Chapter Eight
"So," Kurt said, sounding a little skeptical. "You want to test a theory, but you aren't exactly ready to explain to me what that theory is, you just want me to try to do something you can't explain and that I have no idea how to do?"
"We've deduced that right now, your magic works subconsciously," Wes said. "A fact we'll work on later, but may work in our favor to find out if Trent's hunch is right. If he is right, I promise we'll explain everything to you, but for the moment it's better if you don't know the details."
Trent smiled reassuringly at him. "Look at it this way, think of it as us not wanting to influence the outcome of a scientific experiment by giving you knowledge that could alter your perceptions."
Kurt let out a little sigh. "Okay, so you just want me to sit here and stare at Jeff and see if anything happens?"
Jeff let out a little giggle. "Sorry, that just sounded a little suggestive."
Wes whacked the blonde on the back of the head. "Business now, playtime later," he said.
Trent snorted. "At least we know it's the real Jeff this time."
Kurt just shook his head. "Okay, but I don't think anything is going to happen with so many distractions."
Wes frowned. "What's distracting you?" he asked, wanting to make this go as smoothly as they possibly could. They didn't want an inconclusive result after all.
Kurt looked at him incredulously. "A watched pot never boils," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Trent shook his head and pulled Wes back into the bathroom before the older boy could protest. And then Trent glanced out the window. "Hey look, Jeff! There's a butterfly outside!" he said.
"Where?" the blonde boy asked, looking towards the window. Kurt was about to admonish them again that they were distracting him, but suddenly the room seemed to shift. Jeff now sat at a table, looking at a map with only torches and a candle for light. Someone behind him spoke, and he thought he recognized the voice as belonging to Nick, but he couldn't turn around to see. Jeff seemed to be distracted, his finger making a strange design on a specific spot on the map, over and over again. And then the lights went out, leaving them in pitch darkness.
Kurt blinked, and the bedroom came back into focus. "What the hell?"
Jeff looked over at him curiously. "Are you okay, Kurt?" he asked. "You kind of spaced out a moment or something. I only noticed because the butterfly flew away."
Kurt blinked a couple more times, and tried to answer, but it took a moment for him to find his voice. "Where is the room with books and maps? The one with no electricity, like the chambers below the school?"
Jeff's eyes got wide. "That's the hidden Circle library. The entrance is in the actual library. Why?" he asked.
"You were there this morning. You seemed to be lost in thought, but your finger kept making a strange design over the same spot on the map repeatedly."
Wes and Trent came back into the room, having overheard Kurt's description. "Trent was right," Wes said, sounding a little awed.
Kurt looked puzzled. "Right? Right about what?" he asked.
"Kurt," Trent started. "I believe that you are a visual memory reader."
The pale boy frowned. "I thought you said my Line were Telekinetics."
"That's true," Trent said. "Your Line on your father's side is telekinetic. But, it's possible you may have gotten the memory reader ability from your mother's side. In which case, she is probably a witch as well."
Kurt frowned. "My mom died when I was eight. But if she had been a witch, wouldn't she have told me, or my dad?"
Wes shook his head. "Not necessarily," he said. "Remember that both you and your dad were unaware you were witches. Some witches prefer not to expose their magical status when in relationships with humans for fear the human might run away scared and end the relationship. Your mother might have been one of them, because she would have thought your dad was a human."
"And since magic is passed Mother to Daughter, Father to Son, she would have believed you had no powers, so wouldn't have thought it necessary to explain it to you," Trent added.
Kurt didn't know what to think. The idea that his mother would have hidden her nature from him and his dad made him sad. Did she not trust his dad? He knew Burt Hummel had loved Elizabeth Strong with every fiber of his being, and that he would never have run away or betrayed her.
The door to the bedroom opened and Nick rushed in. "Apologies for interrupting, but I found it."
"What?" Wes said, looking over towards Nick.
"The locket. I've narrowed it down to a four block area." He spread the map out on the floor, and pointed to a location north of Westerville. Kurt frowned.
"Is this the map Jeff was studying earlier?"
Nick looked up at him in confusion, but nodded. "Yes. Why?"
Kurt shook away the odd sensation crawling through him. "Jeff kept tracing a design over that exact spot with his finger." The auburn haired man picked up a piece of paper and a pencil and began sketching the pattern the other boy had drawn. It looked like a Star of David, within a circle, with a crescent moon on the left side. He showed it to the other four boys.
Wes and Trent exchanged a look. "That design was etched into Ethan's locket. Where is the area you narrowed it down to?" Wes asked Nick.
Nick glanced at Kurt before looking back at the older boy. "Lima. Around Kurt's house."
Kurt's eyes went wide. "Wait, the other memory thing. We confirmed it was Matthew I saw and he pulled a locket out of that chest. Matthew had the demon vessel, which I found in the attic. Do you think…" he trailed off, not finishing his thought as he just stared back at the other boys.
"I think," Wes spoke slowly, "you and Trent need to return to your house and search it once again. And maybe Trent should have a discussion with your father about The Hummel Line."
"Two things," Kurt said. "One, I thought you said your fathers could talk to mine. And two, the attic was miraculously clean and spotless when I went up to finish cleaning it the next afternoon. There was hardly anything left in there."
"That you could see," Trent said. "I may be able to sense any energy from the locket. And as for your dad, I will make arrangements for Blaine's and David's fathers to join us if necessary."
Kurt frowned, glancing at Wes. "What about your dad?"
"My father was called out of town on Council business late last night. He won't be back until tomorrow."
Kurt nodded, and glanced back at Blaine, still asleep on the bed. He didn't want to leave him behind, but knew it was necessary.
"Don't worry about him, Kurt," Wes said. "We won't let anything happen to him while you are gone, and you will return this evening."
…
Beatz, AKA Jon Franklin, watched David pace the floor in his dorm room as he explained what he had discovered. "You know more about demon vessels than anyone else in this chapter of The Dalton Circle. Is what I am thinking even possible?" the dark skinned witch asked.
"First of all," Beatz said, "it would take some very powerful magic, but yes, it's possible. Only an extremely powerful and gifted witch would be able to accomplish such an act of magic."
"Someone like Ethan or Devon?" David asked.
"Exactly," Beatz confirmed. "Although, I'm not sure your great great grandfather would have shared that spell. In fact, I'm not even sure if he's the one who originally created it or not. It's possible he merely wrote it down for safekeeping in just such a case as this. But then again, I don't really know your great great grandfather." He shrugged.
David sighed. "I think I need to visit my grandfather. I just hope he remembers me still. The alzheimers has progressed rapidly."
Beatz nodded. "I hope I've given you something to go on, at least. If you need more information, I can call my dad. He's the one who actually studied demonology."
"At least you were able to give me a starting point. But man, this whole mystery is unraveling as more complex than any of our generations thought. On the one hand I'm thrilled we're finally making progress. But on the other hand, I'm frustrated that all it seems to be is more unanswered questions."
…
Trent pulled into the Hummels' driveway and turned off the engine. Kurt made no move to get out of the car right away. Trent glanced over at him. "What's wrong?"
Kurt seemed to startle at his voice, as if he had forgotten the other boy was there. "Sorry, I just can't seem to shake the feeling that you guys misjudged Matthew. I don't think he ran away for the reasons you all seem to think he did."
Trent sighed. "I understand you might be feeling defensive of him, but we really don't have anything else to go on. We just have to assume what we can piece together until we have information otherwise."
Kurt shook his head. "I wasn't being defensive. It's just…" he paused, trying to organize his thoughts. "You say I can read visual memories, right?"
"First off," Trent started, "you have every right to defend him if you want to. He was your great great grandfather. Secondly, I want you to know that our point of view is not to antagonize, just to have something more to say than 'I don't know.' And third, right, go on."
Kurt just waved the rest of that off for the moment. "If I was reading Matthew's memory from that night, then I didn't feel anger or fear, at least not for himself. He was afraid for his brother. But I also feel like there was something...wrong with him. Like an artificial corruption inside him. I think he may have been under the influence of dark magic."
Trent stopped and stared at him for a long moment. "What reason would anyone have had to use dark magic on Matthew though? Even though he was next in line after Ethan, his abilities weren't nearly as strong as his brother's. There would have been more to gain from trying to influence Ethan." He frowned. "Also, you said it felt like Matthew was mourning Ethan's loss. But we already know Ethan didn't die that night, so what was he referring to?"
Kurt shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe if I had access to more of Matthew's memories from that night, maybe I could figure it out. But to answer part of your question, I think you just answered it yourself. Ethan was too powerful to influence, so whoever it was went after Matthew instead. I couldn't tell you why, though."
"By that logic, you could say the same about whoever went after Devon. Devon was the Anderson heir at the time, but his younger brother Johnathan's psychic abilities were stronger than his." He paused for a moment. "Except that doesn't make sense, because whoever went after Devon, wanted to get to Devon, not his brother."
Kurt sighed and rubbed at his temples. "I think we should just find the locket, and see what we can learn from it." He reached for the door handle and opened the door.
"Right now, the only thing I'm certain of, is the fact that I will never want to use my brain again after we solve this," Trent stated, reaching for his own door handle.
"Me either," Kurt replied.
"Kurt?" He turned at the voice that came from the end of the driveway. "I thought that was you I saw drive past me down the street," Mercedes said. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Westerville for some card game?"
Kurt opened and closed his mouth for a moment, wondering what Mercedes was even doing following him back because she thought she'd seen him. "I am. We just needed to get something I left, very important and then we'll be heading back." He fought the urge to wince, hating lying to her, but now was not the time to see if he could trust her with the truth. They were kind of racing the clock here. Especially now that they knew Andrew had already attempted one attack.
Trent had stiffened slightly beside him, and was studying the girl with a cautious eye. "Interesting necklace," he said, causing Kurt to frown and look at his best friend again. He didn't see a necklace.
Mercedes narrowed her eyes at him. "How did you know?"
"My Line specializes in energy tracking. Is that a calming amulet?"
Mercedes' eyes darted from him to Kurt. The auburn haired boy just looked confused. "Are you saying she…?" he asked Trent.
"She's a witch," the other boy answered. "What Line are you from?"
"O'hare," she replied cautiously, glancing from Trent to Kurt and back again. "There was no Magic the Gathering tournament, was there?"
"Not in the card game sense," Trent responded. "How come I never sensed the amulet at school?"
"I don't bring it to school," Mercedes said. "Well, I did once, but Santana saw it and told me it was a bad idea. It might be a calming amulet, but it could be used as a target." She looked Trent over carefully. "What Line are you from?"
"Nixon," he responded.
Mercedes' eyes went wide. "Dalton?"
Kurt frowned. "Okay, time out. Mercedes is a witch?"
His best friend nodded. "Yeah. But how do you know about…" And then something clicked in her mind. "OMG! I never connected the name. David's family only ever referred to them as The Fourth Heir."
Kurt just stared at her dumbfounded. How was any of this real? How did Mercedes know David? And Dalton? And everything that Kurt was just learning in the past couple of days? And furthermore, given what the boys had told him about trust, why had she never thought she could trust him with this knowledge? The realization felt like a hand painfully squeezing his heart. Here he was thinking that he would find the right time to tell her because he knew he could trust her, and yet, she'd never considered telling him. Did she not trust him like he did her?
"We really need to find that item," he said, voice tight as he turned and began walking towards the front door.
"Kurt, wait!" Mercedes said, catching his arm. "I know what you are thinking, but it's not what you think."
"I don't have time for excuses," he said. "Time is ticking." A part of him knew he maybe wasn't being rational, but the idea that his best friend didn't trust him, stung more than he could have imagined.
Mercedes refused to let go of his arm. "I wanted to tell you, Kurt, but I didn't know how to do it without mentioning your mom, and I knew she hadn't told you yet. She had planned to tell you on your tenth birthday, but she never got the chance!"
Kurt tensed up at her words. "You knew? You knew my mom was a witch when me and my dad didn't?" Clearly, that might not have been the smartest thing for her to say right then. At least someone else had brought up the idea before her, which kind of lessened the blow. But the fact that someone he hadn't met until high school knew something he didn't about his family was a tough pill to swallow.
"She and my mom were part of the same Circle. Your mother was from The Lillith Line, one of the most powerful of the female Lines. She had hoped one day to have more children, to preserve the Line, but she loved you very much. She planned to tell you on your tenth birthday, because although you were a male and couldn't inherit her powers, she sensed something in you, and thought you might have had magic as well. She thought perhaps you might be the beginning of a new Line. It's very rare, one in twenty seven billion, apparently, but it does happen occasionally that a new Line will form."
"Kurt's not the beginning of a new line," Trent said. "In fact, he's even rarer than that. Mercedes, Kurt inherited both abilities."
The girl's eyes went wide. "I didn't think that was actually possible. My mother says it is a myth."
"It's not," Trent said. "It's an extremely rare case, but it does happen occasionally. We just confirmed today that Kurt is a memory reader."
"Maybe we should move this discussion inside," Kurt said, noticing one of their neighbors watching the three teens.
Trent glanced over his shoulder. "He's right. We need to get up to the attic anyway," he said, lowering his voice and ushering the two of them towards the house.
"Wait a second," Kurt said, halting in his step and turning to Mercedes. "Did you say Santana told you not to bring that amulet to school?"
Mercedes sighed. "She'll kill me for telling you this, but she's part of my Circle, too."
"Who else is a witch that I don't know about?" Kurt muttered, slightly scornfully as he unlocked the door to his house.
"None of the other New Directions, I promise," she replied.
Kurt stopped in the entryway of the house and turned to them both with a slight smirk. "Well then, you can make it up to me by helping Trent explain all this to my dad, while I go up to the attic and look for the locket."
Trent frowned. "Not the attic. I can sense it. It's below us. I thought it was the vessel I was sensing last time I was here, but now I know it's not, because you left it with Blaine."
Kurt froze, one foot on the stairs and turned to look back at him. "Wait, you mean it's still at Dalton? It didn't subconsciously follow me this time?" he said.
The other boy shrugged. "Don't you feel like it is safe there? You only called it to you all those other times because you worried about it. Now it is someplace safe, so there is no need to draw it to you."
Just then, another thought struck Kurt. "Hey Trent, does this memory ability include modification? Rachel saw the vessel and I don't want her asking me about it because she was adamant I didn't take such a beautiful thing to the antique shop."
"Hold up, white boy," Mercedes said. "Rachel Berry saw a vessel she shouldn't have?"
Kurt shrugged. "It appeared in my locker at school unexpectedly, and she spotted it before I could close my locker."
She frowned at him. "What kind of vessel was it?"
Kurt and Trent exchanged a glance, wondering how much to tell her, but figured now would be a hell of a time to start keeping things again, now that she knew the truth about where Kurt was this weekend.
"It's a demon vessel," Trent said. "But according to Beatz, it's been infused with light magic, which is why it's white instead of black."
"I found it in the attic that day I had to turn you down for the movie because my dad wanted me to clean it," Kurt explained.
"But only a few witches from any of the lines know the spell to entrap white magic in a demon vessel," Mercedes said. "My great great great grandfather wrote the spell. I don't think David even knows it."
Kurt frowned. "Are you saying you are related to David?"
"Distant cousins, if I remember correctly. Third or fourth? I can't remember exactly."
"Well, David might not have known it before, but he might now. Blaine and the vessel were chanting some spell he said he didn't know." Kurt felt his heart squeeze just from mentioning Blaine. "He asked Wes to change Blaine's guard so he could go research it."
Before anyone else could say anything, Burt Hummel came out of the kitchen. "I thought I heard voices out here. What's up, kiddo?"
"Hi dad," Kurt said. "Trent and I just needed to pick up something I forgot." He looked to Trent and Mercedes. "Good luck," he said before moving towards the door to his basement room. If Trent thought it was below, maybe there was a hidden door or room or something in his basement he didn't know about.
He studied the room with a critical eye for a moment, not sure where to even begin looking, until he heard a faint knocking sound coming from the floorboards under his vanity. He moved the chair out of the way and got down on his knees to examine the spot more thoroughly. There did appear to be a loose board.
Kurt tried for a moment to pry it up with his hands but it was to no avail. He got up and went to his closet where he kept a tool kit on the top shelf for those days he helped his dad in the garage. He pulled out a hammer and returned to the floor, turning the hammer so he could slip the pronged side under the board.
He tried to be as careful as possible, not wanting to snap the board in half. It took a couple of minutes to work it loose and pull it up intact. He looked down into the opening revealed, and let out a little triumphant cry as he picked up the locket. And then he noticed something else in the hole, and reached in to pick it up as well. It was the journal he had seen Matthew searching through in that memory vision he'd had that morning. Wow, he thought. Was that really just this morning? With everything that had happened since then, it was hard to believe it had all taken place in just one day, and that day wasn't even over yet.
He carried the locket and journal back upstairs, wondering how his friends were fairing with his dad. "I found it," he said, entering the kitchen, where the three were sitting, drinking tea. "How are things going up here?"
"Well…" Trent said, glancing at Burt, who Kurt noticed looked eerily calm, perhaps a little too calm. Kurt's eyes went to Mercedes.
"Hey, it came in handy. Would you rather have your dad calm, or yelling like a madman? Kurt, I know you and I know how worried you are about his heart. This is the best thing right now."
Kurt hadn't even thought about that. He'd been so consumed with other thoughts, the effect all this news would have on his dad's ailing health hadn't even crossed his mind. It was at that moment, he finally felt grateful to know that Mercedes was a witch and decided that he could forgive her.
"Just promise me one thing, Cedes," he said.
"What's that, white boy?"
"No more secrets," Kurt replied.
She smiled and nodded. "No more secrets."
"Good." Kurt slid into an empty seat at the table. "So, what happens now?" he asked.
"Kevin Thompson and Joseph Anderson are on their way. They were already here in Lima on business, so it won't be long," Trent informed him.
"So, what were you looking for down there," Mercedes asked.
Kurt placed the locket down on the table, keeping the book to himself because he wanted to look through it before letting anyone else see it. "This," he said. "It's supposed to be a protective amulet."
The dark skinned girl frowned. "Who told you it had protective qualities?"
Kurt and Trent exchanged looks. "It used to belong to my great great uncle, or Ethan Hummel if you've heard of him. Apparently, he was given it to wear to ward off evil things happening to him. And the moment he took it off, he disappeared."
Mercedes was shaking her head. "I don't know who told him it would ward off evil. This locket is an emotion cage. You lock away any unwanted emotions inside it. I should know, it was my great great great great or so grandmother that made it."
Kurt again looked at Trent, raising an eyebrow. "Great. What other misinformation do we have then?" he said, tone frustrated.
Trent had a different question. "What emotion would Ethan have locked away?"
"If he didn't even know what it really was, how do we know he locked any emotion away at all?" Kurt said.
"I can tell you if there is still any emotions locked away inside it. I can't tell you what emotion, or whose emotion it is, but if there is something in it, I can sense it," Mercedes said, reaching her hand out, but not touching the locket until Kurt gave her permission.
Kurt seemed to think about it for a moment, but before giving her an answer, he added something else. "What if there's conflicting emotions in it though? We know that Matthew was the last person who had possession of it. And he was mourning Ethan for reasons we still haven't figured out."
The girl only shrugged. "It can only hold the emotions of one person, until they are set free. If there were already emotions trapped inside when Matthew came into possession of it, he wouldn't have been able to use it."
The three witches had almost forgotten that Burt was still sitting at the table, the calming amulet keeping him from losing it as his mind spun just listening to the conversation between his son and his friends. He cleared his throat and the teenagers looked at him, slightly surprised to realize he was still in the room. "Would one of you kindly enlighten me on what in the world you're talking about? Who is Ethan Hummel?"
"Your great grandfather, Matthew Hummel's older brother," Trent supplied. "Kurt told us that Matthew never talked about his relatives to anyone in his family, which is why you don't recognize the name."
"And also why you and I knew nothing about being witches," Kurt said. "Great great grandfather Matthew bound his magic and turned his back on the Circle. He was supposed to step up when Ethan disappeared."
Burt frowned. "Not that I don't believe you, but do you have any proof of any of this?"
"What kind of proof?" Kurt asked, because at this point, he was pretty sure there was plenty they could use.
"I don't know, kiddo. Anything tangible, I guess."
Trent smiled politely at him. "Would a photograph work?" Kurt flashed him a grateful look, glad he didn't have to prove it with magic, because he still didn't know how to do it consciously.
Burt grunted. "What kind of photograph we talking here?"
Trent pulled the picture from his jacket pocket and held it out. "These were the members of The Dalton Circle in 1901. This was my great great uncle, Winston. The boy next to him is my great great grandfather, Daniel. And this is Ethan Hummel," he pointed to the boy on the right side. Even though the photograph was in black and white, you could tell the boy had lighter colored hair, and looked a lot like Kurt. "The younger boy beside him is Matthew Hummel, your great grandfather."
Burt had just taken a sip of his tea as Trent showed him the photograph and he nearly choked on it when the boy pointed Ethan out. "How is that even possible? Kurt, he looks like he could be your identical twin!"
Kurt shrugged. "David, one of the other Dalton Heirs, was telling me that the magic refreshes the DNA every few generations, going back to the originator of the Line."
Mercedes nodded. "I look exactly like my great great great great aunt." She turned back to Kurt. Did you want me to examine the locket?"
Just as Kurt slid the locket to her, Trent pulled out his phone, feeling it vibrate in his pocket. His eyes widened at the text. "We need to leave as soon as David and Blaine's dads get here. That was Wes. He says Nick and Jeff may have pinpointed the general area where Andrew is hiding out."
Kurt felt a frisson of fear slide through him. "Where?"
"Some city that seems to be a halfway point between here and Westerville," Trent said, frowning. "Though Nick and Jeff didn't have an answer as to why. I don't want to take the chances that Andrew may have followed us."
Mercedes hadn't been listening. The moment she had touched the locket, tears filled her eyes. "So much emotion!" she choked out.
Kurt and Trent both looked at her. "Do you think we should bring her with us?" Kurt asked. "Her ability might come in handy."
Trent frowned, but nodded. "Good idea." A knock sounded on the door. "That will be the dads. Do you want me to let them in?"
Kurt nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Maybe we should go investigate that city Nick and Jeff tracked Andrew to."
"I don't know about that, white boy," Mercedes said. "Some of those Smythes are crazy, and I don't just mean coocoo for cocoa puffs. I'm talking certified insane, make Bellatrix Lestrange look like Princess Diana crazy."
The auburn haired witch shook his head. "We're aware of that, Mercedes. But Andrew's already started attacks and he's after Blaine for some reason. He already tried to get in by impersonating Jeff just today."
Trent returned with two middle aged gentlemen, both of whom were well dressed. Blaine's father's eyes immediately rested on Kurt, studying him thoroughly. "So, it's true. I was beginning to think the prophecy wouldn't come true in my lifetime."
"Mr. Anderson," Trent started, "Mr. Thompson, this is Kurt Hummel and his father Burt at the table. I believe you know Mercedes."
Mr. Thompson smiled at the only girl in the room. "Hello Mercedes. How is your mother? I haven't seen either of you since you were eight. We really should plan another family reunion soon."
"Hello, Kevin," Mercedes replied. "She's doing well, thank you. I'll be sure to let her know you said hello."
"Well," Kurt said. "Trent says they need us back at Dalton, so we'll leave you three to talk. It was nice meeting you."
Joseph Anderson put a hand on Kurt's shoulder before he could pass. "Take care of him."
"I'm doing everything I can, Mr. Anderson, I promise. I won't let anything else happen to him," Kurt told him.
Kevin leaned over to whisper to Joseph as the three teens headed for the door. "Make sure to tell Blaine, that one's a keeper," he said with a wink.
Joseph gave the other man a lopsided smile, reminiscent of his son's. "I think he knows."
The two men turned to look at Burt. Kevin smiled kindly at him. "Mind if I refresh the teapot? This could be a long discussion."