Only now did I notice Emily’s attire. She had picked up some clothes in Brasshaven to blend in better. She looked like a Gothic Saloon girl, with a predominantly black dress that went down to just above her knees and had white accents. This was also the first time I had seen her wearing a dress that exposed cleavage. Though I had seen her use corsets before.
“So…” I sighed, “what did you find out in Brasshaven?”
She sipped her hot chocolate and nodded before answering, “A lot. It took me a few days before I got any leads, but I found some interesting stuff. Turns out Alabaster used his silver tongue to make some powerful friends in Brasshaven already.”
“Really? How’d you find that out?”
“I figured he would stab right at the upper echelons of society so that’s where I made sure to look. I went to a few social events and saw him there. Don’t worry, I made sure he didn’t see me. Turns out he made good with a young wealthy entrepreneur named Clint Bower. He’s using him to finance something big, but I haven’t figured out what yet. But you’re really not gonna believe who he introduced Clint to at a party two nights ago.”
“Who?”
“Do you remember in your father’s journal, the entry about the Neo-Techno Empire and the Devil’s right hand man? The General of the mechanical infantry?”
“Of course. The robo guy that Higgins blasted with a stick of dynamite.”
“Kaiser Roboto,” she reminded, “well, he’s not dead. Somehow, he survived and clawed his way out of that foundry. He replaced what organic parts he had left and is so much of a machine himself now that there may not be anything left of the original man in there at all.”
“So, Alabaster teamed up with him and is getting some spoiled rich kid to finance some dastardly plan of theirs? Great!”
“Yes, but I don’t know what it is exactly they’re doing or where their hideout is yet. I was going to try and get closer to Bower when I saw you signaled me with the stone. I think we should move quickly to continue our investigation. Surely one of Alabaster’s men tried to come check on the other guy by now and has reported to him that the stone was missing. If he tries again, the stone will be back on the other side, and they can pass through again.”
“I agree. But we should make sure Anabel is safe before we go.”
Anabel looked up from her cocoa with despair still washed over her face. I wasn’t used to seeing such a lasting frown. We couldn’t leave her here alone, especially not with Stephanie’s body right there in the basement.
“Anabel,” I said, as I approached her and got down on one knee in front of where she sat, “we’re gonna keep you safe. I think we should take you back to Bristol and have you stay with Thomas and Benjamin until we take care of this mess. Can you handle that?”
She closed her eyes as fresh tears rolled down her face but she nodded slightly.
“One more thing,” Emily added, “I brought a suitcase full of clothes back. Suits for all three of you. I got a Lady Explorer’s suit for Arduwan since I knew she wouldn’t want anything
frilly like this.”
“Aww, thanks, Emily,” said Arduwan.
“No problem. I’ve got us rooms booked at a local Boutique Hotel in Brasshaven also.
That’s where I’ve been staying. It’s a nice place, but expensive so I could only get two rooms. They’re on different floors as well. It’s best if we travel as two married couples to keep as much attention off of us as possible.”
“Yes!” Wraith piped up.
“Calm down, Wraith. Arduwan can’t sleep on mattresses. So it’s not like anything is gonna happen,” I scolded.
He looked so disappointed.
Emily continued, “I need one thing before we go. Can I have a couple of those gold coins you brought back from Callist? It’ll make things easier if I can sell them to pay for anything else we might need. I only have a few tokens of the local currency left.”
She reached into her purse and pulled out some of the money.
“They’re called cogs. Aren’t they cute,” she said, as she showed them around.
“Hang on a minute,” I interrupted, “how have you been paying for things up until now anyway? New clothes, hotel, food, hoity toity social gatherings.”
“I took a job not long after I arrived,” she replied.
“What kinda job?”
“An escorting job.”
*SPLOOOSH!*
Wraith spit his hot chocolate everywhere.
“What?!” I shouted.
“Don’t worry…I didn't screw anybody if that's what you’re thinking. It’s actually a legit profession with a high demand in that world.”
“So, what did you do then?” I asked, fearing an equally lewd of a response as ‘screwing’.
Emily shrugged and replied, “went on a few coffee dates. Played arm candy at a couple of events. I met a lot of people doing that. It’s how I ran into Alabaster. So it was like killing two birds with one stone.”
I was leery but Emily certainly knew her stuff. The results spoke for themselves. In just over a week, she managed to find all this info from a world she’d never been to and brought back disguises for us.
“Alright. I’m gonna take Anabel to Bristol. We’ll leave once I get back. Arduwan, do me a favor and bury the stone for Bristol in the garden after I go down. If we fail…I don’t wanna make it easy for anyone to get to Anabel.”
“Right!” she acknowledged with a fist pump.
I went over and took Anabel by the hand. She got up in a weakened state. Not from anything physical, but from her broken spirit. We made our way downstairs and towards the well. She made a glance towards the open door to Higgins' old room, knowing Stephanie’s body lay in there. I kept her moving and we made our way down the well.
On the other side, the two minutemen guards quickly helped Anabel up out of the well and then lended me a hand as well. They took us to Benjamin’s house nearby.
“Eric! What brings you back here, my boy?” he asked.
“I don’t have a lot of time to explain. The only thing I can tell you right now is that my allies and I are fighting a great evil from another world. I need you to keep Anabel safe for the time being. Can I count on that?”
“Of course,” he said, as he let her into his home.
“Before I go,” I lowered my voice to a whisper, “step outside with me for a moment.” He obliged and shut the door behind him.
“Listen,” I said, “Anabel has been through a lot in a short time. I’m really worried about her. Make sure she doesn’t do anything to hurt herself.”
“Yes. I can do that,” he replied.
“One other thing…there’s an exceptionally high probability I won’t come back. Can you hide the stone in the well, so she doesn’t find it? I’m doing the same with the stone on my side of the well. If I don’t come back in say, a month's time, I’m probably dead.”
“My god, Eric. Is it really this serious?”
“It is. One of the Seven Devils has become a world walker and allied himself with a former cohort of a Devil that my father and Higgin’s battled for nearly a decade. If we don’t find a way to stop them, I’m afraid he will spread terror to other realms.”
“I understand. Don’t worry about the girl. I’ll see she’s cared for.”
“Thank you. It’s probably best if I don't even go inside to say goodbye. She might try to talk me out of going.”
And with that, I turned to leave. My eyes filled with tears once again as I walked through the snow towards the well, unsure if I’d ever see Anabel again. But at least she was alive and would be safe here in her homeworld.
* * *
Back at the mansion, Wraith was walking around in his new outfit that Emily bought for him.
“Check out these duds, man!” he exclaimed.
It was a sharp, navy blue, old fashioned suit. Very reminiscent of what Higgins used to wear. Wraith seemed to like it. Just then Arduwan and Emily came out of the downstairs bathroom.
“Look at me, Eric! See! I can blend in at other places,” said Arduwan, who I’m sure was tired of occasionally getting left behind.
She had tan slacks on that were held up by black suspenders. For a top she wore a tucked in white dress shirt. Emily was following behind her trying to put on a matching tan jacket and fedora.
“Haha! Yeah, that’s pretty snazzy for a princess,” I joked, “love the hat.”
“Don’t worry,” Emily added, ”I’ve got a bowler hat for you and a top hat for Wraith.”
“Oh great. Can’t wait to try my stuff on.”
I went into the bathroom and found the clothes she got for me hanging up. It was a similarly styled suit to Wraiths except mine was black. Wasn’t the most comfortable but we certainly were going to blend in.
I came out of the bathroom and said, “Not bad. Wish I’d have gotten navy blue like yours though Wraith. Or maybe maroon.”
Emily crossed her arms and huffed, “Errr.”
“What? It’s fine! I swear. I like it.”
She had a look of discontent and waited for the others to be distracted before she discreetly said to me, “I picked black, because I wanted you to match me.”
“Oh…Oh, I see…,” I replied, unable to think of what to say to that.
Afterwards, we decided to take a quick nap since we had been running on fumes with all the world walking the four of us had been doing. We really needed to hit the ground running in Brasshaven once we got there so we could stay on top of Emily’s findings.
When we finally did go through the well, we came out at the base of a waterfall. All around us was the clattering sound of wooden water wheels. They must have been used for hydropower generation. I could see a relay station on a cliff and cables heading towards what must’ve been Brasshaven.
We were cautious coming up out of the water. There was a high probability that one of Alabaster’s men was waiting for someone to come out since it had been over ten days since we eliminated the assassin he left for us back at my mansion. I was certain that they had attempted to go search for him, only to find that Emily had taken the stone away from the waterfall.
We dried ourselves off and Emily got our bearings for us. This wooded area was about five miles outside of Brasshaven, opposite of the desert area mentioned in my fathers journal where the final showdown with the Neo-Techno Empire went down, nearly twenty years ago. She decided to bring the stone with us to the hotel she had rented. No sense in letting them world walk easily. They’d have to kill us to get the stone now.
As we walked along the path towards the city we discussed what our course of action would be.
“Let’s get Arduwan and Wraith checked into the room I reserved for them and drop our things off first,” Emily said, “afterwards I’ll show you all around town.”
“Any clue where Alabaster is staying?” I asked.
Before Emily could respond, Wraith said, “ooh, I like what you’re getting at. Let’s just smoke this guy quickly. He won’t see what’s coming and we can be back to our room before sundown. Ya know, Arduwan, you still owe me a replacement reward for that date we talked about?”
“I haven’t forgotten,” Arduwan said, completely oblivious to what he was referring to. “What’s he talking about, Eric?” Emily asked.
“Don’t worry about it. He’s just being Wraith,” I murmured to her before saying aloud, “not so fast. You don’t know how slick this guy can be. There’s a high chance he knows we’ll be coming for him and we don’t know what he’s got in store for us. We’ll move swiftly, but I want Emily to take the lead on what we decide to do since she knows what's going on around here.”
