Chapter 21

Alex

Nick pulled up outside the front door. He had made some demands the preceding night and he had forced Merlin to accept them. He didn’t want her to go training. He didn’t want her to return to Angel Island until the morning. He did want her to get a solid night’s sleep.

It hadn’t gone down well.

“I don’t have time, Nick.”

“You need to take a step back, Merli. You’re too close to this. You can’t think for thinking, an’ you’re thinking all the wrong thoughts.”

“So now you can read my mind, is that it?”

“I can see you’re tired, emotionally tense and possibly even overwrought, and pretty wired up about something. Go into combat like that, you will lose. Take a step back, get some sleep, you’ll have better odds.”

Reluctantly, she’d yielded.

And, now, the next morning, she was forced to admit he’d been right. She did feel more centered, she had balance back in her life.

“While you were gone yesterday,” he said as she went to get out of the car and she paused, “I was thinking about who else you might speak with. Obviously, you’re striking out with Enforcers in your own family but .. what about others?”

“No. That’s a dead end. Not worth trying.”

“Okay,” he nodded, not arguing the point. “Then how about Joseph? He runs a halfway house for newbies. He may have heard something, some gossip. A name, a situation. You know he’d always help you out. An’, if he doesn’t know now, he could try asking others who come in.”

Merlin nodded too. “Good idea. Yeah, I’ll try Joseph. Thanks, Nick. I guess the Legacy does have a part to play after all.”

“Okay.” He smiled and squeezed her hand. “Let’s go see what Derek’s discovered for you.”

Derek had discovered a lot. He put the copies on the library table for Merlin to study.

“This was in nineteen fifty seven. My father thought he had tracked down the location of the first sepulcher. Knowing their purpose, he recruited an Enforcer to accompany him as security. He didn’t go thru London house, so they never knew. The Enforcer who went with him was Gulo. Here are the entries from my father’s journal about the whole trip. All together, they worked side by side for nearly eighty days.”

“Thanks. This is great,” Merlin breathed as she sat down. It was like being handed a pot of gold dug up from the end of the rainbow.

“I can go one better,” Derek said triumphantly. “My father discovered, by accident, an ancient temple. They were a month on the excavation before they moved on.” He put a photograph on top of one of the sheets. “This picture shows the native workforce. This is my father, Winston Rayne. And that man there .. must be Gulo.”

Merlin’s heart turned over. It was a grainy, black and white image, but now she knew the face of her enemy.

Derek and Nick watched as she picked up the photo, handling it carefully. They saw a slight frown dent her forehead but it faded quickly. She studied the man known as Gulo with intense eyes.

“Can I keep this for a while?” she asked. “I’ll return it.”

“Of course,” Derek agreed.

“Thanks.”

Slowly, they sat down on either side of the table, glanced at each other, then, at Nick’s almost imperceptible nod, Derek asked, “Why are you so keen to find out about this man?”

“I can’t really say, Derek.”

“Can’t, or won’t? You believe it is too dangerous for the Legacy and so you intend to keep us in the dark, and this is despite working with us for several years now and knowing how we are able to cope.”

Merlin smiled briefly. “It isn’t that, although what’s coming will be very dangerous. It’s more that .. it’s a club secret. No one knows .. except me, the boss, Gabriel, my grandfather and my great grandfather. I’m a member of an extremely elite group. I learned that much yesterday. No one knows this man .. and there’s a good reason for that. Now the two obvious people to go speak with about it have disappeared as well. I have to find out what I can on my own.”

“With our help,” Derek pointed out.

“Yes, an’ I’m very grateful for the picture and these copies. I’ll read everything very carefully.”

There was another pause while she stared at the picture.

“You got any idea how soon the big bad is coming?” Nick ventured.

“Not as such. Probably sooner than I’d like.”

“What did Gabriel say yesterday morning?” Nick gently pressed.

“He came to warn me, tell me to get ready. I have to go over everything I’ve ever learned. My Mom had already put me on alert during the night. The Gorge is quiet. Training’s been real easy the last few nights. There’s tension everywhere an’ its bleeding over into sensitive locations like Legacy houses. We all thought it was the rain getting on our nerves but it isn’t.”

“That’s good to know,” Derek commented dryly. “I always thought we had more resilience than to get irritated over bad weather. In a curious way, I’m pleased there’s a genuine reason for the .. lack of civility here just lately.”

“Maybe you wanna think that over. I checked the activity logs during the early hours of yesterday morning,” Merlin went on. “It isn’t only this house, Derek, it’s all of them. Everywhere is feeling the effect.”

“The entire world?” Nick frowned.

She slowly nodded. “So, when Gabriel did turn up, I was half expecting it but I wasn’t expecting him to say what he did. He couldn’t tell me very much at all an’ he had to leave fast.”

“Why were you so angry an’ shocked?” Nick inquired. “I saw you – you were numb.”

Merlin didn’t answer for a moment while she studied the photograph again, then she put it back on the table.

“You know quite a bit about us now – how we work, our targets, the discipline, the fact we always settle our debts … One thing we’re not into is revenge. Vengeance belongs to God. We will carry out His will. Personal revenge .. is really getting too close to the line so we don’t go there. But, yesterday, Gabriel gave me a white card. I guess,” she added quietly, “there really is a first time for everything.”

Derek leaned forward. “So .. this is purely revenge?”

“Purely .. no. But, yeah, there’s a strong element of revenge. And .. I know you won’t wanna hear this but this is how it has to be – if it means I will have that revenge, I will die willingly. There’s an outstanding debt owed to me an’ I will have it settled. This is one that cannot be ignored.”

Nick watched her. She was right – he didn’t want to hear that. But there was something in her voice, some quality of quiet steadfastness, which made his heart swell with pride.

“I don’t know if I can allow the Legacy to become involved in a matter of personal vengeance,” Derek said softly.

“We do it all the time!” Nick protested.

“No, we don’t. It has happened in the past, but it is not something we actively, openly pursue. If it is forced upon us, then, maybe, we react too hastily. Something like this, Nick, something planned … ” Derek fell silent and shrugged quickly.

Nick glared at him.

“However,” Derek continued, his gaze riveted on the table, “I’m sure that the approaching situation demands action and, if people want to .. volunteer their services as individuals rather than as Legacy members, I won’t stop them. In fact, I will be the first to volunteer.”

“Derek, you don’t have to make a stand on conscience,” Merlin responded. “The revenge is mine. The debt owed is to me. The situation .. that’s different. That’s .. well, it’s justice. In doing my job, I get revenge.”

“In that case, the Legacy stands ready to assist you in whatever way it can.”

“But I told you, it’s dangerous.” She sat back and crossed one leg over the other. “I’ve seen a lot of evil, in a lotta shapes, forms, an’ disguises. I’ve seen it big, fast, enormous, slow, small, sneaky. I’ve felt it broadside an’ I’ve felt it subtle. I’m trained to take on just about anything downstairs can throw at me. But this .. no one’s ever trained for this. This is a one-off. It’s never happened before. I don’t know if I can win. Now, trained and fit as I am, if I’m feeling like that, don’t you think you guys should .. back off a little? Keep your distance?”

Nick looked across the table at his Precept. Derek was frowning.

“No,” Derek replied after a moment’s thought. “And I’ll tell you why. I do know something about the Enforcers, but I know more about you because you live here, you’re a part of my team even if you are not a member of my team, and I think very highly of you. You’re strong. Confident. A willing friend and a worthy ally. But your focus is restricted. With the powers you have, the restriction is necessary. I understand that. The Legacy is an organization I know somewhat better again. In our own way, we are as strong, and we’re as confident in the areas we have to deal with. Our focus is wider, more diffused. Our restriction is that we don’t have the same power as the Enforcers. It means we must fight with what we do have – intelligence, knowledge, guile and cunning, and, at times, brute force. Each alone is a potent adversary which evil thinks twice about before engaging. If one is overwhelmed, the other is there to help. So it will be this time. Together, we will defeat this threat. Yes, it will be dangerous, possibly more dangerous than any of us has ever encountered but that is no reason to back off or keep our distance. We will not abandon our allies in their time of need.”

*****

Alex worked her neck. She could hear voices out in the library – Derek’s, Nick’s, Merlin’s – but she didn’t go and join in. She had a slight headache which she put down to aching neck muscles, the weather, and the recurring, persistent nightmare which had plagued her for almost ten days. It had reached the stage now where she could see brief snatches of it when she closed her eyes during the day. Afterimages, horrible, laden with doom. She wasn’t dreading going to sleep because – the one mercy as far as she was concerned – the nightmare was short. But she always woke feeling exhausted, like someone had taken her body and pummeled it while she slept.

“You look beat,” Rachel remarked. “Why don’t you take a break?”

“I’m okay. Headache, that’s all,” Alex replied wearily.

“When was the last time you went outside?”

“Have you seen what it’s like outside?” Alex queried, half amused.

“No excuse for shutting yourself away from it,” Rachel scolded. “When was the last time?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Then get an umbrella an’ go outside for some fresh air. It’ll help that headache. It’ll help clear out the cobwebs. Stay on the paths, you won’t get too muddy.”

Alex smiled. “That’s good advice. I will.”

Rachel waited. “Something else on your mind?”

Alex hesitated. “I know dreams can be nothing more than odd flashes with no discernible order and they’re purely natural occurrences and I also know that they can be warnings, portents, visions sent deliberately. Often, it’s difficult to tell the difference. But why do we have nightmares?”

“The wild horse of the dark hours,” Rachel mused. “We’re taken from our comfort zone, thrown onto its back, an’ left to hang on or fall off during one, mad ride. I don’t know the answer, Alex. Perhaps .. it’s the dark half of our personality claiming its fair share of dream time. An’, working here,” she added in a flat but amused voice, “I’d’ve said nightmares are pretty much standard practice. Why’d you ask? Have you been having nightmares?”

“Just one, but, boy, is it persistent. Lucky for me, it’s only brief .. but it is so real and so horrible.”

Rachel nodded. “Wanna tell me about it?”

Alex paused, frowning at the workstation. “It .. doesn’t seem like a dream, y’know? I’m watching, I’m not taking part. I know that. It’s dark, but there’s a wash of firelight. It’s bathing walls of stone. I walk toward where it’s brightest. I enter a cavern .. an’ there’s this huge pit of fire. It’s like a lake. And, over all this, quite close to the surface but not touching it, is a wheel. A big wheel. Lying on its side.” Alex’s eyes narrowed as she pictured it. “At least fifteen feet across, maybe even twenty. And that’s made of fire too. And, on it, tied somehow, is a man. He’s screaming. It’s so loud. And the wheel is slowly turning. He’s being roasted alive.”

“Oh God … ” Rachel breathed.

“But then .. maybe the ropes burn thru or something but he breaks free. He sits up .. and his body is just completely charred and blistered. I can see bits of his flesh peeling away. The smell … ” She shook her head, swallowing, her eyes closing. “And then .. it changes, and I see a wide, desolate landscape, patches of snow, and bones.”

Alex shook her head again. “It makes no sense. I’m sure I don’t know the man, and I don’t recognize either the cavern or the desolate landscape. So why am I dreaming this every night for the past .. ten nights?” She waited for Rachel’s answer. “Is it a warning? Or am I just overdue for a vacation?”

“Yes, definitely, to that second question,” Rachel promptly replied and Alex smiled. “As for the first question .. I don’t know. Maybe it is just a build up of horrible images that you’ve seen during your work here, some imagination, and a creative urge to put them into a story so there’s some kind of realistic sequence. Tell me, how did the sight make you feel?”

“How d’you mean?” Alex frowned.

“Were you sorry for the man? I won’t ask if you were happy because you’re not that sick. But maybe you were ambivalent. He’s a stranger, why should you feel anything for him? And what about when he gets free? Were you relieved?”

Alex thought about it. It helped talking about the nightmare in an objective way and discussing the peripheral sensations. It took the emphasis away from the sight.

“When I first see him, I feel horror. How could anyone do that to a human being, y’know? But it fades, and I just watch him. I want to cover my ears, because he’s screaming so loud. When he gets free .. no. I wasn’t relieved. I felt .. a sense of panic. Claustrophobia maybe. I want to get away from him .. but that could be because he looks so angry.” She paused. “And that’s strange because his eyes are cold. Dead almost. I could just .. feel his anger. It’s rage but very tightly controlled. Does that make sense?”

“It isn’t meant to make sense, Alex. Talking about it helps gets a sense of perspective. Dreams, and nightmares, can shine a light into what’s going on inside our minds and we can act on the signals we’re getting .. but as to the images and sensations themselves, that’s a tougher call to make.”

Rachel watched Alex nod slowly in resignation. “Look, it’s obviously affecting you. There are some techniques – ”

“No, really, I’ll be fine,” Alex cut in. “I feel better about it already.”

Rachel smiled. “All I was gonna say is .. if you’re aware that it isn’t a dream, that you’re observing the sequence as opposed to living it, you do have a degree of control. Why don’t you try talking to this man? Ask who he is. Why he’s so angry at being free. Even if you don’t wanna go that far, be aware that you do have control.” She shrugged lightly. “If you want some help in these techniques, let me know.”

“Okay. Well, I think I will take your advice an’ go outside for a while.” She rose and headed toward the library.

Rachel watched her go. She wasn’t sure if Alex really was feeling better about it or not. Some people had a mild aversion to psychologists. It was okay working alongside one but asking for help on a personal matter sometimes stuck in the throat. Rachel couldn’t force anyone to listen or to accept her advice, but she could give it. Then it was their choice. She sighed. It all came down to the stigma attached to mental illness. Nightmares were not a sign of mental illness and talking them over could not begin to suggest there was any kind of problem yet talking to a psychologist was, even in California, indelibly linked to something being not quite right in the head. And that, almost universally, was considered a sign of personal weakness. No one in the Legacy wanted to appear weak. Hence the conflict.

And was it a simple random sequence generated by an overtired mind? Well, it could be. Alex could be singularly driven at times. She did need a vacation. But Rachel wasn’t so sure that it was random. It seemed too structured. So .. did that mean it was a warning?

Once upon a time, once, before she’d joined the Legacy, when all she’d known in her life was ordinary, everyday, regular problems, she would have said no, and said it emphatically. But she had joined the Legacy and her eyes had been opened to the fact that there was more in life and death than she’d ever believed possible. There were shades and shades within shades, meanings and layers to every experience. So .. maybe it was a warning.

In which case .. what was it warning about?

*****

Merlin smiled warmly. “That’s generous of you, Derek. Really, I mean it. But .. while I won’t refuse outright, I do think you should ask the opinions of the members of your house before you commit them to this. I know, as Precept, you don't have to ask, that these people – good, loyal people – should obey any order you give. But I am asking you to do this. Give them the choice.”

“An’ will you accept those choices?” Nick asked rather bluntly.

“Of course. The choice is whether to help or not, and, if people choose not to, I won’t hold it against them. I told you, we don’t, as a rule, become involved in revenge and we don’t hold grudges. Even this time is .. a one time deal. And .. if they all agree, it’s up to me to choose how to apply that help.”

“In other words,” Nick commented, “you’ll keep us as far from harm as you can.”

Merlin shrugged lightly. “I’m mandated to do that. Protection of Legacy members, property and belongings.”

He smiled. “You always have a get out clause.”

“Not exactly. I .. just work according to the rules. If you know ’em, it’s amazing how far they’ll bend. Nick, try an’ understand. If you knew you were facing a situation of unknown parameters, impossible to calculate variables, and which was going to be certainly life threatening, would you deliberately have your friends – well meaning, anxious and inexperienced – come along with you? Or would you try to keep them safe?”

Nick let out a breath. “I guess I’d go for the second option.”

“But we are not totally inexperienced,” Derek replied. “Nonetheless, I will do as you ask, seeing as you asked so nicely and with the best intentions. My choice is made.”

“You don’t have to ask about mine,” Nick added. “You know I’m in. I have to do this .. an’ I not keeping my distance, Peri. It’s you an’ me against this thing.”

“My mother told you that, didn’t she?”

“Well .. yeah, she did but she wasn’t the first. Michael told me. He gave me my orders, an’ you know you don’t say no to the boss.”

Alex left the control room and paused. “Say no to the boss about what?”

“Later,” Derek said. “We’ll all discuss it over supper tonight.”

*****

Alex was surprised to find the rain had actually stopped. The sky was still heavy with threatening cloud but, for now, it wasn’t dropping its load of wet onto Angel Island. She didn’t think it would last very long, so she didn’t see it as an omen. She risked not taking an umbrella and set off down the drive at a medium paced walk.

A degree of control .. that’s good to know.

Rachel might have been surprised to learn that Alex had told the truth. She did feel better for talking it over. It had put it into perspective. Nightmares were frightening, especially when you woke suddenly, alone in the night, your heart thundering and your chest tight. In daylight, describing the events and the emotions which generated them and, in turn, were generated by them, it turned it from a nightmare into .. an event. Something to be examined and not feared.

And the first thing I have to examine isn’t so much what I saw but why I saw it, she considered. Rachel said nightmares and dreams can shine a light into what’s going on inside our minds and we can act on the signals we’re getting. So .. what kind of signals does a burning man represent? What the hell is going on inside my head for me to see things like that?

Maybe .. I shouldn’t have walked out so fast, she ruefully considered. I sure could use some expert guidance here because .. so far, it all seems to suggest I have a very dark, sick side to my personality. C’mon, Alex, don’t be so mean to yourself. You’re taking it too literally. You have to interpret the images – that’s what Rachel meant by shining a light.

“Okay. Let’s start at the beginning,” she said out loud.

It’s dark except there’s a wash of firelight bathing stone walls. Stone is rigid. Does it mean I feel trapped by the rigid structure of the Legacy? It could .. except I don’t feel trapped. The structure in this house is flexible enough to have gotten us in trouble with London from time to time. All right – the firelight. It suggests .. warmth. Coziness. Maybe I’m being too complacent. There’s a lake of fire. It’s round. A circle of fire. A wheel of fire. A circle .. could be .. coming back to the beginning. A circle has no end. Same with a wheel. Something endless and eternal. The man. How do I interpret a man being burned alive ..? In some places in Europe, witches were burned alive during the height of the witch hunts. Well, it could be that the strong part of my personality, represented by a male figure, is being slowly destroyed. Does being in this house, with these people, mean I’m losing part of myself? Maybe not, because the man does get free.

She sighed.

“I think what this is telling me more than anything is that I really need a vacation,” Alex muttered wryly.

All right, enough trying to interpret something I’m not qualified to do. Let’s move on and deal with some other things Rachel said.

“Should I talk to him .. or not?” Alex mused as she stepped onto the terrace.

She frowned as she considered. On the surface, it seemed a good idea. Alex certainly had questions to ask. Who was he? Why was he tied to that terrible, burning wheel? Where was that place? And was he pleased to be free at last? And, if he was, why was he so coldly, murderously angry?

It would be learning more about the event. Yet, at the back of her mind, cowering in some dark corner, was a tiny voice whispering that it would be the biggest mistake of her life. Leave the questions unasked. Find out some other way. And tell someone else about this. Don’t keep it to yourself. It’s too important.

Alex wasn’t aware of that tiny voice or the words it was saying. She just knew she felt uneasy about confronting the horribly burned man. She didn’t exactly try to put herself in his position but she reflected on the fact that he was most likely furious because he was in so much pain. Pain often emerged as anger. Anger disguised a whole raft of powerful emotions – fear, pain, humiliation, shame. Anger diverted the attention away from the true cause. And, of course, anger could be simply anger.

On balance, Alex decided not to engage him in conversation. But she would take better notice of the surroundings, the place and time if they could be determined, all the other things going on. The man on his wheel of fire and his gaining his freedom never changed, and she’d seen it enough to know what happened. Were there other witnesses? Other people around?

“Okay. So .. the sixty four million dollar question. Is it a dream or is it a warning of some kind?”

A dream .. well, yes, because she saw it while she slept. But did it originate in her mind or was it sent to her .. and, if so, by whom and why to Alex Moreau? Was it, in truth and in fact, a warning? If so, a warning of what? A man is being roasted alive on a wheel of fire over a lake of fire. Was he innocent? Was this terrible punishment undeserved? Alex couldn’t think of any way anyone could deserve such treatment. Was it a warning that he needed to be rescued? Yet he was free, or he would get free on his own. Did he have to be brought out of that place? Did his burns have to be healed?

“There again .. is it a kind of vision? A .. a premonition?”

And, if so, has it already happened or is it still in the future? As ever, I have no way of knowing that right now. Y’know, Alex, she thought to herself, I think it is a warning of some kind. Nightmares aren’t so consistent. And they don’t happen every night like clockwork. They hit like an Enforcer attack – without warning.

In which case .. I think I’m right to feel scared about this man.

*****

While Alex walked in the garden, wrestling with her enigmatic nightmare, Merlin went upstairs to lay down. It was kind of Derek to offer such staunch support. She felt touched by it. As to the question of accepting the offer … That was still very much undecided. Merlin didn’t doubt their resolve, or their qualities. She’d seen them in action too many times to have doubt. But she knew things they didn’t. And a Flamefall gone rogue … It made something inside flinch violently.

Merlin’s emotions were basically the same as everyone else’s, but hers ran on two levels. Surface, and deep. Everyone she met engaged the surface emotions. Very few penetrated to the deep kind. Nick was one. Her family was another. Maybe Evan and Jon were others. Even Derek, at times, got thru. Right now, running deep and slow, was a white hot anger. She could hide it from the others. When she finally came face to face with Reuben Meyer, it would blow. She’d erupt like a volcano. He had murdered one of her blood and for the worst evil reason ever – because he could.

That anger caused the flinching to stop. Flinching was a surface emotion, a knee jerk. Anger blasted it away. If ever she found herself unsure, she just reached down and tapped in, and her certainty returned.

She lay on the bed, got comfortable, and went to visit Joseph. She hoped he’d been baking …

*****

Joseph looked momentarily and uncharacteristically flustered as he opened the door. He blinked then smiled warmly.

“Peri! What a wonderful surprise. Please, come in. How are you?”

“I’m fine. How are you?”

He closed the door behind her. “I never imagined being dead meant being so busy. We’re rushed off our feet.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. Is there a plague somewhere?”

“No, and that’s the strange thing. Our halfway house for the newly deceased has been playing host to rather a lot of long term residents,” he replied. “Come on thru. These people tell me .. there’s a peculiar atmosphere. I have to admit I haven’t noticed it but then I haven’t had time to do very much at all.”

“Plus you haven’t been here all that long to notice things like that.”

“I suppose that’s true as well,” he agreed.

Merlin followed him into the kitchen. “Place seems empty now.”

“Most of them are in their rooms, probably with the doors locked,” Joseph remarked. “But this makes up for it. A small haven of normality amid the sudden chaos. How are the others? How are Dr Rayne and Dr Corrigan? Miss Alex and Master Nick?”

“Actually .. they’re feeling a bit twitchy. It’s been raining a lot just lately an’ no one can get outside for long. Not heavy, torrential rain, it’s the persistent, soaking kind.”

“Mmm. They always were an outdoor lot, especially Master Nick. Anyway .. can I get you anything? A cup of coffee, black, no sugar, and some of my hazelnut cookies?”

“That’d be great. Andrew doesn’t bake as much as you did. An’ he doesn’t shout at me when I track dirt thru the house.”

Joseph smiled politely. “So long as he performs the rest of his duties in a satisfactory manner, I expect the odd slip can be excused.”

“He’s good. Just different. Not you.” Merlin sat down at the table. This kitchen was very like the one in the house on Angel Island. Obviously, Joseph had felt at home there so he’d recreated it here. “Joseph – ”

“You need my help. Of course. Whatever I can do.”

Merlin angled her head. “Is that a sly dig at me that I never come to visit without wanting your help?”

He put a plate of cookies on the table and went to get the coffee. “I understand you are a busy young woman. Maude often reminds me of that fact.”

“I’ll try to get over more often but, this time, you’re right. I do have an ulterior motive.”

Joseph returned to the table, put down the coffee, and sat opposite her. “How can I help?”

“It’s a long shot. Even I know that. But … ” She sighed. “Have you ever heard of Gulo or the name Reuben Meyer?

Joseph frowned. “How strange.”

Merlin sat up. “Excuse me?” Something in his voice had sent a shiver racing up her spine.

“Yes, I have heard that name, and I heard it recently.”

“How recently?”

“You know time over here,” he commented. “It’s difficult to say exactly but .. within the last seven days, I’d estimate. More recently than less recently.”

Her mouth started to sag open in surprise. “How the hell do you do it? Not one of my people know that name yet you do. What can you tell me?”
“Not very much,” he began and it seemed like it would be a rerun of a lot of other conversations, but then Joseph went on along another track entirely. “A gentleman called round. He didn’t stay but, while he was here, he told me that, yet again, there was an odd atmosphere building. He asked me if I knew why and I had to say no – there was no point in lying to him. Anyway, then he asked me if I got a lot of guests staying here. I said not usually and they don’t remain guests for too long unless they were particularly traumatized, and he said that the man he was looking for probably would be. I asked him the man’s name so I could check the records, and he said Reuben Meyer. Then he said ‘to be honest, I’ve been expecting him long before this’.”

“Do you know who he is, this guy who showed up?”

“I do. He told me he was a Flamefall, like you, and that his name was Red Meyer. He was looking for his son.”

Merlin was fidgeting with suppressed excitement. “Did he say why he was looking?”

“Well .. he told me that his son wasn’t completely, shall we say, stable in his personality. He thought that his son might be the cause of the people over here becoming upset, that Reuben was causing the strange atmosphere. Apparently, he was rather good at upsetting people. Red wanted to find him, maybe talk with him, help him see the error of his ways.”

“It’s a little late for that,” Merlin muttered. “Do you know where Red Meyer lives?”

“Not exactly but I do know the area. I discovered it on one of my walks. Apparently, Red has a very fine rose garden. It was his dream, before he died. He’s a .. rather sad individual, Peri. Please .. be kind.”

“Sure. Red hasn’t done anything wrong.” She got the area address and forced herself to drink the coffee and eat two of Joseph’s cookies. Then he urged her to leave.

“I’ll come back soon,” she said, but didn’t make it a promise.

“Peri .. be careful. Red Meyer told me how he came to be here. I never truly appreciated before what it is you do.”

“I’ll be very careful. I promise.”

“Then go.” Joseph waved and then firmly closed the door on her.

Merlin took off at a run. At last, thanks to Joseph, she had found someone who remembered Reuben Meyer. She wondered briefly how Red had escaped the memory block and, in turn, realized Michael couldn’t have blocked the memory of a child from a parent’s mind. If she had felt frustration, what must Red Meyer be feeling?

She arrived at his house within the hour. Abruptly, and belatedly, it occurred to her that she would have to tell him what his son had done. Merlin went thru the rose garden to the house, climbed the steps to the porch and knocked on the door. She didn’t hesitate. There was no time for that.

Eventually, the door opened and she was shocked to see a man only a few years older than her.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Are you Red Meyer?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

“I’m Merlin Gabrielli Boyle. Ox’s great granddaughter.”

He nodded slowly and sadly. “This is about Reuben, isn’t it?” He sighed and gestured for her to come in. “What’s he gone an’ done now?”

“There’s no easy way to say this,” Merlin replied. “He killed Ox, went to Hell, and was put on the wheel.”

Red Meyer closed his eyes. “I wish I could say I’m shocked but .. y’know? I’m not. I told Ox to watch his back, that Reuben was dangerous. Why didn’t he listen?”

“That’s what Reuben did in the past. What he’s done now .. is escape, an’ I have to take him down.”

“Blood debt. Sure, I understand.” He regarded her. “Reuben never got the rules. Could never see the point in them. I do. How can I help?”

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