Phantoms In Philadelphia (Phantom Knights Book 1)
Page 14
Bess
1 June 1816
Three days had passed since the Levitas meeting, and though I had sent my team to search around Stark Manor, we had not found Pierre. I briefly entertained the notion that Hannah was a witch, and Richard used black magic, but Levi, who owned an apothecary shop, was sure that if Richard poisoned Pierre, Hannah could have had an antidote that would have counteracted the poison.
Mariah and Levi were worried about the disappearances and what they meant. Mariah told us that people were scared, and the weather was only adding to their fears. We had record lows, and there had been ice upon the ground last week. Ice in May! There were whisperings throughout the city that a supernatural deity had been made unhappy by the war and was determined to purge our great country and that the people taken were being offered as sacrifices.
I had assigned Levi to watching Hannah’s house and reporting anything he found suspicious.
As my mother nearly always took a tray in her chamber, and Jack had not come down yet, I ate alone in the dining parlor. When I was near to finished, Arnaud brought a letter to me. When I broke the seal and spread open the single sheet, the food I had consumed threatened to come up.
21 May
Elizabeth,
This letter is to be delivered into your hands when I am gone. I have known what was ahead and what I had to face. It was my destiny, as my beautiful is yours. You must finish your journey. For your father.
Before he died, I was working with him against the devil. Your brother was not the only one with faith. For two years, I have been carrying on in his name. Now it is your time. You must possess the knowledge which others seek for if they become knowledgeable, they will wield it against you. Many people very dear to you will suffer from their chatter. My beautiful, your key is restoration.
Regretfully, P. Travoy
The letter was written on the day that Pierre was captured; the day that I had met with him. I contemplated the meaning. They could only mean Levitas, as Pierre would never put their name to paper. One of the members worked at the post office. I had recognized him. My beautiful, of course, was Ma belle. The knowledge which others seek. Levitas was seeking Ma belle and the artifacts.
Jack would know. He was good with translations. I rose from the table and took the letter with me into the library to wait for Jack.
When he finally put in an appearance, it was mid morning, and his gait was slow. I surveyed him critically. He had gone out last night with a group of his friends.
“Is Dudley in any better shape?” I asked.
Jack chuckled. “I assume that Dudley is his usual robust self.”
I handed him the letter to read. When he had read over it twice, he stood and went to the fireplace. He placed the letter before the flames, and I moved to his side. When words appeared, I dropped to my knees to read over his shoulder. Invisible ink. A mixture of iron sulfate and water, or the juice from a lemon, would create what was known as invisible ink. It had been George’s primary way of writing. It was a risk, for anyone could hold the letter up to a candle and see what was truly written between the lines, but George would say that if it worked for the Great Man, then it worked for him. George was named for President George Washington as his father had been a spy under General Washington's command during the Revolution, though he never met the man personally. When George joined my father to form the Phantoms, he prided himself that his ring of spies would be further advanced than those whom his father had served. Instead of numbers for deputy names, each deputy was called a word that could be written into any letter without the least suspicion of underlying meaning. Junto was the name of the club which my father had been a member. Fenrir was a Norse mythology about a great wolf beast. Loutaire was a combination of my grandfather’s name and his favorite word, silence.
Words appeared on the letter where there had been none. The leader of Levitas is Richard Hamilton.
“I wish that he would have told me when we met.”
“That would have made our search simpler,” Jack’s expression turned grim, “but when has our job ever been uncomplicated.”
Ma belle. A woman of means, powerful, hiding between Boston and Savannah.
I read the last description, but then had to read it again. It said powerful sorceress with a past of darkness. One name came to mind, but I shoved it away. It could not be that simple.
Jack tossed the letter into the flames, and we watched it until it was ash. At least we knew Pierre was alive, somewhere, and when I found him I would ask him about the contents of the letter. Until then, I would work on finding George and the remaining artifacts.
We spoke about George and where he could be. Jack said that since it was Leo’s day of leisure, he was scouring the countryside around Stark Manor for any place that they could be keeping George.
“What if we are wrong and the black carriage has nothing to do with Levitas?”
“Then we have one more riddle to solve, but do not worry,” Jack laid his hand on my shoulder, “we will find George.”