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[Lord of the Mysteries] For the Ones We Left Behind 7/15 (5198 words)
Title: For the Ones We Left Behind 7/15
Fandom: Lord of the Mysteries
Character/Pairing(s): Audrey Hall, Leonard Mitchell, Melissa Moretti, Benson Moretti, Klein Moretti, Xio Derecha, Fors Wall
Rating: PG-13
Warning: none?
Summary: MI9 catches Benson Moretti, and end up with more than they expect.
Just lie, Pallez suggested dryly. They won’t know the difference.
Leonard wanted to wail. How could he lie to Klein’s siblings? But how could he tell them the truth!?
He alternated between holding his still tender ribs and knocking his palm against the side of his head in thought as he paced restlessly between the shadow of two trees, a few metres away from the rest of the group who were now huddled around the small fire Xio built for light and warmth.
But Leonard was a Beyonder of the Sleepless pathway, and the darker the night, the more comforted he was. He didn’t need light to see clearly in the dark, and he wouldn’t trip over anything on the forest floor during the night.
With his heightened senses, he could hear Miss Justice’s reassurances from the group at the fire as she told Benson and Melissa, “The one who made the pendant must have loved you very much. It’s not powerful, but the strength of it is steady— like a warm flame.”
The words only made Leonard feel guiltier, because he could at least explain to them: of course it isn’t powerful! Klein had likely been a sequence nine or eight when he made it!
Instead, he stomped harder in his pacing.
There’s no use in getting worked up over this, Pallez continued to lecture. You either tell a lie or you tell the truth. Or you say nothing at all, and let them come up with their own version of the truth. Two options, three at most. If there’s no one option better than another, then they are all equally correct choices.
That sounded like a lie! Leonard was sure he wasn’t in a situation where he could claim anything he did would be the best option, because every choice he could make felt like the wrong option!
He shouldn’t be the one here to explain these things!
Blame your former coworker if you want to blame anyone, Pallez dismissed. Why not ask him what he wants you to do, if you’re going to worry like this?
Leonard paused in his pacing.
That was a good idea! The best one yet! He would ask Mr. Fool to convey his message to Klein, and then get Klein to answer with what Leonard should say!
He sat down on an exposed root and shut his eyes in prayer. The Fool who doesn’t belong to this era, The mysterious ruler above—
He barely got halfway through the honorary name before he was pulled into the grey fog, sitting at his usual seat at Mr. Fool’s table. Leonard looked around, but didn’t see Mr. Fool at the head as usual, but instead saw Klein, still in the guise of Gehrman Sparrow, sitting at the opposite end where The World normally sat.
For once, Gehrman Sparrow looked impatient and anxious, much like how Leonard supposed Klein felt after losing contact with them at the end of the fight.
“Well?” Klein asked, “How are they?”
“Everyone’s fine,” Leonard said, adjusting his posture as the soreness of his ribs disappeared. “Miss Magician is too tired to move us again, but the location she chose is remote, and it should take some time before anyone can catch up with us.”
Klein nodded tersely, lips pressed into a line. He was good at controlling his emotions, but Leonard knew him well enough to understand that without an audience, Klein was likely to be pacing just like he had.
“Your siblings are fine,” Leonard added gently. “Fine enough to be asking all kinds of inconvenient questions. You should worry more about yourself at this point— they want answers, and I don’t think I can get away with pretending I don’t know anything.”
Klein only gave him a blank stare, and Leonard sighed.
“Look,” he continued, “I wanted to ask about what you want to tell them. Do you… want them to know? MI9 might not let them go just because they’re ignorant, but if you really want, you can ask Miss Justice to hypnotise them and make them forget about today.”
Leonard added quietly, “If that’s what you want, I’ll help you with it. I’ll figure out a way to divert MI9’s attention from them. Did Mr. Fool receive that screen?”
“He got it,” Klein replied darkly.
It made sense. For someone with so many secrets, Klein likely hated the thought of that Sealed Artefact.
Leonard leaned back into his seat, more daring without Mr. Fool’s active supervision, and wondered if he could get away with a half-sprawl atop the stone table. To think that Klein got to use The Fool’s Kingdom of God at times like these…
It must be nice to be a Blessed, Leonard thought.
“But if it were me,” Leonard said, feeling like despite his unconditional support of Klein’s decisions, he had to give voice to the other side. “I’d want to know that you’re alive. I’d rather face the danger than be kept in the dark.”
There was more he could say about that, especially with how long Leonard agonised over Klein’s death originally. He had once been so angry at Klein not because of the death and resurrection, but because Klein never came back to tell him that he was still alive.
Klein was quiet for a moment, “They’d be angry at me.”
“They’re angry regardless.” Leonard told him. “They’re angry with nowhere for that anger to go. I was angry at you too, you know? But I got over it, and they will, too.”
Leonard rested his chin against his palm, leaning on the table as he gazed over at his friend.
“Would they?” Klein’s question was quiet, enough that Leonard had to strain to hear him despite his heightened senses. “I’m a different person now.”
“Very different,” Leonard agreed immediately. “And not just appearance-wise. You’re bull-headed, you charge into danger, and you have such a temper—”
“Hey.”
“—and I recognised you, didn’t I? So really, you’re exactly the same.” Leonard smiled in response to Gehrman Sparrow’s cold frown. It was nice to see Klein flustered over something that wasn’t a matter with lives at stake. “So you might not look or act the same at this moment. Don’t forget that underneath all the acting, you’re still Klein.”
Klein froze for a moment, but then sighed.
“Do what you want,” he said.
“I want you to explain it to them yourself.”
“That’s not something I can currently do.”
“Then,” Leonard said, “how about when you come home?”
Klein hesitated. “You’re very confident everything will work out.”
“Of course I am. This is nothing compared to some of what you and I have been through.”
—
Strangely, Fors found that she had an easier time talking to Benson Moretti than she did with Melissa Moretti.
He was a polite and considerate gentleman who thanked her and Xio repeatedly for their timely save, and had a gentle smile and demeanour. He regularly looked in his sister’s direction to check on her, and there was a softness to his brow as he smiled which contrasted in a charming way to the lines just starting to develop around his eyes.
Very fitting for a heroic character! Perhaps one who is at the beginning of his tale, about to embark on a journey he never imagined he would go on. It would suit how Mr. Benson just started discovering the extraordinary world!
Melissa Moretti, on the other hand, was more taciturn. She was quiet with eyes that stared into Fors’s soul in a way that gave her a familiar shudder. She seemed a nice enough young woman, but it was that piercing gaze which made Fors prefer her brother over her.
Miss Audrey sighed as she informed them, “It should be fine. Susie knows better than to enter strange buildings, and my family’s guards will take her back home.”
“She’s such an intelligent dog,” Xio said in admiration.
“I wish I had a pet that could be so helpful,” Fors agreed with a shallow sigh.
The small fire crackled between the group, and Xio threw in another stick. They didn’t dare let the fire get any bigger, as the sounds of war rang in the far distance, clearer than when they were in the city. It was an alarming reminder of just how close the war was getting to Backlund, and what might happen should the capital fall.
One depressing topic after another, Fors thought sadly.
“Miss Hall,” Benson asked, tone a bit timid being the only man in the circle of girls. “If I may ask…”
“Of course you may,” Miss Audrey allowed, setting aside the locket she had of her dog Susie that she had been showing Xio. Despite the frightening night and the cold and damp, she looked impeccable with a genial smile on her face and the perfect curls she would push behind an ear.
“That strange cloth earlier,” Benson said, spurred on when Audrey didn’t flinch or frown, “It provides information, correct? But I have to say, I don’t see you as a manipulator— it seems rather rude to you.”
Fors could have had hearts for eyes. Mr. Moretti really was so kind! Oh, she wanted to put him down in one of her future stories…
“Oh.” Audrey blinked. “That’s just the name of my sequence. It’s… hmm. A stage, I suppose.”
“Sequence?” Melissa asked, speaking up for the first time in that conversation.
“Yes.” Audrey nodded. “There are various sequences in each pathway, each strictly named. For me, because I am on the Spectator pathway, I will pass through sequences starting from nine and counting down. The sequences are usually named after abilities granted when you get there, and the title of the sequence I am currently on is called ‘Manipulator’.”
“The ability to… manipulate a situation?” Benson asked politely.
“That is a kind way of putting it,” Audrey said in an even tone. She gave a hum, and added, “It’s not an ability I would consider using on my friends without careful thought. Or anyone, if I can help it.”
Xio knocked her knee against Miss Audrey, telling her, “You’re scaring them.”
“No, no,” Benson denied, although he sounded shaken. “I appreciate the honesty. I’d like to know more about— about the areas I’m ignorant of.”
“You’ve seen my information, too,” Xio said. “You can ask me.”
“Thank you. I’d like to know… what does ‘pathway’ mean? Does it have to do with the strange abilities each of you have?”
Fors exchanged a glance with Miss Audrey.
Mr. Benson… really didn’t know anything, did he?
“Mr. Moretti,” Audrey said carefully. “What do you know about the extraordinary?”
“Apparently, nothing.” His tone was bitter, and he glanced down at the fire with his lips drawn down. “I’d like to know everything I can.”
“To find out more about your brother?” Audrey asked.
“Yes. Or about the necklace he made for us. I want to know if it would affect us further in the future.”
Fors perked up, and then glanced over at a sullen and quiet Melissa, hesitating only a moment before she asked, “Can I take a look at your necklace?”
The young woman’s dark eyes stared at her intently for a long while, and Fors felt that strange and familiar fear again— but then nodded in acquiescence and once again pulled the chain until the pendant came from under her shirt, and then slid the chain over her head.
The silver was warm when Melissa handed it over, and shone slightly in the light of the campfire.
With the Angel’s Blessings and the weak anti-divination from this pendant, MI9 would take some time to find their group. Enough time, Fors hoped, for her to regain her spirituality as she used up the Historical Void spell within Laymano’s Travels, which meant the only one she had left was under her Record, and she would need plenty of spirituality to cast it.
For now, she would have to ask the others to refill the spells within the book, so that whoever held it next (whether it was her or another in the group) would have some extra protection.
Seeing Melissa’s pendant up close, it really was just a simple protection charm. The carvings were rough, clearly done without proper tools, but hewn with care. The edges were smoothed by time and repeated wear, and despite the physically warm silver, when Fors extended her senses with her spirituality, there was a cool feeling to it, like an unearthly fog.
She ran her fingertips over the silver and lingered over a long line carved into a protection rune.
“It really is too simple to gain the attention of MI9,” Fors observed. “The person who made this wasn’t very powerful, not enough to create anything dangerous. And they were inexperienced. Most of these lines are completely textbook. As a charm, it’s mostly a disposable item. Something like this should last… a year? At most. Miss Audrey was right; there’s a lot of warmth in the creation. Your brother must have prayed earnestly for your safety— not just from the mundane, but from being noticed by any evil.”
Her brows furrowed, because that cool spiritual feeling was really familiar. She turned the pendant over again and again, thinking upon all the lessons she learned from the Abraham family and the books they had her read. Without those, she wouldn’t know much about how to read the feelings from the pendant.
“It’s a few months less than two years,” Melissa spoke up quietly. “Whatever you’re reading into should be gone, according to you.”
Benson perked up from where he was observing, “That’s what— the MI9 gentleman said. Because it was still… ‘active,’ I must have been— please excuse me as the wording felt strange to me, he said I must have been affiliated with the Church of Evernight, even after confirming that I do indeed worship there. He mentioned night hawks and… a seer?”
“The Seer pathway would make sense,” Fors agreed, rubbing a thumb over the carving absentmindedly. “For this level of power and how long it lasted— wait, you said almost two years?”
She paused in her actions, and then re-examined the pendant with new eyes.
Fors hadn’t thought of its age before, but feeling it now, the steady trickle of power felt like new. Not like an empty container that should have run dry months ago.
“Oh,” she concluded. “That’s why they were interested in this charm.”
Next to her, Xio started explaining official Beyonders to the Moretti siblings, including the Nighthawk organisation employed by the Evernight Church. She and Miss Audrey took the time and patience to explain the very basics of the Beyonder world and its supernatural affiliations, and just how dangerous it was.
Fors looked up at the deliberate sound of footsteps, and scooted over on the rock a bit to allow Mr. Star to sit next to her, since the others were all huddled closely already.
“But there’s no such thing as magic,” Melissa once again refuted as Mr. Star sat down. The light of the fire highlighted the lines of frustration on her face, her entire body tense with hands fisting into the fabric of her skirt.
The Tarot Club members exchanged looks, wondering which one of them had the ability to convince her without overwhelming her.
“Well,” Mr. Star took over the explanation. “It’s not magic. Beyonders can do things that normal people can’t, but that depends on the pathway and sequence. Usually with low sequences, it’s simple matters. For instance, not needing as much sleep as other people, or… um. I could crush a rock?”
Fors supposed that ‘not needing as much sleep’ wasn’t something he could actively show Melissa.
Miss Audrey brightened. “So can I!”
Xio raised her hand with a smile. “I can, too.”
Fors only shook her head and leaned back from the eager people. “No need to look at me, I can’t do that.”
Well, there was a chance for her to enhance her strength through her Record abilities, but that was one time use per record, and the Apprentice pathway didn’t have their own strength augmented so far. Fors could only hope that she got something similar in a higher sequence, or else she had to deal with feeling inadequate whenever she needed help from Xio to carry heavy boxes.
Xio patted her leg reassuringly, reading the thoughts from her expression.
The reason Fors didn’t daydream about switching over to the Seer pathway to be as strong as Mr. World was because she couldn’t bear to let down the Abraham family, and Mr. Dorien in particular.
Sometimes she fantasised about Xio and herself getting a choice with their pathways from the beginning, but that didn’t last long when Fors remembered they were in very fortunate positions already.
Eagerly, Xio found a small rock the size of a coin in the dirt, and lifted it to show before closing both hands around the rock and squeezing. When she uncupped her hands, there were three to four smaller rocks resting on her palm.
Fors made a mental note to commiserate with Miss Hermit in the next meeting. This just wasn’t fair.
“Oh,” Mr. Benson sounded surprised.
“Well,” Fors spoke up, suddenly feeling the need to defend her own pathway. “I can tell you about this charm more than the others can. That’s a speciality of mine.”
Her sulking tone made Mr. Star laugh.
“That’s the same look Kl— well, Gehrman, used to have. Don’t worry, Miss Fors, you’re in good company. Gehrman Sparrow also can’t crush rocks.”
How could that be? She’d seen his incredible feats of strength! …Well, alright, she hadn’t seen supernatural physical strength, perhaps, but everyone knew the tales and Mr. World was so frightening that he didn’t need a live demonstration of rock crushing to make people run in the opposite direction.
Her doubt must have shown, because Mr. Star learned closer to her with a smile and confided softly, “He makes a point to look scarier so people won’t try to pick fights with him.”
Miss Audrey overheard and also leaned over Xio to say, “That’s true! Mr. Gehrman is actually very sweet. Oh, he probably wouldn’t like hearing that. Hmm. He’s very kind, though.”
Fors hurriedly turned her attention back to the charm, unwilling to hear what Miss Justice and Mr. Star were saying. She didn’t need her worldview shattered today, no thanks.
Next to her, Xio continued to explain the basics of pathways and potions, and how they could turn an ordinary person into a Beyonder.
“But it’s dangerous,” Xio warned, “the powers are like— a doorway. And a door, once opened, can be passed from either direction. Or opening a window to see out— you can see more of the world, but that also means anyone outside can look into your room to see exactly who and where you are.”
“That sounds unsettling,” Mr. Benson looked spooked.
“It is,” Xio confirmed. “But for some of us, it’s the only road to walk.”
The Moretti siblings were both quiet for a moment before Melissa spoke up, reaching a hand to clutch at her brother’s jacket.
“Was it like that for Klein?” She asked. “Did we… not notice?”
“No,” Mr. Star interjected before anyone else could speak up. He sat up straighter, resting his elbow on his knees in a loose stance that had Fors scooting to give him a little more room. His green eyes were unnaturally bright in the night. “I’m not allowed to say much, so all I can reveal is… he wasn’t allowed to say, either. Klein wasn’t allowed to tell you.”
“Why?” Melissa demanded immediately.
“Does this have to do with the church?” Benson asked.
Mr. Star had a stiff smile as he pressed a finger to his mouth to indicate his silence. He then belied the gesture by saying, “There are some things I can tell you, since I’ve gotten permission. There are other things I can’t say.”
“Because you don’t have permission for that,” Benson connected quickly. He nodded to himself, and then pushed himself straighter to lean closer to the fire and closer to Mr. Star. “Can you answer yes or no if I ask specific questions?”
“If I can’t mention something, then I won’t give a response.”
That was an answer in and of itself, Fors thought in surprise.
It wasn’t hard to figure out that Mr. Star was an official Beyonder, not when he used official terms and didn’t worry as much about the cost of things the way the rest of them (excluding Miss Audrey) did. It especially didn’t help when he was still wearing his red gloves.
And now with his connection to the Moretti siblings’ brother who MI9 associated with the Nighthawks…
Well. It couldn’t get any more obvious than that. With the Evernight Goddess’s domain over night and secrets, and the fact that the church had complete control over the Sleepless pathway, Mr. Star was a glaring sign for ‘beware: official Beyonder here!’
Mr. Benson seemed to have questions already in mind.
“Was Klein really a history consultant for the Blackthorn Security Company?”
“On paper, he was.”
“Was the Blackthorn Security Company real?”
Melissa startled at that question, looking up at her brother.
Leonard pressed a finger to his lips again. Secret.
Oh, Fors thought. It’s a guise for the Nighthawks.
“Don’t ask about these things,” Mr. Star said gently. “Ask about Klein.”
With the silver pendant still in her hands, Fors thought about the person who made the charm. Ask about him? Didn’t that all but state that Mr. Star had permission to talk about Klein Moretti specifically, but not about the Nighthawks?
What did that mean?
The mysterious brother felt more intriguing by the second.
“Was he the Seer that made this charm?” Fors asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. She flushed when everyone’s attention turned to her, but only held up the silver necklace and said, “I— I mean! The person who made this was definitely from a more spiritual pathway, and likely a sequence nine. There aren’t that many pathways that specialise in charms and runes from the beginning. It doesn’t have to be a Seer, but… Seer does fit the description.”
She didn’t think the Evernight Church employed Seers, but Fors tried not to interact with official Beyonders when she could stay away from them. The officials didn’t tend to like wild Beyonders.
“What do you think?” Mr. Star asked back, and Fors hummed for a moment as she understood what he was trying to say.
“I think you might not be allowed to say he is, but I can say that he is.” She replied, and she could hear both Mr. Benson and Miss Melissa draw in sharp breaths.
“What’s a Seer? Did he see the future? Is that one of your pathways?” Melissa fired off question after question, and this time.
“There is a pathway that starts with Seer,” Miss Audrey told her, her fingers interlaced on her lap. “While I’m not too familiar with all its abilities, I’m not unfamiliar with it, either. Seers have high spirituality, just as Miss Fors said. Their skills lie in divination, in finding lost objects or people, and finding answers no one can know. Whether that includes answers about the future isn’t something I understand.”
Fors thought back on the lessons that Mr. Dorian drilled into her. While most of it focused on the Apprentice pathway and better preparing her for her own future sequences, he did also cover their neighbouring pathways.
Well, he moreso covered the Marauder pathway as a warning in case she encountered high sequence Marauders. Seers, Mr. Dorian said while shaking his head, were rarely seen in Loen outside of those from the Secret Order.
Fors mostly nodded along back then, all while thinking it strange that so few Beyonders even knew that Gehrman Sparrow was of the Seer pathway.
“They have a keen sense of danger,” Fors supplemented the information where Audrey left off. She then shook her head as the siblings turned their attention to her. “I don’t know if they can actually see the future, either, but apparently they’ve been known to predict things? But that could be a mix-up— there’s another pathway with a sequence named Prophet, after all. I don’t know which one it is.”
She wondered for a long moment whether Mr. World predicted the future before. Was that why he was so successful in his endeavours?
Fors rubbed at the bridge of her nose in thought. Thanks to Mr. World, she was more familiar with the mid and higher-sequence abilities of the Seer pathway, but he didn’t mention any lower sequence ones. He tended to leave spells in Leymano’s Travels that would transfer wounds or create decoys, and now that she thought about it, he never left an ability that bolstered strength.
Mr. Star waved a hand up to dismiss her contemplations.
“Yes, yes,” he said impatiently, “we all know a little bit about a Seer now. Let’s try another question before we run out of time.”
“Run out of time?” Benson inquired, but Mr. Star only kept waving him on. “Alright, then. How… What was Klein like at work?”
After her thorough examination, Fors quietly extended a hand and gave Melissa back her pendant. The young woman took it silently and slipped the necklace over her head once more despite the trouble that little thing brought her family.
“He was an overachiever,” Mr. Star said easily, a fondness in his voice. “Likeable. Easy-going. Quiet, but not introverted. Found trouble almost every day somehow. Before he joined us, we would have— a job every few weeks. Maybe once a month if we were lucky. After he started with us, something would happen almost every other day, and he would be right in the thick of it.”
“And you, Mr. Mitchell?” Melissa spoke up. “What did you think of my brother?”
Mr. Star paused, and then shrugged, gazing downward in what seemed like embarrassment.
“I thought he was special. I still think so.”
—
Above the grey fog, Klein had his face in his hands.
Why? He wailed in his heart. How did this turn from a discussion educating his siblings about the extraordinary world to gossiping about him?!
Mr. Poet! Klein complained, why do you always have to sound like this? Your words can easily be misconstrued!
The cluster of red stars all together meant he could easily see their group from Sefirah Castle, and listen in on their conversation. He could see further than them in the darkness, and recognized the castle where Xio and Fors had been injured.
It was likely Miss Magician didn’t have a clear destination in mind when she used the Traveler’s Door, and just wanted a place no one would follow. Combined with Leymano’s Travels’ side-effect of getting people lost… With the castle’s connection to the Chaos Sea, they were safe so long as they didn’t venture too close to the ruins, as very few people would dare venture that way.
But at this point, they should be talking about where to go from there rather than sitting and gossiping! If he were there, Gehrman Sparrow would have ushered the group to safety and gone ahead to confront the danger of MI9.
It was good that they hadn’t connected Benson and Melissa to the Gehrman Sparrow who made a mess of George III’s apotheosis ritual.
It was bad that they connected Benson and Melissa to Klein Moretti, and deemed a dead man worth investigating.
The problems of the dead should stay dead as well, Klein lampooned. Why attempt to dig up his empty casket? They weren’t Leonard!
He peeked through his fingers to look down at the group again, wondering if he should rush them along.
It wouldn’t do any good, though. He had seen when Leonard sent off a spirit to inform the Church of what happened, and Miss Audrey’s fidgeting over whether to contact her family or not. They still had to wait for a return message from the spirit as well as for Miss Magician to recover a bit more of her spirituality.
At least that wouldn’t take too long. The one good thing about the three neighbouring pathways was that their spirituality was either abundant and/or recovered very quickly.
“You should at least find shelter first,” Klein murmured to himself and sighed in resignation. There wasn’t much he could do from the Forsaken Land, not unless he got Miss Magician to send up Leymano’s Travels for him to refill with the Historical Void projection ability.
Now that was an idea…
No, that was supposed to only be used in case of emergencies, and not for frivolity. He couldn’t exactly suggest that, whether as The Fool or as Gehrman Sparrow— it wasn’t in their characters.
“There is a danger in knowledge,” Leonard warned Benson and Melissa around the fire. “The more you know, the more dangerous it will be for you. Unless you become a Beyonder, knowing too much means that extraordinary events will happen to you more often.”
Klein breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted them to be knowledgeable, but also didn’t want his siblings to know too much. It had to do with the law of convergence, yes, but also…
When I said you could do what you want, I didn’t mean to tell them so much!
“The reason why Beyonders are not public knowledge has to do with this,” the poet continued to explain. “Just as merely possessing that necklace can bring negative attention, just knowing certain things can mean trouble finds you.”
“What does it matter?” Melissa asked. “Trouble has already found us.”
Miss Justice shook her head in response to that. “More trouble than this.”
At that moment, the first rain of the evening started to fall, the drops large and heavy, weighing down leaves and grass as it dripped on them. Fors raised a hand with a troubled expression, and finally asked, “Should we find shelter elsewhere?”
“Can you bring us elsewhere yet?” Audrey asked.
“Where should we go?” Fors asked in response. She pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders to ward against the cold. “MI9 now knows the identity of both Xio and Miss Audrey. And they would be looking for the Morettis, wouldn’t they?”
“You could stay the night at my place,” Leonard suggested. He hesitated a moment, “Can you open a door to somewhere you haven’t been? It wouldn’t be good if we only end up somewhere close— I live in a rather populated area and we’d be seen if we had to walk.”
“Where is it?” Fors asked. “If I know the general location, I can get close. If I’ve seen the area before, even if I haven’t been there specifically, I should be able to get us there.”
“Near St. Samuel Church,” Leonard said. “Seven Pinster St.”
He continued to detail the area and geography while Fors thought deeply.
“I should be able to do it,” Fors concluded. She held up Leymano’s Travels. “In return, everyone, please help me refill this book.”
A/N: The Clown sequence does make Klein stronger than the average person, in that it gives him full control of his muscles. An ordinary person can be quite strong! We've all heard the stories of feats of strength where people can lift cars-- that's where I'm going with Klein's strength. But I don't think he gets superhuman strength otherwise, not like many other pathways. (Yes, I'm referring to Leonard breaking a lock with his bare hands in volume 1 back when he was merely sequence 8.)
Also, I think Fors would really like Benson the same way she would really like Klein had she met him first instead of Gehrman, lol.
Leonard: I think Klein's special.
Benson and Melissa will remember that.
Previous || Next
Fandom: Lord of the Mysteries
Character/Pairing(s): Audrey Hall, Leonard Mitchell, Melissa Moretti, Benson Moretti, Klein Moretti, Xio Derecha, Fors Wall
Rating: PG-13
Warning: none?
Summary: MI9 catches Benson Moretti, and end up with more than they expect.
Just lie, Pallez suggested dryly. They won’t know the difference.
Leonard wanted to wail. How could he lie to Klein’s siblings? But how could he tell them the truth!?
He alternated between holding his still tender ribs and knocking his palm against the side of his head in thought as he paced restlessly between the shadow of two trees, a few metres away from the rest of the group who were now huddled around the small fire Xio built for light and warmth.
But Leonard was a Beyonder of the Sleepless pathway, and the darker the night, the more comforted he was. He didn’t need light to see clearly in the dark, and he wouldn’t trip over anything on the forest floor during the night.
With his heightened senses, he could hear Miss Justice’s reassurances from the group at the fire as she told Benson and Melissa, “The one who made the pendant must have loved you very much. It’s not powerful, but the strength of it is steady— like a warm flame.”
The words only made Leonard feel guiltier, because he could at least explain to them: of course it isn’t powerful! Klein had likely been a sequence nine or eight when he made it!
Instead, he stomped harder in his pacing.
There’s no use in getting worked up over this, Pallez continued to lecture. You either tell a lie or you tell the truth. Or you say nothing at all, and let them come up with their own version of the truth. Two options, three at most. If there’s no one option better than another, then they are all equally correct choices.
That sounded like a lie! Leonard was sure he wasn’t in a situation where he could claim anything he did would be the best option, because every choice he could make felt like the wrong option!
He shouldn’t be the one here to explain these things!
Blame your former coworker if you want to blame anyone, Pallez dismissed. Why not ask him what he wants you to do, if you’re going to worry like this?
Leonard paused in his pacing.
That was a good idea! The best one yet! He would ask Mr. Fool to convey his message to Klein, and then get Klein to answer with what Leonard should say!
He sat down on an exposed root and shut his eyes in prayer. The Fool who doesn’t belong to this era, The mysterious ruler above—
He barely got halfway through the honorary name before he was pulled into the grey fog, sitting at his usual seat at Mr. Fool’s table. Leonard looked around, but didn’t see Mr. Fool at the head as usual, but instead saw Klein, still in the guise of Gehrman Sparrow, sitting at the opposite end where The World normally sat.
For once, Gehrman Sparrow looked impatient and anxious, much like how Leonard supposed Klein felt after losing contact with them at the end of the fight.
“Well?” Klein asked, “How are they?”
“Everyone’s fine,” Leonard said, adjusting his posture as the soreness of his ribs disappeared. “Miss Magician is too tired to move us again, but the location she chose is remote, and it should take some time before anyone can catch up with us.”
Klein nodded tersely, lips pressed into a line. He was good at controlling his emotions, but Leonard knew him well enough to understand that without an audience, Klein was likely to be pacing just like he had.
“Your siblings are fine,” Leonard added gently. “Fine enough to be asking all kinds of inconvenient questions. You should worry more about yourself at this point— they want answers, and I don’t think I can get away with pretending I don’t know anything.”
Klein only gave him a blank stare, and Leonard sighed.
“Look,” he continued, “I wanted to ask about what you want to tell them. Do you… want them to know? MI9 might not let them go just because they’re ignorant, but if you really want, you can ask Miss Justice to hypnotise them and make them forget about today.”
Leonard added quietly, “If that’s what you want, I’ll help you with it. I’ll figure out a way to divert MI9’s attention from them. Did Mr. Fool receive that screen?”
“He got it,” Klein replied darkly.
It made sense. For someone with so many secrets, Klein likely hated the thought of that Sealed Artefact.
Leonard leaned back into his seat, more daring without Mr. Fool’s active supervision, and wondered if he could get away with a half-sprawl atop the stone table. To think that Klein got to use The Fool’s Kingdom of God at times like these…
It must be nice to be a Blessed, Leonard thought.
“But if it were me,” Leonard said, feeling like despite his unconditional support of Klein’s decisions, he had to give voice to the other side. “I’d want to know that you’re alive. I’d rather face the danger than be kept in the dark.”
There was more he could say about that, especially with how long Leonard agonised over Klein’s death originally. He had once been so angry at Klein not because of the death and resurrection, but because Klein never came back to tell him that he was still alive.
Klein was quiet for a moment, “They’d be angry at me.”
“They’re angry regardless.” Leonard told him. “They’re angry with nowhere for that anger to go. I was angry at you too, you know? But I got over it, and they will, too.”
Leonard rested his chin against his palm, leaning on the table as he gazed over at his friend.
“Would they?” Klein’s question was quiet, enough that Leonard had to strain to hear him despite his heightened senses. “I’m a different person now.”
“Very different,” Leonard agreed immediately. “And not just appearance-wise. You’re bull-headed, you charge into danger, and you have such a temper—”
“Hey.”
“—and I recognised you, didn’t I? So really, you’re exactly the same.” Leonard smiled in response to Gehrman Sparrow’s cold frown. It was nice to see Klein flustered over something that wasn’t a matter with lives at stake. “So you might not look or act the same at this moment. Don’t forget that underneath all the acting, you’re still Klein.”
Klein froze for a moment, but then sighed.
“Do what you want,” he said.
“I want you to explain it to them yourself.”
“That’s not something I can currently do.”
“Then,” Leonard said, “how about when you come home?”
Klein hesitated. “You’re very confident everything will work out.”
“Of course I am. This is nothing compared to some of what you and I have been through.”
—
Strangely, Fors found that she had an easier time talking to Benson Moretti than she did with Melissa Moretti.
He was a polite and considerate gentleman who thanked her and Xio repeatedly for their timely save, and had a gentle smile and demeanour. He regularly looked in his sister’s direction to check on her, and there was a softness to his brow as he smiled which contrasted in a charming way to the lines just starting to develop around his eyes.
Very fitting for a heroic character! Perhaps one who is at the beginning of his tale, about to embark on a journey he never imagined he would go on. It would suit how Mr. Benson just started discovering the extraordinary world!
Melissa Moretti, on the other hand, was more taciturn. She was quiet with eyes that stared into Fors’s soul in a way that gave her a familiar shudder. She seemed a nice enough young woman, but it was that piercing gaze which made Fors prefer her brother over her.
Miss Audrey sighed as she informed them, “It should be fine. Susie knows better than to enter strange buildings, and my family’s guards will take her back home.”
“She’s such an intelligent dog,” Xio said in admiration.
“I wish I had a pet that could be so helpful,” Fors agreed with a shallow sigh.
The small fire crackled between the group, and Xio threw in another stick. They didn’t dare let the fire get any bigger, as the sounds of war rang in the far distance, clearer than when they were in the city. It was an alarming reminder of just how close the war was getting to Backlund, and what might happen should the capital fall.
One depressing topic after another, Fors thought sadly.
“Miss Hall,” Benson asked, tone a bit timid being the only man in the circle of girls. “If I may ask…”
“Of course you may,” Miss Audrey allowed, setting aside the locket she had of her dog Susie that she had been showing Xio. Despite the frightening night and the cold and damp, she looked impeccable with a genial smile on her face and the perfect curls she would push behind an ear.
“That strange cloth earlier,” Benson said, spurred on when Audrey didn’t flinch or frown, “It provides information, correct? But I have to say, I don’t see you as a manipulator— it seems rather rude to you.”
Fors could have had hearts for eyes. Mr. Moretti really was so kind! Oh, she wanted to put him down in one of her future stories…
“Oh.” Audrey blinked. “That’s just the name of my sequence. It’s… hmm. A stage, I suppose.”
“Sequence?” Melissa asked, speaking up for the first time in that conversation.
“Yes.” Audrey nodded. “There are various sequences in each pathway, each strictly named. For me, because I am on the Spectator pathway, I will pass through sequences starting from nine and counting down. The sequences are usually named after abilities granted when you get there, and the title of the sequence I am currently on is called ‘Manipulator’.”
“The ability to… manipulate a situation?” Benson asked politely.
“That is a kind way of putting it,” Audrey said in an even tone. She gave a hum, and added, “It’s not an ability I would consider using on my friends without careful thought. Or anyone, if I can help it.”
Xio knocked her knee against Miss Audrey, telling her, “You’re scaring them.”
“No, no,” Benson denied, although he sounded shaken. “I appreciate the honesty. I’d like to know more about— about the areas I’m ignorant of.”
“You’ve seen my information, too,” Xio said. “You can ask me.”
“Thank you. I’d like to know… what does ‘pathway’ mean? Does it have to do with the strange abilities each of you have?”
Fors exchanged a glance with Miss Audrey.
Mr. Benson… really didn’t know anything, did he?
“Mr. Moretti,” Audrey said carefully. “What do you know about the extraordinary?”
“Apparently, nothing.” His tone was bitter, and he glanced down at the fire with his lips drawn down. “I’d like to know everything I can.”
“To find out more about your brother?” Audrey asked.
“Yes. Or about the necklace he made for us. I want to know if it would affect us further in the future.”
Fors perked up, and then glanced over at a sullen and quiet Melissa, hesitating only a moment before she asked, “Can I take a look at your necklace?”
The young woman’s dark eyes stared at her intently for a long while, and Fors felt that strange and familiar fear again— but then nodded in acquiescence and once again pulled the chain until the pendant came from under her shirt, and then slid the chain over her head.
The silver was warm when Melissa handed it over, and shone slightly in the light of the campfire.
With the Angel’s Blessings and the weak anti-divination from this pendant, MI9 would take some time to find their group. Enough time, Fors hoped, for her to regain her spirituality as she used up the Historical Void spell within Laymano’s Travels, which meant the only one she had left was under her Record, and she would need plenty of spirituality to cast it.
For now, she would have to ask the others to refill the spells within the book, so that whoever held it next (whether it was her or another in the group) would have some extra protection.
Seeing Melissa’s pendant up close, it really was just a simple protection charm. The carvings were rough, clearly done without proper tools, but hewn with care. The edges were smoothed by time and repeated wear, and despite the physically warm silver, when Fors extended her senses with her spirituality, there was a cool feeling to it, like an unearthly fog.
She ran her fingertips over the silver and lingered over a long line carved into a protection rune.
“It really is too simple to gain the attention of MI9,” Fors observed. “The person who made this wasn’t very powerful, not enough to create anything dangerous. And they were inexperienced. Most of these lines are completely textbook. As a charm, it’s mostly a disposable item. Something like this should last… a year? At most. Miss Audrey was right; there’s a lot of warmth in the creation. Your brother must have prayed earnestly for your safety— not just from the mundane, but from being noticed by any evil.”
Her brows furrowed, because that cool spiritual feeling was really familiar. She turned the pendant over again and again, thinking upon all the lessons she learned from the Abraham family and the books they had her read. Without those, she wouldn’t know much about how to read the feelings from the pendant.
“It’s a few months less than two years,” Melissa spoke up quietly. “Whatever you’re reading into should be gone, according to you.”
Benson perked up from where he was observing, “That’s what— the MI9 gentleman said. Because it was still… ‘active,’ I must have been— please excuse me as the wording felt strange to me, he said I must have been affiliated with the Church of Evernight, even after confirming that I do indeed worship there. He mentioned night hawks and… a seer?”
“The Seer pathway would make sense,” Fors agreed, rubbing a thumb over the carving absentmindedly. “For this level of power and how long it lasted— wait, you said almost two years?”
She paused in her actions, and then re-examined the pendant with new eyes.
Fors hadn’t thought of its age before, but feeling it now, the steady trickle of power felt like new. Not like an empty container that should have run dry months ago.
“Oh,” she concluded. “That’s why they were interested in this charm.”
Next to her, Xio started explaining official Beyonders to the Moretti siblings, including the Nighthawk organisation employed by the Evernight Church. She and Miss Audrey took the time and patience to explain the very basics of the Beyonder world and its supernatural affiliations, and just how dangerous it was.
Fors looked up at the deliberate sound of footsteps, and scooted over on the rock a bit to allow Mr. Star to sit next to her, since the others were all huddled closely already.
“But there’s no such thing as magic,” Melissa once again refuted as Mr. Star sat down. The light of the fire highlighted the lines of frustration on her face, her entire body tense with hands fisting into the fabric of her skirt.
The Tarot Club members exchanged looks, wondering which one of them had the ability to convince her without overwhelming her.
“Well,” Mr. Star took over the explanation. “It’s not magic. Beyonders can do things that normal people can’t, but that depends on the pathway and sequence. Usually with low sequences, it’s simple matters. For instance, not needing as much sleep as other people, or… um. I could crush a rock?”
Fors supposed that ‘not needing as much sleep’ wasn’t something he could actively show Melissa.
Miss Audrey brightened. “So can I!”
Xio raised her hand with a smile. “I can, too.”
Fors only shook her head and leaned back from the eager people. “No need to look at me, I can’t do that.”
Well, there was a chance for her to enhance her strength through her Record abilities, but that was one time use per record, and the Apprentice pathway didn’t have their own strength augmented so far. Fors could only hope that she got something similar in a higher sequence, or else she had to deal with feeling inadequate whenever she needed help from Xio to carry heavy boxes.
Xio patted her leg reassuringly, reading the thoughts from her expression.
The reason Fors didn’t daydream about switching over to the Seer pathway to be as strong as Mr. World was because she couldn’t bear to let down the Abraham family, and Mr. Dorien in particular.
Sometimes she fantasised about Xio and herself getting a choice with their pathways from the beginning, but that didn’t last long when Fors remembered they were in very fortunate positions already.
Eagerly, Xio found a small rock the size of a coin in the dirt, and lifted it to show before closing both hands around the rock and squeezing. When she uncupped her hands, there were three to four smaller rocks resting on her palm.
Fors made a mental note to commiserate with Miss Hermit in the next meeting. This just wasn’t fair.
“Oh,” Mr. Benson sounded surprised.
“Well,” Fors spoke up, suddenly feeling the need to defend her own pathway. “I can tell you about this charm more than the others can. That’s a speciality of mine.”
Her sulking tone made Mr. Star laugh.
“That’s the same look Kl— well, Gehrman, used to have. Don’t worry, Miss Fors, you’re in good company. Gehrman Sparrow also can’t crush rocks.”
How could that be? She’d seen his incredible feats of strength! …Well, alright, she hadn’t seen supernatural physical strength, perhaps, but everyone knew the tales and Mr. World was so frightening that he didn’t need a live demonstration of rock crushing to make people run in the opposite direction.
Her doubt must have shown, because Mr. Star learned closer to her with a smile and confided softly, “He makes a point to look scarier so people won’t try to pick fights with him.”
Miss Audrey overheard and also leaned over Xio to say, “That’s true! Mr. Gehrman is actually very sweet. Oh, he probably wouldn’t like hearing that. Hmm. He’s very kind, though.”
Fors hurriedly turned her attention back to the charm, unwilling to hear what Miss Justice and Mr. Star were saying. She didn’t need her worldview shattered today, no thanks.
Next to her, Xio continued to explain the basics of pathways and potions, and how they could turn an ordinary person into a Beyonder.
“But it’s dangerous,” Xio warned, “the powers are like— a doorway. And a door, once opened, can be passed from either direction. Or opening a window to see out— you can see more of the world, but that also means anyone outside can look into your room to see exactly who and where you are.”
“That sounds unsettling,” Mr. Benson looked spooked.
“It is,” Xio confirmed. “But for some of us, it’s the only road to walk.”
The Moretti siblings were both quiet for a moment before Melissa spoke up, reaching a hand to clutch at her brother’s jacket.
“Was it like that for Klein?” She asked. “Did we… not notice?”
“No,” Mr. Star interjected before anyone else could speak up. He sat up straighter, resting his elbow on his knees in a loose stance that had Fors scooting to give him a little more room. His green eyes were unnaturally bright in the night. “I’m not allowed to say much, so all I can reveal is… he wasn’t allowed to say, either. Klein wasn’t allowed to tell you.”
“Why?” Melissa demanded immediately.
“Does this have to do with the church?” Benson asked.
Mr. Star had a stiff smile as he pressed a finger to his mouth to indicate his silence. He then belied the gesture by saying, “There are some things I can tell you, since I’ve gotten permission. There are other things I can’t say.”
“Because you don’t have permission for that,” Benson connected quickly. He nodded to himself, and then pushed himself straighter to lean closer to the fire and closer to Mr. Star. “Can you answer yes or no if I ask specific questions?”
“If I can’t mention something, then I won’t give a response.”
That was an answer in and of itself, Fors thought in surprise.
It wasn’t hard to figure out that Mr. Star was an official Beyonder, not when he used official terms and didn’t worry as much about the cost of things the way the rest of them (excluding Miss Audrey) did. It especially didn’t help when he was still wearing his red gloves.
And now with his connection to the Moretti siblings’ brother who MI9 associated with the Nighthawks…
Well. It couldn’t get any more obvious than that. With the Evernight Goddess’s domain over night and secrets, and the fact that the church had complete control over the Sleepless pathway, Mr. Star was a glaring sign for ‘beware: official Beyonder here!’
Mr. Benson seemed to have questions already in mind.
“Was Klein really a history consultant for the Blackthorn Security Company?”
“On paper, he was.”
“Was the Blackthorn Security Company real?”
Melissa startled at that question, looking up at her brother.
Leonard pressed a finger to his lips again. Secret.
Oh, Fors thought. It’s a guise for the Nighthawks.
“Don’t ask about these things,” Mr. Star said gently. “Ask about Klein.”
With the silver pendant still in her hands, Fors thought about the person who made the charm. Ask about him? Didn’t that all but state that Mr. Star had permission to talk about Klein Moretti specifically, but not about the Nighthawks?
What did that mean?
The mysterious brother felt more intriguing by the second.
“Was he the Seer that made this charm?” Fors asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. She flushed when everyone’s attention turned to her, but only held up the silver necklace and said, “I— I mean! The person who made this was definitely from a more spiritual pathway, and likely a sequence nine. There aren’t that many pathways that specialise in charms and runes from the beginning. It doesn’t have to be a Seer, but… Seer does fit the description.”
She didn’t think the Evernight Church employed Seers, but Fors tried not to interact with official Beyonders when she could stay away from them. The officials didn’t tend to like wild Beyonders.
“What do you think?” Mr. Star asked back, and Fors hummed for a moment as she understood what he was trying to say.
“I think you might not be allowed to say he is, but I can say that he is.” She replied, and she could hear both Mr. Benson and Miss Melissa draw in sharp breaths.
“What’s a Seer? Did he see the future? Is that one of your pathways?” Melissa fired off question after question, and this time.
“There is a pathway that starts with Seer,” Miss Audrey told her, her fingers interlaced on her lap. “While I’m not too familiar with all its abilities, I’m not unfamiliar with it, either. Seers have high spirituality, just as Miss Fors said. Their skills lie in divination, in finding lost objects or people, and finding answers no one can know. Whether that includes answers about the future isn’t something I understand.”
Fors thought back on the lessons that Mr. Dorian drilled into her. While most of it focused on the Apprentice pathway and better preparing her for her own future sequences, he did also cover their neighbouring pathways.
Well, he moreso covered the Marauder pathway as a warning in case she encountered high sequence Marauders. Seers, Mr. Dorian said while shaking his head, were rarely seen in Loen outside of those from the Secret Order.
Fors mostly nodded along back then, all while thinking it strange that so few Beyonders even knew that Gehrman Sparrow was of the Seer pathway.
“They have a keen sense of danger,” Fors supplemented the information where Audrey left off. She then shook her head as the siblings turned their attention to her. “I don’t know if they can actually see the future, either, but apparently they’ve been known to predict things? But that could be a mix-up— there’s another pathway with a sequence named Prophet, after all. I don’t know which one it is.”
She wondered for a long moment whether Mr. World predicted the future before. Was that why he was so successful in his endeavours?
Fors rubbed at the bridge of her nose in thought. Thanks to Mr. World, she was more familiar with the mid and higher-sequence abilities of the Seer pathway, but he didn’t mention any lower sequence ones. He tended to leave spells in Leymano’s Travels that would transfer wounds or create decoys, and now that she thought about it, he never left an ability that bolstered strength.
Mr. Star waved a hand up to dismiss her contemplations.
“Yes, yes,” he said impatiently, “we all know a little bit about a Seer now. Let’s try another question before we run out of time.”
“Run out of time?” Benson inquired, but Mr. Star only kept waving him on. “Alright, then. How… What was Klein like at work?”
After her thorough examination, Fors quietly extended a hand and gave Melissa back her pendant. The young woman took it silently and slipped the necklace over her head once more despite the trouble that little thing brought her family.
“He was an overachiever,” Mr. Star said easily, a fondness in his voice. “Likeable. Easy-going. Quiet, but not introverted. Found trouble almost every day somehow. Before he joined us, we would have— a job every few weeks. Maybe once a month if we were lucky. After he started with us, something would happen almost every other day, and he would be right in the thick of it.”
“And you, Mr. Mitchell?” Melissa spoke up. “What did you think of my brother?”
Mr. Star paused, and then shrugged, gazing downward in what seemed like embarrassment.
“I thought he was special. I still think so.”
—
Above the grey fog, Klein had his face in his hands.
Why? He wailed in his heart. How did this turn from a discussion educating his siblings about the extraordinary world to gossiping about him?!
Mr. Poet! Klein complained, why do you always have to sound like this? Your words can easily be misconstrued!
The cluster of red stars all together meant he could easily see their group from Sefirah Castle, and listen in on their conversation. He could see further than them in the darkness, and recognized the castle where Xio and Fors had been injured.
It was likely Miss Magician didn’t have a clear destination in mind when she used the Traveler’s Door, and just wanted a place no one would follow. Combined with Leymano’s Travels’ side-effect of getting people lost… With the castle’s connection to the Chaos Sea, they were safe so long as they didn’t venture too close to the ruins, as very few people would dare venture that way.
But at this point, they should be talking about where to go from there rather than sitting and gossiping! If he were there, Gehrman Sparrow would have ushered the group to safety and gone ahead to confront the danger of MI9.
It was good that they hadn’t connected Benson and Melissa to the Gehrman Sparrow who made a mess of George III’s apotheosis ritual.
It was bad that they connected Benson and Melissa to Klein Moretti, and deemed a dead man worth investigating.
The problems of the dead should stay dead as well, Klein lampooned. Why attempt to dig up his empty casket? They weren’t Leonard!
He peeked through his fingers to look down at the group again, wondering if he should rush them along.
It wouldn’t do any good, though. He had seen when Leonard sent off a spirit to inform the Church of what happened, and Miss Audrey’s fidgeting over whether to contact her family or not. They still had to wait for a return message from the spirit as well as for Miss Magician to recover a bit more of her spirituality.
At least that wouldn’t take too long. The one good thing about the three neighbouring pathways was that their spirituality was either abundant and/or recovered very quickly.
“You should at least find shelter first,” Klein murmured to himself and sighed in resignation. There wasn’t much he could do from the Forsaken Land, not unless he got Miss Magician to send up Leymano’s Travels for him to refill with the Historical Void projection ability.
Now that was an idea…
No, that was supposed to only be used in case of emergencies, and not for frivolity. He couldn’t exactly suggest that, whether as The Fool or as Gehrman Sparrow— it wasn’t in their characters.
“There is a danger in knowledge,” Leonard warned Benson and Melissa around the fire. “The more you know, the more dangerous it will be for you. Unless you become a Beyonder, knowing too much means that extraordinary events will happen to you more often.”
Klein breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted them to be knowledgeable, but also didn’t want his siblings to know too much. It had to do with the law of convergence, yes, but also…
When I said you could do what you want, I didn’t mean to tell them so much!
“The reason why Beyonders are not public knowledge has to do with this,” the poet continued to explain. “Just as merely possessing that necklace can bring negative attention, just knowing certain things can mean trouble finds you.”
“What does it matter?” Melissa asked. “Trouble has already found us.”
Miss Justice shook her head in response to that. “More trouble than this.”
At that moment, the first rain of the evening started to fall, the drops large and heavy, weighing down leaves and grass as it dripped on them. Fors raised a hand with a troubled expression, and finally asked, “Should we find shelter elsewhere?”
“Can you bring us elsewhere yet?” Audrey asked.
“Where should we go?” Fors asked in response. She pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders to ward against the cold. “MI9 now knows the identity of both Xio and Miss Audrey. And they would be looking for the Morettis, wouldn’t they?”
“You could stay the night at my place,” Leonard suggested. He hesitated a moment, “Can you open a door to somewhere you haven’t been? It wouldn’t be good if we only end up somewhere close— I live in a rather populated area and we’d be seen if we had to walk.”
“Where is it?” Fors asked. “If I know the general location, I can get close. If I’ve seen the area before, even if I haven’t been there specifically, I should be able to get us there.”
“Near St. Samuel Church,” Leonard said. “Seven Pinster St.”
He continued to detail the area and geography while Fors thought deeply.
“I should be able to do it,” Fors concluded. She held up Leymano’s Travels. “In return, everyone, please help me refill this book.”
A/N: The Clown sequence does make Klein stronger than the average person, in that it gives him full control of his muscles. An ordinary person can be quite strong! We've all heard the stories of feats of strength where people can lift cars-- that's where I'm going with Klein's strength. But I don't think he gets superhuman strength otherwise, not like many other pathways. (Yes, I'm referring to Leonard breaking a lock with his bare hands in volume 1 back when he was merely sequence 8.)
Also, I think Fors would really like Benson the same way she would really like Klein had she met him first instead of Gehrman, lol.
Leonard: I think Klein's special.
Benson and Melissa will remember that.