Chapter 8
Saturday NightHoney was tired of smiling. The twins were getting on her nerves. She looked over to see how Sirene and Tansy were doing. It was after dinner, and they were all in the formal living room. The dinner hadn’t been so bad because she had been seated in between Silvenus and Kern. Even though Kern was a bore, Silvenus had been quite interesting to talk to, once you got over those eyes of his. Honey had found out that Silvenus had many financial ventures throughout the world and traveled a lot. The most important thing she discovered was that Silvenus has been to Ireland and knew quite a lot about that country. It seemed that his mother was Irish. Unfortunately, just as the conversation was going the way she wanted it to, Kern had interrupted with some ridiculous story about how he climbed some mountain over in Asia. Honey could have screamed at that point, but all she could do was smile politely. She tried to bring the subject of their Irish mother back into the conversation, but Kern avoided the subject and Silvenus seemed to be amused by her efforts. She hoped Jim was having better luck.
Jim was wishing that Trixie had been invited to dinner. He didn’t seem to have the knack for getting information from people the way she had. He never realized how difficult it was until that point. Trixie had always made it look so easy. He was beginning to doubt that Silvenus had anything to do with what had been going on. Silvenus seem pretty willing to talk openly about his travels and his connections to Ireland. On the other hand, Kern seemed to avoid the subject at all costs. Jim was still worried about Silvenus, mesmerizing affect, but wasn’t convinced that Silvenus was evil.
Sirene was enjoying herself immensely. She forgot what fun she always had had with teasing and leading on self-centered, egotistic jerks. She did wish that Dan were there. They could have shared the joke that these two were. Sirene admitted to herself that one of the reasons she found Dan so fascinating was that he seemed to admire her sharp wit and even egged her on. She smiled bewitchingly at Roman as he leaned over to whisper improper things in her ear as she sat in between the twins on the couch.
Tansy was wishing that Regan were with her. Tansy couldn’t pick anything up on Silvenus, but the hatred and envy that his brother Kern felt was almost painful. Tansy had never met anyone that had such hateful emotions before. The twins were totally involved with themselves, which was something else that Tansy had never experienced before.
"So, Miss Gifford, do you thing you could arrange for me to talk to your aunt?" Silvenus asked, his deep green eyes on Tansy.
"I’m sorry. But that’s not possible at this time," Tansy said politely, watching his reaction. "She’s out of town right now. I don’t know when she’ll be back. That’s why I’m staying with the Wheelers."
"Well, how unfortunate. I really would’ve liked to talk to her about a book," Silvenus said calmly, his green eyes still on Tansy, his deep voice low. "Have you seen the Book of Be’al before?"
"No, I’ve never heard of it before the Bob-Whites told me about it," Tansy said, realizing that she didn’t want to say that. She had wanted to deny that the book existed, but for some reason she felt compelled to tell him the truth.
"But you’ve found out something about it since then, haven’t you?" Silvenus said in his low, mesmerizing voice and with his deep green eyes fixed on her.
Tansy knew that she didn’t want to tell him any more, but she could feel the words forming and…
"So did you tell him your aunt was out of town?" Sirene said, interrupting Tansy and Silvenus. Tansy took a deep breath and quickly looked away from Silvenus to Sirene.
"Yes, I just told him that I couldn’t help him," Tansy said quietly.
"Yes, it does seemed like I’m out of luck concerning this book," Silvenus said calmly, turning his gaze onto Sirene.
Sirene just smiled at him. "Well, you know how it is. You win some and you lose some, and some days, you just call it even."
"I would say that meeting you young people has put me in the win column. I must admit that I haven’t found such interesting people in a long time," Silvenus said, catching Sirene’s gaze. "I find it hard to believe that an intelligent girl like yourself, finds my nephews so entertaining. So, please enlighten me on what the draw is."
Sirene’s grayish/silver eyes turned true silver. "The past is what draws me. From what I can tell, your family history is very interesting. Your nephews mentioned that your family is a mix of Irish and Italian, but I have to admit that they don’t seem very interested in their family tree. I was hoping you could fill me in?"
"It seems you’re not the only one interested. Honey and Jim seemed very interested in my Irish background," Silvenus purred.
Sirene smiled, her eyes still silver. "I believe their interest is understandable. Jim just found an old family tree, so now family trees fascinate all of us. But since we are only teenagers, I’m sure our interest will be drawn to something else soon enough."
Silvenus smiled. "I don’t believe for one minute that any of you fall into the normal category. No, I would say that each of you seems to be extraordinary. I would almost say mystical or magical, wouldn’t you?"
Sirene giggled. "Why, thank you. That is a nice compliment. Teenagers hate to think that they fall into the normal group. We like to be different."
"Odd, I always got the impression that teenagers would rather fit into a group than be different," Silvenus said. "I must admit that I’m going to have to re-evaluate my views on young people after meeting all of you."
Jim came over right then with Honey following him. Tansy quietly left the room and went up to her bedroom. She was happy to be away from all those people. She was eager to see Regan, first thing in the morning.
"Mr. Marcellus, what did you think of Nightrider when you saw him?" Jim asked politely, trying to turn Silvenus’ attention to him, instead of on Sirene.
"Please call me Silvenus. With my brother here as well, it could get confusing. It will be interesting to see his time on Tuesday. I believe Regan has it set up for us to watch him at the track in White Plains. I told Matt that it could wait until Regan felt better, but Regan insisted on keeping with the schedule. I’m not sure he’s going to be up to riding Nightrider by Tuesday, though," Silvenus said.
"Regan probably could do it, but I’m going to be the rider," Jim told him. "I know that I’m bigger than most jockeys, but I manage to get a decent time out of Nightrider."
"Yes, Regan was telling me how well you ride. It seems that you have a natural affinity with animals," Silvenus said, green eyes meeting green eyes.
"Jim’s very good with animals," Honey said.
"Well, I look forward to seeing him on Nightrider," Silvenus said. "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to make a phone call. It was an enjoyable evening."
Silvenus and Matt left the living room as Kern and the twins came over to the group.
"Well, I, for one, don’t care for horses. I can find more interesting things to do," Kern said. "So, how are you young people spending your New Year’s Eve?"
"We’re all going over to the Beldens’ for a quiet get-together," Honey said politely.
"Surely not! Roman and Remus have found a teen nightclub in the city that’s having a party tomorrow night," Kern said heartily. "I know that they would love for all of you to be their guests."
"Thank you for the invitation, but I believe that one has to be sixteen to go into those nightclubs and the only ones old enough are Jim and Brian," Honey said. Kern shook his head sadly and murmured something about them not knowing a good opportunity when it was presented to them, as he turned and walked over to engage Mrs. Wheeler in conversation.
"Honey’s right! Besides, I doubt if Roman and Remus want to be tied down to a bunch of teenagers so much younger than they are," Sirene said, smiling at the twins.
"Well, we would make an exception for you," Roman said with lustful sneer.
Sirene giggled at him. "You better be careful. I might take you up on that offer."
"Hey, now, wait a minute! I thought you were going to take me up on my offer," Remus complained.
Sirene laughed. "Whose says I can’t hang with you both?"
Remus and Roman looked at each other, then smiled at Sirene.
"Well, since tomorrow night seems to be a bust, how about going out with us on Monday night? We have a special place that we found that we would be interested in showing you," Roman said in his oily, slimy way.
"Now that sounds like an invitation a girl can’t turn down. But to make things even, why don’t I bring a friend along?" Sirene said, smiling like a cat that ate the cream.
"Sure, sure! That sounds like a party!" Remus said. "So meet us here Monday night at nine o’clock."
"Oh, dear! I can’t do that," Sirene groaned. "My grandparents are old-fashion and don’t let me go out after eight. Tell you what. I’ll tell them that I’m spending the night at a girlfriend’s house in town. But that means that we’ll have to meet both of you somewhere else. Honey, Jim and Tansy are cool, but if anyone else sees me, then I’ll be in major dungeons with my grandparents. But let’s make it Tuesday night instead. That way, I’ll be able to make the proper arrangements."
Remus put his arm around Sirene’s shoulders. "I had a feeling that you were my type of girl. Tuesday it is. You know a place call the Sleepy Hollow Inn?"
"Isn’t that the creepy place that’s just north of Sleepyside?" Sirene asked.
"That’s the place. It’s supposed to be haunted!" Roman said. "We’ve got a room there."
"Why do you have a room in a hotel?" Honey asked innocently.
Remus elbowed Roman.
"We don’t have one yet. We’re going to get a room. We want to see if it’s really haunted or not," Remus explained. "Have any of you ever been there?"
"No. I think we’ve all passed it going into White Plains, but we’ve never met anyone that has stayed there," Jim answered casually. "I guess if you’re into ghosts and stuff like that it might be worth checking into. But how are a couple of seventeen-year-olds going to be able to check into a hotel alone? We always have to have one of our parents or Miss Trask make our reservations when we travel."
"No problem. Dad gave us some credit cards, so we can do pretty much what we want. They might call him to verify that it’s okay, but he won’t care," Roman boasted.
"Well, then we have a plan, don’t we?" Sirene said, smiling coyly at the twins.
Honey and Jim looked at each other uneasily about Sirene’s actions. All evening, she had acted much older than she was, and they were uncomfortable with her bold flirting. But what worried them more was the fact that she seemed very comfortable in the role of a loose woman. For the first time, they were seeing how she lived and acted before coming to Sleepyside.
"I hate to break this up, but we did promise your grandparents that you wouldn’t be late getting home," Jim said to Sirene. "Why don’t I drive you home?"
"Sure, that would be great," Sirene said. "Honey, why don’t you come with us? You know how jealous Trixie can get, and I would hate to have her mad at me because I was alone with Jim."
Honey, at first looked a little surprised at the news that Trixie would get jealous just because Jim took Sirene home, but she caught on quickly and gave a small laugh.
"We all know Trixie’s temper. Come with me to get my jacket, and then we’ll be off. Jim, we’ll meet you at the front door," Honey said.
"It was a lovely evening, Mrs. Wheeler. Thank you so much for inviting me," Sirene said to Mrs. Wheeler as she made her good-byes.
"It was a pleasure having you, dear. Tell your grandparents hello for me, and thank your grandmother for the apple pie. It was delicious," Mrs. Wheeler said graciously.
Sirene smiled goodbye at Kern and followed Honey out of the room.
"I told you she was hot for me!" Roman bragged to Jim and his brother.
"You wish! It’s obvious that she’s bringing her friend along for you, so that she can be with me," Remus argued with his brother.
Jim just shook his head and smiled as he left the room, because he knew that the friend Sirene planned on bringing was Dan.
Meanwhile in Regan’s Apartment…
"So, you don’t think the gunshot was aimed at the horse?" Dan asked his uncle. Regan and Dan were sitting in Regan’s apartment, eating pizza.
"I’ve heard everything you’ve told me, but I honestly don’t think that gunshot had anything to do with Nightrider or horse racing. The Marcelluses just aren’t serious enough about horseracing for them to be a threat to anyone. Take Mr. Wheeler for an example. If he races Nightrider, it will only be in a couple races a year. My best guess is that the Marcelluses would be the same way. If they decide to get a horse, it will be like Mr. Wheeler, just a fun thing to do, nothing serious," Regan answered.
"We’re just trying to rule out other possibilities for that gunshot. I guess we hate the idea that someone would take a shot at Tansy," Dan said worriedly.
"I still think it was to scare Tansy. I wonder how she’s dong over there." Regan said with concern. "I know how much she hates being in a roomful of people."
"I’m sure Jim and Honey will look out for her," Dan said reassuringly. "I’m more concerned about what sort of mischief Sirene is causing. Sirene can get out of hand if someone isn’t there to rein her in."
"You and Sirene seem to be spending a lot of time together. How are things going between the two of you?" Regan asked.
Dan sighed. "I’m finding it very hard to keep things simple. I love spending time with her. She has such a strange way at looking at the world. I love hearing her point of view of things. She’s so easy to talk to. I find myself telling her things that I’ve never told anyone else. But…"
"But the hormones get in the way at times, right?" Regan said with an understanding chuckle.
Dan’s face turned a little red. "Yeah! You could say that. It’s funny, but I can talk to Sirene about this stuff, no problem, but it’s hard to talk to someone else about it."
"Well, as long as you can talk to her about things, then you’re on the right road. I just want you to be careful. I know that you’re not all that innocent or naïve, and I have a feeling that Sirene is on the same level as you are. That makes it twice as hard to keep things simple. I don’t know why that is, because whether a girl has experience or not shouldn’t make the difference, but it does," Regan said. "Especially if she’s more than willing."
Dan chuckled. "Something tells me you have your own problems in keeping things simple. Tansy seems pretty sure about her feelings. Believe me, if I was sure that Sirene was as emotionally involved with me as Tansy is with you, there wouldn’t be anything holding me back."
Regan frowned at his nephew. "If only Tansy wasn’t so inexperienced. It’s just not the physical side of things, but she’s been around so few men that I’m afraid that she’s more in love with being in love, and that she would feel this way no matter who I was."
"Boy! Are we a pair? I’m holding back because I’m afraid that my girl isn’t able to love me, and you’re holding back because yours is in love with you," Dan said.
Regan looked at his nephew with new eyes. He just realized that his nephew might actually know more about relationship than he did, which wasn't saying much. The only serious relationship he had had was years ago, and that had blown up in his face.
"Aren’t you afraid that if you and Sirene get serious that she might want to get married or tie you down somehow?" Regan asked, curious.
Dan smiled. "Since I have every intention of marrying that girl someday, that’s not a problem. She fills an empty spot in me that I didn’t even realize I had until I met her. She makes me whole. When I was with the gang, I didn’t have the freedom to fall in love or love someone, because that wasn’t cool or macho. But now I have that freedom. I can feel it and say it if I want to. I don’t think people realize how important that is. I regret not telling my mom how much I cared for her. Those last few years, I started with the tough act and didn’t say anything that was considered mushy or sissy. I promised myself that I would never do that again. I’m not very good about saying things, but I can show it, and that’s just as important."
"Well, as long as you wait until after you’re finished with school, I don’t have a problem with Sirene. Just be careful and don’t get her pregnant. I’m not ready to be a great-uncle yet. So does she know how you feel?" Regan asked.
Dan sighed. "Now that is my problem. Sirene just doesn’t understand the emotional side of things. One of the reasons we haven’t made love yet is because she keeps an emotional distance from me. She doesn’t understand that I can’t make love to her knowing that she doesn’t love me."
"Are you sure she doesn’t? Maybe the only way she knows how to show you that she loves you is by being physical. She may not be able to say the words, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel the emotion," Regan said thoughtfully.
Dan raised his eyebrows and grinned. "You’re probably the only guardian in the world that would advise his fifteen-year-old nephew to get physical with his girl."
"Did I say that?" Regan said, grinning. "Look, if you were Jim, Mart or Brian, then my advice would be completely different. They all have long term plans where they need to be unattached. But if you still plan on being a policeman, then you’re talking about a six-month course. You’re going to be sixteen soon. Besides, it’s not like I can stop you. So all I can really do is tell you to use protection, and I’m here if you need me."
"Yes, I still plan on being a policeman. Sirene’s not too crazy about the idea. She thinks that I’m selling myself short. She thinks that I should be a criminal lawyer or a child psychologist. She believes that I could help more kids if I was working in the D.A.’s office or working in one of those shelters for runaways," Dan said.
"She’s probably right. As a policeman, all you’ll really be able to do is arrest them. You’re smart enough to go to college if you want to. If you’re going to be a policeman, it should be because you want to stop crime and to protect people, but if the only you want to do that is to help teenagers or gang members, then I’ll have to agree with Sirene," Regan said.
"Well, I’ll think about it. I figure that it wouldn’t hurt to do a few years on the force, then see how things go," Dan said. "I’m not crazy about school, so I don’t want to go to college unless I’m sure about what I want."
"Since you’re talking to a man who just got his GED, I can understand," Regan said.
In the car on the way to Sirene’s …
"I’m so glad to get out of there," Sirene stated. "I don’t think I’ve ever come across such stupid conceited guys in my life, and believe me, I’ve met a lot of conceited jerks before."
"Gosh! You’re an excellent actress. I admit I was beginning to worry, because you looked like you were enjoying yourself," Honey said.
"Well, I did get a kick out of leading those bozos on, but not as much as I thought I would. I wished Dan had been there," Sirene admitted.
"I’m thankful that he wasn’t, "Jim remarked. "I think he would have slugged one of them at least once during the evening."
Sirene smiled. "No, he wouldn’t have. He would have just laughed about how dumb those two are. Can you believe that they actually let it out that they have a hotel room? Oh, I know they tried to cover it up with all that talk about them getting a room, but it was obvious that they already have a room."
"You don’t plan on meeting them, do you?" Honey asked.
"That depends on if we can get to the rooms on Monday. I know everyone is too busy tomorrow. But I would imagine that you and Trixie would be able to do some investigating on Monday. If you can, then I won’t show up, if you can’t, then Dan and I’ll have to make a trip there to see if we can discover anything," Sirene answered.
"I can assure you that Honey and Trixie will not be going alone," Jim said firmly.
"I really can’t wait to see what Tansy thought about Silvenus," Sirene said. "I know that he’s got some powerful mojo going. I could actually feel his power projected at Tansy. I’m not sure he’s evil, but I think he’s ruthless. One more interesting thing about him, he can block the spirits. I could tell that some spirit was trying to communicate with me, but there was an energy shield blocking us. I think it was coming from him."
"This may sound strange, but I just can’t see him doing sneaky things," Honey said. "I can see him trying to mesmerize someone or try to talk them around to his way. The things that have been going on seem too undignified for him."
"That doesn’t sound strange at all. I get the impression that he’s the type to come right at you. I don’t have any problems with seeing him trying to intimidate someone into submission, just his presence can do that, but I think if someone stands firm against him, he would respect that and just accept defeat," Jim said.
"Somehow, I don’t think Silvenus has a lot of practice in accepting defeat. I have to admit, I can see him using people’s weaknesses against them to get what he wants, but I think he has his own code of honor. I just can’t see him as a common thief," Sirene agreed. "Now Kern and the twins, I have no problem believing that they could be thieves. Kern really hates his brother. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was trying to steal the book just so that his brother couldn’t get it."
"So, maybe they’re the ones that are causing the trouble, and Silvenus may have nothing to do with any of this," Honey said.
"I think we’ll know more tomorrow when we find out if Trixie and the rest of them found out anything. Tansy may not have picked anything up from Silvenus, but I bet she got a lot off of Kern and the twins," Sirene said.
"Why do you think she couldn’t read Silvenus?" Jim asked.
"Because I think he knows we’re psychic and has built a shield around himself. What’s more, I got the impression that he was letting us know that he knows that we’re psychic, and he also knows that we think he’s psychic," Sirene answered.
"He did use the words magical and extraordinary, didn’t he?" Honey asked rhetorically. "He made a special point of talking about Jim’s affinity with animals."
"Or he could have just been making conversation,." Jim pointed out. "I have to admit I wished Trixie had been there. She seems to be able to tell the difference between polite conversation and whether someone is trying to make a subtle point or not."
"Don’t let him fool you. He was telling us that he knows some of us are psychic. I’m not sure he knows for sure which one of us is the psychic, and what type of power we have, but he was able to pick up on the psychic power just like I was able to," Sirene told Jim as he pulled into her driveway. "Of course, anytime you get more than two psychics together, it’s hard to tell who’s who and who does what, but each psychic can usually pick up on the extra energy. I’m going to be busy with Bobby tomorrow, so I guess you’ll have to tell the rest of the Bob-Whites about tonight. Diana will probably call me and tell me what they were able to find out, if anything."
"Sure, we’ll have a meeting tomorrow and figure out something. So we’ll see you tomorrow night at the Beldens’ for the party, right?" Jim asked.
"I’ll be there. Dan’s picking me up," Sirene said as she got out of the car. "I’ll see you all then."
Chapter 9
Sunday Dec 31-Late AfternoonJim had a small fire going when Brian joined him at the lake. It was late in the afternoon, and there was a chill in the air, even though it had been warm all day.
"Were you able to get out without Trixie seeing you?" Jim asked.
"No problem. All of my chores were outside today, so I just asked Moms if I could come over here after I was done. As far as I know Mart and Trixie think that I’m working outside. It didn’t take me long to finish up what I had to do," Brian said.
"I thought I would start small. I’ll try to send Patch a message to sit, and if he does that, I’ll try putting him in the heel position," Jim said.
"Okay, but make sure that you don’t use any hand motions or that will mess up the experiment," Brian suggested as he wrote down the date and what they were trying to accomplish.
Jim focused on Patch and imagined him sitting. Patch, who was sniffing at a tree, looked towards Jim, with a questioning face. Then he sat! Jim imagined Patch to heel. Patch got up and trotted over to Jim and went into the heel position, looking up at Jim for further instructions.
Jim looked at Brian. "Well, that was interesting."
Brian nodded as he finished writing. "It didn’t feel the same as the day Nightrider acted up. It wasn’t as strong. You know the ‘walk over my grave’ feeling. That’s what it felt like. Let’s try something more complicated. See if you can get Patch to fetch a stick for you."
Jim nodded his agreement and concentrated on Patch. He could picture Patch picking up a stick and bringing it to him. Patch looked up at Jim and lay down at his feet. Jim concentrated harder. Finally, after several minutes had passed, and Jim was beginning to get a headache, Patch got up, picked up a stick and brought it to Jim.
Brian had been observing Jim the entire time. Jim’s breathing had become rapid, his face pale, and Brian could see sweat coming from Jim’s forehead. Brian was just getting ready to call it quits when Patch had moved.
Jim took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment as Brian continued to write his observations down.
"I think that’s enough for now. That last command took a lot out of you. Since we don’t know what would happen if you overloaded, it’s best to take this slowly," Brian told his best friend.
"Since my head is splitting, I’m more than ready to quit for now," Jim said.
Brian and Jim walked up to the Manor House. They went into Jim’s room after Jim had gotten an aspirin for his headache. Jim laid down on his bed while Brian sat in the big easy chair that was by the window.
"I talked to Dad last night about us going skiing next Saturday," Jim said quietly. "He didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t go. Pete Kimball is going to be there. I was thinking we could leave on Saturday and come back Tuesday. I told Dad that we would be more then happy to drive up, but he wants us to use the jet and have Pat pick us up."
"Do you think we’ll have this mystery solved by then?" Brian asked. "You know Trixie and Honey won’t want to leave if it’s not solved."
"It’ll have to be solved one way or another. Dad told me that the Marcelluses are leaving next Friday," Jim said. "I would have suggested leaving Friday night, but I believe Honey told me that Diana can’t leave until Saturday."
"Which reminds me, you, Dan and I have a date Friday night," Brian said.
Jim looked over at his friend with an inquiring look.
Brian smiled. "We’re going to have a Guys’ night out. Diana is going to the country club dance with someone else, so Mart decided that a guys’ night out is something he needs to do. I’ve talked to Dan, and he’s all for it. His recommendation was that we meet at Mr. Maypenny’s and hang out there for the evening. Since Mr. Maypeny has a TV and VCR, we can rent some movies."
"That sounds like a pretty good plan to me. It’s been a while since just we guys got together. Lately, it seems that we’re always around the girls or busy at school," Jim said before grinning. "Not that I don’t enjoy spending time with the girls, but sometimes a guy needs to spend time with his buddies."
"Just like the girls spend time together. How much do you want to bet that Trixie, Honey and Sirene will end up spending the night at one of their houses?"
"No way. I know a sucker bet when I hear one," Jim said. "So, Diana’s going to go out with someone else. I wondered what was wrong yesterday. Mart seemed awful quiet. I think having a guys’ night out is a good idea."
"Especially when a certain person is going to call Mart after the dance," Brian said.
"So, I take it we’re going to have a late night," Jim remarked. "We can’t have Mart home before she calls. I have to admit Mart is taking it better than I would."
"Well, so far I’ve been lucky. Honey doesn’t seem to want to get into the dating game yet."
"What are you going to do when she decides to start dating?" Jim said. "You can’t expect her to stay at home when everyone else is going out, especially since you’re not ready to make a commitment yet. Since I can’t stand the idea of Trixie dating anyone else, I figure it’s up to me to keep her so busy and focused on me, she won’t want to date anyone else."
" The logical, sensible side of me keeps saying that we’re too young, and I have too far to go to tie myself down with anyone. But I have to admit that the thought of her seeing someone else makes me ill," Brian admitted. "I can’t understand how you can be so sure about your feelings for Trixie. Aren’t you afraid that some day she’ll decide that she needs to experience life without you?"
Jim was silent for a few moments. "Yes. I fully expect that sometime in the future she’s going to want to date other people just to be sure that I’m the one for her. It will hurt, and I’ll probably be angry, but I also know that she’ll come back to me. I just don’t want to waste the time we have. Once I realized how important your sister was to me, I also realized that it was going to hurt no matter what I did. So I decided that I want to build memories for us to fall back on during the rough times. Life can be really short, and I don’t want to regret not taking a chance with someone as wonderful as your sister is."
"Maybe the fact that your parents died young has given you a different perspective than the rest of us," Brian said thoughtfully.
"And your parents giving up their careers to raise kids affects your views," Jim pointed out. "I’m telling you this as a friend. You are too focused on the future. How good of a doctor will you be if you close off your emotions? Or if you don’t learn what love is? We’re at the age where we’re supposed to be learning about ourselves and the people around us. If that means falling in love, then that’s okay. Maybe Diana and Mart won’t make it to the forever part. But they will always have great memories about now. If they do make it, then they have all of these years of love and friendship instead of regrets for wasted time. I’m not saying that you need to make any real commitments to Honey. She seems happy in her role as good friend. She’s not ready for a ‘boyfriend’ yet. But if I were you, I would start thinking about how you’re going to handle it when she is ready. Because next year, we’re not going to be around, so the coast is going to be clear for the other guys to start asking the girls out. That’s why I want to make sure that Trixie knows how I feel."
"I do realize that, which is why I worry. How do I compete with guys like Nick Roberts and Kell Winters? I just know that they’re dying to ask Honey out. The only reason they haven’t is because she’s only fourteen, and because we’re around. Sometimes, I think that I need to slow down. I want to be a doctor, and I need all the scholarships I can get to achieve that goal, but what if my ambitions make me lose someone like Honey? She’s special, and I’ll never meet anyone like her again. It would have been so much easier if I had met her after I was a doctor," Brian groaned.
Jim laughed. "Would you really want to give up everything we’ve been through?"
Brian smiled ruefully. "No, even though your sister can tie me up in knots and make me forget the way things have to be, I wouldn’t have missed these two years for anything. So, when are you going to tell the others about being psychic?"
"I don’t think we have enough data to say anything. I want to practice some more. I’ll work on Patch a couple times a day. If I can get him to do what I command without getting a headache, then we’ll try Reddy."
Brian laughed. "If you can get Reddy to follow your commands, then we’ll know for sure that you’re psychic. That’s the only way that dog is going to be obedient. How is your headache?"
"It’s going away. I did learn that once the head starts hurting, then it’s time to quit. Of course, I’m only doing this out of curiosity, because for the life of me, I can’t see what good this so-call power will do me."
"I think Regan and Tansy would disagree with you. I’m sure they’re thankful that you were able to draw Nightrider away."
"Like that’s going to happen all the time," Jim said a bit sarcastically.
"It’s obvious that not all psychic powers are useful. The only way I can see yours being of any use to you is if you were going into Zoology or something of that nature."
Jim grinned. "Well, some people might think having a home for orphan boys could qualify for working in a zoo."
Brian laughed. "True. I think it’s time for us to go over my house. Trixie wants to have a meeting before Sirene comes over."
"Why? Since we’re doing Sirene’s induction tonight at midnight, she should be at the meeting," Jim pointed out.
"Trixie was afraid that if we invite her to the meeting, it would tip her off about our plans. Since Dan and Diana have talked to her today, she’s updated on what’s going on. Dan is also picking her up earlier then planned," Brian explained.
"That’s good. I never did understand why he was going to pick her up so late," Jim said.
Just then, there was a knock at Jim’s door.
"Jim, are you in there?" Honey asked.
Jim got off the bed and opened his door.
"Oh good, you’re here. Trixie, Mart, Diana and Dan are in the library. Now we just have to find Brian, then we can have our meeting. Regan and Tansy should be joining us soon," Honey told him.
"Well, you won’t have to look too far for Brian. He’s here," Jim said. Brian moved up behind Jim and looked at the girl that always took his breath away and made his heart start pumping fast.
Honey looked at the tall, handsome guy standing behind her brother and felt the safe, warm feeling that always came over her when she saw him. She recently began wondering if those were her own feelings, or was he unconsciously projecting his own feelings towards her.
Both of the young people smiled at each other, hiding their deepest thoughts and feelings from themselves and each other.
Just as they were coming down the stairs, they saw Regan and Tansy come in the house. They all went into the library where a warm fire was burning, and everyone got comfortable.
Trixie called the meeting to order. She then proceeded to give Jim, Honey, Dan, Tansy and Regan, an update on what they had found last night.
"We weren’t able to find any link between the McGowans and the Marcelluses, nor could we find anything concrete about Be’al," Trixie said. "We did get into a druid chat room though. Most of them never heard of the god Be’al. But we did find one person who came from Scotland that heard a legend about a druid book, but couldn’t remember the name of the book. The only thing he could remember was that supposedly a high priestess wrote down all of their rites and passed it down to her daughter. According to the legend, it was up to each generation to hide and safeguard the book until the reincarnation of Merlin appeared."
"Are you talking about King Arthur’s Merlin?" Jim asked.
"The one and the same. It seems like there are a lot of people that believe in the legend of King Arthur and Camelot. But if this book is full of rites and other druid secrets, then I would bet a collector would pay a lot of money for it," Trixie answered.
"Which doesn’t tell us when the book was written or why the Giffords have it, and why the MacGowens after it," Honey stated.
Honey then proceeded to update Trixie, Brian, Mart and Diana on what they had uncovered the night before.
"But we did find out that the Marcelluses have an Irish mother. They’re half-Irish and half-Italian. Silvenus also told us that he visits Ireland a lot. But if the person in the chat room is from Scotland, where did he hear about this legend?"
‘It is my understanding that some of the druids may have immigrated to Scotland. That might be where Silvenus mother is, " Trixie answered Honey. "Tansy, where you able to pick anything up?"
"From Silvenus, I was only able to pick up a sense of power, but no emotions. It was like I kept running into a brick wall. Now Kern is so full of hate and anger at his brother, there isn’t leave much room for anything else. The twins are totally involved with themselves and each other. I could feel a brotherly love for each other, but toward everyone else, they were indifferent. No real liking or hate. Although I did pick up some lustful feelings they were having towards Sirene, but even that wasn’t as strong as their own love for themselves," Tansy said.
Dan frowned upon hearing that, but didn’t say anything.
"Sirene told us that she thought that Silvenus is psychic and knows that some of us are also. So, she believes that Silvenus has built a shield around himself, and that’s why no one can get a reading on him. She could see a spirit hovering, but couldn’t communicate with it," Honey said.
"Sirene seems to have a natural ability to ignore Silvenus magnetic gaze. I was almost compelled to tell him everything we know when he asked. If it wasn’t for Sirene, I think I would have told him everything. I noticed that she didn’t seem uncomfortable or mesmerized by him," Tansy added.
"Sirene found out that the name of the hotel we want to check out is the Sleepy Hollow Inn. The twins tried to cover up the mistake Roman made, but it was pretty obvious that they already had a hotel room there," Honey said. "Sirene has made arrangements to meet with them on Tuesday night if we can’t do any investigating before that time. I believe, Dan, you’re invited to their little party."
"That’s my girl for you. I personally can’t wait, because I know that the twins aren’t going to be too happy with me joining them. And I’ve been dying to knock some of their perfect teeth out," Dan answered with a wicked grin on his face.
"Hopefully, we can find out something positive before Tuesday night. As much as I would like to see those two lose some teeth, it would be better all around if there was no fighting," Brian said.
Well, before Dan get to knocking out teeth, don’t he have something to report to us?" Trixie asked.
"Regan and I came to the conclusion that the gunshot was a warning to Tansy and had nothing to do with horse racing," Dan reported
Trixie told Jim that he could have the floor. Right before the meeting Jim had told Trixie that he had to make an announcement.
"Now for some good news and some bad news," Jim said. "The bad news is that Dad told me last night the Marcelluses were leaving next Friday. So we only have until then to solve this. I told Dad about our theory. He doesn’t believe that Silvenus would be involved, but that Kern and the twins are a different story. Dad’s going to see if he can find a connection to the Marcelluses and the MacGowens. He’s also going to have someone keep and eye on Kern and the twins. I did ask him to keep what we’re doing to himself, but he wouldn’t promise. So he might tell Silvenus about our suspicions. The only promise I could get out of him was that he would let us know if he decides to talk to Silvenus about this."
"So, what’s the good news?" Diana asked.
"The good news is that Dad said we can go to the ski lodge in Vermont next weekend. Pete’s going to be there. We’ll leave first thing Saturday morning, take the jet and fly up, and then fly back on Tuesday. Mother and Dad will be there. They’re meeting the Kimballs for some business reasons. So, Miss Trask won’t be going. She’s taking that weekend off to go see her sister," Jim explained.
"Which means it will be up to you and I to keep the beasts exercised. Think you’re up to it?" Regan asked Tansy.
Tansy smiled. "Of course. I’m up to anything that you’re capable of doing."
Regan’s green eyes widened as the implication of what she said hit him. Then he grinned and shook his head at her.
"I just don’t know what I’m going to do about you."
Tansy’s smile got even brighter. "Well, since we’ve reported everything we know, why don’t we go back to your apartment and we can discuss it?"
Just as Regan was going to answer the phone rang. Jim picked up the receiver. After saying hello, he turned to Tansy.
"There’s a man asking for you," Jim whispered, handing the phone to Tansy.
"Hello, this is Tansy," Tansy said into the receiver.
She turned and faced the Bob-Whites, her face going white as she listened to the person on the other end.
"Where’s my aunt?"
"I don’t know where the book is! If you really have my aunt, then put her on so that I can ask her about it, because I’ve never seen a book with the title, ‘The Book of Be’al’."
"Wait! Don’t hang up!" Tansy cried, then slowly hung up the phone. Regan came and put his arm around her.
"Oh, Regan!" Tansy cried. "A man said that he had Aunt Roiya, and if I wanted to see her again, I had to hand over the book."
"Oh, no! Do you think they really have your aunt?" Trixie cried.
"I don’t think so, because when I asked to speak to her, he just said that I’d better find that book, or next time, the bullet wouldn’t miss. Then he hung up," Tansy said, tears rolling down her face.
Regan hugged her tightly. Jim picked the phone up and called and left a message for Spider to call them.
To Be Continued