by Susan Harper
“It’s like this everywhere right now,” Roderick said. “No one seems to want to get along. But it’s particularly troublesome here in Boston because, from what we’ve managed to gather, it’s home to the Remembrance headquarters. Remembrance is everywhere, but their leaders are supposedly hiding out here somewhere. At least nearby.”
“I didn’t know that,” Monica said. “History books never said anything about a Remembrance headquarters.”
“Oh, yes,” Roderick said. “They’re all over the place, of course, but there are more members in Boston than anywhere because this is where it all started.”
“Any idea how it got started in the first place?” Brian asked.
“Lot of speculation,” Roderick said. “But that’s all it is—speculation.
“Well, let’s try to get one of your to-dos off your list,” Brian said. “We can start by interviewing Alexander and either clearing him or confirming his involvement.”
“Yes,” Roderick said, sighing. “He was rather shaken up last night when we last spoke. Worried about staying the night in a mortal cell without his wand. I had them move him to his own cell, of course. Didn’t want him to be with any mortals overnight. You never know how mortals are going to act when they think they can one-up a vulnerable mystic.”
Monica was growing less and less content with this time period. The world was full of hate, and it was like the whole place was seconds from crumbling in on itself. She always felt that mystics and mortals would be able to live together, but this time period was making her question whether or not a world like that could ever be possible again. It was disheartening, to say the least.
8
Much to Roderick’s annoyance, he learned that the local Night Watchman had already released Alexander that morning. Evidently, they were already coming around to the idea that Alexander was innocent. Without evidence there hadn’t been much that they could have done about keeping him there. “So what now?” Brian asked once they had arrived back at the inn.
Inside, Isaac, Abigail, and Holly were having breakfast, so Roderick, Monica, and Brian settled in with them. “I’m not sure,” Roderick said in a frustrated tone as he began sifting through some of the papers he had received while at the station.
“Where did you guys all head off to this morning?” Holly asked.
“The station where Alexander was being kept,” Monica said. “Except they apparently already released him, so we’re going to have to track him down if we want to talk to him.”
“That seems stupid,” Holly said. “He was their top suspect, and they just let him walk?”
“Mortal officers get nervous with wizards,” Roderick said. “Probably started to think if they kept him, something bad was going to happen. Boston is one of the worst cities around as far as mortal-mystic relations.”
“They let him go because they were afraid of him?” Brian asked.
“They were just treading lightly,” Roderick said. “Hmm… I could use some help, honestly. You said you are an officer in your time, Brian?”
“That’s right,” Brian said, relieved to finally be discussing something he knew how to handle.
“Well, I’m being pulled in several directions right now,” Roderick said. “If we’re going to solve this case and get you folks home, I’m going to have to delegate a bit. Why don’t you and I review the information Madam Hort gave us?”
“I can help,” Isaac said. He sounded so hopeful that Brian had to choke down on a chuckle.
“Three heads are better, I suppose,” Roderick said.
“Why don’t Holly, Abs, and I go talk to Cornelius?” Monica suggested. “He and Edward worked together. Maybe he can tell us more about him and whether or not anyone had it in for him.”
“Wonderful,” Roderick said. “Although I advise you ladies tread lightly. You are not officers nor authorities, after all.”
“Believe me,” Brian said. “Those two can handle themselves quite well. They’ve helped me with cases in the past.”
“Excellent!” Roderick said, standing upright and tucking the papers under his arm. “Let’s go then, men! I’ll track down Madam Hort while she is still in the area and go over these papers she sent my way.”
Brian and Isaac stood, following the incredibly enthusiastic Roderick out the door. Holly and Abigail finished their breakfast before leaving with Monica. The three of them headed down the cobblestone paths toward the center of town with the intention of interviewing Cornelius. “I’m starting to get a little worried,” Holly said as they walked.
“About?” Monica asked.
“Well, Roderick, mostly,” Holly said. “He is supposed to be helping us find the time coin, but he’s got so much he’s doing.”
“That’s why we’re helping,” Monica said. “Once he’s done with this case, he’ll be able to focus on finding those Remembrance members who took our time coin.”
“What if that group of Remembrance members aren’t even in Boston anymore? I mean, he doesn’t know for sure,” Holly said. “I’m just worried. Maybe we should forget about Roderick and start searching for the Remembrance creeps ourselves?”
“Probably not a good idea,” Abigail said. “Roderick is an experienced authority who knows a lot about Remembrance in this time period. He is going to be useful—a lot more useful than if we tried finding a bunch of nameless Remembrance people ourselves.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Holly said. “I’m just worried is all. I don’t exactly want to be stuck in the sixteen-hundreds forever. I mean, I like my hot showers way too much for that.”
“Same,” Monica said, and they laughed.
Eventually they found their way to the investment firm, and they entered the building where they spotted Cornelius busying himself behind a desk. He glanced up, looking a bit disturbed by them for a moment. “Ah, you were the ladies from yesterday… Time travelers?” he asked, eyeing their clothing with a seriously judgmental gaze.
Monica stifled an eyeroll at the blatantly misogynistic investor. “Yes, that’s right,” Monica said. “We’re friends with Authority Roderick. We’re helping him look into what happened to your business partner.”
“Since when do authorities work mortal cases?” he asked, standing up from his desk. He seemed a little agitated, but Monica pressed on anyway.
“Since there is reason to believe a mystic might have been involved or someone framing a mystic,” Monica said.
He nodded. “Yes, I suppose that makes sense, doesn’t it?” He sighed. “Edward… I’m going to miss seeing him around here.”
“You two were business partners?” Holly asked.
“Yes,” he said. “We used to be blacksmiths. America—land of opportunity, they say. We grew our business, and we eventually sold it. Then we got into investing. Now we own this firm… ‘Owned,’ I suppose, now that poor Edward is gone.”
“How was your working relationship with Edward?” Monica asked.
“We worked well together,” Cornelius said. “He and I came from just a little blacksmith shop, you see. We grew this together. Expanded. We did everything work-wise together. Interviewed new employees together. Made all the big calls about where our money went together. Nary a disagreement in all the years we’ve worked together.”
“Can you show us around?” Monica asked. “Let us see if there is anything that might help Roderick with his case?”
“Of course,” Cornelius said. “Anything for Edward. I want you lot to find who did this to him. He was my friend.” Cornelius cleared his throat hard after that statement, and the women looked away while he discreetly wiped his eyes.
Cornelius proceeded to give them the grand tour of the place. It was a small two-story building with a few places for meetings on the main floor and offices on the second. When they arrived on the second floor, Monica managed to slip into Edward’s personal office while Holly was speaking with Cornelius in the hall. He was curious about the future, and Holly was having to explain to him that
they weren’t allowed to tell people in the past about said future—and even if they were allowed to talk about the future, that didn’t mean she knew about what was going to happen to him in his retirement and where he should be investing his money.
Monica opened Edward’s desk and began fumbling through some old ledgers. There was a tremendous amount of paperwork that she didn’t quite understand until she came across one particular ledger. From the looks of things, Edward had been taking out a large number of personal loans directly from the business’s accounts. It was costing them a fortune, and there were a number of personal notices from Cornelius scattered about in Edward’s desk of reminders for payments he owed their company.
She slipped the ledger under her arm, heading back out of the office in search of Cornelius and Holly. She wondered if perhaps Cornelius could have killed Edward over the money he had been taking from their business. Could they be in some sort of financial ruin because of Edward’s frivolousness? She paused. There was something that still didn’t make sense. Even if Cornelius had been the one to kill Edward, why would he try to frame Alexander? Was he just an easy target to frame because of all the anti-mystic hysteria?
She turned a corner and found Holly and Cornelius still chatting about investment opportunities he had been presented lately. “And you’re telling me you don’t know anything about these businesses in the future?” he was asking.
“Cornelius, I really don’t know anything about investing, and certainly not the history of investing in Boston in this century. I really can’t tell you what would be the wisest investment opportunity to take,” Holly said. Monica could tell that the girl was starting to get aggravated with the man. That was mortals for you—they thought mystics could fix any problems, answer any questions, but so many of them still hated and feared her kind.
Monica smirked as she watched Holly shake her head at Cornelius, once again assuring him that she couldn’t help him. She cleared her throat, letting them both know she was present. “Cornelius, do you ever employ mystics?” she asked.
“Oh, sure,” Cornelius said with a smile. “I like mystics. Wizards especially. I’ve hired a few from time to time. Magic makes the workload much easier, you see. Wish I had a bit of magic myself, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“So, you like mystics?” Monica asked.
“Why not?” Cornelius said with a laugh. “I don’t buy into all the anti-mystic hype. I’ve met plenty of them in my day, and they’ve all seemed like fine people to me. I once visited a mystic-only town, and everyone was quite friendly. If anything, mortals are the ones who need to take a step back. The way we treat mystics around here, it’s shameful. Like Alexander, for instance. Nice fellow. I’ve seen him around town from time to time. A little heart for Miss Sarah, and he is immediately accused of murder simply because he was in the area! Madness, really. Simply mad at how quickly the whole street turned on him. I don’t believe it for a second.”
Monica smiled at Cornelius. “It’s good to know there are some people who actually want to keep the peace around here.” Monica could almost forgive him for being so judgmental of her pants. It was the 1600s after all. It wasn’t normal to see women walking around in britches.
“There are more like me than you might think,” Cornelius said. “Alexander was telling me about this crazy idea the Sorcerer’s Council has been going on about—something called the Split? They’re wanting to, I don’t know, create their own world? I think that’s the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard. I don’t even know how they would do something like that, even with magic. Even magic has its limits, so I’ve been told.”
“That’s something I’ve wondered as well,” Monica said, attempting to hide the ledger now.
Abigail, who had been rather quiet during their trip, brushed against Monica’s leg. She gave her a nod. “I think we should be going,” Holly said. “We’ll forward everything you told us to Roderick. Thank you for agreeing to talk with us, Cornelius.”
“Of course,” Cornelius said, nodding his approval and giving them a kind smile as he waved them through the front door.
Monica, Abigail, and Holly headed out of the investment firm. Monica still had the ledger she had swiped from Edward’s office under her arm. “What is that you got there?” Holly asked.
“Found out that Edward had been borrowing a lot of money from the company’s revenue,” Monica said. “Cornelius knew about it. Not sure if it’s something they were in a strong disagreement about or if Edward ever repaid his debt, but it’s definitely something worth looking into.”
“You think Cornelius really could have killed Edward?” Abigail asked.
“Maybe,” Monica said. “But unless he was just trying to fool us just then, he doesn’t seem like someone who would try to frame a mystic. Whoever did this seemed to really go out of their way to make it look like Alexander or some other wizard was responsible. And, by the look of the wound, I don’t think it was an actual wizard—though someone tried hard to make it look like a wand-related injury.”
“I say we go find the boys,” Holly said. “See if they found anything more useful than we have. Compare notes.”
“They’re looking into Remembrance, not the case,” Abigail said. Monica thought Abigail might be pushing back in an attempt to keep her time spent around Roderick to a minimum, not that she blamed the witch. She wouldn’t want to be around Roderick either if she were in Abigail’s shoes… Or paws, as it were.
“Well, either way, we need to update Roderick,” Monica said. “He’s the lead authority on this case and he needs to stay informed. Let’s head back to the inn and wait for them there.”
9
When the women arrived back at the inn, Holly and Abigail headed up to their room to rest while Monica waited for the guys down in the inn’s tavern. Roderick was still out, and Isaac too headed up, leaving Monica alone with Brian for a quick lunch. “Did you guys find anything while you were out?” Monica asked hopefully as the server brought them their food.
“Not a whole lot, honestly,” he said. “We found Madam Hort to review her notes on Remembrance, but we wound up talking about Roderick’s current hunt.”
“Abigail?” Monica asked, her chest clenching as she asked the question. She knew there was nothing she could do to prevent what was coming, but she still got nervous every time 1600s Abigail was brought up.
“Yeah, a little awkward,” Brian agreed, nodding. “Isaac and I had to keep our mouths shut. Not sure how they would feel knowing that your familiar is the same witch they are currently still trying to chase down—just, you know, hundreds of years in the future.”
“I bet that was awkward,” Monica said and began picking at her food. It looked rather unsavory to her. Mortal food in the 1600s, she had already decided, was not particularly impressive.
“I guess I’m having a hard time with it,” Brian said. “They’re being pretty ruthless about hunting her down. I keep wondering why they’re so adamant about chasing down a seventeen-year-old girl, you know? Like, maybe there is something more going on here with Abigail than what we think.”
Monica frowned. She would like to think that she had known Abigail long enough to be able to say that she trusted her, but she had been acting rather odd since they had arrived in this time. Sure, it was right smack dab in the middle of one of the worst moments of her life, but she was still being cold and distant. “I don’t know,” Monica said under her breath. “Even the Sorcerer’s Council from our time told us that the council of this time made a mistake. Beatrice, the mermaid on our council, has been fighting to try to end Abigail’s sentence. A few others are on her side as well. A five-hundred-year sentence as a cat for a girl who was just trying to protect herself in a seriously crazy, anti-mystic town. Salem has always been known for being very anti-witch, even before the trials. Those people were so desperate to kill a witch, they believed the accusers without any real evidence whatsoever. They would prefer an innocent person to die than to let a guilty
person walk. That’s the world Abigail was stuck in. By herself. The only witch for miles. If anyone had found out she was a witch, we’d be having a very different conversation right now.”
“I’m not saying what she did was right,” Brian said quickly. “Accusing other women of being a witch knowing that the people in that town would react that way—around twenty people were killed because of it all—but I understand at the same time. She was twelve. Now, in this time, she’s been on the run for five years. You should have heard the way Madam Hort and Roderick were talking about her, like she’s some sort of animal. She never actually killed anyone, though. She just…”
“Let people die,” Monica said. “It’s still terrible no matter how you say it, but a five-hundred-year sentence for a minor… It is extreme. Even for this time period. The Sorcerer’s Council of this time were known for being pretty ruthless with their sentences compared to the one of our time. I mean, with talk of the Split, people are on edge. Mystics who understand what it would mean especially. Immortals and mortals were both coming down on mystics pretty hard just a few short years before this time.” Monica shook her head, still so puzzled by the council’s decision.
“Is that why the Sorcerer’s Council went after immortals?” Brian asked.
“Well, yes,” Monica said. “As cruel as it is, it didn’t just come out of nowhere. Mortals and immortals of this era get along fine for the most part. Immortals were greatly responsible for spreading the fear of mystics to the mortals. It’s one of those things where you can’t really point fingers at one group. Everyone is acting crazy right now. It’s all about fear—all about the fear of the misunderstood. And then you throw Remembrance into the mix, and that just makes everything worse. First, immortals and mortals butt heads. Then to get mortals on their side, immortals demonize the mystics. You have a few generations of anti-mystic persecutions. The mystics then fight back against the immortals. Then in the midst of that, Remembrance arrives on the scene, hurting mystic-mortal-immortal relations even more with their talk of superiority and hierarchy. It’s all just one giant mess.”
