Nace looks up at the old building. ”Weird?”
"Yeah, like how sometimes you can tell someone is watching you, or how you can feel that a building is empty - or not - as soon as you step inside? Weird. I get that feeling with this place. Like it's not empty."
Nace looks up at the old building. ”Weird?”
Nace looks up and suddenly sees a figure staring out from the hayloft window above the garage doors. A young man, dressed in what look like old-fashioned work clothes. Just as quick as he sees it, it is gone
”Did you see that?” Nace asks Miren. He continues looking at the barn after the figure has disappeared.
”I can’t help thinking - there’s something about this town.” He turns to head to his vehicle.
"See?" Miren echoes, then peers towards the barn.
"No, I never saw anything. See you at the tavern." She books to her rental and follows Nace out of the lot.
The Halifax Taproom is a nice gastropub, with a cozy air and a fire going that helps ward off a little of the October chill. The two sit and talk a bit. The restaurant is full, there are quite a few senior couples in attendance.
"Hmm...that is some information at least, though if this is business-related, I truly wonder how he obtained my name. Thank you though. Even a little information is better than none." Miyuky answers with a contemplative expression.
Traci nods
"What I can tell you is that he has donated a lot of money to a lot of charities and school projects in town. The town council loves him."
She pulls up the directions to the Mad Martigan on her phone, and pulls out of the parking lot, heading to get some dinner so that she could think...
Mad Martigans is a quirky little restaurant, very hipsterish, but with a large mural from the old movie Willow painted along its walls. A mixed group of flannel-wearing lumberjack hipsters and New Age-y types congregate in the common area. An older man plays the guitar on a minuscule stage.
"Hmm...that is some information at least, though if this is business-related, I truly wonder how he obtained my name. Thank you though. Even a little information is better than none." Miyuky answers with a contemplative expression.Traci nods
"What I can tell you is that he has donated a lot of money to a lot of charities and school projects in town. The town council loves him."
"Good to know! It would be wise to be careful asking around about him. Thank you Traci." she says with a smile. "Any recommendations on places to stay in town?"
"Good to know! It would be wise to be careful asking around about him. Thank you Traci." she says with a smile. "Any recommendations on places to stay in town?""Hmm...that is some information at least, though if this is business-related, I truly wonder how he obtained my name. Thank you though. Even a little information is better than none." Miyuky answers with a contemplative expression.Traci nods
"What I can tell you is that he has donated a lot of money to a lot of charities and school projects in town. The town council loves him."
Traci frowns thoughtfully
“That will be tough this weekend. It is peak koyo season”
“Perhaps the Old Country In might have some room”
Traci gives her the address
Nace arrives at the restaurant and looks approvingly at the fire warming the taproom. He has always been a bit thin-veined when it comes to cold weather.
He slides into a booth, waiting for Miren to do the same. ”Buffalo chicken sandwich - that looks good. And a good beer list at that.”
"Jeremiah could have warned us this is an old folks' home," Miren whispers to Nace as she slides into the booth and opens her menu. The prices make her Taco Bell-oriented budget brain cringe. It's not that she can't afford the food here, more that every bite of a Gourmet Bistro Burger seems to move her a week back from being able to afford med school. Maybe I can get a scholarship, she thinks, eyeing the sweet potato fries to accompany the gouda-dripping cow patty. "Bistro burger here. Cows shouldn't have been made so tasty if God wanted us to be vegetarians. And, uh... no beer for me..." she trails off rather lamely, not wanting to admit she's under age.
Miren eyes the fire wistfully. She's not cold, being well accustomed to sudden temperature drops when the day ends. The fire puts her in mind of evenings out of doors, toasting her front at a campfire while her back chills in the sage-threaded night breeze. She feels suddenly homesick in this crowded green place.
Maybe we go riding tomorrow and do Santa's Village the next day? she thinks to her spirit friend. A waft of disapproval fills her mind, along with interest in the hot fudge sundae on the dessert menu.
We'll get fat if I listen to you all the time, yázhi.
"Uh... do you think the others will come to breakfast? It's kind of a weird invitation."
”I would hazard a guess that all of us are inclined to accept strange invitations,” Nace says with a grin. ”We will see if that extends to breakfast as well.”
”Ordinarily it would probably be strange, but there is nothing ordinary about any of this...”
While they wait for their food, Nace turns to some small talk. ”So where are you from, Miren?” he asks.
Miren laughs at herself more than anything. "I 'spose you're right. Breakfast is the least weird thing we've been invited to lately."
"I'm from Winslow, Arizona," she continues. "Famous for exactly one thing. And no, I don't have a flatbed Ford." She looks around the Taproom. "I still don't know what I'm doing here, exactly. Seemed like a good time for a break. And I haven't been on vacation since I was 9. So, hey... why not see what the rest of the world is like before I manage to find a University and med school and get locked away in classrooms for years?"
"What about you, Nace? Where you from? I'm curious as to where all these invitations went," she asks in her soft Western drawl.
While the music isn't to her taste, the vegetarian Tacos she orders are, and she voraciously devours six of them. The craft beer is OK, but not good enough for a second. She spends the meal scoping out the clientele, and when she's done she goes back to the Old Country Inn to turn in for the night.
As she enters the lobby, she sees Jeremiah still sitting behind the desk, and wonders if he's the owner or just works here.
"I'm from Bridgeport. Connecticut. I'm on the police force down there," Nace says.
"I can't imagine what everyone on that invite list has in common. This all just gets weirder and weirder. What do you think our host wants with us?" he asks.
Miren shakes her head gently in bafflement. "I can't figure it. Maybe getting to know the other two will help us figure it out. Or, y'know, we could wait patiently for the party." She smiles at the waiter refilling her glass and waits until he leaves before resuming.
"What did you see at the barn?" she asks out of the blue. "You asked if I 'saw that.' Saw what?" She meets his eyes and for once doesn't drop her golden gaze.
While the music isn't to her taste, the vegetarian Tacos she orders are, and she voraciously devours six of them. The craft beer is OK, but not good enough for a second. She spends the meal scoping out the clientele, and when she's done she goes back to the Old Country Inn to turn in for the night.
As she enters the lobby, she sees Jeremiah still sitting behind the desk, and wonders if he's the owner or just works here.
Jeremiah sees her and calls out
"I have a message for you, Miss Pru"
Nace hesitates momentarily. "A figure," he says. "A guy in old-timey clothes. But... It was like he was there a minute and then gone. I just had this sensation - like he was not really there."
He shakes his head and quickly says, "There is definitely something creepy about that barn."
"A message for me... I wonder if it's from those two I saw earlier. No one else knows I' here, not even Jackie yet, so it's either got to be our mysterious host keeping tabs on us, or Miren and the other guy." Her internal musings bring her over to the front desk and she smiles at Jeremiah.
"Cheers," she says as she takes the note and gives it a read. "Breakfast... sounds like a proper meeting with these two is in order. There's definitely something weird going on, and obviously the others had felt it too. And hey, it's not like I have anything better to do... at least not until tomorrow night and Saturday morning."
She heads back up to her room, Mafdet trailing behind her, and lays down on the bed to ring Jackie and let her know where she is.
"Might be something to check out while you're waiting for the party - unless you have other plans. There's a ton to do around here."
"Is there? It seems like a sleepy place to me."
"I'll ask Jeremiah if we'd be allowed to tour the barn. Usually these innkeepers love to show off the history of their properties. Maybe we'll learn that Paul Revere got laid in the hayloft." Nace digs into his sandwich. It's pretty spicy, but he's always been rather numb to that sort of thing.
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Unfortunately, Miren is in the midst of a big bite of gouda-laden beef when Nate makes his quip, and manages to snort a chunk of gouda during her surprised laugh. After some choking and water, she gets her food back under control and swallows it.
"Don't do that while I'm eating!" She glares accusingly at Nace while thinking he's less strait-laced than I thought. And funnier.
"Sweet potato fry?" She offers her plate in case Nace wants to try one while she finally manages to respond.
"There's probably a lot more around here under the calm - or boring - surface. There might be an old-timey guy in the barn, but people have lived here much longer than just the white folks. I've done volunteer work at Canyon de Chelly, and Diné - Navajo - history there goes back ten thousand years. I don't know the stories of this area, but I bet history's way deeper than most people here imagine."
You didn't tell him about Santa's Village, a little voice in her head accuses.
Nace tries the proffered sweet potato fry. "Those are pretty good," he says approvingly.
"And you are right about that," he says. "School and I... We didn't always get along. Maybe if my teachers hadn't pumped us full of bullshit, I might have liked it better. From the way they told it, you would think American history began with the Mayflower. But even my eight-year-old self could smell the bullshit in our song-and-dance reenactment of the first Thanksgiving." He chuckles halfheartedly and takes a swig of his beer.
"Thank you. I'm not surprised considering how beautiful the ride here was. I'll go check them out, wash the dust of the road off. It was a pleasure Traci. Perhaps if I have time I'll come in for a class or two while I'm in town." Miyuku says with a smile, before taking her leave and following the directions to the inn.
"You had to sing and dance?" Miren smiles. "Really? I'm glad I didn't have to go to school. I'd have hated that."
"What's Bridgeport like? Pretty much like this? Are you near the beach? I'd like to see the ocean someday."
”You didn’t go to school?” Nace asks. ”Were you home schooled or something?”
”Bridgeport has a waterfront, but I wouldn’t call it a beach. And, uh, it looks nothing like this place.” He chooses his words carefully like one who feels an obligation not to speak ill of a place regardless of his true feelings. ”It’s more... industrial. Small city, mostly factories.” He shrugs noncommittally.
Miren shrugs, surprised at how little of her burger is left. "Or 'something.' Doesn't seem like I missed much, and I learned a lot from helping my friends with schoolwork. Didn't take much studying to get my GED and get into community college."
"What are you going to do with yourself between now and the party? There's really a lot to do if you like outdoorsy things. I have a bunch of brochures for the area. We're close to the Appalachian Trail and Mt. Washington - though it's tough for me to call a 6,800 foot peak a mountain - and there's rafting and riding and biking and hiking. Tons of ways to destress. I'd think a police officer would need that."
She nibbles the last sweet potato fry, then muses, "And if the others are also party attendees, there might be some sleuthing to do. I shoulda rented a Mystery Machine van." She grins.
Nace chuckles at the remark about the Mystery Van. ”Would I be Fred? Because I left all my silk scarves at home.”
He pauses a moment. ”Honestly, I don’t know why I came up here so early. I guess - maybe the time will be good for me.”
”I’m hoping we can learn more about our host, and this place, and why we are here. Maybe one of the other guests will know.”
"You'll have time to shop for scarves, anyway. I'm looking forward to seeing who shows up for breakfast tomorrow. And yeah, maybe one of them knows something. That'd be nice." She wrinkles her nose at the dessert menu and slides it to Nace. "I'm definitely done. That burger was huge and nothing looks good for dessert."
It all looks good!
"Yeah, this doesn't seem like a dessert place," Nace says without a lot of conviction.
He asks the waitress for the check.
"I think I'm going to turn in for the night," he says. "Meet you in the morning?"
Miyuku arrives at the Old Country Inn. It is old, in the country, and an inn. The front desk man smiles as she comes in
"Welcome miss. Are you getting a room? I believe some friends of yours left a message for you. "
He hands over the note
Note: Pru/Motorcycle Lady
The partygoers are meeting for breakfast tomorrow to compare notes on this mysterious event. Meet in the lobby at 8:30 if you were also invited. Come as you are.
Miren & Nace
The others arrive back at staggered times, and don't see each other. They all retire to their rooms for a night's rest
Returning to the Inn at night, Nace is careful to retrieve everything from his car - his backpack with his alchemical supplies and notebook, his gym bag, even his sword, which he has bundled up to look reasonably inconspicuous.
He glances up at the barn as he passes, before heading into the inn, up the stairs, and into his room. He stows his belongings carefully in the closet before preparing for bed. He is pleased to note that the bed is more comfortable than it looks.
Miren staggers back to the room chock full of beef, cheese, and sweet potatoes and collapses into a food coma.
After her call to Jackie, Prudence turns in for the night.
She wakes early the next morning and puts on her Medusa shirt and black shorts, picks up her handbag, and heads down to the lobby to see if the others are there yet.
Reading the note, Miyuku shakes her head at the conspiracy of coincidence, thanking the desk clerk and taking her key, before heading up to her room.
Taking time to methodically arrange her room and gear, part fusui, part professional experience, she takes a long hot bath before settling in for the night, her sword tucked under pillow for easy reach.
Awakening the next morning, and going through her normal routine of meditation and stretches, she readies herself for the day, opting for something a bit more casual by donning black and silver leggings, a black tank top and boots, stropping on wakizashi in it's inverted sheath across her back, before slipping on a stylish, long black hooded cardigan , and heading downstairs, grabbing up a small backpack containing her essentials
Unsurprisingly, it feels like 6 a.m. when Miren stops hitting snooze at 8. Cursing time zones and the Copernican solar system, she grabs a quick shower and tooth brushing before tossing on her usual jeans, shirt, and boots and stumbles down to the lobby just after 8:30, stifling yawns.
Seeing Pru there, she greets the pink-haired woman and her cat with smile and the lady with the sword with a more cautious nod. "I kinda figured you'd both show up," she greets them. "I'm Miren, and I already met Pru and Mafdet."
Nace wakes up at 6:30, even without the benefit of an alarm, but this is not unusual. He often finds that he can't sleep in even when he wants to. He brushes his teeth and slips on a pair of gym shorts and his sneakers. If I'm going to be here a week or more, I should probably find a gym, he thinks. But for this morning, a brisk run should be fine.
He starts out from the inn, taking in the sights of the country roads while also gathering his thoughts about this upcoming meeting with the other "guests". Physical exertion has always helped him focus his mind.
Somewhere deep within him is the knowledge that this meeting - this invitation - is not happenstance. It's about the Spark, he thinks. It has to be about the Spark. He resolves that if that is the case, it will behoove him to be a bit more open. After all, this may be the only chance I have to talk to people who might understand... The thought both excites and scares him.
The chill air quickly gives way to beads of sweat as the exertion warms him. The cold almost feels good now. With the wild thoughts and strange possibilities swirling in his head, he nearly loses track of the time. He manages to make his way back to the inn, but it is nearly 8:00.
He is glad to see no one waiting for him yet, and hurries to his room to shower and put on some fresh clothes. He puts on the same jeans he wore yesterday, and reaches for his UCONN sweatshirt - then thinks better of it. Jeans, a guy can get away with - but they will notice the same sweatshirt two days in a row. He pulls on a tight gray t-shirt and dons his blue zip-up hoodie over it. He checks his hair one last time and is satisfied with its messiness. He dons his sidearm again before heading downstairs.
Seeing all three guests already waiting in the lobby, and hearing Miren starting introductions, he offers a sincere, "Sorry I am late - lost track of time," to all present. "Nace Bishop," he says by way of introduction. "I'm glad to see that our invitations found the right guests."
Entering the lobby, Miyuku feels the familiar sensation of the presence of someone else touched by “the otherworld”, moments before seeing the quite memorable pink haired woman from the diner. Approaching to introduce herself, she is about to speak when the stunning Native American woman joins them, taking over the introductions.
”Pleased to meet you Miren, and Pru is it? I’m Miyuku.” she replies with a nod and a look of intrigue. ”Ah and here comes the fourth.” she says as the tanned fiery haired man with a perpetual sense of wariness joins them.
Nace smiles a bit awkwardly. "Should we head to breakfast? I'm not sure of the best spot around here."
He turns to Jeremiah (or whoever is at the front desk). "Is there a decent breakfast spot that shouldn't be too crowded on a day like today?" he asks hopefully.
Jeremiah smiles
“I’ll get kicked out of the natives club for this, but if you go down by the old Whelan mill there’s a spot called the Spoon. It’s been there forever. Likely it won’t be too busy, the tourists don’t like its looks. But they serve cheap breakfasts and are actually pretty good. The locals all eat there”
"Cheap and good, my kind of place," Miren quips. "I'm sure the locals will love to have us invade their turf. Shall we?" She pulls the rental car keys from her pocket, feeling like a big shot car owner and trying not to flaunt it.
”Meet there?” Nace asks. ”Or does anybody need a ride?”
Driving separately seems awkward. Riding in a car with perfect strangers is also awkward. Nace tries to act casual despite the social anxiety.
The rag-tag group gets in their conveyances and heads down to the Spoon. It is down by the Nonquesset River, which bisects the main part of Halifax. There is an aging complex of mill buildings quietly rusting away at one end of a truly massive asphalt parking area. A large sign reads COMING SOON! THE WHELAN MILL RIVERFRONT SHOPPING COMPLEX!. The sign is faded, and looks like it has been there for quite a while.
There are several other buildings. Pru sees the Mill Barn, obviously once a storage facility for the mill at some point. A sign out front advertises a band called Dreaming God playing tonight.
The Spoon sits at the other end of the large asphalt expanse, hard by the river. It looks beat up and rundown, with shingles missing and trash in the alley. However, it seems to have a large group of cars parked outside.
"Excellent. Anyplace that looks shabby and has a full parking lot means good food inside," Miren says as she locks her car and waits for the others.
Pulling up alongside Miren's car, Miyuku kills her motor, dropping the kickstand and removing her helmet. "Well this place certainly has character." she says running her fingers through her hair to detangle it a bit.
Nace steps out of his vehicle and joins the others. "I was not sure I had the right place. But I'm kind of glad this isn't some tourist trap."
"I've found that the best food is usually found where the locals prefer to go." Miyuku replies with a smile.
The group heads into the Spoon. It’s a crowded place, the tables check and jowl. A lot of plaid shirts and jeans in evidence, along with a smattering of older couples in pastels. Obviously not as local exclusive as Jeremiah advertised. A plump young woman in a white tee with a spoon embroidered on the pocket leads them to a freshly-wiped table. She gives them a laminated sheet listing the breakfast menu and assures them she be back to take their order shortly. She bustles off to bus a nearby table a group of landscapers just vacated