Chapter 11: Speak Then Unto Me
"If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me. " -- William Shakespeare.
The traffic was already crawling when Janine left the firehouse. Not in the mood to deal with it, she decided to take the subway instead but matters were made worse when she realised the address she had been given was not an easy location to find.
By the time she arrived at her destination, her temper was gathered around her body like a thunderstorm waiting to explode.
The building she found herself in seemed to be little more than a gigantic greenhouse. She followed a winding mulch path lined with flowering plants through an indoor garden dominated by great trees and spreading bushes. She couldn't see any sign of other people around but visibility was as poor as if walking through a real forest. Despite herself, she felt her black mood ebb into a grey fog of irritation and by the time the path brought her to a halt outside what appeared to be a log cabin, she was feeling almost human again.
A little mystified by the design and layout, Janine looked around. She could see at once that she had a choice - enter the building or return to the depths of the artificial forest and the sign above the door suggested that entering the building was exactly the thing she wanted to do. With a shrug, she tried the door. It opened easily into a giant well-lit room. Paintings and photographs of vegetation lined the walls and potted plants covered all available floor space - trees in the corners, spider-plants spilling down over the windowsills; hanging baskets tumbling from the ceiling and amongst all this were benches for people to sit and wait. At the far end of the room, another door indicated a continuation of the building beyond.
She wasn't the only one in the area, she noticed immediately. Near the far door, three men were sat around a large potted tree, huddled into an intense discussion. Finding a seat near them but far enough away to ensure privacy, she sat down and took a moment to regroup her thoughts.
She suspected that part of her short temper came from the fact she hadn't been sleeping well since the confrontation at the botanical centre and she had to admit she was still irritated by the idea that Peter had given serious thought to dragging her from her own home in chains. She had kept her promise and confronted him immediately about that. The psychologist had tried to deny it at first but she had refused to back down and when he finally turned a betrayed, protesting gaze on Egon and Winston it had been obvious that the physicist had spoken the truth.
Her stay at the firehouse had deteriorated from there.
She had thought things couldn't possibly get any worse than being awoken from a humiliating and utterly public nightmare by Doctor Venkman but being psyched out by all four Ghostbusters afterwards had dragged her to her lowest state since leaving hospital. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a tiny voice told her that it just showed they cared but there was currently a far stronger voice complaining that they had all ganged up on her yet again and she had come away from it somehow demeaned.
Had she really expected things around the firehouse to change after the guys vanquished the lotsabuck? She realised that she had. The removal of that foul spirit had left the past few years a confusing, hazy blur of emotion, reaction and twisted perception. She wasn't entirely sure what had really happened and what had just been a veil slipped over her eyes to manipulate her even further into the creature's snare and as a result she wasn't completely certain how to view her relationship with the four men who had saved her soul. She couldn't even fathom out how she was supposed to treat the Ghostbusters' mousy accountant, Louis Tully: she just didn't know how much of the past three years had genuinely been affected by herself and how much had been the lotsabuck talking.
When she had first realised she was free, she had expected things to return to normal but she had slowly come to the realisation that it had been so long, she wasn't sure what normal was anymore. She felt alone and adrift and it was a sensation that frightened her. She knew she needed to speak to someone about it but she wasn't able to envisage how she could possibly benefit from the usual methods of counselling.
"Excuse me, Mr. Shrink. My name's Janine Melnitz and I've spent the past three years enslaved to an evil fairy godmother who used my insecurities over relationships to radically change my physical appearance in the hopes of stealing my soul. Now I have what I always wanted, I'm still not happy. Can you help?" Great, Melnitz. That'll go down real well. Arkham Asylum will just love you.
Of course, there was one person she could think of who would believe her story but the idea of pouring out her troubles to Doctor Venkman definitely wasn't an appealing one and it occurred to her that anything she did say to him would affect not just her relationship with the psychologist but his relationship with Egon as well. She wasn't even certain she had the right to interfere with that and it was yet another reason for her to maintain her silence.
Anyway, most of the time she was just fine. It was only when she got into one of these stupid, ridiculous arguments with one of the guys that she would find herself wondering if the spectre of the lotsabuck would ever truly disappear from her life. Until she had been freed of its unholy influence, she had thought it would be a simple matter of returning to who she had been before the creature had entered her life. But so much time had passed and the world had moved on. She was beginning to understand there was nothing to go back to. Stripped of her past, she felt she had nothing solid on which to build her future and she reluctantly confronted the unpleasant knowledge that freedom had brought a new set of chains she was equally unable to escape and this time, she didn't think this was a prison the guys could rescue her from.
She sighed bitterly and considered the possibility of trying to avoid taking it out on them every time they tried to help her. Unfortunately, they didn't know their every well-meaning gesture just seemed to emphasise how imprisoned and helpless she now felt.
"Janine sad."
Startled out of her reverie, her head snapped up in shock, coming face to face with a pair of luminescent amber eyes set into the ugliest, greasiest face she had ever had the misfortune to meet.
"Slimer?" she said incredulously. "What on earth are you doing here?"
"Ray mad. Egon mad. Janine sad. Slimer stay with Janine."
Janine blinked then her eyes narrowed dangerously. Great. As if her day couldn't get any worse, she was now babysitting the Spud.
"Let me guess," she sighed. "You followed me all the way from the firehouse?"
Slimer nodded warily.
She growled to herself and felt her fingers flex into fists. Mentally reciting a mantra to remind her it wasn't the Spud's fault she was in such a bad mood, she concentrated on breathing. If she could avoid making a scene with Slimer, maybe those yoga classes would pay off after all.
As if oblivious to her inner struggle, Slimer continued to stare at her with wide anxious eyes. "Nasty air. Slimer stay with Janine."
"I'm not in the mood, Slimer," she flared. "Why don't you go pester Peter or Winston?"
"Slimer love Janine."
"Won't work, Spud!" she snarled.
"Pleeeeeease?" the little ghost clasped his hands in front of him almost angelically, the large eyes growing even bigger as he pulled his own unique version of the lost puppy look.
Janine deflated. She didn't really have the energy to fight with the innocent ghost. "Alright," she snapped. "But no hugging! You slime me and I'll neutronise ya myself, got it?"
"Yeah!" Slimer sank down onto the bench next to her in an attempt to copy her seating behaviour and succeeded in looking like an over-cooked Jell-O mould. A tiny giggle escaped her at the sight then she scowled, sternly reminding herself that she was officially still in a bad mood.
"Okay, Alec. If that's not a ghost, what is it?"
Janine transferred her gaze from her unexpected companion to the other three occupants of the room. All three of them were staring in her direction, specifically at Slimer and now she could see their faces, she realised one of them was familiar.
The one who had spoken was dressed untidily in jeans and a sloppy sweater. His dark hair fell in a shaggy mass around his shoulders. His eyes were wide as he studied the ghost but there was no fear in the gaze. He was enraptured. Janine had only ever seen that expression on the face of one other person when confronted by something supernatural and unexplained and she found herself wondering if this person was as excitable as Ray.
Next to him was a very old man. He looked to be of Middle Eastern descent but his hair was white and the skin clinging to the thin bones looked frail, as if ready to crumble into fine dust at any moment.
Janine didn't recognise either of those two men but she did recognise Alec as the man who had given the Charles Austin Memorial lecture. She searched through her mind for his full name and after a moment, remembered.
"Doctor Newman, isn't it?" she asked.
The disgruntled scientist glared at her for a moment and she felt a small sliver of sympathy at his expression. Apparently she wasn't the only one having a bad day. She watched his irritation die away, replaced by confusion. His gaze slid over her appearance then came to rest on the dying tree she had set at her feet. "Ah, the lady with the Laurelia problem," he smiled ruefully at her. "I see you managed to find the place."
Janine smiled. "Eventually. It wasn't what I expected." Her gaze slid over his two companions curiously. The original speaker started slightly and gave her an intent stare. Then he turned to look at Slimer.
"Hey!" he said suddenly. "I know who you are!"
"Huh?" She stared at him. She was fairly certain she had never seen him before in her life.
"Yeah, sure. Red hair, Brooklyn accent. Ugly green pet ghost... you're the Ghostbusters' secretary, aren't you?" He sounded painfully enthusiastic. "I've seen both the films. You were played by Annie Potts, weren't you?"
"Make my day, will ya?" She muttered under her breath, just waiting for the question they always asked. Go on, I dare ya. Ask me. I'm in the right mood for it. Ask me if I ever dated that rat of an accountant and I swear I'll plaster your nose all over that wall behind ya! Go on, punk, make my day!
He didn't ask, however. Seeing the look on her face, he grinned sympathetically. "They weren't too accurate, I take it?"
She grimaced in distaste. "Don't get me started."
"Tim," Alec warned as his colleague opened his mouth.
Tim looked at him innocently. "What?"
Alec sighed and threw Janine an apologetic look. "This is Doctor Tim Richardson. Also known as a pain in the butt."
She tried to hide a smile behind her hand at the look on the other man's face. She could guess exactly what kind of individual Tim was and she was relieved that Alec had stepped in to take control of the conversation.
"And Nasim Jabbaar, Doctor Austin's head gardener," he gave her an amused look. "And I've made a point never to watch the films, so I have no idea what your name is, Miss..."
"Janine Melnitz."
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Melnitz," he glanced at her tree again. "So you have an interest in botany?"
She shrugged. "I like plants but I'm no scientist," she glanced at their tree. "I know that's a yucca though."
Alec studied her thoughtfully. "What species?"
"Alec..." Tim began but Alec quickly hushed him into silence.
Janine blinked at the exchange and glanced at Slimer. The little ghost was watching the unfolding conversation with intense curiosity but he didn't seen unnerved by anything. She rose and approached the tree, crouching down to study it. Alec and Nasim slid away from it so she could look more closely and watched curiously. At last, she shrugged and looked up. "Soaptree. From the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. Can reach 18 feet but doesn't usually get past 10 and needs dry, sandy soil. The Navajo used its roots and trunk for making soap, that's how it got its name." She quirked a grin at their startled faces. "Desert plants are my favourites."
"You're good," Tim stared. "It's hard to tell the difference between yucca species. Especially when they're this young." He glanced at Alec, who also looked impressed. "How come the Ghostbusters needed to ask us about cedars when they've got you?"
She smiled. "The only time it came up, the guys trashed my apartment trying to kill a spirit that was haunting my geranium. Since they gave it to me in the first place, I guess they're still embarrassed about it."
Alec and Tim exchanged a look. "This is the geranium that featured in Professor Phil Dendron's recent book, Geraniums I Have Known?" Tim asked curiously. "The one that almost ate Brooklyn four years ago?"
Her grin broadened. "Yeah, that's the one. The Professor sent us all free copies of that book for saving his life. I don't think Doctor V. was too impressed though. Between you and me, he doesn't like plants very much."
Tim smiled. "I didn't even believe that happened until we spoke with the Ghostbusters the other day. How did you ever end up with a haunted geranium?"
"They were busting a ghost in a garden centre and they were given the geranium as a gift. Doctor V. palmed it off onto Egon but when it comes to plants, the only thing Egon's good at is killing them, so he gave it to me. They thought they'd trapped the ghost but it was hiding in the geranium all along and everything I did that was good for a geranium turned out to be good for the ghost too."
"So how did you stop it?"
She grinned. "Egon over-watered it until it died."
The two botanists laughed. "The simplest solutions are often the best," Alec smiled wryly. "But I don't think over-watering these cedars is going to work."
The secretary winced as she was brought back into the present with an ungraceful thump. She had been doing a good job of ignoring the past few days until that comment. "I don't know much about cedars. They're very rare now, aren't they?" she asked.
Tim nodded at once. "Oh yeah, especially the Lebanese cedar. You know they're almost indestructible? They live for hundreds of years, the oldest cedar in the world is over a thousand years old but there's not many left now. They're mountain trees, need deep soil, plenty of sunlight and lots of rain. They also grow best near the sea. It takes 25 years for them to start flowering and they have male and female flowers on the same tree which makes it very handy for us botanists who are trying to build up a seed bank, I can tell you!"
"Seed bank?"
"Yeah, it's where we take seeds from plant species and store them. If the species becomes endangered or extinct, we've still got seeds we can use to try and repopulate the species."
"Kinda like plant zoos then?"
Tim laughed then quickly bit back his outburst. "Um... Not really."
"Why is it so rare now?"
"Same old story," Alec said. "It was a very commercial timber. Humans cut most of the forests down for shipping, housing, firewood, anything you can think of. I guess we're lucky it's not extinct. It's been logged for at least 5,000 years."
"Do you know there was a prophecy five thousand years ago?" The voice that spoke wasn't one that Janine had heard before. She turned and found a small elderly man standing in the nearby doorway. He was Middle Eastern and, although probably not as old, reminded her of the silent gardener sat next to the two botanists. He continued, dark eyes fixed on Janine. "When the cedar forests spread from the sea to the slopes of Mount Lebanon, the King of the Gods, Enlil, Lord of Air, foresaw a day when humans would come to the forest to steal the wood. On that day, he said, the trees would fall, the forests would be no more and it would be many centuries before humans would understand the mistake they had made. By then, it would be too late. So he created a demon to protect the forest from the humans. But one day, a warrior-king came to kill the demon and the forests were cut down. Enlil's prophecy came to pass and now the earth cries in the ashes of her once fertile soils."
Janine eyed him narrowly. "You're talking about Humbaba," she accused him. The little old man looked startled and she smiled triumphantly. "The Ghostbusters already know what they're up against. They know Humbaba's in the garden."
The stranger studied Janine for a few moments then the harsh lines of his face softened and a slight twinkle appeared in his gaze. "Not bad," he agreed. "My name's Musa Jabbaar. I believe you have a pukatea for me to look at?"
She rose. "Jabbaar?"
The plant doctor glanced in Nasim's direction then grinned. "Yes, we are brothers. To his eternal frustration." He smirked at his brother who scowled furiously at him then turned back to Janine with an expectant expression on his face.
The secretary obligingly rose and took him over to the sick tree. She noticed that Musa barely acknowledged Slimer as the little ghost floated upwards into the air, staring at the stranger with huge eyes. Maybe he's seen the films too, she thought to herself and rolled her eyes. At least Tim had dropped that subject.
Musa crouched down, surprisingly flexible despite his advancing years, and looked closely at the young tree. "Hm," he mused softly at last. "Good soil, not too much water, roomy pot. You've looked after it well but it's still sick. Very interesting," he rose back to his feet and looked at Janine. "Do you mind if I hang on to this for a few days? I'll need to study it more closely to be certain."
"Certain of what?" She asked suspiciously.
"It's infected. But I need to know what with and that will take research." Musa smiled easily.
Janine sighed and gave in. "Sure, if you can cure it. It was a present off my sister and her boyfriend."
He tilted her head, looking intently into her face and she found herself fascinated by the colour of his eyes. They weren't black although they were certainly very dark. They weren't even a truly solid brown either. There was a murky darkness to that gaze that made it hard to tell what colour they really were, almost like trying to decide what colour the ocean was at night. There were the same fathomless depths as well; the same sense of drowning as she gazed into them and suddenly she realised his eyes were shining like stars.
Startled, she jumped back and blinked rapidly but when she refocused on him, all she saw was a slightly puzzled plant doctor gazing at her with eyes that twinkled brightly with good humour. "You had a birthday recently?"
"What? Um... sure. Last month. But this wasn't a birthday present. Why?"
"Fascinating creatures, scorpions," a distant look appeared in the botanist's dark eyes. "Tiny creatures, with a dangerous sting. They have a powerful homing instinct, you know. You can send one to a distant place, making it utterly lost and while it may take time and many dangers, the scorpion will eventually find its way back home. But the most fascinating thing of all about them can only be seen when there's no light to see by - then it somehow finds a way to make its own. Amazing creatures but it's not until you plunge one into absolute darkness that you - and maybe they - realise just how powerful they really are," he gave her a gentle smile. "Never underestimate a Scorpio, eh?" He patted her on the shoulder while she stared speechlessly at him, unsure what to say. "You let your boyfriend take you home and come back in a few days. I should have news for you then."
"Huh?" When she finally found her voice, the weird little man had already picked up her plant and disappeared back into the depths of the building from whence he had come. She turned a bemused gaze on the other humans in the room. Judging by the sympathetic grins on the two botanists' faces, they must have been on the receiving end of conversations like this regularly. There was a dark scowl on Nasim's face. Maybe even brothers weren't immune, she thought.
"As long as I've known him," Tim grinned at her, sensing her unspoken question.
The secretary gestured irritably. "Never had a moment's peace since taking this job. Don't even know why I get surprised anymore." Her gaze turned to Slimer who was staring in the direction the plant doctor had gone in. "Come on, Slimer, let's get you back to the firehouse."
She braced herself for a protesting wail but the ghost turned and charged right through the wall into the garden beyond as if he couldn't wait to leave. She blinked. "Okay, then..." she sighed and glanced at the three men.
"Nice meeting you again, Miss Melnitz." Alec said with a strange smile. He was staring at the slime that was dripping off the wall, the only sign that Slimer had ever been in the room.
"If you ever want to discuss plants, feel free to call me!" Tim offered her a business card. "I'm always willing to meet fellow plant-lovers."
Alec seemed to recover his senses. "Don't," he advised Janine ruefully. "Not unless you want him to talk you to death."
"You obviously don't know Egon and Ray too well," she retorted in amusement, accepting the card off Tim. "If I can put up with physics and engineering, I can put up with something I actually understand."
Tim grinned smugly at Alec then winked at her. "Let me know how the pukatea does," he told her. "They're even rarer than the cedars now."
"You bet," she agreed and hurried out of the cabin.
As she turned to head down the path, she became aware of Slimer babbling incoherently and excitedly up ahead. Recognising the tone, she picked up her pace. Slimer had just suffered a fright and was trying to explain it to whatever poor soul he had cornered.
Rounding the corner, she pulled up short, startled by the sight of the little ghost gesticulating wildly in front of an obviously confused Egon. Her surprise evaporated quickly and was replaced by irritation and suspicion at the sight of him.
"What are you doing here?" The secretary snapped.
Egon turned to regard her, apparently unperturbed by her tone of voice although he did give her an intent stare. It only made her more annoyed.
"Spying on me? I told you already, Egon. I don't need..."
"I have an excellent memory, Janine." His tone frosted slightly. "I'm not here alone, the guys are with Ecto-1 in the parking lot. We're going to City Hall to meet with the Mayor and intend taking you with us."
Janine hesitated. She had been expecting a continuation of their earlier debate not a request to go and meet the Mayor. Then her eyes narrowed again. "You've never needed me there before, Egon. Why now? I'm just the secretary."
The physicist sighed and glanced away, staring into the undergrowth to the side of them. He looked tired, although whether that had anything to do with Janine's current hostility she couldn't actually tell. "I think I know how to stop Humbaba," he explained quietly after a moment. "But the plan will need the Mayor's approval." He hesitated and then turned back to her. "I haven't actually explained what I intend to the guys yet either."
Janine stared back at him in surprise, feeling some of her anger die. Although Egon could be infamously secretive about his ideas and theories, he usually let the other Ghostbusters in on his plants before attempting to carry them out or make them official. She couldn't think of any reason why he would choose to do things this way unless he was under some kind of pressure. "Egon? That's bad, isn't it?" she asked uncertainly.
He nodded solemnly. "Very bad."
She sighed and felt the last of her irritation drain away. Egon wasn't trying to be overprotective anymore, she realised. Whatever his plan for stopping Humbaba was, it wasn't going to be popular and he knew it. In his own unique fashion, he was asking her for moral support. "Alright Egon," she agreed then glared at him. "But in return you're going to talk Doctor V. into giving me overtime. Kicking Mayoral butt on the Ghostbusters behalf isn't in my job description!"
A twinkle suddenly appeared in Egon's gaze, a mixture of amusement and obvious relief. "Very well," he conceded. "That's the least I can do. But we had better leave now. We don't have much time."
Time, she realised then. It was time they were running out of and time that was putting Egon under pressure. She nodded at once and fell into step with him. Slimer dived down to her side, muttering to himself, causing them both to give him a curious stare.
"Janine, did anything unusual happen while you were inside that building?" Egon asked cautiously. He paused as she glared at him and frowned. "Janine, please don't become defensive every time I ask a question of this nature. Not everything revolves around my concern for your safety."
She clenched her fists so tightly for a moment that she could feel her nails digging painfully into the skin. The shock of the sensation was enough to bring her back to reality and slowly, she willed her fingers to relax. "Does that mean you do or don't care?" She had been trying to lighten the mood but from the look of shock she saw lancing through his blue eyes, she realised her tone sounded bitter rather than coy. "Sorry, Egon. I was trying to be funny. That didn't come out the way it was supposed to."
He was silent for a moment, studying her then he nodded once. "It's alright," he replied at last and continued back towards the waiting car.
She hesitated a moment, watching him as he walked off. His tone had sounded reassuring but his expression was completely neutral. She couldn't tell if it really was alright or not and it bothered her. Silently kicking herself for her sharp tongue, she quickly hurried after him. Obviously Peter wasn't the person she would need to discuss her problems with. Except, she realised, it would have to be later, after they had dealt with Humbaba. With a frustrated sigh, she picked up her pace and wondered if there would ever be a time for just her and Egon.