Agendas

Originally written Wednesday, December 14, 2005

I wasn’t sure about the latter question; it seemed to have many levels of possible answers. As to the first, I could only say that it didn’t seem to be forcing my behavior, or even my thoughts. It was very, very delicately influencing my outlook, my priorities. It seemed worth wondering whether the change were attributable to magic or to the psychological effect of finding I had that power, but the physical contact factor seemed to suggest that magic was the more likely explanation: with the charm within reach, in Patrick’s bag, I could get it if I wanted it badly enough but didn’t feel any driving desire to do so. However….

“I’m having lunch with Richard on Friday. He asked me to bring the charm. Don’t know what for. Maybe he has an idea about how it fits in with the museum robberies. And Trudy and Moshe are going to the Crypt that night. I was planning to come and keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t take too much advantage of any cluelessly willing participants.”

“Are you asking for it back? I’m sure you can keep Moshe in check the old-fashioned way, right? I mean, if he’s even really a threat.”

“Yeah, I can go to the Crypt without it. That’s no problem. I’m not sure about Richard, though. I’m not so sure it’s a problem for me to have it when Moshe’s not around. I’m still working this stuff out, but he seems to be like a vessel for it.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that, too. From reading what you wrote. The power goes through him and then reflects onto other people around him.”

“Mm. Seems to work that way. And the power comes from the charm. Or charms. Someone else is using one of the others.”

“Did you figure out whether you need to be in the same place as him for it to work? Like, the other night you were with Trudy. Do you know if you did that thing long distance after all?”

“Uh, no. I haven’t heard from either of them. And I don’t know what would have happened if I had. That thing is really tricky. There isn’t a one-to-one correlation with your thoughts. Your conscious thoughts. It would take a very old soul to…” I trailed off while my stomach sank. I began to fear that Trudy had been right. “Shit.”

“Em?” He sometimes calls me by my first initial. “What’s up?”

While the charm could apparently be used by anyone with a heartbeat, the corners of my being that I had had to access were deeply buried under years of empirical convention. Without familiarity with those older modes of thought, I might not have been able to generate a response from it that resembled my intentions. I supposed it wasn’t impossible for a contemporary mortal to operate it, but whoever had been controlling Moshe seemed to have become rather expert. The likelihood was greater that the user had access to a different set of intellectual processes from most. And although there may yet be unknown elements in our midst, I was compelled to review what I knew about the known one. “Do you remember when it was that Trudy first came across Moshe in the tunnels?” He wasn’t there, but he had just been reading earlier entries in here.

“Right before Thanksgiving, I think.” I just scrolled through the journal entries. I wrote it on the 23rd. It must have happened on the 22nd. “Why?”

“Because it’s the only time Moshe’s been in a trance when I…” I exhaled heavily, either for impact or for composure as I said this. “When I don’t know for certain that Richard was there.”

“And he wants you to bring the charm to lunch with you.”

“Yeah. He does.”

“You don’t think—I thought he was a friend of yours.”

“He was. Is.”

“OK, well, other options. Moshe’s vampire mom. Could she be around? Could there have been other old souls you don’t know of? And what about the charm? If it controlled you, it could control him, too, right?”

“Sure. Or maybe Moshe just has multiple personalities after all. God, that would be nice.” Too many thoughts at once. Worry about Richard not being forthright with me and why. Knowledge that there is a post-depletion vampire in the area, which could be an issue whether or not she’s involved in the voodoo drama. Concern that there could be yet another old soul, an additional cog in the works we don’t even know about. “I feel like giving Richard the benefit of the doubt, but I’ll still need to go into the lunch thing with a plan.”

The events of this day to be continued...