Chapter Five

Aiden MacAlister

Richland, Indiana

Aiden MacAlister sat in the office of Howard Finch digging through papers. For two days he had been stuck here rummaging for some sort of clue as to where the head of the Indiana Motherhouse had disappeared to. He was told yesterday by some of the members that Mr. Finch would be back today. His instincts told him that they were lying. And so far they were right. There was not a sign of him anywhere.

"There must be something!" He complained out loud. His instructions were to remain in the States until the Kor Tant Yul arrived. And from what Mr. Kessler's secretary, Ms. Welch had informed him, the Congress of Elders was still in deliberation. This meant he wouldn't be arriving anytime soon and Aiden was left in charge of rounding up all the incarnates himself. He had located several in the last day and sent out recovery teams to pick them up. Unfortunately for some, they were too late. The weakness had already begun to affect North America and some incarnates had already been killed while hunting. He wrote in his report that he took full responsibility.

"What have we done?" He whispered to himself when he first read what was happening. "We have destroyed the only chance humanity had against Hell itself."

For now he focused all of his frustrations on finding Mr. Finch and Ms. Fellows. No one here seems to know what happened to her! They consensus is, she was here one day and then gone the next! In house full of psychics they were all pretty out of the loop. But being that Layla Fellows was widely perceived as one of the most extraordinary mediums the Brotherhood had produced, it was no wonder she has been able to hide her presence from their psychic surveillance. Aiden was also a bit extraordinary himself! Compared to the other members of the Brotherhood, he wasn't anything all that special. But, to the rest of the world he was definitely more than average Joe. His ability to move things around him was too much even for his own family. His abilities became apparent as a toddler when his temper tantrums would cause objects around him to fly around the room sometimes crashing into the walls or even his parents! Being good devout Irish Catholics, they were convinced that he was possessed by a demon and took him to a priest to have him exorcised. After several attempts, the Priest decided that Aiden's parents weren't praying enough and that is why the exorcisms failed. And so for the next decade they prayed non stop, but, Aiden's gifts only became stronger.

Raised until the age of ten in the county of Sligo in Ireland, his parents weary of praying for their "demonic son" then left him in the care of an orphanage in the next county of Mayo. It was there that an Abgal Da had found him and brought him into the Brotherhood moving him to the Motherhouse in Dublin. There his telekinesis was cultivated and nurtured. He learned how to focus what he was feeling into a most useful and handy tool.

Aiden had been in this cluttered office for what seemed like weeks and had accumulated an even greater mess than what was in there initially! He had been through this large oak desk a thousand times and all he found were the usual check stubs, authorization forms and ritual ledgers. He rubbed the top of his head tousling his short, sandy disheveled hair and sighed. "This is just fecking grand! I am getting no where!" Dropping his arms back down onto the desk he banged his head several times on top of them. Apparently, when he had done this, a post-it note that had been stuck between a drawer and the framing came loose and fell to the ground. Aiden jerked as he caught the flash of yellow, out of the corner of his eye, flitting to the maroon carpeting below. "Hello." He said as he plucked it from the floor.

FLIGHT 283 DEP. 8:15 AM

LAMBERT AIRPORT

"So, Mr. Finch let's see where Lambert airport is at!" Aiden squeezed the note in his fist and spun around to his laptop. Typing furiously, he had his answer within seconds. Most Abgal Das didn't own computers. At least most of the older ones still clinging to tradition. They felt it made it too easy for outsiders to discover their secrets, so most of the history was still kept in ledgers, journals and other books that had been enchanted for convenience and it was a great storage solution.

"St. Louis? What's in Missouri Mr. Finch?" He scooted the office chair back to stand and when he did it hit one of the legs of the desk. Instead of a high pitched tap though, it made a deep, hollow knock. Aiden stopped and looked curiously at the leg of the desk. He knocked on it with his knuckles and again there was the hollow sound. To test his theory he reached over and knocked on another leg. This one was obviously solid as it returned the expected high pitched tap. "And what do we have here!" He sat down behind the hollow leg and gripped it tightly in his hands. With a careful pull, a section of the leg came off to reveal a small secret compartment. Waiting inside, was a small silver key. Checking for the Brotherhood crest, Aiden found none, thus deciding that this was not his family key.

Aiden stood and studied the key. It was small and unremarkable. No different from a key one would use to open a post office box. He looked around the room. There were a few book cases and several paintings hanging on the walls.

"Could he be that cliché?" Aiden asked himself aloud. With a wave of his hand, he moved three paintings from one wall onto a green, antique corduroy sofa. There was nothing but wall left behind those paintings so he turned and face the opposing wall. Waving his hand again, another three paintings were slide from their perches and landed safely leaning against the front wall. To Aiden's delight, one of the paintings had indeed concealed the presence of a wall safe. "HA! Lucky me the ole' codger is that cliché!" He inserted the key into the lock. Grabbing the handle at the same time he turned it slowly. He could hear the rumbles and clicks of the tumblers falling into place and then a loud clack as the lock released its steely grip on the door. As it swung open, all that was inside was an 8x11 leather bound notebook. Aiden retrieved it and opened it to the first page.

"Journal of Howard Finch." He read out loud. "Let's hope he's been keeping up with this!" As he walked to the leather wing backed chair in the corner he thumbed through its pages until he came to the last few. "Well, apparently Ms. Fellows is in Missouri! HA! Howard knew the whole time where she was! That's why no one else in the Brotherhood knew! He made sure that it was kept secret!" He flipped back a few mare entries and scanned the passages. "I'll be damned…" He slapped the book closed in elated surprise and ran to the desk phone.

"Yes, Rebecca, I need you to ring the London House for me. Tell Ms. Welch to inform Mr. Kessler that I will be traveling to Missouri straight away. Yes. I will have my mobile with me. Yes. I have found Mr. Finch, Ms. Fellows and apparently located another incarnate that the Abgal Da were not aware of! And he is NOT going to believe WHO they are! After you make that call; ring Mary Agnes over at the Dublin house. Make sure she calls me directly! This is news she is absolutely going to want to hear! Thanks!" Aiden placed the phone receiver back on its base. He could barely contain his excitement! The nerves in his body were practically electrified as he quickly packed up his computer and slung on his brown leather jacket. As he fussed with the jacket's buttons while rushing out of the building her thought to himself, "I wonder if they even know!"

Lambert Airport, St. Louis, Missouri

It was a short flight. Only twenty minutes in the air really. Not even enough to catch a nap. The plane was little more than a glorified sardine can with wings. Aiden hated those planes! The larger ones he could handle no problem. But in the small Cessnas you could hear every single bump and there was just something about seeing the propellers that made Aiden's heart seize.

Mary Agnes had called him while he was on his way to the small airfield in Richland. She was lucky to have caught him; he had found a flight that was leaving with in a half an hour!

"Are you sure boy? I'm on my way!" Was all that she had said. After that she had hung the phone up. He assumed that once she was able to, that she would call him for directions.

He stood at baggage claim looking for his driver. The people encircling the luggage conveyer looked lost and helpless as they searched for their precious belongings. Out of nowhere a man in a black suit appeared holding a sign with Aiden's last name on it.

"Hello, I'm Mr. MacAlister." He addressed the driver. "How long will it take us to get to Walnut Grove?"

"Walnut Grove?" The tall black man seemed confused as to why a man who was definitely from out of town want to go to a little place like Walnut Grove? "Well, that would take about an hour and half sir. Why would you want to go to a little town like that? You got some family or something down there?"

"Something like that. Long lost you could say. Are we good to leave now?" Aiden adjusted the laptop case and small duffle he had on his shoulders.

"Do you have any other bags sir?" The man asked as he gestured for Aiden to hand one to him.

"No. This is all. I don't expect to be staying long."

"Alight, then I guess we are good to leave then! This way sir!" The man gestured for Aiden to follow him passed the rent-a-car desks to the parking lot outside were a black limousine was parked and waiting. He opened the door for him and Aiden slid in giving his thanks. Once the bags were tucked away in the trunk, the driver took his position behind the wheel and they drove away from Lambert's arches and onto the highway.