IN THE MAZE

Chapter 1

Barnabas and George followed the primary results "Well, I would say that Gary Hart has a chance,." Barnabas said.

"It is not over yet."

"You know, I wonder what Maggie would say about her doppelganger endorsing Hart. Suppose she wants to back out of that? What excuse could she give? It was not me. It was a double. I was spending my time turned to stone in the basement of the local vampire..."

"That would be a novel excuse in politics. Too bad that Nixon could not have used it. He might have been able to stay. Well, Maggie has to be depetrifed before she can complain."

"Right." Barnabas said, and it was glumly enough.

George shook his head, irritated. When he thought about Maggie, he could not control his less than charitable thoughts. Like it or not, Maggie had asked for trouble and had gotten it. Too bad about Joe, but even that would not have happened if Maggie had not gone poking her nose where it did not belong.

In the meantime they had two statues in Barnabas' basement, an enraged Sabrina, a depressed Tammy, a very busy Julia, an even busier Angelique... even though Angelique ought to take it easy.

And a fully repentant Adam making a nuisance of himself by cornering everybody saying how sorry he was, and if there was anything he could do to help.

And a very smug Roger reminding Carolyn what a mistake she had made in marrying Adam...

At least there was a positive side to it. It had snapped Barnabas out of his mystic trances, and with that the worry that dawn would catch him because he was too busy praying to get back to his coffin on time...

Now, if only Julia and Angelique could come up with answers...

Julia took another tissue sample from the gorgon's eyes. She had to be careful how she approached the head, and how she obtained it. She could not let her hand cross in front of the eyes. The tools, being inanimate were in no danger. She had ran tests on the sample on leaves and insects, all petrified instantly. If he were to add acids to the samples, or to the newly petrified creatures...

She wished that she could put the sample under a microscope and look at it, just as she had been trained to do...

Maybe if she wore safety goggles...

No, they were not designed for that kind of protection. She had to go on as she was doing.

Maybe this time she would get an answer.

And if not today, tomorrow. Or the day after.

Or maybe next month. Or next year. Or...

Why couldn't she admit it? Why couldn't she say that she didn't know the first thing about it?

Maybe Angelique would succeed where she had failed.

And if Angelique could not, what then? Angelique would not let her run test after test if she thought she could do better herself.

She would love to study the gorgons further, to classify them as a separate species, dissect them, study them at her leisure. But not this way. Not with two lives in the balance. More, if she got careless with the head or tissue samples.

There had to be a way. There had to be a solution. Maggie and Joe could not stay that way forever.

"Damn the old man!" Urien thought with irritation. Why did the old man have to haunt him? He had nothing to do with the way he died. Was it his fault that the man smoked in bed?

If the old man had to haunt somebody, why not Willie? Willie was his son, after all.

Julia had told him that the dreams would go away by themselves. Well, they had not. They kept getting stronger, even after he had left Collinsport. What more could he do?

Maybe it was just nerves, moving into a new place...

No, he had to face it. This was more than dreams. He was being haunted by Robert Loomis.

Maybe it was the apartment itself... he had had a feeling that there was something about the place, that the walls knew more than David about what was going on.

Well, maybe the walls knew more about Hallie's lovers than David. He had found out too late.

But there was more to it than the sordid tale of adultery and abandonment...

And maybe...

And maybe Julia was right, and Robert Loomis would go away by himself. Just as he had come, suddenly... maybe when he started classes he would be too busy to think about such things...

And if it didn't happen?

Maybe it concerned David... could David be connected to the old man? But how? David had been in Collinsport when Loomis had died, hadn't he?

But they two had never met! How could Loomis be haunting David now?

Unless..

Unless what? Either he was having bad dreams because he had moved from Collinsport, and it scared him, or he was being haunted by Loomis.

If the dreams went away he had nothing to worry about.

And if they didn't what?

What about David's wife, Hallie? She had been in Collinsport at that time, too.

Would he stop that nonsense? Loomis had not met Hallie any more than he had met David. And why would he haunt a place where Hallie was not?

And yet...

"No matter what else is happening, no matter how your heart breaks, letters have to be answered" Megan said, sighing, as Tammy tried to concentrate on the business .

"They said that they could restore Joe. That it would take time, but that it could be done." Tammy said.

"But you do not see any progress being made."

"They said that they'd contact me when they got news. I have not heard from either Julia nor Angelique."

"I do not know what to tell you. Except that I gave up Phillip as dead not once, but twice. And yet, he is still with us. And finding a cure is not something that has to fill a schedule. It goes slowly, at a glacial pace sometimes. And then, something clicks."

"Barnabas is trying to sound cheerful for my sake."

"And he's not very good at it." Megan sighed. "You know, once you learn to discount the vampire charisma that he has, you realize how many things he is not very good at."

"I am figuring it out. You know, it still seems like a bad dream. That I am going to wake up, and that I will be in bed next to Joe, and telling myself that I will not eat any more pizza before going to sleep."

"I know what you mean. All I can tell you is to keep busy. Running the agency can be irritating, but it keeps your mind busy and away from gloomy thoughts."

"Could you do anything?"

"In this thing, I usually ask Angelique, And that is done."

Amy laid the cards. She was not sure what she was asking. It should be a spread for Maggie or Joe, but that was not all of it. Her mind kept going back to David and his child. She had been out of David's life (and he of hers). She had almost forgotten him. But now, seeing Elliot...

She must not think of that. It only interfered with what she had to do. Certainly David and Hallie had noting to do with the gorgon or the petrified Maggie and Joe. She had no excuse for letting personal consideration interfere with her readings.

She must think only of them. If she could help with the cards, if she could point the way for Julia and Angelique to follow, then, when she had done her duty, she could pine for David again.

If she and David were destined for each other, they would have plenty of times to connect afterwards. If not, it did no good to wonder.

Look at the cards. The spread could just as well be for Maggie as for Joe. They would be restored together.

The Queen of Clubs. That could be Julia, laboring mightily to bring back life.

The Magician, in opposition to the Chariot. Clubs and Swords. Work and Strife. Daring, even rashness, that was what the Chariot indicated. The Magician.. was it a good card or a bad card? Did it represent the magic power of the gorgon, or the power that would defeat the gorgon's?

More clubs, which with their flowering branches, made her think of a wilderness.

The Knight of Swords. A young rash man. Adam, who had started this. Might he be also part of the solution.?

The wilderness, where you could get lost. Could that be a maze?

The King of Cups. A loving, giving figure? Barnabas"? Was Barnabas the key to this?

The King of Cups offered a cup straight from his chest. What did the cup hold?

What did the spread mean? She thought that she could tell, but the meaning seemed to escape her.