§ § § -- June 9, 1985

"Is that him?" breathed Myeko in awe.

Leslie nodded faintly, stunned by the scene in front of her. For a moment she could only stare; then Pepper dove for her, shrieking, and she was startled into action. "Wait here," she said. "He doesn't know you and I don't want you two getting hurt." She ran across the sand, stumbling a little in the loose grains, and yelled at the top of her lungs, "STOP!!"

At the sound, the people circling Teppo turned all at once to stare at her. Most of them recognized her and ran toward her, thinking to protect her. "Don't go near that crazy nut, he'll kill you!" someone cried.

"You don't understand," Leslie burst out, pushing ahead in an attempt to get to Teppo. "He's one of our guests and we're trying to help him. Please, let me through." She managed to break out of the protesting crowd and approached the figure hovering some yards away, half crouched, that feral gleam in his eyes again. Teppo's T-shirt and shorts sported several rips and holes, and he had lost his footwear long since. His hair stuck out in all directions, and he was smeared with dust and dirt. He was breathing heavily and his body trembled, as if he had reached the end of his inner energy reserve.

"Teppo," Leslie called out, approaching him a cautious step at a time. "Teppo, it's me, Leslie."

The sound of her voice brought his head whipping around, and their gazes locked for no more than one second before the eerie light vanished from Teppo's eyes, which rolled back in his head as he dropped heavily to the sand. The collective sigh of relief from the crowd behind Leslie was audible even over the gentle roar of the surf rolling in, and she turned to them with a quick smile. "He'll be all right now. I need to get him to the hospital…will someone please help me carry him to the car? I left it in town."

The group stirred and mumbled, but there were no volunteers. Seeing this, Michiko and Myeko trotted forward. "Oh, for crying out loud, you'd think this was Salem in 1692," Myeko remarked in disgust. "We'll help, Leslie. This witch-hunt stuff is really stupid."

"If you people won't help," Michiko suggested calmly, "maybe you'd better go back to whatever you were doing before." So saying, she started for Teppo, with Leslie alongside. Myeko shook her head and followed.

Instead of dispersing, the knot of beachgoers watched distrustfully as Michiko and Myeko each grasped one of Teppo's ankles and Leslie slid a hand beneath each of his shoulders. "One, two, three," Myeko counted, and the girls heaved Teppo's limp form off the ground and plodded across the sand with determined faces.

Suddenly someone in the crowd cursed in resignation. "Hey, I'll help," he said. "It's a long way to carry a body back into town." Two others joined him, clearly with reluctance. Between the six of them, they made it fairly easily back into Amberville's town square and to the waiting car.

They laid Teppo across the middle seat and Leslie handed Michiko the keys. "We should get him to the hospital," she said. "His parents are there and Mr. Roarke should be there too."

Leslie sat cradling Teppo's head in her lap the whole way to the hospital. When they pulled up, the door popped open and several orderlies came out rolling a stretcher. Roarke was with them. Leslie watched the orderlies lift Teppo out of the car and onto the stretcher, her gaze following the little procession till they disappeared through the emergency-room doors. Michiko and Myeko came to stand on either side of Leslie, and Roarke smiled at them both.

"Hello, Michiko, Myeko," he greeted them before focusing on his daughter. "What happened? Where did you finally find him?"

"On the beach at Amberville," she said and related the tale of her frantic search for Teppo. Roarke frowned when he heard what had happened at the pool, but said nothing till she was finished. Instead he placed a hand between her shoulder blades and guided her into the hospital, with Michiko and Myeko following automatically.

Inside, Teppo had already been taken to an empty room and was lying inert on a bed. "How is he?" Leslie asked anxiously.

"Vital signs are normal, and there's nothing wrong with him that a quick bath wouldn't make good as new," one of the orderlies told her with a faint smile. He glanced at Roarke. "I'd say this is more of a matter for Mr. Roarke to handle."

"And you would be correct," Roarke replied, giving Teppo a quick once-over before turning to the orderly. "Thank you for your help. I believe we can manage from here."

When the orderlies had left, Roarke turned to Teppo and once again summoned the young Finn's consciousness back to the fore. At first he wore the usual confused look; then he spotted and recognized Leslie, and everything seemed to come back to him at once. Abruptly he popped up into a sitting position and grabbed her hands, studying her carefully. "You're not hurt?"

"No," Leslie said and sat down on the bed beside him. "What about you?"

Teppo shook his head. "Tell me what happened," he ordered, "and don't omit anything."

"Oh God, Teppo…" she protested, her eyes filling with tears. "I wish you wouldn't…"

"I have to know," Teppo insisted sharply, tightening his grip on her hands. Leslie squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the tears out, and he turned to Roarke. "Mr. Roarke, whatever damage I caused, I'll do all I can to make restitution. But I need to know what I did."

Roarke nodded and quietly explained what he himself had seen, then summarized what Leslie had told him. Teppo stared at him, white-faced, then cursed furiously in Finnish. "Why is it that Lempo comes out only when you're not available?" he demanded, frustrated. "I think that's why I can't seem to shake him. It needs to happen when you're there to see it, Mr. Roarke, so that you have some way of confronting Lempo directly." He shook his head, angry with himself and even more so with the god that possessed him. "The last thing I remember is seeing everything go black, like on a TV program right before an advertisement, and I thought to myself that I was going to hurt my parents this time. Then here I was." He stared at Roarke with fear on his features. "How badly did I hurt my mother and father?"

Roarke closed his eyes briefly. "They both have head injuries. Your mother sustained a concussion, and your father has a cranial fracture. At this time his condition is touch-and-go, I am afraid." He stepped to the bedside, laid a hand on Teppo's shoulder and stroked Leslie's hair in an attempt to comfort her.

Teppo winced and hung his head. "Now the damage may be irreparable," he mumbled.

At that Leslie leaned earnestly forward and cradled his face in her hands. "It's not your fault," she told him. "It's Lempo's, and you know it. Whatever happens, we're going to find some way to free you of this thing." She turned to Roarke. "Mr. Roarke, there's no way Teppo's parents can travel in their condition, even if we free Teppo of that god today. They'll have to stay till they're well enough to go home."

Teppo looked a little startled. "But I can't take up a whole bungalow alone," he protested. "Maybe I should just sleep in the hospital waiting room."

Roarke considered this for a moment. "The cottage the assistants normally occupy is empty now," he said. "It has only two small rooms, Teppo, but you are welcome to stay in it as long as necessary. Since you seem to be in good health, you might repair to the cottage and freshen up. If you prefer to remain here at the hospital in case there is word on your parents, that's fine, but I strongly suggest that you join Leslie and me for lunch at twelve-thirty this afternoon."

Teppo agreed and they left the room; Leslie was surprised to see Michiko and Myeko still in the waiting room. "How come you two are loitering around here?" she asked playfully.

"Hey, we had nothing better to do anyway," Myeko joshed her back. "Seriously, how are they?" Her eyes strayed to Teppo and widened with appreciation. "Well, you look okay, at least."

"Oh?" Teppo eyed his torn clothes and grimy skin, and grinned at her. "You're obviously willing to overlook a lot." They all laughed. "I take it you're friends of Leslie."

The girls nodded and introduced themselves, and Teppo shook hands with them. "If I did anything to either of you or your families, I apologize," he said.

Michiko blinked. "No, for heaven's sake, you didn't get around as much as you think you did. We only heard rumors – the island grapevine is as efficient as in any small town. Poor Leslie was almost out of her mind worrying about you. She told us what brought you to Fantasy Island." As they talked, they all strolled out of the hospital and toward the car. "You must be going through sheer hell. I wish you the best of luck."

Roarke dropped Michiko and Myeko off at the entrance to a small cluster of suburban-style homes where they lived, then let Teppo out at the cottage Tattoo, Lawrence and all the subsequent assistants had lived in. It was about ten-thirty when he and Leslie got back to the main house, where Leslie turned to her adoptive father in a pensive mood.

"Do we have any kind of reference material on Finnish mythology?" she asked.

Roarke sighed. "I spent a large part of last evening gleaning what I could from Mr. and Mrs. Komainen, but they themselves admitted that their knowledge of Finnish mythology is scant at best. The entire subject is quite obscure."

"Don't you have a copy of the Kalevala?" Leslie asked.

"There is a copy at the island library," said Roarke, "but as Teppo's mother explained to us initially, it's the national epic, which means it is on a par with the Icelandic sagas or Homer's Odyssey. However, it may be our only source of information at this time."

They did find a somewhat battered copy of the Kalevala in the library, translated into slightly archaic English. The book was not indexed, which meant that Roarke and Leslie had to read every one of the approximately three dozen epic poems that made up the full saga. Lempo was mentioned several times throughout, but was clearly not a major player; and neither of them learned anything new about the Finnish god. They were forced to admit defeat and hurry back to the main house in time to meet Teppo for lunch.

Teppo himself was slightly late, having come from the hospital. "No change in Mother's or Father's condition," he reported grimly. "I hope you two have better news."

Leslie shook her head regretfully. "I wish we did, but even the Kalevala didn't tell us anything we could use."

Roarke, lost in thought, barely acknowledged Mariki when she brought out the luncheon dishes, and Teppo and Leslie conveyed their thanks. In silence the three began to eat; then, after just a few bites, Roarke focused sharply on Teppo.

"Your parents mentioned entertaining a scholar of the Kalevala," Roarke said. "Do you know the name of that man, and how to get in touch with him?"