Chapter Nine: A Lesson in Zeppelin

"I refuse to accept that."

Brennan shook her head wearily. "I'm sorry…but Booth—"

"Has never done drugs," Saroyan spat out. "He smokes a cigarette once in a blue moon, but he has never, ever, even considered trying narcotics."

"There was PCP in his system," Brennan said forcefully.

Hodgins slammed his hand down on the computer monitor. "Come on, Dr. Brennan. Who are you trying to convince? You know this isn't—"

"Logical?" Brennan supplied. She chuckled mirthlessly, "Believe me, nothing has been logical since we've taken this case. I know."

Angela stood from her stool, her hand over her mouth. She paced across the platform, shaking her head. She finally locked eyes with her best friend, and stated, "Something's happened to you."

Brennan answered curtly, "Of course, something's happened to me, I found Booth nearly dead because of an addiction to an extremely powerful narcotic. Then, he tried to tell me lies, that some 'ghost' caused it."

"That's not what I meant," Angela frowned.

"Ghost?" Saroyan grilled.

Brennan slumped in the chair, and explained, "Booth has been suffering nightmares."

Zach cut in, "That accounts for why he appears so ill and exhausted."

"He tried to tell me the dreams were real, that some entity was causing them," Brennan finished. "Which, I shall repeat, is ridiculous. The drugs caused his hallucinations. Not to mention, there is no grounded evidence supporting spirits of any kind exist. Ghosts are stories kids make up to scare each other, and people in grief create the possibility a loved one is still around by conjuring up the idea of a corporal soul."

"Fine," Hodgins conceded. "I'm with you on the ghost side, but how in the hell did PCP get into Booth's system? Who put it there?"

Brennan bit her lower lip and Hodgins added, "Because we all know Booth's one of the good guys."

"I don't know what to think anymore."

"Well, I personally, think there is more to the case than…" Angela fought for the words, "human influence. What about that call Brennan got? It came from her own phone."

"Which either makes Brennan the kidnapper, poisoner, and ghost, or that there is something going on that we cannot comprehend," Saroyan stated, "And I personally, believe in the latter."

Brennan stood abruptly, anger rising. "Please do not tell me we are actually entertaining this notion, that some, some ghost kidnapped the children, stuck PCP in Booth's system, and writes childish little limericks on peoples' mirrors!"

"I don't think they're limericks Dr. Brennan—" Zach pointed out.

"Not the issue, Zach!" Hodgins groaned.

Angela came over to Brennan, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You look freaked."

"I'm not," Brennan snorted. "I think you're all insane."

"And I think you're being a bitch," Angela commented dryly. She smiled at Brennan's surprised expression. "But I mean that in a loving way. Like I was trying to say earlier, something happened to you earlier. Spill."

Brennan turned from the group. "There's nothing to say."

"We need to treat this like a case, people," Saroyan cut in. "Every little piece of information is critical, both the obvious and the indirect types. If we want to help Booth, and if we want to figure out what happened to those kids before they turn up as corpses, we need to hear all of it, Dr. Brennan. It is safe to assume the two incidents are connected."

Brennan stared at her fellow colleagues on the platform, as if a mutiny was threatening to brew. In a way, it had. They never should have been this involved with the case in the first place: there had only been soil samples for Hodgins to analyze. Now her team was seriously considering the possibility that a ghost, a ghost was partly responsible for some of the happenings. Still…there were things that remained a mystery. The call. Her accident-turned-hallucination. The message on her mirror…

"I refuse to entertain the notion that there is paranormal influence," Brennan said slowly, "but, yes, something has happened today. On my way back from the hospital."


"Okay, so here's a thought," Angela talked as she scoured the Internet for reliable websites. Her hands shook slightly, part from excitement and part from fear. Brennan encountered that thing! That thing that was screwing with Booth's head. And the message on her mirror? How can she still deny that there is not always a scientific reason for every unexplainable event!

"Up the stairs they go, to the war of evermore," Angela typed as the team gathered around anxiously. "Yields…" she paused and leaned back for the rest of the team to see. "What?" she interrogated.

Hodgins shook his head as his eyes scanned the screen. "Just a bunch of sites giving out the lyrics to a Zeppelin song."

"Not just any song," Angela pointed out.

"The Battle of Evermore," Brennan said.

Saroyan rubbed her chin and commented, "I thought this whole thing sounded familiar."

"As with a lot of Led Zeppelin's music, there is controversy of the meaning in the songs. It is rumored if one played Stairway to Heaven backwards, they would hear satanic recordings," Zach put in calmly.

The rest of the team stared in shock.

Zach shrugged his shoulders. "I have had siblings who expressed interest in the music. I did research to expand my horizons. The rumor about the satanic recording is false, it's just the sounds a record makes when played backwards.'

Saroyan whistled and announced, "O-kaaayyy, back to work in reality, where Zach and Led Zeppelin don't belong in the same thought process."

Hodgins supplied, "With the song The Battle of Evermore, it's said Robert Plant wrote the lyrics after reading a book on Scottish history. The lyrics are about the everlasting battle between night and day, which can also be interpreted as the battle between good and evil. Not to mention, many J.R.R. Tolkien fans see the lyrics as a reference to his book Return Of The King, where the lyrics could describe the Battle of Pelennor. 'The drums will shake the castle wall, the ring wraiths ride in black'. Very, very cool and hardcore."

Angela added, "If we were to make some jumps in logical thinking, if there is indeed a ghost—"

Brennan sighed at the term, bit Angela continued, "then this entity is connected with the human force driving the disappearances, which is why it would be targeting Brennan and Booth."

"I still can't believe we're having this discussion," Brennan muttered.

"You got a better plan?"

"Not yet, but—"

"Then can it, Sweetie."

Brennan threw up her hands exasperatedly and conceded, "Fine. That would explain the reference 'Evermore.' Good vs. Evil, Booth and I fight criminals. How does that tie in 'stairs'? Surely that is relevant."

"The vocalist for the song, Sandy Denny, died in 1978 from a brain hemorrhage resulting from a fall down the stairs," Zach supplied.

"Dude," Hodgins joked, "were you even born in '78?"

"Enough, you two," Saroyan warned. "That still doesn't answer what's going on with the kids."

Silence was the answer; they just didn't know, until Brennan caught a website on the bottom of the search results. "Scroll down to the last site."

Angela moved the arrow over the link. "UniqueGraveEpithets . com?" she frowned. Clicking the website, Angela searched the page for the words 'Evermore' and 'war'. The machine whirled to life and within seconds, the group was directed to the second to final entry.

"No way…" Hodgins whispered.

Brennan straightened and murmured, "Well, at least I know I'm not going crazy."

Inscribed on a headstone of William H. Rowley was:

"May Angels Dust Your Wings"

Billy H.

1954-1970

Up the stairs they go, to the battle of evermore.

It was Saroyan's turn to whistle in amazement. "If that isn't creepy, I don't know what is.

"Looks like Billy-boy was a 100 percent hippie," Hodgins observed. "There's a bong graved onto the bottom of his headstone for Pete's sakes!"

"We need to find out how he died," Brennan stated. "It still doesn't explain what is going on with the disappearances, but you're right: every little bit helps."

"I can look to make sure, but I'm pretty sure I know what killed him," Angela replied steadily. "May Angels Dust Your Wings. Angeldust is slang for a very powerful narcotic. I'd bet he overdosed on it, given his social status and his headstone."

"What's the drug?" Brennan asked. Somehow, she already knew the answer.

Angela felt shivers run up her spine. "It's phencyclidine, Bren. PCP."