TheStarsAreRight:CarlJournal1

25 July 1928 – Oakland, CA So it seems I was right all along. There were more of the Children, and now they have been found. I cannot say I am entirely pleased! Consider: Eveling has a decades long organization dedicated to research and ponic development, of which these Children are a part. Decades! Working from the times which they gave me in their interview, I have to conclude that Rebecca is at least forty years old; and that this station in the Kentucky woods has been planning and researching since the 1880s. What was it like, then? How did it all start, with the present Eveling Patriarch a callow young man? Why did it start? The clues are beginning to appear; and I am feeling very small. Then, too, thanks to Franklin and company, the Eveling are undoubtedly in a turmoil now. They know what has happened, and doubtless who did it as well. The war may have just entered an open phase, and we are unprepared to care for these kids! My only hope comes from the knowledge that Eveling now has no “safeties,” no slave-Trained to fight their battles. I hope this means they will slow down and stop research for a time. I cannot guarantee it. Consider: These six are the Children that we know about; but they are the tip of the iceberg. The first three Children were raised by Eveling then Trained, but Ester was raised by an elderly farm couple somewhere, then brought to Madisonville later. Adam was recruited from the migrant labor force. And no one knows about Rachel, so; the abduction may have slowed Eveling, but it is merely a delay. In another year they could have the beginnings of a new group in training. Consider: The valley around Madisonville has become a hotbed of activity. Eveling is there, and the Children; Gravemaster is there; Dargan is there, with whoever and whatever he works with. Why have they all collected in this spot? Interest in one another, perhaps; but where did it start? I think SG was first, but by how much? Could this valley be connected with the Place of Birth? Watch it – o, watch it! Consider: The greatest enigma of all, the Man in Black. Eveling did not Train the Children, did not teach them their Vows. That was the province of the Black Man, an outside expert. He oversaw their occult training; he witnessed the Vow. He took young Marth to West Virginia (another project entirely, it now seems; though connected, obviously, by interests and personnel). A tall, slim man, black haired, solid of body. Gray blue(?) eyes, angular bony face. Left-handed? Serious and cold. Long fingers, soft hands. And he touched them; looked into their eyes; and knew hidden things about them Just like Farquell. And all of the have wounds in their memories! None, except perhaps Rachel, as extensive as Julian’s; but none can remember precisely what He said at any point; or what his voice sounds like; or even his exact bearing or facial expressions or gestures, as Julian can. Though they remember their childhoods; as Julian cannot. It was a shock for me to realize that. What makes her different? I begin to think that Julian’s amnesia was her own doing, and not exclusively His. They say Julian used to sing. Another name, somehow familiar: Senator Paul Kinnerly, and the Common Man Reform Association. Kinnerly was replaced by some sort of monster; the thing wore a symbol like the Black Man’s. Do not ask questions. Do not lie. Do not make noise. Do not refuse. Obey. Obey. Obey. And always the threat. If you behave the men will not come to take you away. What a nightmare! These people have perverted the Vow in the only way possible: they have taken innocents and controlled every aspect of their lives in total domination; then fed them the Vow as tools to be used and thrown away. They are soldiers in the basest “neo-Farquellian” sense; they know only the Fight and self-denial. They have little concept of joy, or wonder, or any of the things they serve. Poor innocents; they embody the purest form on innocence, yet know so little of it themselves… Avila had a ‘safe house’ at Eveling. Was he, too, involved with the Children? He must have known something of them, through Marklin, if not otherwise. Marklin knew where Julian had been put. Avila, Stone, Eveling, Marklin, Black Man, Dargan; where does it end? What is the hierarchy – where are the connections? We know so little! And every time I look at the picture, it seems grimmer and grimmer. Who is ‘above’ whom? At any rate, it seems clear that Eveling is at or near the bottom of the lader. Was the WVa operation an Avila ‘pet’ that drew on Eveling resources? I suspect there are many levels that remain as yet unseen. Tony will bring the Children to our house on Saturday. What will they say when they once again meet their lost Martha? What will she say? I must prepare her; it will be difficult, I am sure, to meet these strangers who claim they know you. Will it help her? Will it jog her memory? I hope so, but I cannot predict. Whatver she shut away so long ago cannot have been small or trivial. Good luck, my very dear. God keep you close.