Chapter 11
Wyatt arrived to Exotic Spice & Tea Shop around 5:20 P.M.—fifteen minutes after he had spoken with Kristy.
When Monroe learned who he was after stepping in, he introduced himself to him and then instructed him to go downstairs.
When Wyatt shot Monroe a suspicious look, Monroe continued to say, "The work that Dr. Galloway is doing is private, and downstairs is the only place in the shop she can go to have privacy."
"Okay, but why is she doing her work here at your shop and not in a laboratory environment?" Wyatt questioned.
"She's not from Portland, so she doesn't really have a laboratory in Portland to go to," Monroe replied. "Anyway, Kristy is downstairs as well, and I can go get her for you if you are not comfortable with going downstairs alone."
Wyatt looked towards the triplets for a moment and saw that they were standing beside a game board while playfully picking on each other as kids do.
"No. That's okay," Wyatt finally said. "I just get overly paranoid in unfamiliar surroundings. Anyway, how do I get downstairs?"
Monroe pointed and gave directions on where to find the stairs.
Wyatt didn't have any trouble finding the stairs and as he was midway down them, he hollered out, "Hello."
"We're down here, Wyatt," Kristy called back as she looked up from the book. The Wesen she was currently reading about was a Murciélago. Olivia's dream journal had been placed beneath Kristy's purse, and her purse was next to her.
Olivia was reading about a Coyotl when she looked up.
Ben had been splitting his attention between looking at the books over Kristy's shoulder and Olivia's shoulder and watching Rachel when she found something to change on the whiteboard.
Nick, Erica and Rosalee had mainly been standing around and watching and answering Wesen related questions when Olivia or Kristy would ask.
Rachel moved in a manner that caught Erica's attention, and when she looked towards Rachel, Rachel's third eye was displayed for any Wesen or Grimm to see.
"Dr. Galloway?" Erica called out in a questioning manner. Rachel's third eye quickly receded as she looked towards Erica. Nick and Roselee each caught a glimpse of Rachel's third eye just before it vanished from sight. "Are you okay?"
Rachel glanced towards Wyatt as he was reaching the bottom of the steps before facing Erica again and saying, "Yes, I'm okay. I suddenly got thirsty, as if I was wandering around the desert for days without water."
Kristy, Olivia, Ben and Rosalee each shot Rachel a curious look before Rosalee informed, "We have water and both diet and regular Cola upstairs."
"Water will be fine," Rachel politely replied. "Thank you."
"Hey, no problem," Rosalee replied.
"Rosalee, before you run off to get Dr. Galloway some water, let me introduce Wyatt to everyone," Kristy said before making the introduction.
"Nice to meet everyone," Wyatt told them before resting his eyes on Nick. "Anyway, detective, I'm a bit confused as to why that your work isn't being done in a lab."
"We have our reasons," Nick replied.
"Yes, well, I'm a very paranoid person when I'm in unfamiliar surroundings," Wyatt replied. Rosalee chose to stick around a little longer, instead of going after Rachel's water. "In fact, my inner voice is telling me that you people are up to no good and I should get the hell out of here while I can. So unless one of you can prove to me that you people are not up to no good in the next two minutes, I'm going to listen to my inner voice and leave."
"Okay," Nick replied in an accepting tone. "Since you run a sanctuary that shelters Kehrseite from Wesen, I think I can actually fill you in on what we are really doing here."
"Wait, you know about Wesen?" Wyatt questioned and glancing at Kristy.
As Nick gestured appropriately, he replied, "I've known about Wesen for more than ten years now; Rosalee, Monroe—the man upstairs—Detective Espinosa and Dr. Galloway have known about Wesen for most of their lives. Olivia learned about Wesen last Monday, and Kristy and Ben learned about them just today. Now I'm not interested in knowing when you learned about them or how you had learned about them, but I am interested in is if you ever heard of a Grimm."
"Grimm, yes, I've heard about Grimms," Wyatt began. "John Quincy—my childhood friend—told me about Grimms after I learned of him being a Wesen. John told me that Grimms can see Wesen for what they truly are, and that they—they being Grimms—are on a self-appointed crusade to rid the Earth of all Wesen."
"Some Grimms might be, but I'm not," Nick replied.
"Wait, you're a Grimm?" Wyatt questioned.
"I am, and as long as Wesen obey the laws, I leave them alone," Nick replied.
"And the ones who don't obey the laws?" Wyatt asked.
"My preference is to arrest unruly Wesen and put them in prison when doing so doesn't exposed the Wesen community," Nick replied. "Although, I have killed unruly Wesen in self-defense and while defending others. Anyway, Dr. Galloway is Wesen. She's a Triclops, and when woged, she has a third eye in the center of her forehead… every Triclops does, and that third eye give each Tryclops the ability to telepathically copy knowledge of another person to him or herself…"
"So Dr. Galloway steals knowledge from other people?" Wyatt quickly asked.
"We don't take knowledge from just anyone," Rachel defended. "The only time we copy a person's knowledge is when we sense a more intelligent and knowledgeable person than ourselves. We also lack impulse control, so when we do sense a more intelligent and knowledgeable person within fifty feet of us, it's like being in a desert without water for days and then finding a small oasis."
"Oh," Rosalee muttered slightly, as if something had made sense to her now.
Rachel glanced at Rosalee as she continued, "We have to have that knowledge, but don't worry, Triclops don't take credit for other people's work. We will sit on any unpublicized knowledge until the work can be made public."
"I happy to hear that last part," Wyatt replied.
"Anyway, Triclops can usually copy a person's knowledge without harming anyone," Nick added.
"Usually?" Wyatt questioned.
"Like with any person, Triclops can become mentally impaired after being sick or injured, and when that happens, the triclops could leave a person mentally impaired or dead from severe brain damage after copying the person's knowledge," Nick replied.
"There is no experimental drug, is there?" Wyatt questioned in a tone as if he had already knew the answer.
"No," Nick replied. "Dr. Galloway was mugged a few weeks ago in Chicago and that experience had left her mentally impaired. Since her arrival in Portland last Friday, she has left two people dead from severe brain damage. As a Grimm, I can't overlook the fact that Dr. Galloway has killed two people, and as a detective, I can't prove in court that Dr. Galloway has killed anyone."
"And that is why Dr. Galloway is attempting to create a theoretical drug that could kill in the same way that she has killed," Wyatt concluded
"Correct," Nick replied.
"Dr. Galloway, I'm surprised that you are going along with creating a drug that could prove your guilt," Wyatt commented.
"It's either this or be killed at the hands of a Grimm," Rachel replied while gesturing towards the whiteboard. "And I prefer this."
"Wyatt, I believe Dr. Galloway when she tells me that she can't control those urges to copy knowledge from geniuses to herself when she encounters a genius," Nick added. "So once Dr. Galloway creates the drug that she needs, I'm only charging her with involuntary manslaughter while conducting unsanctioned drug trials."
"Anyway, Wyatt, can you help me to create this theoretical drug?" Rachel asked.
"I fairly certain that I created what you need nine months ago," Wyatt replied. "Although, the drug I created is supposed to halt or slow down memory degeneration in Alzheimer patients; however, if the ingredients used in my drug had been tainted, then theoretically it could have caused brain damage and/or death."
"But if Dr. Galloway would use your drug, wouldn't that hurt your reputation and your company's reputation?" Kristy was the one to ask.
"I personally scrapped that specific drug without showing anyone what I had when one of my colleagues summited a better drug than mine," Wyatt replied.
"Do you still have the notes to that drug?" Rachel asked.
"I don't, but I don't need them anyway," Wyatt replied. "I have the formula to the drug in my head. Is there blank paper and pencil down here somewhere?"
"I have a pen in my purse that you can use, and I'll give you a blank sheet of paper from Olivia's notebook," Kristy replied before going into her purse.
"The notebook is actually what I'm using for a dream journal," Olivia shared.
"Kristy, out of curiosity, did you know about Wesen before showing up at Beast-free Haven?" Wyatt questioned.
"I didn't. I learned about Wesen from you, Wyatt," Kristy replied as she pulled out a pen from her purse. "However, since March 25th, Olivia has been psychically dreaming about Wesen…"
"Although before last Monday, I thought I had been psychically dreaming about actual demons," Olivia finished for Kristy.
"You're a psychic?" Wyatt questioned.
Olivia shrugged while saying, "Sort of."
"What do you mean by 'sort of?'" Wyatt questioned.
"Wyatt, Olivia is a witness," Nick told him. "And witnesses are psychics who mainly dream about the Wesen community."
"Interesting," Wyatt replied. "So, Olivia, how did you discover that you were dreaming about Wesen and not about demons?"
"Last Monday, around noontime, I snuck over to this shop with my dad's camera in the hopes that I could catch Monroe in his demon form," Olivia shared as Kristy was ripping out a blank page from Olivia's notebook. "I wanted to prove to my mom and grandparents that demons really exist and that I wasn't just having nightmares about them. Anyway, as I was hiding behind a park car and hoping to get a picture of Monroe in his demon form, Nick and Erica stepped up behind me and busted me. When I finally confessed what I was doing here, they told me about Wesen and then introduced me to Monroe and Rosalee."
"Monday evening, after work, I was told that Olivia had showed up here in order to get proof that Monroe was a demon and then getting caught outside the shop by two detectives," Kristy added as she was handing Wyatt the pen and paper. "However, Olivia and everyone here were keeping it a secret that Olivia had made it inside the shop and had learned about the Wesen community. So when you told me about Wesen, I came straight here after leaving Beast-free Haven to confront Monroe about him being a Wesen. He wasn't here though, but Rosalee was, and so I found out the truth from her."
"Wow," Wyatt replied. "I thought I had found out about Wesen in an unusual way. I think your way and Olivia's way beats mine." He then indicated to the pen and paper. "Anyway, I'll write out that formula."
Kristy politely nodded with a grin before Wyatt turned his attention on writing down the formula from memory.
As Wyatt wrote, he told Rachel that Ferris Labs (the company that he worked for) had in their possession two empty containers that originally contained a batch of recalled chemical with a hard to pronounce name. The aforementioned chemical that he dubbed Delta 155 to simplify things was one of the ingredients to his formula.
"My colleagues had used Delta 155 before the recall notice was sent, but luckily all of the drugs that were made from the recalled Delta 155 had never shipped and were immediately destroyed soon after we got the notice," Wyatt continued to say as he wrote out the formula.
"I'm glad to hear that," Rosalee replied.
"Wyatt, have you ever worked for Eureka Labs?" Erica asked.
"Indirectly, all of Ferris Labs' employees work for Eureka Labs," Wyatt replied. "Eureka Labs had bought out Ferris Labs eighteen months ago. Some of what we do at Ferris Labs have changed since the company was bought out, but the building's name Ferris Labs stayed the same."
"I didn't know that Ferris Labs was bought out by Eureka Labs?" Nick replied.
"Not too many people do," Wyatt replied as he held up the paper. "Anyway, here's the formula. So with this formula and one or both empty containers of the recalled Delta 155, you shouldn't have any problems with making your case, and I can get you those containers tomorrow."
"Great," Nick replied.
"My boss wants me at the office before this weekend to clean up my lab anyway," Wyatt added.
"Have you been on vacation?" Kristy asked him.
"Actually, for the past eight years, I've been doing most of my work at home," Wyatt replied. "In fact, the only times I would go into the lab is when we reach the testing phase to one of the research projects that I'm a part of or when there is a meeting that demands my presence. So other than those seldom times I will be at the lab, I'll be at Beast-free Haven."
"So you live at the shelter?" Erica asked.
"Of course. It was my home before I turned it into a shelter," Wyatt replied. "Plus it wouldn't be right to invite others into a place that I wouldn't stay at."
"Make sense," Erica replied. "Anyway, where is Beast-free Haven located?"
Wyatt told everyone where his shelter was located. He then continued, "Anyway, Kristy, you told me earlier that you and your kids had moved to Portland last Sunday."
"We did," Kristy replied.
"Finding a place to live after moving to a different city could be challenging, and I was wondering if you had found a place yet," Wyatt told her.
"I actually had bought a house yesterday, and this Saturday, Ben, Olivia and I will be moving out of my parents' house and into our own house," Kristy shared.
"Super," Wyatt replied. "So in what neighborhood is it in?"
"You might know better than me," Kristy replied before announcing her address.
"Kristy, have you sign the papers and have given the realtor a check yet?" Erica quickly asked.
"I have to both," Kristy replied. "Why?"
"I know the house you bought," Erica replied. "In fact, I live ten houses north of that house. Anyway, your new home is in a dense part of the Wesen community, and there's a rumor within the community that the house you bought is haunted."
"Poltergeist haunted or just seeing glimpses of a person haunted?" Ben asked.
"All I know is what I heard and what I heard was that the last owner of the house was being kept awake a few times a month by sounds of an invisible woman within the house weeping," Erica shared.
"Lovely," Kristy sarcastically replied.
"Yes, and after a few months of that, the man who last owned the house got tired of being kept awake and moved out," Erica added. "And that was over eighteen months ago, and the house had been up for sale since… well, up until yesterday anyway. Oh, and before that, there were about two other owners. Neither of the two had stayed in the house for over seven months."
"Perhaps you can back out of the sale and get your money back," Wyatt suggested as Olivia considered a thought.
"Actually before I give into the belief that ghosts are real and run from the house, I would like to see if there is an Earthly explanation for why people believe that my house is haunted," Kristy replied.
"Fyi, Kristy, ghosts are real," Rosalee informed.
"I had a feeling that someone here was going to tell me that?" Kristy replied. "I still want to look for an Earthly explanation though before abandoning the house."
"Since the house is within a dense part of the Wesen community, then perhaps the house is being haunted by the type of Wesen who is able to turn himself or herself into a ghost," Olivia suggested.
"Sweetie, there are no such Wesen who could turn themselves into ghosts," Rosalee was the one to say.
"I'm certain there are because during my seventy-two hour mental evaluation, all of my dreams when I slept were about Mr. Weismann," Olivia replied.
"Who's Mr. Weismann?" Kristy replied.
"He was another one of Dr. Sturgeon's patients," Olivia began. "He would drift in and out of being catatonic, and I overheard a nurse telling another nurse that his diagnosis was catatonic depression. Anyway, my dreams while I was there were all about Mr. Weismann. And in each of my dreams, Mr. Weismann's ghost… or spirit I guess I should say, would leave his body and go places. One of the places he had gone to as a spirit was to a club called, My Corner of Hell. Once there, he yelled accusations of being a murderer to a goat-like man. The goat-like man couldn't see or hear him though, but a decaying corpse-like man with glowing red eyes could. In fact when Mr. Weismann noticed that he had been seen by the corpse-like man, he quickly retreated from the club and went to a cemetery. Once there, he mourned over a headstone belonging to Aliza Weismann."
"Mr. Weisman is astral projecting," Wyatt informed. "That's the only explanation I can think of. So does anyone here know of any Wesen that could astral project?"
"With practice, training and perseverance I know that Hexenbiest and Zauberbiest could do it," Nick replied.
"Okay, yes, for someone psychically dreaming, I can see why astral projection could be seen as someone becoming a ghost," Rosalee replied. "Also since most Hexenbiest and Zauberbiest lack the patients to learn the skill of astral projection, I forgot that they are even capable of doing it."
"I'm guessing that Hexenbiest and Zauberbiest look like Kehrseite when woged," Olivia assumed aloud.
"Actually when woged, Hexenbiest and Zauberbiest each look like a decaying corpse with glowing red eyes," Nick told Olivia.
"Okay, well, Mr. Weismann wasn't the one in my dreams to look like a decaying corpse with glowing red eyes," Olivia replied. "And I always see their woged form in my dreams. So he couldn't have been a Hexenbiest or a Zauberbiest."
"Olivia, Hexenbiests are actually female witch type Wesen and Zauberbiests are male witch type Wesen," Rosalee was the one to say. "Also, there are some half-blooded Hexenbiests and half-blooded Zauberbiests who are incapable of woging, but are still able to cast magic… of course their magic quite often fail because they are unable to Woge, and the magic that does work is more of a firework display compared to the magic from full blooded Hexenbiest and Zauberbiest. Anyway, I'm willing to bet that Mr. Weismann is a half-blooded Zauberbiest who is incapable of woging, but has learned how to astral project."
"Before Mr. Weismann retreated from the club, he acted as if he knew the… the full blooded Zauberbiest," Olivia shared. "I now wonder if the two are related."
"Possible," Rosalee replied. "Anyway, getting back to your new home being haunted by an astral projecting spirit. It's possible I guess, but what would the point of it be?"
"I believe I know who's haunting the house and why, and I assure you that she's not doing it intentionally," Erica replied.
"Okay," Kristy began. "Who's haunting my home and why?"
"Four years ago, after I had moved into the neighborhood, I learned about Phyllis Stevenson," Erica began. "Kristy, Phyllis had owned the home that you bought prior to four years ago, and she's a half-blooded Hexenbiest—so I've been told anyway. Anyway, Phyllis is in her seventies and four years ago she was in the early stages of having Alzheimer's disease, so her nephew moved her into an assisting living facility and sold the home. However, about fifteen years prior to that, her husband, all of her adult kids and all of her grandkids were violently killed during a camping trip. She didn't go on the camping trip because of work responsibilities, so she wasn't killed. Anyway, to make a long story short, when the police officer told Phyllis the news about her entire family, she sat on the steps between the first floor and second floor, and cried non-stop for hours."
"So you think that the weeping spirit in my new home is Phyllis's astral projecting spirit as her memory brings her back to the most tragic day of her life," Kristy commented as she contemplated over that thought.
"I believe it's that or you do in fact have an actual weeping ghost," Erica replied.
"Lovely," Kristy replied, sarcastically.
"If Phyllis Stevenson's astral projecting spirit is unintentionally haunting your new home, Kristy, my wife Adalind can help stop it," Nick told her.
"How?" Kristy questioned.
"Adalind is a Hexenbiest, and late last year, she had inherited a nice size collection of spell books from a great aunt who she never knew about," Nick replied. "Anyway, one of the incantations within those books will bind a person's spirit to his or her skull for a specified distance. So Adalind could bind Phyllis Stevenson's astral projecting spirit to her skull, and preventing her spirit from traveling beyond a certain point."
"Before your wife cast her magic on Phyllis Stevenson and bind her spirit to her skull, I would like to make sure that the ghost haunting my home is in fact her astral projecting spirit," Kristy replied.
"Adalind can help with that too," Nick replied.
"Okay, sure, if your wife can help with identifying the spirit, then I would like to recruit her," Kristy replied.
"I'm certain that she'll be happy to help," Nick replied.
"I have a question," Olivia announced. "What is the purpose in binding a spirit to his or her skull? I mean, I know why we want to do it, but I doubt that the spell… or incantation was created for the same purpose that we want it for."
"The incantation's actual purpose is to extend a person's punishment beyond death by preventing the person's spirit from moving on into the afterlife," Rosalee was the one to say.
"So if Adalind does bind Phyllis Stevenson's astral projecting spirit to her skull and she dies of natural causes months or even years later, her spirit will be forever bound to her skull?" Olivia questioned.
"Any Hexenbiest or Zauberbiest who knows the incantation can unbind her spirit," Nick replied. "So as long as nothing happens to me or to Adalind prior to Phyllis Stevenson dying, I'll make sure that her spirit gets unbound from her skull."
"Also any method that can destroy the skull, such as cremation or even shattering the skull with a sledge hammer, would also free a spirit that had been bound to his or her skull by the incantation," Rosalee added.
"That's good to know," Olivia replied.
"Folks, I think my purpose here is done," Wyatt announced.
"And so is the purpose that brought Ben, Olivia and me here," Kristy replied as she closed the Grimm book. "So Ben, Olivia and I will leave with you."
"It's time to take Dr. Galloway to the police station as well," Nick announced as Olivia was closing the Grimm book that she had. "So we'll be leaving too."
"I would be fine with it if any of you would like to visit me in prison," Rachel told everyone. "I have a hunch that in a few months from now, I'll be craving visitors. In fact, Kristy, if I'm forced to see a psychiatrist while I'm in prison, perhaps it could be you."
"The prison system will have its own medical staff," Kristy replied. "So I won't be able to be your doctor."
"Oh, well, it was a worthwhile thought," Rachel replied before everyone began moving towards the steps.
Once upstairs everyone said their parting pleasantries to one another; although, Kristy had also inquired about the closest shoe store.
When Nick, Erica and Rachel left the spice shop, they went straight to the police station.
When Kristy, Ben and Olivia left the spice shop, they went to the shoe store that they were told about.
When Wyatt left, he went back to Beast-free Haven.
Monroe and Rosalee made sure that the shop was in order and everything was locked before they, along with Felix, Freddy and Riley, left the spice shop. However, once in their vehicle, Rosalee texted Trubel and warned her that there might be a Zauberbiest working for the Ziegevolk.
To be continued.