Prelude to a Hanging
—-

Victor Mancini spent a very long time on the phone with Jane. He told her about synchronicity and about alacrity, about glamors, and conjuring. He told her the good and the bad. Each had a danger, now she knew them all. Well, that’s what she thought anyway.

When he talked about alacrity, he went well out of his way to implicate the dangers. Mancini said that normal people could usually never access it. He had seen Minus use it before. It was beyond his understanding how it did not tear Minus’ soul apart.

He convinced Jane that she should not learn about it yet. She was not ready. He told her that Minus might disappear without warning, even when he could be right in front of her. Mancini told her about some of the pills and powders in that strange drawer in Minus’ desk. Not all of them, but the ones she would need if she became lost, or if Minus left her alone.

The pills labeled ‘VM’ were made by Doctor Mancini. If someone took one, Mancini would feel the psychic waves and appear before them. The red pills they had taken at the bar were Disillusionment. They cleared the brain from almost all worldly attachments and allowed a person to see the truth of their surroundings. Alchemy was the first form of magic Minus had learned, and it was basically all he could still do with purpose and success.

She heard Minus waking, and told Mancini so.

Minus walked into the small office with a glass of wine and saw his old friend Victor Mancini as a ghostly figure, sitting on top of his computer monitor.

“Doc, what have I told you about sitting on the monitor? It’s gonna take me days to get all the ectoplasm out. Damn.”

He then told Mancini and Jane about his talk with Othin, and how he would leave later that day to find the world tree, Yggdrasil. Jane asked him about her friend Kotoko coming to bring fresh food and clothes, and he agreed this would be a good thing.

“Jane, Doc, I’ll be completely out of contact for about nine days. No way of reaching me at all. Jane, please stay here. I don’t like the idea that people are disappearing and it seems to involve the Mist. Don’t go outside unless you absolutely have to. Doc, will you keep an eye on her?”

Mancini and Jane both agreed to what he asked, and Mancini bid his farewell. Leaving Minus and Jane alone together

—-
(NOTE: This has us caught up with The Cost of Magic, pre-server crash. Brand new episodes start tomorrow.)

Jack
I Listen.

The Cost of Magic
Section #16
Prelude to a Hanging

Jane Takes Matters
—-

Jane awoke to find Minus sound asleep. There was a note on the table beside the sofa bed. It read:

“Jane.
I spoke with my uncle not long ago. I needed more sleep. I’m kind of crashing around inside from the time in the bar. Feel free to use the computer, or the phone. If Othin or Doctor Mancini calls, feel free to talk to them about anything. They can be trusted. If you need to sleep some more, take two of the white pills in the drawer.
Love,
Minus.”

She thought that it was sweet of him to leave a note. She got up and dressed, realizing that she did not even have a change of clothes here. Maybe she could call Kotoko and have some clothes dropped by. Kotoko was sensitive to these odd affairs. She’d have to clear it with Minus first. He’d been so adamant about not leaving until they knew more. He was probably right, but what harm could come of a friend dropping off some clothes, maybe some fresh food and cigarettes.

Jane opened the drawer that Minus had mentioned in his note. It was compartmentalized into small squares and held many pills, several powders, and a few bags that looked like dried plants. She located the white pills he had mentioned and laid two on the table next to her wine. She did not usually start the day with wine, but it was kind of all they had, as most of the food and drinks had gone bad, having no one to clean them out for three years.

Minus had said in the note to wait for a call, but Jane was exhausted. She picked up Minus’ cell phone and went through the recent calls list. Doctor Mancini. It was time she talked to him herself. She placed the call and waited for an answer.

—-

Jack
I Listen.

The Cost of Magic
Section #12
Jane Takes Matters

The night turned into day, then night again. The two new lovers had drowned the world out. They left all the pain behind. They existed for no other reason than to make each other happy. Atom bombs would shake the world, and they would not leave each other. Strange things would walk the earth, and recreate it. But the lovers would not know. Time passed like wine from a glass, but not a day’s age could be seen.

At that corner booth, nothing changed. But even the bar changed around them. It grew in size, and deflated, and grew again.

After years of talking and drinking, Minus excused himself. He stepped out the back door, shivered in the winter chill, and lit a cigarette. He leaned against the cold brick wall, and tried his best not to think. Across the street an illuminated clock tower, on the top of a bank, told him that it had been three years since he had entered the bar.

This didn’t really surprise Minus. He knew how odd time could be. Outside his 28 years, he had lived forever. But he wondered to himself how many times had Harry approached them and made the same offer? Night after night, for 3 years? Or just that first night?

Minus walked back inside and sat down next to Jane.

He did not tell Jane about the bank’s clock tower. He simply pulled the brown bag out from under the table, and pulled out his homemade wine. Within a minute, Harry was at the table, asking about memory again.

“Maybe last night, but not tonight. Not ever,” Jane answered in much the same way that Minus remembered.

Harry looked to Minus, “Sir, would you consider tonight an occasion to forget?” The same line. His head was working now. Minus saw the ploy.

“I think it is time for me to remember, Harry. Time to remember everything.”

“As you wish, Sir. Swords to Rope,” Harry dropped only the bag labeled ‘Forget Me Nots’ and walked off.

Minus picked up the bag and emptied it’s contents onto the table. He knew what he would see before we opened it. He remembered all of it. The drinks, and the bags, and the conversations.

Out of the brown paper bag, fell three smaller plastic bags, and a small golden box. The golden box contained a razor, a tube, and 4 red pills. The plastic bags each contained white powder. One labeled ‘K,’ another labeled ‘M,’ and the third was labeled ‘A.’

Jane looked confused. Minus poured them each a glass from his bottle of homemade wine. He dumped out the contents of the golden box, and pushed two of the red pills towards Jane.

“Hold onto these until I tell you to take them.”

“What’s going on, Minus? I feel so confused. My head is spinning…” Jane trailed off, and took a sip of the wine.

“It’s alright, Jane. Someone tricked us. Trapped us. I’m not certain, but I think it was just me that they wanted. This is not the first time something like this has happened to me. My memory is becoming more clear by the second. Please, just do what I ask you to,” said Minus, with a ruffling of his eye brows.

“Okay.. I think..” Jane was dazed. Her heart pounded. Her head throbbed.

Minus was busy emptying the white powders into the golden box. He dumped all 3 bags into the small box, and mixed the powders together. He used the razor to separate the powder in to two equal lines. He finished his glass of wine and poured another, as well as topping Jane’s glass. He took the tube to his nose, and inhaled one of the two lines. He pushed the box towards Jane, and handed her the tube.

She did the same, bringing her line of powder into the nasal cavity. Soon she was wide awake, but everything seemed very dream like. She wasn’t confused any longer. She was starting to remember things. Things she had not thought about in three years. She was a little startled, but she realized that in that time, she had found love. Someone who would never steer her in the wrong direction intentionally.

The last of the homemade wine was poured into their glasses, and at the last sip, Minus told Jane to swallow the red pills.

“Be ready to run. Just in case. I don’t think we will have to. But be ready,” Minus looked at Jane with a fire in his eyes.

He started counting backwards from sixty. When he counted off one, then zero, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. He stood.

“Follow my lead,” he told Jane. She really didn’t see that she had much of a choice. She stood up beside him.

They began to walk towards the back door, to which Minus had the key. The bar was completely empty. It looked very different from the time they had entered. Minus reached out his hand and grabbed the knob on the back door. He slung it open, and as he did, they were hit with a torrential rain. He took off his winter overcoat and put it over Jane’s head.

“Run to that truck! That blue one. Really rusty. Hurry!” He had to scream for Jane to hear him over the rain’s noise.

She made a sprint to the truck. When she was standing beside the passenger door, she turned to look at Minus. He was pushing hard against the wind and rain to force the door closed. When he finally got it closed, all of the way, he leaned all of his weight into his shoulder and fumbled with the key in his hands. She saw that he was able to lock the door.

Minus was surprised to find that when he took the key out of the door it had remained closed, and apparently locked. He shoved the key into his pocket and ran for the truck. By the time he got there, the rain had stopped completely, and a mist was coming from the ground.

They got into the truck together and watched the fog rise.

“Remind me to melt this key later,” Minus said under heavy breaths. He still had the cigarette in his mouth, but it was out and completely soaked. He rolled the window down slightly and threw it out.

“What the Hell was that all about?” Jane was almost hysterical. She was fairly certain she should be, but it was hard. She felt very in control for the first time in a very, very long time.

“Time. Time and punishment. Rewards for sacrifices. Runes to Swords. Swords to Rope.”

————-

At the close of part 4, we see the end of a story arc. Strange things have happened. Will you join me again to find out why? If you felt a little confused, it might be a good idea to start with #1.

Jack
I Listen.

The Cost of Magic
Section #4
The Passage of Time

—–

black butterflies fluttered
through the night sky
i stood facing destiny
in the cold, dark wind
i reached and grabbed
one by its wings
the black powder-life
came off on my fingers
and left my little
insect kin flightless
he flopped, mindlessly,
across the wet pavement
i only wanted to embrace
his beauty, but instead
i have taken his life…

-Loki.