“You know what? I’m done talking to the both of you. I’m going to the gym.” He grabs his jacket and heads for the door.
“Dr. Parker told you to get rest!” I say as I follow after him.
“I rest better lifting weights.”
“Um…hi?” says Anastasia as she watched Houston leave the shop. “What’s wrong with Houston.”
“He got out of bed too early this morning and hit his head,” I say.
“Does he have a concussion? Because he could end up with a brain aneurism from those.”
“Don’t worry about Houston, luv. He’s got a hard head,” says Eric as he points at the monitor to draw her attention back to work.
I go back into my office. Vivika is looking out the window behind my desk. “Men,” she says. “So confident in their own invincibility. So sure they are untouchable. I swear sometimes I think the only reason humanity hasn’t completely wiped itself out is because men have mothers and wives to tell them to stop acting like idiots.”
“In my professional opinion, I would consider that a valid observation.”
We both chuckle. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, Nancy. I apologize.”
“Well, come to think of it the hellhound might not be a bad idea. Your son isn’t renowned for his danger-sense.”
“You don’t need to worry about Joshua for a while. He’s too smart. He won’t come here any time soon. He knows I’m here. He knows both your mother and grandmother are still active. And the area is crawling with Justicars already. He’s patient. He won’t risk revealing himself just yet.”
“I don’t like the sound of just yet.”
“The Council must have been close to actually forming a real opinion for him to go into hiding. I’m surprised they reached the precipice of a decision so quickly. It normally takes them years to take action against a Lord Advocate.”
“I don’t even recall any time in recent history where the Council did take action against a Lord Advocate.”
“Oh, it’s happened. They tend to keep it low-profile when they do. Can’t let the common witches know that Lord Advocates are anything other than beyond reproach. The order must be maintained Regardless the cost.”
“Is…there something I need to know?”
“I like you, Nancy. I do. You do your College credit. There are times when not knowing things can be deadly. But then there are others when knowing things can get you killed. And I prefer not to get you killed.”
Vivika vanishes back across the Veil.
* * *
“Sweetie, I believe this is what they refer to as ‘above your pay grade,’” says Mom after I explain to her the day’s events.
“I am a Rank Two Demonologist,” I whine. Yes, it is most definitely whiny.
“But you aren’t a Justicar,” she says calmly. “And just because you passed the Rank Two trials doesn’t mean you’ve fully assumed the mantle of Rank Two Demonologist.”
“Now what does that mean?”
“Don’t get defensive with me, Nancy Clarice. It just means that you should remember how long it took you to build up your counseling practice after you got your doctorate. A piece of paper confers the title. Not the experience.”
I roll my eyes, and then feel a cold poke from across the Veil right between my shoulder blades. “You’re right. You’re right. Way out of my league, here.”
“Nanna says she’s going to severe the connection between the wisps and Houston.”
“But—”
“We’re going to leave them out to patrol, but she’ll have them communicate with her directly. Then she can contact you and you can alert your friend Steve. It will be slower response time, but it takes the both of you out of harm’s way.”
“Mom, can you ask Nanna if she recalls any time when the Council investigated a Lord Advocate? I figure she was once Magus of the School of Demonology. She might remember something.”
“You’re dwelling on what Grande Madame Vivika said.” I feel her scoff slightly and there is a pause as I presume she confers with my grandmother. “Nanna says not to let Vivika get under your skin. The woman is just being manipulative, as usual.”
“This isn’t about Vivika. I’m just curious now.”
I feel Nanna’s presence enter the room. “You have enough to worry about. Unless you intend to start studying necromancy, young lady, don’t go digging up old skeletons. There have been a few cases over the centuries, but nothing to worry yourself over.”
“Like what?”
The front door opens and Houston walks in. I feel Nanna fade out. “Enough for tonight, honey,” says Mom. “I think you two need to have a talk about what is going on in the here and now.” Mom follows Nanna back across the Veil.
“It’s after eight o’clock,” I say as Houston heads for the stairs.
“So dock me,” he says.
Houston—”
He stops at the landing and turns around. “I had a normal life. I went to work. I dated. Partied with my friends. Then my mother decides to take that away from me and leave me with this…gift. Now all the guys I used to hang out with I can’t because I see them in ways I was never meant to. My relationship with my aunt and uncle is only just now mending. In the past year, I’ve been exposed to gremlins and demons and a vampire and a god-knows-what soul-sucking thing. And I think, all things considered, I’ve handled it pretty damn well considering I ‘didn’t get proper training as a child.’”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “You are absolutely right. And I know better than anyone. You got thrown into the deep end of the pool and you’ve done an amazing job of keeping your head above water.”
He sits down on the steps. He looks around carefully as if searching for someone. “Is my mom here?”
“No,” I say. “Nanna put up a ward to let me know if she was lurking around after the last time she eavesdropped on me talking to Mom.”
He leans forward. “I realized something today. I realized…I finally admitted to myself…that I hate my mother.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Oh yes I do. I’m not her son. I’m her legacy. What she did to me? The imprinting? That was for her benefit, not mine. All those years she could have reached out to me. She didn’t. But she communicated with April! But I guess it was because April was her daughter so she didn’t have that pesky Y-chromosome.”
“Houston, you know the situation with April was complicated. Your mother was trying to help your Aunt Ruth have a child. Nobody was supposed to know Vivika was the actual mother.”
“Come on, Nancy. Look me in the eyes and tell me you really believe my mother acted selflessly? Tell me you don’t believe she knew April would be born with psionic powers because of hereditary magic, or at least she suspected there was a strong chance.”
“Your mother loves you.”
“And how can you be so sure?”
“Because you showed me your photo album,” I say. “And I saw the pictures of your mother with you when you were a baby. I know maternal love when I see it.”
“I hate her.” He stands up and goes upstairs.
The Walking Dead
September 16th
“Will you sponsor me as a zombie?” asks Anastasia.
“I’m sorry. What did you just ask me?” I realize that she doesn’t actually mean what I reflexively think she means. I mean, I assume she doesn’t mean what I reflexively think she means.
“A bunch of us at school are participating in a Zombie Walk to raise money for the South Jersey Food Bank. I’m going to be a cheerleader zombie!”
She shows me the pledge form. It is a five mile walk in Shamong that ends at the campgrounds at Atsion Lake. “Don’t they usually do these things in the city?” I ask.
“Cherry Hill wouldn’t provide the permits,” she says. “There were traffic problems at a few walks over the summer, not in New Jersey. There as that thing that happened up in New York with the zombie getting run over and then something happened in
Boston about a zombie knocking over a cyclist. So they didn’t want to deal with the risk. But we’re walking through the woods! Like real zombies!”
“Well, take bug spray,” I say as I fill out the pledge form. “Rotting corpses attract beetles.”
Houston comes out of the stockroom with a box of Halloween decorations. “Somehow I thought your mom would have had more stuff for Halloween.” He says as he puts down the box on the counter.
“Mom always did just enough so that people didn’t think she hated the holiday.”
“Oh my God! How could your mom hate Halloween? It’s the best holiday besides Christmas!” says Anastasia. She shoves her pledge form at Houston. “Help me be a zombie!”
“Wait, why do you need money to be a zombie? What do zombies possibly need money for?”
“It’s for the Food Bank.”
“They serve brains at the Food Bank now?” He reads the form. “I don’t know. My boss doesn’t pay me enough to afford to pledge.”
“You can pledge even a $1 a mile that will help.”
“That’s five bucks! You consider after taxes and social security and everything else that comes out of my check, I’d have to work a whole hour to cover that.”
“Oh by the gods! Really!”
“Eric said when he got here he would pledge. And he’s a temp.”
“Oh,” says Houston. “I was just messing with you anyway.” He fills out the pledge form. “I’ll go see if there is anything else in the storeroom.”
“When did you talk to Eric?” I ask after Houston leaves.
“I didn’t,” says Anastasia. “I just knew that would get him to sign.”
I give Anastasia a high-five. “That’s my girl.”
“Hold on, she didn’t talk to Eric,” thinks Houston into my head. “I just scanned her surface thoughts!”
“What did I tell you about doing that?” I reply. I hear a faint psychic grumbling before he cuts off communication.
“So why did your mom not like Halloween?”
“She just hated the commercialization of it. My mother was a pagan. Halloween is a religious holiday to us.”
“My mom says the same thing about Christmas. She flipped out last weekend when we went to Target and they had Christmas displays up already.” She straightens her shoulders and mimics her mother’s voice. “’It’s not even October yet and they have a Christmas tree already! Jesus H. Christ in Heaven!’”
“Be careful. I used to mimic my mom when I was your age.”
“What happened?”
“I turned into my mother.”
We both laugh. “I bet your mom was the coolest mom ever.”
“She would definitely say that was true.”
I leave Anastasia to wait on the customer that comes in the story and while I go check on Houston. He’s leaning against the wall and trying to look at something behind the shelves.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Something fell behind the shelf and I’m trying to see what it was.”
“Well, worry about it later. Did you find any more decorations?”
He shakes his head. “Looks like your mom only had the one box. Want me to run over WalMart and grab some stuff?”
“Nah, I’m sure it will be more than enough. No need to make the shop look like Halloween Adventures.”
“Does that mean no costumes then?”
“If you want to wear a costume I won’t stop you.”
“Cool. I was thinking male stripper. I could use the tips.”
“How about…no?”
“Fine. Fine. Take all the fun out of the holiday.”
Eric teleports into the stock room. “Sorry I’m late,” he says as he finishes buttoning his shirt. “Late night.”
“What did I say about teleporting without calling me first? Anastasia could have been in here!”
“I called but you didn’t answer the blower.”
I look him up and down. “Late night, hmm?”
“Sorry. Won’t happen again.”
Houston hands Eric a box of potion bottles. “These need to go on the shelf near the oils.” He grabs another box. “Oh, and Anastasia wants money to become a zombie.”
“Um, say that again?”
“Anastasia is participating in a charity zombie walk,” I say. “She’s looking for pledges. It’s for the Food Bank.”
“Friend of mine got his wallet nicked in London last year at one of those. She’s not walking alone, is she?”
“A group of them from school are doing it.”
We all go back into the shop. I hear Anastasia telling a customer that she’ll give her a free tarot card reading for pledging.
“Did you give her permission to—” asks Houston.
“No.”
She bites her bottom lip when she sees my disapproving facial expression. Eric checks out the form and makes a pledge.
Eric comes into my office later and asks if we would be attending the Zombie Walk.
“I wasn’t planning on it. But you can go if you want. Houston and I can cover the shop.”
“I was just thinking that it’s close to the cairn. We could go cheer on our little zombie at the finish line and then go see the site. I’ve never been to an actual cairn before.”
“Oh, sure. That’s a great idea. We can—” I pause to process the severity of the situation. “The zombie walk is near the cairn.”
“That’s what I said.”
“No. No. You don’t understand. The zombie walk is near the cairn.”
“Uh huh.”
“The Veil is extremely thin near the cairn.”
“Right. That’s what Houston said.”
“There have been Thought Beasts seen near the cairn.”
“Sounds like a bloody good time, then. Maybe catch one of the buggers.”
“You aren’t following me, are you?”
I call Houston into the office. “What’s up, boss?”
“The zombie walk is near the cairn!”
Houston looks at me blankly for a moment, but then his eyes grow wide as he makes the connection. “Oh, crap.”
“Someone explain, please?” says Eric.
“The zombie walk is near the cairn!” says Houston. He grabs Eric by the shoulders. “Think. A hundred people dressed like zombies, in an area of mystical power where the Veil is extremely thin, known to have Thought Beasts spontaneously manifest.”
“I’m a Traveler, mate. I don’t get it the problem.”
“Thought Beasts manifest based on the beliefs or strong emotions of a community. A hundred people, dressed as zombies, celebrating all-things-zombie, in an area where entities take the form of what people are thinking.”
“Bollocks.”
“I have to call Lansfield,” I say.
September 17th
Archmage Haverson, Rank Two Necromancer responsible for the Lansfield Necromancers’ Guild, sits at the end of the long, stone conference table with his hands folded in front of him. “Would someone, slowly, explain to me how it is that this event was scheduled next to the cairn and no one thought it might be an issue?”
Houston, Eric, and I are sitting on one side of the table. Necromancer Morton and three other members of the guild are sitting on the other.
“In light of the ongoing investigation regarding the possible rogue necromancers using forbidden magic,” says Necromancer Morton, “I didn’t think—”
“Would you repeat that last part?” Haverson says.
“I didn’t think—”
“You didn’t think?”
“No, sir.”
“Madame Warlock, the walk is in three days?”
“Yes, Archmage. I’ve alerted both Archmage Lawrence and Justicar Harken to the situation.”
“Thank you for your preemptive efforts. I will convene with Archmage Lawrence to device a course of action.”
“Sir, protecting the cairn is the responsibility of the Evokers,” says Necromancer Castro.
&nb
sp; “Did I say otherwise?”
“You seemed to imply—”
“Did I explicitly say otherwise?”
“No, sir.”
“Does the fact the Philadelphia Evocation Academy failed to identify this threat negate our responsibility regarding the spread of undead plagues?”
“No, sir.”
“Then what was your point?”
“No…no point, sir.”
“I will express my displeasure with Archmage Lawrence when we convene. That displeasure, however, does not remove fault from our own members. Particularly in light of the current investigation regarding forbidden magic. Does anyone disagree?”
“This guy is creepier than Chancellor Vianu, and Vianu is a friggin’ vampire!” thinks Houston.
“He’s just old-school when it comes to protocols,” I reply.
“Old school as in 15th century?”
“Behave, please?”
After the other necromancers leave, I approach Archmage Haverson. “I am so sorry I didn’t get wind of this earlier. If there is anything we can do, please keep me in the loop.”
“No apologies are necessary on your behave, Madame Warlock. Your area of concern are demons, and from what I understand you have more than adequately fulfilled your duties in that area. You aren’t the Archmage of the Evocation Academy. Blame doesn’t fall on you.”
“I appreciate that. Not to make excuses for Archmage Lawrence—”
“Then don’t. It is unbecoming a Warlock of your rank. And I already know what you are going to say,” he leans slightly toward Houston and nods. “And I’m not even a psion.”
“Archmage—”
“Nancy,” he says as he takes my hand in his. “We probably shouldn’t have this discussion in front of your apprentice and your exchange student.”
“Let me know what you need me to do,” I reply.
“So, what was that on about?” asks Eric as we get into my car.
“Nothing for you guys to worry over,” I reply. “Just the usual politics.”
“Haverson got it in for Archmage Lawrence or something?” says Houston.
“It’s nothing like that!” I wait until we get on the Expressway before continuing. “So you boys need to get costumes.”
nancy werlock's diary s01 - episodes 8 Page 2
