Langdon continued to watch, as Adrian used his key to enter the office that had formerly belonged to Cornelius, but Langdon had taken over for himself. Adrian carried an orderly stack of papers, and on the top… the new ledger Langdon had asked him to make.
“How did Adrian find out that I was planning on cutting all the staff’s wages?”
“Well, Langdon… you only handed it to him in the paperwork you gave him yesterday.”
“I most certainly did not!”
“Oh, but you did. It also included the fact that you had plans to take over Adrian’s design and claim it as your own, right before you fired him for good.”
“No. That was only a tentative plan. I wasn’t going to go through with it.”
“But you wrote it all down, as you planned it out, and then you turned around and handed those plans right to Adrian, one of the most honest and hardworking men in your employ. There was a good reason why Cornelius recruited him, and you’d do well to treat him right, before this spreads and ruins not just your relationship with Adrian, but with your entire staff as well.”
“You mean, I haven’t ruined it yet? Didn’t Adrian tell Wylie about my plans?”
“You’re very lucky that Adrian respects you so much, for as of yet, he hasn’t said a single thing about your plans to anyone but Wylie. What you just witnessed is in the future. He wasn’t joking when he said he was going to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
Langdon could hardly find words to speak. He felt truly awful about the plans he had made, but now he wasn’t sure if he felt worse because they had been found out, or because he knew that in truth he had planned ongoing through with them. As he pondered that last thought, the Bearded One watched him intently.
“Bearded One! What is happening to your face? Your hair?” The dark wavy locks that had flowed freely down the celestial being’s back had turned stark white, and his face had gone wrinkled and sagging. He looked as if he would expire at any moment. “Are you dying?”
“Not necessarily, but this world is killing me. I must take my leave, and quickly for I’m running out of time.”
“But, Bearded One… what of the Siapheg? What must I do? I don’t want to take on that role.”
The Immortal One opened his mouth to speak, but just then, his long red velvet jacket made a rustling sound as one of the deep pockets opened. Langdon jumped back, afraid of what was about to happen. From the left pocket, a small black dragon appeared, and flitted about in the air in front of him, staring at Langdon with the most devious looking eyes.
“What... what is that?” he asked timidly, but got no reply. The tiny dragon circled around them, wings flapping rapidly. On closer inspection, Langdon could see it was made of clock parts, and its beady little black eyes were angry and hateful. “What is that doing here?” Langdon demanded.
The Bearded One was beginning to fade, but Langdon could still see the look of surprise on his face.
“You don’t know what it is either?”
“Langdon, that little beast is much like the guardian that looks after the Teselym. There’s never been one for any of the other Siaphegs, so at the moment, I’m not sure if it was sent to help or hurt.”
The little beast let out an angry squealing sound.
“Help? Not hardly.” The little creature snarled as it landed and began to walk towards Langdon, its yellow eyes dripping with malice. “I was created in a different world than yours,” the evil little thing motioned toward the Bearded One, “More like a compass, Chubbo.” Then he turned back to Langdon, his beady eyes blazing. “Jacob wants to make sure that you stay on track. I’m here to ‘light’ the way for you into the darkness.” The dragon snickered to himself, pleased with his pun. “You can call me Blitz.”
Langdon felt his heart sink to his toes. “So, my fate is already decided? How do I put a stop to it?”
The Bearded One had nearly disappeared from sight, but he had time to say, “To put a stop to him, you must stop feeding him. Stop doing things that would encourage him to grow. That creature is straight from the dark abyss, and no doubt sent by Jacob to make sure you don’t get off track. If you do as it says, it can and will take control of you. Don’t listen to it.”
Then the Bearded One was completely gone from sight, and Langdon was left with the evil little beastie staring up at him in mock delight. Langdon wished he had never discovered money, that he didn’t know anything about it, and that his father was still alive so he could talk to him about what he meant about balancing the ledger. Why had his father chosen those words to impress on him, instead of something else? More importantly, why had that been the one thing that Langdon had picked up on and run with. Hadn’t there been any more positive things his father had said that he could have picked up on instead?
If only he’d been given a chance to ask the Bearded One what he should concentrate on instead, but the man clad in red and black, with all the baubles and the top hat, had disappeared without a trace.
Chapter Fifteen
Blitz stared at him malevolently, his arrowhead tipped tail flicking back and forth while Langdon contemplated his circumstances.
Once he realized that the Bearded One was not returning, Langdon felt a sense of deep despair. How much longer, would this continue? His body had grown quite weary from their extensive flight. He had given up thinking that everything he had witnessed had been a dream, for it was clearly all very real.
Langdon knew everything he had experienced had been intended to show him the man he was, and what his future held. He felt no joy at the thought and wondered how much deeper in depravity he would sink as the Siapheg. “Why did I choose the life I did?” He spoke out loud, and Blitz lifted from the ground and circled Langdon’s head.
“Well, it worked out great for me.” The evil little beast muttered before settling on Langdon’s shoulder.
“No! Go away!” He yelled at Blitz, trying to brush him off with a flick of his hand, but Langdon missed, and Blitz landed back on the floor.
“You’re making me feel unwanted.” He said, sighing and feigning a hurt look.
At that moment, Langdon heard chains, muffled at first and then slowly growing louder.
“Professor Cornelius? Are you back?” The room had grown dark as a tomb, and he couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face.
The sounds of the chains continued, and then the room got slightly lighter. As his eyes adjusted, he could see a hooded form, its head down… staring at the floor, or at least he assumed as much. The ominous figure slowly raised a hand and pointed at him. As the arm moved, so did the body attached to it. Slowly it began to glide along the floor like the cold fog that Langdon and the Bearded One had walked through on the previous night.
Langdon felt deathly cold in the presence of the hooded figure. A situation that was made worse by the penetrating sliver of fear crawling up his spine.
“Immortal One?” he ventured, his voice shaking with fear. The room grew gradually lighter, and soon he could see the shape of the dark being clearly. In one hand it held a chain, and as Langdon’s fearful gaze followed the chain, he saw that it led to the ghostly form of Professor Cornelius.
“Cornelius. You’re here. Tell me what is happening.” But the ghost of Cornelius didn’t open its mouth, instead it seemed to hang in the air, like a misplaced cloud, drifting behind the dark being. Although Langdon had seen every manner of thing within the past twenty-four hours, this dark being sent his knees knocking so loud, he was sure that everyone in Oyster Bay could hear them.
“Please, Immortal One, if you are here to do me harm, please do so quickly because my nerves can’t handle this much longer.” Langdon thought he heard Blitz chortling evilly from his position on the floor. The Immortal One didn’t speak a word, but instead lifted the hood from his head, revealing his face. The face was that of a youngish man, probably in his twenties, though his evil eyes spoke differently.
The dark Immortal One stared so intensely at Langdon, he
was beginning to wonder if he would melt under the dark one’s gaze. He could bear it no longer and screamed out in frustration.
“Do what you must! Or I will finish myself off, and then you will have nothing to do.” The Immortal One tilted his head back and laughed maniacally, making Langdon wonder if he was imagining things once more. Perhaps this is a nightmare?
“Arrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh” The Immortal One let out an angry growl, and as he stared angrily at Langdon, a dark mist began to circle and twist about them, hiding the room from view. Langdon knew that when it cleared, they would be somewhere else, or at least he assumed as much. That was how it had worked for most of the last twenty-four hours, so he couldn’t see it being any different now. Unless the dark one had plans for him, plans involving his not being on the Earth much longer.
When the fog cleared, Langdon saw he’d been right. They were indeed somewhere else. He recognized the buildings as ones he had seen in New York City, but he didn’t recognize the people he could hear talking.
Langdon looked around to see where Blitz had gone and noticed that the evil little creature had resigned himself to sitting on the shoulder of the dark Immortal One. He opened his mouth to yell at the awful thing, but his attention was suddenly distracted by what the people were saying.
“Well, good riddance, I say.” proclaimed one.
“Indeed,” said another.
“Now, now… he may have not been a good man, but he accomplished quite a lot in his life. Let us pay him the respect he’s due.” Langdon recognized the voice, but the man’s face was turned away from him. It sounded like Adrian, but he couldn’t tell for sure.
“Not such a good man by his actions. He was going to cut the wages of everyone who worked under him.” Another voice he recognized. Lottie, the chamber maid? How did she know?
“Now, Lottie. You know I would never have let that happen,” Adrian said.
“Tsk tsk. What power did you have over him, he was getting ready to claim your invention for his own, you do know that, don’t you?” Lottie countered.
“Indeed, I do, but we mustn’t speak ill of the dead, my dear.”
“I don’t see why not? He spoke ill of us often.”
“Lottie. Let Lord McCollum say his piece. Since Professor Granger is no longer with us, the inn will pass to him, should he want it. I know that Lord and Lady McCollum will be fair and just employers. Everything negative that Langdon did, is in the past. Am I right, Lord McCollum?” The man who had spoken first, and whom he did not recognize, was the one now speaking to Adrian. He wore a tall shiny black top hat, and his well-kept hair and handlebar mustache were groomed to perfection. Langdon wondered where Lady McCollum was now.
“And what’s to become of Langdon’s wealth? Surely it won’t just sit around gathering dust?” The man asked.
“I’m not sure. He was involved in various transportation businesses. We’ll know better once we speak to the lawyer. Of course, we’ll have to square away his debts, but I’m thinking of restoring the Octagon Inn. It’s in desperate need of repair, and I’d love nothing more than to keep it going and partnering with the growing transportation industry that seems to be flourishing in this district,” Adrian responded.
“Yes, in particular the airship business. Never thought I’d see the day that people would be willing to fly through the air in those rackety contraptions.”
“Well, we can discuss all this later. Let us attend to this funeral business.”
“Why, Adrian? He never did a thing for us, nor you. Why do you feel as if you need to be there for his funeral?” Lottie’s face had clouded over, and Langdon knew that he hadn’t earned an ounce of kindness for himself, nor their interest in his funeral.
“Lottie, I’ve already dealt with the main preparations, all we need do now is attend.” Said Adrian.
“You arranged his funeral?” her voice was incredulous.
“Why bother?” The unknown man spoke this time though he’d been silent before.
“Out of your own pocket?” Lottie questioned.
“Yes, out of my own pocket. This will all get squared away once we’ve spoken to his legal counsel.” Adrian didn’t seem the least bit put off by their questions.
Lottie and the men seemed quite miffed though, and Langdon couldn’t understand why. From what he understood, Adrian had gone out of his way to pay for a funeral that they were all attending. Langdon’s funeral, an occasion that would not be attended by his own family because of what he had done to them. Not that any of them knew where he was, or even cared.
Langdon looked to the Immortal One, through eyes brimming with tears, as he tried not to make eye contact with Blitz who grinned evilly, from his perch. The knowledge that it was he, himself, who was to be buried, solidified in his mind and he couldn’t help but feel sorry for himself that not a single soul wanted to be a part of it. Why did Adrian pay for it? I treated him terribly.
The Immortal One watched the group disperse down the street and then began dragging Langdon after them.
“What good is it to show me this? When is the dreadful event to take place? I don’t want to die. Are you going to kill me?” Langdon shouted the questions one after the other, but the hooded man continued dragging him along without saying a word. He felt as if his legs would give away at any moment, so tired was he from all the recent activity, but he managed to flail along.
Soon the dark Immortal One was no longer following the group of people that had spoken about his funeral. They were in a different part of New York. An area that Langdon had never set foot in before. Here, the streets were broken and uneven, the buildings and houses dilapidated at best. The people they passed seemed to glare straight into Langdon’s eyes.
Langdon remembered that the Bearded One had told him that whenever he was with one of the Immortals, no one would be able to see him. It was probably for the best as he was sure that any of the people he passed would gladly slit his throat for the contents of his pocket. They soon came to a house that was more run down than the rest, and entered, standing off to one side to watch the scene before them.
Lottie was the first to enter, followed by the two strange men that had been chatting with her and Adrian earlier.
An aged man, with a deceitful grin on his face sat in the corner on a stool. A table full of dirty and worn sundries, and a small stack of coins placed in front of him.
“Miss Lottie… fancy seeing you here. Thought you was too good for us?” he chided, nodding to the two men that had come in with her.
“Look, I have three children to take care of. Once I leave the inn, I’ll have no source of income. I need to take care of my family. That’s the only reason I’m here.”
The scowl-faced, balding man on the stool laughed, “Sure, that’s why you’re here. It has nothing to do with your hatred for your boss, or shall we say former boss?” Lottie seemed to look embarrassed; as if she didn’t want to be there.
“Well, come now... let’s see what you’ve brought me. It’s not like he’s going to be missing those things anyway.”
“Right, mate? Dead men tell no tales,” one of the men said, and they all laughed. All except Lottie who looked highly uncomfortable just being in such a place. She walked to the table, and emptied out a pillowcase of silverware, and miscellaneous knickknacks. Things that were clearly too good for this shop, but her face was hopeful, nonetheless.
“If I hadn’t been the one to find him dead, and the only thing he’d said to me prior to that was to make sure to balance the ledger properly, perhaps I’d have more compassion. However, I already know that the McCollum’s will get most of the pickings from the business, and I’ll be left jobless. So, I may as well take what I can get, it’s not like Professor Granger looked out for any of us. Neither did Professor Cornelius for that matter, or he would have made sure to set up contracts so that his staff would be taken care of,” she finished with a huff.
“What’s all that to me girl? I couldn't care less… here’s what I�
��ll give you for that lot.” He counted out a stack of coins and pushed the pile across the table. She snatched them up and counted them out.
“That’s real silver there, Joe,” she said matter-of-factly as she stared at the scowling balding man.
“You learned one thing from him, that’s for sure.” Joe said.
“What’s that?” Lottie asked.
“How to drive a hard bargain, even on stolen goods.” He slid a few more coins towards her, and though not completely satisfied, she took her money and left. Langdon felt his stomach turn at what he had just witnessed. His anger over the entire situation boiled over.
“What is this Immortal One? Is this your doing? You would turn Lottie against me? She was the most faithful and loyal towards Cornelius and I. How has she changed her colors so quickly? Was I that evil?”
The dark Immortal One’s face twisted into an evil grin, but he didn’t say a word.
“You really have to ask?” Blitz spoke up instead.
“Oh, shut up, you foul little beast. Please Immortal One! Why can’t you speak to me? Tell me what I’ve done to deserve this?”
Then, the scene was changing again, and he found himself in a dark but familiar room. A bell rope hung next to the bed. Why am I back in my room?
Chapter Sixteen
As Langdon studied his surroundings, the Dark One stood silently off to one side with Blitz sitting on his shoulder.
Langdon couldn’t understand why the Immortal One had brought him here to his own room, but upon further inspection he could see the still form of a man lying on the bed, covered with a sheet. The man neither moved, nor did his chest rise and fall with breath.
“Jacob… Who… who is that?”
Blitz chuckled slightly, but the Immortal One remained silent.
Langdon was beginning to suspect the worst, but he wouldn’t allow himself to believe it.
A Steampunk Christmas Carol: (The Dracosinum Tales) Page 8
