Chapter 1
Jamie stared at the books lining the walls of the study. He shifted his eyes to stare out of the study and into the library proper. After a few minutes of silent study, Jamie looked down at the legal pad he had placed on top of the desk. The problems he needed to investigate were listed as bullet points.
The first item on the list simply said faux human. While investigating the death of Albrecht Fulton, Jamie’s great uncle and former Keeper of the crossroads, he had come across a goblin like creature wearing a skin suit that made him appear to be human. He had run from the house, upon learning that Jamie had not died in the night as expected and once tracked down was found dead, his human skin split open to reveal a goblin with clan markings no one had seen before. None of the goblin tribes recognized him or the tribal markings. Later Jamie and Del, his brownie housekeeper, had come across a lab of sorts in one of the abandoned out buildings left from the days when the house had functioned more as a farm. The lab contained a vat where they suspected the human suit was grown. The contents were still being analyzed.
Currently Jamie was trying to figure out where to start his investigations. The information he knew about goblins amounted to, green with scales and not fond of sunlight. “Or maybe that’s trolls,” Jamie said to himself. Jamie shook his head. “Apparently general goblin information wouldn’t be a bad idea.” He wasn’t quite sure if the library contained a book on goblins. He picked up a pen and scrawled ‘look into goblins’ as a notation under the Faux human heading. He added ‘chemical components’ underneath that. The High Talbot who acted as the clearing house for those of the Fae who wanted to work on the human side of the crossroads had promised to deliver the list of ingredients from the vat as well as a list of folks who had applied for permits for any of the chemicals used.
Jamie did not know if any of the chemicals were common or if they were special. He had mental visions of questioning thousands of research scientists and found himself wondering if the Fae had research scientists or Universities or large scale pharmaceutical facilities. The thought made his head hurt.
“Besides,” he said. “I would rather not start out with accusatory interviews.” Jamie tapped his pencil on the notepad, the eraser making a slightly hollow sound as it thumped down. Below the mentioned chemicals, Jamie scrawled first Fairy Queen and then Levas. Jamie leaned back feeling rather proud of himself for his list. The fairy Queen, Genivia by name, had given him the information leading him to the abandoned lab in the first place. Although he had also found evidence of the Brotherhood of Shadows on that visit to the woods and he thought that might be what she had wanted him to see. In an effort to overthrow Queen Genivia’s rule, a rebel faction had sided with the Brotherhood and tried to kidnap Jamie. He had escaped and the Queen’s forces triumphed. He wondered if that cut him some leeway with the Queen.
“I doubt I could summon her to an interview,” Jamie mused. Somehow summoning royalty didn’t seem like something that would go over well. He imagined there would be a raised eyebrow and dismissive laughter.
“Maybe I could invite her to tea?” He thought that might be a better plan anyway as she had taken great pains to hide the fact that she had given him the information about the woods in the first place. Jamie scrawled ‘tea’ next to queen. Levas might be a different matter. When Albe died, he left Jamie the position of Keeper and a book that resembled a field guide to the world of the Fae. One of the drawings in the book was for a tomte or nisse named Levas who had once worked on the property when it was a working farm. When Jamie took up residency in the house one of the calling cards left behind was from Levas. With all of the activity that followed, Jamie had little time for social niceties.
“House,” Jamie said aloud, addressing the somewhat sentient building around him.
“Yes Keeper,” Came the reply. As always the voice was strangely androgynous with a slight wisp of an English accent around the edges.
“There was a calling card left by Levas. It had only his name but no contact information. Do you know how to contact him? Or really any of the people on the cards?” Unlike business cards, calling cards held only names and not contact information.
“Yes Keeper,” Came the reply.
“How would I contact them,” Jamie asked realizing he had not expressed the full question. Hose had the tendency to take questions at face value and not expand until prompted.
“You would ask me to send a message.” House said.
“Ah,” Jamie said. “Would I have to write them down like when I ordered books or would this be like when you sent a message to the High Talbot requesting a meeting?”
“That would depend,” House replied. “Are you inviting them to a specific event or not? A specific event requires an invitation.”
“I don’t have a specific event in mind,” Jamie said. “I would just like to speak to each of them. Over tea perhaps.”
“Should I send a message asking when they might be available to join you for tea?”
“Yes,” Jamie replied. “Separately, though, not together. I don’t want them all at the same tea.” He had visions of a grand tea party orchestrated by House and shook his head.
“Yes Keeper,” House replied.
“Thank you.” Jamie felt pleased, as though he had actually started to make some progress. He decided to move on to the second bullet point. It was simply labeled Michael. Jamie frowned. Michael was his brother, or that is what he had grown up believing. Step-brother would be a more accurate term as his older brother had been around two and he had been a babe in arms when Jamie’s father Rudy had married Bella. Jamie scrawled the word Mother under the heading. Jamie had always believed that Bella was his mother and had never been given any reason to doubt that. There were no pictures of another woman or paperwork saying otherwise.
“Did she die?” he wondered. Perhaps she had just walked away. Jamie didn’t know enough to begin asking. Rudy had been close to Albe as well and Jamie wondered if any of the old man’s journals mentioned Jamie’s mother. So far her had searched through the older journals located in the house but had not scanned the more recent ones that Albe left behind. Somehow it felt more like snooping than research. Jamie put journals on the list next to mother.
“Of course that’s not the big issue,” Jamie told himself. While finding out about his mother was something he thought important. Michael was still the main issue. A while back Michael had tried to break into the house. He wanted to sell the land to developers and Bella wanted to sell the contents of the house to the highest bidder. They each had dollar signs in their eyes and had taken Jamie’s refusal to sell with ill grace. On one of Michael’s solo trips, he had been bitten or scratched by something and now seemed irresistibly drawn to the property. Jamie had found him wandering the woods in a daze shortly before Albe’s funeral as though something had called him there. Jamie wrote video footage on the list. Several of Michael’s arrivals at the gate had been filmed and while they hadn’t yielded much information before, he thought another look couldn’t hurt.
Jamie tapped his pencil on the tablet and decided to move on. He wasn’t sure what to add to the list and dealing with Michael was never really high on his list of priorities. “Perhaps it will go away on its own,” Jamie suggested. He didn’t have much hope for that outcome but at the same time still couldn’t think of what else to add.
Moving down the list Jamie came to the next bullet point. “Other Keepers,” Jamie read aloud. He had recently found out that he was not the only Keeper of the crossroads. There was apparently an entire world wide network to watch over the interaction between the world of the humans and the world of the Fae. The crossroads were where the two worlds intersected and where people could pass from one to the other. While Jamie was glad he was not the only Keeper, the only thing stopping a bad interaction from occurring. He had never met the others and was curious to do so. He knew that the Keepers occasionally interacted and he thought the sharing of information might be a good thing. “Especially as I am the nubie,” he said. Before Jamie could add anything more to his list, Del his housekeeper stepped into the doorway. The small man stood about chest high to Jamie but as Jamie had found out, he was incredibly strong. He had curly brown hair and a tanned and somewhat leathery face. His cheeks were often apple red. Del normally dressed in a plain pair of brown canvas pants and a tan linen like shirt that Jamie was fairly certain was called homespun. When traveling the browning liked to dress nice and had an eyepopping purple suite complete with purple snake skin shoes and a large brim purple hat with a long trailing feather. That combined with the fact that Del was actual sort for Delta Harmony, the name he had chosen to be called by humans always made Jamie smile. Tonight Del was wearing his plain brown working clothes.
“Please excuse the pardon but Burr Alverson has just popped in to see you,” Del said.
“Oh,” Jamie replied, pushing to his feet and running a hand through his hair. “Please show him into the parlor and let him know I will be right down. Offer him refreshments or something.” Del smiled and gave a half nod as he turned and went back downstairs. Jamie knew that Del held Burr in the highest regard and would do whatever was proper. Jamie wondered where he had kicked off his shoes. There was a hole coming out in the toe of his right sock and Jamie didn’t think that set the right level of appropriateness. Jamie found his shoes lurking by the fireplace and remembered he had kicked them off there the night before while reading. He said in his fireside reading chair and began to put them on.
“I wonder why he is here?” Jamie asked himself. He knew the question was pointless as he would find out once he went downstairs but he was still curious. Burr was one of the architects who had designed House and helped make it an sentient structure. When House’s defenses had gone on the fritz through tampering, the Fae architect had taken the tampering personally. Apparently he did not approve of people tampering with his work. Jamie finished tying his laces and stood. He brushed down his shirt in case any crumbs still clung to the fabric and went downstairs.
In the parlor, Jamie found Del wheeling a tea cart in front of the seating area. How he had managed to assemble a teapot full of piping hot tea and several plates of assorted sandwiches and pastries was a mystery that Jamie figured involved some aspect of brownie magic. He had learned that questioning things like that was not a good idea.
“Good evening,” Jamie said entering the room. Burr started to rise but Jamie waved him back into his seat. “This is a nice surprise.” Jamie took the available seat as Del poured two cups of tea and handed one to Burr and one to Jamie. Until taking up residency at the House of the Keeper, Jamie had thought of tea as something to be given to sick people propped up in bed with runny noses. In the few weeks he had come to live her, Jamie had managed to consume more of the stuff than he had in his entire lifetime. He couldn’t say he was developing a fondness for it but he had to admit it was nice to be holding a cup of something warm while the November wind howled around the house and through the woods.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Jamie asked. Burr smiled.
“I thought that as things have settled down a bit I might have another look around to make sure everything is functioning properly.” Jamie nodded.
“Of course,” he said. Jamie glanced towards one of the windows. While the sky was gray and looked like it wanted to become night soon, there was still a little daylight left. “Would you like to look before it becomes dark?”
“That would be best,” Burr said. He downed his tea in one long drought and picked up a sandwich. The small triangle disappeared in three bites and Jamie smiled. Burr had drunk and eaten of the offerings of Jamie’s table and by Fae custom could not offer him any harm while on the premises. It was a custom Jamie appreciated, and the reason for his consumption of so much tea. Jamie took a healthy swig of his own tea but was unable to get the hot liquid down as well as Burr had. He set the half empty cup down.
“Where would you like to start?” Jamie asked.
“Outside first, before the light fails, and then to the basement, I think that should cover it.” Burr replied. Both men stood and Del retrieved their coats for them. Jamie slipped the warm garment over his shoulders and shoved his arms in the sleeves. He led Burr back to the front door and they stepped out onto the porch. From there Jamie followed as Burr poked and prodded first the defensive perimeter and then the foundation of the house. Jamie saw runes light up and fade away as Burr worked. They flared a blue-ish color and then faded back to black lines carved into the stone on which they were placed. Some of the stones were placed in the yard, near the perimeter and others were a part of House’s foundation.
“Is the blue good?” Jamie asked. Burr looked at him, somewhat startled by the question. Despite the coat, Jamie’s ears were getting cold and he wished he had grabbed a hat before leaving the house. “Sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Oh no that’s not it,” Burr said, “Its just that most folks can’t see them at all.” Burr pointed to a rune carved on one of the foundation stones. “What do you see there?”
“It’s a symbol carved in the rock and stained black,” Jamie replied. “Do you want me to describe it’s shape?”
“No I don’t think that will be necessary.” Burr turned back to the stone and made movements with his hands as though conducting an orchestra. There was a low humming sound and then the symbol flared blue and appeared to float off of the stone. “And now what do you see?” Jamie told him and asked about the humming.
“Interesting,” Burr said. He gestured towards the stone and the symbol faded back to black. “That was the last of the outside ones,” he told Jamie. “We ought to get inside and check the others, but I think they should be fine.” They turned and started walking back to the front door. The light had faded and shadows covered the world. The woods were a dark blur.
“Yes the blue is a good color,” Burr said, answering Jamie’s original question. “It’s when they glow red or don’t glow at all that you have to worry.”
“Okay,” Jamie said. He followed Burr back inside and they went to the basement. The basement had been part of the previous house and Jamie found that when he spoke inside the basement, his voice triggered the former House’s memories and he was treated to a recorded event that had taken place inside. The basement seemed to be waiting for him to speak. It was not as insistent as it had been the last time but Jamie did not want to risk seeing anything tonight. Watching centuries old events take place before his eyes was one thing and he didn’t mind sharing them with Del as he fully trusted the little man. But Burr was an outsider and as much as he trusted him, Jamie found there was a limit to that trust.
Burr checked the similar runic markings placed throughout the basement. Each one flared blue and Burr seemed satisfied. Jamie kept quiet while he worked. If Burr noticed the waiting tension, he made no comment. Jamie wondered if he could. Del certainly hadn’t been able to. Finally Burr was satisfied and the two of them left the basement. Jamie locked the door behind them and led Burr back to the parlor. Del once again took their coats and Jamie was pleased to see that despite the two hours it had taken to search the perimeter and both the exterior and interior of the foundation, the tea was piping hot. Jamie poured Burr a cup and the architect took it gratefully. Jamie poured his own mug and felt the warmth sinking into the bones of his fingers. He sighed as his body warmed.
“I am pleased that nothing has disturbed the protections placed on the house,” Burr said. He reached for a triangle of sandwich, this time he ate it slowly since he was not trying to prove his worthiness quickly. Jamie reached for his own sandwich.
“That is very good to hear,” he replied. As the last time the protections were compromised a large boulder had fallen from the ceiling and crushed Albe’s bed to splinters, Jamie was relieved on multiple levels. He still couldn’t bring himself to move into the room that he still thought of as Albe’s but he didn’t think anyone needed to know that. They ate in silence for a few moments.
“Tell me,” You don’t happen to know anything about visilores do you?” Jamie asked, realizing Burr might just be the person to get his working. Burr frowned.
“Visilores? Sounds familiar but I can’t quite place it.”
“They are supposed to allow Keepers to talk to each other.”
“Oh,” Burr said. “I have heard of something like that, but it is human magic not Fae.”
“Oh,” Jamie said with a frown. “I can’t seem to get it to work.”
“Hmmm,” Burr said thoughtfully as he sipped his tea. “Did you try to communicate with someone or did you try moving through it?”
“I didn’t know you could move through it,” Jamie said with surprise. “I just tried to use it like a telephone.”
Burr chuckled. “But even a telephone requires that there be a phone on the other end for someone to pick up. The visilore at the location you were trying to reach could be broken or inactive or lost to time. These things happen. As I understand it they are designed in such a way as to let you step through them so that you could go to the other Keeper’s house even if they do not have a visilore that is active.”
“Really?” Jamie said. “That would be handy.” Burr appeared to be in thought.
“There was a book…” Burr said. “After a few hundred years of life things start to blur in the memory,” He told Jamie. “Let’s see, the title had the words Distance and Communication in it but I can’t remember what else. It was one of those long and overly pretentious titles. Rather like the author. Hmmm.” Burr drifted into thought again for a few minutes while Jamie sipped his tea. His ears were starting to warm up and they felt itchy. Since he normally couldn’t feel his ears it was an odd sensation and he resisted the urge to rub them.
“Reginald Foster Huffington IV,” Burr pronounced finally. “That was his name. Can you imagine four people stuck with that name? Humans are such odd creatures sometimes.”
Jamie smiled. He supposed that to people who lived for several hundreds of years without aging a day, the concept of passing down a name would seem very peculiar.
“If its any help, I doubt all four of them were ever in the same room,” Jamie told him.
“I certainly hope not,” Burr told him. Burr finished his tea and stood. “I had best get going. Snow is on the way and I’d like to get home before it starts to fall.”
“Of course,” Jamie said. “And thank you for checking on House for me.” Burr slid back into the coat Del brought him.
“Can’t have the Keeper’s house on the fritz,” he said as he opened the front door. “What would people think? I’ve got a reputation to uphold you know.”
“Of course,” Jamie said. “Have a good night.” Burr left and Jamie closed the door behind him.
“Reginald Foster Huffington IV,” Jamie repeated to himself. “I wonder if your book is on my shelves.” Jamie decided it might be a good idea to look.
