Chapter 37

They unlock their bicycles and cycle home. Once inside, Adison feels Catherine's absence again, but at the same time she is very worried about Vincent, having heard a summary of what happened she expects Vincent to feel very, very remorseful. As soon as he settles in a chair, she sits on his lap and snuggles against him, and he wraps her in his arms and rests his head on her shoulder. She will not picture him in a rage, holding a grown man as if he is a ragdoll, she pictures him that morning in the hotel with Catherine touching all his scars, asking questions in baby-talk, poor thing. How she must have ached even then to just talk to them.

The memory causes her to smile fondly, and Vincent asks gently: 'Will you share your thoughts with me? They must be very sweet.'

'I was thinking of that time in the inn when Catherine asked questions about your scars,' even now, she cannot help smiling, it was such a special moment. 'Little minx,' Vincent comments, but with a very soft expression, 'who knows what she was thinking. I miss her when she's not here.'

'Never mind, love,' Adison says, 'we'll have her back tomorrow. I miss her too.'

Melissa now observes: 'Do you need to be alone, Vincent? We can do this some other time, you've been through a lot.'

'Thank you for your compassion, Melissa, but I think I need to know whether Mr Grey's master is the same person as my former master. If so, there may be trouble. Mr Grey certainly was frightened enough just before we left. But I was so angry, he is so selfish, let him do the suffering for a change, he made me lose control worse than ever.'

And Vincent tells them what happened, especially what it was like to be befuddled himself but have part of him free of the enchantment, commenting on the things that were happening. As if he were not one person, but two. 'When Lukas touched me the creature was already in control, but we nevertheless became one again, I could think right again, the sense of being two had gone.'

Adison can imagine that Vincent is very much ashamed of having lost control right in front of Lukas, it was really bad this time, he hadn't the slightest respect for Mr Grey's humanity anymore, it must have been the spell that did it, for they had become one just recently, and neither Vincent nor Adison had expected the creature to surface again, especially not this brutal and inhumane.

'Don't look like that, Vincent,' Mina says, 'you know you're a good man. We love you, we're not going to let you down, we're here for you.'

'And I'm going to start by taking a good look at you,' Melissa states. 'Maybe something will come up to explain what happened. Or do you want to check out that little box first?'

The box, they had totally forgotten about it! Adison gets up quickly and walks to their coat-stand to find Vincent's lovely new coat. She soon finds the weird little thing, and takes it back to the kitchen with her.

Paul asks: 'Will you let me hold it for a moment and check it for magic? And do you think it is a good idea if I open it? I'm the most experienced mage here, and probably best able to handle any arcane surprises hidden in there.'

They all agree, and Paul first admires the workmanship: 'The wood is rowan, that in itself suggests it's magical, and associated with witch-craft, for they believe that particular tree has magical qualities. The little hinges and fastenings are bronze, not iron. That also signifies witch-craft. No nails, it's fitted and glued together.' His face blanks for the tiniest of moments: 'There is no spell on the box itself, and the rowan is meant to keep any magic inside. I cannot see any sign of magic inside the box from here, so either the rowan wood works, or there is nothing magical in there.'

Very carefully, he opens the box, and his face shows his total incomprehension at what he sees. 'It's you, Vincent,' he blurts out, Paul, the most composed man in the world, blurting something out.

But soon Paul hands the box to Vincent, and Adison can see the contents as well, and she understands Paul's dumbfounded amazement. Lying in the box as if in a coffin is a figurine that reminds her of the dolls in the witch's house, except this is an entire man-like shape, incredibly detailed for its tiny size, only slightly larger than Adison's hand and perfectly proportioned.

It is nude, with detailed musculature, tiny nails on fingers and toes, and a flaccid penis, also perfectly formed. The hair is black, and its face is a stunningly, frighteningly exact likeness of Vincent's, except that it is coloured, decidedly swarthy, and the eyes are black. The little doll has no scarring in the face nor on the chest, making the likeness slightly less than perfect. Is this why the spell failed, tying Heathcliff's newly awakened talent to his physical body?

For it is clear that this doll was used in Heathcliff's resurrection to become Vincent, it cannot have been used to spell Vincent recently, since this is Heathcliff's image, not Vincent's. When everyone has seen it, Mina states: 'Heathcliff looked exactly like that.' Adison knows Mina saw him naked just before he died, the time this figurine must have been made.

And Victor asks Paul: 'Is there a centre to a person's body that has magical significance? I may have damaged that with a cut. Before I started the resurrection, I not only opened the skull to repair the fracture, but I also checked out several organs. To my shame, those cuts were extensive and pretty deep, I was a pathologist, it never occurred to me that my creation would actually have to live with the damage I inflicted. Until I saw the blood flow from the wounds. No, not even then. Only when Adison told me my patient was in danger of blood-loss and infection, and scarring, did I realize what I had done.'

Paul admits: 'I don't know. But we can find out, if George doesn't know we can ask either Tristan, Jakob, or Master Man. Vincent, I've checked the statue, it has no active magic left in it. Still, it needs to be kept safely away from view, for it would be easy to bring back to life: just add scars and change the colour of skin and eyes, add some fresh hair, well, you can imagine the rest. To think that Angelique recognized you from this. And to think that Mr Grey had it in his possession.'

Clearly Melissa judges it time to take her intimate look at Vincent, for she approaches them quietly, Paul in her wake, and Adison makes way for them, taking Melissa's former seat next to Lukas. As Melissa sits down and touches Vincent's hand, Adison can feel Lukas take hold of her own. Does he expect Melissa to find something horrifying? But she cannot, can she? Vincent is fine, he leads a normal life, they have a great marriage, he is the best father ever.

Her hand is squeezed just the tiniest of bits, and Lukas whispers: 'Don't let me put you out, love, I just felt like holding your hand while your husband is not watching.' He winks at her, and smiles his cutest smile, how did he know it was his action that upset her?

'I can feel emotions when they are very strong. You love him very much, and you project your feelings rather forcefully. I think I may need to teach you about different shields soon, or the entire neighbourhood will be in love with your man. You may start picking up feelings from around you as well, and you need to shield those out or they will drive you mad.'

He keeps hold of her hand, and Adison watches Melissa, she'll process Lukas' observations later. Lessons with him would probably be very enjoyable, he cannot possibly be as demanding an instructor as Paul is, though she likes Paul as well. He drives her to help her protect herself and her family, not because he is unkind. But Lukas can teach her things to improve her healing skills, like when he showed her what those flowing shapes and colours in a person mean.

Melissa is very far away by now, Paul sitting beside her in constant physical contact. Vincent doesn't seem affected by what she is doing, he watches her, curious to know what she will find of course. After about five minutes she comes back to them and nearly falls over, Paul catching her just in time, and Victor putting a cup of restorative tea in front of her. Paul takes his beautiful wife in his arms and lights up, restoring her power with a loving and intimate kiss.

Glancing at Lukas from the corner of her eye, Adison can see he doesn't mind them kissing at all, he enjoys the sight as much as if he were doing the kissing himself. That is true love, to enjoy seeing people you care for kiss each other. Jealousy seems totally foreign to Lukas.

Adison must still be projecting her feelings, for Lukas now looks at her amiably and observes slightly sadly: 'I didn't know jealousy when I first came to this world, didn't even know the concept. But I'm almost ashamed to say that I have tasted it since then, repeatedly. Not very badly, I feel too much love to get stuck on one person, but I did not like to see my father show an interest in Melissa. I didn't like that at all.'

By now, Melissa is recovered enough to drink her tea, and when she has finished it she says: 'That was very interesting, Vincent. I cannot find a signature on the spell that connected your body to your talent, because there is no spell active in your body. The changes to your body are permanent, they use magic power to function, and your talent provides that power. You have a sizeable stash of personal power, same as a mage develops in time, I think you may have built that up by training your body with physical activity.

But somehow it didn't make sense to me that your body should fuel your talent and your talent fuel your body. Some power always gets lost in the processes of living, and it has be be regained from outside the body. Food fuels the body of course, but it cannot provide the amount of power your enhanced abilities take up. If it did, you would have used up your personal power after a say half an hour, then need a day to recharge, as mages do.

But you never weaken, not even when seriously injured, do you?'

Vincent shakes his head and replies: 'I don't. I feel weak from blood-loss, but I can lose much more blood than an ordinary person before that happens, and wounds hurt, but they close up rapidly and I regain my strength very quickly. I have never had a wound infect on me, well, except once, just after my birth actually. But I'm never just an ordinary guy, an hour after sustaining a wound that would kill a normal man, I'm back on my feet and feeling pretty all right.'

'That means your power must be supplemented somehow, it cannot just come into being out of the great unknown. So I went in deeper to find the source of your power and I think I found it. It is difficult to explain but I will try, so please bear with me. It has to do with the ley-lines.

I guess your talent must be master class mage potential at least, for apparently your body can use the power from the ley-lines. You know the theory on them, but not how this power enters a body, likely no-one does. It is not mentioned in the literature at all, no-one seems to have studied it, mages apparently just accept that they can take it and use it. It is hard work, handling ley-line power, it seems to resist getting a purpose, and it is usually not for novices.

In your body you have nerves, Victor and Adison can probably explain what they do better than I can, but I have seen that they are virtually everywhere, they look like branches starting from your spine, spread out all through your body until the smallest of them reach even the outermost parts of your body. They allow you to feel pain, but apparently they can also transport power, for I saw you take in power from the ley-line through your nerves, spreading it throughout your entire shape. A lot of it leaked into your bloodstream, and I think not by accident, for blood vessels are even more widespread through the whole body, they reach even those few places where there are few nerves.

My guess is, and I'm certainly going to check that on Paul and Lukas, that in normal magic users the power of the ley-lines is used immediately, it is not stored, so it can never end up in the blood. Some people, like Lukas and his father, take the ley-line power without being aware of doing so, not from the ley-lines or the nodes, but before it pools together towards those. It's flowing in through their nerves and stored in special pockets. They never lack magic power, for it is constantly and effortlessly resupplied. Lukas can practise magic continually, and he will never run dry.

Whoever spelled your body to make it useful to him seems to have wanted your body to do the same, making you the equivalent of a god. But something went wrong and this extraordinary ability got tied to your bloodstream and thus feeds the power to your body instead of storing it for later use. If Mina ever needs to travel, she can take you to support her instead of the ley-lines she is bound to, for your blood is laden with magic power, it is almost a ley-line in itself.'

That is a revelation and no mistake! Adison cannot help feeling relief first, knowing Vincent is no longer under any kind of spell. It does make her wonder where the creature comes from, but frankly he is the least of her worries. She is very sure that he was only protecting Vincent when the latter was totally helpless, however that worked. Not a single part of Adison fears that Vincent is capable of such violence without due cause.

No-one says anything, this is quite a lot of information to process, and they all need a bit of silence to do so.

'If the Master did this,' Paul now observes, 'he must be a very powerful mage. Preparing a body to become as powerful as a god, why would he if he was already so powerful?'

Mina replies: 'I always thought the Master was the devil himself, and I wondered why he didn't choose a more, let's say, immortal shape to appear in? Why an ordinary human? But maybe he was just a human, a very powerful human, but mortal nonetheless?'

'Always looking for ways to make himself immortal,' Vincent observes, 'maybe he considered turning himself into a vampire first, keeping a few around to study them?'

'Let's say he wanted to use your body for himself,' Victor muses, 'your mind was wiped after the resurrection, and your body primed to be a mage, a fine vessel to prolong one's life in. But how was he going to bring his own personality, his own consciousness, into that body? Can that be done?'

Paul is looking positively solemn as he nods and admits: 'It can be done, but it is strictly forbidden by all schools of magic. It's called possession, and it can be done in various degrees. The mildest form makes a person tractable and willing to do one's bidding, the worst case is total elimination of the host's personality, to be replaced by the possessor. More knowledge than this is actually forbidden, maybe George or one of the others know more, but they will not tell us if they do.'

But now, Victor has an important question he wants to ask: 'Why Miss Yves? And Catherine? Why does the enemy want them? Master Man said he wanted to bring Miss Yves together with Heathcliff's body, presumably himself by then, but to what end?'

Adison replies: 'Vincent's body is supposedly virtually indestructible, but I think he can die, and he will age. Maybe the enemy thought connecting himself with whatever possessed Miss Yves would finally make him immortal.'

So many questions and so few answers, they discuss every possibility but the answers will not come by themselves. They will have to look further. By now they are all getting pretty tired, and they all have work to do tomorrow.

Lukas, Melissa and Paul take their leave and cycle home, and the four of them clean up the kitchen and get into bed.

It comes as no surprise to Adison that Vincent is still awfully quiet. She just hopes he isn't racked with guilt, he was doing so well, and now he's lost it again, and pretty badly. But she will not force him to talk about anything, she will only offer support, and not in words, but with her physical presence.

She snuggles against her beloved, just wanting to be close to him, to feel him in her arms, let him feel her, too. It has always been enough, and it will be this time, they have been through so much together.

He gathers her up easily, lays her on his chest, obviously relishing their nearness, and Adison feels so safe, so sheltered, she feels her heart swell. Vincent seems to be in a very different mood, he is nuzzling her now, he is not in a reflective mood at all, he is positively heated. She can smell his ardour increasing, his scent always intensifies when his heat is up. It is decidedly weird, Adison would have expected him to be in terrible mental pain, but she feels no such emotions coming from him, yes, lust, pure and simple, there is plenty of that.

'Lukas took care of it,' he mumbles, not even bothering to stop what he is doing, exploring that little sensitive spot behind her ear with his tongue. A shiver runs across her back, it's tickling, but also very, very hot. 'He took away the guilt, and the shame. I remember it, but it doesn't control me anymore. Adison, he's coming, I can't stop him, he's very strong.'

Honestly, Adison feels a shiver of excitement at Vincent's announcement, she will never fear the creature, he loves her as much as she loves him, and whereas Vincent has apparently had his conscience cleared by Lukas' incredible talent, Adison guesses the creature may still be feeling pretty bad about all of it.

'Let him come, Vincent, he must need it. Will you be all right?'

'He's me, so yes, I'll be there with you all the time. Isn't that strange? He takes over, and still it's me. But I'm not going to fight him if you don't mind.' And he continues his loving, still very small, nuzzling her neck, kissing her incredibly gently. She suspects the creature will be in a thoughtful mood tonight, and indeed, Vincent's loving is getting smaller, more tender, until she finally looks him in the eye and realizes she never noticed the change. The creature is already here.

'Do you feel bad?' she asks him, and he replies, not husky at all, just Vincent's normal voice, and yet with a different inflection somehow.

'I don't,' he says, 'what I did wasn't that bad. I just roughed him up a little, I would have done him if Lukas hadn't interfered, but he had it coming. You know he did that to at least seven young people every week, don't you, do you really believe he hadn't a clue he was abusing them? Have you any idea what it would have done to Vincent if that old corpse had taken him against his will? I had to protect him, he couldn't do it himself.'

Put that way, Adison can hardly fault him anymore, seven cases of rape each week, for who knows how many years, maybe fifty, maybe even more. And the victims never really understanding what happened.

'Is that why you came back? You were merged with Vincent, weren't you?'

'The spell forced us apart again, it felt good to be one, but I needed to protect him. I had to talk to you, so I stuck around a little, but I want to be back where I was as soon as possible. Someone said something that concerns me tonight, you will remember in time. Don't worry it to death, it will come to you when the time is right. And when that happens, remember, I'm part of Vincent, always was, always will be. We'll meet every day instead of once in a while, I'll not be gone.'

Again, it is so difficult to imagine, if he's one with Vincent, how can he still be there? Adison has not seen much difference in Vincent with the creature one with him. But of course he's always been there. This doesn't make anything clearer! Fortunately the creature continues: 'I would have felt very dirty, if I had done him. Would have been scrubbing in the hot water of our lovely new boiler for hours, most likely. Will you let me make love to you now? Roughly, since that is what you got all flushed for?'

Adison observes: 'I'm very glad you didn't do it, not so much for the violence anymore, for I think your arguments make sense, but it would have been rather strange to have you touch me afterwards, despite hours of bathing. Better give it to me, and yes, roughly, for that is what I will remember you for, despite seeing you all the time.'

And within moments she is no longer lying on top of her creature, but under him, making love with all the passion they both feel, hot and sweaty and not thinking of mind-spinning revelations at all, until they collapse together, out of breath, too tired to go to the showers, but very, very sated. Just before they fall asleep in each other's arms, Adison takes a good look at her lover to see if the creature has already left, but she really cannot tell.

The man watching her quietly from his yellow eyes is as dear to her as he has been since she met him, but she cannot for the life of her decide which side of him she's facing. 'It's done,' he says, and the voice doesn't give him away either. She kisses him last time that night, and then she goes to sleep in his arms.

The next day they plan to visit Miss Yves to see how she and Mr Chandler fared last night. Since it is Sunday, Vincent has his day off rehearsals, and they will pick up Catherine from the Nomes' estate, bringing the little figurine to show to George.

'Why don't we ride by Master Man's as well?' Vincent suggests, 'show it to him, and ask his opinion on what Victor said about his cuts causing the spell to fail.'

He is amazingly cheerful, he used to suffer for days when he had done something violent under the influence of the creature, but he seems totally fine today. Adison doesn't ask, but Vincent can see her looking at him and he observes: 'I don't feel guilty at all, Adison, really. I'm totally convinced that Mr Grey must have had some suspicion that his attractiveness to anyone he liked was not entirely natural. Somehow my dark side inspires more faith in me than Mr Grey, and I have decided to stand by myself in this.'

Unable to keep from smiling at his funny way of putting things, Adison wraps him in her arms and kisses him heartily. Vincent remarks: 'I wonder if he's heartbroken over me, or just put out to have missed his chance at gaining a lot of power. Since I'm apparently stuffed with magic, taking me might have given him enough power to last a whole week!'

'And now it's all mine,' Adison smirks, 'next time I lack power, I'll just kiss you, see how much power I can squeeze from you. Wait, what if that is what the master wanted you for, a large, strong stash of power, constantly recharging, ready for use and well-able to defend itself but without magic to threaten his position?'

Vincent is clearly thinking it through, and replies: 'It could very well be. Though it seems easier to just be a mage oneself. We don't need an answer straight away, but it won't hurt to keep it in mind. The master was just middle-aged, so why would he be afraid to die already?'

Since Mina cannot go out before six, they decide to visit Master Man first, then pick up Catherine at the manor. Taking the figurine with them, they cycle into the Chinese quarter, getting a lot of attention from the younger inhabitants, children who know them personally and who run along with them and shout in excitement. Bicycles are still new enough that no-one here has ever used one, though they must have seen one pass by outside the quarter.

They don't lock them at the community centre, that would be an insult, no-one will steal anything here, the Chinese quarter is like a small village where everyone watches everyone.

Master Man is in and very pleased to see them. He offers them tea, and they make themselves comfortable and first have tea quietly before they talk about anything. Then he is the first to speak: 'Adison, your skills are ever deepening, I have been told that you managed to free several souls from entrapment, one almost entirely by yourself.'

'It was a mistake,' she replies, though flattered with the compliment, she has worked hard for her progress after all, 'I used magic sight along with the ritual, and what I saw confused me and I helped it along. Had I just completed the ritual that would have worked much more easily.'

'But easy is not always better, my child,' Master Man observes, 'you learned a lot doing it, and soon you will not need the ritual anymore, you will be able to do it all by yourself. And after that, despite your not being Chinese, you will get the request to help others by responding to the call of the ritual.'

'So you know how it works?' Adison is amazed, Master Man didn't tell her that a group of masters is behind the ritual that can remove possessions, but as she speaks, she realizes he is probably part of it. He smiles, knows an answer is no longer needed, and says instead: 'All masters take turns in the collective, it can be tiring work but it makes the world a better place. People's minds should be free, not bound to serve other people. Though it can be a nuisance to get a call for help in the middle of the night or when one is busy doing something else altogether.' Is Master Man being droll?

No matter, Adison tells him about Jakob, who leads his own collective of magic-users, and the Master does not shy from the difference in culture and tradition: 'They know things we need to find out, and we can undoubtedly teach them something as well. Please help us arrange a meeting, there are few enough of us that we should work together.

How's your little daughter?'

Describing the confrontation with the witches, including Catherine's use of magic and sight, they see Master Man nodding in understanding, and he observes: 'I did think her abilities would come to life early, the enemy wasn't after her for nothing. Have you found more information on him as well?'

'It is very possible that he is a mortal like us, not a god or a god-like entity, and that his attempts to seduce Miss Yves to his side were part of a plot to gain godhood. But that is not certain at all,' Vincent states, 'we were hoping you would be able to shed some light on something we did find out.' And he hands Master Man the box with the little figurine: 'This was found in the collection of a man who seems to know the man who was once my master, and Mina's as well. He was the one after Miss Yves, we know that for certain, but neither Mina nor I remember Mrs Poole being under his dominion. It may very well be that she worked for herself.'

Master Man is listening to Vincent, but he is also studying the little box, and his observations match Paul's closely: 'This is excellent craftsmanship, the make is English, and it is meant to keep in magic, but but magic the creator valued, and carefully, or he would have used cold iron instead of copper for the hinges, and he would have nailed it together. That keeps in magic much more efficiently than the use of a special kind of wood, and a very subtle pattern in the grain of the wood. Can you see it?'

He traces the grain of the wood around the box, and it indeed matches perfectly on all sides. 'And not just that, but see this pattern here, also on all sides?'

Showing them a kind of swirl in the pattern, not uncommon in wood, but very beautiful nonetheless, he says: 'In our culture, this mark symbolises eternity, and it is also in exactly the same spot on all sides, not just the four, but the top and bottom as well. Of course this is from a totally different culture, but often these symbols do coincide. Somehow, men aren't that different all over the globe. What all of this means to me, is that this box was designed and made to guard the contents against discovery and defilement, not to capture them and hold them prisoner.'

That is an interesting development, and both Adison and Vincent hang on every word Master Man speaks, hoping to hear more.

He opens the box carefully, and shows no real surprise at the contents. With everything he told them before opening it, he must have expected something of the kind, he must have sight as well, he knows Vincent's body is different. After looking at the figurine for a while with at the very least respect for its craftsmanship, Master Man looks at Vincent and asks: 'May I take it out for a moment, very carefully?'

Somehow, that never occurred to any of them, not even Paul or Victor, who seem to be the most inquisitive of their lot. Vincent nods and says: 'Be my guest,' he's actually curious what the figurine is made of, and he's more than happy to let Master Man do the honours.

Very carefully, the old man now lifts the little figurine out of the box, and turns it around. The back is as detailed as the front, it must have taken a very gifted carver weeks to make. 'I think it is made of either bone, or ivory,' Master Man says, after studying it a little longer, 'the hair and the colouring were added later, of course.'

He puts it back into the box as carefully as he took it out, then says: 'The person who gave you this did you an immeasurable service. It does not look exactly like you, it is clearly an image of your predecessor, not you, and it feels inactive, but there is an unmistakeable link to you inside it.

I suppose you suspect that this was used to bring you back to life, in the way of witch-craft in your country?'

They both nod and confirm.

Master Man observes: 'That is probably true, but it was designed to do more. It was designed to control your body but your mind as well, taking your personality away and preparing your body to be taken over by someone else. A total possession that your character would not have survived. It failed, or you wouldn't be standing here, but your memory-loss proves it didn't fail altogether. Some of your personality was wiped out, and Adison filled that in during the period that she raised you. The love she gave you made you who you are now. But though you may not remember your former life, a lot of your character will be a remnant of those years. Once totally lost that cannot be regained, no-one, not even a priestess, can build a character out of nothing.'

A bit ashamed that they haven't visited Master Man since their return from Thomas, Vincent tells him: 'My memories returned overnight when we visited Adison's father, just before I started rehearsals at St James'. I'm sorry we never visited to tell you.'

'That is most interesting, and further proof that this figurine didn't work as it should have. Too bad we cannot look inside a person, see whether something went wrong with the body as well.' Adison now decides she needs to know, does Master Man have sight? He saw the talent in Catherine, but then he should see the weird connection in Vincent as well, shouldn't he?

'Master Man,' Adison asks, 'do you have sight, can you see that particular light in people who can do magic, as we call it?'

'I think I know what you mean, dear child, and I do, but yours seems to have vanished.'

That's it, he sees it.

'Do you remember what Vincent looked like using that vision?' This is difficult to explain, but Adison will try.

'If I use a certain formula I can still see it, but I remember also. It is clear that his light is tightly connected to his body, making him faster and stronger than any of us. I knew it was so before I looked at him with the eyes of the gods, since his skin is totally white.'

No-one can bring staggering facts as coolly as Master Man. He knows why Vincent's skin is white?

He laughs at their incredulous expression, and states: 'The power of what you call magic, and we call the blessing of the gods, must be everywhere in him, for it has bleached his skin free of all colour. Like sun does to cloth, but much faster.'

Of course, it's the magic! His new skin was the normal colour of skin, but it started turning white after a few hours, and was totally white after a day or so!

'It's all so logical,' Vincent observes, 'blood goes everywhere, also beneath the skin.'

'But what were you trying to tell me, my child?' Master Man asks quietly, 'something about your beloved's body being connected to his magic power?' He is surprisingly adaptable, using the term magic already as if he has always known of its existence.

'We have reason to believe that whoever spelled his body back to life, wanted to wake a dormant magic talent into an active one, enabling the body to take power in through the nerves, giving it an endless supply of power. Apparently that is the way gods acquire it. But we suspect something went wrong, accidentally tying the talent to the body, the power trickling into his blood instead of to pockets where it could be stored. A friend of ours who can see through almost anything saw it happen inside him.'

This is something Master Man needs to contemplate. He summarizes: 'So the power comes in through the nerves, then goes into pockets where it is stored. And this works for all mages?'

'No, most mages have their own magic power, and if they can use that power from outside, they cannot store it.' Adison thinks that is the right explanation.

'So maybe the maker forgot to include the pockets, making it impossible to store the power, forcing it into the body, into the blood.' Sometimes the solution can be so simple it just seems totally impossible, but could it truly be that someone learned how gods gather power and had the mind and the power to arrange a spell to reach that goal, then forget an essential detail like power-pockets?

Still, Adison wants to submit Victor's theory to Master Man's acute mind: ' Could Victor have ruined the spell by cutting through some essential point in the body? A place where a person's essence lies? Or by changing the look of the body with those cuts? They were rather profound, and the figurine doesn't have them.'

Considering this while having no clue of how magic works, yet, is too much to ask. Master Man admits: 'It could be, but we must also consider the possibility that this is just an accident. Remember, your friend used a lightning-strike to resurrect you, Vincent, and that wreaks havoc on your nerves as well. Maybe the combination of the magic meant to release your talent and the power of the lightning strike opened your talent too far. And when there was no place for the magic power to go, it spread through your body, disturbing the mind wipe. It's as likely as something else disturbing the spell, lightning is unpredictable and very powerful.'

'I can believe your theory, Master Man,' Vincent says feelingly, 'I still remember the agony I was in, my entire body was on fire, and it stayed painful for weeks, all over, that must have been the effect of the lightning plus my nerves getting used to taking in power. We'll consider this theory, thank you so much for your insight.'

'It is the most simple explanation, building a spell to make someone a god is very difficult, an accident is way more likely,' Adison adds. 'Were you in agony all that time, Vincent? I didn't notice beyond the first day.'

'As soon as you held me the pain became bearable, my love.' The infatuation in Vincent is so endearing, and still so profound. 'Though if I hadn't been so confused and forgetful, I could have had a lot of use out of a few painkillers. Somehow I just thought that the pain was part of life, not until it started to gradually lessen after a few days did I realize it wasn't. My mind was wiped rather thoroughly, though I did remember a lot of practical things as Adison showed them to me.'

Now Master Man looks at Vincent gravely, and says: 'Vincent, you keep this out of sight all the time, do not destroy it unless someone with great experience tells you it is safe. I think it can still be used to gain control over your mind, that is what it was created for. Maybe that was what it was kept for. I don't know, but it is not a talking piece, it is something to keep safe and secret.' He looks positively pensive, their aged friend.

'You gave me a lot of food for thought, but I'll digest that later. Now tell me about your father, Adison, how is he doing? You told me you had visited him?'

They spend a very pleasant half-hour telling Master Man about their visit, and he is not at all surprised that Adison's mother did know about magic. After that they demonstrate their bicycles, people from all over the quarter coming by to have a go or just watch. One man is very intent, and he asks: 'Can you use one of those to pull a cart? It's so much easier to care for than a mule.'

Of course they have never seen anything like a bicycle pulling a cart in the city, bicycles are still mostly toys for very rich people, and they cannot imagine pulling a cart with a bicycle, but Vincent promises to ask the maker of their vehicles. He'll know what can or cannot be done.