The sun was out again the next morning and Autumn woke early. With all the sleep she got, however, she felt quite rested. Drinking her morning cup of chai, she sat next to the window and stared blankly out of the window. Her mind was clear and focused, following down imaginary paths of the two choices she could make today about the journal and the world. Autumn hated change, but she hated the idea of not existing anymore.
Bubba Gadget was still snuggled on the bed when she returned to pull her boots on. “Mom is gonna go out for a bit today, lovvie,” Autumn said while laying her head down on the small cat’s body. “You have fresh water and food in your bowls. Now be a good kitty and do not get into too much trouble.”
She ruffled the cat’s soft fur and lingered a bit longer staring at him before pushing herself up and off the bed.
“It is time,” she said, sweeping the journal back into the protection of the bag and leaving the safety of her apartment.
Autumn found herself standing back up on the west hills facing the downtown area. The trees had shed most of the remaining leaves now and the dead skeletons rustled and cracked and popped under her feet. She was focused and had only one thing really on her mind at this point.
People on the street hurried to get to their destination. She dodged in and out of the waves of shoppers and business people as she headed towards the one place she could think, Coffee People. A few people waved heartily good mornings at her and Autumn smiled and nodded. If it had been any other day she would have stopped and chatted, if it had been any other day. But today there was one thing on her mind and she had to do it before she lost the nerve and will to do it.
He was sitting in the back corner, almost like he had spent the night there. But his clothes and gear were different, so Autumn presumed that he had gone to where ever home was and changed.
“Okay. Fine, I believe you. So, what do we do about it all now?” Autumn said in a monotone voice that sounded more like defeat rather than excitement.
Andrews smiled and leaned back in his chair, “And a good morning to you too my dear. I am glad you are back. But tell me, what really made you change your mind? Yesterday you seemed so determined to stay in sleeper mode.” Andrews sipped the last of his mocha through the straw. It made loud and obnoxious slurping sounds.
Autumn sat up in her chair and looked around, making sure that no one really was paying attention to her or what they were talking about. She reached down into her bag and pulled out the brown, worn, leather journal and carefully dropped it on the table in front of Andrews.
“Last night, I went back to the store and did some thinking. Paid some bills, closed the store, do not know if you saw the signs I put up and made,” she said softly as she gestured over her shoulder in the direction of the Page Turner, “and I wandered through the stacks of books. Sometimes it helps me think, you know? Well, anyways, to make a long story short, I found that tucked in some of the Mythology books. Obviously, it is not one of my books, since it does not have a store price sticker on it, nor a barcode.”
She waited a few minutes to continue on, giving Andrews time to flip through the journal. His eyes grew wide and Autumn knew that she had given it to the right person. He carefully flipped through the pages and paused to trace his fingers over some of the written words.
“So yeah, I figure that this was what the boy left in my store. You know, the thing he said he took from that Blackstone guy? Well, he must have slipped it into my booshelves when no one was looking. Did a good job of it too, I must say, because the trench coat mafia guys did not even see it.”
“Autumn, do you know what this means?” Andrews said, his mind turning over the new lead. “This is the break we needed to catch Blackstone in action. I can read some of it, and I am not liking the direction this is heading into. However, to read the earlier glyphs I need to take this to someone who knows how to decipher it all. Would you care to join me on a drive?”
“Uh, I guess I do not really have a choice, do I” Autumn replied. “How long will all of this take, because I still have a store to run and a cat to take care of and I really cannot afford to take too much time away from the store and…”
She got cut off in mid sentence, “Your store will be fine. I have already made arrangements for someone to take care of it while you are gone. And if you would like, I can send someone out to your apartment to visit your cat and make sure he is alright.”
“What do you mean you my store is going to be taken care of?” Autumn was confused. She did not like others taking charge and over her livelyhood and wanted to know exactly what Andrews meant by his comment.
“Do not worry, I am not trying to buy you out or take your store away from you. I know how important it is to you and would never dream of taking it from you. Please, get in the car and I will tell you everything I can when we get there.”
They had walked a few blocks west of the busy twenty-third district. Parked on the side of the road, in front of an old fashioned house that had bamboo slats for a fence, was a black all terrain vehicle. It was apparent that the vehicle had been heavily customized, from its large over-sized wheels, to the front and rear grills being made out of a metal that was not quite steel or alumuimum. Andrews pointed a small grey keyfob at it and the locks on the door slid back with a silent click. “This is yours,” Autumn said in astonishment.
“Oh yeah. Picked her out myself. She is fully customizable and even has heated leather seats,” he watched Autumn roll her eyes at him. “Hey, it is my car and I figure that if I was going to drive all over the nation, might as well drive in style and in comfort. But do not let her looks fool you either, I have had every part of this beast reworked and made stronger and better. Just wait till you hear her start.”
He slid the microchipped key into the slot. Almost instantly the car roared to life, purring like a cat waiting to pounce on its prey. The heater spun on and automatically adjusted itself to a comfortable degree for both driver and passenger. Autumn feigned a state of impresion and shook her head. Cars and the toys one bought to customize them, never really impressed her. It was something countless boys tried to get her to understand but she decided that in the end, books and literary twists were more her forte.
“So, where you taking me?” Autumn said, watching the world zoom outside her window.
“To The Hive.”
“Oh. Um, okay. So, um, what is The Hive,” Autumn tried to probe Andrews for more information. She really did want to know where he was taking her.
“It is my home. And our base of operations. It is located up on the top of Skyline a bit south of here. A little out of the way of Portland’s prying eyes. I designed and built the house and the government paid me for it. The Order is a small one, so far there are only twelve of us in the world. With me being the eldest and the first and the leader, I suppose.”
Andrews drove up the windy Burnside road as he spoke. Autumn stared out the window and took in the scenery. While she had lived in downtown Portland for the better of five years, rarely did she get the chance to visit the hills. She loved the greenery and how she felt like she was in the mountains. She was especially fond of the cemetaries that were built back into the hills around the turn of the century.
“I am listening. Please, continue. What exactly is this Order you keep talking about? When was it started” she said absently, letting Andrews know she was still listening.
“Okay, well let see here, where to begin,” Andrews scratched his head, his mind searching for the right words. “Well, it was a long time ago. I think I was in my early twenties when it all happened. You see, the government always had their suspicions that Hitler and the Germans and the Secret Service had discovered new means to destroy the world. After all, it was well known that they stole many of the world’s finest artworks and literature. And that Hitler and many of the high ranking officials in his office were big into the occult. Reports of people gone missing from protected services started coming through the wire. People were afraid to visit other lands or even step out of their door. The greatest minds of our time had no idea why certain people all of a sudden went missing, only to reappear dead days later, their bodies sometimes cut open in gruesome ritualistic patterns. I was just a grunt in those days, a soldier for Uncle Sam’s military.”
“My platoon was sent to watch and protect over Oregon’s senator. Actually every senator had military protection in those days. We stood round the clock guard and were even told to wear strange necklaces with carvings of a deer, called Mazatl, around our necks. Many of my squad thought they were silly and they did not believe in superstition and voodoo. Well, three days into the watch, the senator dissappeared. Right from under our noses, in broad daylight. Oddest damned thing it was, we even searched the room, tore it apart and there were no holes, no tunnels, and no way anyone could have returned. Five days later, my buddy Jones, found the senator’s body in the bathroom. He was lying in the bathtub, skin torn off, explosing all his muscles and bones.”
“The government refused all sorts of outside help from the Bearu and other international agencies. I guess the US was not the only victim in this. Fast forward a few weeks later, and a few of us, the smart ones, get reassigned to some new job. Apparently, a few psychics and weird voodoo new agey types, as we would call them nowadays, had received some sign, that ‘big dark magicks’ were involved and the only way to fight the supernatural was with supernatural.” Andrews shrugged and wiggled his fingers as he continued to speak. “I thought they were nuts. We all did. Until these psychics started figuring out the pattern, who was going to be next and when. They we stopped laughing. Then on the second mission, I actually caught a glimpse of what we were dealing with. Turned my hair grey. They were huge, with black wings and long teeth. All I could think about was the Book of Revelations and the end times.”
“Of course, after I shot one dead, I became a beliver. They promoted me with full rank and honors for that one. There has always been twelve of us, mostly to protect our identities and to keep us away from the mainstream news. Usually there’s two to three brains of the operation, those who do the research, figure out where they are gonna strike next and then send me and up to five other operatives in to check things out. Then we have four other operatives, who know more about the mysteries of the supernatural. Usually they are psychics and witches who have spent their whole lives living so close to the mysteries of the universe that they are almost halfway supernatural.”
“In any case, we have been fighting a losing battle. While we were able to put an end to Hitler and his occult backers, it seems like every few cycles there is a new threat imposing their desire to change and bend the will of the world and people to their warped view of life. There are too many people out there who want to see the world do them a favor, who forget that the world is not their play toy and to survive they must deal with it on their own. It is all a bit sad, really.”
They were now on Skyline. Large houses with three or four car garages loomed to either side of them. Autumn tried to imagine what The Hive was like. “It had to be as twice as big as these houses, to be able to keep twelve to thirteen people happy,” she thought. Soon the houses and trees on the road thinned out to reveal huge tracts of fields and openness. It was almost like driving out in the wide open countryside of the Midwest.
Andrews kept talking, “So, hmm, basically what we do is try and shut down these terrorists who delve deeper into things we humans were probably not supposed to. And Blackstone, is our newest foe. We have heard of reports that he has resumed operations here in the West Coast, trying to lure bright young college students with the hopes of making their mark on the world. That boy who died in your store, Steve Dunlop, was just the latest casualty in his quest to find the right ritual to activate that device in that journal. I presume the book he hid is a copy of important series of books on his attempts to discover how to unlock the power inside it.”
“Does he have the wand?” Autumn interrupted, thinking about the horrible dream and the power inside the object.
Andrews threw her a sideways smile, “Thankfully no. He has not been able to find it. And quite frankly, neither have we. And we have looked all over the Western hemisphere for it. Which is why that book may be so important. I am thinking that if I show it to the twins, they will have a location for it in no time flat. That is, if we can get to it before Blackstone does.”
The black vehicle slowed down a bit. Autumn guessed that they were near the location of The Hive and turned her attention back outside. Andrews had done a good job of making Autumn feel lost. There was no way she would be able to return back to this spot even if she had a map. She sighed. “I do not see it. I presume we are getting close,” she asked him.
“Yep. If you look just beyond that patch of forest, you can see it,” he replied pointing to a small patch of evergreens and aspens without their leaves.
Autumn squinted and was finally able to see it. Tucked behind a few groves of trees, a small, picturesque stream of steam wisped its way from a well hidden house. The Hive itself was a huge mansion, completely made of stone. It reminded her of the pictures of castles sitting high on the English coastline with their grey stone protecting Kings and Queens from all sorts of attacks. The stone had moss and ivy growing all over it, trademarks of a lot of the older Pacific Northwestern homes that were build out of stone. A half-moon driveway lead up to a red door. There was no real landscaping, so instead wild grasses and clumps of evergreen trees were seen scattered all over the property. Autumn chuckled silently to herself, “I guess the government is too cheep to give them a proper landscaper.”
They pulled into the driveway. Two other cars were also sitting in the half moon driveway and looked almost exactly like the one they were in. “Well, what do you think,” Andrews said, pulling the key out of the ignition.
“Rustic,” Autumn said, “if I knew better, I would say that this was a date and you were trying to steal me away to a romantic bed and breakfast.”
The two looked at each other and Andrews laughed, “Sorry kiddo. But you are definately not my type. Come on, let’s go inside and you can meet the twins. I know they are dying to meet you.”
“Everyone already knows about me?” Autumn exclaimed nervously.
“Do not worry. They are a good group of people, if not a bit eccentric. Especially the twins. But I hope you can look past their strangeness and see then for what they are… the brains of our little group. Come on.”
Andrews drew out his wallet and scanned it up against a rock that had a green light flashing on it. There was a beep and a click and then he pushed the red door open. The smell of cloves and potporri filled Autumn’s lungs as Andrews ushered her inside. The door closed shut, automatically locking them inside. She nervously looked around, to her right was a large inviting library. The built in bookcases filled from floor to ceiling with books. Some of the volumes were new, with brightly colored spines, while others were old and worn, the embossed text becoming harder and harder to read. A small fire was crackling in the fireplace set in one corner of the room. Autumn opened her jacket and inhaled. She felt like she was in heaven and wished she had more time to read all those books.
Walking down the hallway were two men, slightly older than Autumn. Both had slicked back, black hair and 50′s style black horned rimmed glasses on. The one on the left wore a sweater vest while the one on the right wore a button down shirt and tie. The two were identical in every appearance except their clothes. They were arguing.
