Valerie Gaumont

Update

2015-01-07T08:38:00.002-08:00

I don't know if anyone is still paying attention to this blog but if you are, I have started posting on my website blog. (www.valeriegaumont.weebly.com). Each Wednesday I will be posting a part of an ongoing story. It is not Keeper (which I am still working on) but something new. I'm trying to get back into a normal schedule again. Thanks everyone for your understanding and continued support. Hope you'll take the time to check out the new story. Thanks and Happy new year. V

Book Six in the Channel Riders series out

2014-09-09T16:17:00.001-07:00

The Sixth in the Series is called Councilor and is currently available on Smashwords. It will be out on Amazon by tomorrow morning and soon after on my website, valeriegaumont.weebly.com Links to follow

basic notice I forgot to give

2014-06-23T15:05:00.002-07:00

I started a new blog attached to my website for basic notices and availability of things as they come out. And it was just pointed out to me that I forgot to let everyone who reads this site know about it. Sorry about that. I think sometimes my brain's record has a scratch that causes the needle to skip. The website is www.valeriegaumont.weebly.com I'm still not quite certain what I am going to do about this particular site. Once the next Channel Rider book is out and I get back to working on Jamie I'll figure it out. Sorry for all the confusion and lapses. Thanks everyone for reading. v

Keeper 2: Chapter 14

2014-01-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

Chapter 14

As Jamie reached the Centerville city limits, the sleet and ice he had left behind seemed to catch up to him. It edged its way into Centerville and he drove deeper into the storm’s heart. The icy rain solidified into sleet. Sleet began to be mixed with snow. The snow became thicker and by the time he climbed out of his trusty Toyota to unlock the gate at the property line, he could barely see more than three feet in any direction. He pulled his care through, relocked the gate and made his slow and steady way up the drive to the house.

Jamie parked and ran quickly to the house, seeing the darker outline of the porch in the distance. He sighed with relief as he climbed up onto the porch where the overhang at least gave him a little protection. He looked out at his yard. Visibility had shrunk to nearly one foot.

“I don’t know how a fairy could even fly in this,” he muttered to himself. The snow falling was thick and wet. Icy droplets were still mixed in. He shook the snow from his head and turned towards the door. He reached for the door knob but stopped as he heard the click of something walking towards him across the wooden porch boards. He had forgotten to turn the porch light on and in the absence of the sun, the porch was filled with deep shadows. Jamie sucked in a lung full of icy air and felt his insides squirm as the largest white wolf he had ever seen stepped into plain view. For a moment Jamie could do nothing but stare. Somehow it had never crossed his mind that a wolf attack on his front porch would be what killed him.

The wolf paused about three feet in front of Jamie and seemed in no hurry to attack. Instead the wolf bent forward and Jamie heard the click of metal on wood. Jamie frowned and watched in silence as the wolf nudged what he had set down with his nose, sending it rolling towards Jamie’s feet. Jamie looked down to see an eight inch long metal cylinder. He looked up and saw the wolf had retreated and now appeared to be sitting and waiting for a response. Jamie took a deep breath and tried to control the pounding of his heart.

Slowly he bent down and picked up the cylinder. He could feel the wolf’s eyes watching him as he tugged the capped end off of the tube and extracted a roll of paper. The writing on the paper was small and Jamie had to hold it close to his eyes to read in the dim light.

“Keeper,” the note began. “We would like to tender our deepest apologies as due to the weather we will not be able to take tea with you this afternoon as planned. In the hopes that you will not take our cancelation ill, we would like to offer this information for your use. The one known to you as Michael has been seen wandering our woods of late. Our trackers have observed him and we have reached the conclusion that he is under the influence of ghatran. The effects will wear off in time and we have ordered that no one in our demesne provide an additional source of the drug. We regret the somewhat discomforting period of withdrawal he will no doubt suffer, but are certain he will come through the other side with no permanent harm.” The note was signed by Queen Genivia.

“Well that settles that doesn’t it,” he said. Jamie glanced at the wolf, who appeared to be waiting. He flipped the page over and pulled a pen from his pocket. He leaned against the door and tried to make his letters neat and small so the diminutive queen would not have to stand at a distance to read his response.

“Your Majesty,” he wrote. “Your note provides me some relief as at this time the weather has deteriorated to the point where I fear anyone not born of ice and snow might take harm from too long an exposure. While I am disappointed in your absence I am thankful you will not be subjecting yourself to such potential harm. I thank you for the information regarding Michael and I look forward to rescheduling our tea at your convenience.” He signed the letter James Fulton. After tucking his pen back into his pocket, he rerolled the page and slipped it back into the tube. Jamie fitted the cap back on and looked at the wolf.

Jamie bent down and rolled the tube across the porch towards the wolf. “You will make certain she gets the message?” Jamie asked. The wolf bobbed his head, picked up the tube and sprinted off of the porch and into the snow. In a blink he was gone. Jamie shivered as he realized his rain slicker did not provide much insulation and that he had stood out in the cold far too long. He took one more look around in case anyone else was lurking in the shadows. Seeing no one Jamie opened the door and slipped inside, thankful for the House’s warmth.

Jamie walked straight back to the kitchen figuring the mud room in the back would be a better place for his rain slicker and wet boots than the front hall. Del was pulling a loaf of bread out of the oven as he stepped into the kitchen and Jamie’s belly rumbled in response to the scent.

“Weren’t you supposed to eat while you were out?” Del asked with a smile at the sound.

“I wanted to beat the weather home,” Jamie responded. He stepped into the mudroom and shucked his coat and boots as Del peered out of the window into the snowy yard.

“It was just raining last time I looked,” Del said shaking his head. “So you’ll be joining us for lunch then?”

“If you’ll have me,” Jamie replied with a smile. “And we can cancel the afternoon tea. Queen Genivia sent her regrets via white wolf as I got in.”

“Ah,” Del said as he placed three plates down on the table. “I wouldn’t expect a fairy to fly in that, but you never know what some of them would try, just to prove they can.” Both of them turned as Levas stepped into the room. He seemed surprised to see Jamie, even more so to see three plates at the kitchen table.

“Keeper,” he said with a short bob of the head.

“Jamie is fine,” Jamie told him. Levas lifted his eyebrows high enough that they almost disappeared into his hairline.

“As you wish.” Levas replied.

Del chuckled. “We tend not to stand on ceremony when there isn’t company about,” he explained as he stared laying out platters containing slices of ham, cheese and tomatoes along with the bread so everyone could make their own sandwich.

“Levas,” Jamie said as he piled his bread high with the offerings. “Can I ask you about what you meant when you said we would soon be busier?”

Del snorted. “Hard to think of this place getting busier.”

“Just that with more people living here, you’ll need the extra is all, sir,” Levas replied. He took a bite of his sandwich and washed it down with a hefty swig of milk. Jamie waited for him to continue but the tomte apparently thought he had expounded enough. As Del’s eyes were twinkling with amusement, he figured it was a Fae thing and let it go.

“Well,” Jamie said after he had finished his lunch. “As my afternoon has cleared up I guess I’ll be back in the study.”

“There is a bit of a chill upstairs,” Del told him. “I’ll be along in a bit to bring you some tea to help take the chill off.” Jamie nodded. He had learned very early in their acquaintance that Del believed everyone should consume mass quantities of tea on a daily basis to maintain regular health.

Jamie rinsed off his plate and headed up to the study. To his surprise a fire was already crackling merrily in both the study and the library, making the upper rooms quite cozy. Idly Jamie wondered if he should actually tell Del that the house did in fact have a central heating and air-conditioning unit and didn’t need to be heated by fire. As he settled himself in the chair behind the desk, Del wheeled in the tea trolley.

Jamie blinked in surprise wondering how Del had managed to have a full put ready in so short a time when none had been evident when he left the kitchen mere moments earlier. He also wondered how Del had managed to get the tea trolley up the stairs so easily or get fresh tomatoes from the garden in the dead of winter. He decided none of those questions were ones he should ask.

“I don’t suppose you could answer my question from earlier or is it just one of the Fae mysteries?”

“About the tomte knowing we’d soon be busy?” Del asked. Jamie nodded. “It’s a bit of both I suppose. Tomte’s are always tied to the farms they work and seem to know things about them that no one else can explain.” Del shrugged. “Actually I doubt Levas could explain it either. It seems to be something they just know in their bones. They just accept it like you accept rain or wind.”

“Or talking houses,” Jamie said.

“Or that.” Dal answered.

“I don’t suppose you could get him to be more specific?” Jamie asked.

“I can try,” Del replied. “But I make no promises.”

“He mentioned children earlier,” Jamie confided. Del blinked in surprise.

“Children? Well, well, that would make for a bit of a change wouldn’t it. And it would make things a fair deal busier to boot, I’d say. Children have a way of doing that.” He looked pleased by the prospect. He turned towards the door and started to leave, still talking to himself. “I’ll have to look into my recipe books for some sweets to make. Children like sweets. Not too many of course, it would never do to have them spoil their dinner of course. Maybe some almond cakes for after lessons though, no one could object to that.”

Jamie shook his head as Del continued to talk to himself as he headed back to the kitchen. “Not even here yet and we’ve already got snacks after lessons,” Jamie said shaking his head. Apparently there were some things Brownies took in stride as well.

Keeper 2: Chapter 13

2014-01-14T11:01:00.001-08:00

And now back to our regularly scheduled program. v

Chapter 13

Jamie left Dave’s house in a much better frame of mind than he had arrived. As he left Oak Hill behind, he even began to hum along with the radio. While he had no illusions he would turn out to be a great sorcerer, he thought any teaching Dave might provide would help him to stay balanced.

“After all if I am stuck in a world where runes and things keep appearing, I might as well learn to read them.” He told himself as he pulled up in front of Jim’s office building. He checked the inside pocket of his coat to make certain the vial the High Talbot had given him hadn’t fallen out somewhere and left the warmth of his car. He walked quickly across the parking lot, shivering in the icy wind but unwilling to run in case he slipped. While he figured he would survive a fall to the frozen ground, he was less certain about the vial and every part of him railed against the thought of letting the noxious goo loose in a public place.

“I’ve never been so aware of my steps in my life,” he muttered to himself as he made it safely inside the building. At his entrance Lucy looked up from her computer screen and smiled.

“Jim and I were taking bets on whether or not you would cancel given the weather,” Lucy said after they dispensed with the greetings. “Isn’t it snowing out towards your place?”

“Just about,” Jamie told her. “And it looked like it was heading this way.”

“Its going to be a cold night then,” Lucy replied. “Why don’t you go on back,” She told him picking up the phone. “I’ll let him know you are here.” As she told Jim of his arrival, Jamie headed down the short corridor to Jim’s office. Jim greeted him with a warm smile and a handshake. They exchanged the obligatory comments about the weather and Jamie took the vial from his coat pocket. He held it out to Jim, who took it as though it were a live bomb. Jim placed the vial into a metal strong box and once it was inside, he locked the lid. Once the box was locked Jamie realized he had been holding his breath and let it out in a whoosh.

“I’m thrilled it is now someone else’s responsibility.” He said as he slipped off his coat and took a seat. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Jim said. “I’m already longing for the moment I can pass it on to trained professionals.”

“Is there any way we can skip lunch today?” Jamie asked.

“Not a problem,” Jim replied. “Are you hoping to get home before the weather gets too bad?”

“Partially,” Jamie told him. “Mostly however I wanted to talk to you about something that probably shouldn’t be discussed in the open.”

“Really? Would this have anything to do with your family?”

Jamie laughed. “Oddly enough not this time. Although I still want you to quietly find out about my birth mother.”

Jim nodded and frowned, his face suddenly becoming serious. “You know that was very strange. When you called I figured it would be easy to trace, after all we have so many files dealing with your family. So I went back into our archives and pulled the records.”

“That was easy,” Jamie said, pleased that something finally came about without a herculean effort.

“Not exactly,” Jim told him. “I picked up the file, opened the file and read the file. I know your mother’s name was listed in the file and I know I saw it.”

“But you weren’t able to read it?” Jamie guessed.

“Exactly,” Jim responded, sounding exasperated. “I knew I had read the name and that everything was in order but I couldn’t tell you what the name was.”

“The same thing happened with my birth certificate,” Jamie told him with a nod. “When I tried to force it I gave myself a headache so bad I passed out. Luckily I was sitting on the bed at the time.”

“Well at least it’s not me going crazy then,” Jim told him. “And I can see why you wouldn’t want to talk about it in public. It happened to me and I still think it sounds insane.”

Jamie laughed. “Actually I wanted to talk to you about the crossroads.”

Jim’s face lost the pained look and he frowned. “Is someone trying to break them again?”

“No,” Jamie assured him. “At least not mine anyway. When the High Talbot dropped off the vial of goo he told me they were locking the crossroads while they sorted out some internal debate.”

“Internal debate?”

“Yup,” Jamie said with a nod. “Apparently several of the people who were fried trying to destroy the crossroads held positions of power. Those positions are now open and from what I gathered there are several people wanting to claim each spot.”

Jim let out a low whistle. “The Fae don’t deal well with change, even the ones that spend time blending with us humans. The High Court Fae are known to be even worse though. I can’t imagine they are very happy right now.”

“Well the High Talbot seemed a bit put out,” Jamie told him. “Actually I am kind of pleased the crossroads are closed for a bit.”

“Needing a break?” Jim asked with a smile. “You seem to have had a busy start to your tenure. I can see where a breather would be needed.”

Jamie smiled. “Actually, I’m hoping to deal with a problem while they are closed.”

“What sort of problem?”

“You know that there isn’t just one crossroads right?” Jamie asked.

Jim nodded. “Yes, Albe explained it to me once. There is a network anchoring the borders between lands, everywhere there is a place where the crossroads meet there is a Keeper and a Keeper’s House.”

“In theory,” Jamie said, pleased that Jim understood the basics.

“Theory?” Jim replied, wariness creeping into his voice. Jamie explained his jaunt with the visilore and the destruction he found at each site. Jim grew pale and started shaking his head slowly back and forth as though trying to deny Jamie’s words.

“That can’t be,” Jim said softly when Jamie was done. “Someone would have known.”

“You would think,” Jamie said.

“Why wouldn’t they say anything?”

“Well I do know that not all of the Fae are too thrilled by what they see as human interference.” Jamie said remembering the hatred on a face now turned to ash. “But whatever their reasons, I’m not exactly thrilled by being the only crossroads with a keeper.” Jamie had thought long and hard about those ruined houses.

“I know that you and your family have handled all of the paperwork and such for this crossroads for generations. Do you know who might have dealt with the paperwork for the others?”

Jim nodded slowly. “There are several firms like ours that deal with the fae and I would assume if there was a crossroad in their area, they would have dealt with it as well. If you have locations I can check.”

Jamie pulled a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and tried to smooth it out before handing it to Jim. “Then I would officially like to hire you to look into the status of these properties.” He sighed. “I hate to say it but time is sort of short.”

“Yes,” Jim answered nodding his head. “This is something that screams urgent in big red letters. I’ll see what I can find out and let you know.” He held up the scrap of paper. “This is now my top priority. You are a good man, James Fulton and there is no one I would trust more in the capacity of Keeper, but I am a bit uncomfortable with the fact that at the moment you are the only person holding the line between worlds.”

“You and me both,” Jamie said. He felt oddly better at being able to at least share some of the concern with someone else. Jamie stood and picked up his coat. “And now I better get back before the weather gets any worse.”

Jim stood and walked him out of the office. “You drive safely,” Jim told him, concern still shining in his eyes. “I mean it.”

Jamie smiled. “I’ll do my best to stay alive long enough to get things sorted.” He told his friend before stepping back out into the cold afternoon.

Holiday note

2013-12-23T14:47:00.001-08:00

Between getting sick and nearly everything in the house from oven to water pipes staging a rebellion over the last month to the general holiday craziness, my schedule got completely off track.With luck once the champagne of new year's is poured things will get back to normal. Or as normal as they get. In the meantime, My book Miss Chrissy's Cooking School for Young Ladies is now on sale for $.99. The price change has already gone into effect on smashwords and should be ready on amazon by this time tomorrow. And for those of you who have asked about the Channel Rider's series, the next book should be out late February, early March. I will definitely let you know when it is available. Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. v

Chapter 12 and free book announcement

2013-12-03T13:07:00.005-08:00

Hi everyone. Chapter 12 is posted below and for those of you interested, my fantasy novel Rise of the Old Blood will be available for FREE from Amazon from December 10th through December 14th. Download and enjoy! I'll post a link as the date gets closer. v

Chapter 12

Jamie donned a bright yellow rain slicker over his clothes and added a pair of rubber boots over his shoes. Thus armed he stepped out of the front door and raced to his trusty Toyota.

“There is definitely snow mixed into that,” He decided as he turned on the car and let the engine run. The day was gray all around. The snow and sleet obscured most of the forest and left what he could see in deep shadow. The sky was a uniform sheet of grey with no sign that there was a sun hidden anywhere above. Jamie shivered in the cold metal box his car had become. Finally when he was certain the engine had warmed up enough, he turned on the defrost to clear away the windshield. Clearing the windows didn’t make the day look any better.

“I hope Michael doesn’t try wandering around in this,” Jamie thought as he shifted the car into drive and headed towards the gate. Even with the crossroads officially closed, Albe’s property stretched for miles in nearly every direction. It would be easy for Michael to become disoriented and lost. With the temperatures dropping, he didn’t think wandering alone and lost would be a good idea. When he reached the gate, Jamie hopped out of the car, unlocked it and swung it wide enough to let his car through. After driving through, he returned to close and lock it before continuing on his way.

To Jamie’s relief the bad weather eased up a bit as he drove towards Centerville. By the time he reached the town limits, the sleet and snow had stopped all together although the sky remained gray and threatening. Jamie glanced at the clock and realized he had arrived far to early to justify showing up for lunch.

“I could always kill some time by taking a quick look at Oak Hill,” he thought. Thought turned into action and Jamie skirted the main part of town taking roads that would lead him to the Oak Hill neighborhood. As the day was gray and cold, he saw no one wandering around. “The kids are probably in school and the adults at work,” Jamie told himself as he passed the subdivision’s entry sign.

At first the neighborhood looked as it had when he visited as a boy. The houses were model perfect and looked as though they had been freshly rolled out of a factory or had been scaled up from a model train landscape. While Jamie had always found the subdivisions with strong homeowner association regulation a little eerie in their attempts at conformity, this was something different. Each house and yard in Oak Hill was exactly the same. The roof lines were exact. All houses were white with blue trim and each yard had one large tree located ten feet to the right of the front door.

Remembering that Dave had lived next to a small well-kept park, Jamie slowly headed towards the area he remembered. As he drove something kept niggling him in the back of his mind. He couldn’t quite work it out. When he saw the park he pulled to a stop by the side of the road. With the exception of it being Winter instead of Spring, the park and what had once been Dave’s house, looked the dame as they had years ago. Jamie looked at Dave’s house and then he looked at the house next to it. They were identical, right down to the tree. Jamie blinked.

“The trees are identical,” he said slowly as he realized what had been bugging him. He looked from one tree to the other. They were located in the same spot in each yard. They were the same species and the same size. Exactly the same size. Jamie let his eyes take in the pattern of winter bare branches on one tree and then found the exact same pattern of branches on the other tree. He turned to look at the trees on the other side of the street. They were exactly the same.

“Nature doesn’t make exact copies,” Jamie said softly to himself. While he could chalk the identical houses up to a builder creating from a template and maintained by an overly enthusiastic Homeowner’s association, he could not accept the trees. Jamie turned back to what he thought of as Dave’s house. He focused on the house, studying it. The house blurred a little around the edges and he thought he saw the shape of an entirely different house for a brief second before he felt a sharp pain between his eyes. He gasped and shut his eyes. The pain stopped and Jamie rubbed his temples.

“That’s the same pain as my birth certificate,” Jamie said to himself. “Although not as strong.” When he had studied his birth certificate he had not glimpsed anything and the pain had been intense and long lasting. Here he had managed to catch a glimpse of what was behind the shield and the pain was less intense. As he sat wondering if staring through the pain long enough to actually see what was on the other side was worth it, the door to the house he was studying opened and a dark haired man about his age stepped out.

As the man crossed the road and headed towards Jamie’s car, Jamie realized how strange he must look. Here he was sitting in a parked car in a residential neighborhood staring at a house. His brain tried to come up with a logical excuse for his presence that didn’t sound creepy or illegal. His mind drew a blank.

The man stopped outside Jamie’s car and tapped on the window. Jamie rolled it down and looked at the man about to question him. To his surprise, he recognized him. “Dave?” Jamie said questioningly. Dave lifted an eyebrow and studied Jamie’s face for a moment. Dave shook his head and gave Jamie a half smile.

“Looks like I was right after all,” Dave said, causing Jamie to frown. “Why don’t you come on in before the neighbors get too nervous.” Jamie nodded and as Dave stepped back, he rolled up the window and turned off the engine. He slipped out of the warmth of the car and into the icy air.

Jamie followed Dave back into the house. In the entry way, he slipped off his boots and slicker, hanging the slicker on the hook Dave indicated. Inside the house had been upgraded, altered from Dave’s parent’s taste to what Jamie assumed was Dave’s taste. It seemed very masculine and Jamie saw no evidence that suggested a woman’s presence. Dave led Jamie back to the kitchen and soon he found himself sitting at the kitchen table, his hands wrapped around a mug of coffee.

“What exactly were you right about?” Jamie finally asked when they were settled.

Dave smiled. “You remember the last time you were here?”

“It was the last day you talked to me,” Jamie said with a nod.

Dave sighed. “Yeah sorry about that but I was told I wasn’t allowed to play with you anymore. When you commented about the neighborhood and the houses all looking alike it sort of freaked everyone out.”

“It is hard not to notice,” Jamie commented.

“Most people don’t,” Dave said. “They assume it was just built en masse.”

“How do you explain the trees?” Jamie asked.

“The trees?” Dave replied frowning.

“Yes. They are all the same, exactly the same. Nature doesn’t do that. I actually had nightmares about those trees for weeks,” Jamie confessed.

“The trees,” Dave repeated shaking his head. “I’ll have to talk to the others about that.”

“That still doesn’t explain how you were right,” Jamie prompted. He took a sip of the coffee.

“True,” Dave answered. “When my parents told me I couldn’t be friends with you anymore because you could see that something was different, I told them that you could see because you were like us. I tried telling them about the things I had seen around you, but it had been so long since anyone paid any attention that they just wanted it, and you, to go away. And now here you are. So I was right.”

“Were you?” Jamie asked, wondering what Dave had seen as a child, but not yet ready to ask.

Dave smiled. “I felt you push on the wards,” he said. “You almost broke through them actually. Its been a while since they’ve been tested but to do that on your first try means that you not only grew up to be one of us, but you grew up to be quite powerful.” He smiled. “I hope you won’t hold my actions at school against me.”

“You were a kid following your parent’s orders,” Jamie said, willing to let the past go as he was much more interested in the present.

“True. I have to ask, who did you get to teach you? If you had trained with anyone here I would have found out and then I could have done my ‘Ha Ha I was right’ spiel a long time ago.”

“That is actually a long and very complicated story,” Jamie said with a smile. He looked Dave over and decided to trust him a little. “Have you ever heard of the Keeper of the Crossroads?” he asked.

Dave nodded. “Of course, the old man who stands between the humans and the Fae. Everyone’s heard of him, but I can’t say as I’ve ever met him. He couldn’t have trained you though as he had no magic of his own. Well a little I suppose, but not the same sort as we have.”

Jamie smiled and reached into the neck of his shirt. He tugged the long chain containing the symbol of the keeper out from inside his shirt. Dave’s eyes went wide as he recognized the symbol. “Actually the old man was my great uncle and he died recently.”

Dave blinked in surprise. “And so you got a promotion.” He said finally.

“Something like that,” Jamie said tucking the medallion back into his shirt.

“But he couldn’t have trained you. Not enough to break through a ward. His magic wasn’t like that.” Dave said, sounding perplexed.

“He didn’t,” Jamie replied. “He trained me to be Keeper but nothing else. It was recently suggested to me that I might want to look into Human magic. I’ve scanned through a couple of books but nothing else.”

“Nothing else?” Dave said incredulously. “You mean completely untrained you nearly broke through my wards?” he asked. “Damn.” He sat back in his chair as though stunned. Jamie could practically see the thoughts swirling through his brain and sat quietly drinking his coffee. As Jamie’s brain had recently been teaming with formerly unusual thoughts he understood the need for a moment to sort through new information.

“Who suggested you look into magic?” Dave finally asked.

Jamie smiled. “Honestly, I believe it was some sort of ghost.”

“The ghost of the former Keeper?” Dave asked, seemingly unfazed by ghostly interference.

“No oddly enough it was the ghost or spirit or whatever you want to call it, of one Reginald Huffington the fourth. He left a note on my to do list after I found his book on the shelves,” Jamie told him, leaving out the rest as he didn’t want to trust anyone with the entire truth. He felt odd enough about confessing to the ghost sighting.

Dave grinned. “Added a note on your to do list.” The line seemed to crack him up and Dave started laughing. Jamie smiled seeing the humor in the situation.

“Only you Jamie,” Dave finally said as his laugh died to a chuckle. “Hank Adams tripped over his own feet and fell flat on the ground breaking his nose before he could even threaten to take away the new kid’s lunch money. Sally Jensen was pushed down and cried over tearing her new dress, but when you helped her brush off the dirt, the tear turned into just a crease the was easily brushed out. Now the spirit of one of the strongest mages ever born is leaving you post it notes recommending you get training.”

“I didn’t do anything to either Hank or Sally,” Jamie said.

“Oh I know it wasn’t on purpose,” Dave said with a wave. “That was always clear. You never seemed to realize that you were doing anything, that’s why I thought you belonged with us.” Dave shook his head. “So it was recommended that you learn magic and you ended up here?” He said returning to the main topic.

Jamie decided to ignore the details and push forward. “It occurred to me that if I was going to study magic I might as well do it right.”

Dave nodded. “As opposed to going at it on your own with whatever books you happen to come across. Smart. Less danger that way.”

“Seemed so. Unfortunately I can’t spend that much time away from the crossroads,” Jamie told him.

“Which means you’d need someone out there to teach you.”

“I would,” Jamie confirmed. He wondered how Del would take to his learning magic. He had the feeling that if he contained the mess to the already stained rooms in the east wing, there would be little trouble. And the brownie did seemed quite fond of company.

“Can you give me a couple of days to think it through?” Dave asked. “Most here aren’t willing to go too far from home.”

“I understand. I have no problem waiting,” Jamie replied. If you’d like to call or come by the house when you have something, that would be fine.”

“I’ve never seen the House of the Keeper,” Dave said. “It’d be interesting to visit. I’ve heard the wards on it make ours here look like tissue paper.”

“You are welcome to come out. You’ll have to call from the gate though so that I can come and unlock it.”

Dave nodded. “Can’t have people wondering in on their own,” he agreed.

“Can you find the house?” Jamie asked as he set his empty mug down and stood up.

“I can,” Dave confirmed as he stood and walked Jamie back to the door. Jamie slipped on his boots and slicker. Dave handed him a pen and paper and Jamie quickly jotted down his cell phone number.

“I’ll see you in a few days then,” Jamie told him. He left Dave and jogged back to his car. The sky had gotten darker and snowfall looked eminent but Jamie smiled even as he shivered. He turned on his car and circled the block, leaving the neighborhood and heading over to Jim’s office.

“Finally looks like I’m making some sort of progress,” he said to himself as he began to hum a happy little tune under his breath.

Keeper 2: Chapter 11

2013-11-26T10:32:00.003-08:00

Chapter 11

At Del’s insistence, Jamie smeared antibacterial ointment on the worst of his scratches before heading upstairs. In no mood to read, Jamie took a long hot shower. Afterwards he felt guilty about the shower washing off the ointment Del had insisted upon and reapplied it. As he dried his hair with the towel, Jamie thought about Michael.

At Albe’s funeral he had looked tired and drawn. “Like he was just coming out of a long illness,” he muttered as he hung his damp towel up to dry. Tonight there had been little light but Michael had looked to Jamie’s eyes at least, less drawn and ill and more manic.

“And he was looking for something or someone,” Jamie reminded himself. He replayed the details over in a continuous loop as he prepared for bed and slipped between the sheets. “I think it might have been a something rather than a someone,” he decided as he closed his eyes. As he started to drift off, he wondered if anything in his dreams would help him.

Jamie awoke to a watery sort of light. He glanced at the clock and realized he had slept through the night without dreaming. He sighed as he sat up. “Perhaps my meeting with the queen will be more fruitful,” he muttered. Jamie rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and chuckled a little at the absurdity of his taking tea with any sort of queen.

“Well maybe a drag queen,” he thought remembering his friend Charlie who now did a stage show in a club in Denerton. “Although I don’t know if he drinks tea.” Figuring he would be meeting with Levas and then leaving directly for town, Jamie decided to get dressed. Instead of jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt however, he slipped on dress slacks and a white oxford shirt. He looked out of the window and shivered as he heard the morning’s rain hit the window glass. It sounded like it had ice around the edges.

“Won’t that be fun,” Jamie thought, wishing he hadn’t agreed to leave his nice warm house. He pulled one of the dark gray sweaters that had magically appeared in his dresser out of the drawer and slipped it on over his shirt. He looked in the mirror and though he looked presentable enough. When he joined Del in the kitchen for breakfast, the brownie smiled at his outfit but said nothing.

At quarter past eight Hose informed him that Levas had arrived on the porch. Del smiled as Jamie glanced at the clock.

“Mid-morning for a tomte,” Del said with a laugh as he went to let Levas in. Jamie listened to the thumping arrival and heard voices as Del escorted Levas into the parlor. When Del returned to the kitchen to prepare a tea tray, Jamie left and went to join his visitor in the parlor. In the hallway he saw a blue-gray rain slicker and matching hat had been hung up to dry. Below them were placed a set of rain boots. They were the kind meant to fit over a set of shoes so Jamie didn’t think his visitor was wondering around in his socks.

“Although that would be appropriate here,” he thought.

Jamie walked into the parlor and found the tomte staring out of the window at the icy rain. “Good morning,” Jamie said. The tomte turned and Jamie found himself somewhat surprised that he looked exactly like his picture in Alexander’s Field Guide.

“Good morning Keeper,” the tomte replied. Jamie indicated the chairs and walked over to one of them while Levas took the other. The tomte was slightly shorter than tell but seemed a little stockier. While he wore plain gray brown work clothes, they looked as though they had been cleaned and pressed for this meeting.

“My apologies for not inviting you sooner,” Jamie began. “I saw the card when I arrived however things were a bit unsettled at the time.”

The tomte chuckled and settled himself in the chair as Del wheeled the tea cart into the room. “No offense taken Keeper. That was a nasty bit of business to get through.” There was a short but comfortable silence as they each fixed a cup of tea. Levas picked up one of the oatmeal cookies from the offered trays and sniffed it before crunching into the morsel. In three quick bites it was gone.

“Now, is there anything I can help you with?” Jamie asked. Somehow he didn’t think the tomte had shown up just for a cookie and a chat.

“Direct, I like that,” Levas said. He took a deep sip of his tea to wash down the cookie. “I don’t know how much you know about me,” he began. “But a while ago I spent some time here.”

Jamie nodded. “During alexander Fulton’s tenure as Keeper I believe?” He replied.

Levas lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “That is correct. I know it will take a while to get back up to full working order here, and truth be told you won’t need everything up and running right away. It will take a little time before it gets to that point, however it will soon be more than your housekeeper, good as he no doubt is, can handle alone. Additionally, if things are set into motion now so when you need them they will be here.”

The little man pause and took a sip of his tea while Jamie tried to puzzle meaning from the words.

“Now, as I helped set things up before, I figured I’d offer my services to you in setting them up again.” Levas nodded as though punctuating his thought.

“You are offering to help reestablish this as a working farm?” Jamie asked, making certain that he was interpreting the tomte’s comments correctly.

“Not a full one, at least not at first. The orchards are in good repair and you have no need of commercial crops. However the barn and such will need repairing before they can be used. I’m sure the dairy will need work as well.”

“That sounds like an awful lot of work,” Jamie said hesitantly.

“Hard work never hurt anyone,” Levas told him with a grin. “Besides, you’ll be needing it. Things will be getting quite busy around here. Best to get the heavy work done before then,” He tapped the side of his nose and then drained the last of his tea.

“This is true,” Jamie said. He wondered if Levas was trying to escape the political upheaval on the other side of the crossroads. He thought of the half tumbled down barn that seemed to loom at the edge of the woods. “And they do need repair,” he continued. Jamie thought of the ad hoc lab that had been set up in one of the out buildings. If the buildings were repaired, they could be secured and no longer used as experimental laboratories. The thought decided him.

“I think that is an excellent idea,” Jamie said, noticing the slight easing of tension in Levas’ shoulders. “Although I do need to warn you, there might be some un pleasant surprises.” Levas frowned as Jamie told him of the chemical vat he and Del had found.

“Nasty business,” Levas said. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I come upon anything like that. We certainly can’t have that type of thing around. Especially not with the children.”

“Children?” Jamie repeated. Levas tapped his nose again and winked at Jamie.

“No time like the present to get started,” Levas told him. Jamie glanced out of the window. He thought there might be snow mixed in with what he was now certain was sleet and not rain.

“Why don’t you meet with Del and let him help you get settled first,” Jamie suggested. “I think today might be a planning in the kitchen over tea kind of day rather than a work outside one.”

“I suppose I could wait to survey the current conditions when the light is better,” Levas told him. The tomte stood up and nodded to Jamie. “I’ll just take this back to the kitchen and have a chat with your housekeeper then.” Before Jamie could say anything the little man trotted out of the parlor, pushing the tea trolley ahead of him.

“I wonder how much busier he thinks it’s going to get around her,” Jamie thought shaking his head and wondering if tomtes could see into the future. “Children?” he repeated to himself. “First the wall and now the tomte.” He drank the last of his tea and stood, planning to drop the cup off in the kitchen before leaving for town. “As long as House doesn’t start signing me up for a dating service I should be fine,” he decided.

Book out

2013-11-23T12:20:00.000-08:00

My latest novel, Miss Chrissy's Cooking School for Young Ladies is out on both Amazon and Smashwords. Finally! It is a straight up general fiction novel that oddly enough contains no young ladies. The urge to add zombies and ghosts was strong but I managed to resist. I probably won't be doing that again any time soon. But now that it is done, next week will see a return to a normal schedule. Thanks everyone for your patience. Links are pasted below for anyone interested. Now I will do the happy dance of the completed novel. Please turn away. val

http://www.amazon.com/Chrissys-Cooking-School-Young-Ladies-ebook/dp/B00GUW0LQU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385237876&sr=8-1&keywords=Valerie+Gaumont+Miss+Chrissy

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/380710

Keeper 2: Chapte 10

2013-11-13T10:06:00.002-08:00

Tying to do final edits on a manuscript right now so things may be a little off schedule for the next couple of weeks. I'll still attempt two posts a week, just no clue what days. v

Chapter 10

Jamie found himself unable to settle. He tried reading more about human magic. He felt his mind drifting and picked up a book that dealt primarily with the role of the Keepers of the Crossroads. While the information was interesting and gave him a great deal of insight into how the system was supposed to function, nothing was mentioned about the fall of a Keeper’s House. It was with a great deal of relief that Jamie realized it was close to dinner time and he gratefully stepped away from the books.

“I’ll have to let Del know about tomorrow’s schedule anyway,” he consoled himself as he realized he was going to have quite a busy day. He wiggled his socked feet. “I may even have to wear shoes all day long.”

Jamie made his way down to the kitchen and Del lifted an eyebrow in surprise at his arrival. “You’re down early,” Del commented as he stirred a pot.

“I needed a break and wanted to talk to you about tomorrow,” Jamie replied, keeping his primary concerns to himself.

“And what is tomorrow?” Del asked.

“Well I start off with a meeting with a tomte named Levas,” Jamie began. “He said mid morning.”

Del chuckled. “If he is like every other tomte I’ve met mid morning means he will be here no later than nine, possibly eight thirty.”

“Really?” Jamie said startled. He had envisioned racing from his meeting with Levas to his lunch with Jim.

“Tomtes tend to be up just before the dawn and go to bed just before dusk,” Del explained. “They dislike changing their schedule and think that eight or nine in the morning qualifies as late enough.”

“Well in my case it actually works out better,” Jamie said. “I’m supposed to meet Jim for lunch in town to discuss a few things.”

“So you won’t be here for lunch then?” Del asked. His eyes narrowed. “You aren’t going to get one of those frozen things you had stashed in the freezer when I got here are you?”

Jamie smiled remembering Del’s horror after reading the nutrition labels of his emergency frozen dinners. “No we will be eating real food,” he assured the suspicious brownie. “After which I will be returning here to have my meeting with Queen Genevia.” Jamie thought of the one actual suit he had bothered to bring with him when moving to Albe’s house. “I suppose I’ll have to change.”

“That would be advisable,” Del said with a snort of laughter. “Fairies have very sensitive dispositions.”

“Well the only ones I’ve dealt with have been either bringing me a message at night or trying to kidnap me,” Jamie thought about it a moment. “Oh and there was one when Albe was training me who tried to poke my eyes out with a toothpick sized sword. How bad could tea be?”

Del smiled. “You might prefer the sword after tomorrow’s tea,” Del warned. He began dishing out a tick rich stew into bowls and after placing them on the table pulled several small loaves of freshly baked bread from the oven. As always, Jamie found his mouth watering as he inhaled the scents of Del’s cooking. As most anything Jamie attempted to cook came prepackaged and involved the microwave to make presentable, Jamie didn’t know if Del’s cooking was the result of culinary skill or brownie magic. After the first few bites he decided it didn’t really matter. He would just be thankful that Del had agreed to stay on after realizing that a Keeper’s House was not exactly the most quiet of environs.

Once fed Jamie returned to the study determined to focus on one topic and possibly actually find an answer to one of his questions. “I just have to pick the right question,” he decided as he looked over his now expanded list of bullet pointed problems. Most of them had either reached the point where he needed information from others or had taken on a maze like quality. Somehow it seemed like more than just a few days since Albe’s funeral. After all how could his nice neat lists become so tangled in such a short span of time. As he sat contemplating his list, a beeping sound began to emanate from his desk drawer.

“What the…” He opened his drawer hoping that no one had managed to plant some sort of bomb in his desk during dinner. Instead of a bomb, he found a small plastic box with a red light blinking on and off in time to the beeping coming from within. He stared at it a moment before he realized what it was.

“The gate alarm,” he said, jumping from his chair. Jamie grabbed his discarded sneakers and jammed his feet into them as he hop-stepped towards the door. He had them mostly on and tied as he reached the stair case. He reached the main floor and grabbed his jacket from the coat hook in the kitchen.

“What’s going on now?” Del asked, stepping into the doorway leading from the kitchen to his personal quarters.

“Gate alarm, I think it’s Michael,” Jamie told him. Del nodded grimly and grabbed his own coat from the hook.

“You weren’t thinking of going alone were you?” he asked, the question coming off as more of a statement.

Jamie smiled, pleased to have Del along. “Of course not, that would be foolish.” The two of them slipped out of the kitchen door and keeping to the edge of the long drive so as not to stand out in the open space, they made their way to the gate as quickly as possible.

When they arrived at the gate, Michael’s car was parked on the other side. There was no sign of Michael. Jamie scanned the area while Del bent down to study the earth. As the brownie motioned him to follow, Jamie wondered how he had managed to pick up any sign of a trail in the dark. The two moved quietly through the woods. Even though Jamie had learned wood’s craft from Albe and had spent countless hours learning how to move silently through the forest, beside Del he felt like a rampaging elephant. The little man moved as silently as a shadow and Jamie was certain that the winter bare bushes that snagged his clothes and scratched his skin parted to allow Del passage.

Luckily the noise Jamie produced didn’t matter much. After a few minutes of travel, they could hear someone blundering around with no care to keep quiet. They edged closer and Del motioned him to stop. As they stood still Jamie heard a voice muttering. He easily recognized it as Michael and frowned as he listened.

“I know you’re here, you have to be here. Where else would you be? There is no place else for you to be, you have to be here,” the muttered ranting continued and it was clear that Michael was searching for something. Michael stumbled in widening circles, meandering back and forth, each moment he could not find what he was searching for making him more frantic. His mutterings were beginning to sound like pleas and finally Jamie couldn’t take it anymore. He knew that there was no one coming to join Michael. Jamie tapped Del on the shoulder and straightened out of his crouch. Del nodded and shifted slightly to the side, braced in case of trouble.

“Michael, can I help you?” Jamie asked, keeping his voice gentle. Michael spun, his eyes wide in the moonlight. He snarled at Jamie.

“You can’t have it,” he yelled. “It’s mine.” He charged Jamie, knocking him down and running back towards the gate.

“You all right?” Del asked. Jamie nodded and got up. The two of them ran after Michael. Jamie heard Michael crashing through the undergrowth ahead and felt branches slap his skin leaving stinging welts behind. This time he was certain that the trees and bushes got out of Del’s way. He reminded himself never to chase a fae through the woods. They reached the tree line and spilled into the gravel drive.

Ahead, Jamie saw Michael run to the gate. He watched in amazement at the speed of Michael’s run. He thought the gate would slow him down but instead Michael grabbed the top of the gate in one hand and vaulted over it as though he had spent a lifetime training for the Olympics. Before he and Del could even reach the gate, Michael was in his car and peeling away. Jamie stood panting at the gate as the dust settled back down into the road bed.

“Well that was certainly different,” Jamie finally gasped.

Del nodded. “He was moving faster than I would have thought,” Del agreed. He sighed. “Well there doesn’t seem to be much else we can do at the moment. Why don’t we go back to the house where it is warm. We can see to those scratches of yours.” Jamie nodded and the two began walking back to the house.

“There is no need to feel so smug,” Jamie said as he lifted a hand cautiously to a stinging welt on his cheek. “I saw those trees move out of your way.”

Del laughed and shook his head. “Trees don’t move Keeper, everyone knows that,” Del said, amusement glinting in his eyes.

“Sure they don’t,” Jamie said as he slowly caught his breath. “They don’t move at all.”

swamped

2013-11-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

trying to fix a radio play for the library's veteran's day event. Hopefully will have a chapter up tomorrow or Monday. val

Keeper 2: Chapter 9

2013-11-05T12:36:00.001-08:00

Chapter 9

As Jamie left the basement he realized that he had never taken the time to look up the name of the keeper the basement kept showing him. He knew that the brownie who tended his house was named Robin, but as Robin always referred to the man as Keeper that was all he knew.

“Well that and someone named Jonathan took over for him,” Jamie let his eyes slide to the door leading to the map room. “The family tree only gave me problems when I tried to look into my mother’s family,” he reminded himself. He took a deep breath. “I can’t be scared of a wall in my own house,” he said firmly. Before he could think too much about the possibility of renewing his headaches, Jamie forced himself to march into the map room and turn to face the family tree.

“Jonathan Fulton, please,” he said before he could lose his nerve. As though trying to prove itself helpful, the tree blurred and the name Jonathan Fulton was placed directly in Jamie’s line of sight. He read the dates. This Jonathan Fulton had been one of Albe’s brothers and it looked as though he had died sometime during World War II.

“I need an earlier Jonathan,” Jamie muttered. Again the wall blurred and a different Jonathan was listed. “Still not early enough,” Jamie said. “I need one who lived before Alexander Fulton.” After two more tries, Jamie thought he had the right one.

“Great, thank you,” he told the wall, hoping it appreciated the nicety. “Now I just need to know who was Keeper before him.” He was surprised when the words again blurred and the name William Fulton was featured. “Very handy, thanks.” Jamie stepped away, figuring he would not press his luck. He was satisfied that William was the Keeper that the basement enjoyed showing him. At the moment that was all he needed to know.

“Too bad there isn’t a way to find out what happened after William allowed those with human magic to stay,” Jamie said. He was certain the basement considered the information useful for him but he couldn’t quite see the picture. He went upstairs to the study, leaving the maps splayed out on the floor in the family parlor.

He thought about what he knew as he settled himself in the parlor. He could see the individual pieces clearly, but he couldn’t make them fit together. “It’s like someone stole the lid to my puzzle and I’m still expected to put it together,” he grumbled. Jamie wondered if his entire tenure as Keeper would be the same. After a long while ruminating on the subject and getting nowhere, Jamie decided he needed to actually do something. He looked at the notes he had taken on the visilore and decided that he had learned enough to use it to see the houses of the other Keepers even if he couldn’t directly communicate with them yet.

“Especially if my list is accurate,” he told himself. Jamie picked up the notebook from the living room and then went to retrieve the visilore. He took them both to the study. The visilore, which resembled a mirror but shone like obsidian instead of silvered glass, he set in the center of the room. As he moved it around, he was surprised by how heavy it actually was.

“Perhaps it is made of stone after all,” he said as he wiped the sweat from his face. He looked at his notes and Leaned against the front of his desk. Carefully he followed the instructions. His hand movements were precise, the strange words of the incantation crisply enunciated and as the last word left his mouth, Jamie felt a tingle in the air as though he were standing too close to a lightning strike. The obsidian surface started to glow first silver and then blue. The blue glow seemed to sink into the surface and when it was gone Jamie found himself looking into a mirror. Albeit a mirror that reflected nothing. He realized he had not given it a direction and read the first name off of the list he had made from the map.

At first Jamie thought it was a failure, but then he sensed some sort of movement, as if the mirror was searching for the destination and slowly zooming in on it’s target.

“Like a spy plane coming in for a landing,” he thought, afraid to speak out loud. “Not that I’m spying, exactly.” He shifted, slightly uncomfortable with the thought of spying on the other Keepers. Colors whirled across the surface of the mirror and Jamie found his excitement growing. He pushed away his unease. The image solidified and Jamie frowned as he found himself looking at a house.

“Or rather the ruins of a house,” Jamie corrected. He could tell that the house had once been large and constructed of brick and stone. At least the parts that remained had been. Gray foundation stones peeked up above the dark earth and half tumbled down walls of what appeared to be fire blackened brick, formed supports for creeping vines sporting small white flowers. Three chimneys still stood, their columns pointing to the sky like accusing fingers. Jamie swallowed hard. A shiver of foreboding ran up his spine.

“Maybe it isn’t the right place,” Jamie said softly to himself. “I don’t see any runes on the foundation stones.” He realized that he was just trying to convince himself, but the visilore took his words as command and he was soon studying the stones closely as the visilore panned over them. Jamie sagged as he saw runes on several of the visible stones.

“That’s enough,” he told the visilore. It paused and seemed to be waiting. Jamie took a look at his list and sent the visilore to scan the next name on it, eager to leave the desolation.

The next location was no better. This time the visilore let him see the general ruin before scanning the rubble remains for the foundation runes. Jamie took a deep breath and sent the visilore to the next name on the list. It was the same. With a growing sense of dread, Jamie pushed through all of the names on the list. The runes let him know that these had once been the houses of Keepers. The locations were where the golden lines on the map created crossroads. Every house except his own had been destroyed.

His insides feeling like jell-o, Jamie carefully spoke the words to end the visilore’s search and make it dormant again. When it was once more a panel of obsidian encased in a heavy wooden frame, Jamie covered it with a sheet.

“What happens when a Keeper’s House falls?” he asked as he sat heavily in his chair. “Does it mean that the cross roads are destroyed or simply that the gate allowing the crossroads to be used is closed? Or does it mean that it is left open?” Jamie shivered as he realized how close his house had come to falling. “If I’m the last House standing, what does that mean?” He didn’t know, but Jamie was certain it did not mean anything good.

“Everyone acts as though the other Houses at the other crossroads are still standing,” he thought. “Perhaps it might not be the best idea to tell them this is not so.” Jamie leaned back in his chair and thought. According to the High Talbot, all of the crossroads were closed until their internal matters were settled.

“Meaning I have some time to figure out exactly what is going on before it re-opens,” Jamie smiled ruefully to himself. “So at least political strife is good for something.”

“Is it?” Del said from the doorway making Jamie jump. He chuckled. “Sorry about that. I figured you’d be about ready for some lunch.”

Jamie noticed he was carrying a tray containing a sandwich filled plate. “Thanks, I am actually,” he said, clearing a space on his desk. Del set the tray down and a though occurred to Jamie.

“Del,” he asked. “Do you know anything about the other housekeepers who have served in the House of a Keeper?”

“Some, I suppose. I never really paid much attention, but one always hears things.” Del replied with a smile.

“What about a brownie who went by the name of Robin. He would have been here with William Fulton, in the House built here before this one.” Jamie asked as he picked up his sandwich.

Del’s face split into a wide smile. “Oh everyone knows of Robin,” Del replied. “He’s famous. Killed in the line of duty with the Keeper he was. He died a hero’s death. Not many of us can say that as most of the tales of daring-do are for the high court folks.”

“Do you know how he felt about those with human magic?” Jamie asked.

“Human magic? Well I expect he felt about it the way most of us do,” Del told him. He shrugged. “That it is unpredictable and often more trouble than it is worth.”

“Is there a reason he would worry if the Keeper took on a few who were capable of human magic in the House so they could be safe and learn control?”

Del laughed. “Well it would create quite a mess. Especially if they were still new to the learning. I expect he’d want them sort of blocked off from the normal parts of the hose, like the kitchen and the parlor and such so they didn’t ruin the dinner or spoil the guests. But if the Keeper wanted it I’m sure Robin would have dealt with them just fine.”

“Isolated, like the east wing,” Jamie mused. He lifted an eyebrow in surprise as Del’ laughed.

“Is that what was out there?” He asked. “I had wondered. “My first pass at cleaning only took off the dust. There were several rooms with unidentifiable and thus far un-removable stains. If new trained mages were using them for practice it would explain a lot.” He tilted his head in thought. “And truth be told it would be safer for them to practice out here with fewer people to notice or get hurt than in town.”

“They would want to avoid notice wouldn’t they,” Jamie said half to himself, his mind drifting to a neighborhood where every house and every yard looked the same, and a little boy who thought he saw something odd was not asked to come back to play a second time.

“Except for the mess, I don’t see as how Robin would mind as long as they kept things confined,” Del continued snapping Jamie back to the present. “It’s mostly the High Court that takes a real dislike to them.”

“Why?” Jamie asked.

Del shrugged. “Well some claim they are dangerous. Some claim that humans are bastardizing an art that rightly belongs to the Fae and some think that given time and practice, they would be formidable enemies making humans more dangerous.”

“Really?”

Del smiled. “It’s been centuries since most of the high court have ventured through the crossroads and most don’t get past the House of the Keeper if they do. When they warred with humans, magic was their primary weapon. Humans had strength of numbers, High Court had magic. If humans were to truly master magic, then the High Court’s main defense would be useless.” Del shrugged. “Of course humans have other weapons now and to be honest, I don’t think magic, on either side would make much of a difference. But I wouldn’t exactly go telling that to the High Court if I were in your shoes.”

“No,” Jamie said. “I think that is something we will just keep to ourselves.” Del winked and left Jamie alone with his sandwich and his uncomfortably swirling thoughts.

Keeper 2: Chapter 8

2013-10-31T12:27:00.002-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone! v

Chapter 8

As Jamie descended the stairs he realized his heart was pounding, his pulse racing. The last time he had encouraged the basement to communicate he had learned important information, information he could not have found otherwise. He knew that House, a dwelling that was fairly sentient, if somewhat obtuse, had the remains of the former House of the Keeper incorporated into its foundations. He knew that House was probably just as active as his was now and probably once communicated in much the same manner. Now visual communication was all that remained. It all sounded logical to him once he wrapped his head around the way things worked. Somehow the talking House was much easier to take than the basement that made him feel as though he had stepped into the middle of an ongoing play.

“Admittedly a play that didn’t know I had showed up,” he thought to himself, reaching the level surface of the basement floor. There was something more, unsettling about watching the event the basement though he needed to see.

Jamie moved to the center of the room and felt the air almost grow thicker around him as though he had gotten the basement’s full attention. Feeling somewhat foolish, Jamie cleared his throat. If anything the sense of waiting intensified.

“I don’t suppose there is anything you would like to tell me?” he asked. It was as if someone holding their breath had just exhaled. Around him the stout stone walls shimmered. The empty basement faded for a moment, looking like a mirage. Jamie blinked, feeling as though his vision had blurred. A moment later the world seemed to solidify, only now instead of the mostly empty basement, Jamie was looking into a bustling kitchen. A brownie, dressed very much as Dell typically dressed, was moving around the kitchen. He gathered ingredients heaping them seemingly at random into a large mixing bowl, occasionally giving the contents a stir. Sunlight streamed in through an open window and the curtains stirred in a breeze that smelled of honeysuckle.

When the brownie turned towards Jamie, he could see not all was sunshine and light. The brownie, who Jamie recognized as Robin, was frowning, his eyes dark with concern. He gave the bowl a few extra stirs and scattered a handful of flour across the table before turning the contents of the bowl out. As he began to knead what Jamie tentatively guessed to be bread dough, the door swung open.

“Still sulking Robin?” the man said.

“I’m not sulking, Keeper,” Robin replied, sounding quite sulky. Jamie recognized the Keeper speaking although he was not as young as he had been when he had the former House built, nor anywhere near as old as when had it been destroyed. Both events oddly enough that Jamie had witnessed.

“No of course not,” the Keeper replied. He smiled wryly. His humor faded as he settled himself at the table across from where Robin was working. He stared at the industrious brownie for a moment.

“I know you do not approve,” the Keeper began.

“It is not my place to either approve or disapprove,” Robin sniffed.

“Be that as it may,” the Keeper replied. “You opinion matters to me.” Robin seemed to relax at the confession and he let out a deep sigh.

“It seems like borrowing trouble. Trouble seems to follow them, always has.”

“Which is not their fault, and why they most need our help,” the Keeper replied, his voice still gentle. “Those capable of practicing human magic have always been targets.”

“Sometimes they make themselves targets,” Robin grumbled.

“Sometimes,” the Keeper agreed. “And sometimes they just lose control because they don’t know enough. We won’t be taking in those who relish the causing of trouble. We will however be sheltering those who want to learn control.”

Robin nodded. “So no trouble makers?”

“No deliberate trouble makers,” the Keeper corrected with a smile. “I’m sure there will be some trouble, but at least here we can contain it.” As Robin nodded, the Keeper looked thoughtful. “Besides, there is a rather selfish reason for it as well as the altruistic one.”

“Oh?”

“Those who serve as Keepers need a touch of magic to them. By working with those who show promise, we increase the available pool from which the next Keepers will be born.”

“But I thought young Jonathan was to succeed you?” Robin asked with a frown as he patted his dough into neat loafs.

“He is, but things happen and it is always good to prepare for the worst,” the Keeper said. “Besides, I’m not the only Keeper who will need a successor. Some of the others are having trouble finding suitable candidates.”

“Are they?” Robin asked as he slipped the rounded mounds of dough into the oven.

“Yes,” he was told, the Keepers voice sounding troubles. “Some a very difficult time indeed. Stability is what we need, Robin. Stability to hold back the howling wilderness as they say.”

Robin nodded and dusted off his hands. “Well then Keeper I’ll accede to your wisdom. I think the east wing would serve admirably for our guests.”

As they two discussed room preparations, Jamie noticed the scene starting to fade. The image of the kitchen became semi-transparent, gradually resuming its present day demeanor. He noticed the sounds of their voices and the scent of honeysuckle and baking bread were the last to fade. Jamie sighed, the waiting feeling had faded from the basement.

“So the former Keeper once took in those capable of doing magic,” Jamie said to himself, wondering exactly why the basement felt it was important for him to know that. “Um, Thank you,” he told the basement before turning towards the stairs and climbing back into the living room.

He closed and locked the basement door, wondering why the basement had felt the need to communicate. “Maybe it is just lonely,” he thought. “Maybe it just wants to be helpful.”

Jamie shook his head. “And maybe I should find out more about human magic.”

break

2013-10-29T14:56:00.004-07:00

Sorry for the break, will start posting again on Thursday, Oct 31. v

Keeper 2: Chapter 7

2013-10-22T11:45:00.003-07:00

Chapter 7

As the High Talbot had said all that he felt needed saying, he left shortly after. The unsettling feeling of disquiet didn’t leave with him and for a long while, Jamie sat alone drinking his tea, barely tasting the hot liquid. He knew he needed to figure out who had attempted to create a faux human. He knew he needed to find out what was going on with Michael, and as ghosts seemed intent on adding the study of magic to his to do list he figured that was important too.

Instead, his mind seemed intent on focusing on the visilore and meeting the other Keepers. No matter what he started to think about, his thoughts invariably led him back. What had started out as mere curiosity and the desire to possibly talk to someone who had been doing the job longer than him had morphed into something that felt urgent. He couldn’t explain why and somehow that bothered him more than anything else.

“Can it be a compulsion?” he wondered setting his cup aside finally and standing. He thought about Reginald’s insistence that the book was his life’s work. Compelling someone seemed like something a magician ought to be able to do, although he in truth knew very little about it.

“Can a ghost even compel the living?” Jamie left the parlor. He stopped by the stand in the hall and looked over his mail. The top note was from Levas stating that he would be by mid-morning the following day to meet with Jamie. The second note smelled of lilacs and was from Queen Genevia stating that she would be pleased to take tea with him tomorrow at four.

“I suppose I’ll have to remember to put on shoes for that one,” Jamie muttered to himself. Somehow he didn’t think any royal would be thrilled at someone wearing wool socks as slippers for their meeting. As fairies were overly sensitive, believing that people routinely slighted them due to their small physical stature, he imagined Queen Genevia would take less kindly than most to the implied disrespect of improper dress.

“The fairies seemed to know something about Michael,” Jamie remembered. “At least the ones who tried to kidnap me anyway.” That might give him some insight as to why Michael seemed drawn to the property. Although he hasn’t been around since the funeral.” After the funeral, Jamie had attached an alarm to the gate so he could be notified if someone tried to come onto the property without permission.

Jamie smiled a little at himself. The man who came to do the instillation had thought Jamie was trying to prevent poachers and had waxed poetic about the subject the entire time he was performing his installation. Apparently the man did a fair bit of hunting in his spare time and had an intense dislike of anyone who broke the rules. As correcting his interpretation of the situation would have meant explaining that Michael was under the influence of some Fae chemical, magic or some combination of the two and Jamie was looking for more information to help sever the connection didn’t seem the sanest of responses, Jamie had let his belief stand.

“Maybe she would be willing to help me since I helped her,” Jamie thought. “And as she sent me to the building where the vat was found, she might know more about the faux human as well.” Jamie shook his head, knowing that he was only repeating the information he had listed on his notepad. “And the vial has to go to someone else as well,” Jamie added out loud. “I don’t have the skills to deal with it. Jim might know something or someone.”

Knowing he would feel less guilty about focusing on the other Keepers if he at least set something in motion, Jamie slid his cell phone out of his pocket and pulled up Jim’s office number.

“Evers and Evers Law Offices,” a woman’s voice told him. Recognizing it Jamie smiled.

“Lucy, hi this is Jamie Fulton I don’t suppose Jim is available?”

“Jamie, hi,” Lucy said, her professional voice edged with warmth. “He should be, give me a moment to check.”

“Sure,” Jamie replied. There was a staticy sort of silence as she put him on hold and Jamie found himself grateful that Lucy remembered how much he hated the hold music and left it off.

“He is in and I’ll transfer you back to him,” Lucy said a moment later.

“Thanks oh and thanks again for coming out to the funeral,” Jamie replied. “The flowers were lovely.” As she murmured appropriate replies before transferring him to Jim, Jamie wondered if he should return to Albe’s gravesite and remove what were sure to now be dead flowers from his grave.

“Jamie,” Jim said picking up the phone and pushing Jamie’s thoughts of graveside cleanup away. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Well I was hoping that you could help me with something as you seem to know pretty much everyone,” Jamie began. “I have a lovely chemical concoction that I need analyzed. It was suggested I find a human alchemist, and although I believe a modern day chemist would be fine for the task, I have no clue what components are in the mix.”

“Which means you need someone who is sort of in the know?” Jim guessed with a laugh.

“Exactly.”

“Someone actually used the term alchemist?” Jim asked. In the background Jamie could hear him moving something around on his desk.

“They did,” Jamie confirmed. “Admittedly he also thought my digital camera was some sort of human magic. I don’t suppose you know anyone with knowledge of goblin tribal markings?”

“Not offhand,” Jim replied. “But I think I have someone who may help with your analysis.” Jamie sensed Jim’s reluctance to pass on the name of a client, even if they were friends.

“Excellent. I need to come into town tomorrow,” Jamie told him. “Perhaps I could drop it off with you if you would be willing to send it over.”

“That would be great,” Jim said sounding relieved. “Maybe we could get lunch while you’re here and catch up.”

“Sure,” Jamie said nodding at the phone and then rolling his eyes at himself when he remembered Jim couldn’t see him nod. “I’ll be by around noon.”

“Great,” Jim told him. “Oh and I should warn you, Bella has been by several times. She wants a copy of the will, bank statements and a copy of the house inventory. None of which I gave her of course.”

“I appreciate that,” Jamie replied. He rubbed his forehead thinking his headache’s return was imminent. “I’ll talk to her and see if I can get her to leave you alone for a bit. Actually I had a question for you about that.” Jamie quickly related the family tree and birth certificate incident, deciding to leave out the ghostly visitations.

“I know that someone blacked out the information for a reason. I’d like to know why as much as I would like to know what happened to my mother.” Remembering the other blanked out spots he added, “And her family.” He sighed. “I would also like to keep the search as quiet as possible in case it stirs anything up.”

“Well we do know how to be discrete,” Jim replied. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He and Jim ended their call and Jamie felt relieved that several items on his list had been set into motion. “Nothing like multitasking.” Jamie stared at his phone for a moment wondering if he should call Bella now or put it off.

“Quick like pulling off a Band-Aid,” he told himself. He forced himself to press call before he could talk himself out of it.

“Well it is about time you called,” Bella said angrily as she picked up the phone proving that she had checked the caller id before answering. “I suppose you finally realized you need us and are calling for some favor or other.”

“Actually I am calling because Jim Evers let me know that you have been making a nuisance of yourself at his office,” Jamie said, in no mood for the verbal sparring that his calls home usually entailed. “As a friend he let me know so I could warn you before he had to report your harassment to the authorities.”

On the other end of the line he heard Bella sputtering in indignation. Jamie knew she was unaccustomed to hearing stern tones directed at her, especially from him. Jamie’s usual method of dealing with his family involved avoidance or mute acceptance. Since Albe’s death, neither had been options for him. It wasn’t just the Fae that had to deal with a new power structure. Bella seemed to be taking it no better than they were.

“I told Jim I would warn you and that if you did not heed the warnings, he should feel free to deal with you through normal legal proceedings.” Jamie told her. “I hope you take the warning to heart.”

He heard her snort. “And just when are you planning to finish that inventory?” she demanded.

“That is not your concern,” Jamie told her.

“Not my concern, not my,” Jamie could hear her pause and take a deep breath. “We cannot hold an auction until you complete the inventory.” She told him.

“There will be no auction,” he told her. “Just as there will be no land sale.” He knew Bella dreamed of selling Albe’s property to a large developer and reaping massive cash rewards. The fact that none of the land or property was hers had not even factored into her equation and she had even gone so far as to bring a developer to the house in attempt to pressure him.

“There is no need for you to be so selfish,” She hissed. Jamie sighed.

“Please stay away from Jim,” Jamie said flatly. “This property is not yours and never will be. Goodbye,” he said. Before Bella could respond, Jamie ended the call. After a second’s contemplation of the darkened screen, Jamie turned the phone to silent mode. If Bella called back to argue with him, he didn’t want to know.

Oddly enough When Jamie looked up from his phone, he found himself standing to the doorway leading into the basement. “I must have walked while I talked,” he said frowning, not remembering leaving the hall. “Odd.” He turned away from the door and returned to the map covered floor. As he had figured out that the golden lines crossing near towns were the most likely places to find houses of other Keepers, he picked up a notepad and made a list of the towns. There were twenty six total.

“And mine would make twenty-seven,” he said, straightening up and looking at the list. He tapped his pen on the page as he read the items over. The details he had read in the early morning flitted through his head as he tried to come up with a plan. He looked up from the notepad only to find that once again he had gone walking while his mind was occupied. Once again he was standing in front of the door to the basement.

Jamie sighed and tucked his small notepad into his back pocket. “I suppose I can take a hint.” He said. He remembered the waiting feel to the basement when he had visited with Burr. “It’ll be worse if I ignore the hints I expect.” He placed his hand on the door knob and opened the basement door wondering what the former House of the Keeper planned to show him this time.

Keeper 2: Chapter 6

2013-10-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Chapter 6

Jamie gave the High Talbot a moment to settle, not wishing to appear too eager. He heard Del leave to fetch the tea cart and counted to twenty five. As he counted he wondered how many miles the tea cart went in a day. While it only had to go from kitchen to parlor and back again, there were days when it made the trip more than a dozen times.

“Maybe I could attach a pedometer to it,” Jamie thought. He navigated around the spread map and oddly placed furniture and crossed the hall into the receiving parlor. As he crossed the hall he noticed that several letters had been placed on the table in the hall next to his calling card holder. He wondered if those were responses to his invitations to tea and reminded himself to check after the High Talbot left.

As he entered the parlor, the High Talbot turned to look at him. Jamie felt the High Talbot’s gaze taking in his appearance and he fought not to squirm. If the High Talbot wanted him to dress up for visits than fair warning would have to be given. Jamie smiled welcomingly at his visitor.

“I trust Del will be returning with tea shortly,” Jamie said as he walked over to the free chair. “High Talbot, welcome. What may I do for you today?”

The High Talbot smiled and Jamie noticed that he looked tired behind his neutrally pleasant facial expression. It made him look oddly more human, although he doubted the High Talbot would appreciate such a sentiment.

“My apologies for not calling ahead, but unfortunately things have been somewhat unsettled as of late. I have come regarding the imposter,” he told Jamie. Jamie nodded. Del appeared in the doorway with the fully laden tea cart, In addition to the tea pot and various accoutrements the tray featured a three tiered tray laden with cookies and delicate pastries. They were silent as Del prepared their cups and presented each with a plate. As they dealt with the social niceties, Jamie thought about the imposter.

The imposter had tried to kill Jamie and take his place as Keeper. Unfortunately the Keeper had to be human. Whatever else the imposter had been, it wasn’t human. At best he had been a goblin-kin with clan markings no one had seen before. In order to pass as human, he had created some form of human suit in a vat in one of Jamie’s outbuildings. Del finished serving and with Jamie’s thanks, he departed, closing the door behind him as he left.

“Unsettled?” Jamie asked as he stirred his tea.

The High Talbot sighed heavily and if possible looked even more exhausted than he had the moment before. “Yes,” he replied. He took a sip of tea and then popped a small flaky pastry into his mouth. Once he finished, his intent to do no harm proven, he set the plate aside, but continued to drink his tea. Jamie thought that the High Talbot was not going to elaborate on the unsettled nature of things, but after a brief silence he continued.

“There have been a great many rather influential people who have not been seen since the Lune Merdos,” The High Talbot said. Jamie kept quiet. After the Lune Merdos Jamie and Del had visited the Lustan and found lots of small piles of ash and bone. The backlash of power as the Brotherhood of Shadows tried to destroy the crossroads had been beautiful and terrible to behold. Jamie was fairly certain of the fate of those who had tried to stand against it and didn’t think those missing people would be returning anytime soon.

“I see,” Jamie said as the High Talbot seemed to be waiting for a response.

“Do you?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow. “We see so little change. Having this much at once is highly irregular, some are not adapting well.”

“No?” Jamie asked. Considering the Fae tended to live for centuries he was willing to accept that their social structure changed little. “I suppose there are those pleased with the possibility for advancement just as there are those who dislike those now putting themselves forward?”

The High Talbot blinked at him in surprise. “That is very perceptive,” he replied. “Our power structure was stable and well established. There was no reason to believe it would be changing anytime soon.”

“And now you have a power vacuum.” Jamie concluded.

“Indeed.” Came the response.

“Anything that should concern the crossroads?” Jamie asked when he seemed disinclined to continue.

“If anything, there should be less concern for you,” came the response. “There will be no more permits issued for those wishing to work outside of our lands until matters are somewhat more settled. There are those who live in the crossroads and they will remain, but there will be much less traffic.”

“Ah,” Jamie replied. Considering he had started his tenure by being thrown into the middle of things, a little quiet time didn’t sound like such a bad thing.

“I understand the tomte known as Levas has received a request from you,” The High Talbot continued. “He will be allowed to keep his appointment with you and either remain on this side or return through the crossroads to stay on our side until this matter is settled. As he has been cleared to work for the House of the Keeper in prior years and the permit was never revoked, it will stand.”

“Thank you,” Jamie replied.

The High Talbot inclined his head, accepting Jamie’s thanks. “Now to the imposter,” he said. “The contents of the vat are still being analyzed. The ingredients are being checked against the registry. Several of the ingredients are somewhat unusual in nature, or at least to our nature.” He pulled out a vial filled with a dark, oily looking fluid.

“It was thought that some of the human alchemists might be of use in such a task.” He handed the vial to Jamie, who set it to the side, far away from the tea tray. Somehow placing it next to items meant to be consumed seemed like a bad idea, no matter how well sealed the stopper.

“I will have them look into it,” Jamie heard himself replying wondering if the yellow pages would be helpful in looking up someone capable of doing a chemical analysis or if he would just end up having to explain to the police that he wasn’t producing some form of illegal drug on the back of his property.

“Excellent,” The High Talbot replied, unaware of Jamie’s current concerns. “I also have this for you.” From one of his pockets he pulled Jamie’s digital camera. “An ingenious device although I do not know how the images are recovered since they slid from view quickly.”

Jamie smiled and took the camera from him. He had explained how the camera worked so pictures could be taken but the High Talbot had insisted that he had no real use for human magic and beyond basic operation had not asked many questions.

“I can recover the pictures,” Jamie assured him. “Did you record all of the clan markings?”

“We did,” he was told. “The clan markings, the wounds, the seams where the, how did you put it, ah yes the human suit came apart, and the distinguishing features of the creature that emerged from within. If you know anyone who can find information, they will provide you with a comparison. I thank you for providing this magic for use in the investigation.”

“You are welcome,” Jamie replied, not wanting to once again attempt to discuss technology with the High Talbot. All previous attempts had just given Jamie a headache and as his skull still felt tender from his bout with the birth certificate, he wasn’t about to try again at the moment. Like many of the older High Court Fae, the High Talbot had little to do with humanity except where it intersected the House of the Keeper of the Crossroads and still tended to think of humanity as it was in ages past. As Jamie set the camera to the side an idea occurred to him.

“Out of curiosity,” Jamie asked. “Do you deal with all of the crossroads or just this one?”

“I only deal with this one,” the High Talbot replied. “But do not worry, those who deal with the others will likewise be restricting access until our internal affairs are settled.”

Jamie smiled and nodded his understanding but was unable to shake the unease that seemed to have settled into his belly at the High Talbot’s words.

New Release: Brownie Oxford and the Ashland Affair

2013-10-16T08:56:00.003-07:00

Now out on Smashwords.com, Brownie Oxford and the Ashland Affair. Soon it should be up on Amazon for Kindle and in paperback as well. I just wanted to give you guys first notice. The link and blurb are posted below.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/367890

When Brownie Oxford found herself kidnapped and taken to the Ashland Cemetery instead of going on a date as expected, she wanted to claim it was an unusual event. Sadly after seven years working as an asset for the National Clandestine Services (NCS) it is hardly the first time she has ended up surrounded by unsavory characters.

As her ability to raise and converse with spirits has been utilized by the NCS to interrogate those who would have otherwise been beyond their reach, Brownie has begun to accept the harsher aspects of her reality. But this time it isn't a matter of National Security, but her own long lost family orchestrating the abduction. Can Brownie figure out what is going on before it is too late?

Keeper 2: Chapter 5

2013-10-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Chapter 5

With the headache still throbbing in his skull, Jamie was less than enthusiastic about settling down with the Huffington book. As he feared Albe’s journals would have a similar spell attached to them, they too had lost some of their appeal. After swallowing a couple of aspirin, Jamie returned to the map room and after deliberately turning away from the family tree, he began searching for the location of the other Keepers.

As cluttered and disordered as the map room appeared on first glance, Jamie soon realized there was a system in place with items grouped together. He found a large stack of quad maps that not only covered all of Albe’s land, or at least the land on the human side of the crossroads, but maps of the surrounding areas. Jamie flipped through the maps, double checking in case what he sought was misplaced or hidden. He found Albe’s collection stretched through three entire counties. In the quads where towns were listed, such as Centerville, Denerton, Makery, Loston and Foster, detailed maps showing the town’s layouts were interspersed with the quad maps.

Jamie saw different areas marked on the quad maps and on the town maps. He paused at the Centerville map and looked at one of the marked places. On the northern side of town a section was outlined in red and then shaded with what looked like a pencil. The marked off area included a section of a subdivision and a chunk of undeveloped land. He checked the streets and frowned.

“That’s in Oak Hill,” Jamie said as he reviewed his mental map of Centerville. As he said the name, he could hear Bella sniffing in distain at the thought of it. Oak Hill was not on her list of acceptable places. There was nothing wrong with the neighborhood as far as Jamie could tell. Its houses were solidly middle class and didn’t really stand out in any way. They looked as though they had been rolled out of a factory and placed on identical looking lots in the same way one would set up a neighborhood on a model train set up.

“They even have the same landscaping,” Jamie remembered from one of his few visits there as a child. It had struck him as strange that every house had one large oak tree located thirty feet to the right of the front door. With every house painted the same color, with the same mailboxes and the same neatly trimmed boxwood hedge across the front it had struck Jamie as very peculiar. He had asked Dave, the friend who lived in Oak Hill, how he managed not to get lost when everything looked the same. Dave had shrugged and told him it was just like every other neighborhood.

“And that was the last day Dave talked to me,” Jamie remembered. He remembered being puzzled when Dave began sitting at a different table for lunch and no longer acknowledged him in the hallway. He remembered being upset at being shunned for what seemed to him to be no reason.

“All the Oak Hill kids are strange,” his friend Mike told him with a shrug. “I never liked him anyway.” And that had been that. Jamie had pushed Dave and Oak Hill out of his mind.

“I wonder if Oak Hill would look the same to me now,” Jamie wondered. He turned the thought over in his mind as he continued his search. In addition to the three local counties, Jamie found stacks of quad maps for various counties located throughout the United States. Some states had only one county marked while others had several and some had none. Jamie ran through his mental list of states and found several missing.

“But Canada and Mexico are well represented, I see,” Jamie added finding additional stacks of maps. Jamie sighed and continued his search. “At least the headache is fading.” Deciding to leave the stacks alone, Jamie shifted his attention to the individually rolled maps sticking out of repurposed umbrella stands, flower pots and other assorted containers. Behind what Jamie thought might have once been a large stock pot crammed with a multitude of rolled maps, he found an umbrella stand that looked as though it were made from an elephant’s leg. There was only one rolled map inside.

“I wonder why you warranted your own space,” Jamie asked as he pulled it out. The map was nearly as tall as he was and smelled of dust. “I guess you aren’t consulted much. He started to unroll the thick paper and realized it was much longer than his arms could stretch. He peeked into the roll and saw what he thought might be a world map.

“Promising,” He told himself. Deciding there was no way to stretch it out completely in the map room, he took it to the front parlor. Unlike the formal parlor where Jamie greeted guests and drank seemingly endless cups of tea, this parlor was meant more for family and was warmer and cozier. He spared a smile for the curio cabinet, remembering the multitude of stories Albe would tell about each object. Unlike when he was younger and just visiting Albe, he now knew that those stories were true.

Jamie turned away and began shifting furniture aside to create space for the map. As he was moving around, Del came in bearing a plate with a sandwich in one hand and a large glass of milk in the other.

“Another map?” Del asked watching Jamie shift a chair to the side of the room.

“It is,” Jamie told him. “Although not as much of a puzzle as the last one.” The last time Jamie had stretched a map across the parlor floor it had not been in one large roll. It had been in several detailed squares that had to be assembled like a puzzle. It had also helped him figure out why people were intent on trying to kill him.

With the space cleared, Jamie placed the rolled map on the floor. As it had been curled up for quite some time, Jamie knew it would want to spring back up into its accustomed position. He moved the discarded chair closer and used it to hold down one corner of the map. A second chair held down the second corner of that edge and Jamie stretched the map across the floor, securing the other edge with the coffee table and part of the fainting couch.

“There,” Jamie said as he looked at the map stretched across his floor.

“Very nice,” Del told him. “Now perhaps you’d like to eat while you look it over?”

“Huh?” Jamie said. He saw the brownie holding a plate out to him “Oh, yeah sorry,” He took the plate and glass of milk. He set them on the coffee table and picked up half of the sandwich, taking a big bite as Del looked over the map.

“So what is it you are looking for?” Del asked as Jamie swallowed and washed the bite down with some milk.

“The Houses of the other Keepers,” Jamie told him. “Have you ever met any of them?” he asked remembering that not only was Del several hundred years old, he had spent a great deal of time wandering around.

“No,” Del replied, dashing his hopes. “I’ve always used this crossroads.”

“Oh,” Jamie said, trying not to sound disappointed. He took another bite of his sandwich and looked over the map as he chewed. The map was a map of the world and appeared to be hand drawn using colored inks. The artistry that went into it was amazing. Jamie stepped closer and frowned as he noticed something odd about the map.

“Those aren’t latitude and longitude lines,” Jamie said pointing to the golden lines that crisscrossed the map. His knowledge of latitude and longitude came from a middle school geography class but even he knew that there were certain rules those lines followed. The golden inked lines that crossed his map seemed to have no sort of set guidelines, looping across the page seemingly at random.

“Do you know what they are?” he asked Del, figuring it might be something the Fae used.

“Not a clue,” Del replied shaking his head. Jamie continued to study the map as he ate his lunch.

“Major cities aren’t marked,” Jamie said between bites. “Not even just capitols.”

“Some Cities are marked,” Del replied as he looked at the map. “See there,” he pointed to the United States. Jamie stepped close and peered at the spot Del indicated. He nearly choked on his sandwich as he tried to swallow and laugh at the same time. The only city marked on the United States map was Centerville.

“And people think no one knows where our little town is,” he said when he finally stopped coughing and sputtering.

“Well it is the closest town to the crossroads,” Del pointed out.

“True,” Jamie replied as he finished the last of his sandwich and drained the last of his milk from the glass, finishing his lunch before any more surprises hit him. “So it would stand to reason that the other cities marked are the ones located nearest to crossroads as well.”

“Unless they are important for another reason,” Del added. Jamie conceded the point.

“How many crossroads do you think there are?” He asked seeing quite a few towns marked, now that he was looking for them. Del shrugged. As he scanned the map, the gold lines drew him again and he found his gaze tracing them. He followed one that flowed across the map very near Centerville. Just to the north of Centerville it crossed a second looped line of gold.

“Hey,” he said, half to himself. He began tracing other lines and noticed that many of them crossed near towns. None of them crossed exactly on a marked town but it was close. The other towns marked on the map were actually located along one of the golden lines but not near the crossing points.

“Crossroads,” Jamie said to himself. Even though he knew that his title was the Keeper of the Crossroads a part of him had always envisioned the crossroads as a sort of gateway. He had come across a book dealing with the crossroads and nothing he had read in its pages had changed his perception. “So what are these lines?”

A knock on the door startled him from his contemplation and he and Del both jumped. “I wonder who that is?” Jamie said. “We aren’t expecting anyone are we?”

“Keeper, the High Talbot has arrived,” House told him. “He seems agitated.”

“Thank you, House.” Jamie replied. “It’s the High Talbot,” Jamie told Del. Del looked surprised and quickly tugged his shirt straight and brushed himself down, lest an errant crumb be visible and offensive. Jamie smiled as Del rushed to the door. The High Talbot was an extremely fastidious man who detested any sort of mess. When dealing with errant magic intent on killing Jamie his shirt had become rumpled. The rumpling seemed to bother him more than the death magic.

Jamie’s smile dropped as he remembered that House claimed the High Talbot was agitated. Somehow that did not seem like a good thing. He heard Del usher the man into the receiving parlor and Jamie took a moment to brush himself down. As he did so he realized that he had neglected to put on shoes and his feet were still clad only in the thick woolen socks. Jamie sighed.

“Well if they won’t make appointments ahead of time they will just have to take potluck.” Jamie told himself unconvincingly. Somehow he had the feeling the High Talbot would not break protocol by arriving uninvited without a good reason.

Keeper2: Chapter 4

2013-10-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hopefully the new layout is easier to read. Let me know if anyone is still having problems. Thanks V.

Chapter 4

Jamie looked up from his desk as he heard a start of surprise from the doorway. Del stood framed in the doorway, apron spotted with flour from the morning’s baking. “You’re up a bit early,” Del said, surprise and worry mingling in his voice.

“Nothing is wrong, I just couldn’t get back to sleep,” Jamie told him. Apparently he was not the only one remembering their early morning boulder in the bedroom. As a brownie, Del was entrusted with the care of all those who lived in the house he looked after. He had taken very poorly to the attempted assault on occupants sleeping under his chosen roof.

Del relaxed at Jamie’s comment. “Well breakfast is ready and unless things have changed drastically overnight, it’ll be a good idea to get a fair amount in you before the world goes haywire again.”

“Agreed,” Jamie replied. His hand was cramping from the unaccustomed note taking and even though he was only readying the highlighted passages, his head felt full to bursting from the elaborate prose. Reggie apparently refused to allow any sentence that didn’t take up at least four lines space in his book. While Jamie didn’t consider himself stupid, with all of the foreign concepts cloaked in flowery terms, he often had to read sentences through a few times before he was able to distill the actual meaning from the words.

He thought about the meaning he had managed to find as he followed Del back to the kitchen. From what he gathered the visilore could either be used as a sort of magic mirror to see a specific location or it could be used as a portal, where the person using it could just step through. If one wanted to actually speak to someone at a separate location then they too needed to have a vislore and activate it like connecting a telephone to a network.

“But if I find the location of the other Keeper’s Houses there should be a way to contact them and get them to activate their visilores,” Jamie mused. The book had thus far hinted at such a function but Jamie had yet to find the instructions. As Del chuckled, Jamie realized he had spoken out loud. “Sorry,” he apologized.

“Don’t matter to me,” Del replied. He pushed open the swinging kitchen door and Jamie’s belly rumbled at the delicious smells wafting towards him.

“Ah see,” Del said triumphantly. “I told you a good breakfast wouldn’t go amiss.” In complete agreement, Jamie piled his plate with biscuits, ham and eggs. Del filled his plate and for a few moments they ate in companionable silence.

“Do you know anything about ghosts?” Jamie finally said as he split a second biscuit in half and began to add butter and strawberry jam to it.

“Ghosts?” Del asked as he picked up his morning mug of tea. “Can’t say I’ve ever thought much about them. Seem to be more of a human thing than a Fae thing,” Dell added. “Maybe because you die more often than we do.”

Jamie nodded. “Good point,” He told del. “I hadn’t thought of that.” Although Del looked like he was only a little older than Jamie, he knew the brownie was at least a couple of hundred years old. Thus far he hadn’t gotten up the courage to ask just how much older.

“Did you see a ghost then?” Del asked.

“I’m not certain,” Jamie said slowly. “At the moment that seems to be the sanest solution I can think of. Although to be honest it doesn’t sound much like any ghostly encounter I’ve ever heard of.” Jamie thought of the ghost hunting shows that seemed quite popular. Idly he wondered what would happen if they tried to scan his house with their multitude of electrical gizmos. Somehow he didn’t think that would be too good an idea. From what he had seen on the shows they seemed overly fond of recounting horrific events that took place within the building they were scanning. Jamie had the feeling House would quickly become offended and retaliate.

“So what happened?” Del asked as he took a forkful of his eggs.

Jamie quickly recounted his dream and how, upon waking he had found the extra notes and bookmarked pages. “And the notes with the booklist is done with the same handwriting as the dedication in the book I’m reading.” He concluded.

Del nodded. “Well, I don’t know about hauntings in general, having never really been exposed to them or having seen the television shows you mentioned,” Del began. “But I do know that the Keeper of the Crossroads is not like the average person and the House of the Keeper certainly isn’t like any other House.”

“That is for certain,” Jamie interjected.

“Exactly,” Del confirmed with a nod and a smile. “So why should a ghost here be like a ghost elsewhere?” he concluded.

“I suppose it shouldn’t,” Jamie answered.

“And with the House’s shields active and functioning as they ought, I doubt anything with ill intent could enter, even if it was a ghost.” Del seemed satisfied with his logic and Jamie concluded he was probably right. He finished his breakfast and Del shooed him out of the kitchen when he attempted to help clean up. Leaving the brownie to his work, Jamie made his way into what he had always referred to as the map room.

The map room had started out life as a formal dining room, and Jamie was fairly certain that under the weight of maps, the dining table still lurked. Maps were stretched out across its surface in layers several inches thick. They were rolled into tubes and bundled in a multitude of small containers that lined the wall. A large map showing the current property line took up a large chunk of one wall. Across from the property map was one of the few documents in the room that was not a map of any sort and it was to this document that Jamie went first.

The item looked more like a mural than a document and when Jamie looked he could see his family tree in its complex entirety covering the wall. For a moment his eyes ran over the various branches, surprised at how many of them terminated so abruptly after only a few generations of separation from the main branch.

“Maybe they stopped adding after second and third cousins died off,” Jamie said softly to himself. Somehow seeing all of those birth and death dates listed in one place was somewhat daunting. He Shook himself, and the slight feeling of unease that settled in on him away and began tracing the tree’s branches down to himself, surprised that he had never actually looked for his name on the tree before. His name was listed towards the bottom of the chart, as expected. It was rather close to the floor.

“Not much space for the next generation he said, tapping his own name on the wall. As he did, his name shifted upwards to the center of the wall, rising about three feet as though the family tree was like a window shade that had just been rolled upwards. Jamie straightened, pleased that he would not have to shift a multitude of maps out of the way to read what was written on the wall, but slightly unsettled by the wall’s actions.

“Thank you,” he said automatically, not wanting to seem ungrateful. In response Jamie watched as the blank space under his name was suddenly filled with empty boxes. There was a blank space that looked like it was waiting for his wife’s name and twelve spots for children. Each of the children had space for their prospective spouses and twelve children of their own as well.

“I think that’s a bit unrealistic,” he told the helpful wall. The wall seemed to shimmer and Jamie blinked. There were now only three spots for children under his name. Under the blank spot left for his first child there was only one spot, his second child had, like him three spots for children and his third child had five spaces for children as well as two spots for spouses.

“Optimistic considering how long it’s been since my last real date,” Jamie commented. The wall shimmered again as though processing this information. When the shimmering stopped, the wall remained the same. Jamie decided to stop questioning it. Instead of looking to his future, Jamie concentrated on his past. His father’s name and bloodline were clearly written out. When he looked at the space where his mother’s name should be, he saw a name written there but for some reason it seemed out of focus.

Jamie squinted his eyes trying to read the name, as though this were an eye exam. The name didn’t become any clearer. He stepped closer, still nothing. Thinking of how the wall reacted when he touched it, he gently tapped his mother’s name. He felt a jolt of electricity bite and jerked his hand away from the wall, shaking his finger to lessen the pain. Having learned early on that in this house words had very definite meanings and repercussions, he clamped his mouth shut around the words that wanted to escape.

He clenched and unclenched his stung hand to help work out the pain as he shifted his gaze to the spots where his mother’s parents should have been listed. Again, he could tell something was written in the space and he could even tell it was a name of some sort, but he simply couldn’t make it out. It was as if his brain refused to let his eyes focus on the words. He let his eyes wander over the branch holding his mother’s family. They were all the same way. Jamie leaned back in thought for a second. The wall seemed to respond to his voice so he decided to make a test.

“Albrecht Fulton, please” Jamie said to the wall, feeling only slightly silly. The wall became a blur and Jamie blinked as his eyes threatened to cross. He looked at the wall and Albe’s name was in the center, Jamie’s own having been shifted down. All of the names were clearly written and quite legible.

“Thank you,” Jamie told the wall. Recalling the overheard conversation Jamie once again looked at the tree. “Reginald Huffington the fourth, please” Jamie asked. Again the wall blurred as its contents moved. Jamie blinked hard as a different section of the tree took center stage. The brackets holding the names were printed in crisp clear ink, but the names they contained were blurred and illegible.

“But it did move, Thank you,” he told the wall. “Rudolph Fulton, please,” Jamie asked, calling his father’s name to the center of the tree. “Thanks,” he once again told the wall as it shifted to accommodate him.

Jamie was the only child listed under Rudy’s name. There was no corresponding box, blurry or otherwise where Michael’s name could have been placed.

“Bella Fulton, please,” Jamie asked stating the name of the woman he had grown up believing was his mother. His heart beat fast. If Bella’s name was the one blurred out then what he had always believed was true. If it didn’t then she wasn’t his mother at all. The wall stayed stationary. There was no shifting of names.

“Thank you,” he told the wall. “So she isn’t my mother after all.” Jamie studied the wall, his eyes continually drifting to the blurred out branch. Clearly the helpful family tree was not going to be able to help with this one. “That leaves the journals,” Jamie mused. A thought occurred to him. Jim had been the family lawyer for a number of years. While Jim had grown up with Jamie, he had taken over the practice from his father, who had taken it from his. He was unsure how many generations the Evers law firm extended but their practice history certainly would have extended far enough that they might have some records.

“They have been the family lawyers forever,” Jamie said to himself. “They would at least have copies of the wills. And probably death certificates as well.” He wasn’t certain how much a law office was required to keep on file or for how long but as the Evers family specialized in dealing with people who tended to live much longer than a normal human lifespan, he thought there was a chance their internal records went back further than the law required.

“And what about my birth certificate,” Jamie said with a start. He stepped away from the wall and headed upstairs to his bedroom. When he had come out to live at Albe’s place he had brought his lock box containing all of his important papers, including his birth certificate. He had used his copy a number of times over the years whether it was using it as proof of citizen ship for his driver’s license or passport and no one had ever mentioned anything being off with it before.

“Somehow I think that the general strangeness of not being able to focus on a name would have stuck out in someone’s mind before now,” he said to himself. He reached his room and quickly pulled the lock box out from under his bed. In a flash he had it unlocked and his birth certificate was unfolded and in his hands. He scanned down the page reading all of the pertinent information. Nothing seemed wrong. He blinked as he got to the end of the page. He couldn’t recall reading his mother’s name.

Jamie looked at his father’s name and found it easily. He looked to the line that should have his mother’s name and his eyes just sort of slid past it without taking the information in. Jamie ground his teeth.

“My mother’s name is,” he said trying to focus on the line. Again, his gaze seemed to slide off of the page without taking in any of the information. He felt as though he had read the information and that it was all correct and in order, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember the name. Jamie continued to stare at the page, feeling as though if he just concentrated enough, he would be able to get the information to stick.

“My mother is…” he repeated. A blinding pain between his eyes caused him to cry out and drop the page. The pain faded as soon as he was no longer looking at his birth certificate. “I don’t think so,” he told the page. He picked the paper up from the floor and as soon as he looked at the page, the pain flashed through his skull like a scalpel. She could feel it cutting into him, trying to force him to accept that he had read the name and that everything was as it should be.

His eyes teared up through the pain but he continued to focus. He could see the lines of the form. He could see the typewritten letters that stated ‘mother’s name’ below a thick black line. His vision wavered and he could see a blurred out handwritten name on the line above. He focused all his attention on the line. Jamie felt his vision start to darken at the edges and felt himself falling forward as the pain caused him to black out.

Jamie came to, half sprawled across his bed, the pain no longer searing as he was not trying to look at the page. A headache was pounding fiercely behind his eyes as though a drummer was using his optical nerve for practice. For a few minutes Jamie lay looking at the ceiling.

“It has to be a spell of some sort,” Jamie decided. “Both on the wall and on the page.” He realized that what he knew about spells would fill a page much smaller than the one on which his birth certificate was printed.

“Although I did learn one thing,” he said, his voice a dry croak as he attempted to sit up. “Brute force, might not be the way to go.” His vision swam as he settled himself in a seated position and looked around. His birth certificate was on the floor. He bent to retrieve it and could feel the pain waiting, ready to begin round two.

“I’m just putting it away,” he said out loud. The feeling of eminent pain lessened as he folded the page and closed and locked the box. When he slid the box under the bed, the feeling dissipated as though whatever was protecting the name from being read was satisfied it had done its job.

“Well if a house can be sentient, why can’t a spell achieve job satisfaction,” he said to himself. He rubbed his aching temple. “I think I’m going to find some aspirin.” Jamie sighed. “Lesson learned, magic one, brute force, zero.” Jamie wondered if Albe’s journals were similarly warded and found himself less than eager to peruse their contents looking for his mother’s name.” Maybe I’ll just try giving Jim a call first.”

Keeper 2: Chapter 3

2013-10-08T11:55:00.004-07:00

Chapter 3

The overly elaborate phrasing of the book followed Jamie into sleep, phrases circling in his mind in a repetitive loop. They started to fade as he drifted into dreams. In his dreams he found himself standing at the open pocket door that divided the study from the library. He was facing the desk in the study.

Jamie scanned the study, somehow knowing it was a dream, but not quite a dream. There was a snap to the air, like an electric tingle of sorts. It reminded him of the basement jet before it sent him images of a long dead Keeper or dreams of Albe’s teachings that had been sequestered away and had finally worked their way to the surface of his mind. He frowned, thinking something was different though. He stepped into the study , his eyes drawn to the desk. On the surface of the desk he saw his notebook, complete with the list he had begun to make before Burr’s arrival.

“Why would my notebook show up in a dream of the past?” he mused. He blinked in surprise as he noticed an additional bullet point had been added to his list. “Study human magic,” had been added to the list, several books, listed alphabetically by author were placed below the bullet point. The handwriting was not his, but it looked oddly familiar.

“I don’ understand why you couldn’t just leave well enough alone,” Jamie heard a voice say. He turned in surprise to face the library. In the library, a fire was burning merrily in the grate and he could see the tumble of his sneakers where they lay forgotten beneath the chair he had been reading in earlier. Once again he had kicked them off as he read and abandoned them, despite reminding himself to be neater. He knew Del was his housekeeper but her felt strange about leaving a mess for the brownie.

The thick tome he had been attempting to plow through, was no longer on the side table where he had left it. That was not the only change, however. Sitting in the chair he favored was a man with neatly combed hair, mutton chop sideburns wearing an old fashioned suit. Or most of one anyway. His jacket was flded over the back of the chair and his sleeves had been rolled up to his fore arms. In one hand he held a brandy snifter, from which he would periodically sip.

Across from him sitting in what Jamie liked to think of as the guest chair, was a man similarly clothed. He was however clean shaven, with a head of hair that looked like it was beginning to thin. A pair of wire rimmed glasses was perched on his nose. His eyebrow was lifted as he stared at the other man.

“You know very well why I couldn’t just leave well enough alone, Edwin,” The spectacled man replied, neither man seeming to notice Jamie as he took a few steps towards them. As he neared, Jamie noticed that the man with the spectacles held the pretentious tome and was slowly flipping through the pages, occasionally leaving a marker behind as if to mark a passage. He shook his head in disgust. “Clearly this is the first time this book has ever been opened,” he told Edwin. “The pages are still clipped together from the printers. I can’t believe you didn’t at least look it over.”

Edwin smiled. “You know I find it pointless, Reginald.” Edwin took a sip of his brandy and then chuckled to myself. “I mean Reggie,” he said. Reginald looked up from the book.

“I find that name to be a bit too familiar,” Reginald replied stiffly. “And we’ll see how smug you are when the boy starts referring to you as Eddie.”

Edwin waved the comment off indulgently. “Times change, old friend. It will hardly affect my standing in the social pages,” Edwin replied. “Besides, we’re all family aren’t we? At least that’s what you keep reminding me.”

“Nice to hear you acknowledge it, although one would never have guessed from the state of the family tree now would we? One would, if so inclined, believe you were ashamed of the connection.” Reginald replied stiffly.

“Now Reginald,” Edwin began, his good humor fading. “You know why that was done. You know why it had to be done.”

Reginald sighed and looked back to the book. “Just as you know why this needs to be done.”

“The Keepers have no need to communicate with each other. Each functions independently. I see no need to bother learning to use the visilore. It is a waste of time.” Edwin replied somewhat crossly.

“In our time perhaps. But as you pointed out, Eddie, times change,” Reginald replied. Edwin acknowledged the point with a lift of his glass.

Jamie took another step closer. “I don’t suppose you would care to just tell me how to use the visilore?” Jamie asked. Neither man gave any sign that they heard him. “Hello?” Edwin continued to sip his brandy while Reginald continued to mark pages.

“You couldn’t have at least broken the corner connections to make me think you had bothered to read the book that is the culmination of my life’s work?” Reginald asked crossly. Jamie was now close enough to reach out and touch Edwin’s shoulder. He found himself unaccountably afraid. Goosebumps broke out on his arms and he fought the urge to rub them as he extended his hand forward. His hand passed straight through Edwin’s shoulder as though he were not even there. Jamie pulled his hand back quickly.

His hand felt icy and tingly as though he had spent far too long outside in the cold without gloves and was only now beginning to thaw. He rubbed his hand as his flesh warmed up and started to ache.

“I did quite well without magic of my own,” Edwin told Reginald, giving no indication that he had felt Jamie’s hand move through him at all. Jamie took a step back.

“But you had the magic of others to rely on,” Reginald pointed out, still marking random pages. “And while you didn’t need the…shall we say overt magic that is like my own, you have used the magic of your office often enough. I dare say if you had a larger degree of magic in your blood you would find some way to make it useful. You are quite adept at making excellent use of whatever tool comes to your hand.”

“My dear Reginald,” Edwin said with a laugh. “Was that actually a compliment?”

“Credit where credit is due,” Reginald replied, cracking a smile for the first time.

“Very well,” Edwin said. “I suppose giving the boy another tool he can use if the need strikes would not go amiss.”

“So glad you agree to see reason,” Reginald replied. “This time.”

Jamie blinked and realized that the two men were growing indistinct. Before, he could see the texture of their clothing and could almost smell the air cream Edwin used to slick his hair in place. To his eyes they looked solid and undeniably real. Now, he could nearly see through them. They were fading, even as he watched, slowly moving to shadows, even though he could still hear them good naturedly bickering over who saw reason and when. Their voices remained a moment after their images had faded, as though he were listening around a corner to two people walking away from him. Gradually even that died off and Jamie was left alone in the library. All at once the fire died out. Jamie shivered and woke, finding himself alone in his bed.

Jamie sat up in bed and looked around the room. He glanced at the clock and realized it was barely four in the morning. Normally that would be far too early for him to rise, but he knew he wasn’t going to be getting back to sleep any time soon. Resigned to the early start to the day, and still turning the not quite dream over in his mind, Jamie got up, took a quick shower and dressed in faded jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt. He slipped on a thick pair of woolen socks he found in his dresser drawer. The socks were unfamiliar to him but he had noticed that as the weather outside grew colder, more and more knitted items were appearing. Socks, scarves, gloves and sweaters had all started showing up in his dresser drawer. Del had looked uncommonly pleased whenever Jamie donned one of the new items so he didn’t question their arrival too closely.

Thus dressed, Jamie opened his door. Remembering previous early mornings, Jamie glanced down the hall before stepping out of his room. For a second, his eyes rested on the closed door to Albe’s bedroom. The door remained closed, no ominous sounds emanating from the room behind it. Jamie relaxed and stepped into the hall. He walked to the study, reminding himself that House’s defenses were all operational. While he mentally accepted this safety, the memory of the giant boulder splintering Albe’s bed still left him wary.

In the study, Jamie pressed the button for the lights and blinked in the sudden glare as they came to life. He looked around the room, noticing that nothing was out of place. He walked over to his desk and found his notebook had been closed. Jamie frowned, not able to remember if he had closed the notebook earlier or not. He reached out and flipped the pages to his makeshift to do list. There, just as he had seen in his dream, was the additional bullet point, complete with booklist below.

“Well that answers that,” Jamie said. “Not just a dream then.” He thought of the book Reginald had been marking and, notebook still in hand, he walked over to the library. The book was as he had left it, closed and sitting on the side table. However, even from where he stood a few feet away, Jamie could see various markers protruding from the closed book. He set his notebook down on the table and picked up the book. He opened it to the first marker and saw that on that page a few paragraphs seemed to glow as though they were highlighted with light rather than a pen. Unsurprisingly, he found a mention of the visilore in the first sentence of the highlighted text.

“Not exactly a subtle hint,” Jamie said. “But I suppose I know what I’ll be doing until breakfast at least.” Jamie took the book and his notebook back to the desk in the study. He opened the notebook to a fresh page, took a pen out of the drawer and began to make notes as he read through the marked passages.

Keeper 2: Chapter 2

2013-10-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Chapter 2

Jamie snagged another triangle sandwich and headed back to the study upstairs. He ate the sandwich as he walked and finished by the time he settled himself behind the desk. Jamie slid open one of the deep desk drawers and extracted a thick file from its depths. He set the thick file in the center of the blotter and opened it. Jamie had only made it about halfway through the inventory as he kept getting sidetracked by events. He figured that if he was lucky he might make it through the inventory about the same time he left the position of Keeper.

“And then the next Keeper can start again with checking things off,” Jamie told himself as he turned to the section dealing with the library. “It’s a vicious cycle. I wonder if anyone actually does make it through?” He found the library section and smiled.

For the first time, the fact that the books were listed alphabetically by author actually helped him out. As the books were grouped by category on the shelves, it had been more of an inconvenience than anything the last time he was searching for something. Jamie scanned down the long list of names, using his finger to keep track of the thin spidery handwriting. The black ink had faded to sepia tones and was hard to read in places. As charming as the hand written inventory was, he suspected it might fall to him to have the entire thing typed up. Parts of it were nearly illegible.

“Hayes, Howard, Huffington, Ha,” Jamie said in triumph. “Huffington comma Reginald Foster.” He read aloud. The name was listed twice. Huffington, Reginald Foster, Jr. was listed and his name was followed by Reginald the fourth.

“Apparently Reggie three didn’t feel the need to write a book, or Albe didn’t see the need to keep it.” Jamie slid his finger to the side reading the title written by Reggie IV. “The Art and Science of Distance Communication and the Practical Application of Mechanical, Esoteric and Alchemical Means in Both the Ancient and Modern realms.” Jamie let out a low whistle. “Sounds like fun. At least Burr got the distance and communication right.” Jamie looked up from the inventory and at the shelves.

“If I were a pretentiously titled book written by a pretentiously titled man where would I be?” He couldn’t recall seeing any section of the library dealing with transportation or communication. Jamie stood up from his desk and began to walk around the room looking for titles that looked like they might be in a similar category or bear the name Huffington on the spine. He doubted the title would even fit on a book spine. Jamie walked around the room, looking at all of the books that were eye level or lower. When he had completed the circuit he climbed a few steps up on the ladder so that he could look at the upper shelves. Both the Library and study had sixteen foot high ceilings and book cases that reached them.

The book wasn’t in the study so he moved to the library to continue his quest. He had only had to search a few shelves before he found it. The large tome had been shoved into a corner as if whoever had put it there had hoped it would be forgotten. Jamie almost passed it over as it had nothing written on its spine. He pulled it from the shelf just in case and found it was the book he was searching for. With a sense of accomplishment Jamie took it to his favorite reading chair and set it on the side table. It felt more like a doorstop than a book and he hoped desperately that there was an index of some sort.

The wood and kindling was already laid for a fire and all Jamie had to do was strike one of the long matches and set the kindling ablaze. This he swiftly did as he realized that the room had grown chill as the world outside moved further into evening. As the kindling caught and began to lick flames over the well placed logs, Jamie wondered when Del had managed to scoop the ashes out of the grate and set the logs just so. Jamie could have sworn that the fireplace contained only the cold ashes from the night before when he went down to meet with Burr. As Jamie settled himself into his reading chair, Del appeared in the doorway. This time it wasn’t to announce an unexpected visitor, but to bring him a large mug of rich hot chocolate and a plate of shortbread cookies.

“I figured it was about that time,” Del said placing the cookies and mug on the table next to the chair. Jamie had lived all of his life more or less catching food on the run, a burger here, a bowl of cereal there and a freezer full of microwavable products to fill in the gaps. While the position of Keeper had many drawbacks, the food certainly wasn’t one of them. It had taken very little time for him to grow to love the made from scratch meals. He was certain that Del’s hot chocolate should be classified as an addictive substance.

“Am I that predictable?” Jamie asked with a smile.

“Not in everything,” Del assured him. The little man noticed the heavy book Jamie’s hands. “That seems quite substantial.” Jamie turned the book over so the title was facing up.

“Burr recommended it when I asked about the visilore.”

“That’s that hoop thing to contact other Keepers?”

“Yup,” Jamie confirmed. “Just a little light reading before bed.”

“The Art and Science of Distance Communication and the Practical Application of Mechanical, Esoteric and Alchemical Means in Both the Ancient and Modern Realms.” Del read the title and shuddered. “Better you than me.”

“Thanks.” Del left him with his book and Jamie took a tentative sip of his hot chocolate before opening the book. The drink was still too hot to drink and Jamie licked the whipped cream from his lip and set it back down on the table. He opened the book and heard the old leather crack a little. He winced at the sound and wondered when the book had been printed. A glance at the flyleaf told him it was 1822. Above the date was scrawled a note.

“To my dear friend Dr. Edwin Fulton, I offer this humble tome for your collection.” Jamie read. “Well perhaps I misjudged Reggie, perhaps he wasn’t as pretentious as it seems.” he said. Jamie looked for an index in the back and found none. There was likewise no table of contents. He turned to the introduction hoping it would provide some sort of guidance.

The introduction was written in the same pretentious style as the title. He sighed. Jamie promised himself a cookie if he could make it through the introduction. Halfway through his eyes started to cross and he had to force himself to stay focused. He took some amusement in the fact that the corner edges of some of the pages were still attached to each other proving that he had made it further into the tome than Dr. Edwin Fulton ever had. Finally, he made it through the introduction, without learning much, and bit into his shortbread with a sense of triumph.

“Apparently at some point Reggie managed to eat a thesaurus, found he didn’t like it and spit it back up on some conveniently placed pages,” Jamie muttered as he finished his cookie. He took a sip of his drink and with a sigh started in on chapter one. Twenty pages in, all of Jamie’s cookies were gone and his mug was empty. He was also having a hard time keeping his eyes open. Jamie noticed the fire was dying down and he stood, stretched and began to add more wood. Soon the blaze was once again high. Jamie settled back down into his chair.

“Perhaps a different approach,” Jamie said to himself, knowing that he was not going to be able to read through too many more pages without deciding to use the tome as a doorstop. He quickly flipped through the pages looking for the word visilore. He read the first couple of paragraphs of the first page of each chapter to get a sense of it before moving on. In chapter twenty five, close to the middle of the book, Jamie found what he was looking for and sighed with relief. Slowly, Jamie began to work his way through the chapter.

The fire crackled and began to die down again. The words began to blur and Jamie lost the sense of them. Admitting defeat, Jamie placed a marker in the book, closed it and set it to the side. The mug and plate were gone and Jamie couldn’t remember if Del had come to retrieve them or not. If he had then Jamie had certainly not heard him and he didn’t think that good old Reggie was engrossing enough for him to miss the opportunity to take a break from his self-appointed task. He shook his head and stood. Jamie rubbed a hand over his tired eyes and let it fall back to his side as he began to walk to his room.

Apparently the directions enclosed with the visilore were only a part of the instructions. If he was reading the Huffington book correctly the visilore could do so much more. As Burr had mentioned the visilore was capable of acting as a portal. So far though Jamie had only found references to stepping though, not of coming back. Finding himself stranded in some other Keeper’s house was not high on his list of things to do on a Tuesday.

“I don’t even know where the other Keeper’s houses are,” Jamie said as he sat down on his bed and began to unlace his sneakers. He let them fall to the floor, dropping each onto the carpet with a dull thud. The idea of starting back in on the Huffington book first thing in the morning made him frown. “Maybe I could start by looking into finding out where the other Keepers are located first. Jamie let his clothes fall into a small pile and he climbed into bed wearing only his boxers. The idea of looking for a map sounded much better than reading more of the dry book.

“And I even know where to look,” Jamie though t as he snuggled beneath the blanket. Albe had long ago converted the dining room into a map room. “If there is a map of Keeper’s houses, there is a good bet that it is there.” With the happy thought of searching Albe’s maps running through his head, Jamie drifted off to sleep.

Keeper 2: Chapter 1

2013-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, thanks for putting up with the long delay. I'm getting back to posting the second book in the Keeper series, (still without a title, hence the Keeper 2). I know I posted the first couple of chapters a while back, but it was a while back and I did make some changes. So rather than make anyone sort through old posts to catch up, I am starting back with chapter 1.(as I think only 2 chapters were posted it shouldn't be too much of a delay in getting new stuff out.) v

Chapter 1

Jamie stared at the books lining the walls of the study. He shifted his eyes to stare out of the study and into the library proper. After a few minutes of silent contemplation, Jamie looked down at the legal pad he had placed on top of the desk. The problems currently on his plate were listed as bullet points.

The first item on the list simply said faux human. While investigating the death of Albrecht Fulton, Jamie’s great uncle and former Keeper of the Crossroads, he had come across a goblin like creature wearing a skin suit that made him appear to be human. He had run from the house, upon learning that Jamie had not died in the night as expected and once tracked down was found dead, his human skin split open to reveal a goblin with clan markings no one had seen before.

None of the goblin tribes would admit to recognizing either him or the tribal markings. Later Jamie and Del, his brownie housekeeper, had come across a lab of sorts in one of the abandoned out buildings left from the days when the house had functioned more as a farm. The lab contained a vat where they suspected the human suit was grown. The contents were still being analyzed.

Currently Jamie was trying to figure out where to start his investigations. The information he knew about goblins amounted to, green with scales and not fond of sunlight. The amount he knew about vats where a human suit could be grown amounted to even less.

“Or maybe that’s trolls,” Jamie said to himself. Jamie shook his head. “Apparently general goblin information wouldn’t be a bad idea.” He wasn’t quite sure if the library contained a book on goblins. He picked up a pen and scrawled ‘look into goblins’ as a notation under the faux human heading. He added ‘chemical components’ underneath that.

The High Talbot who acted as the clearing house for those of the Fae who wanted to work on the human side of the crossroads had promised to deliver the list of ingredients from the vat as well as a list of folks who had applied for permits for any of the chemicals used.

Jamie did not know if any of the chemicals were common or if they were special. He had mental visions of questioning thousands of research scientists and then found himself wondering if the Fae had research scientists or Universities or large scale pharmaceutical facilities. Images of fae wearing taped up glasses and pocket protectors danced through his mind. The thought made his head hurt.

“Besides,” he said. “I would rather not start out with accusatory interviews.” Jamie tapped his pencil on the notepad, the eraser making a slightly hollow sound as it thumped down. Below the mentioned chemicals, Jamie scrawled first ‘Fairy Queen’ and then ‘Levas’.

Jamie leaned back feeling rather proud of himself for his list. The fairy Queen, Genivia by name, had given him the information leading him to the abandoned lab in the first place. Although he had also found evidence of the Brotherhood of Shadows on that visit to the woods and he thought that might be what she had wanted him to see. In an effort to overthrow Queen Genivia’s rule, a rebel faction had sided with the Brotherhood and tried to kidnap Jamie. He had escaped and the Queen’s forces triumphed. He wondered if that cut him some leeway with the Queen.

“I doubt I could summon her to an interview,” Jamie mused. Somehow summoning royalty didn’t seem like something that would go over well. He imagined there would be a raised eyebrow and dismissive laughter.

“Maybe I could invite her to tea?” He thought that might be a better plan anyway as she had taken great pains to hide the fact that she had given him the information about the woods in the first place. Jamie scrawled ‘tea’ next to queen.

Levas might be a different matter. When Albe died, he left Jamie the position of Keeper and a book that resembled a field guide to the world of the Fae. One of the drawings in the book was for a tomte or nisse named Levas who had once worked on the property when it was a working farm. When Jamie took up residency in the house one of the calling cards left behind was from Levas. With all of the activity that followed, Jamie had little time for social niceties.

“House,” Jamie said aloud, addressing the somewhat sentient building around him.

“Yes Keeper,” Came the reply. As always the voice was strangely androgynous with a slight wisp of an English accent around the edges.

“There was a calling card left by Levas. It had only his name, but no contact information. Do you know how to contact him? Or really any of the people on the cards?” Unlike business cards, calling cards held only names and not contact information.

“Yes Keeper,” Came the reply.

“How would I contact them,” Jamie asked realizing he had not expressed the full question. House had the tendency to take questions at face value and not expand until prompted.

“You would ask me to send a message.” House said.

“Ah,” Jamie said. “Would I have to write them down, like when I ordered books or would this be like when you sent a message to the High Talbot requesting a meeting?”

“That would depend,” House replied. “Are you inviting them to a specific event or not? A specific event requires an invitation.”

“I don’t have a specific event in mind,” Jamie said. “I would just like to speak to each of them. Over tea perhaps.”

“Should I send a message asking when they might be available to join you for tea?”

“Yes,” Jamie replied. “Separately, though, not together. I don’t want them all at the same tea.” He had visions of a grand tea party orchestrated by House with him as the Mad Hatter and shook his head.

“Yes Keeper,” House replied.

“Thank you.” Jamie felt pleased, as though he had actually started to make some progress. He decided to move on to the second bullet point. It was simply labeled Michael. Jamie frowned. Michael was his brother, or that is what he had grown up believing. Step-brother would be a more accurate term as his older brother had been around two and he had been a babe in arms when Jamie’s father Rudy had married Bella. Jamie scrawled the word Mother under the heading. Jamie had always believed that Bella was his mother and had never been given any reason to doubt that. There were no pictures of another woman or paperwork saying otherwise.

“Did she die?” he wondered. Perhaps she had just walked away. Jamie didn’t know enough to begin asking. Rudy had been close to Albe as well and Jamie wondered if any of the old man’s journals mentioned Jamie’s mother. So far he had searched through the older journals located in the house, but had not scanned the more recent ones that Albe left behind. Somehow it felt more like snooping than research. Jamie put journals on the list next to mother.

“Of course that’s not the big issue,” Jamie told himself. While finding out about his mother was something he thought important. Michael was still the main issue. A while back Michael had tried to break into the house. He wanted to sell the land to developers and Bella wanted to sell the contents of the house to the highest bidder. They each had dollar signs in their eyes and had taken Jamie’s refusal to sell with ill grace.

On one of Michael’s solo trips, he had been bitten or scratched by something and now seemed irresistibly drawn to the property. Jamie had found him wandering the woods in a daze shortly before Albe’s funeral as though something had called him there. Jamie wrote video footage on the list. Several of Michael’s arrivals at the gate had been filmed and while they hadn’t yielded much information before, he thought another look couldn’t hurt.

Jamie tapped his pencil on the tablet and decided to move on. He wasn’t sure what to add to the list and dealing with Michael was never really high on his list of priorities. “Perhaps it will go away on its own,” Jamie suggested. He didn’t have much hope for that outcome, but at the same time still couldn’t think of what else to add.

Moving down the list Jamie came to the next bullet point. “Other Keepers,” Jamie read aloud. He had recently found out that he was not the only Keeper of the Crossroads. There was apparently an entire world wide network to watch over the interaction between the world of the humans and the world of the Fae. The Crossroads were where the two worlds intersected and where people could pass from one to the other.

While Jamie was glad he was not the only Keeper and the only thing stopping a bad interaction from occurring; He had never met the others and was curious to do so. He knew that the Keepers occasionally interacted and he thought the sharing of information might be a good thing. He had even found an object listed in the inventory as a visilore that was supposed to facilitate communication with the other Keepers. Thus far he had been unable to get it to work.

“And I could definitely use a sit down with the other Keepers,” he said. He wasn’t quite sure if there was a news network among the Keepers but the week before his Crossroads had thwarted a massive attack and he figured that was certainly news worthy if nothing else. “I have the feeling I’d have to explain what went down before asking for help with anything else.” As unpleasant as he thought that conversation might be, he was willing to risk it.

“It would be nice just to know I’m not alone in this.” He shook the thought away and turned back to his list. Before Jamie could add anything more to his list Del, his housekeeper stepped into the doorway. The small man stood about chest high to Jamie, but as Jamie had found out, he was incredibly strong. He had curly brown hair and a tanned and somewhat leathery face. His cheeks were often apple red.

Del normally dressed in a plain pair of brown canvas pants and an off white linen-like shirt that Jamie was fairly certain was called homespun. When traveling the brownie liked to dress nicely and had an eye popping purple suit complete with purple snake skin shoes and a large brim purple hat with a long trailing feather. That combined with the fact that Del was actual short for Delta Harmony, the name he had chosen to be called by humans always made Jamie smile. Tonight Del was wearing his plain brown working clothes.

“Please excuse the interruption, but Burr Alverson has just popped in to see you,” Del said.

“Oh,” Jamie replied, pushing to his feet and running a hand through his hair. “Please show him into the parlor and let him know I will be right down. Offer him refreshments or something.” Del smiled and gave a half nod as he turned and went back downstairs.

Jamie knew that Del held Burr in the highest regard and would do whatever was proper. Jamie wondered where he had kicked off his shoes. There was a hole coming out in the toe of his right sock and Jamie didn’t think that set the right level of appropriateness. Jamie found his shoes lurking by the fireplace and remembered he had kicked them off there the night before while reading. He sat in his fireside reading chair and began to put them on.

“I wonder why he is here?” Jamie asked himself. He knew the question was pointless as he would find out once he went downstairs, but he was still curious. Burr was one of the architects who had designed House and helped make it a sentient structure. When House’s defenses had gone on the fritz through tampering, the Fae architect had taken the tampering personally. Apparently he did not approve of people fiddling with his work. Jamie finished tying his laces and stood. He brushed down his shirt in case any crumbs still clung to the fabric and went downstairs.

In the parlor, Jamie found Del wheeling a tea cart in front of the seating area. How he had managed to assemble a teapot full of piping hot tea and several plates of assorted sandwiches and pastries was a mystery that Jamie figured involved some aspect of brownie magic. In his short time as Keeper, he had learned that questioning things like that was not a good idea.

“Good evening,” Jamie said entering the room. Burr started to rise, but Jamie waved him back into his seat. “This is a nice surprise.” Jamie took the available seat as Del poured two cups of tea and handed one to Burr and one to Jamie. Until taking up residency at the House of the Keeper, Jamie had thought of tea as something to be given to sick people propped up in bed with runny noses. In the few weeks he had come to live here, Jamie had managed to consume more of the stuff than he had in his entire lifetime. He couldn’t say he was developing a fondness for it, but he had to admit it was nice to be holding a cup of something warm while the November wind howled around the house and through the woods.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Jamie asked. Burr smiled.

“I thought that as things have settled down a bit I might have another look around to make sure everything is functioning properly.” Jamie nodded.

“Of course,” he said. Jamie glanced towards one of the windows. While the sky was gray and looked like it wanted to become night soon, there was still a little daylight left. “Would you like to look before it becomes dark?”

“That would be best,” Burr said. He downed his tea in one long drought and picked up a sandwich. The small triangle disappeared in three bites and Jamie smiled. Burr had drunk and eaten of the offerings of Jamie’s table and by Fae custom could not offer him any harm while on the premises. It was a custom Jamie appreciated, and the reason for his consumption of so much tea. Jamie took a healthy swig of his own tea but was unable to get the hot liquid down as well as Burr had. He set the half empty cup down.

“Where would you like to start?” Jamie asked.

“Outside first, before the light fails, and then to the basement, I think that should cover it.” Burr replied. Both men stood and Del retrieved their coats for them. Jamie slipped the warm garment over his shoulders and shoved his arms in the sleeves. He led Burr back to the front door and they stepped out onto the porch.

From there Jamie followed as Burr poked and prodded first the defensive perimeter and then the foundation of the house. Jamie saw runes light up and fade away as Burr worked. They flared a blue-ish color and then faded back to black lines carved into the stone on which they were placed. Some of the stones were placed in the yard, near the perimeter and others were a part of House’s foundation.

“Is the blue good?” Jamie asked. Burr looked at him, somewhat startled by the question. Despite the coat, Jamie’s ears were getting cold and he wished he had grabbed a hat before leaving the house. “Sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Oh no, that’s not it,” Burr said, “It’s just that most folks can’t see them at all.” Burr pointed to a rune carved on one of the foundation stones. “What do you see there?”

“It’s a symbol carved in the rock and stained black,” Jamie replied. “Do you want me to describe its shape?”

“No, I don’t think that will be necessary.” Burr turned back to the stone and made movements with his hands as though conducting an orchestra. There was a low humming sound and then the symbol flared blue and appeared to float off of the stone. “And now what do you see?” Jamie told him and asked about the humming.

“Interesting,” Burr said. He gestured towards the stone and the symbol faded back to black. “That was the last of the outside ones,” he told Jamie. “We ought to get inside and check the others, but I think they should be fine.” They turned and started walking back to the front door. The light had faded and shadows covered the world. The woods were a dark blur.

“Yes, the blue is a good color,” Burr said, answering Jamie’s original question. “It’s when they glow red or don’t glow at all that you have to worry.”

“Okay,” Jamie said. He followed Burr back inside and they went to the basement. The basement had been part of the previous house and Jamie found that when he spoke inside the basement, his voice triggered the former House’s memories and he was treated to a recorded event that had taken place inside. The basement seemed to be waiting for him to speak. It was not as insistent as it had been the last time, but Jamie did not want to risk seeing anything tonight. Watching centuries old events take place before his eyes was one thing and he didn’t mind sharing them with Del as he fully trusted the little man. But Burr was an outsider and as much as he trusted him, Jamie found there was a limit to that trust.

Burr checked the similar runic markings placed throughout the basement. Each one flared blue and Burr seemed satisfied. Jamie kept quiet while he worked. If Burr noticed the waiting tension, he made no comment. Jamie wondered if he could. Del certainly hadn’t been able to feel it.

Finally, Burr was satisfied and the two of them left the basement. Jamie locked the door behind them and led Burr back to the parlor. Del once again took their coats and Jamie was pleased to see that despite the two hours it had taken to search the perimeter and both the exterior and interior of the foundation, the tea was still piping hot. Jamie poured Burr a cup and the architect took it gratefully. Jamie poured his own mug and felt the warmth sinking into the bones of his fingers. He sighed as his body warmed.

“I am pleased that nothing has disturbed the protections placed on the house,” Burr said. He reached for a triangle of sandwich. This time he ate it slowly since he was not trying to prove his worthiness quickly. Jamie reached for his own sandwich.

“That is very good to hear,” he replied. As the last time the protections were compromised a large boulder had fallen from the ceiling and crushed Albe’s bed to splinters, Jamie was relieved on multiple levels. He still couldn’t bring himself to move into the room that he still thought of as Albe’s but he didn’t think anyone needed to know that. They ate in silence for a few moments.

“Tell me,” You don’t happen to know anything about visilores do you?” Jamie asked, realizing Burr might just be the person to get his working. Burr frowned.

“Visilores? Sounds familiar but I can’t quite place it.”

“They are supposed to allow Keepers to talk to each other.”

“Oh,” Burr said nodding. “I have heard of something like that, but it is human magic, not Fae.”

“Oh,” Jamie said with a frown. “I can’t seem to get it to work.”

“Hmmm,” Burr said thoughtfully as he sipped his tea. “Did you try to communicate with someone or did you try moving through it?”

“I didn’t know you could move through it,” Jamie said with surprise. “I just tried to use it like a telephone.”

Burr chuckled. “But even a telephone requires that there be a phone on the other end for someone to pick up. The visilore at the location you were trying to reach could be broken or inactive or lost to time. These things happen. As I understand it they are designed in such a way as to let you step through them so that you could go to the other Keeper’s house even if they do not have a visilore that is active.”

“Really?” Jamie said. “That would be handy.” Burr appeared to be in thought.

“There was a book…” Burr said thoughtfully. His voice faltered as he thought and then he shook his head. “After a few hundred years of life, things start to blur in the memory,” He told Jamie. “Let’s see, the title had the words Distance and Communication in it, but I can’t remember what else. It was one of those long and overly pretentious titles. Rather like the author. Hmmm.” Burr drifted into thought again for a few minutes while Jamie sipped his tea. His ears were starting to warm up and they felt itchy. Since he normally couldn’t feel his ears it was an odd sensation and he resisted the urge to rub them.

“Reginald Foster Huffington IV,” Burr pronounced finally. “That was his name. Can you imagine four people stuck with that name? Humans are such odd creatures sometimes.”

Jamie smiled. He supposed that to people who lived for several hundreds of years without aging a day once they hit adulthood, the concept of passing down a name would seem very peculiar.

“If it’s any help, I doubt all four of them were ever in the same room,” Jamie told him.

“I certainly hope not,” Burr told him. Burr finished his tea and stood. “I had best get going. Snow is on the way and I’d like to get home before it starts to fall.”

“Of course,” Jamie said. “And thank you for checking on House for me.” Burr slid back into the coat Del brought him.

“Can’t have the Keeper’s house on the fritz,” he said as he opened the front door. “What would people think? I’ve got a reputation to uphold you know.”

“Of course,” Jamie said with a smile, knowing how personally Del took the tampering. “Have a good night and a safe journey home.” Burr left and Jamie closed the door behind him.

“Reginald Foster Huffington IV,” Jamie repeated to himself. “I wonder if your book is on my shelves.” Jamie decided it might be a good idea to look.

book sale and new posting announcement

2013-07-15T13:57:00.002-07:00

Hi everyone, Smashwords is having their annual summer sale. From now until July 31st all of my books are either half price or free. Just go to www.smashwords.com and look up Valerie Gaumont. It will let you know the sale price. And for all of those who have sent questions and encouragement, thanks, I will start posting again Starting Tuesday October 1st. Thanks v

Keeper of the Crossroads

2013-05-24T09:21:00.003-07:00

I know it took a long time to get out but Keeper of the Crossroads is now up on Smashwords and will soon be available on Amazon (both paperback and Kindle, just give it a couple of days) Woot! val

Skyside now available!

2013-05-17T16:30:00.001-07:00

I know finally right? anyway Skyside is now available on Smashwords. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/317294 It will be available on Amazon in about 24 hrs. Woo hoo. Thanks everyone for your patience and encouragement. val