Nazareth Awakened - Chapter 02: Wives of Solomon

[TillForPie]

Postcognition
The blanket of stars is replaced by a bright Arizona sky in an instant and Chance finds herself in the same spot as before. She instinctively tries to check her watch, as if to make sure she arrived at the right time, but of course, she's not really here.

Harper is sitting on the bench, idly strumming on the guitar in his lap, with Crow beside him. Nearby there are three squad cars parked outside the Gold Dragon buffet.

Chance fast-forwards a few moments until she sees the buffet door open. It's Law in his uniform, and he's making his way across the parking lot with a box of food in his hands. Chance fast-forwards again, watching Law cross the lot toward Harper at high speed, slowing down once he's reached the bench.

"You might want to vacate," says Law. "I have a feeling you've had run-ins with Officer Bailey in there." Law extends an arm, offering the food to Harper. "He's been feeling a bit... hostile, today."

Harper reaches out to accept the food, when a woman's voice cuts in from beside Chance. "This is Nazareth?" Chance swivels her point of view around to get a look at the new arrival. She's in her late 20s or early 30s, blonde hair in pin curls, wearing a sleeveless seersucker dress that looks like it was ripped right out the 50s. "This is where it all started." She gives the two men a crooked smile, briefly revealing white teeth between bright cherry lips. "You're Law of course. And you..." She looks Harper up and down. "Agnasci? No. You're Harper."

Where'd you come from? Chance rewinds, watching the three pantomime their conversation in reverse. Then the woman is gone. Chance plays the events forward again at normal speed, this time keeping an eye behind the bench.

"You might want to vacate," says Law. And the woman is there, suddenly appearing out of thin air behind the bench in a split-second that Law is glancing back toward the Gold Dragon during his explanation. Chance plays through that moment a few more times. In one instant there is only empty space, and in the next the mystery woman is there. She doesn't have to glance around to get her bearings - as soon as she appears she's on a path around the side of the bench to Law and Harper's side.

"This is Nazareth? This is where it all started." She smiles at the two men. "You're Law of course. And you... Agnasci? No. You're Harper."

Law and Harper both look over at the newcomer in surprise.

"Ma'am I'm not sure what you're talking about," Law offers. "I am a police officer if that's what you meant." He smiles.

"What? Who are you?" asks Harper, pulling to his lap the food he'd accepted an instant earlier. "And what started here?"

The woman's smile is a knowing one. She seems otherworldly. "Earnshaw. And I guess you wouldn't know yet, huh?"

Beep beep!

A cab is pulling into the parking lot from off the street.

"That's my ride, fellas!" Earnshaw scurries to the car. "And boys," she shouts back at them just before getting in, "he goes left!"

Harper sounds exasperated: "Who goes left?"

And the next moment Chance is standing back in the present, in the darkened parking lot.

 

[Shayuri]

"I saw her," Chance says, her face breaking into a wide grin. She points excitedly at the bench. "She's like us! Like Penrose! She just appeared right there, while you weren't looking. And the way she was talkin', it sounded like she wasn't jes' movin' in space."

Time travel though? It was still boggling. It was one thing to SEE, another to be able to ACT. Chance understood the difference there. There were a lot of frameworks to understand time through; but the essential unifying feature was that time was. There was a level on which everything happened at once, with sequential, subjective time being an artifact of human consciousness...more a system of organization than a law of reality.

But causality still existed. Events were linked, even in the giant mishmash of it all. She could see how, in theory, this meant that temporal paradox (as opposed to magical paradox) might not be as big an issue as it seemed while enmeshed in linear time...but she was a long way from being able to really USE that tentative insight.

Right now she really wanted to talk to this Earnshaw.

 

[Rubberneck]

Law listens intently as Chance explains what she saw.

"That explains what Agnasci here is seeing. We may not have much to report to Penrose about the hallows, but this, this is most certainly something he'll take interest in. Teleportation? Time travel? Those are definitely some tricks I want to pick up!"

With that Law starts heading for his SUV,

"I say we take what we've learned to him right away, unless you guys think you can find out more."

 

[Mosier]

"I saw her," Chance says, her face breaking into a wide grin. She points excitedly at the bench. "She's like us! Like Penrose! She just appeared right there, while you weren't looking. And the way she was talkin', it sounded like she wasn't jes' movin' in space."

"It wasn't just the once, either," Agnasci says, suddenly aware that the others are expecting him to speak. "Someone has been using Space arcana at this particular place, over and over again. Maybe more than just one person, even."

Agnasci is relieved that the group will have something more substantial than a preacher's ghost and a vacant house to report to Penrose. For once, Agnasci has the feeling that Penrose will have something more to say than his usual, "That's interesting, but not really interesting" response.

 

[GlassEye]

Harper, Thyrsus mage

[section]

Harper looks at the spot that Agnasci is intently staring at. "That's where I found the white bear kachina." It's all Harper can think to say at the moment. Time travel? The thought is almost too outlandish to take seriously. But then again, he'd have thought the same thing about magic mere months ago and here he is casting spells and doing things he would have thought crazy if someone had told him about it then.

"All right then, let's go see what Penrose has to say."

​

[/section]

 

[TillForPie]

Nazareth Secondhand Books is in the same shopping center as the Gold Dragon buffet and the Super Value Mart (albeit not in view of the parking lot) so the trip is a quick one. Still, the drive is pregnant with the feeling of an approaching climax, and there's a lot for the group to consider: It's a strange feeling when an encounter with a ghost isn't the most interesting thing to happen in a night. This must be what it's like to be awakened.

Faye is behind the counter when the group arrives in the store, napping with her head in her arms. She stirs and wakes at their presence, giving them a groggy nod before wordlessly leading them through the back door and into the secret tunnel in the bathroom. Through the waiting room with the ugly decor, past the Bermejo painting, and down the hallway through the locked metal door. Faye stops here to remind them to remove their shoes, and after they have they continue into Penrose's sanctum.

The group feels the resonance of the place, a calm and ceaseless obsessiveness like last time, though it's less distracting now that they know to expect it. Runes still line the floor here and like before Faye avoids them on her way to the door of Penrose's study. She knocks and receives the same reply: "Come in."

Everything in the room, including Penrose, Faye, and the four apprentices, is still layered with a blue glow. The room is still dominated by the great central table, still with a map of the town laid over it, still with the swinging crystal. But things have been added: Where there was only one chair before there are now five, four of them in a line in the far corner, away from Penrose's work. Most noticeably there is now a railing circling the room near the ceiling, reminiscent of the track for a model train. A large ball bearing is rolling its way clockwise around the room on the rail, at considerable speed and seemingly under its own power. It's outlined in blue like everything else.

Penrose is wearing the same clothing as he was yesterday and it's obvious he hasn't slept. He's staring at the swinging crystal above the table and scratching at a rash on the back of his left hand when Faye and the others come in. He finally looks down from the crystal, eyes on Faye. She looks back expectantly. "Tea, please." She nods and slips out of the room without offering the others any.

"The ley line is flowing," Penrose begins. His chair creaks as he leans into it. "It's weak but improving." It's clear he feels the problem has fixed itself and that all's well that ends well. He seems to have no concern to spare for the Dogs of War, their ritual, or the owner of the trailer. "So." Penrose interlaces his fingers over his stomach. "Tell me."

 

[Rubberneck]

Law is the first to speak, watching the metal ball on its journey around the room quizzically.

"Nothing much to report on the hallow front. The church is dilapidated, haunted by the ghost of the preacher, I tried speaking with it but it insisted on preaching instead. The second is in an vacant house that is up for sale. Literally nothing there except termites."

He looks to the others,

"However we have a sizable find about our mystery woman. I'm almost certain she is awakened. She is skilled at controlling time and space. She appeared out of thin air at a bench at that buffet joint and it's not the first time. It seems she's used it multiple times. Why she appeared there and then jumped in a cab to go to catch a flight in Phoenix is beyond me."

Law scratches his head trying to remember if he presented all the facts. He looks again to the others to add to his story.

 

[Shayuri]

"She said her name's Earnshaw," Chance added, watching Penrose intently. "That mean anything to ya?"

 

[TillForPie]

Law is the first to speak, watching the metal ball on its journey around the room quizzically.

"Nothing much to report on the hallow front. The church is dilapidated, haunted by the ghost of the preacher, I tried speaking with it but it insisted on preaching instead. The second is in an vacant house that is up for sale. Literally nothing there except termites."

Penrose doesn't seem surprised by any of this information, nor does he seem interested in the ghost. The more contemplative of the group can only wonder at what things Penrose has seen in his life that make a haunting feel as mundane as a termite infestation. "I never found anything at the other sites, either." It's not clear whether he views the hallows appearing throughout Nazareth as a good or a bad thing.

"However we have a sizable find about our mystery woman. I'm almost certain she is awakened. She is skilled at controlling time and space. She appeared out of thin air at a bench at that buffet joint and it's not the first time. It seems she's used it multiple times. Why she appeared there and then jumped in a cab to go to catch a flight in Phoenix is beyond me."

Their mentor shows increasing agitation as Law continues through his explanation. He scratches idly at his rash - by the looks of it he's probably been picking at it all day.

"She said her name's Earnshaw," Chance added, watching Penrose intently. "That mean anything to ya?"

"Law and Harper already told me." He doesn't say so but it's clear his answer to her question is no.

"Twenty years in Nazareth without seeing another awakened," he says after a considerable pause, "and now you four, Earnshaw, and these hallows opening - all in a few months."

Faye returns to the room and sets a steaming mug on the table for Penrose. He puts a hand on her forearm to stop her leaving. "Do you have Magellan's number?"

She's surprised but nods.

"Call him. Set up a meeting for them." He gestures to his four pupils.

"Penrose," she starts, voice lowered, "with things the way they are with the Guardians-"

"And?" He cuts her short. "They're not Mysterium." It's unclear if they refers to his students or the Guardians, but it is clear from his tone that he will brook no argument. They've heard of the Mysterium before: Penrose has described it as a sort of community for awakened of which he - a Mystagogue - is a member. They've never heard him refer to any Guardians.

Faye hesitates but finally nods and leaves.

"Politics," he says to himself with distaste. Penrose turns his gaze back on the other four. "I know someone who can set up wards. Faye will tell you when a day's been set." He neglects to explain why they're the ones meeting with Magellan rather than going himself. "In the meantime, we're continuing your lessons. Get coffee from the kitchen if you need it," he gestures to the door, "we'll be up a while."

Now is a chance to speak with Penrose before he continues on to tonight's lessons, should anyone wish to.

 

[Rubberneck]

Law declines the coffee, instead he takes a seat in one of the chairs that obviously were set out for the group. He hesitates slightly to see if Penrose objects, if not he'll sit and rest his eyes, maybe catch a quick nap until the lessons start.