Calling of the blood
Part 9: Closure
"We. Need. To. Talk." Chloe had a dark expression on her face as she stalked across the Garden of Ancestral Memory. "Where do you get off taking over my body?"
"I guess that was a little rude of me," Jenny shrugged as she blew a smoke ring into the air and watched as it turned into a butterfly. "But I had a little unfinished business with Jor-El."
"How do you know him?"
"He visited Earth back in the 50's, something about it being a learning experience."
"And you just happened to meet him…"
"I was the Spirit of the 20th Century, a 100-years made flesh. I met almost everyone of any importance during my lifetime."
"Ok, whatever," Chloe shook her head. "Look, you can't just go all Exorcist on me like that. I'm having enough trouble coping with everything without the prospect of turning into an alcoholic, chain-smoking English woman at any moment."
"Ok, I get the point," Jenny nodded. "But I reserve the right to take over if you ever get yourself into a situation you can't handle."
Chloe woke slowly, feeling more than a little disorientated. She looked round, finally remembering where she was when she looked out the window.
The Planetary Organisation jet was somewhere over the mid-Atlantic, headed for a small airstrip outside London. Snow had promised to meet them there, but was busy trying to cover up what happened in Smallville.
"Hey, you ok?" Clark asked from the next seat, taking his girlfriend's hand in his own.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Chloe nodded, stretching out a little. "Just had a little word with my mom… She promised to keep out unless really needed."
"That just sounds too weird," Pete shook his head. "Then again, considering everything that's happened, I'm going to have to redefine the word 'weird'."
"You think you're having trouble coping?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "You at least knew about Clark before all this. Somehow the Wall of Weird doesn't seem big enough anymore."
The rain beat down in unrelenting torrents, rivalling even the summer storms of distant Kansas for sheer ferocity. The jet taxied to a small hanger, allowing the three occupants to exit without being drenched.
"I guess all the old clichés about the English weather were true," Chloe observed as she headed for the waiting customs official. "Strange thought… Part of me feels like I belong here."
"Part of you does," Clark mused, then saw the way his girlfriend was looking at him. "You are half English, after all."
"All I know is it's cold." Pete shivered as he handed over his passport for inspection.
"Is it really?" Snow stepped out of the shadows. "The cold never bothers me."
"It wouldn't, you creepy old goat," Chloe half smiled. "Is the weather always like this?"
"No, this is just a passing shower. The Met office says the rest of the week should be rather sunny." Snow led the way to the waiting car. "Not that the heat ever bothers me either…"
"Nice place." Pete looked up at the house near the center of London. "Your mom had good taste, Chloe."
"She could, at times." Snow smiled. "But her taste in music left a little to be desired."
"She's told me about your tastes, rag-time man." Chloe winked. "Ok, let's go."
"We had to remove a lot of Jenny's stuff after she died." Snow led the way up the steps to the front door and, pulling a key from his pocket, let everyone in. "We couldn't risk anyone finding certain items or papers that she'd collected over the years."
"And her diaries?" Chloe asked.
"They are all inside: I had them recovered from the archives and returned when you said you wanted to see them."
"Good."
The inside of the house was filled with memorabilia from across the 20th century. Photos of famous celebrities hung on the walls, surrounded by framed newspapers announcing everything from the sinking of the Titanic, World Wars 1 and 2, the Apolo 11 moon landing and the fall of the Berlin wall.
"Jenny certainly got around." Snow sounded almost jealous. "You wouldn't believe some of the things she did and saw… the people she met. She had more of an effect on the 20th Century than anyone else you could mention."
"She can't have been that big an influence…" Clark laughed.
"Take Einstein and Picasso, then add them to Hitler and JFK, and you don't even come close." Snow suddenly looked very serious. "Jenny Sparks was one of the most powerful people on the planet, in more ways than one. Her heir, Jenny Quantum, the Spirit of the 21st Century, is even more powerful."
"And this Jenny Quantum is where?" Chloe asked.
"She's being looked after, by perhaps the only two people on the planet who could possibly cope with her." Snow chuckled. "Although they say she's even more of a handful than your mother."
"You ok?" Clark asked when he found Chloe sitting in the small office at the top of the house. "You look a little spaced out."
"I'm fine." Chloe wiped away the tears from her eyes. "Just going through some of my mother's personal papers, letters she started but never finished, half-written diary entries…"
"Chloe…" Clark walked over to his girlfriend and, kneeling on the floor, put his arms round her.
"I found this, hidden in a secret compartment of her desk." Chloe held up an old photograph.
Clark looked at the image. It showed a young woman in a flowing sundress holding a small child in her arms. The woman's eyes looked weary, but there was a contented look on her face that showed that maybe she'd finally found peace.
"I don't remember much about my mother, but I remember the day that photo was taken. My parents were so happy… so in love." Chloe was looking out the window, her eyes unfocused. "Why couldn't she stay with us? Why did she have to leave like she did?"
"Your mother understood how dangerous the world really is. She knew that the only way to protect you was to leave, to make the world a better place."
"Promise me you'll never leave me like that."
"Chloe, I would rather die than do anything to hurt you, but I can't promise you something like that. If I were faced with the same predicament as your mother, I would do the same if it meant saving you." Clark put his arms round Chloe hand held her tight. "This is the life we have chosen. To stand up for and protect those who can't protect themselves. We have these gifts, and it would be wrong to use them just to help ourselves."
"Like you did in Metropolis?"
"That was not something I'm proud off. It proved what I could be like if I ever let go, became what my father wants me to be. My powers don't give me the right to do anything I like, headless of the consequences."
"I understand," Chloe nodded, "but I'm going to need your support for what I have to do next."
The sun was shining brightly, almost mooching Chloe's mood as she followed Snow across the seemingly endless graveyard. Pete and Clark hung back a little… There if she needed them but understanding that this was something personal.
"Jenny was buried with full military honours, as befitting someone who spent so long helping others." Snow explained as they approached a sheltered part of the graveyard. "It was mainly thanks to her connections to certain parts of the British military that Jenny was able to spend almost her entire life in the shadows. There are, as you are no doubt aware from your own research, very few references to her in any history text."
"Her name was mentioned in passing from time to time," Chloe nodded, "and there are a few blurred photographs, but nothing concrete."
"Jenny was very good at covering her tracts, even better than me. That was how she was able to keep you a secret for so long. It wasn't until you started looking into her that we were able to find you…" Snow stopped. "I had the gravestone replaced when I found out about you. I hope you don't mind."
Chloe stepped forward and looked down at the marble slab that stood in the shadow of an ancient oak tree.
Colonel Jennifer Sparks-Sullivan, VC.
Beloved wife, mother, friend and companion.
Officer of the British Space Group.
Born January 1st 1900
Died January 1st 2000
"Bugger this, I want a better world!"
The small photo set in the middle of the gravestone showed Jenny with a smile on her face, a half-smoked cigarette hanging from one corner of her mouth. There was an unmistakable glint in her eye, like she knew something everyone else didn't.
"Thank you for this." Chloe turned and walked away.
"You sure she's ok?" Pete asked as he sat in the lounge of the hotel Snow had put the three of them up in. "She's hardly spoken in hours."
"I guess it's the shock of everything." Clark rubbed his eyes. "She's had a lot to get used to the past few days. It's only understandable that she needs some time out." He looked at his friend. "What are you drawing?"
"To tell the truth, I don't have a clue." Pete looked at the notebook he was holding. "I've been having these strange dreams the past few night. They're like nothing I've ever experienced before."
"Let me see." Clark took the notebook and looked at the sketch. It was the most unusual thing he'd ever seen. Whatever it was, it looked alive, but seemed to have an unmistakable sense of shear scale. "It looks like a dog's nose," Clark commented. "What is it?"
"Like I said, I don't know," Pete shrugged, "but something tells me it's real important…"
To Be Continued…
