Part XLV

Part XLV

The nurse woke me and asked me to leave. Destiny was still in a coma. I stood up and felt my knees pop.

How long have I been here?

About nine hours. You spent the fist six mumbling something then you fell asleep.

I guess I was tired.

I left the room and went to the cafeteria. I got a coffee for myself and a chicken patty sandwich, which I took it to the old Man. He was a little pissy and panting when I got to the van, so I cranked it up and ran the AC on Hi. He jumped in the passenger seat and I tilted the vent so it hit him square in the face. He reached his head toward it and tried to rub it out of the dash.

I climbed in the back and lay down on the bed. I sipped my coffee and grabbed an errant WiFi signal from somewhere. I pulled up the mapping software. I rang Bruce on my cell phone.

You owe me an eye you slick bastard.

I'll try and work something out. I need a favor.

I'm in the office, so what is it?

There seems to be a pattern I'm not seeing. Some sort of order I'm supposed to find the reliquaries in and I don't know what it is.

What have you found so far?

I filled Bruce in. When I was done, I heard him tapping on keys.

You have Internet?

Weak, but yeah.

My cursor started moving without me doing a thing as Bruce hijacked the laptop.

I'm downloading some pattern recognition software onto your machine. It's something DARPA is working on.

I didn't even ask how he got it.

I'm putting in all the data points we've got, from your Uncle's location the reliquary pings to the GPS log from your trip. It will probably hate you for a bit. Look at the screen and I'm going to show you how to put in data points. Everything is relevant, tag them any way you like. It just needs the data, not the tags.

Forty minutes later I signed off with Bruce and started entering as many data points as I could. Everywhere I had ever seen or interacted with The Tall Man as well as everything I could remember. I called and e-mailed a few people as well. I input everything the way Bruce had told me. I ran the software and left the van to check on Destiny.

Destiny was still critical, so I touched the EKG and mumbled under my breath so it'd PING me if she coded or if she improved. Back in the van I checked the laptop and it was still crunching and thinking. I pulled out of the hospital lot and got me and The Old Man a nice room at the W hotel on Wilshire. We deserved something nice. The Old Man jumped on top of the air conditioner and I went down to the bar to Star Gaze. Hell, if I was going to be in LA, I might as well make some stories.

The bar was quiet, but I could feel the souls being taken. Not really, but the smiles on some of the girls were guarded as they talked to older men in suit coats, with their shirts open as though chest hair had made a come back. One of them caught my eye and gave me a bored sad look, then returned her attention to the obvious exec who still thought sun glasses were cool after the sun went down. I ordered a scotch and sat at the bar with all ears open. I mumbled under my breath and listened to all the conversations in the bar. It was simple trick, but one I really trusted. You could hear a mouse running across the floor if you wanted, instead all I heard was desperate sighs as people got up to go to the bathroom. LA was a cesspool. The air was full of regret, I was pretty sure it wasn't all mine.

At the end of the bar some kid was pounding away on his laptop while arguing with someone on his fancy bluetooth ear piece.

I don't care if she blows you, unless she loses fifteen pounds, I'm not even going to return her call.

I didn't like the cut of his jib, so I mumbled under my breath.

He screamed and grabbed at his ear, ripping the earpiece off. The high pitch scream coming from it could be heard as it sailed across the room and smashed against the wall from the force of his throw. He slapped his laptop shut and stormed out, telling the bartender to bill his room. It was much quieter now.

I ordered another drink and took a look around the room again. It was nowhere near as interesting or as exciting as I thought it might be. The only difference between here and a bar in a Holiday Inn was the décor here cost more than a Holiday Inn and almost everyone in here was rich but me.

I finished my drink and walked back to the elevators. The doors opened and I was staring at Neil Young. He smiled and looked forward. I stepped in and then stood like a kid needing to take a pee. I realized I was hoping on both feet, giddy as a schoolgirl. I settled down, and when the doors opened again he stepped off and I kicked myself for not saying Hi. I finally understood what the meant by star struck.

The old man was hungry when I got back so I ordered room service. I got him steak tartar just to blow his mind and got myself the club. No matter what hotel you’re staying in, if they have room service, the club is rarely disappointing.

I dabbled some potion on the tartar and The Old Man purred all the way through it.

I started to drift off to sleep, but then the spell I'd laid on Destiny's monitor pinged. Her heart rate was up and looking good. I bid The Old Man goodnight and headed back into the parking lot. I pulled out and headed back toward the hospital.

Part XLIV

Part XLIV

I had to move fast. I was pretty sure that The Tall Man had set some sort of signal on the Hex so he'd know when Destiny was dead. So, I had to let her die, but not make it permanent. I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but Grandfather Lee seemed sure. I knew the spell, but he knew an older more powerful version, assuming my Mandarin was up to snuff. With Grandfather Lee whispering in my ear, I stepped into the circle.

The nullification symbol would undo anything I tried, so I wrapped my arms around Destiny and lifted her up off the floor as I mumbled Mandarin under my breath and planted a kiss on her lips. I then inhaled and drew her life force into me. It'd combine with mine if I held onto it too long. I dropped her back to the floor, and I felt the signal run through the circle and fly away to The Tall Man. The field kept her upright and I counted to ten while I got slammed in the brain with her entire life. I counted down to ten using the old Stephen King “My Pretty Pony” routine.

I got to eight and broke the circle with my foot, by scraping away some of the marks. I pulled her out, and dropped her to the sofa. I took a deep breath, and then exhaled her life force back into her. I didn't know whether it would work or not, because the energy it required drained me and I passed out.

I woke to the smell of bacon, but that was a memory ghost. It soon transformed into something burning, and as I drug my eyes open, I realized it was the nullification mark still smoldering. That was never coming out of the floor. Destiny wasn't awake, but I could see that she was breathing. Watching her chest rise and fall took a great burden off of me. I got up, and felt severely dehydrated.

I went to the sofa and put my hand on her forehead just to make sure she was warm. She was. I went to the kitchen and poured two glasses of water. I kicked more of the circle out of the way as I walked back through the living room, and dumped a bit of my glass on the floor where is hissed and cooled the mark. Grandfather Lee was excited that it had worked, and I had to yell at him in my head to get him to shut up. He was giving me a headache, and me yelling didn't help. I put a glass on the side table next to Destiny and sat in a chair across from the sofa, drank my water and watched her chest rise and fall.

I stepped out while she was sleeping and returned the bowling ball to the van just so it didn't attract too many Death Runners. There were probably more in Venice than in all of Tennessee. You'd think the ocean would be a deterrent, but it was pretty fixed. You could walk right out and see the tides coming at you. Few people ever slipped on the beach and got dragged into the ocean. Slipping on the bank of a river was another thing entirely.

The Old Man was asleep and simply rolled on his back exposing his stomach as I put the bowling ball back in the drawer at the foot of the bed. I reached out and petted him. He purred, and then bit me. I knocked out a can of tuna and some potion before I shut him back in. I wanted to be there when destiny woke up.

Climbing the stairs back to her place I smelled burning wood, and when I looked down I saw shoe prints burned into the steps. I ran the rest of the way up and found the door open. Two prints, smoldered at the stoop. I burst in, Destiny was still on the sofa, but she wasn't breathing. I was pissed, but didn't have time to think. I dropped her to the floor and started CPR. The painter's shirt was wet from where she'd lost bladder control. I lifted her head back, swept my fingers through her mouth to get her tongue out of the way, blew four times, dialed 911, and put the phone on speaker and started the four Hundred compressions. CPR had changed over the years, but I tried to make sure I was up to specs. You never know with magic, she's a fickle mistress.

The Emergency team arrived and took over. They had a heart beat five minutes later with a few shocks from a portable defibrillator, and a couple of ccs of epi. They rolled her out and drove off, leaving me behind. I wasn't a friend or family. I closed the door to her apartment on the way out and mumbled under my breath, sealing the door, so I'd know if anyone came calling. I went back to the van, curled up on the bed. The Old Man jumped up and curled up next to me. I could feel his purrs vibrating through me, and it lulled me into sleep.

I woke four hours later, rested enough to go to the Hospital and see what had happened. I could have gone with her, but I would have just gotten in the way. They'd taken her to Santa Monica Hospital. The receptionist was nice, and I found out she was on support but unresponsive. They had good brain waves, but she, was for all intents and purposes, in a coma.

I mumbled under my breath and shrouded myself in a little spell that made me appear so non-threatening to people that I was invisible. I went to Destiny's room and sat holding her hand until a nurse walked in.

You can't be here.

Sure I can.

Family only.

I looked her directly in the eyes and lied. It was a bit of a glamour, and she let me stay. It only worked on her, but she'd just come on shift, so I had a few more hours I could hang out. Grandfather Lee whispered healing spell into my brain and I mumbled them out and transferred them physically through the connection we now had while holding hands. I wasn't going to let her die. Even if it was the last thing I did.

Part XLIII

Pat XLIII

Grandfather Lee chattered in my ear the whole way. It eventually became white noise that settled deep into me and became the rhythm for the drive. Truth is he kept me awake and I was able to make superior time. By the time I pulled into the beach lot off Rose, the sun was overhead and I was arguing with him in Mandarin. I didn't think about it anymore. I finally knew what he was saying, He was a smart man, and as I climbed the stairs to Destiny's apartment we'd figured out a solution to my problem.

I smiled as I knocked on Destiny's door. I was excited, and I didn't know how to hide it. She opened the door wearing her painter's shirt and my grin almost ripped my face in half. She placed her finger on my lips and I didn't say a word. She led me through the place and sat me down on her bed. I hadn't slept in two days. As she pushed me back onto the bed and straddled me, I looked up into her eyes and fell asleep.

I woke to the smell of bacon cooking. She'd turned the tables on me. I was still dehydrated from the drive so the first order of business was a glass of orange juice and a glass of tomato juice. I followed it with her smiling face and some whole wheat pancakes, bacon and maple syrup. She'd laid out breakfast like the last supper. It looked like she must have spent two hours just coring and cutting up fruit.

After breakfast we had coffee and retired to the balcony again. I was getting a serious case of deja vu. We hadn't spoken a word since I'd passed out the night before. She took a sip, then broke the silence.

I can't believe you fell asleep on me.

Let's be clear, I fell asleep under you.

She smiled, and I tried to think of what to say next other than, “I'm sorry.”

Either way, it was very anticlimactic.

Not for me, I slept like a baby. I guess it all depends on what you were looking for a climax to. Me it was a two day drive without any sleep. By the way, I didn't meet a dwarf.

You will.

Looking forward to it.

She took another sip of coffee.

You wanna try again?

Won't it be a bit odd, with me going to be killing you and all?

I don't know, might be exciting.

She was right, it kind of was, well at least when it wasn't really disturbing.

While she slept, me and Grandfather Lee conversed silently in Mandarin and laid out our plan. Truth was he wasn't too bad a guy. Although he pissed me off a few times during my and Destiny's tussle. I guess it'd been a while since he'd had that type of experience.

I slipped out of bed while she slept and prepared the living room. I moved all of the furniture to the side and drew some nasty and not so nasty symbols in circle. It'd bind her, and if I did it right protect her at the same time. The last thing I did was place my hand palm down at the center of the circle. I mumbled under my breath and burned the symbol on my hand into the hardwood floor. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but it was the only way I could think of to transfer it. I turned the tattoo into a branding iron. I was going to be wearing it for a while now. It would scar over soon, with the help from the salve Grandfather Lee had made me whip up.

I sat in a chair with a fresh cup of coffee and waited for Destiny to rise. While I waited I made a fist over and over to make sure the scar didn't set my hand in a way I couldn't use it.

A half hour later she walked into the living room rubbing her eyes. She stopped when she saw the circle. I stood up out of the chair. She smiled a sad smile at me and without even flinching she stepped into the center.

What now?

Well, you’re going to fell a prick.

Is that all?

No, after the prick, you'll feel like you’re on fire, and then hopefully before it gets too bad you'll pass out. Don't worry though, you won't fall. You'll be in stasis within the circle.

How will I die?

Slowly.

She pulled herself up straight and gave me a look of determination. She was still just dressed in her painter's shirt, and there was something almost too vulnerable about that, but I think she knew this.

I had a great time Aubrey.

Me too. I pulled out my pocket knife and cut open my finger just enough to draw blood. I mumbled under my breath, activating the nullification symbol, then I drew the last symbol on the floor sealing the circle. Destiny screamed. I stood firm, clenching my teeth. I started to breath heavy as she went limp, but stayed standing.

I mumbled under my breath again and stuck my scarred hand into the circle and closed my fist as though wrapping it around a piece of cloth. I ripped my hand back out and a sheet of energy came with it. I planted my feet and brought my other hand up and rolled the “cloth” around and finally into a ball, where it stabilized. I went to her front door and opened it. The bowling ball bag was still where I had left it. I unzipped it and shoved my hand in. I felt the bowling ball suck the energy right off me. It felt like having acid poured on my hand, but the burn died quick. I zipped the bag back up and this time I carried it with me into the apartment.

Destiny was still upright, protected but close to death. The only thing keeping her alive was the nullifying symbol. The Tall Man had created a kill switch that would kill her when the piece of my Uncle's soul was removed. By temporarily putting the kibosh on his hex I'd bought time, but that was it.

Part XLII

Part XLII

I opened my ad hoc apothecary cabinet in the van and started whipping a little something special together. It'd just come to me out of the blue. As I ran my fingers down the labels I realized that in fact it had not come to me in this way really. It was grandfather Lee whispering secrets into my cerebral cortex. Tricky old bastard. It took about twenty minutes to pour, smash, crush and combine everything in the little pestle. When I was done, I poured it in a mojo bag and cinched it tight.

Back at the falls, I used it like a tea bag and chucked it out into the reservoir at the fall's base. Then I waited. I stood at the edge of the water and watched the run of the water slow. I then watched it gel, and finally after about an hour, it had hardened, all the way up to the top.

I took a tentative step out and felt the water beneath my shoe. It was the consistency of hard rubber tiling, or the stuff they use to make indoor running tracks out of. It'd have to do. Leaving the land, I walked on the water right to the base of the falls, which looked now like some bizarre modern sculpture made of frosted latex. Reaching out my hand, I mumbled under my breath and watched the symbol on my hand, the one I'd picked up in San Francisco etch itself into the gelatinous spray of the falls. It glowed for a second and then winked like a flash bulb. The falls began to quiver as the nullifying force of the mark skittered up like lightning through Jell-o.

Then I turned and ran as the water began to turn liquid again. I could feel the spray of the falls on the back of my neck as the once hard rubber pool became more akin to an under-filled water-bed. I almost made it too. Five feet from shore, the water became water again and I took a very cold bath.

On the shore, I started to shake. I hadn't been in long enough, nor was the water cold enough for hypothermia to set in, but it was damn cold. I mumbled under my breath and the water evaporated into a cloud of steam that both warmed me up and dried me off. I then sat down and waited. An hour passed before I heard it, the sound of a rock, or something like it, falling into the water from what I guessed was at least half way up the falls. Then I saw it, floating toward me. The reliquary, bobbing with the current as it floated through the spray.

I wasn't going to wait any longer so I waded back out into the water, feeling my balls scream and run for cover as I swam out into the clear pool to intercept the reliquary. It was a bottle. More specifically it was a wine bottle. The label was mostly worn away, but I could make the date on it as 1876. Back on shore I held it up and peered inside. There in the bottle, just like in an old story, was a note.

I climbed in the van, and pulled the door to. I flipped on the ceiling light and gave the bottle the once over. The cork in top was sealed over with wax, with a pull string sealed in it. The Old Man didn't seem to care, so I took that as a good sign. He had a nose for trouble and magic. I pulled the string and removed the wax seal. I turned the bottle up and the note slipped right out. I put the bottle on the floor and untied the string on the note. I opened it facing down just in case what was written on it decided to jump out and bite me. That wasn’t entirely a joke. I'd once been witness to someone opening a book that caused his face to melt. Luckily he hadn't dripped on the book. I'd needed what was in it.

Holding the note face down I mumbled under my breath and then blew on the back of the note. The paper went slightly transparent, but the ink didn't. It looks liked someone had used a nice fountain pen and had excellent penmanship. I turned the note over and read it.

It had been written in 1879, by someone named Joseph Stanton. It was written to me. I didn't like that. I didn't like to think something had been in motion long before I or my uncle had been born, something that culminated in him losing his soul and my trying to find it. I didn't like that fact that The Tall Man thought this was just a big game. More importantly, I didn't like what it told me I had to do.

It told me I had to kill Destiny before I would be allowed to continue. It wasn't a reliquary at all. The Tall Man had set rules that I didn't know about. I hate when people don't tell me all the rules at the start. Actually, what it said was:

All of the pieces of the puzzle must be assembled in turn. If you have found this then you have looked Destiny in the eye and have walked away without addressing what you have seen. No man can walk away from their destiny. That includes you Aubrey.

I opened my phone and started to dial. It rang before I finished.

Destiny?

I told you. Men never listen.

I'm headed back your way.

I'll be here.

I really wish you wouldn't.

You don't have a choice, and neither do I.

I hung up the phone, got into the driver's seat and started the old girl up. I pulled out of the lot and headed back through Portland.

I was angry as Portland slid past and beat myself over the head for wasting the three days I had drinking myself blind. I had until I got to Venice to figure out how I was going to save Destiny. I already knew how I was going to kill her.

Part XLI

Part XLI

The Old Man was back to normal and licking the juice off his paws when I slid the side door of the van open. He looked at me and I swear he smirked. Then he started to purr and rubbed against me as I climbed in to clean up the mess.

Sorry about that. I lost myself for a bit.

He seemed to understand and we got back on the road. I felt like someone had blown insulation in my attic, and deservedly so. It was on this short jag that I finally remembered what the kid had said outside Shin Lee's. He'd said, “You have grandfather Lee in you now.” I wondered if maybe Grandfather Lee had been a bit of an alcoholic. He sure as hell was now.

We ended up on the outskirts of Portland at Multnomah Falls. We pulled into the Parking Lot of the Lodge and I went inside to see what was what. The Ranger was nice enough to inform me that the falls was the fourth highest in the nation and the second in ranking regarding running all year long. It evidently had the propensity to actually freeze in the winter which made me glad it wasn't winter. The falls dropped 620 feet from Larch Mountain and you could cross it at the top on Benson Bridge which was erected by the property's original owner in 1914. All of that assumed you you didn't suffer from vertigo.

The hike was about one and a half miles and went pretty much straight up. I got instructions on how to get to a parking area and bought two bottles of water and a Snickers bar in the snack shop. I had a feeling that if I was going to figure out where the Tall Man had hid the reliquary, I was going to have a to get a view from the bridge, and I was going to have to do without the crowds.

It had a been quite some time since I had done anything remotely similar to exercise. After about half an hour I could barely breath and had to stop and sit. I drank half the bottle of water and thought seriously about getting back into shape. The desire soon passed however, as I continued up and felt my calves burning and felt the peculiar sensation of my lungs turning to steel wool and attempting to scrape themselves o0ut of my chest.

All the misery soon gave way as I reached Benson Bridge and headed across. Luckily I did not suffer from vertigo, though I did need to take a piss. There didn't seem to be anyone else3 at the top so I crossed over and scurried a bit further into the growth at the edge of the path and produced a much less spectacular, but infinitely more practical falls of my own. I then moved even deeper and found a spot by which I could observe the bridge and wait for the access path to close for the night.

As I sat, eating my Snickers bar, I did my best to rummage around for a forked stick. I'd need a divining rod later, and saw no reason to waste time later looking for one. Truth is, it didn't have to be forked, I just liked it that way. I spent the next few hours whittling it smooth of bark with my swiss army knife and trying to think of the most ridiculously evil place the Tall Man might have put the reliquary. The base of the falls seemed too obvious, and so did the Bridge. The center of the falls however, that would be nasty.

As the sun began to set, the last of the day visitors faded, and I climbed out of my spot and walked to the center of the bridge. Holding the divining rod in both hands, I mumbled under my breath, then let go of the stick. It hovered for a few seconds then made a bit of a spin to the left. It came back to the right, then settled. I mumbled under my breath again, and it gave off a feint glow, just before it flew off the bridge and headed over the falls.

I paused every couple hundred feet on my way back down the path to take a look at the falls and see if I could see my stick. By the time I got to the bottom, I was a little frustrated. I walked to the edge of the river that ran from the falls and looked all the way back up, squinting to try and see even a hint of wispy glowing. Nothing.

As my eyes wondered down the falls, I gave a little whistle, just to see if I could coax the stick, even momentarily, from its hiding place. No luck. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I picked up a rock, mumbled under my breath, and chucked it at the falls and waited.

The rock would have hit me in the head and probably killed me it was going so fast, but just before it hit me Grandfather Lee decided to speak to me. I don't speak Chinese though, so I didn't have the slightest idea what he'd said. It freaked me out though, and I spun around to look behind me, just as the rock whizzed by. It sounded like I'd been dive bombed my a humming bird. The rock plowed into the ground thirty yards away.

It wasn't supposed to do that. If I'd wanted to throw a boomerang, I'd have thrown a boomerang. It was supposed to find the stick and then burn like a magnesium flare. It took me a few minutes to dig it up. It'd planted itself about four inches into the ground. I almost lost my hand when it started to heat up. I dropped it onto the pavement and it lit up like a sun and melted a hole for itself. It wasn't supposed to do that either, not while it was in my hand.

That tricky bastard had hexed the falls. Gave it the old I'm rubber you're glue once over. It was childish, but effective. As I walked back to the van, Grandfather Lee started up again. There was something in his tone I didn't like. I was pretty sure he was saying something about my mother.