Episode 9
“Madam, its Hephestus, may I come in?”
“You may.” Said Heckuba.
“Madam we’ve analyzed the samples you brought us and have come to some conclusions.”
“I’m waiting.”
“The chemical the pump is adding to the river seems to be counteracting something that’s already in the water.”
“You mean something else has already been added to the water?”
“No, Madam, not added. It was quick thinking on your part to have brought us a sample of the river water.
Hephestus please, you’re as bad as Eustace. I have no need of your groveling.”
“Sorry Madam. There’s nothing unusual about the water…physically. But when we analyzed it mystically we found something.”
“I’m quickly losing my patience.”
“A curse has been placed on the river Madam; a curse that goes back many years. We analyzed the chemical from the pump and found it is a derivative of H2O itself, mystically derived I might add.”
“Madam, this is The Dem- - this is Eustace reporting in.”
“That will be all Hephestus, excellent work.”
“Thank you Madam.”
Heckuba walked to a console and stabbed a button with her index finger. “Go ahead Eustace.”
“I’m outside the Book Café. Near as I can tell the kids came here straight from the cave.”
“Is Sarah alright?”
Again Eustace wondered if Heckuba realized how concerned she was with the child. “She’s fine Madam, she and Marty are in the back scarfing down chocolate chip cookies with Simone Russell. Jessica Bennett has put in a call to her father but he hasn’t arrived yet.”
“So its begun, Sarah’s presence has already caused a stir in Harmony. Excellent job Eustace, keep me informed.”
Eustace moved around to the back of the building and peered in the window. He inhaled deeply taking in the rich aroma of chocolate, eggs, butter and brown sugar. “Gee, I wish I could have one of those. Hey wait a minute…” He snapped his fingers and one of the cookies appeared in his hand. “Sometimes I forget I can do that.” He took a bite. “Em em, my compliments to the chef.” He waved the cookie in Simone’s general direction.
“Uh oh.”
Eustace hid behind a crate as the back door to the Book Café swung open.
“Thanks for letting us take out the trash Simone.”
“No problem. Believe it or not; I don’t get many requests for that particular task.”
“We’ll be right back.” Marty and Sarah headed to the end of the alley where the dumpster stood. Eustace peeped his head over the crate.
“You said you wanted to show me something.” Said Marty as he opened the door in the dumpster and pushed the bag of trash through it.
“Watch this.” Sarah waved her arms and a cage appeared on the ground in front of the dumpster. In the cage was the rabbit they had chased this morning.
“How’d you do that?!”
“Easy, my Mommie taught me.”
“Your Mom?”
“Sure, she’s a witch just like me.”
“Wow, that is so cool!!!”
Eustace shoved the rest of the cookie in his mouth, laced his fingers behind his head and leaned against the Book Café wall. “I don’t know if this is what Madam Heckuba had in mind but this should certainly stir things up. If only I had- - There I go again.” He snapped his fingers and was instantly enjoying a frothy glass of milk. “It doesn’t get any better than this”
Theresa stopped at the door to the church and pulled out her cell. “Valerie, this is Theresa.”
“Yes, Theresa what can I do for you?”
“I’d like you to see what you can dig up regarding the name, Heckuba.”
“Isn’t she some kind of mythological figure?”
“That’s what I thought too but now I’m not so sure. Find out as much information as you can about her.”
“I’ll do my best but what is this all about?”
“I’ll have to tell you later. Right now I’m headed into the church.”
“Oh, that’s right. Listen; give the happy couple my best.”
“I will, thanks Valerie.”
No one was more surprised than Vincent to realize he actually meant what Valerie had just told Theresa. He had no ill will for either Chad or Whitney. He had never followed through with his plan to seduce Chad. The sessions with Dr. Woodward that Adam had talked him into were really helping him sort through his feelings of abandonment toward his parents. Dr. Woodward felt that the time had almost come for Vincent to reveal his identity to Eve and Julian.
But who did he want to be. He had originally adopted the guise of Valerie to spy on his Father, Julian but he had come to enjoy being a woman. Dr. Woodward had advised him that because of his condition, at some point he might want to decide which gender he was more comfortable with and become that sex permanently. Right now however Vincent was due to meet Adam at the church, so the assignment Theresa had given Valerie would just have to wait.
“Oh hello Valerie. Have you seen Theresa by any chance?”
“Hi Jared, I just got off the phone with her. She’s at the church helping Whitney get ready for her wedding.”
“Right I had forgotten that was today.”
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
“No unless you think you could convince Theresa to accept my proposal.”
“Sorry, I don’t think even Hercules could accomplish that task.”
“That’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve come to too. I need to tell her that the time has come for me to move on. I’m giving her my resignation.”
“I’m sorry to hear that but I certainly understand. I need to get back to my office; Theresa just asked me to help her with some research.”
“Well hopefully I’ll see you again before I leave town.”
Jared started to walk back to his office.
“So, you’re giving up on your mission then?”
“Jackson, what are you doing here?”
“Your Father sent me. He became concerned when you failed to report in for so long.”
“I have everything under control here. I’ve gathered enough intel on Crane and its inner workings so that my Father and Neppos could walk in here tomorrow and take it over. I was planning on taking the next flight home.”
“That does sound encouraging; however, we also wondered if you had allowed yourself to become too distracted with this Crane woman.”
“Maybe I did but that’s over now. She’s made it clear that she will always be in love with someone else. Did you want to come back to my office and take a look at the data I’ve accumulated?”
“By all means; lead the way.”
After Jared had shown him the information he had compiled on Crane, Jackson Marr excused himself and placed a quick call in the hallway.
“Yes I have Mr. Neppos’ son well in hand, I know what to do. Everything is falling into place. No, he has no idea what’s really going on and he still has no idea about his true identity. We are about to pull off a double coup: The take over of both Crane and Neppos Industries.”
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End of Episode 9
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