Setting Things Right...Part 1

There was something about the set of her jaw, the concern in her eyes, and the matronly bustle of the shorter, rounder, older woman who entered the room first. Virtually ignoring my presence she approached John’s bed quickly and deliberately, clucking under her breath. The Frau, I assumed.

The second woman was slightly taller, dressed in the dark leathers and boots of a biker, with an intense, dark look in her eyes and a furrowed brow. She had the hard look and dark moods of the goddess she was named after. She glanced at me, challenging why I was there, before coming to some sort of quick decision that I could stay, for now.

Behind the women, two rather large animals followed. The first animal was the biggest damn German Shepherd I had ever seen, who also stared in my direction before following the Frau to John’s bed. The second animal was even more curious, especially given the proximity to the dog, since it appeared to be wild cat of some sort, easily coming up to half the dog’s shoulder, but longer in proportion, and all black in coloration. While the dog almost bounded into the room and followed the older woman without much hesitation, the cat stopped at the doorway, examining things with great care, before slinking in behind Cerrydwen. The cat stayed as far away from me as was possible given the confines of the room.

The Frau dismissed me without looking back, saying only, “You can go for now. I will send Rowan for you if I have need of you.”

“Who’s Rowan?” I asked. “Oh, I see,” I said when I noticed the dogs monstrous head turn in my direction at calling out his name. “I’ll be upstairs.”

I left the room and headed upstairs to the Solarium, hoping to find Ravyn or Herne. Instead I came across another person I had not seen yet. He was very tall, probably 6’3”, had the wide shoulders of an athletic life, but the hefty gut of what must be a desk job of some sort. He was wearing a very large T-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap for a team I did not recognize. He had the look of someone who did a lot of reading, with a kind, open face.

When I came into the room, he offered his large hand in greeting, “Hi, you must be this Rusty Bones everyone is talking about, I’m James Karlton, you can call me Jim.”

I shook his hand, looked up at him, “Yeah, I guess it’s obvious who I am nowadays. So did you come with the two ladies who just kicked me out downstairs?”

“Yep, it’s best not to argue with them.”

“Oh, I didn’t plan on it. Anyway, they are going to help my friend.”

“Well, John’s not just your friend, he’s a friend of everyone here, including me. We all want to help out, if we can.” He took of his cap, mopped his forehead of sweat and hair, and put the old thing back on his head.

“So are you ‘caster’ then as well?” I asked, looking around for a seat and then sitting on the steel folding chair backwards.

“No, my skills lay more in the academic fields, I’m an econ professor. I also help out with the books of the corporation, to keep things funded properly.” He sat down in another chair, easing his large frame into it carefully.

“You know, its nice to meet someone around here that isn’t a magicker of some kind. I was beginning to wonder if there were any normal people left anymore.”

He laughed at that, “Well, I guess that depends on what you consider normal. Most of my students would have their doubts about whether I would qualify for that monicker.” He reached into a nearby backpack, pulled out a 2-liter of diet soda and took a swig.

“You know, that reminds me,” I said. “I need to get some more pop at store, I used up the last two-liter earlier. Do you mind taking me to a store nearby?”

“No problem, I could use some more spares as well. This is gonna be a long night, I’m afraid. C’mon.” He got up out of the chair and led me out into the dark of the driveway and his waiting truck, a fairly newer model crew cab pick-up truck.

On the way to the store, I noted a large white van without any rear windows parked down the block from the co-op. A couple of men in blue jumpsuits and oddly new tool boxes were getting out the front and making their way to the rear of the van. I happened to glance through the rear-view mirror as we passed and noted an unusual array of computer equipment and lights coming from inside the van. There was also at least one other man sitting in the back of the van with some sort of earphones on. That was all I could see before the two men with the tool boxes climbed into the van, pulling the doors shut behind them.

This odd situation peaked my interest, but I didn’t mention it to James, yet.

Coming back from the store, we were discussing the prospects of the Detroit Tigers for the coming season, debating how much Magglio Ordonez would help the outfield, when I noted that the van still sitting in the same spot, but I also noted a large, dark SUV with several more figures sitting in it was parked just around the corner.

After we passed them and pulled down the block and into the co-op driveway, I turned to Jim, “Do you guys have any security teams out on the perimeter?”

He looked at me like I was speaking Greek all of a sudden. “Security teams? No, I don’t think we have any need for that. Why?”

“Well, back around the corner is a surveillance van with some sort of electronics team inside, and I saw a car load of likely goons as well. Might be something that we need to address.”

He shrugged, reached down behind the seat and pulled out a very large, wooden baseball bat. “Just in case, you know.”

I grinned at him, grabbed my bags and headed inside the co-op house.

We were met by Herne in the entry hall, who had apparently been waiting for us. “Rusty, I need your help moving John, we’re going to be starting the ritual soon.”

I followed him dwon into the basement where we carefully picked up John and transported him up to the first floor where space had been cleared for him in the library. Waiting for us there were Ravyn Fyre, the Frau, Cerrydwen, the big dog, Rowan, and Morrigan, the freakishly large, wild black cat.

The Frau directed us where to put him, which happened to be in the middle of a large circle that
was inscribed in the wood of the floor that must normally be hidden by carpets, since I hadn’t noticed it before. We placed him as ordered, waiting for further instruction.

“Now you, Rusty is it? I don’t really have a place for you in this ritual, nor you Professor. But I do want to make sure that we aren’t disturbed. Herne, I need you to take the North Quarter, for Earth, of course. Face inwards.” The Frau looked at Ravyn, “Honey, I’ll need you in the South Quarter. Cerrydwen, I’ll need you in the West for Water, and I will take the East and Air.” She looked back in the direction of James and I. “Gentlemen, I’m going to ask that you run interference for us, make sure no one breaks the Circle that we are about to create.”

“What exactly are you going to do?” I asked.

She looked back at me, looking over her small glasses, “We are going to try some very powerful rituals to call John back into his body. We may also be required to travel into the Underworld, since it appears that his Spirit is being kept away by some means. This could take awhile, but do not, under any circumstances break the circle until one of us indicates that the ritual is over, even if one of us falls over or seems to be hurt, do you understand?”

I nodded. Each of the casters took their assigned positions, while the large dog, Rowan, took up a spot just outside the circle behind the Frau. The cat looked around before taking acouple of bounding leaps, first onto a large table top, and then to the top of a tall bookcase before blending into the shadow above, onlyu the occasional flick of a long black tail hinted at the danger above.

Jim, or the Professor as the Frau called him, took up a position near the main doors into the hall, dropping his backpack and leaning the bat up against the wall nearby. I moved around the circle, closing the curtains to the large windows that looked out into the wooded side yard, and then closed the secondary doors to the room.

Finally, as the casters seemed about to begin, I approached Jim, “I’m gonna take a quick look outside, just to make sure those guys we saw aren’t gonna cause any trouble. I’ll be back soon.”

He nodded, fingered the shaft of the bat. “Don’t be long.”

“I won’t.”