Keeper 2: Chapter 13

And now back to our regularly scheduled program. v

 

Chapter 13

Jamie left Dave’s house in a much better frame of mind than he had arrived.  As he left Oak Hill behind, he even began to hum along with the radio. While he had no illusions he would turn out to be a great sorcerer, he thought any teaching Dave might provide would help him to stay balanced. 

“After all if I am stuck in a world where runes and things keep appearing, I might as well learn to read them.” He told himself as he pulled up in front of Jim’s office building. He checked the inside pocket of his coat to make certain the vial the High Talbot had given him hadn’t fallen out somewhere and left the warmth of his car. He walked quickly across the parking lot, shivering in the icy wind but unwilling to run in case he slipped. While he figured he would survive a fall to the frozen ground, he was less certain about the vial and every part of him railed against the thought of letting the noxious goo loose in a public place.

“I’ve never been so aware of my steps in my life,” he muttered to himself as he made it safely inside the building.  At his entrance Lucy looked up from her computer screen and smiled.

“Jim and I were taking bets on whether or not you would cancel given the weather,” Lucy said after they dispensed with the greetings.  “Isn’t it snowing out towards your place?”

“Just about,” Jamie told her. “And it looked like it was heading this way.”

“Its going to be a cold night then,” Lucy replied.  “Why don’t you go on back,” She told him picking up the phone.  “I’ll let him know you are here.” As she told Jim of his arrival, Jamie headed down the short corridor to Jim’s office.  Jim greeted him with a warm smile and a handshake. They exchanged the obligatory comments about the weather and Jamie took the vial from his coat pocket. He held it out to Jim, who took it as though it were a live bomb.  Jim placed the vial into a metal strong box and once it was inside, he locked the lid.  Once the box was locked Jamie realized he had been holding his breath and let it out in a whoosh.

“I’m thrilled it is now someone else’s responsibility.” He said as he slipped off his coat and took a seat. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Jim said.  “I’m already longing for the moment I can pass it on to trained professionals.”

“Is there any way we can skip lunch today?” Jamie asked.

“Not a problem,” Jim replied.  “Are you hoping to get home before the weather gets too bad?”

“Partially,” Jamie told him.  “Mostly however I wanted to talk to you about something that probably shouldn’t be discussed in the open.”

“Really?  Would this have anything to do with your family?”

Jamie laughed.  “Oddly enough not this time. Although I still want you to quietly find out about my birth mother.”

Jim nodded and frowned, his face suddenly becoming serious.  “You know that was very strange.  When you called I figured it would be easy to trace, after all we have so many files dealing with your family.  So I went back into our archives and pulled the records.”

“That was easy,” Jamie said, pleased that something finally came about without a herculean effort.

“Not exactly,” Jim told him.  “I picked up the file, opened the file and read the file. I know your mother’s name was listed in the file and I know I saw it.”

“But you weren’t able to read it?” Jamie guessed.

“Exactly,” Jim responded, sounding exasperated. “I knew I had read the name and that everything was in order but I couldn’t tell you what the name was.”

“The same thing happened with my birth certificate,” Jamie told him with a nod. “When I tried to force it I gave myself a headache so bad I passed out. Luckily I was sitting on the bed at the time.”

“Well at least it’s not me going crazy then,” Jim told him.  “And I can see why you wouldn’t want to talk about it in public. It happened to me and I still think it sounds insane.”

Jamie laughed. “Actually I wanted to talk to you about the crossroads.”

Jim’s face lost the pained look and he frowned. “Is someone trying to break them again?”

“No,” Jamie assured him. “At least not mine anyway.  When the High Talbot dropped off the vial of goo he told me they were locking the crossroads while they sorted out some internal debate.”

“Internal debate?”

“Yup,” Jamie said with a nod. “Apparently several of the people who were fried trying to destroy the crossroads held positions of power. Those positions are now open and from what I gathered there are several people wanting to claim each spot.”

Jim let out a low whistle.  “The Fae don’t deal well with change, even the ones that spend time blending with us humans. The High Court Fae are known to be even worse though.  I can’t imagine they are very happy right now.”

“Well the High Talbot seemed a bit put out,” Jamie told him. “Actually I am kind of pleased the crossroads are closed for a bit.”

“Needing a break?” Jim asked with a smile. “You seem to have had a busy start to your tenure.  I can see where a breather would be needed.”

 

Jamie smiled.  “Actually, I’m hoping to deal with a problem while they are closed.”

“What sort of problem?”

“You know that there isn’t just one crossroads right?” Jamie asked.

Jim nodded. “Yes, Albe explained it to me once.  There is a network anchoring the borders between lands, everywhere there is a place where the crossroads meet there is a Keeper and a Keeper’s House.”

“In theory,” Jamie said, pleased that Jim understood the basics.

“Theory?” Jim replied, wariness creeping into his voice.  Jamie explained his jaunt with the visilore and the destruction he found at each site.  Jim grew pale and started shaking his head slowly back and forth as though trying to deny Jamie’s words.

“That can’t be,” Jim said softly when Jamie was done. “Someone would have known.”

“You would think,” Jamie said. 

“Why wouldn’t they say anything?”

“Well I do know that not all of the Fae are too thrilled by what they see as human interference.” Jamie said remembering the hatred on a face now turned to ash. “But whatever their reasons, I’m not exactly thrilled by being the only crossroads with a keeper.”  Jamie had thought long and hard about those ruined houses.

“I know that you and your family have handled all of the paperwork and such for this crossroads for generations. Do you know who might have dealt with the paperwork for the others?”

Jim nodded slowly.  “There are several firms like ours that deal with the fae and I would assume if there was a crossroad in their area, they would have dealt with it as well. If you have locations I can check.”

Jamie pulled a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and tried to smooth it out before handing it to Jim.  “Then I would officially like to hire you to look into the status of these properties.”  He sighed.  “I hate to say it but time is sort of short.”

“Yes,” Jim answered nodding his head. “This is something that screams urgent in big red letters. I’ll see what I can find out and let you know.” He held up the scrap of paper.  “This is now my top priority. You are a good man, James Fulton and there is no one I would trust more in the capacity of Keeper, but I am a bit uncomfortable with the fact that at the moment you are the only person holding the line between worlds.”

“You and me both,” Jamie said.  He felt oddly better at being able to at least share some of the concern with someone else. Jamie stood and picked up his coat. “And now I better get back before the weather gets any worse.”

Jim stood and walked him out of the office.  “You drive safely,” Jim told him, concern still shining in his eyes. “I mean it.”

Jamie smiled.  “I’ll do my best to stay alive long enough to get things sorted.” He told his friend before stepping back out into the cold afternoon.