Hello there! Here we have another chapter, a bit longer this time ^.^
Now, back to the case!
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Before nine the next morning Mai asked Sawamura-san where to get some food and was recommended a nice little inn with a delivery service. After making the call for food she also took the time to call Yasu and unfortunately woke him up – apparently he was supposed to have lectures only in the afternoon.
"Good morning, Yasuhara-san!" she greeted happily only to sweat drop after hearing a groan on the other end of the line.
"Good morning to you too, Mai-chan. I don't think you would want to chat so early in the morning, so what bag of horror have you dragged to me this time?" he sounded both drowsy and amused, but not really angry, so Mai let out a breath of relief.
"Ah….um, sorry about the early call, but we are sort of in a hurry since last night. Naru wants you to research the background of Kohachi History museum in Aomori…if it's not too much trouble…" she added carefully, though it was a slim chance that he might refuse.
"Sure, sure, I'm always glad to help, just send me the information on the museum and how deep you want me to dig. Sooo…you're in Aomori, then? How's the weather? Have you drowned in snow yet?" change of subject seemed to make the university student merrier.
"Not yet, but we had a few close calls. Seriously, it's everywhere, in, like, piles!" Loud and happy laughter filled Mai's ears.
"Well, then you could build a snowman and replace the big boss with it, the attitude would be so similar nobody would notice." Mai snorted at the mental image of a large, fat snowman holding the black notebook.
"You know what, I actually might!" she said laughing out loud.
"And now, on a more serious note, do you need me in location, or I can just send you the research?"
"Actually it would be better if you came over...when you send your research usually the only person who can understand it without explanations is Naru..." She told him a bit embarrassed. At that Yasu just laughed.
"Sure, I think I can run off for a day or two. Also...asking the locals is sometimes much more effective than actual scientific research. Send me the address, okay? And see you soon, Mai-chan!" After saying her goodbyes and sending the address to Yasuhara's phone she got up and went to grab her winter jacket – soon they will go to the front door to greet John.
He arrived in a yellow taxi car covered in snow, of course, just like everything else. Stepping out the young Australian smiled and Mai suddenly realized how long it's been since they worked together. He seemingly grew an inch or so and cut his hair a bit shorter.
"Hello, everyone! It's so nice to see you after all this time!" he spoke up cheerily the moment he stepped into hearing range. Mai and Monk started to wave enthusiastically until he came up closer.
"John! How have you been?" Mai asked instantly "How was Rome? Did the trip go okay?"
"Oh, yes, it was fine. Routine, actually. All exorcists are called back to Rome for updates and renewal of vows once a few years. It was unusual this year, because there have been more possessions over the last months, but that's another matter. How have you been doing?" he asked smiling. Everyone smiled back just as brightly and started to tell their little stories with Mai leading the front. The only one not smiling was Oliver. He was both intrigued and worried by the little news John brought back.
Soon the blonde was seated in the warm base and informed that Mai and Noll finally started their long due relationship, which annoyed Oliver to no end. Even Lin's quiet love affair was dragged to light along with Monk's last tour with his band. Eventually the big boss had enough of it:
"If you intend to play café and sit around all day, you might as well leave. It will be easier to work without all this noise. Brown-san I asked you to come along because we possibly have a case of possessed object or more likely objects, and I hoped you could help us with it. We can discuss the lost time after the case is over, if you don't mind. "
"Oh, sorry, I got a little carried away. I'm ready to work any time, just tell me what needs to be done." John was smiling sheepishly, more than a little embarrassed. Mai was not so docile, glaring daggers at her idiot scientist.
"Right. If we are back on topic, this private museum currently has two expositions that are causing trouble. During the interviews yesterday we found out, that the people, who curate these two collections, were constantly getting hurt. They would go into the vault where these collections were kept to log and prepare them for showcasing, but constantly felt watched, poked, heard strange noises and eventually got injured. One woman, the cleaner, told us, that she finds red stains under one of the items all the time. That item is an old Egyptian mask. I would like you to try and exorcise it. After that, both you and Monk will have to deal with a whole array of tools for mummifying."
"How about the fourth room and all the strange metal tools, belts and what not, Naru-chan? Those are equally suspicious…" Takigawa wondered out loud. He really felt the chills in the fourth room more than the third.
"That room we will deal with in the afternoon, for now let's see what effect both your exorcisms will have." With that the action plan was decided.
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As soon as everyone ate breakfast and changed into ritual clothes the exorcisms began. John went first and tired his luck with the mask. The moment he stood in front of the item and spilled a little of holy water on it, the temperature around the stone artefact dropped.
"In the beginning was the word…And the word was with God…And the word was God…" as he spoke longer frost started to appear on the glass, that prior covered the mask, and on nearby showcases as well. Slowly and steadily blood started to seep out of the mask, trickling down out of the eyes, the nose, even lips. When John's prayer was finally over, he placed a tiny crucifix on the mask and it shook violently before becoming eerily still. Masako just nodded when John looked back at his teammates for feedback.
"The young man left." She said tonelessly. Spirits were still draining the young medium, even through her barriers. "He was attached to that mask as an anchor in this world. When the connection was broken he left."
Sighing with relief Monk stepped forth to deal with the mummification tools. 'Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought.' He wondered remembering John's easy success. Unfortunately lady luck had other plans.
It was quiet when the first chants started, but the longer Monk chanted, the quieter it got, as if the whole room was submerged into water, soon the man's voice was barely audible. Mai started to get a very bad feeling about this whole thing, as if they shouldn't try to poke this spirit. It didn't just get cold around the canopic jars and metal tools – the whole room turned to minus three degrees Celsius – below freezing. Masako just grabbed Mai's arm and pressed into her side tightly. That was enough of a sign something was wrong. "Masako?" Mai asked in a shaky voice. She was only answered by chanting, but not in Japanese and the sound seemed to come from all sides at once. Mai squeezed her eyes shut tightly like it could make the sound go away along with the sight. Except her sight didn't go away ether. Instead of the exposition room she could now see light brown, sand coloured walls and a large table, that looked almost like a bed - with a depth to it. Beside the strange table stood a figure of...what seemed to be a man, but his head was that of a...dog, or a jackal maybe. Something canine. Breathing becoming erratic Mai wondered if they are taking on a god again...
The unfamiliar voice grew louder and louder, drowning out Monks chant. John didn't have it in him to stand aside any more – he spilled some holy water on the tools and bowls…only to have it sizzle off and evaporate like the urns and hooks were burning hot. Still, John kept repeating his prayers until an invisible force pushed him backwards into one of the walls. Despite the relative failure it gave Takigawa a chance to change strategies, he changed the chant and soon enough one of the urns cracked and a bluish black shadow rose out of it, disappearing through the wall. When the temperature rose back to normal SPR team started to breathe again.
"What the hell was that chanting all about?" Monk asked breathing heavily. He seemed drained, but still stood firmly on his feet.
"It was the priest." Masako spoke up after a second "He was the master of those tools and probably a very powerful man in life. I can only guess he practiced some type of magic…and he's not gone."
"Are you sure it was human, Masako?" Mai asked carefully, remembering her vision of the dog headed man. Everyone looked at her questioningly. Especially Oliver's eyes told her she better start talking, so she did. "I sort of...saw him in this sand colored brick room with a table...or a bed it's hard to say. But he was not fully human! His body was human enough...but the head...it...it looked like an animal head, dog's maybe...I don't know...he just looked not human, though it didn't feel like the energy of Okobu..." Everybody stared at her dumbstruck. All, but Naru. He looked both interested in her vision and slightly shocked at the development of her ability.
"It was a man, no matter how he looked like in your vision. Spirits can change form." Masako spoke up in the uneasy silence "His spirit just left the tools and ran away for the moment. This man might come back with a vengeance – we made him very angry." That was enough to drag out the unpleasant silence. Even Naru was in thought for a long while before speaking up:
"Hara-san, do you think he attacked the museum workers?"
"He has enough power, but I am not sure. If it was him...he will probably do worse than that now. Before he was simply annoyed with the torrent of people, but now…we challenged his authority. He will most likely attack us now."
Oliver just smiled at her obvious fear. "Good, than we won't have to go looking for him, he will come to find us. Before then, we need to find Sawamura-san and ask him for the name and date of death of this man. Then, Lin, do you think you can take him?" The young scientist was smiling slightly, clearly revelling in the challenge.
"Given the correct information, I can. However, it will take time to prepare, and it will not be a cleansing. If I perform the ritual I will exorcise him." Lin spoke in his usual calm manner. Mai already missed the more expressive Lin they had few cases ago. She honestly enjoyed watching more than one emotion on the Chinese man's face. But for that, apparently he needs to be in close proximity with Yukiko-sensei. Masako, however, had much darker thoughts. She shuddered at the Onmyoji's words and really didn't feel like watching him killing the spirit.
"Good. Then, Mai, John go and find Sawamura-san." With that he left the room with Lin on his heels. Both Monk and John sighed.
"Well this was lovely…who wants a repeat?" the rocker chuckled wearily and dragged himself after the mad scientists taking the tiny medium with him. Mai and John left to look for the client.
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Surprisingly, after about an hour of digging among the photographs of hieroglyphics and their translations, Sawamura-san managed to find the name and date of death of the high priest, who owned the tools. Mai stayed with him the whole time, watching the elderly man work. During that time she found out, that high priests actually wore masks of god Anubis - god of enbalming (among other things), which...surprise, surprise...looked like a man with the head of a jackal. The historian was more than happy to tell her about the masks and the enbalming process itself. He seemed to get younger when fully concentrated – sharp brown eyes travelled from one scrap of paper to another, hands fiddled with magnifying glass and various files quickly and easily. Passion for his work was clearly visible in every move. Mai could not help but think he must have been a handsome man in his youth. When they finally reached the base with necessary data it was way past midday. Sun started to turn slightly red and the shadows stretched out in the halls and stairways. When they stood in front of the double door however, there was one problem - she couldn't open it.
"Huh? Um, Sawamura-san, did you give Na…Shibuya-san the keys for this door?" she asked completely confused, before a shiver ran over her body – something was wrong. Distantly she could hear the chanting starting up again, dragging her into another dimension it came from. Trying to keep concious she grabbed the handle one more time, but it had turned scorching hot and burned the brunettes' skin badly. With a loud scream Mai stumbled backwards only to be caught in the archaeologists firm grip.
"Miss? What's the matter, what happened to your hand?" he asked grabbing Mai's wrist and freezing upon the sight of bright red burn marks. Mai Just whimpered in his arms. Before ether of them could come out of shock, all the windows in the hallway started to shake and crack slowly. Knowing what comes next Mai closed her eyes and covered her face to avoid the shards. In her blindness she screamed, when a hand dragged her towards the door and a deafening whistle echoed in the air. Upon opening her eyes the little assistant found herself facing a familiar black dress shirt and a jacket. Behind her, Lin slammed the door shut.
Naru held her tightly against his chest and for a moment relief was strong enough to make her forget the pain in her palm. Sawamura-san was panting behind her, barely holding up against one of the walls.
"What on earth was that?" he asked, tone drenched with panic.
"That was the priest from the third exposition, I assume. The one, whose name and date of death we requested you to find." Naru answered levelly, not awfully happy about the accident, but satisfied knowing all ended reasonably well.
"Do you realize he just burned your assistant's hand?! That he tried to bombard us with broken glass shards?!" the historian's temper and tone were rising exponentially.
"Yes, I'm aware. Unfortunately such risks are a part of this line of work. As much as I would like to avoid any injuries in my team, it doesn't always work out that way." The young boss seemed completely calm and even detached, which made the older man the more furious.
However Mai chose that second to moan in pain and the confrontation was effectively over when Naru chose to sit her down and take care of her hand instead of continuing the verbal battle. Sawamura fell silent too. He wanted the curious little girl to be treated as quickly as possible. Before anyone could even request Masako scurried over to the chair with their first aid kit.
"Mai, show me your hand." Masako spoke worried as she folded herself onto the floor beside the chair. Mai obediently outstretched her hand, letting the medium put antiseptic, some kind of salve and eventually bandages over it all. Monk came around to pat her head, John was making her a cup of tea and everyone seemed so worried...It made her feel like a little girl again – loved and surrounded by family. When the whole process was over and they sat on various surfaces with teacups in hand Mai spoke up:
"Hey, we don't have Ayako's charms to protect the base...can he get in here?" she asked a bit worried. The feeling of the man's voice dragging her consciousness toward him was still vivid in her mind.
"He can't." Lin answered her surprisingly gently, assuring the girl "My shiki have formed a barrier around the base. He cannot get in or even come near enough to do damage."
"Still, I want you to perform the ritual as soon as possible, Lin." Oliver spoke up eyeing his tiny girl and her bandaged hand. "We have the information you'll need and I believe you have most of your tools in the base."
"I do."
"Then do it. No one leaves the base until the ritual is successful." Every member of the team and even the client nodded obediently. Lin stood up from the monitors, leaving the duty of observation to John and went about to dig for his tools.
Around an hour later, when the sun was barely visible over the horizon and the world was already bathed in purple and gray rays of evening, the team stood in front of a strange sight. Lin had drawn a circle on the floorboards and sat in front of it with several objects neatly placed beside him. To his right stood a small copper bell and a bowl of water. To his left – incense sticks and a bowl with sand to burn them in along with a small dagger. In the very middle a single candle was lit in front of an empty stone bowl and a piece of clean paper. Ink was just beside it.
In the deadly silence he rang the bell, let the silence swallow the sound then rang it again. The tall man washed his small dagger in the bowl of water, running the liquid over the blade almost meditatively. He lit the incense and bowed three times holding it up before placing it in the sand. All this time he never stopped speaking very quietly in Chinese. After a few minutes of mumbling he took the small piece of paper and wrote the priests name and date of death on it. That's when the temperature started to drop in the room. Eyes going wide Masako stared at the paper as if it's about to bite them and backed off a little to stand near John and the monitors. Mai, on the other hand had drifted close to Oliver, but felt calm enough – Lin's slow and deliberate movements have put her into a sort of meditative state. Soon the windows started to freeze over and the door rattled violently accompanied by banging on the walls, but it didn't stop Lin from picking up his dagger and swiftly nailing the paper to the inside of the circle with it. All sound cased in the electrified silence and slowly, in the middle of the circle a small purple light started to flicker. It grew larger by the second, slowly taking shape of a man with the head of a jackal. He stood in the circle tall and imposing, clearly trying to scare them out of doing anything. But he unfortunately had little experience with Lin. The man was level headed and nearly impossible to beat off track. Out of the blue that balance was almost broken by John's voice.
"Guys! The cameras in the fourth room are picking up something!"
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That's it for now! I hope you had fun, I sure did! And see you next chapter!