SUNDAY, April 3, 1988
Dona & Steven Roberts’ house
3005 NW 14th St
Miami, Florida
It is 1 am, Christine Roberts is up early, much earlier than her parents would have ever suspected her to be on a Sunday. She gathers together all of her school books, she needs to make up for lost time. The past week has been a complete loss. She can’t even begin to worry about how she is going to explain herself to Mr. Olsen. She sits up in her bed to begin reading the first of the many books she was assigned for the retreat trip. Christine cannot believe what a mess she has gotten into without even trying. The thing that makes her sad is that her father is to blame.
The hours pass and Christine has read five of the thick textbooks with not a wink of sleep. She looks to the sixth that lays on her bed realizing that one is still missing. That is when the door opens and she is greeted by her mother’s smiling face. “Are you still studying?” Dona Roberts asks. “What time did you get in last night?”
“It was late, I didn’t want to wake you and Dad,” Christine replies, trying to keep her face looking honest.
“That’s fine, we figured you’d be late,” Dona says, looking over at her daughter’s immaculately packed suitcases. “Do you have any dirty laundry to be washed?”
“I’ll take care of it later,” Christine responds.
“So, how was the retreat?” Dona asks.
“Fine,” Christine replies, going back to reading her book. “I just have a couple of more chapters and I will be down for breakfast.”
“I really do hope you had some fun on the trip, dear,” Dona says, “I hope you didn’t spend the whole week with your nose buried in a book.
“Oh there was some fun,” Christine says looking her mother in the eyes for the first time. “It truly was a once in a lifetime trip!” Once her mother leaves Christine turns her full attention to her books and getting them finished. She pays no mind to the clock or the hunger pangs that start a few hours after her mother leaves the room. It is not until she finishes her sixth book that she smells the fragrance of Sunday dinner cooking.
Christine knows if she goes down stairs now she will never get back up to her room. She needs the last book to complete her assignment. Then she hears her father whistling in the hall. Jumping from her bed to the door of her room she yanks it open. “Daddy,” she calls coyly as she spots him headed down the stairs. “Do you think you could get me my calculous book from downstairs?” Steven Roberts frowns at his daughter knowing what she is up to. “I think I left it on the kitchen counter,” Christine calls as her father descends down the steps out of sight.
“You better not have lost another one,” Steven Roberts calls back to his daughter.
Christine is well aware of her father’s tone, it means he will find her book but he will not be bringing it back to her room. She turns back to her room to throw on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. She heads down stairs to the dining room hoping to avoid her mother’s cooking frenzy.
Christine arrives only moments before her father with her book. “Hey, I thought your flight wasn’t due in for another hour?” Christine comments at the sight of her brother following behind her father.
“Took a shortcut,” Steve says, making her wonder what he means by that. Does he remember? “What are you studying?”
“A subject over your head, Advanced Calculus,” she replies, hoping he will just go away.
“Now Christine, just because your brother didn’t go to college doesn’t mean he is stupid,” Dona Roberts says entering the dinning room to give her son a hug and kiss on the cheek. “He took advanced classes in High School.”
“She’s right Mom, math was never my strength,” Steve says. Christine gathers up her books and heads back up stairs while her family is distracted by Steve’s celebrity. She can’t help but to think it might be best if she spends as little time around her brother today as possible.
A few hours later the family sits down to Sunday dinner. Serving her son a slice of pork roast Dona asks, “So honey have you seen that Miracle Maiden over in New York again?” Christine glares across the table at her brother giving him that strange feeling again. Unknown to him, Christine has an inside scoop on her brother’s love life that she has to keep to herself.
“What brought that question up?” Steve asks his mother.
“Oh, I was just reading about her in the USA today, she seems to be very impressive,” Dona replies. “Not to mention that Master Warrior was seen with her in the city.”
“She definitely is impressive,” Steve says, “But she is still no fan of Master Warrior.” “She calls him a Showboat.” Steve looks to his sister for a smart remark.
“You do know that you are Master Warrior, right?” Christine adds, concerned about how he is speaking of himself in the third person.
“It’s become a habit to talk about him in the third person, preventing me from screwing up with other people,” Steve tells his critical little sister.
“She’s a beautiful woman, wouldn’t you say, Steve,” Dona comments.
All the while Steven has remained silent at his wife’s questions, but he begins to see how uncomfortable his son is becoming. “Okay Dona, that’s enough, leave the man alone,” Steven Sr. says.
“Can’t a mother, who hasn’t seen her only son in a few months, ask him a few questions?” Dona argues.
“It’s alright Dad, there isn’t much to tell other than hate at first sight,” Steve explains. “I really don’t think she will ever see him as anything other than an ego-maniac.” “I’m fine with that.” “As far as beautiful goes, I can’t even see her face.” “It’s odd because a while back the distortion of the gemstone I use to conceal my identity allowed me to recognize Roman Mercury’s face in a painting.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that, when dealing with a god things can work differently,” Dona suggests. “Besides when it comes to Miracle Maiden, you can still clearly see her body, just like she can see yours.”
“That is just gross, Mom,” Christine interjects at the thought of her mother reducing the conversation to such a base level.
“How old are you again?” Steve asks his sister who has been giving him the evil eye since he walked in the door. “7 or 8?” “Surely we can talk honestly about sex in front of you.”
“Oh so you are such a lady’s man now?” Christine laughs know full well her brother is still a virgin. “A man of the world in blue tights?” “You are such a Blockhead!” Christine retorts across the table. She can’t help but to notice the instant change in Steve’s demeanor.
That single word, “Blockhead” is like a lightning bolt through Steve’s mind. Suddenly everything that happened in his missing week floods back to him.
Dona takes the opportunity to change the subject that causes conflict between her children. “Steve, Christine has some great news, she has decided on her major,” their mother announces. “She’s going to go into Psychology.”
“I’m sure she will be very good at digging around in people’s brains,” Steve states glaring at his sister as she has been glaring at him since he arrived..
Shit! one step too far, Christine thinks to herself.
Sunday, March 27, 1988
Cassandra Estate Manor
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Christine Roberts struggles awake knowing she still has to get to the bus stop. Why is this bed so lumpy? she thinks. Rolling over her arm falls across something warm. She opens her eyes to see that her arm has landed over a man. There is a man in her bed! Christine pushes away for the stranger in the bed. Jumping back out of the bed she realizes that the uncomfortable king size, four poster bed is not her own and neither is this room.
There are no electric lamps or appliances of any kind in the room but there is enough morning sunlight coming in through the window for her to see the man’s face as he rolls onto his back. “Holy shit!” she whispers. It is her brother! What are they doing here? Where is here? Then she realizes that she is wearing only her nightgown. When Steve starts to wake up she panics. He can’t see here! She has to hide! When Steve throws back the sheets, Christine can see that he is in only his underwear. She instantly closes her eyes, she wants to die! What the hell is going on? Is this some kind of nightmare?
Christine expects her brother’s voice to be asking her what is going on but when it doesn’t she opens her eyes. She finds him standing at the window with his back to her. She walks over to him and remains silent, not wanting to startle him.
But when the door behind them creaks open Steve turns to look straight through Christine as if she isn’t even there. A grim looking middle-aged gentleman steps into the room. He is dressed like some kind of macabre butler. He too seems to not be able to see Christine standing there between them. “The Master will receive you for breakfast,” the balding man said in a low monotone voice with an Irish accent. “Please dress appropriately.” The spooky butler gestures back to the bed with his long boney arm. Christine looks to the bed where a pair of slacks, a button down silk shirt and a dinner jacket lay. Clearly no clothing has been prepared for her to wear. “I am sure all will fit perfectly,” the butler says before turning to leave, closing the door behind him.
As Steve dresses, Christine ventures to the window where her brother looked out moments ago. She still cannot make heads or tails of what is happening. She moves to open the old window. It squeaks open drawing Steve’s attention. Christine moves to step up onto the window sill. If this is a dream she will wake up before she hits the ground, if not at least she will be out of this room! The instant her toes cross the ledge she feels a force outside push back. Christine is thrown back across the room to hit an old upholstered high back chair by the fireplace knocked backwards to the floor.
As Christine lays on the floor holding her head, Steve trots to the window to close it. When he crosses the room to where the chair is spilled over Christine shouts, “What about me Blockhead!” Steve does not respond to her shout as he finds a small silver ring on the floor. She watches him as he places the ring on the side table next to the chair. Then he returns to getting dressed, not giving the event another thought.
Christine sits up on the floor at the edge of the table to look at the ring. It looks familiar but it is not one of hers. A simple putter band with a small red garnet mounted on it. She reaches out to touch it and is surprised that she can pick it up. She must not be as ghostly as it appears. Maybe it is only Steve and the Butler that can’t see or hear her. At any rate it is hard to believe this is a dream with the pain she feels in her butt. Clearly he can see and hear the effect she has on the room Christine thinks standing up using the arm of the chair.
Walking by her brother she goes to the door to knock on it. It worked! Steve crosses the room to the door to open it. Christine quickly slips past him into the hall unseen. The decor in the hallway is the same as in the room. The hallway is long and there are many doors along it as Steve unknowingly walks past his sister toward the staircase.
Arriving at the top of the stairs Steve begins down them. Christine hates to admit it but her brother has the right idea, it is time to see what is going on here. She follows after Steve until he stops in his tracks on the stairs to look back at her. Clearly he still doesn’t see her even though it seems he can hear her footsteps.
At the bottom of the stairs that wind around the stone wall the Butler waits. “The Master awaits your arrival,” the grim servant says as Steve descends the rest of the stairs.
“If you don’t mind me asking, who is the Master and where am I?” Steve asks reaching the Butler. The old man does not answer his questions as he leads him to a large dining room. Christine follows the men into the huge dining room. The large table that could seat fifty is set for two at the far end of the room. At the head of the table a man even older than the Butler sits reading his morning paper.
Christine is very curious to see if this “Master” can see or hear her as she hurries down the length of the table to stand next to him. He has gray hair with a bit of blonde mixed in, that is cut to just below his jaw line. He clearly has tried to comb out his nature curls to straighten it with little success. The Master’s sideburns come around his cheeks to meet his manicured mustache, like something out of an old movie she once watched with her brother. “Where the hell are we and what is going on?” She shouts to not so much as flinch from the old man reading the paper. She is moving beyond frustration with this situation.
“May I present the Master, Basile Montgomery Roberts,” the Irish Butler announces. “Mister Steven Andrew Roberts the second.” The man at the end of the dining room table puts aside his newspaper to stand up a little under six feet, with piercing green eyes.
Just as Christine expected her big bro is nothing but polite to this guy who has clearly kidnapped them! “It is a pleasure to meet you sir,” Steve says walking along the table to the second place set next to the man. “May I call you Uncle Basile?”
“Please do young man and have a seat at my table,” Basile Roberts speaks in a British accent. “The cook has prepared a very special breakfast for your arrival.” “I do hope that my summons have not been an inconvenience for you.”
Charmers pull out the chair to allow Steve to take the seat at the table. Inspecting the many pieces of silverware displayed next to the plates on the table, he can’t even imagine what some of the pieces are used to eat. “No sir, actually I had no plans for today, but I should phone home if I am staying any longer,” Steve replies. “My father told me some stories of the week he spent here when he was my age.”
Christine is confused by her brother’s statement. Her father has never mentioned anything about an Uncle Basile of a gothic mansion to her. She always felt that she was her father’s favorite, why would he keep it a secret from her? Charmers quietly walks around to the other side of the table to reposition a second chair, before leaving the room. “Yes, your father was a fine young lad,” Basile reminisces. “I hoped that you would spend some time with me to learn about your ancestors and this estate.” The conversation has taken an interesting turn to Christine. She slides onto the chair that the Butler moved out from the table.
“I think I could manage that,” Steve replies as the Butler returns with the cook. The cook is a woman in her fifties with red hair bound in a bun on the back of her head under a curchef. Both of the servants push carts loaded with plates of food. There are eggs cooked in many different ways, toast, muffins, jams and jellies, pancakes, sausages, and bacon, cold and hot cereals. It is more than he could ever imagine eating for breakfast.
Christine gets the feeling that the Cook is looking at her out the side of her eye. “Can you see me?” she asks, “Can you hear me?” The cook instantly turns her attention away, back to Steve.
“I did not know what you would like for breakfast young sir so I prepared a little of everything,” the cook says with an Irish accent.
“Thank you that will be all,” Basile instructs his servants as they turn to leave the room. After the Butler has gone through the door back to the front hall, the cook stops momentarily at the other door through which she entered. Christine looks over to notice her right hand is moving as she gestures to Christine to follow.
Christine slips from the chair trying not to disturb it, but bumps it out anyway. She looks back to see that Steve is looking directly at the shifted chair but still does not seem to see her. When she looks back to the doorway the cook is gone, but has left the door open. Christine hurries after the cook into the back hallway of the manor where she finds the servant stairs. She heads down the stone steps toward the smell of fried eggs and ham.
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Attic room
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Medea sits in an old worn high back chair that faces a small round window. She holds in her hand, between her index finger and thumb, a clear crystal the size of a golf ball. She holds the quartz stone up to the rays of sunlight that come through the window. The light does not penetrate the clear crystal but it does illuminate it. Her attention is transfixed on the hexagonal shaped stone that has been spelled by another to give her a view of all Basile Roberts sees. She watches intently as the events in the dining room unfold.
“What are the odds?” she announces in the empty room. “The twist of fate that the most powerful heir to Cassandra Manor would also be the son of that Amazon Dona?” “He was so easily enchanted the first time we met.” “But now I have the power of a goddess behind me.” “He stands little chance of resisting my will this time.” Unfortunately for Medea it is that power of a goddess that keeps her trapped in this room. If she were to move any closer to the Wrath its power would instantly cast her out. So until she is ready to capture that power for herself she must remain in this room orgistraighting from a distance.
This man calling himself Master Warrior has crossed her path too many times in the past few months. Medea fully intends to make this time the last! “How I will enjoy bringing him more despair and regret than he can handle.” The old witch laughs aloud as she watches the young man eat his breakfast having no idea of what is to come.
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Kitchen
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Arriving at the bottom of the servant stairs Christine finds the large old kitchen. It is far from the modern convenience that she is used to having. Looking around she spots the huge fireplace and chimney on the outside wall. She is sure her mother would have some bizarre tale of preparing meals for troops over such a fire. In the center of the room there is a large work table, on the other side of that is an old wood stove that has many dirty pots and pans on it.
“I thought you might like some breakfast too,” the cook says startling Christine to turn around. The cook steps from a panty to place a large plate of breakfast food on the table. “I felt it best we keep your secret from the men folks.
“My secret?” Christine questions stepping up to the table. “So, you can see me and hear me?”
“Of course, Dear,” the cook says, returning to the stove to start cleaning the mess left by her breakfast preparations. “But I am the only one for a reason, we must keep your presents here a secret between us.”
Christine takes a chair up to the table to sit in front of the plate of food. It looks delicious, but there is no way she could possibly eat all of it. “Then can you tell me what is going on?” “Why am I a ghost to everyone else?” She picks up an old wooden fork from the table to begin picking through the huge plate to eat.
The cook places the dirty pans in a large old sink before returning to the table. She leans in close to the young girl to whisper, “There is an evil that has come to the Estate, it has brought your brother here.” “It wants him to do something evil.”
Christine nearly chokes on the bite of toast in her throat. “My brother doing something evil is not going to happen,” she manages to say as the cook hands her a glass of water. “Even the thought of it is ridiculous!”
“I believe you were brought here to make sure he is not corrupted by evil,” the cook says, returning to her chores.
“How can I make sure of anything if no one can see me?” Christine announces. “That is acceptable for you.”
“I do not know, but I know you can do it,” the cook says. “You must find the evil, learn what it is planning.” “Now finish your breakfast so you can get to work saving your brother!” Saving her brother, the phrase sounds even more ridiculous than Steve doing evil.
“All I want to do is get home, I have an important Academic Retreat to go on this week,” Christine says, eating some more of the oversized breakfast plate. “Steve is going to have to fend for himself like always.” “I’m sure even if he knew that I could help him he would never dare ask.” Christine pushes out her chair to stand up. “Thank you for the breakfast,” she tells the cook. “It was nice meeting you, good luck with your problem.” The cook gives her a sideways grin as she heads back up the stairs to the back hall.
Once on the main floor Christine hears voices again. “This is the Grand Parlor,” the Butler Charmers announces. Christine decides to have a peek at what is happening by slipping in through the open door. Maybe Steve has figured out a way for them to get home. “You are seeing the Manor as it was originally built,” the Butler explains as Christine enters the room. Charmers then leads Steve to a door that enters into a smaller parlor room. Christine follows after them, going completely unnoticed. “This is the Lady’s lounge, it has not been used in some time,” Charmers explains. “Not since the Lady of the Manor passed away in childbirth nearly sixty years ago.”
“And the child?” Steve questions delicately.
“The child passed on as well,” Charmers reveals. “The Master never married again, that is why he must look elsewhere in the family for an heir.” The Butler, Charmers then leads Steve and his ghostly sister to the front hall.
“Uncle Basile was not clear on the matter of a phone,” Steve says. “Is it possible for me to make a phone call home, let them know where I am?”
“What are you talking about?” Christine announces unheard by the others. “Do you intend on staying here?” “Blockhead, you need to find a way for us to get home!” she shouts at him. Neither of the men pay any mind to the invisible teenage girl.
If it is possible the grim man looks grimmer as he steps toward another door in the front hall. “This is the Study, you will find a telephone in there,” Charmers directs, sliding open the pocket doors to the study.
Steve enters the room followed by Christine. The phone is not at all what he expected when he finds it. It is a standing model with a handheld earpiece like the one the Munsters had in the hall coffin. He calls his home number, not even sure the old device will work. Steve is almost in shock when Paddy answers on the other end. Christine leans in close to her brother’s ear to see who he has called. But she can not hear a voice on the other end of the line. As a matter of fact there wasn’t even a dial tone when he picked it up. When she draws back to watch her brother reply to the words spoken to him she can hear those words in his head. He is being tricked somehow! There is no one on the other end of the phone yet in his mind he hears his roommate’s voice. Maybe she should stay around, make sure he isn’t falling into some kind of trap.
When Steve is done with his pretend phone call he walks back toward the door to the hall where the Butler waits. Christine goes to follow her brother when something else draws her attention. On the north side of the room a wooden wall panel slides open. A small sphere flashing in the hidden passage in the wall drawing her closer. Standing at the opening in the wall spys an old stone staircase leading down into darkness. Then another globe of light blinks on and another creates a path down the steps. The lights then blink out to begin again as if to lead Christine down into the darkness. She looks back to the door to see that Steve and the Butler are already gone. The lights appear to be calling to her as she begins down the steps.
As Christine descends deeper underground the warmth of the manor fades and the chill in the air reminds her that she is only wearing a thin nightgown. Folding her arms over her chest she continues to follow the flow of lights past an offshoot in the tunnel. The thought of a trap crosses her mind. What if the evil that the cook spoke of is trying to prevent her from warning her brother that he is being misled. Problem is, as much as she wants to deny it she is curious about what is going on here now. Figuring out a way home will have to wait, but missing her retreat is probably the least of her problems.
The staircase ends at the opening to a chamber the size of the massive dining room up in the manor. The air is fresh, not at all like what she has been breathing in the stairway. Beyond the floating balls in the stairway the only source of light in this chamber is a pool of water on the floor in the center of the space. It is lined with smooth fieldstones and about ten feet in diameter. The water gives off a glow of its own, but not enough to light the whole chamber. Steam rises from the pool that draws Christine closer hoping to warm herself.
“Well this was rather anti-climatic,” Christine says out loud to hear her voice echo in the openness of the chamber. “All I’m going to catch here is a cold.” “Wish that the Butler had given me some clothes to wear too.” Christine can’t really see much to the edges of the chamber in the lack of light. Then she spots something, a small twinkle in a dark corner. At first she thinks it might be eyes peering at her. “Whoever you are, come out!” she demands. “I am not in the mood for hide and seek!”
There is no movement from the two glimmers as she steps closer, her fists raised in front of her body. “Don’t think I can’t defend myself.” Christine steps closer to see the two golden buttons on a coat laying on the floor. She reaches down to pick up the leather coat, it appears to be brand new, not something that should be laying in a cavern under a manor house. And under the coat are a pair of dark blue calf high boots. This place is nothing but weirdness and right now she is so cold she is not willing to ignore a gift like this one. Slipping on the knee length coat it fits perfectly on her small frame and on closer inspection of the boots they too are her size. Dressed in the clothes she thinks, It’s a rather KGB look.
Reaching into the pocket of the coat she discovers something else. It is the red garnet ring that Steve found on the floor in his room. The question is no longer where these clothes that she needed came from, the more important question is how did this ring get in the pocket? Could it have been the Cook or the Butler? she wonders. Are there other servants she has yet to see? Not to mention who led her down here in the first place?
As Christine returns to the front hall, Uncle Basile bursts through the front door of the Manor. He makes a dash for a wood panel at the side of the staircase. At first Christine thinks he is going to hit the wall and then another hidden panel slides open, like the one in the Study. Uncle Basile slips through the secret passage as Christine sprints after him. She can hear Steve’s cry out as he enters the front hall just as the hidden passage closes behind her, “Uncle, wait!” Steve’s voice echoes behind them.
This passage leads in a much different direction, up. A cast iron spiral staircase winds up between the old plaster walls. Somehow her footsteps are silent as she follows the old man. A skylight at the top of the hidden shaft cast light down into the tight space. Basile moves quickly up the spiral stairs making it easy for Christine to linger hidden below him. As she climbs she notices drops of blood on the handrail that cause concern for his well being.
Christine stops on the iron steps just before the top where Basile has disembarked into an attic room. She can hear a raised voice shout as she holds tight to the rail knowing that she might have to depart at any second.
“You old fool!” a woman’s voice shouts in anger. “How could you allow that to happen?” “The goal is to have the young dope forget his heroic urges and powers!” “Now I will have to intensify the spell to correct any damage you have caused!” “To think I used all that magic to draw in the most powerful in the line to have you screw it up!”
“I promise you Medea I had no idea we would disturb the Ground Spiders,” Basile pleads, as if in fear of this woman that Christine can not see from where she huddles. “I will do better.”
“What is wrong with your arm!” the woman he called Medea demands. “Let me see it!” Christine can only guess that the woman is addressing a wound. The wound that has bled on the rail. “How did this happen?”
“I guess one of the spiders bit me, it is nothing,” Basile tells the woman. “I am immune to the venom.”
Christine can feel the tension between the two people from where she hides. She doesn’t dare move so as to not risk being caught.
“You somehow planned this!” Medea charges. “The venom has not made you weaker, it has somehow made you stronger!” “Of course, the spiders are a creation of the magic that protects this place!” “For you to be infected by the bite it would strengthen you against my spell.” “You leave me no other choice than to bind your will completely.” “As that foolish Amazon boy falls deeper into my control he will not even notice the change in you!”
Oh, no, Christine thinks, this woman is the evil that has come to Cassandra Manor that Mrs. Charmers spoke of. Christine knows she must find a way to get through to her brother and get him out of here before it is too late!
Dona & Steven Roberts’ house
3005 NW 14th St
Miami, Florida
Steven Roberts, Sr arrives in his kitchen dressed in preparation to head to the airport. He meets his wife who is preparing coffee. “Has Chris left already?” he asks Dona.
“She was up and out even before me this morning, You know how eager she was for that retreat,” Dona replies, handing him a cup of joe. “Sometimes I worry she is a little too independent.” “I see you are leaving me again too.”
“Just for a couple of days,” Steven says, sitting his cup on the table to give her a kiss. “I have some research to finish up.” “But my plane doesn’t leave for another two hours if you need more than a goodbye kiss,” he grins. “After all this is the first time we have been empty nesters in what feels like a lifetime.”
“Why sir are you trying to turn a girl’s head?” Dona smiles while taking hold of his necktie. “Are you trying to make it feel like 900 again?”
“If you are referring to what I recall, yes most definitely,” Steve replies, dropping his briefcase to the floor to passionately kiss his wife. Dona peels off her husband’s overcoat as she forces him back against the refrigerator causing it to dent in. They laugh as they continue to kiss.
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Kitchen
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Christine hurrys back down the spiral stairs and then back down to the kitchen, she must tell Mrs. Charmers what she has learned. Perhaps together they can get through to Steve. In the kitchen Christine finds the cherry woman preparing a stew using some very strange smelling herbs. The labels on the old jars appear to be written in Celtic or something.
“I’ve found the evil you spoke of in the attic!” Christine exclaims, drawing the Mrs. Charmers’s attention. “It is a woman called Medea!” “She has used magic to put a spell on both Basile and Steve!” “Whatever her plan is, neither one of them will be acting of their own free will!” “You have to tell Steve what I learned before it is too late!”
“I see the Manor has accommodated you with some clothing,” Mrs. Charmers smiles looking at Christine dressed in her new coat and boots. “Besides, why would he believe anything an old woman tells him?” she suggests. “It is you who must convince him to break the spell.”
“ME?” Christine shouts. “He can’t even see or hear me, not that he would pay any attention to his helpless little sister if he could.”
“But, you are not helpless, are you?” Mrs. Charmers comments placing the jars of herbs back in the far cabinet. “You are very powerful in your own way.” “Why else would the Wrath bring you here?”
Christine is silent for a moment, this old woman knows more than she is letting on. “What is this Wrath and how do you know it brought me here?”
“If it is the Wrath which you want to learn about you need only read the book ‘The Wrath of Cassandra Manor’ in the library,” Mrs. Charmers tells her. “It is an unmistakable blue covered book on the shelf next to the door of the library, so many people walk right past it.” “You should eat something, a piece of fruit perhaps.”
“Enough games!” Christine shouts looking at the bowl of fruit on the table that suddenly flies across the room to smash on the wall.
“Well hello dear,” the Irish accent of the Cook says crossing the room to come up behind Steve who has just arrived. “Whatever are you doing down here?” The short and rather plump woman takes Steve by the arm.
“Thank God you are still alright,” Christine shouts at the sight of her brother. “We need to go home now!”
“I heard a crash, did something break?” Steve asks looking around the kitchen not to see any sign of anyone else other than the Cook.
“Oh, I just dropped an old bowl,” the Cook says glaring at Christine out of the corner of her eye. “Let’s get you back up the stairs to the dinning room where I can serve you lunch then,” she says, guiding him back out of the kitchen before the girl can do anything else.
“What are you doing?” “Tell him what I learned!” Christine shouts at Mrs. Charmers, whose only action is to get Steve out of the kitchen.
“No, no, that’s fine,” Steve insists, brushing the Cook off his arm. He takes off his jacket to hold it over his arm. “I’m here now, you can just give me my lunch here.” “Uncle Basile said he would not be eating so there is no need for you to drag my food all the way up there.”
“Why won’t you help me?” Christine demands. “That woman wants to control him and Basile and if we don’t leave something bad will happen, I just know it!”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” the Cook says, glaring at Christine again. “It is unheard of for the Master of the Manor to take meals in the kitchen,” the Cook says.
“Don’t be silly, I am not Master of the Manor,” Steve says, walking over to the Cook’s work table to pull up a chair. “This will be just fine.” Steve hangs his jacket over the back of the chair to take a seat at the table. “Tell me what your name is?”
“Steve, this is no time for small talk!” Christine complains.
“Mrs. Charmers,” the Cook replies, looking uncomfortable as she goes back to work at the old wood stove off to the side of the kitchen.
“So you are the butler’s wife?” Steve asks.
“No, he is my brother, ‘the Mrs.’ title is just what is used for one of my positions,” she explains.
“So you are not married?” Steve asks. “I’ve tasted your cooking.” “Surely on the Isle of Man a woman of your talents could find love.”
“Oh my God!” Christine exclaims. “Are you flirting with her?”
Mrs. Charmers giggled, not looking back at the young man. “The Manor takes up most of my time, I have little left for a husband or family.” “What of you, Young Master, have you found your soulmate?” Mrs. Charmers turns back away from the stove smiling at Steve. “You know that the rules of the Estate say you may only have one.”
“What is happening here?” Christine questions. “Didn’t I make myself clear?” “That woman Medea is up to no good!”
“You are the third person to mention these rules of the Estate,” Steve replies. “What exactly are these rules anyway?”
“I have misspoken, that is not for me to say,” Mrs. Charmers replies as someone else enters the room.
It is the Butler. “She is correct, it is not our place to explain such things to you,” the imposing servant says. “Amara, return to the preparation of the midday meal.” “If the young Master would like to learn about the Estate then I shall take him to the library where he can learn.”
Steve’s curiosity about these two finally gets the best of him as he asks, “When did the two of you come here from Ireland?” “You both seem to be very versed in all things Cassandra Manor Estate oriented.”
“We are not from Ireland, now come along,” Charmers says gruffly, taking Steve by the arm to lift him from the kitchen chair. Steve reaches out to grab his jacket from the back of the chair as the Butler pulls him across the kitchen.
“I will bring your lunch to you there,” Mrs. Charmers calls to Steve. “A hearty Stew and fresh baked bread after your morning adventure.” “Now run along to the library to read that book.” Mrs. Charmers tells Christine while her brother’s back is turned.
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Attic room
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Basile lays on an old dusty chaise lounge as Medea prepares a potion that will numb his will far more than she would like. By doing so he may lose some of his connection with the Manor. It is a risk she is willing to take because the power of the Wrath is much stronger than she expected. Medea hopes that idiot amazon-half breed has already seen enough of the power Basile welds to make him a believer.
Even if Basile’s connection with the Estate is weakened, young Steve Roberts will still have little reason to suspect that his great-uncle is being anything less than honest with him. The potion is a complicated recipe that will take several hours to brew. In that time Medea can not risk Basile making any more foolish attempts to derail her plans. She will not put him back in play until she is sure he is as completely under her control as his servants are to him.
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Library
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Charmers leads Steve up the stairs to the first floor with Christine following close behind them still angry at how things have played out. Charmers lead them to a room behind the Study that is clearly the Library.
All four walls are lined with bookshelves to the top of the fifteen foot ceiling. There is a spiral staircase that leads up to a balcony-like catwalk that encompasses the room like a second floor of book shelves. Christine knows that the book she is looking for should be easy to find as she slips in behind Steve. She doesn’t even bother to pay any attention to the Butler’s instruction to her brother. She is already searching the shelves next to the door when Charmers leaves the library.
When she finds the blue fabric bound book she picks it from its place on the shelf. The material on the cover seems odd to her. For a five hundred year old book the cover appears to be covered in a synthetic fabric that should not have been around back then. There is nothing written on the cover; it is only when she opens it that she reads the title page, “The Wrath of Cassandra Manor” with no author acknowledgement. Looking over to see her brother going through the books on the other side of the room she decides it would be best if she sat the book down to read it.
When she pulls out the chair it hits the leg of the table to make a noise. Christine sits down paying little mind to it but Steve hears the movement behind him. Like a reflex he has almost forgotten Steve is triggered onto the defensive. Tossing the old book onto a nearby end table he turns, reaching for his arsenal on his right leg. “Take a chill pill bro,” Christine says looking up at her overreacting sibling. Steve of course can’t hear or see her as she goes back to reading the book.
One of Christine’s many mental talents is to read and comprehend at an accelerated rate. The first chapter retells Cassandra Donnelly’s childhood growing up as the daughter of a tenant farmer on the Estate. Cassandra’s birth date of October 31, 1373 intrigues Christine. It is six hundred years to the date of her own birthday. The early years of Cassandra’s life flow through the pages quickly. Until at the age of twelve she began to develop Zeni-human powers of the mind. The term Zeni-human is one that Christine has heard her mother throw around often. The other thing that is familiar as she reads is the handwriting. Christine is sure she has seen it before but chalks it up as just a coincidence.
The pages tell how Cassandra’s powers never worked when she tried to show her parents. It was almost as if she was meant to keep what she could do a secret from them. The strange things that happened when her parents were not around and the stories Casandra told began to worry her father and mother, so they took her to Lord Payne in hope of finding a solution.
“Hello?” Steve unexpectedly calls out in the empty library drawing Christine’s attention from her book. “Is there something here?” “A ghost of a Master or Lady of the Manor past?” Christine giggles at the fool her brother is making of himself.
“No, it’s just me you blockhead!” Christine calls back to him, still unheard. “I wish I could tell you how stupid you look right now!”
“This is stupid!” Steve announces just as Mrs. Charmers enters the room.
“What is stupid dear?” she asks as she pushes the rolling cart with a soup tureen on it into the room. She looks to where Christine sits, then makes a place at the table next to her for Steve’s lunch. “Come take a seat at the table.”
“Are there ghosts in this house?” Steve asks feeling stupid even saying it out loud.
“He thinks I’m a ghost,” Christine giggles to the cook who ignores the girl as she stirs the stew in the turren. “I just want to pinch him to really freak him out.”
“Ghost?” Mrs. Charmers repeats glaring at the girl. “There are many kinds of ghosts, ghosts of memories or regrets.” “Ghost of love lost or opportunities not taken.” “Some would say there are hundreds of ghosts in this house.”
“There will be two more ghosts if you don’t tell him the truth and help us get home,” Christine barks.
Carrying the book he was reading with him, Steve sits down at the table next to his invisible sister, who is very tempted to push him to the floor. Mrs. Charmers serves the stew from the turren offering none to the invisible girl. “I mean ghosts that are the lost souls of dead people,” Steve says to the Cook, taking a spoon to taste what she has prepared.
“Oh Dear, those kinds of ghosts are legends,” Mrs. Charmers tells him. “For them to exist in the real world you must give them power, magic.” “This place may serve as a magic stronghold, but creating ghosts is not one of its powers.” She looks over to Christine, “Or they need an appropriate host.” “I see you found the book, you must not have gotten to that part yet.”
Wiping his mouth and mustache with a linen napkin Steve says, “Can you read that book?” “What is written in it?”
“I think she was talking to me,” Christine says, going back to her book.
“Why no, only the Master of the Manor or one in line to be the Master can read the words in that book,” Mrs. Charmers tells him.
Steve is quiet as he takes several more spoonfuls of the stew. He thinks over everything he has learned since he woke up here this morning and not much of it is making sense to him. “Surely you need to read further to understand that,” Mrs. Charmers comments. “How is the stew?”
“Delicious,” Steve replies, wiping his mouth again. “What kind is it?”
“Venison, fresh, butchered just yesterday,” the Cook replies. “It will give you the spirit you need to learn all you can about the Estate.”
“Gross,” Christine comments, unheard by her brother. “I’ll just stick with the bread,” The invisible girl reaches out to take a piece of the bread as Mrs. Charmers moves to block Steve’s view of the floating baked goods.
“You must be right, I will continue to read the book,” Steve nods, taking a bite of the freshly baked bread.
Moving back to the fireplace, Steve spends the rest of the afternoon reading, Christine does the same finding the book much more interesting than she thought it would, it is almost like the person who wrote it was writing directly to her. The use of words and phrases that Christine commonly uses keeps her drawn to the story as it unfolds. She finds the use of terms that she has never heard before to describe magical activites a bit confusing. It would seem that Cartridge used his talents of magic to teach Cassandra how to control her powers of the mind.
It took Lord Payne a few years to fully understand Cassandra’s power and help her to as well. The two spent a great deal of time training and learning from each other. Lord Payne was much older than Cassandra, the book never puts a definite age on him. But as Cassandra grew older and with all the time they spent together it was no surprise that they fell in love. Their wedding was a grand event, even the King and Queen of Britain came to it.
Soon after the wedding Lord Cartridge Payne would begin construction on a large Manor house for his new bride as a wedding gift. It took three years to build the Manor and during that time Cassandra became unexplainably jealous and angry over the amount of time Cartridge spent on the construction. She felt that his time would be better spent with her and not the creation of such an elaborate gift.
When the Manor was finished Cartridge would name it after his beloved wife, Cassandra Manor. The gesture of naming it after her only added to Cassandra’s jealousy. She worked to conceal her feelings for years but after the birth of their child, a daughter Magda, Casandra’s power began to grow making her jealousy and anger harder for her to conceal. Her power continued to increase, driving her edge of her sanity to control it.
She kept what was happening to her power a secret from her husband. That was until her anger began to manifest through her power Cassandra knew it was time she did something. The young mother found she had no other choice than to flee the Estate in search of a solution to her problem.
Cassandra’s quest led her to Tranquility Valley Palace, high in the Nu Shan mountains of China. It was there that the Earth Mother, Moira used Witchcraft to help calm her anger and control her power. She remained in China for nearly forty years, missing so much of her daughter’s life that by the time Magda reached adulthood she believed her mother long dead.
When Cassandra at last returned to the Isle of Man, Magda was also a mother of twin boys. But Cassandra’s return home was not a happy one for with it came a darkness like Lord Payne had never known. Months after Cassandra’s return home the wizard, Sergio De’Arko and his horde of demons attacked the Estate to steal Lord Payne’s magic.
It is late afternoon when Charmers arrives to announce, “I have prepared a bath for you before dinner,” the grim Butler says.
Christine lifts her head from the book to watch her brother get up from his seat and stretch. He walks back to the table where she sits unseen or heard by him. Steve steps behind her chair to look over her shoulder at the book in front of her. Christine has no idea what he is doing but she wonders if he reaches for the book will he touch her?
“Come along now, young sir,” Charmers conjoles. Steve follows the Butler from the library leaving Christine alone without testing her theory.
Christine turns back to the book that she has nearly finished. De`Arko’s attack on Cassandra Manor was a costly one for all involved but mostly for Lady Cassandra. Lord Payne and Sergio De`Arko were evenly matched in magical talent, it was De`Arko’s horde of Pawn Demons that were bringing Cassandra Estate to its knees. Lord Payne had avoided the dark arts his whole life and had little defense against demons in such numbers.
When all seemed lost it fell to Lady Cassandra to save the day. It was something she learned about her power from the Earth Mother while she learned to control her anger. Only by making the ultimate sacrifice could she join her power with the Earth itself to drive off evil.
Lord Payne cast the most powerful spell of his life to create a passage that led to a cavern deep under Cassandra Manor. In that cavern his wife and he did what they had to do. Together their powers created a well from the hot springs to sustain the Wrath of Cassandra Manor for all time. Together they both made the ultimate sacrifice to shield and protect the Estate from the attack of evil from that day forth.
When the spell was cast De`Arko’s Pawn demons disintegrated, using the magic that created them to send them back to their demon dimension. His greatest power stripped from him De`Arko fleed Cassandra Manor Estate to never return.
Before beginning the final chapter of book “The Wrath of Cassandra Manor” Christine flips back through the pages realizing the strangest thing about it. It is written as if by a fly on the wall. Most biographies are done through interviews or research. The person writing this book, writes as if they are watching it in a movie or on television. It is a ridiculous idea, motion pictures and television were not invented for hundreds of years after the events in this book.
Beginning the final chapter of the book it read slightly differently. It is no longer written like a movie but like a prediction of things to come. The line, “The spell cast, Cassandra Manor Estate would be safe from the invasion of evil for six centuries until something wicked would come to steal its source.” Christine sits back in her chair to look around the library. Six centuries? She contemplates. “That is now!”
Returning to the pages she reads, Care of the Estate will be passed down over the centuries from great-grandfather to great-grandson until evil using the power of a god arrives. The story that follows retells the events of the past days exactly, but not completely from her point of view. It tells of the arrival of a decedent that is not in the line of succession that is tricked into believing he is and how he must be saved by another. One who will assume the role of the Wrath just as Cassandra did. Another destined to use her anger and jealousy to defeat the scourge on the Estate.
“That is bullshit!” Christine announces closing the book. She gets up from the table to pace the old wood floors. Then turning back to glare at the book she contemplates the words in the book. It is implying that she has to sacrifice her life to save her brother. As if his life is somehow more important than hers. It is anger that boils in her heart at the thought of all those years that her mother trained him for some great destiny to come to roost. Is this why she was even born, to make sure her brother achieved his “Great Destiny?”
“There must be more to the story!” she shouts. Then she scans all the books on the shelves around the room. Cassandra! she thinks. She must have kept a diary or something. It must be here somewhere. Christine begins to search through the books on the shelves. She spends several hours going through shelf after shelf of books finding the strangest of titles but nothing to imply that it is Cassandra Panye’s diary.
Somewhere around 8 pm Mrs. Charmers returns to the library with a serving cart of food. “I thought you might be hungry dear,” She says in her Irish accent. “I brought you some dinner.” The Cook begins to set up the food at the table as she did earlier for Steve. “I know you didn’t have much for lunch.” She looks over to the book “The Wrath of Cassandra Manor” closed face down on the table. “I see you finished the book, so you have time for a break.”
The anger that burns in Christine’s chest seems to calm with the smell of the food and the smile of the old Cook. The girl climbs down from the ladder that she uses to go through the top shelf of a bookcase. “I need to know more about Cassandra Payne,” Christine says walking back to the table to see if the dinner the Cook has brought looks more appetizing than the lunch.
Mrs. Charmers uncovers the plate to reveal several pieces of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and a biscuit. “I hear this is a popular meal in the states,” Mrs. Charmers says, pulling out the chair for Christine to sit down.
“It does look good and I am starving,” Christine says, taking a seat to dig into the food. Between bite she says, “I was just hoping to find Cassandra’s diary or something.” “That book has left a bit of scepticism in my mind.”
“You will not find Lady Cassandra’s diary in the library,” Mrs. Charmers says. “If there was such a thing she would have kept it hidden in her chambers.” “She was private like that.”
Christine looks at the Cook with surprise. “You speak as if you knew Cassandra Payne, but she’s been dead for over five hundred years,” Christine says as she takes a drink of milk.
The old cook smiled and said, “I am older than I look.” “Perhaps, you would like it if I took you to her chambers, after you finish your meal.” “I don’t think she would mind.”
Christine takes one last bite of the chicken and wipes her hands on the cloth napkin. “All done!” she exclaims. “Let’s go!”
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Attic room
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Basile returns to the attic room after dinner to report back to Medea. “I hope your obvious rejuvenation has not given the boy any suspicions,” She addresses her zombie-like slave that does not respond. “It was an unfortunate side effect of infusing you with a potion made with my own blood.” “But now, I need to have no fear of you ever trying to betray me again.” “But just to be on the safe side you will spend the night here with me, to assure me of your obedience.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Basile replies in a monotone voice as he stands unmoving at the command of the witch.
“Hummm,” Medea sighs, walking around the man who does now looks to be in his sixties as opposed to 87 years old. “I must admit a little bit of youth in you is rather attractive.” “It has been a long time since anyone called me Mistress.” “Perhaps it is time I learned the extent of your new obedience?”
Cassandra Estate Manor
Lady Cassandra Payne’s private chambers
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Mrs. Charmers takes Christine to a large suite on the east side of the Manor. “No one has used this room since Lady Cassandra passed on,” the Cook tells the girl as she unlocks the door. “The room has been kept just as she left it in memorial.” “If she had a diary it would be right where she left it.”
The door opens and Christine steps inside the room to be surprised by cleaness of the room. “You say it has been 500 years since anyone has been in this room?” Christine asks. “How is this so clean?”
“The Manor cares for itself, nothing needs ever be cleaned,” Mrs. Charmers explains. “Except for the dishware, that I must get back to in the kitchen.”
Christine stands in the entry to the bed chamber. The decor is simple with a touch of grandjor. It is clearly the room of a simple farmgirl who had wealth thrust upon her without truly wanting it. Stepping farther into the large room she finds that so many of the things have a very impersonal touch. It is almost like an expensive hotel room filled with the latest things of the 15th century for which the occupant has no use.
But there is something else different about this room than all of the others Christine has seen in the Manor. This room feels like home to her, it is as if she has spent time here in the past. How is this feeling even possible, she wonders to herself. I have never been to this place in my life. Yet still the feeling remains as she moves to the mirrored dressing table. There is a simple horse hair brush that still holds strands of Cassandra Payne’s hair. She looks in the mirror to see her reflection for the first time in a day. Without thinking, she picks up the brush to put it in her hair.
“I will let you do it, then,” Mrs. Charmers says, backing out of the room to close the door.
The sound of the door latching seems to break through the distraction that has come over Christine. Only a half an inch from her head she stops to put the brush back down on the dressing table. She looks around the room in the reflection of the mirror continuing to feel a connection with this room. Then it strikes her like a ray of light, it’s Cassandra! It is Cassandra Payne’s Life Essence that is the force behind the Wrath that guards the Estate! That is the bond she now feels stronger in this room than any other.
Getting up from the dressing table Christine focuses on the room, the bed, the chair by the fire, the letter desk. Cassandra was a secretive woman, she hid her powers from her parents, intentionally or not. She hid her anger and jealousy from her family. Where would Cassandra have hidden a book where she wrote her most private thoughts? Christine hates to consider the idea of how simmilars she is to Cassandra. But she has to think like her long dead ancestor if she is going to discover the true secrets of this Estate.
If she was so careless to put all of her secrets down in a book where would she hide it? The obvious place would be the plain wooden box that sits on her writing desk. Walking over to it Christine considers how it is completely out of place in this room. It is clearly handmade, like something a farmgirl would surely cherish. Running her fingers over the top of the smooth maple box there is not even a speck of dust on it. Christine lifts the lid to find only pieces of jewelry that do not fit a Lady of the Manor at all. Clearly the jewelry pieces are keepsakes of a life before she was showered with the riches of being Lady Payne.
Christine realizes that she is going about this all wrong. Having never kept a diary she is missing the point of keeping it secret. It would have to be hidden in a place where Cassandra believed no one could ever access it. That would mean that Cassandra would have used her powers to hide the book. Cassandra’s power was much greater than anything that Powersurge can do. In the book “The Wrath of Cassandra Manor” it was clear that her power had grown to the point to which she could reshape matter. The diary could be anything in this room, even the wooden box itself.
Christine considers her plight and the idea that it is Cassandra’s Life Essence that maintains the Manor and the Estate. When she wished for a change of clothes, this coat and boots appeared. Who is to say the Wrath does not always listen? Mrs. Charmers told her that the Manor maintains itself. Why not try a wish again. “I wish I could read Lady Cassandra Payne’s diary,” Christine says in a calm tone.
Christine looks around the room again, using her photographic memory to find anything that has changed. What she discovers makes her chuckle. On the dressing table where she laid the horsehair brush, it has been replaced by a small book the size of a hotel bible. Crossing the room back to the dressing table she picks up the book. Opening it she finds that it is in fact the journal of Lady Cassandra Donnelly Payne.
It is getting late and has been a long day so Christine decides to make herself at home by climbing into the large canopy bed that sits in the center of the north wall of the room. It is not the most comfortable bed but it will have to do as she begins to read the diary that contains all of the most hidden secrets of Lady Cassandra.
Monday, March 28, 1988
Cassandra Estate Manor
Lady Cassandra Payne’s private chambers
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Monday morning Christine wakes up in the large canopy bed where she drifted off to sleep the night before while reading the diary of Cassandra Payne. The diary lays open next to her on the bed. She has such a different perspective now that she has read some of Cassandra’s own words. It has also made her realize how the other book was written in modern English. Cassandra’s diary is written with a lot of thou, shall, and whilsts. It makes her think that the other book was somehow planted for her to find.
As she sits up in the bed the idea of a bathroom becomes forefront in her mind. She spots a door on the wall adjacent to the entry door. Jumping from the bed she makes a beeline across the room. Opening the door she finds just what she is looking for, a bathroom. Hastily unbuttoning the coat she drops it to the floor sprinting to the toilet. Sitting on the bowl with her nightgown that she still wore under the coat hiked up, she looks around the room. It is much more modernized than she would expect.
There is even a glass walled shower in the corner, something she had hoped would be in the house Mom and Dad bought in Florida. There is something about mildewed shower curtains she just finds gross! When Christine has finished her business she looks to the shower, thinking about how it could hurt she thinks.
Pulling her nightgown over her head and slipping off her bra and panties from her ankles she steps into the shower. There are no faucets in the shower only a spray head that begins to flow the moment she closes the glass door. The temperature of the water is perfect and refreshing as she lets it run over her body. Oh how she needed this! She takes what seems like hours under the warm water of the shower, but it is really more like only thirty minutes.
When she gets out of the shower she takes a towel from one of the rails along the wall. Drying off on the incredible soft towel she goes to dress again. The clothing she left behind on the floor has changed, it is now a yellow and blue pair of stretchy pants with a matching top, socks and sneakers. She scans the room but finds no evidence of anyone nearby. Dressing in the new clothes she returns to the bedroom. “Hello, is anyone here?” she calls out softly.
On the bed Christine spots the half read diary, so she jumps back up on the bed to return to reading it. She hangs on every word feeling a bond with this woman on every page. When Cassandra’s powers first emerged all she wanted to do was use them to help people. But when it came to helping her parents she found that she could not use her powers and it angered her. When she showed the other children in the village what she did, some feared her and others rejoiced in the excitement. When the children told their parents the reaction was much more dramatic.
A group of concerned farmers in the village came to Cassandra’s parents to demand answers about their daughter. Cassandra’s parents had no answers because they had never witnessed their daughter do anything the children of the village claimed. After that Cassandra became something of a prisoner of her own home, not being allowed to associate with children her age.
It did not take long for Cassandra’s plight to draw the attention of the Lord of the Estate. Lord Payne took Cassandra into his home to investigate her alledgite powers. Being a master wizard himself he was surprised that the teen girl had no magic at all. What she had was a power of the mind that allowed her to do many things that appeared to be magical in base. Both studying the new phenomena and training the girl, Cassandra began to feel at home with Lord Payne and her problem with her parents became evident. It was in fact a subconscious fear of her parent’s rejection that kept her powers from working in front of them.
As Christine begins to read Cassandra’s words of how she began falling in love with Lord Payne. At first it strikes Christine as a textbook description of codependency. The student falling in love with the teacher is all too common with a young girl and an older man. But as she reads farther Christine sees that there is something else, something she doesn’t quite understand, underneath that dependency. Something that excites her even more about her plans to become a Psychologist.
Reading this diary she begins to feel as if the stories are playing out like a movie in her head. Kind of like the words on the pages are awaking some long lost memories. Having over slept Christine realizes that it is mid-afternoon when she finally takes a break from the diary. She clutches the book to her chest to scan the room for objects described in Cassandra’s story. Many of them are right where the young Cassandra said she put them, untouched by the passage of time.
Something to eat would be nice, Christine thinks as she slides from the bed still carrying the diary to the door. Stepping into the hall she pays no mind to being seen because she knows the only one who can see her is Mrs. Charmers. The instant she crosses the threshold into the hallway the book in her hand returns to the form of the hairbrush. It would appear she will not be able to finish reading it in the kitchen. Tucking the brush in her pants pocket she heads for the grand staircase.
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Attic room
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
The sunlight creeps through the uncovered window of the small attic storage room. Medea and Lord Basile awake together nude on an old bed in the back of the attic room. Medea sits up to look down at the old man in the small bed next to her. “It has been a very long time since I have experienced such vigorous passion,” she comments. “It would seem sacrificing some of my immortality to you was worth it!” “I will almost be a shame to have the amazon-boy kill you.” “I might have enjoyed your talents for a little longer.”
Basile lays unmoving yet clearly awake on the bed. “Alas, your true usefulness is much more important than carnal desire,” she snickers as she dresses. “When I gained the power of the Goddess Isis I believed I would be all powerful.” “I could have never guessed its limitations.” “Imagine a goddess of resurrection that can not kill?” “Come now, get dressed, you must have breakfast with our pawn.” Basile gets up from the bed to put on his clothes from the previous day as Medea continues her monologue. “But I am a well studied witch, I knew the power of this place could counteract that limitation.” Medea stops Basile before he leaves, taking hold of his chin. “When I trick that amazon-boy into killing you, the control of this place will be released to pass to him.” “That is the moment when I will steal it for myself.” “That is why I needed the strongest heir to the Estate to be here.” “Only an heir to this magic can kill the seated master of it.” “Now go, prepare him for what he must do!”
Basile leaves the attic room down the winding steel stairs hidden inside the walls. He has no emotions at the revelation of the witch’s plans for him and his family Estate. His will is now completely snapped, supplanted by her desire for control. He will do as she tells him now, making no more attempts to escape her control. Lord Basile Roberts will lead his great-grand nephew down the path to his own demise without any further resistance.
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Kitchen
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Making her way back to the basement kitchen Christine does not cross paths with anyone else. In the kitchen she finds the Cook carving a cold turkey into slices for a sandwich. “I was wondering when you would come down?” Mrs. Charmers says to the young girl.
“Looks to me like you already knew,” Christine comments, taking a seat at the work table where the Cook prepares two sandwiches. Mrs. Charmers passes one of the plates to Christine and the girl replies, “Thank You, I am starving.” She watches as the cook retrieves a bottle from a cabinet along with two glasses. Pulling the cork on the old wine bottle Mrs. Charmers pours two glasses of dark red wine, passing one to Christine. “I can’t drink that, I’m only fifteen!” she asserts.
Mrs. Charmers smiles and giggles as she takes a seat to sip at the wine. “The laws that say you can not have a glass of wine with your lunch are a world away,” the Cook says, edging the glass closer to the girl. “I will not tell anyone.”
Reaching out for the glass Christine takes a small sip at first. She looks up at the older woman over the rim of the glass. “It is good,” she says while taking a bigger drink. Placing the glass back to the table she asks. “So you knew Lady Cassandra?” “What was she like?”
After taking a bite of her sandwich Mrs. Charmers sits pack in her chair to contemplate for a moment. “I of course did not know her when she was just a girl like you, I knew the woman.” Mrs. Charmers says revealing a better idea of her age. “She was quiet, kept to herself, but strong willed.” “Although when she saw someone in need she always wanted to help, she was very generous that way.” “She was beautiful too, she had an inner glow, even when I knew her.”
“So you knew her after she returned home from China?” Christine asks, nibbling at her sandwich.
“Yes, her return home was the first time I ever saw Lord Payne cry,” Mrs. Charmers says with a whimper as she dabbs her eyes. “They had a love that will last through all time, it was beautiful to see.”
“So why did she do it?” Christine asks. “Why did she sacrifice everything?”
“For family and home of course,” Mrs. Charmers says bluntly without another thought. “It was her destiny to save the Estate to make it what it is today.”
Christine takes another drink of the wine to say, “Destiny, now there is a word that gets thrown around by my parents plenty.” “Why is it that everyone with powers must fulfill some kind of destiny?” “Why can’t people just live their lives without some grand destiny?”
Mrs. Charmers glares at the girl across the table. “So you don’t feel there is any responsibility to having Zeni-human powers?” Christine remains silent. “You are a descendant of Lady Cassandra after all.”
It is the first time since she arrived here that Christine realizes that fact. It makes her think about the predictions made in the book about the Wrath. “Another in the line will come to save all that has been set in place.” “Is that why the Wrath is holding me prisoner here?” “So I can die to save this place?”
“Perhaps the wine was a mistake,” Mrs. Charmers says, reaching across the table to take the glass from the teenage girl. “You are not a prisoner here, you are a guest.” “The Wrath just didn’t want you to leave before you learned what you needed.” “I’m sure you have wondered for some time why you are different.” Speaking as if she knows much more than a Cook should at a remote Manor house on an island. “From what I have learned of your brother he takes after your mother’s side of the family.” “You do know, it is your father’s lineage that is the strongest influence on you.”
After lunch Christine needs some time to clear her head, a walk around the Manor. She wants to know everything she can about the Manor and the witch in the attic room. Everything she has been told or read leads her to only one conclusion to this situation. Christine refuses to accept that outcome. She has to believe that there is another option, one where she and her brother both get out of this house alive.
Accessing the hidden stairs off the front hall to the attic. Christine knows she is taking a big risk. She can not be sure that the Wrath has the power to hide her from the witch as well as it does everyone else. A witch, what a ridiculous idea. Stopping inside the walls of the old Manor, she notices for the first time that the stairs go down as well as up. She doesn’t remember seeing the steps downward the last time when she followed Uncle Basile. Is it possible that the Wrath can change the design of this house?
Perhaps she needs to explore all of her options first. Clearly the Wrath is more than just a force of combined mental and magical power. It could possibly have a mind of its own. Christine cautiously begins down the spiral metal stairs into the darkness below. As she proceeds the glow of light from above guides her, just as it did when she followed Uncle Basile to the attic. The last time she tread these steps she believed there was a skylight at the top, but at this time of day there should not be enough sunlight left. Like the lighting on the walls of the other secret passage it must come from another source.
At the bottom of the spiral steps she finds a bolted and locked iron door. Christine scans the small room that is lit by oil lamps on the walls, something she did not expect. Taking hold of the old lock on the door it is rusted and crumbling. It doesn’t take much force for her to break the lock off of the latch. Tossing the chunk of crushed rusted metal to the floor she slides across the deadbolt and swings open the heavy iron door.
Stepping through the door the inside of the room is also lit by oil lamps. There is a gust of strong wind that blows over her as she enters the next room. As the wind calms and she closes the door behind her, she notices something else happens that she did not anticipate, the clothing given to her has vanished. She stands in the chill of the second basement room in her bra and panties. To continue on could be embarrassing, but turning back gives her no answers to any questions she still has about this place.
This room is much different than any other one she has seen in the Manor. The walls are lined with iron-barred cells. In the center of the room is a huge fire pit like something a blacksmith would use. Along the stone walls are chains and shackles clearly to hold prisoners, although from the looks of them it has been a long time since their last use. Clearly this is a dungeon she thinks inspecting each of the cells for any sign of life other than rats. The real question is why the power of the Wrath has stopped working here?
There was only one mention of a dungeon in the book she read. It said that the dungeon was one of the few places on the Estate where magic did not work. Perhaps that is why the door was locked? “Wait a minute,” Christine says out loud. “If this room is not under the Wrath’s command, then I can be seen here!” She runs back through the pages of the book in her mind that spoke of places without magic on the Estate. “The Dungeon and the Village Church!” she concludes. Then she remembers something else, the two places are connected by a secret tunnel.
The description of the dungeon was oddly detailed in the book. Something that Christine thought was strange while reading it, but now is happy she read it. If nothing has changed in six hundred years she should be able to easily find her way out of the Manor. Walking to the farthest wall from the door where she entered the dungeon Christine begins to search the wall for a loose stone with the mark of a snake eating its tail on it. The light cast from the oil lamps does not make finding the marker easy.
Perhaps she is going about this the wrong way, one stone at a time. It would be much more efficient to press all of the stones at once. Stepping back from the wall Christine reaches out her left hand in front of her to concentrate on the full length of the brick wall. Then miraculously a single stone in the wall compresses, triggering a passage to slide open. Christine steps up to the entrance to a tunnel on the other side of the wall. It is dark and unlit. Returning to the dungeon she takes one of the lamps from its mount on the wall. Carrying the oil lamp she begins down the long sealed off tunnel out of the dungeon.
Cassandra Estate Manor
A secret Attic room
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Medea watches the event unfold using a crystal that allows her to see through the eyes of Basile Roberts. She is pleased with herself, all is going as planned, finally. Basile Roberts plays his part perfectly. Once she has the magic of the Estate to eliminate the restrictions on the power of Isis she will be one step closer to her ultimate goal.
She can’t help but to pat herself on the back, this is her most brilliant plan yet. And how wonderful that the one person who believed he stood in her way will now help her to achieve her goal. Moreover there is no one else in the world that even has a clue of what she is doing! Alone in the dusty old room she laughs aloud with joy over her impending success. Soon she will no longer be a prisoner of this attic. Soon she will be Mistress of Cassandra Estate and the power of the Goddess Isis will allow her to tear the magic from its foundation!
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Church in the village
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Christine emerges from a crypt in the church yard. She is not at all surprised by the size of the church building. In the books she read it explained that the church is large enough to house all of the families of the village in the event of an emergency. The thing that does surprise her is her clothes have returned signaling that the power of the Wrath has taken hold again. Walking across the graveyard she knows she is invisible again.
A new grave with framed photos in the grass at the back side of it draws her attention. Christine studys the photos of a young boy who plays and poses with her family. Stepping around to the front of the stone she learns that the seven year old boy’s name was Leonard Palmer. Looking down at the small grave Christine can’t help but to feel sad about the tragedy of the boy’s death.
Looking back to the church it is in much better shape than the rest of the village. No doubt a side effect of its immunity to magic. From what she read about the Wrath, it is most likely drawing back its magic to fight the intruder. Perhaps that is what keeps the witch at bay in that attic room. Hurrying to the back door of the church and up the wooden steps Christine goes inside fully prepared for what she expects to happen when she enters.
Inside the church building several women work in the kitchen washing dishes following dinner. Valerie Goodsmith is the first to see the boy when he enters through the back door. At first she is surprised to see him. Almost instantly instinct takes over as she hurries over to the seven year old child. “Sweety, what are you doing here?” Valerie says taking the boy by the shoulders to guide him away from the other women. “Let’s see if I can find you something to eat.”
“Val who is that?” one of the other women calls to her as she conceals the boy’s face from them.
“Just one of the Jones boys, I’m going to take him back to the others,” Val calls, rushing the boy into the hallway outside the kitchen. “You are the first of the strangers, aren’t you?” she whispered to the boy.
“What?” the boy questions, trying to pull away from the woman.
“I know you are not Lenny,” Val tells the boy. “That is not possible here.” “My family are the historians of the Estate, I know every profascy ever made.” “A dead child will return to an impossible place.” “It is impossible for a ghost to enter this church.” “So that can only mean you are an avatar of the Wrath.” The boy remains silent, glaring at Val. Val’s son is the same age as Lenny and she knew the boy well. The real Lenny would never disrespect her in such a way. Val shows her anger by waving her arm and pointing back to the kitchen. “That woman back there is Lenny’s mother!” “She cried for a month when he passed, you can not go around here looking like that!”
The boy’s expression relaxes as he backs away from Valerie. It is clear to him that what this stranger is saying is right. This was a mistake. “Sorry,” the boy says as his appearance changes slightly as his hair darkens and his face chubs up. He now looks more like Pugsley Addams than Leonard Palmer. “Is this better?”
“It will at least not raise suspicion,” Val replies. “I am meant to call you Chris, is that okay?”
“Why would you call me that?” the boy asks.
“Like I said it is in the prophecy,” Val explains. “It is also very important that no one knows that you do not belong here!” “I will tell everyone that you are my brother’s kid, he left the Estate a decade ago.”
“Why are you doing this?” the boy asks.
“As historians my family is sworn to uphold the sanctity of the Estate,” Valerie explains. “Of the prophecies about the Estate this is one of the most important to be upheld.” “No one knew when it would come to pass or who would be tasked to carry it out.” “Clearly it was to be me.”
“Who made this prophecy?” the boy asks.
“No one knows,” Val says. “It has always been rumored that it was the same man who wrote ‘The Wrath of Cassandra Manor’.”
“I have read that book,” the boy replies. “There is no author credited for it.” “Do you know who wrote it?”
Valerie smiles, “It was written six hundred years ago.” “No one alive knows who wrote it.” “But the stories passed down through my family said he was of the line of Cartridge Payne.” “He came to the village before he left the Estate to choose my ancestor as the Historian.”
It is late and everyone in the church is asleep. Chris sneaks out of the bed that Valerie prepared for him. This is not the right place, the small boy realizes. A return to the Manor is the only right thing to do. He sneaks through the church not wanting to be discovered by the many people sleeping in the church. A sprint across the cemetary back to the crypt.
Returning to the Manor, Christine thinks as she climbs the metal steps back to the front hall. She has spent so much time ignoring her mother’s stories from long ago. From what she heard on her last visit to the attic the witch can not control the power of the Wrath that she seeks but she can control Uncle Basile and in turn bring Steve into the thrawl. Logically to save the Estate all she needs to do is take down this witch.
Stopping at the top of the steps Christine considers her plan. She remembers the glimpses of an image that she saw in the brother’s memory some time ago, when he was held captive by that witch Cynthia. If this Medea is more powerful than that witch, perhaps it will be best if she takes it slow. Freeing Basile from her mental control should be an easy task while he sleeps.
The clock in the front hall chimes two-thirty when she emerges from the hidden passage. She knows she is only going to have one chance at this and it is something she has never tried. Sneaking up the stairs she is fairly sure that there are only two people sleeping on the second floor. She already knows what room her brother is in so finding the other person should not be very hard. Scanning for a sleeping mind is harder because there is less activity but once she finds Basile’s room probing his mind will be easier.
Finding Basile’s room Christine slips inside completely unseen. She crawls onto the bed next to him cautiously reaching out her hands to touch his head. Instantly she can see his dreams. They are dark and chaotic. There is a struggle between his conscious and subconscious mind, both fight against the magic of Medea that has taken control. She must add her own mental strength to the battle to tip the scale. Even Though the magic of the spell works on a psionic level its power is fueled by an endless source of magic. Christine can feel the massive strength behind the spell cast on Basile Roberts but she refuses to give up the fight, giving it everything she has learned in the past few years.
Then there is a surge in the magic that fuels the spell lashing out at the interloper. The attack on Christine moves beyond the pionic plane to the physical one. The teenage girl is struck with the force of a truck that sends her sailing across the room from the bed. The instant Christine is ejected from Basile’s mind he sits straight up in bed beginning to let out a scream that shatters the calmness of the night.
Christine’s limp body crashes into the wall and then to the floor. It is unconscious, her powerful mind struggling to regain its delicate composure. Then behind her a secret panel in the wall slides open. From inside the wall the Cook, Mrs. Charmers emerges. “Oh, lassy what have you done now?” The older woman bends down to lift the unconscious girl up from the floor to drag her limp body back into the hidden wall passage, just as Steve Roberts charges into the room.
Cassandra Estate Manor
A secret Attic room
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
After the events in his bedroom Medea has summoned Basile back to her hiding place to inspect him. To all appearances he is still completely under her spell, but she is sure that something has tried to interfere with her plans. Medea can not believe it was Master Warrior; the fool barely knows who he is at this point. Perhaps it was one of his servants. Although they are completely obedient to the Master of the Manor, Medea has found it to be impossible to enchant them as she had Basile. Her only conclusion is that their Leprechaun abilities resist her witchcraft.
Medea has come too far to fail now. Calling forth the ingredients she needs to cast another powerful spell to uncover what has happened to her pawn in his sleep she stretches the power of her ruby wand to its limits. The spell will take hours to complete, making it impossible for Basile to leave the room until it is finished.
Tuesday, March 29, 1988
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Church in the village
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Christine startles awake on a cot in a small room and she is soaked with sweat. She sits up, pushing the handmade quilt that covers her to the floor. She panics not knowing where she is, until she realizes that her clothes are gone again. Reaching for the quilt she covers herself. “It is all right, you are safe,” Val Goodsmith says, carrying a glass of ice water to the cot where Christine is huddled.
Christine is now positive that she is back at the old church in the village. “How did I get here?” she asks.
“The Cook, Mrs. Charmers brought you here,” Val answers. “She told me to make sure no one saw you.” “Said you were part of the prophecy.” “So I brought you to this storage room.” “You slept all through the night with a fever that broke only a few minutes ago.” “She didn’t tell me anything else, but I trust her completely.” “I managed to find you some clothes that should fit.” Val brings Christine a one piece dress that looks handmade for a country girl.
“That won’t be necessary, Val,” Christine says as her appearance in the woman’s mind changes. “I already have something to wear here.” The teenage Christine Roberts who sat on the cot seconds ago is replaced by the young boy Val met yesterday whom she called Chris.
“How is this possible, no magic works in this church?” Val says in amazement.
“It isn’t magic, its a mental power,” Chris answers. “I can will you to see me however I want you to seem me.” “In truth I never changed, you just see me differently.”
“Then it is true, you are of the bloodline of the Wrath,” Val says, reaching out to touch the boy’s shoulder. “I see your shoulder and I can feel your shoulder.”
“But you are actually touching my ribs,” Chris replies. “It can get a little confusing.” “What is important is that you don’t tell anyone who I really am.”
“Are you here to drive off the evil that has come to the Estate?” Val asks hopefully.
“No, I was brought here by mistake and now I am trapped,” Chris replies. “I just need to find a way to go home.”
Val looks at the little boy that she now knows is not such a thing. Clearly boy or girl Chris has no idea what a big part s\he is to play in the profacey. It will take time but she is sure there will be something to convince Chris that this legacy is the right thing to do. “Guess now that you look more like Chris we should return to the others, perhaps get some breakfast.”
It is a few hours later when Val and her son, Walter take Chris to find seats in the church pews before Pastor McGregor mid-morning service. The Pastor has been trying to keep the hopes of his congregation high during the crisis the best he can. Walter is seven years old and he has befriended Chris, even if the boy is a little strange. Val’s husband Chuck walks down the church aisle to take a seat with his family. After the service some of the men get up from the pews to talk in the aisle when the doors to the church unexpectedly open and a stranger steps in.
“Who are you, you can not be here!” Chuck Goodsmith says continuing to walk down the aisle toward Master Warrior.
“I can’t be here?” Master Warrior questions. “Who are all of you people?” The man charges closer to Master Warrior not at all in a welcoming fashion. Everyone in the church turns to witness the new arrival. Even the boys sitting with Val look at the brightly costumed man.
“Oh my gosh, that is Master Warrior,” Walter whispers to Chris. “He is a superhero!”
“He’s not so great,” Chris replies at the appearance of her brother. From where Christine sits, disguised as a young boy, she can see that her brother’s face is completely exposed by the lack of magic in this place. It would be just as easy for her to reveal herself to him, but she remembers what Mrs. Charmers told her about remaining hidden.
“Quiet boys,” Val says to the two small children in a pew. She gets up from her seat to step into the aisle.
“How can you say that he is amazing!” Walter argues. “Surely he is here to save us!”
“He can’t even save himself from that witch’s spell,” Chris tells the other boy.
“What would you know about it?” Walter accuses.
It is then that Chris notices something about Master Warrior. He is acting more like himself. “Be quiet for a minute and listen kid,” he says to the other boy.
“No, that has not happened,” A man from the front of the church says as he begins to make his way through the crowded chapel. The men that stood behind Chuck step aside to allow the Pastor through. “I am Pastor McGregor and our families have lived on the Cassandra Estate for generations and that is not possible.” “Magic has always protected us.”
“So you know about magic?” Master Warrior says to the Pastor. “I have to admit a church in the center of all of this supernatural power is surprising.”
“Lord Cartridge’s magic was not evil by any means,” The Pastor explains. “He cast the spell to protect everyone who lived on the Estate from evil.” “But as a concession he allowed this church to be the one place on the Estate untouched by the spell and immune to magic, as a Sanctuary for the Farmers.”
Chuck’s temper seems to cool as he speaks. “When our crops began to wither in the space of a day and our homes began to crumble we knew it was a warning.” “We needed to find sanctuary here in the church.”
“A warning of what?” Master Warrior asks.
“My Mom and Dad don’t know who Master Warrior is,” Walter says to Chris. “I need to tell them.”
“No, wait and see what happens first,” Chris suggests, grabbing the boy’s arm. “He might not be the savoir you think he is.”
“That is just silly, the hero always wins!” Walter insists on pulling free of the other boy.
It is then that Walter gets up and tugs at his mother’s leg. “Momma, I know who he is,” the boy says. “He is Master Warrior, he’s a Superhero from America.” “I’ve seen him on the telly.”
“You have a television here?” Master Warrior questions in surprise knowing how antiquated the Manor is.”
“Of course, we are not cut off from the outside world, only protected,” Val explains. “I do believe I have heard of this Master Warrior, he was recently at the London City Airport.” “But that man’s face is never clear in the picture, just as you said.” “How can we be sure you are who you say you are?”
Walter steps forward to approach Master Warrior. “I saw you save a whole bus of children, why don’t you show us how strong you are to prove you are Master Warrior?” he says, smiling innocently.
“That is a very good idea, young man,” Master Warrior says.
Great it is time for big bro to show off and give these people false hope when the moment he steps out that door again he will be completely under the spell of Medea again. Chris watches as Master Warrior fly around over the people gathered in the chapel through the open rafters. He touches down to the floor again at the front of the church near the altar. All of the children in the chapel accept Chris, applaud as Master Warrior walks back down the aisle.
“I promise you it is now my top priority that I will do what I can to help the people of this village,” Master Warrior tells the people gathered in the chapel. “Whoever is behind this has clearly made Uncle Basile lie to me.” “So freeing him from whatever hold there is on him will be where I start.” “I know right where to start looking.”
“Before you go take this,” the Pastor McGregor says, handing Master Warrior a newly minted coin. “If anything happens to you, perhaps it will help you remember.”
Once Master Warrior has left Chris sits in the pew thinking over what he has said, how he has selflessly pledged to help these people. Master Warrior has no idea about Medea and how her spell on Basile has affected him like a virus. The whole time they have been at the Cassandra Manor that virus has been working its way into his mind, clouding it. But she has been completely immune to it. The small boy looks around the chapel at the people gathered who talk over what has just happened with hope for the first time. They do need a hero to save them, but for the first time she realizes it is not Master Warrior. Even with all of his big talk she knows he can’t help these people that she has come to know on a personal level.
Standing up on the bench the boy, Chris announces, “People of the village you deserve to know the truth!”
“Chris, what are you doing?” Val says, making her way to the child. “Sit down right now!” Before she can reach the boy he transforms into a tall young woman with short cropped blue hair dressed in a blue jumpsuit with yellow diamonds that run in a line down her chest, splitting off down each of her legs to the top of her yellow boots. In the center of her forehead is another yellow diamond that glows and shimmers.
“Master Warrior is as lost to the spell that has been cast over this place as Basile Roberts!” Powersurge announces. “I have not been, I have watched in secret learning all I could about this threat.” “It is clear to me now that I am the only one who can end this evil!” “That I must make the sacrifice to prevent the witch Medea from stealing the power of the Estate!”
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Attic room
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Medea’s carefully mixed potion has run its course over the day and the spell is finished. Medea is none-too pleased with the result. She can make little sense of it but everything points to the fact that the power of the Estate is trying to free itself from its Master. The entity that attacked her spell is identical to the force she plots to steal. Medea never once considered that the power that protects this Estate was somehow sentinant. It is alive somehow, with its own consciousness. A consciousness that must now see the corruption of its Master as a threat that must cut loose.
If what the spell has revealed to Medea is true then she has little time left to complete her plan. If the Estate should sever its connection with Basile before she can steal it, the power will be lost to her forever! “You must return to the Amazon-boy and force his hand tonight!” Medea demands of her slave. “If the power of the Estate is to be mine it must happen tonight!”
Basile gets up from the chair where he has sat for most of the night and day, his muscle stiffening he leaves the attic to return to his room to dress for dinner.
Cassandra Estate Manor
Cavern of the Wrath
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Christine Roberts has returned to the magic created cavern deep under the Estate. The power of the Wrath upon her again, the clothing she wore before has returned. She stands several feet away from the glowing pond in the floor as she argues aloud with the Wrath. “So this is my fate!” she shouts. “I save my brother and myself, I will let the witch take the power of the Estate!” “Or sacrifice my own life to save everyone!” “That is why you brought me here, kept me hidden from everyone!” “I’ve spent my time looking for another answer!” “But I know my brother would never forgive if I chose the selfish way out!” “Knowing that running would put the people of the village in jeopardy and who knows how many others if that witch gets the power of the Estate.β βIt makes my choice so clear.”
Just then Christine hears other voices moving closer. “If you are asking if they were carved by the labor of man, these caverns were not,” Uncle Basile replies. “The place I take you now is at the heart of the Estate where it all began.” “Long ago when Lord Cartridge Payne cast the spell of protection over the Estate these caverns were created to secure that power.”
The two men arrive in a chamber neither of them able to see Christine who stands against the wall watching them. She knows this is it, she must wait for the right moment to act. She looks on as they approach the center of the chamber where the pool of water lined with smooth fieldstones glows with its own light. “This is the Hot Spring that feeds the warmth of the Manor,” Uncle Basile explains. “It was here that Lord Payne cast his spell.” “It is the beginning and the end of all that is Cassandra Manor Estate.” “Nothing is more invigorating at the end of a long day than to bathe in its warm waters.”
Christine looks away as Basile starts to disrobe. She looks to Steve and stands silent as the old man strips off all of his mid-century clothing. The expression on her brother’s face is more of confusion than shock at what he witnesses. “Come now, join me in a dip,” Uncle Basile says, drawing Christine’s attention back to him as he sits nude on the edge of the pool to slip his feet in the water of the Wrath. Something is very wrong here, she thinks.
“No, I think I will just head back to my room,” Steve replies. “I’ve already had my bath for the day.” Steve turns to leave through the passage from which they entered the chamber.
“Thank God!” Christine says out loud unheard by the men. He is finally starting to resist the spell, she thinks. Maybe once he shakes it off they can talk over what to do next. Until then there is nothing she can do but watch.
“What the hell is going on?” Steve demands of Basile when he discovers the entrance to the cavern is gone.
Uncle Basile has a much less benevolent look in his green eyes. “All that you wear is a product of the Estate,” Uncle Basile says bluntly, “You will share in the hot springs with me.” It all happenes too fast for Christine to look away from her brother as he is instantly naked in the cool air of the cavern. The shiny coin he carried in his pocket drops to the stone floor with a clink. The stone floor under Steve’s bare feet begins to bulge and shift. He is unable to hold his footing as he is lifted and moved toward the pool where Uncle Basile waits with a smile on his thin lips. Steve stumbles trying to regain his footing to escape the floor that moves like him through the chamber like an escalator.
“Cassandra, stop this!” Christine shouts knowing there is nothing she can do to intervene in the events taking place. She tries to reach out with her mental powers to take hold of her brother, but it is too late when he hits the water with a large splash. He remains under the surface of the water for much longer than Christine would expect. While Steve is submerged the lighting in the cavern dims as it signals some change.
Christine knells at the edge of the pool wondering if it would be of any help for her to go after him. Then suddenly Steve bursts through the water at the top of the pool. Steve gasps for breath the moment he reaches the surface. Treading water he can see Uncle Basile slip into the pool holding himself on the edge with his elbows behind him.
“Are you trying to kill me?” Steve shouts at the grinning old man.”
“Not at all, just the opposite,” Basile replies as he watches Steve move to the side of the pool to support himself in the water. “You are meant to be the next Master of Estate, my death will come long before yours.” Steve is still trying to catch his breath when Uncle Basile says, “There are only two ways for you to become the next Master of the Estate; For me to die naturally or for you to take my life and the power.”
This is what the witch has been planning all along, Christine must do something to stop it! She lunges for Basile hoping she can pull him from the pool. She is mere inches from grabbing him around his neck when a charge comes off him casting her back across the cavern to strike the wall.
“I would never commit murder to steal power,” Steve replies glaring at the old man across the pool from him. Almost instantly Uncle Basile is across the pool toward Steve. Basile comes to an abrupt stop with his knee in the young man’s chest and his hands on his shoulders. Steve is pinned by Basile to the wall of the pool.
Christine struggles forward trying to reach out telekinetically to take hold of the old man. When that fails she pulls herself up along the wall to spot a pile of rocks that have crumbled from the side of the cavern. Again there is nothing, her powers are useless, even here. Why is the Wrath still holding her back?
“Don’t be a fool, I am the embodiment of the Estate, I am all powerful here!” Uncle Basile growls.
His words are like an answer to her question. Even if the Wrath did bring her here somehow it is Basile that truly controls its power. She has been putting all of her focus on resisting the Wrath when it is Basile that she must be focused on!
“You will kill me, take my power as the heir to Cassandra Estate or I will kill you.” Basile’s hands move to Steve’s throat, beginning to squeeze. “I will drown you right here in this pool and the Estate will consume your soul like sweet candy!”
Steve knows Uncle Basile is right, the old man’s strength is superhuman as he begins to choke him. Steve glances to the floor of the chamber not far from the pool. Something draws his attention as it catches the light to shimmer in the darkness. “I can not,” Steve whispers. “I am not the heir to the Estate.” “The only Master I will ever be is Master Warrior.” Basile’s eyes twitch and for a moment they turn from green to blue as his grip loosens and the old man falls back into the water.
When Steve moves to help Basile there is a stirring of cold water in the pool. Suddenly Steve is lifted from the pool by a water spout that ejects him against the wall. The force of his collision would be deadly for anyone else, but for Master Warrior there is only darkness.
Christine is not sure what has happened as Charmers enters the room to retrieve his Master from the pool. He is completely oblivious of Christine as he lifts the nude old man to his shoulder. He looks to the other unconscious man on the floor. “I will return for you young man,” he says carrying Basile back up the stairs to the study.
Cassandra Estate Manor
The Kitchen
Scarlett, The Isle of Man,
United Kingdom
Sometime later, Charmers enters the kitchen to find his sister sitting at the table drinking a glass of red wine from that very old bottle. “I assume your work is done,” the Butler says.
“The girl is as ready as she will ever be,” Amara replies, pouring her brother a glass of the deep red wine. “Did the young man resist the witch’s spell?” she asks.
“He did,” the Butler replies, reaching for the glass of wine.
“Have you taken the Master to a safe place?” Amara questions.
Charmers nods as he smells the fragrance of the wine. “We can only hope at this point that what we have done will be enough,” Charmers says, lifting the glass to hers before taking a sip.