Gathering Storms: A Real Possession, 05 Apr 1870
Tuesday, 05 Apr 1870
Thackery and Isabelle
Thackery and Isabelle are residing quite nicely at the Pickerings' townhouse in London while Isabelle's parents are on holiday. Isabelle's education under Thackery continues quite nicely, too. Thackery also picks up a translation job from a well-to-do Egyptian. There is a manuscript, the Egyptian says, that he wishes to have translated. How soon can it be completed? Thackery feigns insult and gets a substantial increase in his translation fees. He takes the visitors card and shoos him out with the promise that he will deliver the translation as soon as it is finished.
He starts right away on it while Isabelle goes out for a night on the town disguised as a man. Meanwhile, Thackery spends 6 hours poring over the ancient manuscript. The letters seem to dance in the corner of his vision. He manages to translate some words. They seem to be "dead", "spirit", "containment", "freedom". After 6 hours, he's aged and fatigued but does not understand that the manuscript is magic and is sapping his strength.
When Isabelle comes back from her night on the town, she catches Thackery on the stairs. She sees he's aged and inquires about his well-being. He insists he's merely tired. She goes to investigate the ancient manuscript in the library and when she touches it, she falls into a sort of trance. She doesn't divine the words but instead sees visions of clay jars and people in a mist …
She gets a pounding headache and feels too weak to turn the page. She pulls away, exceedingly tired, and goes to bed.
The Finches
A well-dressed young man delivers a heavy cream colored envelope addressed to Pieter Finch. Inside is a formal invitation to the Royal Society. Ariadne is not included, of course, but it's a great honor for Pieter. He scrambles to arrange a demonstration of his newest invention—mechanical silkworms with butterfly wings, that can fly to the wounded on the battlefield so as to bind up their wounds.
Nicholas Varney
A stage magician, Cyrus Thomas, pays Varney a visit. They are old acquaintances from their stage magician days and Thomas believes he's the better of the two. Such is his belief that he feels entitled to get a share in Varney's fortunes as spiritualist-faker of rich old women. Cut him in on the take, says Thomas, or he'll expose Varney as a fraud.
Varney refuses. Thomas slams out.
Wednesday, 06 Apr 1870
Thackery and Isabelle
Thackery recovers during the night and wakes refreshed. Isabelle's maid knocks on his door requesting assistance in waking Isabelle. The young woman is impossible to rouse. Thackery goes to his niece and admits she does look a touch pale. He leans over and says her parents have come home.The words sink through the lassitude gripping Isabelle and she groggily rises.
Thackery caustically opines that he has better things to do than pursue the duties of a ladies' maid and goes back to the translation job. In a blink, another 6 hours have flown by and Thakery is aged and fatigued again. Cook notices and they wrangle over which sort of meal would revitalize him best. Thackery gets his meal as ordered but Cook manages to mother-hen him anyway, much to his annoyance. He also has to fork over a 100 pounds to the butler to replenish the liquor stock. It seems Thackery is going through it an an accelerated rate.
Varney
Midmorning a message from Mrs. L—, one of Varney's dowager clients, arrives. Can he see her as soon as he is able? Varney hires a carriage as soon as possible and goes to see her. When he arrives, he finds Cyrus Thomas has preceded him and Mrs. L— is quite flustered by what the man has told her. Is it true that Varney is a fraud? That Mr. Thomas is the true medium of the two. Varney realizes that Thomas has set upon a smear campaign to steal his clients and his livelihood. Varney arranges for a séance on the spot, with Thomas, to let Mrs. L— judge for herself who is the true spiritualist.
Thomas puts on a good show for Mrs. L—and her lady friends, using all the standard mummery of the trade. Varney keeps up a running commentary, deflating Thomas's efforts until it becomes clear to Mrs. L— that Varney is the genuine article. Thomas departs, defeated.
A carriage is called for Varney to take him home. He gets in and blinks in surprise—somehow a very attractive woman in outdated dress has managed to climb into the carriage ahead of him. She sits in the seat opposite him and she seems agitated.
You can see me? she asks him.
Why yes, he can.
I need you to take a message to William, she says.
Is William your … husband? Varney asks, all the while marveling the agility and stealth of the woman getting into the carriage ahead of him unseen.
Yes, she says.
How do I find him?
The woman seems unable to recall. Her memory is scrambled. It takes her a few moments and some questions from Varney to focus her before she can tell him.
Birmingham, she says. Please tell him to move the grandchildren. It's so hard to remember. Fleming. William Fleming. It's so hard to materialize, she says, when Varney doesn't believe in her.
Oh, he believes her, Varney assures her. She's too beautiful not believe her.
Can he take her hand as proof of his belief? she asks.
Yes. Varney holds her hand and he's alarmed. Madame, you are cold as ice. You must be ill. You—
He knocks on the carriage roof to alert the driver and in a blink, the woman vanishes. This throws Varney for a loop. How the devil did she get out of the carriage? Where did she go? The driver says he did not see anyone get in or out besides Varney, despite Varney's insistence that a woman had been present.
How very odd.
Ariadne Finch
She is in the government's Lambethside Labs, helping Selene Dashwood, when Col. Fleming walks in and interrupts them. He nails Ariadne with a stern look and quizzes her on the Finches's Aetheric measuring apparatus.
There has been an uptick in Aetheric activity, he says, here and on the Continent. Can she go with her husband to Scotland to take readings with their apparatus?
Yes, Ariadne affirms. They can.
She goes back to Finch & Son with the news.
Selene is rather put out at losing her ablest assistant and friend, but she does have a second dragon's egg to watch over. She will not lack for work to do.
Thackery and Isabelle
Thackery is slaving away at the translation work. Isabelle goes for a horse ride. When her carriage returns in the evening, there is a policeman on the front steps with his hand raised to knock on the door. Isabelle intercepts him and invites him in.
Is Professor Samuel Thackery in?
Isabelle asks him to please wait while she inquires. She goes straight to Thackery to tell him the police are asking for him. Thackery thinks the worst and shoves the book in her hands with instructions to hide it while he eels out the window. Obviously they are here to drag him off to debtor's prison over his gambling debts.
Thackery makes it out the window and lands noisily in the bushes below. Isabelle calls down to him that he needs to be more careful. Thankfully, the policeman does not hear the racket. Isabelle hides the book in her room and goes below to tell the Policeman that she does not know where Thackery is. The policeman tells her that Constable Peters would like to see him, gives her the Constable's card, and leaves.
Thackery hides in the carriage shed for half an hour until the coast is clear, then reenters the house. Cook finds him sneaking in and they argue over his state of health. Thackery wins the upper hand and gets back to the library. Isabelle retrieves the book for him and even she thinks he's looking unwell. Thackery acidly opines that he'd feel a lot better if the women in this household would cease mother-henning him. Why the devil were the police here?
Isabelle give him the Constable's card and the message. Thackery blows it off and burns the card to light a cigar.
Varney
He visits Cyrus Thomas at the man's hotel. Thomas was not expecting him but lets Varney into his room so they can talk.
You may have been the better magician, Varney affirms, but I am still the better spiritualist.
Thomas scoffs. Varney promises to shut Thomas out if the man continues to smear him. Thomas is unfazed. He'll break into Varney's circle, he insists, and leave Varney with nothing. Varney tells Thomas he'll fail. He'll give Thomas a week before he has to leave London.
After trading a few more barbs, Varney leaves.
He decides to track down the William Fleming that the lady in the carriage told him about. She was ill, wearing clothing 30 years out of date, and going on about grandchildren being moved and Birmingham and so forth.
Hmmm….
He thinks on the problem as he calls on his clients, warning them individually of the charlatan Thomas and his designs to defraud them of their money. Do not be taken in by this man, he warns them. A third of Varney's clients have already been contacted by Thomas, however, so the news is no surprise. They are glad to see Varney, even so, and it seems that most of his clients will not be swayed by Thomas.
Varney asks his clients of they know of a William Fleming, by any chance?
Oh, you mean the Colonel? one of his clients asks. The poor man retired to the country after the heartbreak, so sad.
Why, yes. A young woman needed to send him a message that—
Oh! Was there a manifestation, Mr. Varney?
Yes, I—
He has a house in town. Would you like a letter of introduction?
Thank you.
It's good to have a circle of clients in the highest levels of society. Varney thanks his client for the letter and leaves, making plans to see the Colonel the very next day.
Pieter Finch
Pieter has finished the work on the flying medical silkworms. He's also completed more work on the chain drive for a portable version of the Aetheric measuring device, but it is still not complete. He loads everything up in a wagon and has it carted to Lambeth on the Colonel's orders.
The Colonel is waiting for him there. He orders baseline readings to compare to his own. The magic in the world is rising, coming easier. The Aether would surely reflect this, would it not? Find him the proof. Get him those readings!
Pieter is given lab space at Lambeth to set up his apparatus there to take baseline measurements. The Finches' prior readings with the apparatus are a good help in devising the database. While Pieter sets things up, the Colonel orders Ariadne to take samples of water from a list of locations on the Thames and as far away as Stonehenge. While Pieter works on the baseline readings, she goes out for the water samples.
Thackery and Isabelle
The translation continues and resolves into couplets. There is a lot of material about the history of the people the book is from, who date from a time that was old when Egypt was young, weaving a vivid creation mythos. Several phrases stand out to Thackery:
Vessel of the Soul
Transfer of the Soul
Transformation of the Soul
He can go no further as he is wracked by a splitting headache. He is fatigued and aged like before. The butler intrudes at this time to tell him that four policemen are here for him. Thackery slips upstairs and hides in the attic. Isabelle runs interference, taking the policemens' message: they are looking for Thackery.
The butler sees the men out and frets about the household's reputation. Policemen knocking on the front door will only sully it beyond repair. The neighbors are gossiping already. They will be ruined, ruined!
Isabelle tells Thackery to come down, the coast is clear. He returns to the library to continue with the translation. The butler hands him the card the police left behind and repeats his worries for the house's reputation. The police will return in the morning, he says, and they cannot afford the damage to their good standing.
Thackery orders a cab, puts the book away, and goes to the police station to put an end to this business. The information on the card sends him to Bow Street Station. He asks to see the man in charge. He's shown to a man named Bennington.
Bennington is pleased Thackery has finally come. Thackery upbraids him for the damage done to the Pickerings' reputation in the neighborhood and forcefully demands that the policemen be sent in the future to the tradesman's entrance where they will not be observed by the neighbors. What the devil is the matter that the police would so forget their good manners?
Bennington tells Thackery they found his card in the pocket of a murdered Egyptian gentleman at one of London's finest hotels. The police are concerned. How did the gentleman came to have Thackery's card?
An Egyptian National in a hotel? Thackery asks. Why would he be dead?
Thackery goes on to tell Bennington that the Egyptian had the gall to visit him by the front door. Imagine that!
Bennington replies that the murdered man was from a good and wealthy family. Why shouldn't he arrive by the front door?
Thackery finally catches the clue. The police don't think that he killed the Egyptian, do they?
Can you account for your whereabouts? Bennington asks.
Thackery says he's been at home these last few days, translating a manuscript for the Egyptian.
So that was his business, then? Bennington asks. Does he still have the book?
No, Thackery lies.
Can the staff verify his activities?
No, Thackery says, affronted. I do not involve the household help with my translations.
Do you know why Mr. Al-Kazan might have been killed?
Probably for offering insult to an Englishman, Thackery opines, recalling again how the Egyptian came calling by the front door. How was the man killed? he asks.
Bennington refuses to divulge the details, despite verbal abuse from Thackery. Thackery tells Bennington that if the police need his services as a consult, send the police for him by the back door.
Bennington gives Thackery the goodbye stare. Thackery parts with a cutting remark. Bennington tells him to let the police know when the translation is finished and gives the professor a card. Thackery assures the man he will and demands the police pay for his cab fee. Bennington gives him nothing and Thackery leaves.
Meanwhile, Isabelle successfully talks the butler out of sending a letter to her parents explaining the goings on at home. Thackery arrives in time to hear this and tells the Butler that he's been retained by the police to investigate a murder. The butler brightens at the news, as it is an honor to help the police. Their standing in the neighborhood is assured.
Thackery gives all the staff a 1-pound bonus and a half-day off starting on the morrow. That should empty the house of their troublesome presence and he can finally work unmolested by their petty interference. Wearied, Thackery goes off to bed where he has dreams of being trapped in a Canopic jar and of dog-headed gods.
Thursday, 07 Apr 1870
Varney
Varney calls on the Colonel. He's told by the secretary that the Colonel is out until that evening. Varney says he has a message to deliver personally. Could he inquire when the Colonel might be in? It is a message from a young woman. She seemed ill and pale and could not remember where or when she was.
Describe her, the secretary asks.
Very beautiful, Varney says, giving a good description.
Where do you live? The Colonel will see you shortly.
Oh, um. Varney gives his address and he waits for the Colonel to show.
A soldier escorts him in a waiting carriage outside. The Colonel is inside waiting for him. He already knows Varney is a spiritualist and highly regarded in some circles. He grills Varney as the carriage drives off.
Who are you and why are you carrying a message from my daughter?
Varney delivers the message: The Grandchildren need to be moved.
The Colonel goes pale and his expression turns cold.
Describe her again, he demands.
Varney describes the woman again.
That's not Katherine, says the Colonel, his eyes sharp on Varney. Describe her again.
Varney does.
That was Celeste. She had a ballgown like that.
The Colonel orders the carriage back around.
You will tell me when you see her again, he commands Varney.
Varney is taken aback by the Colonel's behavior but agrees readily: Yes.
The Colonel tells Varney that the woman was his dead wife. He tells Varney of Ezekiel's expedition and the airship that crashed. How his son-in-law is missing. How his daughter has gone off to find him and how that has been kept a secret. Strange things are afoot, he warns Varney. I appreciate your discretion. The safety of my grandchildren depends on it.
The warning is clear. Varney solemnly gives the Colonel his word to say nothing and gets out of the carriage at his own front door.
Pieter Finch
The night has arrived. He is admitted to the Royal Society and he presents his flying medical silkworms. The entire old boy network is there to greet him and critique his work. There is some amazement and also some condescension. It doesn't take long for the assembled members to suggest ways to better the design. Nonetheless, Pieter is judged an acceptable candidate and is welcomed to the fold as a Royal Society member. Two of the august members, one of whom being the Lord Kelvin himself, agree to be his sponsors. They keep Pieter at the Society with brandy and cigars and bonhomie until 3:00 am.
Thackery and Isabelle
Thackery is working very hard on the book.
Saturday, 09 Apr 1870
Varney
Varney keeps his Saturday appointment with Mrs. L— as promised. Cyrus Thomas is also there, at Mrs. L—'s request. Varney watches Thomas throughout the séance like a hawk, interjecting at crucial moments to throw Thomas off his patter. Thomas uses thaumaturgy to conjure up smoke to stand in as Mrs. L—'s dear departed husband Dermott. Varney blows it away, proving it nothing but trickery, assuring Mrs. L— that it was not her husband. Varney takes over the séance and calls Thomas out as a fraud. Disgraced, Thomas leaves … but two of the guests leave with him.
Varney is pleased to see him leave and inwardly vows: the competition is ON.
Thackery and Isabelle
It's been an evening, a morning, and a late afternoon and she hasn't seen Thackery.
He's finding it impossible to leave the book and the translation comes easier the longer he stays with it. He insists he's fine when people inquire about his health. He's looking worse and worse. In addition, he's taken to stroking and crooning at the book as he works. Annoyed at Isabelle's insistence that he come away from the book for a while, he threatens her: Such an attractive vessel. It would be a shame for it to be emptied.
He turns down dinner. Isabelle is certain now that something is very wrong with Thackery and goes to get help from …
Ariadne
Ariadne finds Isabelle ringing her on her doorstep. Isabelle tells her what has been happening to Thackery and Ariadne puts two and two together. Thackery is acting strangely and there is a rise in magic and Aetheric disturbance. Surely the two must be connected. She will need to measure it. The women go to the Lambeth labs to retrieve the Aetheric device, thence to take it to Isabelle's house for a reading.
Meanwhile Thackery receives a package. Upon opening it, he finds four canopic jars inside. One of the jars has a fresh seal. All have a tiny slip of paper with a Ka name written on it.
Thackery packs the jars and the manuscript in a bag with three days' change of clothing. He writes a note explaining he's being pursued by murders and has left the house to protect the inhabitants from harm. But first, he will get a good night's sleep. That way he can make good his escape in the morning, when he's fresher.
Isabelle and Ariadne arrive and while Ariadne sets up the Aetheric device (complete with bubbling sulfuric acid batteries), Isabelle goes up to knock on Thackery's door.
Thackery is fully under the influence of the book now, and says in a creepy falsetto voice that Thackery is not here.
Isabelle goes back downstairs to tell the servants to keep an eye out for Thackery making a slip out the back … or front … anywhere, really. She sends a message to Varney, asking him to come quickly.
Ariadne announces the device is almost ready.
Varney arrives and he and Isabelle go back upstairs to talk to Thackery. They find him attempting to leave in a pathetic disguise. He's armed. He shoots in their direction and a bullet sinks into the doorframe next to Isabelle's leg. He orders them away.
Stay back, Belle, says Varney.
Varney steps inside and combat ensues.
Ariadne sets the machine to running, hears the shot, and grabs the first thing to hand—a candelabra—and runs up the stairs.
Thackery tries to shoot Varney but fails.
Varney draws one of his knives and throws it at Thackery's gunhand, intending to disarm him. He is successful. The flat of the blade slams painfully into Thackery's hand, causing him to drop the weapon.
Isabelle jumps onto the gun, covering it with her body.
The servants scream as they arrive in time to see her dive for the floor.
Thackery clutches the book in one hand and in the other he holds one of the canopic jars aloft, declaring he will set the soul inside free. Don't make me fill you with its contents, he threatens Varney.
Ariadne makes it up the stairs ahead of the butler and the cook.
Isabelle brings up the gun and points it at Thackery, ordering him to drop the book and to put the jar down.
Varney holds his move, waiting to see what happens next.
Thackery calls upon the great god Anubis to transmute the soul in the jar, to send it into those who would attack him.
Varney throws his other knife at the jar to break its hold on Thackery. The knife hits and the jar shatters.
Sparkling dust swirls in place around Thackery's fist and delusional, Thackery attempts to command the soul in the dust. He was unable to translate far enough into the text to know the complete command, so the dust simply stays put.
Isabelle shoots at the book and misses.
Ariadne aims and throws the candelabra at Thackery's legs, hoping to make the man fall down. It hits, he falls flat on his rear. Ariadne ducks back down the stairs to attend the machine, which is going crazy with readings.
Varney grabs the book and is instantly overwhelmed with a thousand psychic voices, screaming at him in dozens of different languages. Desperate, Varney looks for the nearest fireplace to burn the book in. He yells for a fireplace, for fire, and dashes down the stairs for the parlor.
Isabelle yells at him not to do it. She follows him. They grapple for the book. Isabelle still has the gun but she doesn't use it.
Thackery regains his feet and takes one of Varney's knives. He cuts his arms with it, blooding himself and calling on Anubis for the power to curse Varney. He's quite delusional at this point and runs dripping blood all the way to the stairs, screaming Varney's name.
Cook slaps Thackery across the face. Put down the cutlery, she demands.
Varney yells for fire to burn the book.
Cook orders Varney to give her the book and she orders the staff to lock the door to the kitchens.
Varney runs past her for the parlor.
Isabelle yells again not to burn the book.
Varney throws the book across the parlor and lands in the cheerily blazing fire. The book screams: No! No! No! No! No!
It burns in a strange shade of blue-green.
Varney hears its psychic wails as the fire consumes it. He turns and pukes from the psychic backlash.
Holy God in Heaven, he says. That was real.
It's quite a revelation for the skeptic spiritualist, who up to this point has maintained that everything supernatural that he's witnessed so far has been nothing but extremely sophisticated stage trickery. The entire incident leaves the man shaken.
It was real! It really was real!
In the entrance hall, the Aetheric device is going crazy, scratching readings out feverishly throughout the battle and when the book burns, the readings go right off the charts. When the final sparks of the book die, the readings go quiet … but they do not go completely down to zero. There is a slight but definite background disturbance in the Aether.
Ariadne is beside herself with joy—here at last is the evidence that will conclusively prove her theories right! She was right! Vindication is sweet!
Thackery comes to his senses and finds himself holding knives and bleeding from his arms. He loudly demands brandy and answers.
Varney is still shaken yet calls up to Thackery: It was real. I heard the voices in my head and I wasn't even reading the book. I hadn't even gotten to the Table of Contents when—
Are you at all familiar with Aetheric Construction? Thackery demands, cutting off Varney. There is no Table of Contents, sir.
Yes, Thackery is back.
Going back upstairs, Varney and Thackery examine the jars. Thackery translates the slips of paper under each of them, reading the Ka names written on them. One jar has a woman's name, Nefrititi. Another has a male name, Hepteten. The remaining jar has the name, Atenamenhotep and Thackery believes it to be the murdered Egyptian.
He and Varney puzzle out the names and the origin of the jars and overhead the skies crack and rumble with thunder.
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