in the same geographic locale as the others in that cluster. The Buddhist cluster was confined to the San Francisco area, as far as the team could tell; the Hindu cluster to England, the Muslim cluster to France, and the Catholic cluster of two to the Detroit area.

Some, but not all, of the incidents were violent. But all broke major tenets of the person’s faith. For instance, Muslim Patient Zero was found to be drinking, whoring, eating pork. When he was found out, he fled, and hid from his pursuers in a pigpen, where he was trampled to death. Since the death was unclean, he would never have been permitted to go to his reward, even were he absolved of the other sins, in the same way that a Catholic who commits suicide will not be admitted to Heaven no matter how holy his life had been to that point.

They did notice, though, that, while the Patient Zeros tended to have an ongoing history of committing grave sins, the ‘followers’ tended to commit ‘splashier’ sins, things that put them on Page 1 of the local papers. The Envoys weren’t sure what to make of that yet, so they agreed to revisit the idea when they’d discovered all the other patterns they could find.

The team noticed that there was only one female sinner, a Hindu of the Brahma caste. But they realized that it was probably only because most of the world’s religions still have a patriarchal power structure, not because the ‘curse’ had any sort of ‘preference’ for men rather than women.

By about 6pm, the researchers were mentally exhausted from their investigations. Justin and David were sitting in front of a TV (not the big screen LCD, since Justin, at least, was still kind of creeped out by it), watching reruns on TVLand. Leigh had persuaded Karen to help fix something for dinner. And Master Naka was sitting in the guest room with Fr. Jerzy.

Justin could hear his uncle wake with a groan, complaining of a massive headache. He couldn’t keep knocking Uncle Jerzy out with choke holds, so he called to see if Aiden had any suggestions. Luckily, Aiden happened to be sitting in the break room eating his microwaved dinner. Justin explained, as succinctly as possible, the situation. “So, do you think we could chemically sedate him?” he asked Aiden.

“It’s not generally a good idea,” Aiden told him. “But I can grab my kit and come take a look at him, while things seem to be relatively quiet here.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate it.” As Justin hung up the phone, he could hear his uncle and Master Naka talking, Jerzy’s voice slightly louder than necessary.

“Can I help you in some way?” Master Naka asked.

“If you really want to help me,” Jerzy said gruffly, “knock me out.” Justin pushed himself up from the couch wearily, and turned to see Uncle Jerzy trying to barge past Master Naka, who was firmly planted in the open doorway.

“I must go!” Jerzy shouted at Naka, swinging wildly, like a man unused to doing physical violence. He missed, and Master Naka merely stood there, blocking his way.

Karen and Leigh heard the commotion and came out of the kitchen. David turned to watch over the back of the couch, ready to get up if.... Well, he wasn’t really sure what he could do to help, but he was ready to move if someone asked him to do something.

Leigh moved in beside Master Naka and put a hand on Fr. Jerzy’s arm to try to restrain him. He was wild-eyed, and sweating profusely. Justin stood a few paces behind Master Naka, hoping that his uncle would give up and lay down quietly, but ready to catch him if he managed to push his way through.

“I got him if he comes through,” Justin whispered to Master Naka. So Naka stepped to one side, giving Jerzy enough room to get by if he insisted on it.

Fr. Jerzy twisted and pulled at the same time, yanking his arm from Leigh’s grasp. Justin planted his feet wide, ready to clothesline his uncle as he ran by. Then Karen raised a Sphere.

It took a second for Justin and Leigh to realize what had happened. Instead of running headlong into Justin, Jerzy stopped dead in his tracks. A look of relief flooded his face, and his body sagged as if he were ready to collapse.

Karen wasn’t sure it would work. But she didn’t want to risk attracting the attention of Whatever was causing Uncle Jerzy’s affliction by doing a Shield, and this was the only other thing she could think of. She also wasn’t sure if the Sphere would have a lasting effect, or only pushed the Shadow off him as long as it stayed up. Only one way to find out, though. She caught Leigh’s eye and raised a finger, silently telling Leigh to hold off raising another Sphere for at least a moment.

Leigh nodded, and Karen let her Sphere go down. Instantly, Fr. Jerzy’s face changed again, the wild-eyed beast within him regaining It’s control. He lunged toward a possible opening, a way past the people who wanted to stop him.

And Leigh raised her Sphere. Again, relief flooded Jerzy’s face, and he stopped two steps from where he’d been.

“Now might be a good time to get a hold on him,” Karen suggested. Justin stepped around behind his uncle, his pain and sadness evident in his body language, though he kept his ‘warrior’ mask firmly on his face.

Jerzy looked around, from one Envoy to another, a silent ‘thank you’ beaming from his tired, teary eyes. Then Leigh’s Sphere went down. Jerzy immediately began to struggle in Justin’s arms, fighting the choke hold that would give him the temporary relief of unconsciousness.

Karen threw up another Sphere, planning to hold it up as long as necessary to get Uncle Jerzy under control and restrained.

It took Justin only a few seconds, though, to knock out his uncle again. “Guess he’ll have to go in the ‘other guest room’ now,” he said sadly. Leigh helped Justin pick up Jerzy, folding his arms across his chest so they wouldn’t flop around on the way down the stairs.

Karen let her Shield drop, and went ahead of Justin opening doors and turning on lights down to the holding cells in the basement. The cells were as well-secured as they could make them, using Aiden’s time as an ‘almost-werewolf’ for guidance, with recessed lighting and cameras, heavy duty locks, solid metal walls, and sound-proofing. They also managed to acquire every type of humane restraint system they could find, especially for normal human beings who weren’t in any danger of ripping through steel walls.

Leigh followed Justin downstairs, and helped him arrange Fr. Jerzy as comfortably as possible, under the circumstances, on the gurney. They strapped him down with the lamb’s wool-lined restraints, and pushed the gurney into the cell. Before leaving him, Justin transferred a little of his own energy to his uncle, hoping that the boost would help him fight off whatever was trying to control him. They locked the cell door, turned on the cameras to record anything that might happen down there, and waited for Aiden to get there.

No one spoke much on the drive to St. Lads. Karen asked Justin if she’d remembered to mention that Frank had called the week before. With the way the presidential campaign had been going the past few months, Frank wanted to make sure that Obama didn’t have ‘Bob’ in his back pocket helping him. So he’d asked her to go check that nothing had been disturbed at Reg’s old place, she explained.

Karen was never sure when Frank was joking or not. Personally, she kind of liked what Obama had to say. But she did as he asked and checked on the place on her way home from work one afternoon. And as far as she could tell, ‘Bob’ was still where they’d left him, and the property was no more disturbed than it already was.

But as she finished telling Justin this, the foreboding silence in the car seemed to swallow up her voice, and she quit trying to make small talk.

When they got to the church, they all followed Fr. Jerzy into the rectory first, and waited while he gathered a few things. He tossed his bag into the car, then led them over to the church and unlocked it. He explained again where Fr. Berowski’s body had been found, where he, himself, had been when he saw Fr. Berowski’s ghost, and the path the ghost seemed to take before disappearing.

Justin, Fr. Jerzy and Master Naka didn’t see anyone in the church. But Karen was a little surprised at how crowded the place was. There were 30 to 40 ghosts there, all ages, some more ‘solid’ than others. But none of them appeared to be a priest, or to be taking any special interest in any of the four living visitors. And neither Karen nor the others felt any sort of ‘blackness’ grabbing at their souls. Karen didn’t bother saying anything about the ghosts. She didn’t want to make Uncle Jerzy’s life any more complicated than it already was.

The four returned to the clubhouse, and Fr. Jerzy retired to the first-floor guest room a short time later, at about 9pm. He hadn’t had a restful night’s sleep since the dreams started, so he rarely stayed up past 9pm lately, he explained to them when he excused himself.

Master Naka waited outside the room until Fr. Jerzy was in bed, then took his zafu and zabuton and got comfortable just inside the closed door, ready to sit vigil with the priest. Justin had already explained to both men that, because of a previous episode (he didn’t go into details), he and Karen would be keeping the intercom in the room on, so they would be able to hear if help was needed.

The clubhouse got quiet. Karen worked on putting the finishing touches on her final exams, and Justin played a video game, wearing headphones so he didn’t disturb his uncle.

Tony and Leigh bumped into each other at the ticket counter at LaGuardia at about 4:30 that afternoon, and found out they were taking the same flight back to Detroit. So they had dinner together, and compared notes about seeing the Pope on Sunday. They landed at Metro about 9:30pm, and decided to share the cab ride back to the clubhouse, where they’d both left their cars while they were gone.

David finally finished his paperwork about 9:30pm. That was the part of legal work that he liked the least. But since he was low man on the totem pole, so to speak, there was no one else he could pass it off to. He was gathering his things to leave when he realized he’d forgotten to turn his cell ringer back on when he’d left the court room. There was a message from about 4:30 that afternoon from Justin.

“David, it’s Justin. Uncle Jerzy needs our help. We’re meeting him at the clubhouse at 7pm, if you can make it.”

“Wonder who ‘Uncle Jerzy’ is?” David asked himself as he fastened his seatbelt and headed for the clubhouse.

David had just put his car in Park in front of the bay doors as a cab rolled up at the end of the driveway. Tony and Leigh got out, and Tony paid the driver, then took their bags out of the trunk.

“Yo, David! Wanna beer?” Tony asked, as Leigh opened the front door.

“Sure. Why not. By the way...who’s Uncle Jerzy?”

“Hunh? He’s Justin’s uncle...an’ a priest. Why?” Tony asked, dropping the bags inside the door.

“I was just wondering who this guy is who needs our help,” David told him.

“Shhh,” Karen said, coming to the little clump of people by the front closet. “Uncle Jerzy’s sleeping in the guest room. Master Naka’s with him. I’m glad you guys were able to get here.”

“What did David mean about Uncle Jerzy needing our help?” Leigh asked her.

“Didn’t you get Justin’s message? He said he’d called everyone,” Karen told her.

“I guess I hadn’t turned my phone back on,” Leigh said.

“You must be one of the few people on the planet who doesn’t check the moment the plane lands,” Karen chuckled, leading them into the front room. “So how’s Angie?”

“Well, her dad is still in the coma, and she’s worried about him. But she’s more worried about her mom. She’s having a hard time coping. She doesn’t know how to pay the bills, or even where all the bank accounts are, basic things like that. And her dad obviously can’t give them much information. Since all five of her brothers have families and live out of town, she’s having a hard time getting help from them. So she’s basically taking care of her mom right now, trying to straighten things out for her.

“The heavy bag in her mom’s garage was looking pretty beat up, so I dragged her away to a gym a couple times while I was there, to work out and help her blow off some steam. She’s sort of looking for a barrister she can hire to help her mom with her affairs....”

“Does she have Mark’s number?” Karen asked. “He should be able to help her find someone suitable. I’m sure he knows other lawyers out there.”

“I’ll ask, next time I talk to her,” Leigh answered. “She didn’t really seem overly anxious to come home, to me at least. I didn’t say much about Aiden to her, other than when I was telling her how everyone here was doing. She didn’t seem too surprised, though, when I mentioned that Aiden was working too much. She just rolled her eyes. She seemed happy to see me, anyway. And, amazingly, I was able to get a ticket to the Mass the Pope did at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.”

“Hey, I got ta see da Pope, too!” Tony told them, coming in from the kitchen with beers for himself and David. “When he did dat special Blessing at Groun’ Zero. Dey had cops an’ firemen dat responded on 9/11, an’ people who survived, and families a’ people who didn’...and dey had some ‘a us who helped wit’ da excavation, too. I even got a vial a’ Holy Water blessed by da Pope himself!” Tony pulled a small box from his bag and carefully unwrapped a tiny plastic bottle and held it up for everyone to see. They were all suitably impressed...or at least acted so, even though there couldn’t have been enough water there to fill one cupped hand.

Justin had joined the others, and just shook his head when Tony offered him a beer. His uncle hadn’t been in bed long, and already they could hear him tossing and turning restlessly over the intercom. Justin wasn’t in any mood to relax when his uncle was that disturbed.

Karen filled the three in on Jerzy’s problem, and explained what they’d done so far to investigate it. “Master Naka’s in there with him now, and we’ve got the intercom on to avoid another ‘Running Elk’ situation,” she told them. “And we didn’t find anything unusual at the church...you know, besides the ghosts...which aren’t really that unusual....”

“You didn’t say...” Justin started.

Karen just looked at him then nodded toward the guest room, and Justin understood that she hadn’t wanted to say anything about it in front of Uncle Jerzy. David just rolled his eyes, thinking she was trying to ‘scare’ him.

“So, is dere any history of dat in your family?” Tony asked Justin.

“Which?” Justin asked.

“Bot’...suicide or child molestation.”

“Neither,” Justin answered. “I would think him capable of murder before child molestation.”

“Maybe...with the Pope coming to the States and talking about the scandal and all...maybe that might have stirred this up,” Leigh suggested.

“Hard to say,” Karen told her.

“So’d you go ‘check him out’ yet?” Tony asked. “You know....”

“Not yet,” Karen replied.

“Well, how come? Dat’s da first t’ing I’d ‘a done!”

Karen sighed and rolled her eyes. “We only found out what was going on around 7 this evening, Tony...that he was the one having the problem, and not some other family member or parishioner. It’s a little past 10 now. It took him a while to tell the whole story, and then we went over to the church so he could get some things to stay the night here. And I couldn’t very well do ‘it’ right in front of him...and I’m not doing it alone when we have absolutely no idea what we’re dealing with yet. So this is the first chance I’ve had, since you just got here.”

“So, David...are you any good with computers...you know, doing searches?” Justin asked.

“Relatively. Why?”

“‘Cause ‘me mechanic.’" Justin thumped his chest jokingly. "Good with cars. Not so much with computers. I was wondering if you could start an archive search of articles from around the time Fr. Berowski died. Maybe see if something similar happened at other churches in the past? Other situations where priests or other religious people sinned big, then compounded it by committing suicide or some other sin to avoid the consequences?”

“You can use my computer, if you want,” Leigh offered. “It’s got a pretty sophisticated search engine loaded on it.”

“I can check wit’ my contac’s at da Vatican, too,” Tony offered. “Ya know, abrupt changes in behavior can be a sign ‘a demonic possession...among udder t’ings. But it’s...” Tony thought for a second. “It’s about 5 in da morning, in Rome, d’ough, so I’m gonna wait ta call ‘til the morning...here, I mean. If I wait ‘til 7, it’ll be noon in Rome. Dat’s usually a good time ta call.”

They could all hear, over the intercom, the faint sound of Master Naka softly chanting a mantra.

David followed Leigh into the office, where she set up her laptop. Then he got to work on the searches, while Leigh went to start some tea steeping. A couple minutes later, she came back, mug in hand, ostensibly to help David with Reg’s search algorithm. But she was really concerned about his safety, considering what happened to Stephan when he dug too deep in the wrong places.

Tony and Karen got comfortable in a couple of the recliners, and slipped out of their bodies. Like usual, Tony’s astral self had the whole ‘shirtless, Roman god’ thing going on. Only this time, he was ‘wearing’ a “Yes, you may” button. Karen had no idea what it meant, or how it was staying on his chest. Though she wasn’t aware of it, since there weren’t any mirrors in the astral plane, Karen looked just like herself, like usual, wearing jeans, boots and a flannel shirt like she did on digs.

With just a thought, they were inside the guest room. “Now dere’s sumpin’ ya don’ see here ev’ry day,” Tony commented. He was staring at Master Naka, whose astral self looked exactly like he actually did, sitting in full lotus position, except that he was wearing Zen monk robes.

Karen wasn’t sure if Tony was commenting on having a Zen monk sitting there, or the fact that Master Naka looked like himself, with no particular idealization of his form or appearance. She shrugged, then turned to look at Uncle Jerzy. His astral self looked about 90 years old and in great pain. There was some kind of shadow wrapped around his head, like one might wrap a plastic bag around someone’s head to smother them.

The two examined the shadow more closely. It had the consistency of smoke, blurring Jerzy’s features rather than obscuring them. It seemed more to be gathered around his head, rather than emanating from it, and there was a thread leading off from it, much like a disembodied soul had attaching it to its body. Only it was the color of the shadow, rather than silver like a soul’s.

“I’m gonna find out where dis goes,” Tony whispered to Karen. He started toward the wall.

“Not alone, you aren’t!” Karen hissed back. She followed him, certain that whatever was on the other end of the thread would not be happy to see them. Tony didn’t seem to realize that whatever it led to was probably Unknown. Karen was positive of that, though she wasn’t sure exactly what type of creature it was. It appeared that Uncle Jerzy was under some persistent Unknown influence, like a hound...or maybe something worse.

Tony just knew that it didn’t seem to be demonic, at least as he understood it. He followed the thread stealthily for a couple minutes, Karen staying just in sight far behind him. The thread went on and on, with no end in sight, twisting and turning on a convoluted path. Finally, Tony gave up, and the two returned directly to their bodies to let the others know what they found.

David’s first search was for suicides of religious people. He got the parameters set up; then, while he was waiting for the results, he sent off an email to Angie. A couple of people he knew from law school had relocated to New York; and since they might be able to help with her mom, he sent her their names. He also asked if she was still seeing Aiden. There was some consternation among her friends here in Detroit about their relationship, he explained, because of Aiden’s recent behavior. If she was still seeing him, then he suggested that she might want to say something to the others. And if she wasn’t still serious about Aiden, then he’d like to have dinner with her the next time he was in NY.

In just a short time (this was an amazing search engine, and David wondered where they’d gotten it), his search got 127 hits from a five-year period with Fr. Berowski’s death in the middle. And these were just from the people well-known enough, and whose transgressions were radical enough, to have their death by suicide make the paper. David scanned through the dates and locations of the incidents. The incidents happened primarily in Europe and North America. They were spread out enough in time and place that, individually, they didn’t appear to be suspicious. But as a whole....

David sent all the results to the printer. OK, it wasn’t just a printer. The thing was a full document station–printer, both black and white, and color; copier; collator; scanner; fax.... This place continued to amaze him. It was a cross between a high-tech frat house and the HQ for a high-tech, well-funded grassroots organization. They even had a gigabit ‘backbone!’ While he waited for everything to finish printing, he went out to the kitchen to get something to drink.

Unfortunately, he’d just completely missed his first chance to see team members use an Art for real. Karen hadn’t thought about it until she saw David come through the room as she and Tony were stretching and getting up, and she was sorry she hadn’t thought to have him there.

Not that he hadn’t been spending time with the ‘shaman.’ Karen really wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be teaching David, though; and she didn’t want to insult him by trying to teach him the way she was taught by the tribal elders. She was pretty sure he’d heard all those stories, and that was why Weeping Sparrow sent him to her. But she also wasn’t willing to do seances just to prove her point. They could be stressful for her, and she imagined for the spirit she was summoning, too. And she wasn’t sure that drawing the attention of one Unknown creature wouldn’t also attract the attention of others, particularly ones they didn’t want around. It wasn’t a risk she was going to take just ‘for the fun of it.’

So on weekends, she would pick one of the cases the team had worked on in the past, and she and David would go over it in depth, from beginning to end, just like the team had investigated it the first time, with her pointing out what, looking back now, had been the mistakes they'd made. She figured this would give him a feel for all the different skills the team drew on in an investigation, the sorts of processes they went through, and the kinds of problems that could trip them up. She even explained how the seances were done, when a case had required one, and all the precautions they’d taken and risks they’d faced.

They didn’t work just on paper, either. Karen would get Justin to set up the combats in the training warehouse, just like they’d happened, and then she and David, and whichever of the other Envoys could make it, would run through them, with Justin or Leigh playing the part of the ‘bad guys.’ Afterward, Justin would critique David’s combat tactics, and Karen would review the particular vulnerabilities of their Unknown opponents, and they ran through it again, with the adjustments made and the benefits of hindsight. It was good training for Karen and the others, too.

She knew that none of this was going to convince David that the creatures they were ‘fighting’ were real. But there were very few of the Arts that had visible effects that she could use as ‘proof.’ And the ones that did, David would find ways to just rationalize away as ‘magic tricks.’ Karen was pretty sure that, if he ever got tired of being a lawyer, he could have a very profitable career as a paranormal ‘debunker.’ But she hoped that their training sessions would give David the confidence, skill, and tactics to protect himself when he finally did encounter the Unknown. Assuming he didn’t just completely lose his mind.

Tony and Karen explained what they’d seen. “This means it’s probably not a good idea to do a Shield right now, even if it might give Uncle Jerzy’s spirit a slight boost and his body a very brief respite,” Karen told them. “It might tip off whatever’s attached to him before we’re really ready to deal with it.” Tony, Leigh and Justin nodded their agreement, though Justin wasn’t happy that they couldn’t even do that little bit for his uncle right away.

David got the search results from the printer to show them. Justin immediately got a couple white-boards and started taping up the printouts, organizing them to look for patterns, and Tony gave him a hand. Karen asked if David happened to have the results in an electronic format. She and Leigh both had pattern-search algorithms on their computers to do the same thing Justin was doing with the hard copies.

While they all worked setting up that project, the subject of ‘Aiden and Angie’ came up.

“I think we oughta drag Aiden’s sorry ass out to get drunk...after we finish fixing Uncle Jerzy’s problem, I mean,” Justin suggested.

“We’ll have to kidnap him, ya know,” Karen said.

“Hopefully not,” Leigh told them. “I’ve been setting up ‘alliances’ with the other staff at the ER. That’s why I’ve been taking fresh, home-cooked food over there at least once a week, since he started this foolishness, for Aiden and everyone else there. And they love seeing me come in now.”

“So they’ll turn a blind eye when we go in there in Ninja outfits and throw a bag over Aiden’s head and drag him out?” Karen laughed.

“I’m not so sure I wanna see you in Ninja jammies,” David told Justin.

“No, they aren’t really my style. But they’d probably fit Leigh alright, with her martial arts training,” Justin said.

Both Tony and David looked Leigh up and down, and agreed with Justin...but for different reasons.

“I hope we don’t have to go that far!” Leigh chuckled. “I was actually planning to get someone there to schedule Aiden a day off that he doesn’t know he has until we come to get him. Oh! Did I tell you that I went to see Reg before I went to New York, too?”

Leigh had been visiting Reg as often as she could, sometimes with Frank or one of the other Envoys there, sometimes alone.

“How is he?” Justin asked.

“Well, Frank’s gotten very good at telling Tommy from Reg. But I still have to get Frank to hook Reg up to the EEG sometimes, to tell. Frank explained that it’s because, unfortunately, Tommy is the more integrated personality. And he’s getting better at modifying his behavior based on who he’s talking to, to better conceal his ‘presence.’”

Karen was concentrating on her computer and trying to avoid listening to Leigh. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about Reg and want to know how he was doing. She cared very much. But because of her own past, she had a hard time dealing with him being in the ‘hospital,’ even though she fully agreed, rationally speaking, that he belonged there and it was the best thing for him. She still hadn’t been able to bring herself to go there and visit him in person. And it upset her that she couldn’t do such a small thing for a good friend. She would send cards and notes and small gifts with Leigh, little things that might brighten Reg’s day. But she just couldn’t go there herself; and hearing about his situation only reminded her of that.

“Frank said that sometimes he has other therapists go in to speak with Reg, so that he can watch through a two-way mirror,” Leigh continued. “That way he circumvents Tommy’s ‘abilities.’ I’ve let both Reg and Tommy know, though, that if Tommy ever does manage to talk someone into letting him out, I will hunt him down and stop him by whatever means are necessary.”

Justin and Tony nodded agreement. Then they started poring over each article, taking them down and putting them back up in different arrangements. Leigh and Karen got their computers set up to do the sifting, explaining to David how to use the programs as they worked. Then all three joined Justin and Tony, doing the process manually, too. The computer programs could look at concrete data points in the articles to find connections; but they couldn’t make intuitive leaps to connect the intangible things, like the human brain could. They were just one more tool to give the Envoys clues to connect together.

One by one, David and the Envoys fell asleep where they were at, articles and pencils in their hands. David, Tony and Karen were the first to go, having gotten comfortable on couches or easy chairs that made relaxation come too quickly. Justin held out until about 2am, when his head drooped onto the table one last time.

At about 2:30, Leigh gave up waiting for the computers to come up with results. She went to the kitchen and made some tea, and quietly took Master Naka a cup. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see the bedside lamp on and Fr. Jerzy reading. Master Naka bowed, in his place on the floor, and took the cup.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” Leigh asked Fr. Jerzy.

“No, thank you. I was getting tired of the tossing and turning, so I hoped that maybe a little reading might settle my mind enough to sleep,” Jerzy told her.

Leigh nodded and left, shutting the door quietly behind her. Then she went to bed, too.

The next morning, May 24, Justin woke at his usual time. It took him a minute, though, to figure out why his neck was so stiff. He’d spent his entire night sitting in the hard chair, his head lying on the table, and his arms hanging limply at his sides. Then his bladder reminded him that he hadn’t been away from the table since about 10:30 the night before.

By the time Justin came out of the bathroom, Tony was up and on his cell phone in the office, making his calls to Rome.

Master Naka came out of the guest room and went to the kitchen to make tea for breakfast. Justin was already out there pouring milk on his bowl of cereal. “He had a very restless night,” Master Naka told Justin, referring to Jerzy. “The longest he slept at any one time was about 90 minutes. And each time he woke, he was drenched in sweat.”

Justin nodded wearily. He was sure he didn’t feel as tired as Uncle Jerzy, but news like this didn’t make him feel any more chipper. Soon, Karen, David and Leigh joined the two men in the kitchen, looking for food.

A little while later, Fr. Jerzy came out, dressed but looking haggard. “I’m still having the dreams,” was all he told the others. They didn’t push him on it, because they really didn’t need to know the details...or want to.

And so life went on for the next few weeks. David’s contacts at the casinos found a few things he could help them with; and he settled into a comfortable schedule of legal work during the day and poker games and flirting with women in the evening. Since he wasn’t officially employed, just working as a ‘consultant,’ and he didn’t want to ask his dad for any help, Karen offered to co-sign for him to lease a car. With that and his own key to the house, he was able to come and go as he pleased.

Master Naka had taken a sabbatical from his teaching job in Japan so that he could stay in Michigan for a while. With a letter of recommendation from Fr. Colin, he made inquiries about teaching a comparative religion class or two at one of the colleges in the Detroit Area Consortium of Catholic Colleges, in order to fill his time. The administration was interested in his offer, and he started filling out all the required paperwork, both for the job and for getting his tourist visa converted to a work visa. But since the colleges were in the middle of Winter Term, he wouldn’t actually begin teaching until May. In the meantime, he spent his free time learning about Native American mysticism from Weeping Sparrow, and doing more research on the ‘Hell Mouth.’

Leigh was involved with a new translation project and was splitting her time between checking original copies of the texts in Europe, and life in Detroit. Angie still hadn’t come back from New York, and Aiden managed to change the subject every time anyone asked about her. He’d also practically doubled his hours at the hospital; and Justin, Karen and Leigh were concerned that something had soured his and Angie’s relationship. After a couple weeks of this, Leigh finally went to Long Island, to visit Angie and see how she and her family were holding up.

With the weather finally warming up after what seemed like the most severe winter in a number of years, Tony’s travel schedule was filling up again with consulting work for CDI. He’d also spent a little time continuing his studies at the Vatican Library. He always left a note at the club house, to let the others know when and where he would be, especially since his cell would be shut off any time he was on a job site. The latest note said that he would be taking some vacation time to visit family and see the Pope while he was in New York

Taking advantage of the temporary calm, Justin and Karen had gone on a vacation while WSU was on Spring Break in mid-March. And they were careful not to comment out loud on the lack of Unknown activity, afraid of jinxing it. They simply went about their normal lives, working, spending time with family and friends, and keeping an eye out for the other shoe to drop.

After a few days of R and R, Fr. Colin checked in with his boss, and was off and running again. Since he was already in Detroit, he was given the task of interviewing members of the senior class at Sacred Heart Seminary for potential new exorcists. They would be graduating soon, and the Vatican wanted to get their specialized training started as soon as possible. He’d no sooner finished that job, than he was ordered to go to Brazil to train priests there. His flight left on Apr. 22, and Justin and Karen took him to Metro to see him off.

The next day, the couple were at work like usual. Karen had classes all day, and was prepping for final exams, which started in a couple days. In between, she was finalizing arrangements for the summer’s dig. Justin had his head deep in the undercarriage of a client’s temperamental sports car. It was the middle of the afternoon when the shoe hit the floor.

Justin didn’t notice the shop’s phone ringing. The guys usually had music playing while they worked; but even if they hadn’t, Justin was generally in his own little world when he had the time to actually get his hands dirty.

Owning the shop meant that he spent half his time taking care of paperwork. Sure, he could’ve just hired someone to do it for him. But it was his business, and he felt an obligation to pay some attention to the office work part of it. Jerry handled the rest, usually, on the days that Justin reserved for working on projects for his special clients.

He nearly smacked his head on a tire when he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. It was the cordless phone, laying on top of one of the rolling tool trays. The tray was being pushed toward him by a handle-extender held in Jerry’s hand. “I don’t know what you did, but you must be in trouble,” Jerry said when he saw that he had Justin’s attention. He turned and headed back toward the car he’d been working on in the bay closest to the office.

Justin grabbed the phone and pushed the button to take it off ‘Hold.’

“Justin?” It was Uncle Jerzy, but his voice sounded...strained.

“What’s going on?” Justin asked, immediately on the alert.

“I would like to make use of the services of your ‘hobbyist group.’ Can I meet you at your group’s offices?”

Jerzy sounded grim, and Justin wondered who was in trouble and needed help. Even on a bad day, Uncle Jerzy sounded upbeat, if not positively cheerful. He gave his uncle the address of the clubhouse.

“Will 7pm be alright?” Jerzy asked.

“I can meet you sooner, if you want. We don’t have to wait ‘til 7.”

“No, 7 is the soonest I can meet you.”

Then, before Justin could say...or ask...anything else, Jerzy hung up abruptly. Now THAT was definitely not right. “Jerry! Can you....” Justin hesitated. Should he just go back to work for now? He had over 3 hours until he could meet with Uncle Jerzy and find out what was going on. Or go home? Karen wouldn’t be done on campus until 4pm, though, and he’d be bouncing off the walls if he had to sit around there alone not knowing what the problem was.

“Make a decision,” Jerry said, leaning against the side of Justin’s tool chest, waiting for him to finish what he was saying. He might not know exactly what was going on, but he recognized Fr. Jerzy’s voice and knew that, as important as his work was to Justin, family was even more important.

“Right,” Justin said decisively. “Family first. Can you clean this stuff up for me and lock up my box?”

“Sure. I was gonna tell you that you ain’t gonna be able to concentrate anyway.”

Justin gave Jerry a friendly punch on the shoulder. The kid knew his mind better than he did himself. “Have Marcel finish up on this one if he has the time. Otherwise, can you call the client and let him know it might take a little longer?”

Jerry nodded, rolling Justin’s tool tray toward the sink. Justin headed back to the locker room to clean himself up. Then he grabbed a few things from the storage chest in the back of the pick-up and gently tossed them across onto the passenger seat as he climbed in.

On his way to the St. Lad’s rectory, Justin conference-called the rest of the team, starting with Karen. He knew her phone should be back on, since it was a few minutes past 4pm. Leigh’s, Tony’s, David’s, and Aiden’s cells went straight to voice mail. For Tony and Leigh, that probably meant they weren’t back in Detroit yet. Aiden must be at the hospital again...or still. And David must be in a meeting or at court.

Karen answered first. “Hi, hon!”

“Uncle Jerzy called.” Justin sounded tense, and Karen could hear background noise that told her Justin was driving somewhere. “He said he needs the help of our ‘hobbyist group,’ and we’re gonna meet him at the clubhouse at 7pm. Hold on for a sec.”

Karen heard the engine cut off, and then rustling noises as Justin leaned over to get the binoculars.

“I’m watching the rectory right now, and he doesn’t seem to be in any immediate trouble,” Justin explained to Karen. He could see Jerzy’s car in the driveway, and saw movement in the house, though he couldn’t say for sure that it was Jerzy. “But his tone of voice sounded...tense, like it might be a family problem.”

“Hai.” Master Naka finally answered his phone. Justin was actually kind of envious of that phone. While Master Naka didn’t seem to be an electronics geek or gadgets freak, he did have the newest, top of the line phone from Japan, a phone that wasn’t even available in the States yet.

“Master Naka, my Uncle Jerzy called a little while ago. He needs our help, and we’re going to be meeting him at the clubhouse at 7pm.”

“I will be there.”

“Great. Be prepared to travel, fight or exorcise...that’s with an O, not an E.”

“Excuse, please?”

“Exorcism, with an O. ExOrcise. Not exErcise.”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

“And don’t worry about bringing salt. We’ve got plenty.”

“Salt?” Master Naka asked, confused.

“For warding,” Karen explained.

“Ah. I will see you tonight.” Master Naka hung up.

“So, do you want me to do anything between now and then?” Karen asked Justin.

“No. I’m gonna just keep an eye on him here. I’ll see you at the clubhouse. Love you.” When Karen hung up, Justin called the others and left messages on their voice mail. Basically, he told them all that Uncle Jerzy needed the team’s help and would be meeting them at the clubhouse at 7pm. There was no way of telling who would show, but Justin wanted all the help he could get.

Justin continued watching the rectory and church and their surroundings. People were coming and going from the church like usual. The ladies with the Altar Guild went in to do some cleaning. A couple old grandmas in babushkas went in. The ladies came out. Mrs. Cavanaugh, the woman who did housekeeping and cooking for Uncle Jerzy, drove up and went into the rectory. At about 5pm, Jerzy went from the rectory to the church to prepare for 5:30 Mass. Justin had almost forgotten about that. It explained why 7pm was the soonest Uncle Jerzy could meet with them.

People started trickling into the church, mostly older people, retired couples, widows and widowers. One of the ladies who played the organ went in. The altar boys came pedaling up furiously and practically threw their bikes into the rack at the corner of the rectory, then raced in the side door of the church. A few minutes later, Justin saw some of the windows being opened for air circulation, pushed out by small hands on the ends of short arms.

A few younger and middle-aged people went in, still dressed in their work clothes, some in suits and dresses, others in jeans and work boots. One guy, who obviously worked some kind of construction job, stopped to carefully brush the dirt off his clothes and take off his ball cap before going in. A couple families went in. And just before 5:30, Mrs. Cavanaugh crossed from the rectory to the church. The church certainly wasn’t packed, but it was a good crowd for a Wednesday evening.

Then nothing much happened for the next hour. It was a warm afternoon, and Justin could hear snatches of the organ music and singing drifting out the open windows. Finally, about 6:25, the people started filing back out. Just a few at first, the yuppies who needed to get back to work and a family with 2 teenaged boys, who slouched out the way they’d slouched in. Justin remembered feeling like that about church when he was their age.

Then Fr. Jerzy appeared by the open doors, shaking hands and greeting his parishioners as they left. The smiles he gave them were warm and friendly. But in the unguarded moments between clumps of people, when he briefly turned away to glance outside, his face looked strained.

Justin saw Mrs. Cavanaugh leave, and the altar boys burst out the side door the way they’d burst in, grabbing their bikes and pedaling furiously away. Most of the people had left when the grandmas finally came out.

And then, the last group out was a small family, mom and dad and their daughter. And this was where things got a little strange. Uncle Jerzy was one of the friendliest guys Justin knew. And he loved children in a very grandfatherly way. He never failed to greet a child, patting her on the shoulder or head, or shaking her hand with a smile if she offered it, just like he did with the adults.

He smiled, shook the parents’ hands. But Jerzy barely acknowledged that the girl was there, giving only a slight nod in her direction, studiously keeping his eyes anywhere but near her, ignoring the small hand held out toward his, his hands clasped carefully behind his back.

Maybe this was why Jerzy called? Justin studied the family. But he could see nothing unusual about them. The parents looked young, maybe his and Karen’s age, nicely dressed.

The girl must have been about 8 or 9 years old, but she was on the smallish side. She probably still needed to use a booster seat in the car...and probably hated it. She wore a dress, obviously put on just for Mass; and Justin wondered if that was what Karen looked like at that age, pretty in a shy way. After holding out her right hand for a moment, waiting, she put it down, and grasped it with the left, looking at the ground like maybe she’d done something wrong by offering it.

There didn’t seem to be anything particularly unusual about the three. Only Uncle Jerzy’s reaction to them. When they finally left after sharing a few pleasantries, Jerzy’s shoulders sagged as if he was relieved they were gone. He disappeared inside, shutting the doors behind him. A few minutes later, he came out the side door and went into the rectory. Justin headed to the clubhouse. He wanted to be there when Jerzy got there, to watch from the tower for anyone following him.

Karen collected Drew and went past the store to pick up a few things. If Uncle Jerzy was upset about something, then Justin would be upset, too. Until she found out what Jerzy was upset about, the best she could do was offer them comfort food. She laughed to herself at the thought. She must have been spending too much time with Leigh; that seemed like the kind of thing Leigh would think about.

She took her groceries to the clubhouse kitchen. One of the best things Marie had taught her to cook so far was Polish Noodles and Cabbage, one of the family’s favorites. It was a very simple dish, with inexpensive ingredients...peasant-food, her anthropology training told her. But it was really good She started working on it, trying to time it to be ready when the others got there.

She heard Justin come in about 6:40, start the coffee-maker on the bar, and go up the stairs to the tower. A short time later, Master Naka arrived. “This’ll be ready in a few minutes,” Karen announced to him. “Polish Noodles and Cabbage, if you want any.”

“Given Mr. Kazotchek’s instructions, I felt it would be best to eat before coming here,” Master Naka told her.

She didn’t take any offence. But she knew that Justin hadn’t taken the time to eat before getting here, and Fr. Jerzy might not have had the time between the end of Mass and now, either.

Justin had seen Master Naka pull in about 6:45pm, and park his leased hybrid sub-compact in one of the spaces beside the driveway. 15 minutes later, at precisely 7pm, Uncle Jerzy pulled in and parked his black, mid-size sedan beside Master Naka’s car.

Jerzy recognized the car because he and Naka had a ‘nodding’ acquaintance by now, courtesy of Fr. Colin. Naka had begun teaching Jerzy GO, since Naka wasn’t much of a chess player. It was Naka’s opinion that Jerzy had a good mind that, if applied diligently, would make him a very good GO player. However, right now he was still losing soundly.

Jerzy, on the other hand, while he enjoyed learning the game from Naka and the companionship that came with that, was more of a darts and racquetball person. In fact, he mostly enjoyed chess for the fun of ‘psyching-out’ his opponent, and won mostly because he could usually ‘persuade’ his opponents to make bad moves, not because he was a stellar player himself.

Justin scanned the roads surrounding the clubhouse, watching for any vehicles slowing as they passed, or stopping for no apparent reason.

Jerzy went in the front door, his overcoat draped over one arm. Karen had seen him pull up on the security monitor, and met him in the front room. There was a combination of anxiety and relief on his face when he saw her, and he held out his arms for a hug. Karen wrapped her arms around him, but she felt a hesitancy in his embrace that wasn’t usually there. She just smiled warmly at him as she took his coat and hung it in on the rack.

Jerzy offered his hand to Naka, who took it, and the two exchanged slight bows as they shook hands. Then Jerzy began pacing restlessly. He’d have been wringing his hat, if he’d worn one.

“Tea?” Master Naka offered.

“Thank you, no,” Jerzy replied.

“Have you eaten?” Karen asked him. “I made some Polish Noodles and Cabbage.”

“As good as that sounds, dear...I don’t have much of an appetite right now.”

Whatever was going on, Karen felt that it must be quite personal for Uncle Jerzy. He was never one to turn down food, even if he’d just eaten a full meal somewhere else. This matter must have been weighing very heavily on him.

When Justin was reasonably sure that his uncle hadn’t been followed, he went down to greet him. He felt the same hesitancy in the man’s hug that Karen had felt. “Coffee?” Justin offered him. "I made it strong."

Jerzy released Justin, and began pacing again, wondering where to start. “No, thank you.”

“Hungry?” Karen asked Justin quietly. He simply shook his head. So she went to the kitchen and put the pan in the ‘fridge. When she came back, Master Naka had settled down on a zazen pillow in the lotus position, his eyes closed.

Uncle Jerzy was perched on the corner of one of the coffee tables like he was afraid to get too comfortable. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees and hands gripped tightly. He looked down at his hands rather than at any of the three people with him.

“I’m not sure...where to begin,” he started slowly. “To some point, this is speculation. It’s...outside my...experience.” He rubbed his hands over his face, and the others noticed he was perspiring. It was strange because it wasn’t particularly warm inside, with the AC running.

“Just start at the beginning,” Justin prompted him softly, much like his uncle always did for him when he’d gone to him with a problem.

“Many years ago, when I was a young priest and had just come to St. Lad’s, I developed a...suspicion...over some months that Fr. Berowski was...abusing his position of authority. I began talking to the children, watching their behavior.... I know you’ve read all about the recent abuse scandals. There’s no easy way to say it...Fr. Berowski was raping little girls.” This poured out all at once, like water under pressure from a fire hose.

“I confronted him with my evidence and he denied it, said I was misinterpreting perfectly innocent things and that I must be the one with a problem. Admittedly, most of my evidence was hearsay, but when I went to the Bishop with my suspicions, he told me, essentially, that I was a young punk overstepping my bounds, and that I should respect my elders.

“So I began...surreptitiously...supervising his interactions with the children, and eventually caught him...fondling...an 8-year-old girl. I told him to turn himself in...and that I would if he didn’t. I was full of the passion for right and wrong....

“Rather than face the consequences...he hung himself...in the apse, above the altar and directly in front of the cross. He...compounded sin with mortal sin....” Uncle Jerzy paused, remembering the scene and feeling nauseated. “Everything was hushed up, of course,” he continued after a minute, “and since he was no longer a threat to the children, I agreed to secrecy...which is still the policy, it seems.”

Jerzy shook his head with disgust. “Could I get a drink, son?” he asked Justin.

Justin knew what his uncle drank, and came back with a bottle of good whiskey and a glass. He poured the first glassful and handed it to Jerzy, then set the bottle beside him on the table. Jerzy took a sip, and felt the alcohol burn its way down his throat. He got up and began pacing again as he talked, holding the glass tightly, as if to assure himself he was awake.

“I, frankly, had not thought of Fr. Berowski in some time.”

“How long ago was this?” Justin asked.

“A good thirty years...?” Jerzy thought for a few seconds, looking up at the ceiling. “More than....

“Then, about a year and a half ago.... I thought it was a trick of the mind. I saw him. I’d cleaned up after Mass, and was sitting in the front pew meditating. He was standing at the altar...as the celebrant would....

“I had been sitting quietly...praying...maybe napping a little. When I opened my eyes, he was glaring at me with such...venom. I got up, and he turned and went out into the sacristy. I followed as quickly as I could...but when I got back there...he was gone. I thought maybe I was dreaming...too much Polish sausage...or beer.

“About a month ago, I began to have...disturbing...and vivid dreams. Now...I have never in my life been attracted to little children.... I have prayed and fasted...and still I’m struggling every day against this. I feel...I feel I may be haunted by the ghost of Fr. Berowski...because he blames me. I...it’s all I can do to resist....” Jerzy rubbed his face again and took a long drink of the whiskey, this time emptying the glass. He refilled it and continued.

At one point, when Jerzy was facing away from Justin, Justin pulled the photo chip from his pocket that had the photos he took during the stakeout. He quietly dropped it on the floor and stepped on it with his heel, then bent and picked it up like he had found a piece of dirt tracked in from outside on his boot. There was no way to truly erase the chip, and he couldn’t allow the pictures to end up in the hands of anyone who might use them against his uncle.

“It’s like starving and wanting meat...that deep and feral a need. And I know this is not my nature. I’ve occasionally found myself attracted to adult women...and resisted the temptation because I still, every day, take refuge in the vows I took. I’ve prayed. I’ve fasted. I’ve researched how or why this might be happening....

“I just...I’m praying that this is of supernatural origin and that you can help me.” He looked from Justin to Karen to Naka and back to Justin, his eyes silently pleading. “I’m...afraid that someday I’ll weaken...and do something I cannot live with.” He looked down at the glass in his hands, his knuckles white with the tension of his own grip.

Justin went to his uncle and wrapped his arms around him. “I will not let you commit either sin,” he whispered in Jerzy’s ear, “even if it means I have to stop you myself.”

Though he almost looked asleep, his hands gently cupped in his lap, Naka was not simply meditating. He was letting the words of the others flow through him; his keen ears heard what Justin said and understood that they were spoken with the deepest love.

Karen didn’t need to hear the words to know what was in Justin’s heart, what he would be willing to do for his beloved uncle, even at the risk of his own soul.

“That...is the other problem,” Jerzy said quietly. “Those...are the other thoughts that cross my mind....”

“This is not YOU,” Justin told him firmly. “Maybe he’s not just a ghost. I mean...maybe he was driven to do what he did by something else.”

“I...didn’t think of that,” Jerzy said.

Master Naka opened his eyes. “If I may ask some questions...?”

“Of course,” Jerzy replied, sitting back down on the edge of the coffee table and facing Master Naka. “Please.”

“What age was Fr. Berowski when you confronted him?”

“In his early 40s.”

“And your age?”

“22 at the time. I’m in my late 50s now.”

“And at the time of Fr. Berowski’s unfortunate death, how did you feel?”

“I felt terrible...that I had driven him to it. And bad that...what he did was bad enough, but he compounded it. I do truly believe that suicide is the one unforgivable sin and agree completely with the Church’s stand with regard to it. And because I am finding myself gripped with this.... I don’t think it would be productive to seek help within the church.”

“Fr. Andrew once told me that despair is the worst sin...” Karen said quietly.

“Indeed,” Uncle Jerzy agreed, understanding her point.

“If I may continue, please? How long had you known Fr. Berowski before you were aware of his actions?”

“Only a few months.”

“Did you confer with other priests, if they knew of his actions or had noticed a change in his habits?”

“I tried to without being too direct. But it didn’t seem that they had noticed anything unusual. There were no other priests assigned to the parish, only a few who came to help on holidays, or when Fr. Berowski took a vacation.”

“How long had Fr. Berwoski been at St. Ladislaus when you got there?”

“Somewhere between 12 and 20 years.”

“Had other priests in your diocese served in their churches similar amounts of time?”

“Probably...but I’d have to go digging in records for more information than that. There’ve been many faces over many years.”

“Where do you sleep at night?”

“In a bedroom on the second floor of the rectory, in the back.” Jerzy seemed puzzled by the question.

“Was it Berowski’s?” Justin asked him.

“It may have been at some point,” Jerzy answered.

“But it is on the same campus as the church itself?” Master Naka asked.

“Yes.”

“And was the church, the building itself, ever purified...specifically after Fr. Berowski’s death?”

“Oh, yes. Of course.”

“Has anything happened in this time that might have messed things up?” Justin asked him.

“Nothing I can think of.”

“Any remodeling?” Karen asked. She knew that sometimes remodeling could make spirits more active. It seemed to bother them when their ‘homes’ were changed.

“We...got some new pews last year. A section of old ones were wearing out from use.”

“Was there an investigation?” Master Naka asked.

“Yes. But the Church quickly took control of the situation. The authorities soon determined that it was simply a suicide, and offered their condolences. It was my first experience with the monolithic power of the Church to keep its secrets. It works especially well when the detectives happen to also be parishioners. And the Medical Examiner managed to keep it from getting sensationalized in the press, saying only that he’d died.

“A couple of the girls surfaced during the recent trouble and were offered a settlement. I don’t think it’s adequate compensation, but I learned back then how to play the game.”

“So, even if we wanted to follow that line of investigation, we’d hit brick walls,” Justin said, sounding discouraged that the trail was being blocked before the team had even gotten started.

“You would. And, I have to admit that it would cause me trouble. But, more importantly, I believe those children have suffered enough, and I’m not sure I could bring myself to divulge their identities and open old wounds, even to help myself.” Fr. Jerzy paused, sipping the whiskey and staring into the golden liquid. “I’m having the most vile dreams, and I’m afraid that I’ll wake and find that it’s not a dream.”

“Karen, do you think...could you do a...?” Justin tried to ask, never remembering exactly how she referred to that particular Art that could interfere with ‘outside control’ of a person’s mind. He knew what to call the ‘Sphere,’ but it was different than that....

“You mean a Mental Shield. I could, but it wouldn’t last long, and depending on what’s going on, it might not help much. It’s...a skill I have,” she explained for the sake of Master Naka, “which blocks mental control by creatures of the Unknown, but only for a minute. And I can only do it once every 12 hours. In some situations, the ‘interruption’ can stop the control completely. But in others...”

“Like with Aiden, when he was ‘wolfing-out’...” Justin said.

“Right...it’s simply a reset button. And sometimes all it does is let ‘Them’ know you know They’re there...”

“Like with Hounds. I hadn’t thought of that,” Justin said.

Master Naka raised one eyebrow, not entirely believing all this talk of ‘super powers.’

“It’s different than doing a Sphere, which blocks physical attacks and drives off Unknown creatures. I can keep a Sphere up until I pass out from the strain, if I have to. But that won’t help with something like this. There doesn’t seem to be an actual presence.”

“Maybe you should go on sabbatical, Uncle Jerzy....” Justin suggested.

“How often are you dreaming?” Master Naka asked him.

“Every night,” Jerzy replied wearily.

“You are sleeping here tonight,” Master Naka told him.

“I can....”

“That was not a request.”

“Then it’s good I’m amenable,” Jerzy said, bristling slightly at being ordered around, the mental fatigue allowing his internal monologue to slip past the ‘filters.’

“And I will sit vigil,” Master Naka said softly, trying to sooth Fr. Jerzy’s feelings. “That is the correct word, is it not?”

“Yes,” Karen told him. “And I think that’s a good place to start the investigation. Let’s see if something is coming to him to cause the dreams, or if it’s coming from inside.”

“Is he using one of the guest rooms up here...or downstairs?” Justin asked. During the remodeling, they’d outfitted a couple of ‘cells’ in the basement, reinforced and soundproofed well enough to contain a werewolf...something they had experience with.

“A guest room, of course,” Karen told him. “None of us are 8-year-old girls.” She hoped that Uncle Jerzy didn’t think she was mocking him. But she didn’t feel that he would be a danger to any of them, especially not as long as there were at least two people ‘on guard.’ She wasn’t about to let another ‘Running Elk episode’ happen.

“I’ll need to pack some things,” Uncle Jerzy said.

“Good. That’ll give us a chance to check out the church,” Justin agreed. He started to turn toward the garage door, and Jerzy stopped him. He hugged Justin tight, like a drowning man grabbing the lifeguard who’s there to save him.

Justin wrapped his arms around his uncle and rubbed his back roughly. It was the same thing Jerzy had always done to Justin when Justin came to him with a problem, a way of letting him know that he believed in him and together they’d find a way to fix the problem. And for the first time, Justin realized, at least consciously, that he was bigger than his uncle (and probably had been, actually, for years.)

Justin, Karen and Master Naka dropped Fr. Colin off at St. Lad’s rectory. And when they got home, Master Naka said ‘goodnight’ and drove back to his hotel.

David wasn’t home yet, but there was a message on the answering machine from Leigh. David’s meeting was going well, and the people he was meeting with didn’t want to cut it short. So they were going to put him up at the hotel, and she and Tony had gone home for the night, feeling that he was safe enough at the casino.

At lunchtime the next day, Justin called around to get everyone who was available to meet at the clubhouse for dinner.

David didn’t answer his phone, so Justin called the hotel desk and was told that they would take a message for him. He’d been in his meeting half the night, and didn’t want to be disturbed until he woke up on his own.

Justin called Master Naka, and he said he would be there. Then he called Fr. Colin.

“Hello, Justin!” Fr. Colin answered. “What can I do far ye?”

Justin invited him for dinner.

“I’m in th’ middle of a chess game wi’ Jerzy right na,” Fr. Colin told him. “Sa I’ll have ta take a rain check on it. I’m t’inkin’ ‘a takin’ a couple mar days ‘a R ‘n R befar they figure out where I am an’ call me again.” He chuckled. “But call me if ye need me”

“You could always take one of the bunks at the clubhouse, if you really want to be completely incommunicado,” Justin offered.

“But I’d still have to bring th’ cell phone wi’ me,” Fr. Colin sighed.

“Right. Oh, and just a warning...he doesn’t cheat, even though it might seem like it.”

“Who doesn’ cheat?”

“Uncle Jerzy...at chess,” Justin said, laughing.

He called Tony and Leigh, next, and both said they’d be there.

When Justin got to the clubhouse, he found Tony making more measurements around the fire pole. “Just who are you getting to dance on it, anyway?” Justin asked him. “It’s a private club.”

“Den I’ll get private dancers.”

“You can’t bring civilians in here,” Justin warned him. “They’ll just be bait.”

“Or snack food,” Leigh agreed, getting out of her car. Karen and Master Naka pulled in moments later.

“So, Justin.... Whadda we hangin’ on da outside ‘a da door ta indicate dat da dance club part is... ‘occupied’?” Tony asked with a wink.

Justin rolled his eyes. “Nothing, because it won’t be.”

“Wanna know da tag-line for da club? ‘You’re only a stranger here once.’”

There was a unanimous “NO!” from the others.

“Come on! Elevated stage! T’ink about it!” Tony tried to garner support from Justin...unsuccessfully...and was left practically speechless as he was rebuffed again and again. He couldn’t help but think to himself ‘Oh...yeah...he WAS a truck driver in da Army.’ “Dude! You’re...you’re an old married guy now!” he finally blurted out.

“The bar is actually well made enough for people to be on it,” was all Justin would concede.

“I don’t think so,” Karen said. “We put food on that.” The bar also happened to be an extension of the kitchen counter, and it was where they laid out the food when there were too many people eating to put it on the table.

Master Naka went over and knocked on it thoughtfully, as if sizing it up.

“And a really good barricade,” Justin continued. “Teak...less splintering.”

“That’s good,” Leigh agreed.

“On da receiving end, sure,” Tony grumped. He was just being disagreeable, since the others kept shooting down his dance pole idea.

The discussion made Master Naka look at the place a little differently than he first had. Though the metal shutters should have been his first clue, he had thought they were just because the old fire house was not in a very good neighborhood. Now he realized that these people really did expect to be attacked here.

The fences and lighting weren’t just for appearances. The exterior and grounds were outfitted with an extensive security system.

And though it wasn’t plainly visible from the outside, upon further consideration, he realized that the door to Mr. Leonetti’s ‘lab’ must lead to a room that was actually located under the large yard.

The building’s roof didn’t have grass and plants on it just for the ecological benefits. On closer inspection, he found that some of the plants, in a small greenhouse until the weather got warmer, were for food, and others were protective herbs. They were all useful as well as beautiful.

And inside.... The walls were cream-colored, and there was a hand-painted trim around the ceiling in all the rooms. But the design wasn’t just decorative. It was made up of runes and other protective warding symbols from a variety of cultures, primarily European and Native American. Those must have been done by Mrs. Sorenson and Mrs. Kazotchek.

The kitchen had a full, institutional-style set-up, with large, fully-stocked freezers, refrigerator and pantry. There was enough food for many people to survive a long period. And there was a generator large enough to provide as much electricity as they would need for everything...and more.

Master Naka wondered if their fears and preparations were justified.

Tony had finally given up arguing about the dance pole idea, and the group ordered take-out food for dinner. While they were waiting for it to get there, a discussion started about which super hero each of them would be. Justin had been joking about wanting a belt with all kinds of cool gadgets, like Batman had.

“Dat’s fine. You can be Batman. I’d radder be Superman,” Tony told him.

“So does that mean you’re Robin?” Justin asked Karen.

“But he was a guy,” Tony objected.

“I dunno. I always kinda thought Catwoman was really cool,” Karen replied.

“So did I,” Leigh agreed.

“No offense, hon, but I think Leigh is more like Catwoman,” Justin said. “You know, with the martial arts and all. What about you being Wonder Woman?”

“You’re right. I’m not very good at that kind of stuff,” Karen admitted. “Hey! What about the girl from the Fantastic Four? The one who had that force field thing?”

“The Invisible Girl,” Justin said, “Sue Storm.”

“Susan Richards, you mean,” Leigh corrected.

“That’s right, after she married Reed,” Justin agreed.

The discussion continued over dinner. Both were interrupted at one point by a call from David.

When he’d finally gotten up, he went looking for lunch and drifted into the poker room. Now he was in the middle of a hot game and wasn’t sure when he’d be done. Karen told him to call whenever he needed to be picked up, and wished him luck.

Karen was hanging up the phone when Drew crawled out of the pocket of Master Naka’s coat, which was hanging on the back of his chair while he ate, and onto his lap. Master Naka didn’t seem at all fazed by this. In fact, he offered Drew a piece of food.

“So, what’s the story behind those ‘lucky cats’?” Justin asked him, noticing Drew. “Why is the paw up like that?”

“They are called Maneki Neko,” Master Naka said. “It means ‘Beckoning Cat.’ The legend is that the priest of an impoverished temple was very poor, but always shared what little food he had with his cat. During a storm, a very rich man took shelter under a tree near the temple gate. He saw the little cat beckoning him to come to the temple. He went closer to have a look at this unusual cat. No soon had he left the tree than it was struck by lightning. Thus, the rich man became friends with the priest, and neither the priest nor his pet cat went hungry again.”

When the five finished eating, Justin popped “Worst Case Scenario” in the DVD player, a horror movie with Zombi Nazis in balloons attacking England. He played the previews for the others, and Tony thought it looked hysterical.

Master Naka was now convinced that the team really were just the best amateur cinema enthusiasts/film-makers ever.

Karen thought the movie looked kind of stupid, so she went ‘surfing’ for documentaries on another TV. After a few minutes, Leigh and Master Naka joined her.

And everyone settled in for a quiet few hours before heading home for bed.

By the end of Wednesday night, everyone was pretty tired. David and Master Naka had an overwhelming amount of new information to process, and the Envoys were a little stressed over having to introduce complete newbies to this new way of seeing the world. Leigh took Angie home, and Tony crashed at the club house. Justin and Karen took Master Naka to his hotel, since he’d made arrangements before coming to the States, and then took David home to stay with them.

The next morning, David wanted to make the rounds of the casinos, to talk to his contacts about finding some work to keep him busy. Karen had office hours that day and, since she’d just handed back her students’ mid-term exams and there were only a few days until Spring Break, she knew she would have too many students coming in to consider cancelling them completely. Justin had already gone to work, so Karen called Leigh.

Leigh went out shopping early that morning, and her cell never seemed to get a strong enough signal when she was inside Eastern Market. Karen left her a message and called Tony. She was just explaining to Tony what David needed when Leigh called back. Both Tony and Leigh were free that day, so they volunteered to shuttle David around together.

By lunch time, Karen had finished editing all the information the team had collected about their SAVE work and was ready to give the rest of it to Master Naka. The team had given him what they could the night before. But Karen thought it might be prudent to delete the names, addresses and phone numbers of contacts they’d met over the past couple years. She wasn’t quite ready to pass that kind of personal information on to someone they’d just met who wasn’t even a member of SAVE.

She called Justin and asked if he wanted to have lunch with her while she was out taking the data to Master Naka. Justin suggested having Master Naka and Fr. Colin, if he was still in town, as well as Aiden and Angie meet them for lunch. With David busy, it would give them a chance to talk freely with Master Naka, to find out just how much he knew.

They called Master Naka first, and he told them he would meet them at their house shortly.

They called Aiden next, because if he and Angie were at home, Angie was less likely to answer. Aiden sounded out of breath when he answered. “Free for lunch?” Justin asked him.

“Can’t. I’m at work right now,” Aiden told him.

“How about Angie?” Justin asked.

“She’s...” Aiden paused and checked his watch. “She’s in New York by now. She got a call early this morning. Her dad had a heart attack last night, so she went home to paste her mom back together.”

“Shit. Wow. OK...let her know we’re thinking about her when you talk to her, and let us know how her dad’s doing. And tell her she’d better call if she needs anything.”

“Will do,” Aiden told the two.

Karen got home a couple minutes before Justin, since she worked closer to home. They were just finishing their conference call with Aiden when Justin arrived; and Master Naka got there a minute later. He’d gotten a room at a hotel as close to their house as he could, and a rental car since he didn’t know how long he would be in Detroit. So the drive over took only a short time.

While Karen took Master Naka’s coat and got him settled in the kitchen, Justin called Fr. Colin.

“Top ‘a the marnin’ ta ye,” Fr. Colin answered. “Glad ye called. Have ye got a bit a’ time ta chat?”

Justin was so surprised that Fr. Colin actually answered right away that he almost forgot why he’d called the priest. “Dr. Nakatomi is here,” he blurted out. “Can you join us for lunch?”

There was a knock on the front door, and Justin went to answer it, grabbing the gun from the kitchen drawer on his way. Since he was wearing his ear bud, it didn’t interfere with him talking to Fr. Colin.

“Ah! Didn’ know ‘e’d make it here sa fast!” Fr. Colin said.

Justin opened the door with his left hand, the gun hidden behind the door in his right. Fr. Colin was standing on the porch, cell phone to his ear. He grinned broadly at Justin. Justin swung the door open all the way and invited Fr. Colin inside.

“Trouble lately?” Fr. Colin asked, seeing the gun. “Er just mar’ paranaid?”

Justin lead him to the kitchen. “Neither, really.”

Master Naka stood at the sound of Fr. Colin’s voice.

“Ah! Naka! Good ta see ye!” Fr. Colin wrapped the slightly smaller man in a bear hug.

Justin stowed the gun back in its drawer. “So, where should we go?” he asked.

“I can just make something here,” Karen told him. “Then we can talk freely.”

“I don’t want you serving me like some slave,” Justin told her.

“I don’t wan’ta put ye ta any trouble, lass,” Fr. Colin said. The subtle crease between her eyebrows told him she was already a little stressed. “Can I make ye some tea while we talk about it?”

Karen rolled her eyes and wondered if Justin was just trying to save Master Naka from her cooking. She wasn’t really that bad; but she was no gourmet chef. “Tea would be nice,” she told Fr. Colin warmly.

Fr. Colin filled the kettle and put it on the burner, then started preparing the tea pot. “Tea, Naka?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Are you vegetarian, Master Naka?” Karen asked, still thinking about their lunch options. There were plenty of places that offered vegetarian meals, but a few that would definitely be off the list if he was.

“I am.”

That seemed to stymie Justin, and he tried to think of vegetarian restaurants. Personally, he preferred a good steak, or fall-off-the-bone-tender ribs, or roast, or....

“Do you like Greek?” Karen asked. There were plenty of vegetarian offerings at Greek restaurants.

“I have not had it since Knossos.”

“Then I know the perfect place,” Karen said. “We’ll go to Pegasus, in Greektown.”

“Sa...what have they told ye sa far, Naka?” Fr. Colin asked his friend, as the tea steeped.

“Something about Dr. Carter reading ‘the card.’”

“We have another young man joining us, too,” Karen told Fr. Colin. “David Red Elk. He was sent by Weeping Sparrow to be ‘my apprentice.’” Karen grinned. She wondered how long it would be before she felt even moderately comfortable with that idea.

“He has his law degree from U of M, specializing in Corporate and Business law, and he passed both the Michigan and US bars. But his father wanted him to study with a shaman, and apparently Weeping Sparrow thinks I have something to learn, too, and sent him to me,” she explained. “Right now, he is absolutely certain that we’re all nuts and has no intention of being duped by us. So we couldn’t very well talk freely in front of him yet.”

“Well, I s’pose ‘e’ll be findin’ out soon enough,” Fr. Colin said.

“Hopefully before his face gets chewed off by a zombi,” Justin complained. It was still bothering him that the guy just refused to believe what he was seeing on the recordings.

“Anyway, Leigh and Tony are shuttling him around to the casinos right now,” Karen told the other two men. “He’s gonna need something to fill his time when I’m at work, and his contacts should be able to give him something to keep him busy until we can make a believer of him.”

They continued to chat over their tea, made perfectly in the Irish manner. “Well, I can take ye over ta the house, Naka. But I don’ t’ink Feng Shui is gonna fix it,” Fr. Colin told him.

“That is Chinese.”

Fr. Colin blushed at his mistake. “Sarry. Sa...do ye want ta tell about yer experiences, Naka?”

“Well, judging by your friends’ experiences, I have had nothing similar. I have read much in the literature.”

“What about Kitsune?” Fr. Colin prompted him.

Justin and Karen looked quizzically from one man to the other.

“Like Coyote in the Native American traditions,” Master Naka explained. “A trickster.”

“Can they possess people or objects, too?” Justin asked.

“They can, but it is not their usual mode of operation. I have also studied Hengokai.”

“Wait,” Justin interrupted, setting down his cup. “So Dr. Nakatomi has never encountered anything?” he asked Fr. Colin.

“Neither had most of us before our first time,” Karen pointed out. She thought about all the people she’d met over the past few years, including Justin. He’d had a horrifying encounter with the Unknown in Iraq; and yet, when the team went out on its first investigation, he was still a little overwhelmed by what they encountered. As was she, even though she’d been seeing ghosts all her life.

At least Dr. Nakatomi believed in the existence of the Unknown already. Some of the people that had become Envoys with their team, like Angie and Gary, didn’t know anything at all about that stuff before being dragged in by a friend’s struggle with it.

“So he’s a virgin?” Justin asked incredulously.

Fr. Colin put his napkin to his mouth and tried to suppress his laughter without shooting tea out his nose. “Well, if we’re done, why don’ we head up ta th’ house?” he said, dabbing the tears from the corners of his eyes.

“We could pick up something to eat on the way,” Justin suggested.

“We can’t stay there long anyway,” Karen said. “It isn’t safe. So why don’t we just go downtown and eat when we’re done there.”

The four took Justin and Karen’s car, and headed up to Warren. Along the way, Karen explained how Mental Shields and Spheres of Protection worked.

She and Justin wouldn’t be approaching within the perimeter Weeping Sparrow had marked the first time she’d been there, she told the men. Their close relationship made them too attractive to the attention of the Evil. But they would be as close as was safe, and they would be keeping an eye on the men, in case they needed help.

“The Shield only lasts for a minute,” she finished as Justin drove up Dequindre, “and I can only do it once every twelve hours.”

“You should probably save that for when we’re done, unless it’s an emergency,” Justin suggested.

Karen nodded. She and Justin were both a little surprised that the house didn’t try to divert them this time. But then, it wasn’t trying to prevent them from stopping a rape this time, either. Justin pulled into the driveway behind the shop and rolled up just until they could see the house. Fr. Colin and Dr. Nakatomi got out and walked over to the house.

Near the fire pit left behind by Weeping Sparrow the last time she was there, Master Naka sat down and began to meditate. Fr. Colin stood beside him, his head bowed and hands clasped behind his back, a rosary woven between his fingers.

As Master Naka sat there, he noticed that he could not hear any birds singing. Even in urban areas, there were normally birds. As he considered this, he realized that he could hear none of the normal suburban sounds. Even the ubiquitous sounds of traffic seemed muted, though they were very close to a major road. He didn’t feel directly the Evil presence, but he could tell that it was affecting this space. To have such an effect, it must be quite strong.

After about ten minutes, Master Naka effortlessly rose to his feet from Lotus position. He looked at Fr. Colin, who nodded. The men returned to the car.

“Well?” Justin asked, turning to look over the back of the seat at them.

“It’s deep and old and....” Fr. Colin started

“I don’t think an exorcism is going to do it,” Master Naka finished.

“We could bless th’ place,” Fr. Colin suggested. “But th’ beastie inside isn’ gonna like it.”

“It’s older than Catholicism,” Justin told them.

“Perhaps older than the Buddha,” Master Naka agreed. “I can understand why Weeping Sparrow feels it is necessary to be concerned about it. I am very interested in speaking with her.”

“We can certainly go up and talk to her when she’s feeling up to it,” Karen told him.

“It occurred ta me,” Fr. Colin explained, “that perhaps a different philosophy might have a better chance of sinkin’ inta its weak spots. Naka speaks sa knowledgeably that I didn’ realize that ‘e’d never encountered the Adversary.”

“The Adversary?” Master Naka asked.

“People call it different t’ings,” Fr. Colin said. “I call it th’ Devil. But I’ve been around Jesuits enough ta know that not everyone does th’ same.”

“Now...we were speaking of lunch?” Master Naka said, smiling.

When the four got to Pegasus, they asked for one of the small private rooms, and began to talk again after ordering.

“You said you had more of your research for me?” Master Naka asked Karen. She nodded and handed him the thumb drive loaded with everything else she was able to gather. She had never really bothered keeping notes herself. But most of the others had kept info about the team’s cases, usually in electronic form. Karen simply made copies of it all, and edited out personal information about SAVE contacts and some of the victims they’d helped.

Justin glanced over at Karen, and nodded. She got the hint and raised a Mental Shield. She winced at the effort it took, but there was a subtle change in the air. It was like there had been a constant loud noise that they’d gotten so used to being there, they didn’t notice it until it was gone.

Neither Fr. Colin not Master Naka had even felt the weight of darkness pressing down on them until the Shield removed it. Even Justin straightened a little, as if Karen had opened a window and let fresh air and light into a dim, musty room. She glanced around at the men, and they all nodded their thanks.

“So, what do you think about the Hell Mouth?” Justin asked Master Naka.

“It is an interesting challenge.”

Justin and Karen described the effects the Evil there seemed to be causing, from the increased incidence of domestic problems in a wide area around the property, to the things they’d personally felt when inside the house, to the incident with Vinny and Marie.

“So It has a significant environmental effect,” Master Naka said.

“And it seems to be getting worse,” Fr. Colin added.

“What is feeding It?” Master Naka asked.

“We think It feeds on the ill feelings It creates by Its presence,” Karen told him.

“Ah. It is creating a field of effect and potentiating itself.”

“It seems ta have a t’ing far destroyin’ good relationships,” Fr. Colin agreed.

“So, what do you know about SAVE, Father?” Karen asked the priest.

“Only what Damian told me. They’re meddlin’, they recklessly endanger others, and yet they’re oddly effective. I t’ink that’s what stuck in ‘is craw. Every time ‘is team and a SAVE team got inta somethin’ together, ‘e lost men and they didn’t. An’ they were mostly women.” He grinned and winked at Karen.

“You keep referring to ‘critical mass,’” Master Naka said. “Presumably you do not mean in regards to nuclear reactors.”

Karen laughed. It wasn’t far off.

“No,” Justin replied. “Frank, this other guy who’s part of the team but taking a break to deal with some other things right now, had this idea that if too many SAVE Envoys get together in one place, we attract ‘attention.’”

“Ah! You’ve gained a reputation,” Master Naka said, almost admiringly.

“That’s not such a good thing when you’re talking about the Unknown..or the Adversary...or whatever,” Karen told him.

“My first experience was when I was a grease monkey for the Army, in Iraq,” Justin said.

“Why don’cha tell ‘im about it,” Fr. Colin suggested.

Justin took a deep breath while he thought about it. Karen wondered if he would. She thought it might help him if he talked about it more, got it off his chest. But she knew it was extremely painful for him, like talking about her time in the ‘hospital’ was for her.

Justin let out a long sigh and stuck his head out the door to wave over a waiter. “Can I get some ouzo, please?”

“Of course, sir.” The waiter disappeared.

Master Naka grimaced when Justin asked for the ouzo.

“Sorry about the drinking, but it helps me get through the story,” Justin told him.

“It is not that,” Master Naka said. “It is your choice of beverage. Excuse me, but it brings back memories of a very bad pub crawl.”

“Now, I didn’ farce ye ta drink it,” Fr. Colin objected. “In fact, if I remember, it was a dare that I didn’ instigate.”

All four laughed, and the waiter came back with a bottle and four glasses. Justin downed a glass right away, then poured himself another, which he fidgeted with as he began talking.
Fr. Colin poured a glass for himself, and another for Karen when she nodded. But when he offered Master Naka some, the professor simply held up his hand to decline, with the hint of a smile.

Justin told Master Naka about how the creatures attacked and overran the base, killing every living person they came across. No amount of bullets seemed to stop the things; and the soldiers, both men and women, were forced, again and again, to pull back. They called for evacuation, but by the time the choppers got there, loaded up, and lifted off, only 15 soldiers were left alive from the full unit of more than 200.

“When they got us back to HQ, we were debriefed,” Justin told them. “Three days of tellin’ the story over and over, and they weren’t believin’ it anyway. All the Army wanted to do was hush it up because it wasn’t makin’ sense. So I finally gave up and went along with the story they told me I was s’posed to be tellin’. Otherwise, it would’ve meant a Section 8.”

He slumped back in the chair and threw back what was left of the ouzo in his glass. But when he leaned forward to pour more, he had to stop or risk squishing Drew against the table. The small cat climbed onto Justin’s chest and curled up there, purring.

Both Karen and Justin quickly checked for wait staff. “You always seem to know when someone needs you, don’t you?” Justin whispered to the cat. “Just, if anyone else comes in here, don’t get caught.” Drew head-butted Justin’s chin, then crawled down between his arm and the arm of the chair.

“So...how much do you want to know about SAVE?” Karen asked Fr. Colin and Master Naka. If they were ready to commit to membership in the ‘club,’ she would tell them everything she knew. But if not, then she would help them in any way she could short of giving them information that might put a contact at risk. Or, at least at any more risk than they were at already.

“Societas Argenti Viae Eternitata,” Master Naka said. “I know a little.”

“A ghost-bustin’ arginization ‘a sarts,” Fr. Colin added. “It’s not as active now, after somethin’ wiped out a lot ‘a th’ members back in th’ 80s.”

“I am aware of the organization,” Master Naka continued. “Like many, it grows slowly, gently, then its prominence brings too much attention.”

“The attention had help,” Justin told them.

“Like the Knights Templar,” Master Naka replied.

“Depends on who ye talk ta,” Fr. Colin told him.

“Lots of people have contact with the ‘other side,’” Justin said. “Sometimes the bad plays with the good. Other times the good fights back. That’s when the target gets drawn on you.”
“Joining SAVE doesn’t get the target off, but it gives you at least a modicum of back-up if you need it,” Karen added. “Certainly people can survive on their own after interacting with the Unknown. I lived most of my life interacting to a small extent with ghosts and am still here to talk about it. But I’ve come to realize that it’s only because I wasn’t a threat to the Unknown until I joined SAVE and started fighting It.

“I don’t know what the survival rate is for people who fight the Unknown on their own. It isn’t that great for Envoys. But it’s worse for people who joined SAVE then later decided to leave behind the safety net they’d grown accustomed to. That’s why I don’t want to force David into it unless he’s totally committed.”

“Sa,” Fr. Colin said brightly, “I wonder if Weepin’ Sparrow is lookin’ far a fella.” There was a gleam of mischief in his eye as he looked over at Master Naka.

“Age brings experience and wisdom and stamina,” Master Naka replied. “Until you’ve had Buddhist Tantric sex with a partner 15 years older than you, you do not know.” His eye glittered with mischief as well.

Justin and Karen just blushed.

“I gave it up about 15 years ago, for Lent,” Fr. Colin joked. “But I do know a little about it.”

“Better than a ham sandwich,” Justin teased him, referring to an old joke. “Do ya like the hat?” He made a little motion with his hand.

When he saw the blank looks on the faces of the other three, he told the whole joke, about how the ‘Sign of the Cross’ came to be: “Hey, you tall guys and you little guys, off’a the lawn Do ya like the hat?” The ‘Do you like the hat’ part referred to the little wave the Pope gives when he’s speaking from the balcony in St. Peter’s Square.

Then Justin rubbed his stomach and complained about having switched from the beer he had with lunch to the ouzo he had with the horror story.

“I’ve been resistin’ crossin’ th’ line,” Fr. Colin told Master Naka, “but I’ve seen some t’ings that would curl yer hair...if ye had any.” He grinned at his old friend. “95% of cases of possession are mental health issues. But the other 5%.... I didn’ realize, because ye speak sa knowledgeably, that ye didn’ have direct experience. But yer in th’ right place now. These people break th’ law of averages. An’ there must be somethin’ in th’ water, because they have a recurrin’ problem with zombies.”

“Well, it IS the Detroit River we’re talking about,” Karen laughed. She looked at her watch. She did have office hours that afternoon; but most of the students she expected to visit her had already come in that morning. “We could go to Mt. Pleasant this afternoon, if you’d like, Master Naka...so you can talk with Weeping Sparrow....” She looked at the others, waiting for their thoughts on the idea.

“Well, I’ll have a couple days off...unless someone calls,” Fr. Colin said. “But since I didn’ leave a travel itinerary....” He grinned. He’d been working hard the past few months, more so than usual. The Holy See didn’t generally condone taking vacations when there was an unusual outbreak of possessions taking place around the world. But if he didn’t take a couple days off to relax, he might not have the energy to do his job as well as he needed to.

“There are a few things I would like to retrieve from my car before we leave,” Master Naka requested, “if it is not too much trouble.”

On the way, Karen called Leigh and Tony to let them know that she and Justin would be taking Master Naka and Fr. Colin to visit Weeping Sparrow. If they weren’t back by the time David was done, she asked Leigh to stay with David at their house.

The group’s first stop, when they got to the reservation, was at the tribal police department. They would know where Weeping Sparrow was, since Karen wasn’t sure if they would be keeping her at the hospital or at her own home. Gordon One Tree, a nice guy who had been one of Weeping Sparrow’s bodyguards about 5 years ago, was at the front desk.

“She’s in the ‘Shaman Ward’ at the hospital,” Gordon joked. “I’ll lead you over there.” He tossed a ring of keys to another officer and led the group back the way they had come in. He grabbed a mountain bike from the rack near the curb as the others got into the car, and they followed slowly as he pedaled ahead.

“I thought you knew the way to the hospital,” Justin commented to Karen.

“I do,” she replied. “The escort is just kind of a ‘respect’ thing.” Most everyone in the tribe knew she was one of Weeping Sparrow’s students and a close friend. That relationship accorded her a certain level of attention, to which she’d actually become accustomed over the years, though she always thought it was a little unnecessary.

When they got there, Gordon parked the bike in the rack and held the door open for Karen. He gave Master Naka a respectful bow as he followed her through. Fr. Colin got a nod, and Justin, bringing up the rear, got a grin and a slap on the back. Then Gordon jogged ahead and led them toward the back of the building. At the end of a hallway, he pushed open half of a double door, and the group walked out into a large atrium.

The room was filled with green, growing plants, including a few larger trees. Steel trusses supported a glass ceiling, which allowed in natural light, and an artificial pond in one corner housed goldfish. There were even a couple large cages with finches and doves of several types, for patients to enjoy.

Smack in the middle of the space was Weeping Sparrow, in a bed with no electrical equipment attached. Running Elk had a bed nearby, and Evan, Fran and Jimmy were sitting between the two.

“See ya later,” Gordon told them, waving as he let the door close behind them.

“How are you, ma’am?” Justin asked, as the four approached Weeping Sparrow’s bed.

Weeping Sparrow nodded, and Justin quickly looked around for a white board or something for her to write on.

“I can talk,” she whispered, sensing his intentions. “I just don’t much, yet.”

Master Naka bowed deeply to her.

“Colin, you should introduce your handsome friend,” Weeping Sparrow whispered loudly.

Fr. Colin grinned. “I make known ta ye Dr. Ryokuro Nakatomi.”

Weeping Sparrow offered the professor her hand, which he took and kissed.

“I have heard much about you,” Master Naka told her. “I look forward to speaking with you when it is more comfortable for you.”

“It’s nice to have visitors,” she replied warmly. “Where’s David, Essiban?” she asked.

“He wanted to meet with contacts at the casinos today,” Karen told her. “Tony and Leigh are driving him around. He’s not at all willing to believe in any of the things we’ve told him so far. In fact, I think he thinks we’re all crazy.” Karen grinned.

Master Naka mirrored her expression. He had also noted David’s firm refusal to accept even the possibility of the truth to which he was being introduced.

“He has a great talent that he refuses to accept,” Weeping Sparrow said. “He has suppressed it so thoroughly that he may not even know he has it.”

“He seemed a little surprised to find out Karen was white,” Justin laughed.

Weeping Sparrow grinned, a twinkle in her eye. She had obviously anticipated that.

“At least she’s not as dumb as her white husband,” Justin said.

“Mons, you are knowledgeable in other ways,” Weeping Sparrow told him. “I think it will be good for you,” she said to Karen. “I know it will be good for him. In fact, his disbelief my provide some protection for you. Dr. Nakatomi, what brings you here?”

“Besides Fr. Colin? Your student’s house and the troubles of her and her husband. But to this room? I’ve heard you are a very wise and knowledgeable woman, and we can have many very good conversations.”

“We just came from the house,” Karen told her. But before her mentor’s frown was even fully formed, Karen explained that she and Justin had stayed as far away as possible while still keeping an eye on the other two men, who needed to ‘meet’ It in order to determine if they could help.

Weeping Sparrow nodded, understanding the necessity of going there, and approving of her student’s precautions. “You are Buddhist?” she asked Master Naka. The two proceeded to discuss Eastern thought for a few minutes, and Weeping Sparrow asked insightful questions that showed she was not merely being polite.

After about ten minutes of visiting, Weeping Sparrow was showing signs of tiring.

“I will look forward to having more conversations with you,” Master Naka said with a slight bow.

“I do have one important question for you before you go,” she told him. “Are you married?”

Justin blushed.

“I am not. And Mr. Kazotchek,” Master Naka said, “I believe this is in reference to your house, not to herself.”

Weeping Sparrow grinned. She was being a little playful, and it made Karen feel better to see her being more like her old self.

From across the room, the nurse gave the four a stern look.

“We should probably get going now, and let you rest,” Justin told her.

Weeping Sparrow nodded. “Stay a few minutes,” she said to Karen, holding out her hand.

Karen took it and sat in the chair beside the bed. Justin took Fr. Colin and Master Naka over to meet Running Elk, Jimmy, Fran and Evan.

Weeping Sparrow slowly drifted off to sleep, her hand warm in Karen’s. Karen dug in her pockets, and pulled out a pretty little stone she’d found on campus the other day. Careful not to wake the older woman, she slipped her hand free and wrapped Weeping Sparrow’s hand around the stone. Then she stopped to give Running Elk and the rest of the posse hugs before she and Justin, Fr. Colin and Master Naka returned to Detroit.

With the thought of having to give the two ‘visitors’ “The Speech,” came the sudden realization that it might put the group gathered there at ‘critical mass.’ Three Envoys didn’t generally draw enough attention from the Universe for trouble to start. But five? Somehow, Leigh, Justin and Karen figured that might tip the scales enough to bring Trouble...with a capitol T and that rhymes with E and that stands for Envoys.

“Think maybe we should head over to the ‘clubhouse?’” Justin asked. His latest project had been renovating an old abandoned firehouse into a new clubhouse for the team. He figured that a ‘safe house’ couldn’t really be safe if people were streaming in and out all the time. But if they ‘hid’ in plain sight, then they could keep the safe house for emergencies. And maybe everyone would get in the habit of gathering at a clubhouse rather than at their house, too.

So he’d bought a couple old buildings for use by the team. One was a warehouse in the ‘burbs, that they could use for training purposes. It was large enough for Justin and Angie to set up attack and defense simulations for the team to run through; reinforced for Tony, Justin and Angie to try out new weapons; and sound-proofed so that no one outside could hear the gunfire during target practice. And it had an office that had been converted to sleeping space, with bunk beds, in case a training session ran late.

The other was the firehouse. It was perfectly designed for a team hang-out. There was a large ‘dorm’ space with beds and bathrooms; a garage large enough for everyone’s vehicles to fit at once; a kitchen; an office, for doing research or making phone calls; a ‘living room’ with a couple TVs, multiple video game units with their own monitors over in a corner, and a large table for eating and meetings; and even a gym, with weight machines and other training equipment, an area with mats for sparring, and space for stretching, yoga, tai chi and other types of exercise.

Karen and Leigh agreed with Justin’s suggestion. “OK. This ‘team’ we’re on has a ‘clubhouse’ of sorts. We’re gonna take you there before we go any further,” Karen told Nakatomi and Red Elk.

“Sounds like I’m joining a frat,” David said.

“Sort of, but more dangerous,” Karen told him.

“Yeah. The hazing comes after you join,” Justin warned him.

They drove over without saying much to the two, and pulled into the parking bay, lowering the door behind them. Aiden’s truck was already in there. “Other members of the ‘club,’” Karen told Nakatomi and Red Elk.

Though the surprise wasn’t as apparent on David’s face this time, it was clear that he wasn’t really expecting the place to look like a frat house inside. But that is how it looked. Aiden and Angie had obviously been making out on the couch, though they stopped the minute they heard someone coming in. There were a couple empty beer cans on the table, and one of the TVs was on with the DVD menu screen showing.

“Don’t you two have a home where you could do that?” Justin teased them.

“Not with a big screen TV for watching movies and kicking your ass at Halo,” Angie shot back with a grin.

Leigh and Dr. Nakatomi sat down at the table and began chatting quietly.

“Could I...could we talk, privately?” David asked Karen in Ojibwah.

“Sure. Let’s go to the office,” she replied in English. She figured he was testing her, to see just how much she knew of the language, how much she deserved to be considered a tribal ‘shaman.’ But she wasn’t going to get into the game of speaking a language in front of other people that they didn’t understand. Karen led him to a door at the back of the room. There was a large window in the door, so that someone inside the office could still see what was going on outside it, and a curtain, in case privacy was needed.

“Are you sure this isn’t a frat?” David asked, still speaking Ojibwah, as Karen shut the door behind them, leaving the curtain open.

Now that they were in the office, she slipped into fluent Ojibwah as well. She would never sound like a native speaker. But then, even most Ojibwa didn’t. It was rarely taught as a first language these days, though more and more tribal members were trying to get their language into common use within the tribe.

“I guess, in a way, it is, kind of. But when you do a job like this, you get pretty close to your companions, pretty fast.”

“And that is...?”

“We...deal with the things that go bump in the night. Some of us have special...abilities that help us...like, I see ghosts. Weeping Sparrow calls it ‘Spirit Talking.’”

David stared at Karen like she’d grown a second head. “Riiight....”

“Other people in the group can Heal or restore energy or clear the minds of those around them when they’re afraid.... But not everyone does stuff like that. Some rely on their brains and weapons training and street smarts to do it.”

“So, what DO you do?”

“Well, we fight.... Let’s start at the beginning. How much do you know about the things that Weeping Sparrow does? I mean...” Karen asked him.

“She gives lots of advice to lots of people in the tribe, who regard her as akin to the...somewhere between a priest and a psychiatrist. Helps make people feel better about things that are going on in their life...using metaphor and allegory that people understand.”

There was a pregnant pause, as Karen thought about David’s answer. It was quite apparent that he wasn’t a ‘believer.’ It wasn’t just that he didn’t believe in the Unknown. He didn’t believe in tribal legends and lore, either. She couldn’t fault him for that. Many people who’d been raised in Christian households didn’t believe in the Bible as being anything more than metaphors and allegories. And the ones who did believe it was the actual word of God were generally fanatic nut-jobs.

“I don’t do any of that shit,” Karen told David bluntly.

“OK.”

“I am nowhere near...as wise as she is. Which is the only reason that I am...not just, you know, putting you in a cab and sending you back up to Mt. Pleasant right now. Because I suspect that she...knows that there are things that we both need to learn and I’m willing to trust her wisdom. But...”

“Personally, I think she’s just testing to make sure that I’m not quite the, uh, flaming racist that my father is. But....”

Karen burst out laughing. “Oh! Well! That may be true too!”

“But, well, in order to get along with him I’ve learned to put on quite an act...and you wouldn’t believe at U of M how much they eat up the poor, oppressed Indian routine.”

Karen laughed again. “Yes, I would. They eat it up at MSU, too.”

“I’m sure.”

“They’ve got an entire program there dedicated to Native law and such. So...”

“I’m sure that must be interesting.”

“Yeah....”

“But, well, now that we’ve got kind of the...basics out of the way...” David said.

“Unh hunh...”

Through the window, Karen saw Tony come in and plop down in a chair beside Justin’s. “So...who’s dat guy?” he asked Justin, nodding toward Dr. Nakatomi.

“New guy. Fr. Colin sent him,” Justin replied quietly. “Karen’s in the office with another one, that Weeping Sparrow sent.”

“My father is the Senior Vice President of Outside Relations for Soaring Eagle Casino...” David continued.

“Oh! Wow!”

“And...has, through money, gotten a position in the tribe that we probably couldn’t have gotten any other way. And is now seeking to buy respectability in the tribe by having a son...”

“Who’s a shaman,” Karen finished the thought for him.

“Yes...who’s a shaman.”

“A lawyer isn’t good enough, apparently, right?”

“Oh, no. It’s a ‘white man’s title.’ But he did want me to....”

“OK. And THAT is why the white man took away all the Indian’s land,” Karen said, with a disgusted snort.

“And, well, having folks that are familiar with the outside laws and capable of prosecuting the cases that still haven’t had statutes of limitations run out, for getting back whatever we can, I’m definitely in favor of...”

“Yeah.”

“And I have passed both my Michigan State and US bar exams, so...”

“Wow, nice.”

“I am, actually, a lawyer.”

“Oh, I didn’t doubt that,” Karen told him. “Actually, it’s kind of nice...ya know, the thought of having a lawyer right here, considering what we’ve just been going through, and...”

“Um...my area of expertise is Corporate and Business law...”

“Yeah, but...you understand some things...”

“I did have to go through all the basics, so....” David shrugged. “And from what I understand from what I’ve gathered from the folks that Weeping Sparrow has affiliated with down here, I was also considering that perhaps my legal skills might be of use to you and your associates.”

“Occasionally. We had another lawyer that was here for a while, but there were problems with his wife being abducted and he had, in the wake of that, returned to New York.”

“Oh, my.”

“There is...no metaphors here...there’s a lot of things going on in this world that you don’t see.”

“OK.... Yes, they call them politics.”

“Politics is not far off,” Karen told him, quite seriously. “The way the religious right has taken over the current state of the US government...um...”

“Well, religions and government are always in an interesting relationship...”

“Well, it’s not strictly the religious leaders and the government leaders who are pulling all the strings. We think there are things beyond that, outside of that...”

“Ah! The Rockefellers!”

Out in the living room, Tony kept glancing over at the office. “Ya t’ink it’s time ta send Aiden in wit’ da card yet?” he asked Justin.

“Unh uh.” Justin shook his head. “Besides, him and Angie are still playing on the pole.” He nodded towards the pole that came down from the bunk room to the locker room. He was joking, of course, since Aiden and Angie were still on the couch.

“Yeah...speakin’a dat...I wuz t’inkin’ dat we should put a stage around it,” Tony told Justin. “Ya know, fer dancin’.”

“No,” Justin said.

“I’ve heard that is a new exercise fad,” Leigh commented. Not that she was in favor of Tony’s plan, but just something she’d seen online.

“Yeah! See? When we have women over fer parties....”

“Maybe we should make YOU dance around it, Tony,” Angie suggested.

Aiden looked slightly green at the thought.

“Absolutely not. Nobody’s dancing around it,” Justin said immediately.

“But...we could use it fer parties...and da showers, too....”

There was a deafening silence.

“We are not inviting civilians in here, for parties or anything else.” Justin’s tone was slow and measured and serious.

“But...I t’ought dis wuz a clubhouse, not a safe house.” Tony crossed his arms over his chest, slumped down in the chair and pouted.

“And...Evil, in this world, is not strictly a metaphor,” Karen continued, “for people doing bad things. There...we deal with...me and my friends...and Weeping Sparrow as well...with trying to fight the Evil that’s in this world with capabilities that not everyone is granted by God...or Whoever...or Whatever.” Karen laughed and shrugged.

“Uh, quick question... Am I gonna have to run naked through the streets or get paddled to join this club?” David asked.

“No. No...no naked....” Karen raised her hands and waved them in front of her, chuckling, but also definitely turning a little pink. “Tony was just talking about that a few days ago, naked people dancing on the fire pole or something....”

“I wasn’t sure, so....”

“No. Actually any nakedness you want to do is entirely up to you...or non-nakedness.... No paddling. No nakedness....”

“I don’t have to drink any Kool-Aid, right?”

“Nope. No Kool-Aid.”

“Alright.”

“Well, I mean, you CAN drink Kool-Aid, if you like, if that’s what you like to drink....”

Karen was interrupted by Justin knocking on the office door. “Honey? Is there anything going on just yet, or can we turn just on the big screen?”

“You can turn on the big screen....”

“Good. I’m gonna go whup Angie’s ass at Halo.”

“You and what army?!” Angie hollered from the couch.

“Me and whatever the name of the Halo army is. I don’t care,” Justin replied, shutting the office door.

“Puh! Hah!”

“What? You wanna go online? Let’s make it big!” Justin challenged her.

“Let’s make it big,” she growled back. She grabbed the game controller from the coffee table and got comfortable. Aiden got up and moved to the table, with Leigh and Dr. Nakatomi. He wasn’t getting in the middle of this.

“You’ll excuse me, but...this really does sound like a lot of college fraternities,” David said, as the door shut. They could still hear Justin and Angie talking trash.

“I don’t know. I haven’t been in that many college.... In fact, I’ve been in NO college fraternities,” Karen told him.

“Really? I’d have thought that someone like you would’ve gotten asked to quite a few of them,” David told her.

Karen blushed a little again. “No...no.... In college I was...pretty studious.... Let’s just put it that way. Um....” There was a long pause as David waited for Karen to continue. “You’ll see for yourself eventually. Feel free to set up a practice for yourself here. I mean, I dunno if you were planning on supporting yourself, or if Weeping Sparrow gave you to understand that you were gonna be living at our house with me and Justin.”

“Um, I got a letter, was told ‘Pack a suitcase’....”

“Well, ya see, most of us have day jobs. We do this thing on the side, this other thing... Justin has a....”

“It DOES sound like a fraternity,” David said.

“Or you can commute back and forth to Mt. Pleasant, if you really want.”

“But then I’d have to explain to my father why I’m...”

“Why you’re commuting?” Karen asked.

“Yes, and not studying with the shaman full time.”

“Well, if you’d prefer to just camp out at our place for a while until you get your feet under you here....”

“I don’t really wanna tap my dad for too much money right now, to set myself up, because he’ll start poking around and....”

“We can help you with that,” Karen explained. “While it’s not always this lucrative, jobs we’ve done in the past have afforded most of the team some money that has, for the most part, I think, been wisely invested.... So, none of us really HAS to have a second job at the moment. So, you’re welcome to stay at our place right now.... Or, Tony camps out here when he’s in town....”

“I’m probably going to make use of some of my tribal contacts and see about getting some work with the casinos. They always need lawyers.”

“Oh, yeah. There’s the three casinos here, plus there are several more new ones being set up around the state, too....”

“Not to mention, I’m pretty good at poker, too.”

“Oh! Well, there you go! I have not a bad ‘poker face,’ except that I can never remember all the stuff that makes hands good or bad, so....”

Out in the living room, Tony, Justin and Aiden just all, subconsciously, cocked their heads and thought, “Hmm, poker...” even without having heard David’s comment.

Angie, on the other hand, took the opportunity presented by Justin’s split-second of inattention, and totally gutted his Halo army.

“Hunh?! Wha?! You gacked me! Camper!” Karen and David could hear Justin with the door still shut.

“Am not!” Angie objected, laughing. “You walked right into it!”

“You camped on me!”

“Bozo!”

“Put on the headset,” Justin commanded Angie. “I wanna talk some smack.”

Instead, Angie got up and laughed out loud, and began strutting around. Justin started to chase her, and Karen and David could see the two circling the couch and then the room, trying to ‘kill’ each other with the cordless handsets.

“As you can see, we’re not all work, though,” Karen told David, laughing.

Then they saw Tony’s head pop up near the fire pole, as Justin and Angie ran by, with a measuring tape in his hand.

“Sooner or later,” Karen told David, “some work will present itself for us and you will get to see what we do. But, I have a job at the university, and Justin runs an auto shop doing customizing; Tony works for CDI, Controlled Demolitions...he blows things up for a living.” She grinned. “Actually, he mostly does consulting for them now. Leigh is also an academic, and has been teaching some classes here at the university on occasion. Aiden is Senior Resident at Receiving, in the ER; and Angie works for the Detroit Police Department now, doing mostly bomb disposal training.”

“Interesting conglomeration.”

“A number of people in the group are former military. But that’s certainly not any kind of requirement. They just happen to be.”

“So you have kind of started your own ‘urban tribe’ here,” David said. “You’ve got your scholars, your warriors, your mechanics...with your own mysticism and everything.”

“Uh...sort of, yeah. I guess we do have our own mysticism. Beyond that, see what you think when you....”

“I am SO gonna kick your ass, Jarhead!” Justin hollered in the living room.

“Anyway, I know absolutely nothing about Dr. Nakatomi,” Karen told David. “Apparently he has some insight into the things we do already, given his comment about the house being ‘infested by demons.’”

“Right.” David raised his hand to his mouth and coughed.

But Karen heard the snicker he was trying to cover. “Maybe you’ll feel something if we take you there, maybe you won’t. We pretty much avoid it. So, hang around with us, see what you think. I’m not sure beyond that exactly what it is I’m supposed to teach you; but until you actually believe in things that we’ve seen and had to deal with, anything I say won’t help.”

She stood and opened the office door. Out in the living room, Dr. Nakatomi was watching Justin and Angie hammer each other on Halo. They were playing on two screens, so neither could see what the other one was doing. Dr. Nakatomi would stand behind one for a minute, then move to stand behind the other.

“That’s my Rhino,” Justin called to Angie from behind his monitor.

“No...that’s MY Rhino!” Angie hollered back.

Leigh tapped Dr. Nakatomi on the shoulder, and pointed out that Karen and David were coming out of the office. He joined Leigh and Karen at the table. David took his place watching Justin and Angie.

“So, what has Fr. Colin talked to you about, so far?” Leigh asked Dr. Nakatomi.

“That Dr. Riley and Mr. Kazotchek own a problematic piece of property.”

“True,” Leigh responded.

“Something of their background,” Dr. Nakatomi continued, “and a very little bit about what your group does when you are working as a group.”

“So...what’s his name again?” Tony whispered to Justin, nodding toward Dr. Nakatomi. He was getting up to join the group at the table since watching Justin and Angie was getting boring. Aiden was in a chair nearby, listening for his cue to get out ‘the Card.’

“Nakatomi,” Justin told Tony, pausing the game. “Fr. Colin sent him. I think he’s some kind of an exorcist.”

“That is one way to describe it,” Dr. Nakatomi said, overhearing Justin’s comment to Tony.

“You Catholic?” Tony asked him.

“No.”

“Den how can you exorcise? ‘Cause you can only channel da holy spirit of our Heavenly Father in order ta exorcise a demon.”

“That is appropriate for Western demons. You are unfamiliar with Buddhist traditions,” Dr. Nakatomi told him. “There are other kinds of demons.”

“Dude, the Asians were doing exorcisms before Jesus walked,” Justin said, elbowing Tony to remind him to be polite.

“Crudely put, but accurate,” Dr. Nakatomi agreed.

“What? So you got Kwai Chang Kane haunting your Hell hole?” Tony asked Justin, elbowing him back.

“Dude! Show some respect!” Justin admonished him. “You stupid Wop.” He grinned as he punched Tony in the shoulder. The two were acting like 12-year-olds, but with obvious good humor.

Karen couldn’t help but laugh out loud. They were a couple of idiots sometimes.

“He’s a doctor, he’s an older guy. Show him a little respect. He’s an Elder,” Justin said. “Not to mention, I think he might know more about this shit than you do.”

Tony shrugged. “OK.”

“Pardon my intrusion,” Leigh interrupted the ‘conversation,’ “but it may matter whether or not you are married or ‘attached’ to someone, as far as....”

“I appreciate you concern, but no.”

“In this case, that is a good thing.”

“Yeah. It’s less stuff for the house to get its hooks into ya,” Justin added. “Angie, stay on your side....”

Angie had gotten up and was creeping around to look at Justin’s monitor and see where his guys were. Justin spotted her from the corner of his eye, though he’d been leaning over the back of the couch talking to the others.

“What!?” Angie objected, acting offended.

“Hey, just ‘cause I’m holding a conversation while I’m gaming don’t mean you can sneak over and see where I’m at. I’m on a different part of the map. You stay on your side.”

Unfortunately, Justin caught her too late. A second later...WHAM!! Justin saw his character drop. Not only had Angie snuck over and figured out where he was; she’d un-paused the game so that she could attack him. He actually caught her sneaking back to her controller to do that.

“Sniper Bitch!!” Justin yelled. Everyone else started laughing. “Stupid Jarhead! Marksman 1st! Stupid.... I hate you.” Justin was sitting with his arms crossed, pouting and staring at the monitor.

“I’d say best two out of three,” Angie said. “But I won the last two.” She grinned evilly.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.... OK. City of Heroes...in a while.”

Angie cackled, unmistakably strutting. She went over to Aiden and sat down on his lap. But she didn’t just sit. She straddled his lap, facing him, and leaning her body close to his.

“Ya know, Angie, it’s sometimes surprising you don’t have peacock feathers,” Leigh told her.

“Hey, I’m that good,” Angie replied, practically preening.

“Did you know that female hawks are larger than the males?” Leigh asked her. “And more aggressive?” The others laughed.

Justin got up and headed out to the kitchen. As he was passing the table, he paused. “So, you are Buddhist?” he asked Dr. Nakatomi.

“Yes.”

“So, what were ya doing before ya was here?” Tony asked him.

“Teaching.”

“Where?”

“Japan. University of Kyoto,” Dr. Nakatomi answered.

“So...you ARE an exorcist? Or you just teach about it?” Justin asked, coming back in with a beer.

“I teach psychology and sociology.”

“OK...so how’d you get into the exorcism game?” Justin asked.

“Sideline,” Dr. Nakatomi said.

“Same way the rest of us did,” Karen laughed.

“So you DO know about the things that go bump in the night?” Justin asked.

“I am familiar with legends of same.”

“So you’ve never...actually...?”

“Compared to what Fr. Colin has implied about your experiences...I would not count myself as intimately familiar.”

“Well, I can tell you for a fact that Weendigos have bad breath,” Justin told him.

Aiden sighed. He kissed Angie...removed her from his lap...stood...and fished his wallet out of his back pocket.

“Ah, the Native American mythos of cannabalistic demons.”

“Yeah, they don’t like it so much when you call it mythos,” Justin said. Then he noticed Aiden getting out his wallet. “OK, Tony! Here it comes! He’s gonna get ‘the Card!’” Justin clapped like a kid getting a present.

“Did you do something to the Card?” Karen asked Justin. He seemed a little too eager for Aiden to get it out, and she suspected that he and Tony had done something to it, maybe changed the words or substituted something else for it.

“Hunh? No!” Justin told her, understanding right away her suspicions.

Aiden pulled the Card out of his wallet and tucked the wallet back in his pocket. The card was about the size of a business card, but no longer clean or crisp around the edges.

“Remember, Aiden, you have to give them both versions,” Justin said. “He’s so cute when he does this.” He said that more to himself than to any of the others.

“Gentlemen,” Aiden started.

“Since you’re here, and you’re going to be involved....” Karen muttered.

Aiden paused. “So, you’ve never actually had any actual experience with anything supernatural, correct?” he asked, looking at both men.

“Not that could be validated by others,” Dr. Nakatomi answered.

“And you?” Aiden looked at David.

He shrugged, rolling his eyes. He’d put up with this for a little while to make his father happy. But if these people were really as nutty as they’d been talking so far....

“OK, I thought not,” Aiden said, looking back down at the card.

“They make pretty stories...” David replied. “Morality tales. Ways of modifying behaviors....”

“Especially when told by a good storyteller,” Karen agreed. And she did. He was right; they were good stories and morality tales. But they were most certainly more than that, too, based on real creatures that did exist in the here and now.

“Alrighty. It’s perfectly understandable that you will not believe this,” Aiden continued. “I’m OK with that.”

“And you said this wasn’t like joining a...” David teased Karen. “Well, OK, you said it is kind of like joining a fraternity....”

“Actually, it is,” Angie agreed.

“Well...in its own little way it’s like joining a cult,” Aiden admitted.

“Ohhh...this is not the hazing,” Justin warned.

“The hazing comes much later,” Karen added.

“No, this is the release of liability phase,” Tony told them.

Karen laughed.

“Yes, yes, this IS the release of liability phase,” Aiden agreed.

“The disclaimer,” Justin added.

“I’m not signing anything,” David said.

“Ya know...this is an anomalous circumstance,” Aiden mused.

“How so?” Justin asked.

“They’ve never had...” Aiden started.

Karen understood immediately. That’s why she hadn’t just given David ‘the Speech’ already herself. “I’ve warned him already,” Karen nodded at David, “that he could wait and see, and withhold judgement until he goes with us on a job.”

“Well....” Aiden thought about it.

“Yeah, but at that point something could eat his head,” Justin disagreed, seeing what they were thinking.

“Yeah, and that’s different from regularly how?” Angie asked him.

“OK, here’s the deal,” Aiden said. “If I give the Speech...”

“There’s no going back,” Karen finished. “I’m OK with you withholding the Speech for now.”

“OK, because I’d like for him to have the opportunity to back out, if he....”

“Yeah, yes,” Karen nodded. “Precisely. I’m good with that.”

“OK, later.” Aiden pulled out his wallet and slid the card back, and David and Dr. Nakatomi could tell that the Card was something he’d been carrying around for years.

“Oh well,” Justin sighed.

“Well, if he’s an exorcist,” Tony said, nodding at Dr. Nakatomi, “then he already...”

“No, it seems to me like Dr. Nakatomi is a scholar,” Aiden argued. “Is that correct?” He looked over at their guest.

“And he knows the theory of....” Justin added.

“That would be correct. I have never had cause to perform the Buddhist exorcism ceremonies,” Dr. Nakatomi confirmed.

“Boy, are you guys in for a treat,” Angie said. “Treat? Wrong word. Surprise.”

“For all intents and purposes, guys, we....” Justin was at a temporary loss for words.

“Welcome to the Ghostbusters,” Aiden said, with a lot less joy than it might have sounded like.

“Yeah. We’re sort of ghost-buster vigilantes,” Justin said.

“Only we don’t get paid,” Aiden clarified.

“Well, actually, sometimes we do,” Karen reminded him.

“If they’re on the Most Wanted list,” Leigh added.

“Yeah, except when we do. Except that we were not paid for being ghostbusters, we were paid for bringing wanted terrorists to justice,” Aiden said.

“Sometimes it’s just a happy happenstance,” Justin agreed.

“Fascinating,” David grunted. These people weren’t just talking about spirits and stories, now; they were making up stories about being secret agents....

“The fact that they were werewolves,” Aiden continued, “is entirely beside the point.”

“We didn’t get paid for that part,” Karen told David.

David chuckled, hoping he could play along long enough to get out alive.

“Oh, he chuckles...” Justin said, knowingly. “Wait. There’s pictures.”

“Lycanthropes?” Dr. Nakatomi asked.

“Yes. Lycanthropes. They...ya know, I don’t even want to talk about this,” Aiden groaned.

“Um, Aiden? Do you wanna see the videos? If not, go in the other room,” Justin told him.

“Ya know, I really don’t.”

“You can’t show ‘em da videos if dey ain’t sworn in,” Tony warned.

“I...think...I’m gonna go check on my patients,” Aiden said, going to the closet to get his coat.

“No, no, no...” Justin tried to redirect him. “Angie was getting busy earlier. Why don’t you two go in the other room?” He didn’t want to drive Aiden away or hurt his feelings.

Aiden hesitated.

“He’s suggesting you take the other package out of your wallet and take Angie in the other room, I think,” David re-interpreted.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Justin said.

“Do we really need to know about this, if he is?” Karen objected. Aiden was bright red, and Angie had that evil grin, and Karen was starting to blush, too.

“There are rooms upstairs,” Justin prodded.

“I know....” Aiden tried to deflect the attention. “Just because I have a hot girlfriend, does not mean we’re always in the mood.”

“Ya know, we wouldn’t be doing it here either, if there was a whole crowd downstairs,” Karen warned Justin, hoping to get him to drop the subject.

Justin looks at Angie.

She shrugged. “Well, I’m always in the mood, but....”

“Well, I thought you were in the mood earlier, and we interrupted it with the whole Card thing,” Justin asked, confused.

“Nah. I was just teasing him,” Angie replied.

“Oh, OK...women’s prerogative,” Justin nodded.

“Ya know, that’s it. OK. I’m goin’ to the hospital,” Aiden grunted. He grabbed his coat from the closet and headed for the garage.

“Take care, Aiden,” Leigh said to his back.

Aiden waved over his shoulder. “Trauma center...much more relaxing....” he mumbled on his way out.

Justin went over to the biggest of the TVs, and squatted down in front of the cabinet under it. He paused for a couple seconds, then got up and checked the security panel to make sure the place was locked down. When he noticed David and Dr. Nakatomi watching him carefully, he said, “Maybe now would be a good time for the nickel tour.”

Angie, Tony, Leigh and Karen stood, and David and Dr. Nakatomi followed suit. Then Justin, Tony and Angie took the lead. Leigh and Karen waved their guests ahead, while Justin pointed out not only some of the amenities, but also some of the built-in security features. “If you push this button,” he said, indicating one of the buttons on the main security panel.... SHINK SHINK SHINK SHINK

They could all hear the grate and clink of metal shutters dropping into place inside the windows, and David and Dr. Nakatomi turned to stare at the shutters, their eyebrows raised. Justin pushed a reset button and the shutters rolled back up.

“And down here...this is where the guns are, where the heavy artillery is....” Justin simply pointed down the stairs to the basement. He wasn’t actually going to take them down and show them where the weapons were yet. There’d be time enough for that if and when they were officially team members.

“Tony doesn’t actually let anyone else in there,” Karen clarified. “He doesn’t let anyone except Angie touch the C4....”

“Yeah, the ‘Red Room’ is down there, too,” Justin said. “Only Angie and Tony go in there. Only. And when you get certified in Chemistry and Explosives, you’ll be allowed in there, too.”

“Do you have any idea how many Federal laws we’re breaking?” David asked.

“Um, some idea...” Leigh said.

“Uh, yeah, pretty much,” the others agreed, heads nodding.

“Actually, that bunker is set up under the proper rules,” Justin told him.

“And I am licensed,” Tony said. “I just maybe ain’t s’pposed ta have ‘em here.... But I do have a full Federal explosives handlin’ license and certification, and I teach classes.”

“I would believe that,” David admitted, not willing to piss off these nut-cases just yet.

“And I’m a bomb disposal expert,” Angie added. “If you see me running, try to keep up.”

“Yeah, and she’s a cop,” Tony warned him.

“And I’m a lawyer ” David said. “It still doesn’t mean it’s not illegal!”

“Sometimes we need...” Angie paused. “I teach cops how to identify improvised explosive devices, and I’m head of one of the tactical bomb disposal units for the DPD....”

“So it’s safe to say you have a very delicate touch,” David said.

“Yes...yes...my boyfriend would say so.... Um...my nickname is BoomBoom.”

“I bet it is,” David agreed.

“And that was before the explosives training,” Justin teased her. Angie cracked up.

“So, how serious is this boyfriend thing, anyhow?” David asked her.

Now it was Justin’s turn to laugh. Angie looked at David thoughtfully for a second.

“Only if you want to survive,” Leigh laughed.

“Well, no...Aiden’s not violent at all,” Angie said.

“I wasn’t talking about Aiden,” Leigh told her.

“Um...?” Angie went back to the question, and was dumbfounded by it. There was a split second before the Marine-face shuttered down, and the others could see a lightbulb go on in that brief moment. This guy was actually hitting on her, but.... Her relationship with Aiden was something she hadn’t actually considered for quite a while now. She hadn’t even noticed it getting serious; but obviously it had happened just the same.

“You think about it. We can get back to it,” David told her.

The other thing the Envoys noticed, but that had just registered for all of them, was that, as they chatted and joked around, Dr. Nakatomi would look at one or another of them while the person was speaking, then turn away and nod his head sagely, as if he were making mental notes about the person. But they were OK with that. He was checking them out, in the same way they were him.

When they finally ended up back in the living room, Justin went back to the entertainment center, opened it, took out a couple trays of DVDs that hadn’t actually looked removable, and dug way to the back, pushing things around. He knelt there for a minute, and what David and Dr. Nakatomi couldn’t see was that he was punching the combination into the keypad of a small safe built into the floor below the cabinet. A moment later he brought out a plain, unlabeled DVD and dropped it into the player’s tray.

“Dude, dey ain’t sworn in. You can’t show dose,” Tony warned again.

“If they think it’s a movie, then they think it’s a movie,” Justin countered.

“You can’t jus’ go aroun’ tellin’ helpless civilians an’ ruinin’ ‘em for da rest of dere lives,” Tony argued.

“Well, after he sees it, he can decide whether he wants to know more,” Karen told Tony, referring to David, “if he’d like to continue studying with ‘the Shaman.’” She laughed. It was still strange to think of herself that way, even if it did kinda make sense.

But this recording was nothing compared to encountering the real thing in the flesh, so to speak. And she got the feeling that David was going to stick it out at least until he had encountered the real thing, if only to try to fulfill his father’s wishes.

And once he’d had that encounter, she would know whether he was ready and able to go beyond that or not. If his brain wasn’t going to accept this stuff as real, forcing him to stay would only get him killed. So whether the recording made a believer of him or not, it probably wouldn’t hurt him to see it.

“What?” Justin asked her, his eyebrows raising at the mention of the word Shaman.

“Yeah, his dad thinks he’s studying with a ‘Shaman’ right now,” she explained. “And Weeping Sparrow thinks I need to learn something as well, I’m sure.”

“OK,” Tony shrugged. “Show ‘em da good parts den.”

“Well I’m sorry, we don’t have video of you coming back from the dead,” Justin told him.

“I wuzn’ dead.”

“Nothing quite gets your attention like watching your boyfriend turn into a werewolf,” Angie admitted.

“And that’s what’s creepy...we have full-on video of...” Justin said.

“That’s what you’re gonna show ‘em?” Angie asked.

“Yeah. Aiden turning into a werewolf, and the attack...”

“He got better,” Angie said, clarifying for Dr. Nakatomi and David.

“...by the werewolf crew,” Justin continued. “Because we had multiple cameras set up at that point.” He grabbed the remote. “And I wanna say the quality’s not that good, but by then it was Frank’s stuff, so it is.”

“But the thing is, if you don’t want to believe it’s true,” Angie told David, “there are a lot of perfectly good reasons to believe that it’s not true. I mean...there’s special effects, and you’ve seen Ghost Hunters and stuff like that on TV.... You are free to rationalize it.”

She turned to Karen. “The fact that Weeping Sparrow sent him to you doesn’t give him a whole lot of choice in the matter.” She turned back to David. “Because I suspect that if you go back to her and say ‘Naw, they’re too crazy,’ I don’t even wanna think about what she’d do next. That woman scares ME. Nothing scares me. I’m a Marine.”

Karen laughed.

“OK. Sit back. Relax. Don’t bother with popcorn; this might make you sick.” Justin got cups of water for both men, then sat next to Karen on the couch and started the video. It was a combination of regular video, IR, and night vision, since every time Aiden got close to the full change, he took out the light in the meat locker.

David watched without comment. These people evidently got a really good CGI guy to help them with their little movie, because the effects were really good. Kinda like in “The Howling,” but without the ‘model’ look. It was a little grainy, obviously done with a personal camera and not the high-quality digital cameras used for filming movies. The footage was of the young man who’d just left, Aiden, a little bit younger, transforming into a big, shaggy, bipedal...wolf. There was also footage of the guy repeatedly slamming himself against the metal wall until he knocked himself unconscious...more than once.

“OK. That was the first night. Frank brought the better cameras the next night,” Justin told the men.

As Justin flipped back to the menu, to bring up the next night’s footage, David snickered, “A little gratuitous, but cool effects....”

“It’s not an effect,” Justin muttered, selecting the first of that second night’s ‘highlights.’ “This is when Frank brought in his cameras.”

“Those are pretty good cameras,” David acknowledged. The quality of this footage was definitely better than the stuff they were showing before.

“Homeland Security,” Angie told him.

“Yeah. Fell off the truck,” Justin joked. “Actually, you can see that it’s a real night-vision camera, one built for the purpose.”

“Yeah, with computer optic correcting...that’s really nice,” David says admiringly. They’d done a really good job making the film look like it was real footage, not just staged. In fact, they’d done such a good job that, had his brain not been telling him the whole time that it wasn’t real, David might have almost believed that it WAS real.

There were none of the tell-tale signs that give away that a movie was filmed cinematically, that filming was done with a professional ‘eye’ or paused between shots to fix make-up or set-dressing. This had the more the feel of “Blair Witch Project” than of “Cloverfield.”

On top of that, Aiden must be one hell of an actor, because the pain on his face during the transformations looked extremely genuine. And when he bounced off the walls or collapsed unconscious, it looked like the walls really were solid metal and he really was unconscious. The guy was wasted as a doctor, if he really was a doctor at all. Even Justin, Karen and Leigh winced and cringed when they watched it happening. David wondered how long it took for the bruises to heal after they’d filmed this....

“Anybody feel like some popcorn?” Tony asked.

“No,” Justin said bluntly. Leigh gave Tony a dirty look when he started to get up to go make some, so he sat back down, frowning.

When the video was paused while Justin switched between segments, they could all hear the water running in the kitchen. Angie was out there washing dishes...and rearranging cupboards after that...to avoid watching the video.

“Hey, watch this part!” Tony said a little too enthusiastically.

Justin gave Tony a dirty look. “This is where Karen hit the ‘reset button.’” He paused while he watched it. It wasn’t perfectly framed because the night vision camera’s lens didn’t have as wide an angle. And at one point, when Aiden stumbled into the wall, all they could see was the lower half of his body as he bent double. But when he’d moved under the camera he’d been almost fully transformed; and a split-second later, when he stumbled back out to the center of the room and collapsed, he was completely Aiden again. “That’s gotta hurt,” Justin groaned.

That would have seemed obvious from the screaming, David thought to himself, except that it was just acting anyway.

“Actually, he told us it did hurt,” Justin said.

“We had to use a flame-thrower on that job,” Tony said. He tried hard to sound grim; but the adrenalin rush he felt pulling the trigger and shooting flames at the ghul made him sound almost gleeful as he said it.

“We don’t have that on video, either,” Justin clarified. “That was on the roof.”

“We don’t have the flame-thrower anymore, either,” Karen laughed. “Frank had to take that back.”

“OK, now, here’s the next night,” Justin said, going back to the menu.

“If I did not trust Fr. Colin implicitly,” Dr. Nakatomi said, “I would say you are a most impressive group of amateur film-makers.”

Karen chuckled.

“Nope. Our guy that was doin’ films left a long time ago,” Justin told him.

“Well, I could say that you were good students of his, but that would just mean that you’re going to make me have to watch more of this, and...this is somewhat disturbing. So...Oh, God. Oh, God. Werewolves are real.”

Karen started laughing. He was going to be a hard nut to crack.

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Justin told him.

“Can we not watch the person beating himself up a little more?” David requested.

“Let’s not use him,” Karen said, pointing at David, “in our next film, because he’s a terrible actor ”

“Actually, that’s somebody we saved, because that’s Aiden, and we were able to reverse it,” Justin explained, as if maybe David didn’t get it. “Here’s the next night.” He skipped forward to the part when the ghul and his crew invaded the fortified shop.

Karen could tell that it was irritating Justin that David refused to believe what he was seeing. She understood his frustration. It WAS hard not having people believe in something you know is real. But she could also understand why David didn’t feel compelled to believe yet. This was no different than watching any other horror movie to him. When the Unknown finally slapped him up-side the head, he’d have to decide to fish or cut bait.

Of course, it wasn’t going to help their cause that the ghul didn’t film well. It turned out that he only showed up as a dark blur, more or less humanoid in shape, kind of like when the editors for TV news programs and reality cop shows blur the faces of victims and witnesses.

“I still don’t know how that happened,” Justin complained, “because we’re in focus.... And according to Frank, I think this guy might be holed up in some cave in Afghanistan or something.”

“No. He’s talking to his followers that are holed up there,” Karen clarified.

“Well, yeah, but he’s not supposed to come back for, like, a hundred and somethin’ years, right?” Justin asked.

“Five hundred, at the soonest,” Karen said. “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have followers out there who can do his work for him on this side.”

David glanced over at Dr. Nakatomi with an ‘Are you buyin’ this? Do we need to get out’a here? Should we run for it?’ look. “Yep. It’s gory and disturbing,” he finally said. “Did I mention Oh, God; Oh, God; Werewolves are real; I believe you now?”

“OK. I think I’ve got a copy of the Card around here somewhere....” Justin mumbled, shutting off the DVD player.

“No, don’t bother yet,” Karen stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Until he actually experiences it for himself, he’s an unbeliever.” She turned to David. “And that’s perfectly fine, I swear to God. Most of the world does not believe in this shit and everybody lives very happy lives without knowing about it. In fact, they’re probably better off than we are.”

“Yeah, but hangin’ out wid dat sarcastic disbelief can get ya dead,” Tony warned.

“I dunno. Sarcasm seems to serve you guys fairly well,” David retorted.

“Actually, it does,” Karen agreed.

“Dat’s how we deal wid da deep emotional scars we’ve earned through our lives,” Tony intoned a little too seriously.

“And here I thought it was only two girls,” David teased.

“No, the rest of us have to deal with real scars sometimes,” Justin told him.

“It’s OK. Most people don’t believe it. I’ve lived with this all my life,” Karen told David. “And I’ve had to find ways to hide it, because nobody else in my family understands.”

Angie came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

“We’re done,” Justin told her.

“Kitchen clean?” Karen asked.

“Yeah,” Angie answered.

“Good! Good. Ya know, if there weren’t women in this group, it’d be a pigsty in here all the time,” Karen opined.

“I clean!” Justin objected.

“No, ‘cause Aiden’d do the dishes,” Angie disagreed.

“Yeah, I guess he does, doesn’t he?” Karen said.

“But he does each one individually, then holds it up to the light...” Justin argued.

“No he doesn’t,” Angie told him.

“It’s my fantasy,” Justin complained.

“Wait...you have fantasies about Aiden doing the dishes?” Karen asked.

“Yeah. I don’t know why,” Justin told them.

“Ya know, I’m just not going there,” Angie said. She paused a minute, thinking. “Ya know, I was gonna say something, but now I’ve forgotten what.... Oh! Yeah!” Angie brightened up a bit, remembering what it was. “Whether or not you believe us...”

Dr. Nakatomi nodded sagely.

“...it’s cool. Not believing us, it’s cool. However...” Angie continued.

“...if one of us says ‘run’...” Karen picked up the thought.

“Yeah, if one of us tells you to ‘run’ or ‘duck’ or ‘hit the ground,’ do so and ask questions later,” Angie finished.

“Fair enough,” David agreed.

“And if one of us says something as odd as ‘spread a lot of salt in front of a doorway’? Do it,” Justin warned him.

“Oh, we’ll teach you that part,” Karen told him.

“Yeah. I’m just sayin’ in moments of crisis, rather than question, just do what we tell ya, because then you can argue all you want but you’ll be alive,” Angie said.

“Got a weapon?” Tony asked the two men.

“Do you know how to use one?” Karen asked them.

David stared at Tony.

“Yes,” Dr. Nakatomi answered.

“Do I have a weapon? What sort of weapon do I need to be carrying?” David asked back suspiciously.

“Dr. Nakatomi, which question did you answer ‘yes’ to?” Tony asked.

“A weapon.”

“You have one. Good,” Tony said.

“Well...some of us rely on weapons more than others,” Karen told David. “I’m not very good with any of them.”

“Some things can be shot,” Justin said grimly.

“That’s alright, Karen.” Angie patted her on the shoulder with a grin.

“I’m not very good with firearms,” David said.

“Bow and arrow?” Justin asked him.

Karen nearly fell off the couch laughing.

“I’m NOT being racist!” Justin objected.

“Well, maybe a little,” Angie told him.

“No! It’s the other thing I use!” Justin retorted.

“Yeah. Yeah, I know how to use a bow and arrow,” David replied. “I know how to use a knife, too.”

“It is a very effective weapon,” Dr. Nakatomi said.

“Hunh? What?” Angie asked. Dr. Nakatomi tended to speak quietly, and Angie couldn’t hear him over Karen’s laughter.

“The bow...” he told her.

“Oh, I’m not mocking the bow,” Karen said, catching her breath. “It’s just...he asked an Indian if he knows how to use a bow and arrow. It just seems kinda...you know...funny.”

“Whether or not he does, I do,” Dr. Nakatomi told them.

“Good,” Karen said, feeling kind of chastened.

“There you go,” David told them.

“Compound? Recurve? What?” Justin asked Dr. Nakatomi.

“Yes.”

“Good. There’s a good supplier here, and there’s another guy a little ways up north who’ll make almost anything you want,” Justin assured him.

“I brought mine,” Dr. Nakatomi said.

“How ‘bout a tomahawk, David?” Karen asked, trying to keep a straight face. “Do you know how to use a tomahawk?” She started laughing again and Angie joined in.

“No.”

“Oh, come on ” Justin whined. “Do not mock my whiteness!”

“Not a lot of call for practicing that skill,” David said, grinning.

“Do not mock my whiteness!” Justin told them again.

“I’m sorry, Hon,” Karen said, giving Justin a quick hug.

“Especially not in law school,” Angie agreed, laughing.

“I dunno. Taking scalps is pretty big in law school,” David told her.

Angie nearly fell off the chair this time.

“Yeah, in law school I think they do count coup,” Karen laughed.

“I’m more likely to have learned it in law school than on the reservation,” David said.

“Well, the Indians didn’t do it. It was brought over by the frickin’ German mercenaries...er, no...well...Hessians,” Justin told them.

“Hessians are kind of German, but...you have to remember that,” Leigh said, “it wasn’t the Hessians who started paying bounty on scalps.”

“Who was it?” Angie asked.

“My understanding is the English,” Leigh told her.

“As a way of proving that they’d actually killed somebody,” David added. “Because the Indians found it too distasteful to bring back a whole head every time. They said ‘Fine. Just bring the top of the head.’”

“I can sorta see that,” Angie said, “but...ewww.”

“I wasn’t mocking your whiteness, Hon,” Karen whispered to Justin.

“Well...I mean...it’s another kind of ranged weapon,” Justin complained.

“I know. It is, it is....” She tried to smooth his ruffled feathers. “I understand what you guys were asking.”

“How ‘bout a blowgun?” Tony asked. “Know how ta use a blowgun?”

Karen started laughing again.

“Nnnooo....” David answered.

“No! And neither do you!” Justin said, throwing a pillow at Tony.

“Boomerang?” Tony asked.

“Nnnno. The reservation wasn’t down in Australia.”

“Bolos?”

“Again...” David started slowly.

“Nope. They don’t use those on the reservation either,” Karen told Tony.

“No, Argentina,” Angie said. “Tony’s a pig. Just get used to it. He’s that way to everybody. And none of us have killed him yet. I think it’s ‘cause he’s kinda cute.”

“He is charming...in his own unique way,” Karen agreed.

“And here I thought it’s because he talks about having explosives everywhere and you don’t know what’s gonna blow up if you take him out,” David said.

“Actually, he’s pretty safe,” Karen told him.

“Oh, anything he can build, I can disable.” Angie puffed up slightly.

“And, like I said...either one of you two tells me to duck, I’m probably gonna duck,” David told her. “‘Cause whether or not you’re all insane, people with explosives...if they tell you to duck, you usually wanna listen.”

“Yeah, it’s a good plan...” Angie agreed. The others all nodded agreement, too.

“I don’t think we have any more videos to freak out our new guests,” Justin mused.

“You can show ‘em all the videos in the world and I don’t think it’s gonna...it won’t make them believe or not,” Leigh told him. Karen nodded.

“We haven’t actually had a metaphysical crisis in a little while,” Angie told them. “I suppose we’re due.” She looked over at the others.

“And we are at kinda critical mass right now,” Karen agreed, “so I expect something’s gonna happen.”

“There’s always zombies,” Angie said.

“There are.” Karen didn’t sound too thrilled at the thought.

“On the plus side, if there’s ever a full scale...” Justin started.

“Zombie apocalypse?” Angie offered.

“‘World War Z’?” Karen offered.

“No. Not that big. Good book, though, by the way,” Justin said. “But this place should hold out pretty darned well. Large water storage tank. Multiple survival kits.”

“Plenty of food,” Leigh added.

“Not to mention a five-story observation tower,” Justin said.

“A good vantage point for shooting down on....” Karen added.

“Yeah. We’re only paranoid because they really are out to get us,” Angie told the newbies.

“Well, not us in particular...necessarily,” Karen clarified.

“Just humanity in general,” Justin finished.

“Ya know? I’m gonna beg to differ,” Angie told him. “I think they are actually out to get YOU.”

“They do seem to be...yeah...some of them do seem to be out to get us in particular,” Justin said.

“Only because we see them first,” Karen said.

“Oh, just in case...because it’s come up before, and I don’t mean to poke fun at anybody, but...if by chance you DO come across a ghost? Don’t make any promises. And don’t feed them,” Justin told the two men. “Although I’m thinking Dr. Nakatomi’s teaching might already have told him that part.”

“I believe the expression is... ‘Well, DUH!’” He smiled slyly.

“Yeah, well...OK...but I didn’t know that!” Karen said.

“I just couldn’t remember if Hungry Ghost was from Japan or not,” Justin told him.

“Hungry Ghosts are Chinese,” Dr. Nakatomi said. “Hopping Vampires are Chinese. We have only....”

“Hopping Vampires!?” Justin asked. “That’s just WEIRD!”

“Yes,” Leigh confirmed. She’d studied some of the legends as well.

“Very interesting legends about Hopping Vampires,” Dr. Nakatomi said.

“Why do they hop?” Justin asked. “Is it because they only have one leg?”

“Because their knees are broken,” Dr. Nakatomi told him, “and they are locked in place.”

“Interesting. And weird,” Justin said.

“Hopefully we won’t be encountering any of them in the near future,” Leigh agreed.

“I wasn’t real pleased with our last vampire encounter,” Karen added.

“Not so much,” Leigh said. Angie just got up and went back into the kitchen. She was still dealing with the emotional after-effects of that one. And there were banging sounds....
“Sorry!” Justin hollered out to her.

Then the clattering sounds moved out of the kitchen and into the gym. Followed by the sounds of the bag getting the crap beaten out of it. It didn’t sound like a good day to be the bag.

“Guess I’ll be staying out of there for a while,” Justin muttered. “Actually, she...and Leigh...are pretty good sparring partners. Basically, if I want a long workout, I’ll spar with Leigh. But if I want a short...an in-close, ‘all my ribs hurt deep down inside’ workout I fight with Angie.”

“Why would you go looking for that?” Karen asked, mystified. She preferred doing drills. She got just as sweaty, but there was little chance of getting hurt unless one of them really screwed up. The point of drills wasn’t to pummel the other person; it was to build the muscle memory so that the moves came naturally.

“Sometimes you need to. Angie doesn’t pull punches as much.”

“Well...the point of Aikido isn’t punching,” Leigh said. “It’s using your energy....”

“I think that’s probably his point,” Karen told her, hoping that Justin hadn’t just insulted Leigh. “Your styles are different, and....”

“Yes. I don’t think it’s a matter of pulling punches,” Leigh went on. “I don’t go for as....”

“Well, no. Aikido’s all about making the other guy beat himself up,” Justin finished the thought. “Usually using the floor.”

“Those work,” Leigh agreed. “Dressers.” She grinned.

“If that is your idea of a sparring match,” Dr. Nakatomi said, “you have much to learn.”

Neither Justin nor Leigh said anything.

“The true student of a martial art understands that they do not have to hurt their opponent to demonstrate their skill.”

“Depends upon the student,” Leigh said.

“Unless you enjoy pain, you are doing it wrong,” Dr. Nakatomi finished.

That got a sage nod from Leigh.

“I don’t enjoy pain,” Justin said. “Pain hurts. But once in a while you’ve just gotta get in deep, dark and scrappy.”

“Well...different styles...” Karen said.

“Yeah. Mine’s from Israel.”

“And well, you don’t get much scrappier than a small country surrounded by other countries that wish it weren’t there,” Leigh agreed.

“Yeah, _____ is all about whop, whapping the crap out of each other. I think the only one I’ve seen that’s more violent is Sambo. And that’s because the Russians put in guns and knives.”

“Well, and you also box, and that is kinda the point of boxing,” Karen said. “You can dance around the ring forever, but if you don’t land punches you don’t get points.”

“Right. Knock the other guy’s brain loose until he falls down. Technically, most martial arts are less violent than boxing.”

The room was quiet for a minute or two, while each of them sat with their own thoughts. Finally Karen spoke up. “I’m trying to think of some other way.... I mean, I’m sure something is gonna come knocking on our door any minute now anyway.... But I’d rather not anybody have to go past the Hell Mouth....” She was looking for some way to convince David without risking people’s lives.

“That is what you call it?” Dr. Nakatomi said.

“Not until Weeping Sparrow’s well enough to tell us what to do,” Justin told her.

“Yeah. We’re already forbidden to,” she acknowledged.

“If I may examine this location, I may be able to reinforce any barriers you might have,” Dr. Nakatomi offered.

“Well...there aren’t any. I mean...other than fences,” Karen told him.

“Ah! I understand now why Fr. Colin recommended me.”

“It’s a house,” Justin said, not totally getting his point.

“It needs something to lower the risk...” Leigh agreed.

“So...you are brave and foolish for tackling this object naked,” Dr. Nakatomi told them.

“Oh yeah,” Karen agreed. But finding the necessary clothing or armor, she thought to herself, wasn’t as easy a task as he seemed to think.

“We got no idea what it is,” Justin said.

“Justin got his head kicked in by going in there,” Karen told him.

“That was the point of Fr. Colin’s comment. Ah!”

“Hey, to save my sister from getting raped, I’ll take another kick,” Justin said, defending his decision.

“Yeah, but we’ve had.., up ‘til now...up ‘til we encountered the house...none of us had any experience with this sort of thing,” Karen told Dr. Nakatomi, “so we weren’t even sure what we were dealing with at first. And then Weeping Sparrow encountered it, and she understood what level of evil we were dealing with. But even she had no idea how to deal with it. And she’s been around a long time. She’s a very wise woman, so....”

“She sounds like it. It would be good for me to speak to her at some point,” Dr. Nakatomi requested.

“Yeah. I think you’d enjoy talking with her,” Karen agreed.

“Wait a minute,” Justin said. “Fr. Colin sent Dr. Nakatomi to us...”

“Yes,” Karen told him.

“...not Weeping Sparrow....”

“No.”

“OK. Your expertise might not be so good with the house....”

“I don’t think it would hurt necessarily,” Leigh argued.

“Yeah. It couldn’t hurt at this point,” Karen agreed, “‘cause Weeping Sparrow keeps hitting dead ends with the information she gets. It’s one thing to know the legend, and another thing to encounter it in real life. The legends are, as David pointed out when we were talking earlier, mostly metaphorical, so they don’t always give you a clear guideline of what to do to deal with the things they’re describing.”

“Well, if nothing else, Dr. Nakatomi and...” Justin paused as he looked over where David had been sitting and didn’t see him there. “...and David are fresh pairs of eyes to look at the problem,” Justin conceded. “I’ll get a copy of the info we were able to dig up on the house,” he told Dr. Nakatomi. “It’s got a very interesting history.”

David had stepped outside for some fresh air...and to make sure he still could. The only person who had appeared to leave the building, since he’d been there, was Aiden. David wanted to make sure he was still free to come and go as he pleased. He took the opportunity to walk all the way around it, to stretch his legs while he was out.

“It will be interesting reading then,” Dr. Nakatomi said.

“How many deaths were there? Eight?” Justin asked Karen and Leigh. They’d done most of the research on the house’s history, and he never could remember all the details.

“Something like that,” Karen answered. “I’m not sure. I’d have to look it up.” Leigh said basically the same thing, too.

The three filled the professor in on some of the highlights of the whole saga...the different houses built over the years; the deaths, most some form of murder/suicide of married people; the higher incidence of domestic problems in the area around the property; and the legend of Gentle Spring Rain and the Evil Shaman/Chief.

“So...Nakatomi...t’ink dere’s sump’in ya can do about da Hell house?” Tony asked.

“I must investigate,” Dr. Nakatomi replied.

“Well, the evil is much, much older than the house,” Leigh informed him.

“We can take you to a point fairly close to it, and give you directions to get the rest of the way there,” Karen told him, trying to think of some way to allow him to ‘encounter’ the evil without risking injury to anyone else.

“I’m not sendin’ ‘im in dere alone!” Tony objected. “Not when he’s a ‘virgin!’”

“I don’t think you should go in there,” Justin said.

“Great. Are you gonna kick his head in, too, if you go with him?” Karen asked. If someone else had a better idea, she’d be glad to hear it.

“I didn’ do dat on purpose!” Tony objected. “He zigged when he should’a zagged!”

“Unh huh,” Justin and Karen said in unison.

“Be that as it may,” Karen said, “you’d gone in there to rescue Marie, and Justin ended up coming out with a crushed-in skull. And I’d prefer you not do the same thing, unknowingly, to Dr. Nakatomi, should he zig rather than zag.”

“Yeah, but I’m still not sendin’ him in dere alone,” Tony insisted.

“First things first,” Justin told them both. “We’ll get him the research material, and he can go from there.”

“I’m still not sendin’ him in dere alone.”

“Fine,” Justin agreed wearily.

“We’ll let him see all the material we’ve collected about it first,” Karen started.

“It’s worth taking your time on,” Leigh added thoughtfully.

“Yeah. And then figure out how to get him in there without him going alone, and without endangering any of us unnecessarily. Several of us can do Spheres and Mental Shields...so...maybe Leigh or I....” Karen finished.

“I think we should drag Fr. Colin in here and see exactly what he was....” Justin thought out loud.

“I’m not sure I would recommend me,” Leigh said, “because I’m not....”

“You’ve still got issues,” Justin agreed. “I don’t wanna sent anybody that’s got any emotional attachments goin’ on into that place.”

“That’s everybody,” Leigh and Karen said together.

“True. But some people got more detachment than others,” Justin said.

“In which case, the only person qualified to approach would be me,” Dr. Nakatomi told them.

“Yeah. See and that’s what I’m saying. But you can’t just go in there alone,” Karen said, agreeing with Tony’s point.

“Frank is no longer on that list,” Leigh agreed. “Not that he isn’t busy right now, anyway.”

“But perhaps once we’ve gone through all the research and stuff..” Karen continued.

“We can have better ideas on how to gird ourselves,” Leigh said, seeing where Karen was going with this.

“Right. Doing a Mental Shield first, and then going in and removing ourselves quickly, and having somebody who can do a Sphere, should we need it.... And not going too close. Obviously noone’s allowed INTO the house, under Weeping Sparrow’s orders, at the moment. So until we have more information about how to deal with what we’re dealing with, nobody goes in there...with or without someone else along.”

The others nodded agreement, and everyone was quiet for a couple minutes while they pondered the problem.

“So...Dr. Nakatomi? I assume you have a first name?” Karen asked hesitantly. She didn’t know much about Japanese culture, but it seemed awfully cumbersome to have to say ‘Dr. Nakatomi’ to get his attention in an emergency.... “Would it be acceptable if we used that rather than calling you ‘Dr. Nakatomi’ for the rest of your time with us?”

“I have a first name, yes. However, in my culture that would be exceedingly informal.”

“Ah. Alright,” Karen replied, not really sure what else to say.

“However, you may call me by my monastic title for short. Master Naka.”

“Alright.”

“Naka is acceptable.”

“No problem, Doc,” Tony said. It was Tony’s brand of humor, and the others hoped that the professor, their guest at the moment, wouldn’t be too offended by it.

Master Naka simply nodded. “‘Doc’ is also acceptable,” he said, a glint of humor in his eyes. “Although, if you wish to get technical, it is ‘Doctor, Doctor.’”

“Doctor, Doctor?” Leigh, Justin and Karen all asked at once.

“History and sociology...dual degrees.”

“Ah! OK!”

“Some of...many of us only have one ‘doctor,’” Leigh told him.

“Don’t encourage Tony,” Justin warned Master Naka. “He will call you ‘Doc Doc.’”

“That is his choice.”

“No I wouldn’, ‘cause den I’d sound like a rapper wit’ a stutter.”

“That would be unfortunate,” Leigh admitted.

“We could shorten it ta ‘Doc Oc,’ but he just don’t seem da type,” Tony said.

“Well, he’s also not pudgy and European,” Justin told him.

“And he doesn’t have eight arms, either,” Karen added.

“Doc, just outta curiosity...you said...was it sociology and psychiatry?” Justin asked.

“History.”

“History. OK. Any skills along the lines of carpentry...electronics...? Sometimes we gotta put together stuff...we gotta figure stuff out....”

“What do you do for hobbies?” Karen asked, understanding Justin’s line of thought and hoping to ask the question more succinctly.

“Make tea.”

“That can be very meditative,” Leigh agreed.

“I’m just trying to get a feel for what skill sets you bring to the table,” Justin clarified.

Everyone had been getting up and moving around as they talked, going to get snacks or beverages from the kitchen, going to the bathroom, or just stretching their legs. Dr. Nakatomi had been on his way to the couch to take a seat, and passed behind Justin, who was standing and stretching. Before sitting down he turned and said to Justin, “You should be more careful with your toys.”

And he held out Justin’s .45 lying across his open palms, with a bow, as if he were offering Justin a gift. He had actually removed it from the holster without Justin or anyone else noticing

“Definitely an interesting set of skills,” Justin told him with a combination of admiration and irritation, as he took the gun and stuffed it back into its concealed-carry holster.

“Everybody has a misspent youth.”

Karen laughed.

“Speak for yourself!” Angie was just coming in from the gym, and she was just soaked with sweat. She was wearing her camo cargo pants and a tight black tank top, had a towel hanging around her neck, and was using one end to towel off her hair. “I’m still misspending mine.”

Tony was looking her up and down appreciatively.

“Unfortunately the dark black ones don’t show off anything,” Justin said to Tony.

“Not as much, no,” Leigh and Angie both said, knowing, before either man said a word, exactly what they’d be looking at.

“You shouldn’t be looking!” Karen told Justin with mock jealousy, punching him lightly in the shoulder.

“I was just translating for Tony,” Justin chuckled.

Angie went into the kitchen, then stuck her head around the corner. “Leigh, can I borrow you for a minute?” They could all see a dribble of red rolling down the back of her one hand as she gripped the wall she was leaning around. Leigh got up and went to the kitchen to do first-aid on the other woman’s bruised and bloodied knuckles.

“Does that explain why the Spheres didn’t work?” Reg asked Frank.

“Yes. The ‘thing’ that keeps taking you over is part of your own brain. And you don’t get well from this very quickly,” Frank explained.

“So...that means I’m hosed. And I get to go to the loony bin.”

“Well...Hannibal Lector was crazy, too, and they locked him up. At least your lawyer won’t have to defend against the human consumption unless the prosecution brings it up. Unfortunately, ‘Tommy’ is the dominant personality according to the laws in many jurisdictions, since he knows what Reg is doing but Reg doesn’t know what Tommy does.”

“Well, I’m going to just hit this little red button and get some morphine and go to sleep. Tommy...Fuck you!”

Reg pressed the button to self-administer the morphine, and drifted off to sleep a short time later. Frank pulled a wireless web-cam from his pocket and looked around. He found an unobtrusive place to hide it where it could still ‘see’ Reg, then left quietly and returned to the waiting room. Aiden and Angie had come back from seeing Weeping Sparrow shortly after Frank had gone in to speak with Reg. Now that everyone was in one place, Frank suggested that they decamp to the safe house so he could fully explain what he’d found out about Reg.

Karen went to give Weeping Sparrow one last hug. Since she was being moved up to Mt. Pleasant in the morning, it might be a little while before Karen would have another chance to see her. Evan was going to follow her, as she rejoined the team; but Karen suggested he stay there with Jimmy. Several people were already on their way down from the Rez, to relieve the ‘posse.’ And since Justin was much more awake now than he’d been yesterday, she didn’t feel she really needed any additional protection. Evan, Jimmy and Fran should all be able to get a little rest as soon as the others got there. She hugged both men, and wished them a good night and a safe trip home in the morning.

Karen asked the others if they could make a quick stop at Receiving, to see Running Elk, on the way to the safe house. He would be going up to Mt. P in the morning, too, and, with all the activity in the last day and a half, she hadn’t had a chance to visit him at all yet. Aiden had a little more influence at Receiving, and the nurses were willing to let the whole group go in at once as long as they kept their visit short and quiet. But Aiden preferred that people went in only two at a time, to keep Running Elk from getting too animated. They filtered in and out in pairs, everyone giving the injured man a hug or pat on the shoulder and a few quiet words of encouragement. Finally, Karen hugged Fran goodbye and the team headed to the safe house.

When they arrived, Tony almost immediately stretched out on the couch. He’d already had a long day, and he promptly fell asleep. Soon, the team was being serenaded by the sweet sounds of snoring.

As the others were settling in, Leigh went over and gave Justin a hug. “Huh?” Justin grunted, surprised and confused by it.

“I just wanted you to know that you did the right thing, and I would have done the same under the same circumstances,” Leigh explained. She’d noticed how upset Justin still was about the whole situation. She suspected that Karen had been telling him the same thing repeatedly ever since yesterday. But she thought it might help him to hear it from someone else, too.

“The Reg we know and love would have wanted you to kill him,” Frank said. “And...by the way, this is how you double-tap....” Frank pulled out his gun and mimicked pulling the trigger twice in quick succession.

Justin’s head dropped to his chest for a moment. “I wasn’ drying do....” he said, lifting his head. “I mean, I didn’ wan’....” He sighed.

Karen wrapped an arm around his waist. “He’s not criticizing you, hon. I think, in his own inimitable style, he’s telling you that he wouldn’t have hesitated to do the same thing...and he wouldn’t have stopped at just one shot.”

“So?” Leigh asked Frank, settling at the table. “What did you find out?”

“Exorcism won’t work. But in answer to your question...he has dissociative personality disorder.”

“So I shod a sicg person.” Justin sighed, disturbed that he’d not only shot a friend but a sick friend. “Dis is CRAZY crazy, righd? Noding made him crazy?”

“No Unknown discipline made this happen, no,” Frank confirmed. “As it stands right now, depending on the jurisdiction, Tommy may actually be considered the dominant personality.”

“Dat means he goes do jail?” Justin asked.

“Yes,” Frank replied. “But it also means you shot a sociopath. And, I shot Reg, too. Ya know, maybe we should have buttons made?”

“I shod Reg and all I god was dis sdupid d-shird....” Justin joked. The others started laughing, the tension of the past couple days finally getting released.

“So, Frang...gan you bring oud Raimon?” Justin requested. “He was ogay.”

“But then he’ll be hitting on everyone...from jail,” Karen moaned.

“Bud dat’s bedder dan...” Justin started.

“Better than Tommy,” Leigh finished the thought.

Justin nodded tiredly, walking toward the kitchen. “I need a beer...bud I’m seddling for Fernors. Anyone else wand someding?”

“I’ll take one,” Leigh said.

“Beer or Fernors?”

“Beer,” she answered. Frank, Angie and Aiden all held up their hands, asking for beers, too.

“I’ll take a Vernors,” Karen said. “But I’ll give you a hand.” She followed him out to the kitchen and gave him a hug and kiss before they got the drinks from the fridge and went back to pass them out.

“If Reg is going to get better,” Frank told them, “he’s going to need someone who specializes in this kind of thing.”

“I’ll give Dee a call, and see if she can recommend someone who can help,” Leigh offered. “I’m sure that with Alister’s condition, she might know someone.” Frank nodded.

“It does leave Reg more open to getting drawn over to the ‘dark side,’” Karen mused.

“Is id possible dat Reg could go ober do da darg side?” Justin asked, looking at Frank.

Frank shrugged. “He might. But it’s a risk for anyone, not just someone who ate human flesh.”

That wasn’t exactly what Karen was talking about. She was thinking of his new propensity towards evil. But she didn’t press the issue. The whole situation already bothered her enough.

“Well, it’s gonna be impossible to purge everyone that ate people,” she said. “Even if we could find them all.”

“Wouldn’ we jus’ be able do ged a lisd of all the sdaff ad da hospidal?” Justin asked.

“That doesn’t account for all the people who ate in the cafeteria only because they were visiting a patient there,” Frank told him.

“And how do we explain why they need to do it?” Karen added. “It’s not like it’s a quick process... ‘Here eat this and drink this, and puke your guts out, and do it once a week for the next month, because I said so.’”

“We don’t even know if eating human flesh really does leave people more susceptible to Unknown influence,” Frank said. “The only evidence we have is the experience with the Weendigo, and that was a pretty isolated case. The Weendigo influenced an impressionable young man to feed other people human flesh so IT could have influence over them. It may not work for other sorts of creatures, or on people who don’t have a steady diet of human flesh.”

“So maybe he would habe been bedder off if I had....” Justin groaned.

“Justin! You are not responsible for what Reg did,” Leigh shouted at him. “I know that, with your Catholic guilt, you have no choice but to feel bad about shooting him. But you did the right thing at the time. I’m sorry, but somebody had to say it. None of us is happy about what happened, but....”

“You saved Weeping Sparrow’s life,” Karen agreed. “Because if Reg...Tommy...hadn’t been stopped....”

“And Jimmy’s life,” Leigh added. “It looked like he would have been stabbed next if you hadn’t stopped Reg.”

“And who knows how many other lives,” Frank said. “Obviously Tommy had little regard for human life....”

“Shid! Dad’s righd...” Justin realized suddenly. “We don’ know where he was gedding da people he was.... I mean, I figured if da hospidal had a morgue or someding, but do you ding he could habe...?”

“Who knows just how far Tommy would have gone,” Frank agreed.

“It’s something we should probably check out,” Leigh said. Everyone was quiet for a minute, considering the possibilities.

“I know, I know,” Justin sighed finally, nodding. “I am drying. I’ll ged ober it ebendually. Jus’ led me wallow in da self-pidy ‘dil I’m ready.”

“Well, anyway, now that we know what’s going on, I’m going to call Phil and Audra,” Leigh said.

“And tell them what?” Karen asked. “We should probably have a plan for what to say and what not to, before you drop that bomb.”

“How are we supposed do dell Reg from Dommy, anyway,” Justin asked.

“As long as he’s in the hospital, we can tell from the monitors,” Frank told him. “Tommy’s pulse was a perfect 60 the entire time I was talking to him.”

“How is dat possible?” Justin objected. “No one gan gondrol id dat well.”

“There are plenty of yogis who would disagree,” Leigh said. “No one completely understands the boundaries of what the mind can do.”

“The thing is, as long as the Tommy personality is in control, Reg’s body will respond however Tommy would,” Karen hypothesized. “And sociopaths have been known to pass lie detector tests by controlling their bodies that way.”

“Is dere anyding we gan do for Reg oder dan nod helping da prosegution?” Justin asked.

“Get him a good lawyer and a good shrink,” Frank replied. “I believe Leigh’s already taken care of the former, and she’s going to be working on the latter.”

“Bring him flowers every day in the hospitals...” Karen said, adding, “...both of them,” at a whisper. That was the one thing that really pained her about Reg’s situation. It wasn’t Justin shooting him. That had to be done for the safety of everyone out there that day, and all the people he would have been harming in the future if he’d gotten away. And it wasn’t that, once he was released from this hospital, he’d be facing some serious criminal charges. Leigh had gotten him a lawyer who came highly recommended by Mark, and so must be very good. It was the fact that he would most likely end up in a mental institution of some kind, even though Karen knew it was where he needed to be.

His best defense was going to be an insanity plea, because it was the truth. Once a jury or judge understood that, either he’d go into a prison mental ward or he’d go into an institution. Her gut clenched at the thought of either one. It was a long time ago that she’d been in ‘the hospital.’ But, though her fear of being institutionalized again certainly once had a rational basis, after so many years, during which she’d more than proven her sanity, that fear had become a phobia. The mere mention of mental institutions or of someone being sent to one, in general, was enough to make Karen tense. And it had taken all her willpower to not break down completely when Aiden had been briefly sent to a mental ward, when he’d freaked out over being kept in the hospital while he was still battling his lycanthropy.

As far as Karen was concerned, it was a no-win situation for Reg, and it hurt terribly to see it happening to another good friend, especially when her rational brain forced her to agree with its necessity. On the one hand, if he ended up in a regular institution, he’d probably get more effective treatment than he would in a prison mental ward, treatment that he really did need. On the other hand, he might get released as soon as he was declared sane. Karen knew that someone as astute and charming as Reg/Tommy would quickly learn all the right answers and be able to pass as sane without actually being cured. Even she’d been able to do that eventually, and she was nowhere near as charming as Reg. Of course, she also wasn’t really insane to begin with, either. The problem was...allowing Tommy to get free, ever, wasn’t really an option for any of the Envoys, since they knew what he was capable of. The most she could hope for out of the whole dismal situation was to find a way to let Reg know that there would always be people who cared about him. Unfortunately, as long as Tommy was in charge, Reg might never find that out.

“Any thoughts on how we tell Phil and Audra,” Leigh asked the others, “what sort of...um...”

“Spin?” Karen suggested, suddenly realizing that the subject had changed.

“Yes...‘spin’ we can put on it for them?” Leigh finished.

“He’s in the hospital and he needs his family,” Frank told her.

“But how do we explain that he’s in there because Justin shot him?” Karen asked. No one had a ready answer.

“What about Paz and Ami’s nanny?” Leigh asked. “Do we know how safe they are with her? Because if Phil and Audra are here for Reg, the girls will be alone there with a fairly unstable mother, and.... Has their nanny been fully checked out?”

“Yes. I got asked by several different people to check her out back when she was first hired,” Frank said. “Just call them and tell them someone will pick them up at the airport when they get in.”

“Nod me,” Justin said.

“No, you’re too drugged up right now,” Aiden agreed.

Leigh pulled out her phone and dialed Phil’s cell number. She didn’t want to risk having Claire answer. After a few rings, the call went to voice mail. “Phil? This is Leigh. Reg is in the hospital, but he will be OK. Please call me. And we can get you to the hospital when you get here.”

Leigh sat for a few minutes, holding the phone and willing it to ring. When it didn’t, she got up and went to the kitchen. She was buzzing with nervous energy, and had to do something to burn it off. She started going through the cabinets and fridge, looking at what ingredients she had available and thinking about what she might do with them.

Frank got out his own phone, and called Terri. “Hi! Where are you?” he asked when she answered her phone.

“I’m parked at Metro,” she told him.

“Metro? We don’t need to flee the state,” Frank told her.

“We did dell her do ged oud’a dere,” Justin reminded him.

“The question is, do I want to know?” Terri asked him. “Or rather, I DO want to know, but is it advisable?”

Frank sidestepped the question. He still hadn’t decided whether or not to keep her out of it for right now. “I just wondered if you wanted to come and join in the drinking....”

“Should I bring any food?” she asked. “If I do, got any preferences?”

“Just not Steak Tartar,” Frank told her.

Leigh had been furiously chopping vegetables for a salad, until she ran out of vegetables. Then she turned to making bread, since there happened to be a lone packet of yeast in the refrigerator. She’d taken a break and had a few drinks while the dough rose, and she was up to her forearms beating it down when her phone started ringing. Frank happened to be in the kitchen getting another beer, so he opened the phone and held it to Leigh’s ear while she washed the dough off her hands.

“Reg is alright but he’s in the hospital?!” Phil said, his voice rising slightly. “Oh...sorry.... Hi, Leigh! Thanks for calling. Reg is alright but he’s in the hospital?! Where are you?”

“Detroit,” Leigh answered, since Phil actually gave her a little opening to get a word in.

“I’ll call you when we know our flight,” Phil told her.

The volume on Leigh’s phone was high enough that Frank could hear some of what Phil was saying. He turned the phone to his own ear. “Reg was shot. He’s in ICU. He’ll recover,” he told Phil.

Leigh, her hands clean enough, grabbed her phone back from Frank and giving him a dirty look. “Don’t tell his sister,” Leigh warned him, concerned that Claire would freak out and put the girls at risk.

“No, I wasn’t planning on it,” Phil told her. “I’m going to arrange our flight now.” He hung up without waiting for a response.

In the other room, Justin asked, “Do we know how long undil Weeping Sparrow gan ged gud loose?” There was a pause, and no one said anything for a second. “Oh, geez, bad choice of words,” Justin apologized, suddenly realizing what he’d just said. “Sorry.”

“We know what you meant,” Angie told him, snickering.

“She’s scheduled for a med-evac ride up to Mt. P in the morning,” Aiden told him, realizing that Justin’s pain pills probably kept him from remembering that they’d already talked about it earlier.

“Running Elg, too?”

“Yup.”

Frank came back to the table with his beer, and opened his laptop. He opened a link to the web-cam he’d left in Reg’s room, to check on him. He was still strapped down pretty well; and from the looks of it, he really did dose himself when he said he was going to, because he looked like he was out cold.

“So, fixing da Hell Moud is on hold undil Weeping Sparrow is bedder...” Justin said, thinking out loud, “or poinds us do a subsdidude.... And I sdill habe a few days wid my jaw wired....”

There was a knock at the back door, and everyone froze for a second. Frank opened a window and linked to the backdoor’s security camera. It was Terri, with a couple large grocery bags. Leigh let her in and fastened the door behind her. Terri carried the bags to the table. The bags were labeled Xocomico, which was a really good, authentic Mexican place near the Ambassador Bridge. She started pulling loaded styrofoam clamshells out of the bag, and Justin looked at the containers wistfully. Only a few more day until he could eat real food again....

“I didn’t forget,” she told him, pulling out a quart-sized plastic container of soup. “I brought Menudo for you.”

“Unnh,” Karen groaned. She’d had it before, and if she didn’t think about what it was, it really wasn’t bad. But considering what Reg had been serving in the hospital cafeteria....

Justin looked at her, waiting to hear why she didn’t like it. He didn’t even know what it was....

“It’s tripe,” Angie said, a note of disgust in her voice, too.

It took Justin a second to realize... “Oh! Well...I guess id isn’ dat bad....”

“I brought Tortilla Soup, too,” Terri consoled them, pulling another plastic container out of the bag. “And margharitas!” She pulled a couple large jugs out of the bag and held them up like trophies.

“Id sdill isn’ da same as nachos,” Justin sighed.

“We can fix that!” Frank told him with evil glee. He took the large clamshell with nachos into the kitchen, and they could hear the blender whir into action, ‘choking’ a couple times on chips. He carried back in a plastic Slurpee cup with a straw.

Terri peered inside the cup and wrinkled her nose, then stuck the straw in her mouth and sucked on it. Her cheeks caved in as she pulled hard for a few seconds. She paused and thought for a second. “That’s not actually bad....”

She held the cup out to Justin, and he took it. Since she’d already started it, it didn’t take him as long to get some of the ‘nacho shake’ through the straw. “You’re righd. Bud Bendie sdraws aren’ fery macho.”

“I can fix that, too!” Frank said. He went to the kitchen, and they could hear him opening and shutting cabinets. A minute later, he came back with one of the stupid hats that has beer-can holders mounted above the ears and long flexible tubes to suck the beer out with. “I knew Tony’d have one of these around here!”

“Well, nothing official, but your ‘case’ has already hit the precinct,” Terri told them all.

“Shid. I’m gonna hafda find oud which reladives are reporders, so I gan sday away from ‘em,” Justin complained.

“You mean besides Marlene, who could really use the scoop to get her career back on line?” Frank teased him.

The team quickly filled in Terri, telling her the truth of what had happened. As they did, Terri tapped Frank on the arm and slid a bottle of his favorite whiskey from the pocket of her coat, which was hanging on the back of the chair. He smiled and nodded his thanks. They’d save that for later.

“I didn’ double-dap,” Justin said, almost apologetically.

“I hear you didn’t need to,” Terri told him.

“He dropped with just one,” Leigh confirmed.

“I sdopped afder id was Reg in dere,” Justin clarified.

“We’ve been told that Tommy makes the best soup,” Leigh said, just before taking a bite of a cheese enchilada. “I think I’m going to have to make an appointment for a session with you before you two leave town again, Frank.”

“It sounds like everyone will,” Terri commented.

“I’ll need a session wid Fader Colin,” Justin told them, “begause I can’d exagdly dell Fader Jerzy.”

“Why not?” Karen asked him. “There’s nothing Unknown about it. You were forced to shoot a friend because he went crazy and slit the throat of another friend.”

“By the way, Frank,” Terri said, “I parked the RV in a pay lot a couple blocks away that has someone there. And I locked it down. Don’t let me forget I did that. It’s really embarrassing when I forget.”

“What?” Frank teased her. “I think the one alarm is a pretty good one.” He put on his ‘Fed’ voice, enunciating each syllable: “Step away from the vehicle or I will call the police.” Pause. “OK, I’m dialing 911...right now....” Another pause. “The police should be here any moment.”

Everyone laughed. “I’m more worried about the tear gas. You only wanna make THAT mistake once,” Terri told him. The others laughed even harder.

When the laughter died down, Frank got serious again. “If the story’s out already, then your house is probably being watched,” he told Justin and Karen. Karen sighed.

“There wasn’t anyone there when I went by,” Terri said. “But I didn’t stop or anything. Just drove by, and continued on over here when I saw the lights were all out.

“I jusd wanna go home and sleep wid my wife,” Justin moaned.

“You could stay in the RV, and release the tear gas at anyone who bothered you,” Frank offered.

“I like you,” Leigh giggled. “You’re bad.” She was starting to feel the margharitas, but she didn’t really care. She was hoping they’d dull the pain a bit.

“And I need do ged oud of dese doldrums or da dogdor’s gonna gibe me uppers,” Justin sighed.

“Or worse...lock you in a room with Frank for a session!” Angie laughed.

“Why, I’m glad you mentioned it, Angie,” Frank said, checking his watch. “I DO have an 8am session available, since you volunteered.”

Angie rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at Frank.

Everyone was winding down, finally, and thinking about going home for the night. Aiden looked over at Karen and she nodded. Obviously they were tonight’s designated drivers. Justin hadn’t been drinking, but they were concerned that his focus might still be dulled by the pain meds. So the two figured out who was driving whom where, threw a blanket over Tony, and, for the next hour or so, got everyone and their vehicles where they belonged.

Over the next few days, Karen noticed that Justin was cutting his dosage of the pain meds by about half. She figured he was trying to punish himself, blaming himself for not being more alert, as if that would have made him do something differently that day. Sure, maybe if his brain hadn’t been dulled by the meds, he might have aimed at a less-lethal target. But he still would have had to shot Tommy to stop him. And if he hadn’t been on the pain pills, then maybe the pain itself would’ve dulled his brain the same way and nothing would’ve changed.

On the other hand, she knew that he’d had personal experience with what he called “grunt candy,” and he’d seen enough guys get addicted to it for the very reason that it did slow their brains down, so they wouldn’t have to think about what they’d done while they were active. And she knew that Justin hated the thought that he might get addicted to it himself. So she didn’t say anything to him about it. It hurt to see him in pain, physical or mental; but as long as he was trying to handle it himself, so wasn’t going to intervene.

Every time Leigh saw Justin over the next couple months, she’d give him a hug and remind him that he had nothing to feel guilty about. And eventually, Justin began believing what she and Karen and all the others told him. No charges were ever filed against Justin, once the investigation was completed. Not even the cops could fault what he’d done that day.

Fr. Colin eventually returned Tony’s call. “Ah, I’ve been busier than a one-armed paper hanger!” he complained to Tony, in his Irish brogue. “All of a sudden I’m trainin’ hundreds of new exarcists. The number of reparts of passessions has just exploded recently, and there aren’t enough of us ta keep up!”

“Here in the States?” Tony asked, concerned.

“Not sa much in Narth America. And anly a little mar than usual in Europe. But, heavens, in South America and Asia...?!”

Leigh began doing research into Reg’s past, especially his and Claire’s childhood. Considering how both of them ended up mentally unstable as adults, she wondered if there might have been something in their common background that had predisposed than to it.

Reg had never really talked about his mother’s death, so Leigh looked there first. But she’d died of illness in the 90s, when Reg was well past the age when most MPD cases are triggered. So she kept looking, thinking that maybe he had some strange uncle or neighbor when he was a child, who might have caused the initial break.

She continued to visit Reg, too, though she always kept in mind that it was practically impossible to tell when Tommy was ‘in charge,’ and so behaved as if he was all the time. She wasn’t happy about having to do that, but she knew it was safer.

And when Tommy was in charge, he went with ‘protective coloration,’ careful to BE Reg. He never made a fuss about his treatment or the way his case was being handled, never did anything that might tip people off that it was him and not Reg in control.

He had a really good lawyer, and Frank was an excellent expert witness, and even the prosecution’s expert couldn’t deny that Reg really seemed to have a dissociative disorder. Weeping Sparrow insisted on not pressing charges against Reg; and after consulting with her, Running Elk decided to do the same. So only the State had a case to press against Reg. Reg ended up in the hospital for the duration of his trial. And in the end, he was judged guilty but mentally ill and sent to the prison mental ward.

Frank decided that he should probably stick around in order to continue treating Reg, since Tommy would have little chance of ‘glibbing’ his way out of jail with Frank. He also decided that, even though he’d be around, he was going to cut back on his SAVE work in order to devote more time to his practice. So Terri went back to work at the DPD a little sooner than she’d planned; but she was OK with that because Frank’s decisions meant that he might have a little more time for her, too.

Angie and Leigh had started working out together on a regular basis, and Justin joined them from time to time as well. Since they all practiced different styles of martial arts, it helped all of them become more proficient when they had a chance to work out against styles different from their own.

Justin was also working on ways to think of using non-lethal force first, rather than going straight for his gun. And everyone was working through their lingering issues with having to put one of their own in prison.

They’d gotten all the way through February and into March without anything sidetracking the normality of their lives. It was Wednesday, March 5 when it finally happened.

Leigh had come over to have dinner with Justin and Karen. They talked about Reg, and Justin mentioned that he was toying with a new idea for ‘hiding the team in plain sight.’ But otherwise, they tried to avoid ‘shop talk.’

The three were just finishing cleaning up from their meal when there was a knock at the front door. Justin grabbed a gun from its kitchen drawer cubby, and went and looked through the peephole. There was a Native American man, a little over 6 feet tall, about college-aged, standing on the porch. Justin wasn’t sure who he was, but he probably had something to do with Weeping Sparrow. He shrugged and opened the door, keeping the gun hidden behind it.

Now he could see that the guy was wearing black slacks, a white shirt, a tie, and a Herringbone tweed jacket. He had collar-length hair, and was fairly good-looking, though Justin didn’t really consider himself a great judge of guys’ looks.

“You must be Moose,” the man said to Justin.

“You must know Weeping Sparrow,” Justin replied, not yet ready to let the guy all the way through the door.

“I have a message from Weeping Sparrow.”

Justin stuck his head out the door and looked around, then backed up and let the guy in. He flipped the safety back on, and tucked the gun into the back of his waistband, then shut the door behind the guy. “And you are?” he asked the man, leading him into the kitchen and slipping the gun back into its kitchen drawer.

“David Red Elk,” the man said.

Having had a chance to see him better, Justin figured the guy was actually a little older than college-aged, maybe mid-20s. “Are you...this is a stupid question, but...are you related to Running Elk?” Justin asked him.

Red Elk didn’t quite roll his eyes, but Justin got the message. “No,” he told Justin.

“I know. Stupid question. But, hey, I’m white.”

“Yes. You are.”

Justin went to the bottom of the back staircase and hollered up, “Karen!”

Karen came into the kitchen from the sun room, Leigh right behind her. Justin spun around, a little surprised that they came from a different direction than he’d expected.

“Where is Essiban?” David asked, looking up from the envelope in his hand and at one white face, then another.

“Right here,” Karen said, stepping forward and holding her hand out for the envelope. Red Elk couldn’t quite mask the surprised look on his face. He wasn’t expecting her to be white! He handed over the envelope, which had her name on it, written in Weeping Sparrow’s hand.

Justin motioned to the table, and asked, “Can I get you something? I’ve got beer, tea, wine....”

“Water will be fine,” Red Elk said almost stiffly, sitting down and struggling to cover his surprise.

Karen pulled a chair out with her toe and sat absent-mindedly as she focused on the envelope.

Leigh watched Karen open the letter and was about to sit down when she heard a car pull up in front of the house. When Justin didn’t seem to hear it, because he was watching for reactions from both his wife and this Ojibwa man, she went to the front room and peeked out the window. It was a cab. A little, bald-headed Japanese man got out. He kind of reminded Leigh of pictures she’d seen of Gandhi, but without the glasses. He was wearing ‘business casual’ clothes with a jacket over it that looked like silk.

Leigh could see him check a small piece of paper he held, then look up at the address again. He leaned into the cab and paid and thanked the driver, then walked to the door. Leigh let him knock before opening it. She didn’t want to spook him away just moments after he got here.

“Hello,” she said, answering the door when he knocked.

“You...are Doctor Ka-zot-chek?” the man asked, in a heavy Japanese accent.

“Oh, no,” Leigh told him. “I’m a friend of hers. And she uses her maiden name, Riley, professionally.”

“Ah! Father Colin did not mention that!”

“Oh, Fr. Colin sent you?” Leigh asked, stepping back and inviting him into the house.

“Doctor Nakatomi,” he said, bowing to her. “Sent by Father Colin.”

“Well, you pronounce his name right, so you must have met him. I’m Leigh Sorenson.” She returned his bow.

“Yes! We had many discussions when he was in Japan. He mentioned a particular...household?... you are having trouble with?”

Leigh’s eyebrows went up. She supposed you could say that, if it was the Hell Mouth he was referring to. Well, they hadn’t tried geomancy yet.... She led Dr. Nakatomi toward the kitchen.

Karen opened the envelope and unfolded the sheet of paper inside. The letter was written in Ojibway.

“Essiban,

“This one is in much need. I send him to you knowing you will teach him everything he has not learned. Like many young people, he believes he knows more of the world than he even knows exists.

“It is time you took on an apprentice. And if you don’t need an apprentice, he will make a good bodyguard.

“With affection,
“Weeping Sparrow”

Karen could hear her laughing, even from Detroit. She looked up at David Red Elk, unsure what to say. It didn’t look like he knew what Weeping Sparrow had written in the letter. They were staring at one another when Leigh brought in Dr. Nakatomi.

“This is Dr. Nakatomi,” she introduced him to the others. “Fr. Colin sent him. Dr. Nakatomi, this is Justin Kazotchek, Karen Kazotchek, and....” She looked to Justin to fill in the Native American man’s name.

“Oh, and David Red Elk,” Justin finished. “Mr. Red Elk, this is Leigh Sorenson. Weeping Sparrow sent him....”

“Yes. She thinks I need an apprentice,” Karen added.

“Are you an archaeologist?” Justin asked, turning back to him.

“I’ve taken some classes...but, I’m a lawyer. U of M Law School.”

Karen could almost see him puff up like a robin when he said it. Great. A U of M snob. She grinned. She had no doubt that Weeping Sparrow sent him here because she felt both of them had something to learn.

Justin set the glass of water he was holding in front of Red Elk and held out a chair for Dr. Nakatomi.

“Can I get you something?” Leigh asked him.

“We have tea...” Justin offered.

“It’s very good, an herbal mixture I made myself,” Leigh told him.

“Thank you. That would be nice,” Dr. Nakatomi replied.

“So, if you’re a lawyer,” Justin asked, turning to Red Elk again, “how did you end up taking orders from Weeping Sparrow?”

“I believe it’s a right of passage. My father...he wants me to learn the ways of the shaman, so he sent me to Weeping Sparrow. And...well...I read your papers...but no one mentioned that you were...well, you ARE a member of the tribe...but....”

David was obviously quite uncomfortable. He seemed to really be stumbling over the part where Karen was.... “Yeah, she’s white,” Justin finally said, pointing out the obvious thing that Red Elk was dancing around.

“Yes.” Red Elk agreed, his shoulders dropping ever so slightly. Karen couldn’t tell whether it was from relief at the ‘horrifying fact’ being out in the open or from disappointment that they didn’t seem to see the horror in it and he was going to have to somehow muddle through anyway.

“Dr. Nakatomi is here about your house, Justin,” Leigh told them, trying to direct the attention away from Mr. Red Elk for a moment.

“So, what do you know about the house, Doctor?” Justin asked. “What did Fr. Colin tell you?”

“That it may be infested by demons,” Dr. Nakatomi said. “However...” He lowered his voice and leaned in to Justin. “I don’t wish to talk about it in front of our young friend until we know how much he knows. He is a tribal member, so he must be determined and strong...and yet....”

Justin nodded agreement. But then, he could have said the same about Nakatomi, too. “So what’d the letter say?” Justin asked Karen.

“That he’s supposed to be my apprentice,” Karen told him. She looked at Red Elk, still unsure what to make of those instructions, and shrugged. “Or my bodyguard.”

“So we’re supposed to be shoving him in the deep end?” Justin glanced at her indalo earrings.

Karen sighed. “I’m not ready to do that quite yet.... But he showed up at the same time as Dr. Nakatomi, here...and I gave up coincidences for Lent...a couple years ago.”