Chapter 9

The letter was lying in the middle of the table and all of them were sitting around the table and staring at it as if willing it to give up its secrets. They'd been over it and over it with a fine tooth comb and so far, they'd come up with nothing. The little tails and dashes that Reid had included in his handwriting had given them a string of gibberish words, and they were still running them through decryption programs and trying to find a pattern so they could break the code, but it looked as if the code Reid had chosen was an uncommon one. They'd been able to match it to nothing.

"You never really appreciate how smart someone is until you have to figure out what they're thinking," Rossi sighed, sounding exhausted. He looked around as if suddenly realizing something was different. "Where's Garcia?"

"Down in her office, working on the decryption. You also never truly appreciate how much someone can do until they're not around," Hotch added. "If this had come up in a case, Reid would have cracked it by now."

Emily looked up at the screen where they could see the latest decryption program running. "Probably without the computer, too. Makes me wish Reid had chosen a more common code. We've tried Vigenere ciphers, tri-square, Nicodemus, Baconian, we've tried key phrases...bupkis. Just how encrypted does this message have to be?"

"I'm guessing encrypted enough to escape detection," Morgan said. "Which, since the letter was delivered, we can be sure that it worked. If it had been an easy code to crack, Diana would never have received it. That's one good thing."

After the initial elation over the letter had passed, the team's spirits had quickly taken a turn for depression. They all knew that that was how the human psyche worked, but being depressed made everything harder.

"Nothing in this letter makes sense!" Morgan suddenly complained, startling all of them. "I mean, he's kidnapped and kept in a resort where they have activities for him? What kind of kidnapper does something like that?"

J.J. shrugged. "I don't know. I keep telling myself not to be surprised by anything we come across in our work, but the situation Spence describes is...out there. Waaaaay out there."

"Never said a truer word," Emily agreed. "If what he wrote is true, then at least he's being treated kindly, and he has things to occupy his time so he's not fretting. That's good." She'd felt somewhat better about Reid's situation when she heard about all the things he'd been doing. She knew that sitting and fretting was one of the worst things a prisoner or kidnapping victim could do. "And, if Reid were including his feelings in this letter, most of the time his spirits are up, which is great. The longer he staves off depression, the better off he'll be."

"Yeah, but how is this facility run? Where does the money to run it and pay the staff come from? Are the staff Reid described prisoners like him, or are they there willingly? If so, then why haven't they realized that Reid's a kidnapping victim and done something about it?" Derek wanted to know. "What the hell is going on at this place?"

"All good questions," Hotch said, palming his eyes. "Until we have more information, I don't know if it would be helpful to speculate." He picked up the letter and examined it. "I can tell that Reid's trying to tell us something, but I can't see what it is."

All of them examined their copies. They could pick out the marked letters easily, but that was all. Until they broke the code, they were stuck. J.J. turned her letter upside-down, the way she did when she was trying to decipher one of Henry's drawings, but it didn't help. She turned it back around and stared at it, hoping that she would notice something new. If only they had a Reid to help them find the Reid they were missing.

Reid stood in front of the mirror and stared at himself. He was dressed in a tuxedo-an expensive tuxedo-and he wanted to hide under the bed.

He looked like a penguin with really good and expensive fashion sense. He was on the verge of reaching for his bow tie to untie it when someone knocked on the door. Sighing, he opened his door.

"Woah," Sean said, staring at him. "You look great!"

"I look like a penguin," Reid corrected. "You look sophisticated and ready for a lovely evening."

"You should give yourself more credit," Sean protested as he walked into Reid's room. "A lot more credit; all the ladies and a few of the men are going to be staring at you tonight."

"If they can find me; I'm sure there's a corner somewhere I can hide," Reid responded. He looked at himself again in the mirror and fought the urge to whimper. "I...don't look like myself at all!"

Sean gave him a long look. "Is that what's worrying you? That nobody's going to recognize you? Trust me, Reid, that won't be a problem."

"That's not the problem at all," Reid argued. "The problem is that I don't recognize myself, and I feel weird all dressed up like this, and I feel even weirder about the fact that I'm going to a dance that my kidnapper is hosting…"

"Okay, put like that, I understand why you feel the way you do," Sean agreed. "It's weird. The whole situation is weird. Our entire lives are composed of weirdness, and they have been ever since we arrived here, but it's a different matter when you let the weirdness get you down."

Reid thought about it. "You're right. I know you're right, but tonight is not going to be easy."

"The next one will be easier," Sean promised. "If it's any comfort, your friends will be there to help you through the weirdness, even if we have to act weird to get you to smile."

Reid looked up at Sean's face and grinned when he saw the face Sean was pulling. He'd crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, and how did he get his nose to do that? "Okay, okay. I'll go. Thanks."

Sean returned his smile. "You're welcome. Truth to tell, we're all counting on each other to help us get through each dance, and the more of us there are, the easier it is."

"I never thought about that," Reid said after considering this new information. "Okay. Let's get going."

The men were all walking or biking to the lodge, which was where the dance was being held. The ladies, in deference to their shoes, were being given rides in cars to their destination. Reid rather felt that the ladies deserved it since they had to wear high heels or whatever other kind of uncomfortable shoe was currently in fashion. While they walked, Michael and Louis joined them.

"Oh, be still my heart!" Louis gushed once he caught sight of Spencer. "My dear Dr. Reid, you look simply marvelous tonight!"

"I look like a marvelous penguin," Reid corrected him. "Thanks, though, you look pretty good yourself."

Louis smirked at him. "Good enough to…?"

"Hey, hey, Louis," Michael said quickly. "Cut it out with the flirting, huh?"

Louis gave him a warm smile. "Jealous?"

Michael blushed so deeply that even his ears were pink. "Can we just get going?"

"If you'll give me the first dance," Louis pressed.

"Fine, fine, let's go."

Michael marched ahead and Louis hurried after him. Reid hung back to wait for Sean and he waited until they were both out of earshot before speaking. "So, have they been a couple long?"

"Michael's had it bad for Louis ever since he arrived, but he felt that Louis would be bored with him," Sean admitted. "What Michael didn't realize is that Louis has been doing his best to make Michael jealous ever since they first laid eyes on each other. I think last night was their first date."

"So, all that bon vivant stuff Louis was spouting and the flirting…?"

"His desperate attempts to get Michael to notice him."

Reid chuckled. "I think it worked."

"And how," Sean confirmed. "When I saw Michael this morning before breakfast, he looked as if he didn't know what hit him and that he couldn't be happier about it."

Reid nearly fell down on the path laughing, but he managed to laugh quietly so Michael and Louis wouldn't hear him. Once he got himself under control and got his breath back, he and Sean headed to the lodge.

It had been transformed. Strings and strings of white lights had been strung along the railings for the front patio, and more strings of them had been wrapped around the miniature cypress trees in front and along the eaves of the building. The lights were twinkling on and off, making the whole place look as if it had been invaded by fairies. Bowls of water holding flowers and floating candles only added to the illusion. Reid stood there, staring at all of it. "Is this the prom?"

"Nope, it's the monthly dance. You should have seen last month's theme."

"What was it?"

"Among the Clouds. Cotton clouds with lights in them, dry ice fog, silver cut-out stars hanging everywhere, actual live doves on perches...It was pretty amazing."

"I bet. Who comes up with all these ideas?"

"The Director."

Reid did a double-take. "Really?"

"Oh, yes. If you wait long enough, he'll really outdo himself. He's done big band themes, rock n' roll themes, island themes, a Viennese ball theme, exotic places themes, a Victorian London theme...he never does the same thing twice, and he does this twelve times a year. If it's a historical theme, he even arranges period costumes for us. Finding out what the month's theme is gives us all something to look forward to."

"He did say that the dances were well-attended," Reid said, remembering.

"Well, of course. Wait until you see inside!"

Sean had been right to be excited. Inside, there were more flowers, candles, and strings of lights, but there were also nature sounds, like crickets, breezes through tree branches, and quiet stream. Reid could feel the breezes on his face and smell the water! Best of all was over their heads, where an LED ceiling showed the stars and moon and occasionally a CGI fairy would flit across, sometimes as a streak of light or sometimes as a miniature gossamer being with wings. Reid grinned as he saw a fairy float lazily by on its back overhead, wiggling its toes at the stars. "This is better than a theme park!" No wonder the people here liked these dances!

"You've got that right," Sean said. "I think this is the first time he's done a fairy theme. The ladies are gonna love it!"

He was right. The women started arriving then, ooohing and aaahhhing at the decor. Reid spotted Mara at the same time that Mara spotted him, and she dragged him over to the refreshments table right away. "Look what I did!"

"What?" Reid asked, still distracted by her floor length blue dress covered with silver accents. She looked wonderful, but obediently he turned his attention to the food. The sweets and savories laid out all looked like bits of vegetation and forest creatures-flowers, grasses, tiny trees, mosses, fungi, berries, field mice, birds, snails, ducks and geese, frogs, fish, squirrels, and chipmunks.

"The mushrooms! I learned how to make meringue mushrooms! Try one, try one!"

Reid helped himself to a meringue mushroom and grinned as it melted away to nothing in his mouth. "Oh. Mmm…" He looked right and left and then snagged another. "These are great!"

"Now try one of the little logs!"

Each of the little logs had been placed in green paper cups trimmed to look like leaves and grasses. Reid took one and bit into it and sighed in bliss. "It's chocolate!" Then the warmth from the filling hit him. "Oh, wow. What's in these?"

"Chocolate liqueur!" Mara said, sounding delighted. "Don't eat too many of them, okay?"

"Don't worry," Reid assured her, thinking of his sobriety. He'd have an occasional drink at home if he were out with his team, but he always limited himself, and sometimes abstained altogether, especially if he were under stress. Alcohol always made things harder. "The last thing I want to do tonight is get drunk. Did you make anything else?"

Mara showed him tiny cupcakes, small enough to fit in a fairy's hands. He had two of those, and then there was a spun sugar squirrel, a fondant frog, a marzipan ladybug, a sandwich shaped like a flower, and a fairy ring of mushrooms on green and brown moss that turned out to be a miniature shredded salad. He finished nibbling with a tiny cake shaped like a forest pond (complete with chocolate fish!) and then Mara dragged him onto the dance floor.

Even the music fit the theme. He could hear harps and lutes, pipes and drums, and Mara pulled him through the steps of a dance that he couldn't name. The second dance sounded like a waltz and Reid was able to get through it by counting in his head, ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three.

He caught sight of Sean dancing with Wendy and later caught sight of Louis and Michael sitting together and talking. Reid stepped on Mara's toes three times before he started praying that she would let him sit out the next dance. His deliverance came from an unlikely source when the Director tapped him on the shoulder.

"I am sorry to interrupt you both, but I was hoping that my favorite young lady would grant me a dance," he said, holding out a hand to Mara.

"Would you mind, Reid?" she asked.

"No, of course not. I'll see you later." Reid hurried out of the way of the dancing couples and joined Sean, Wendy, Louis, and Michael.

"I see the Director cut in," Michael teased him.

"Thank goodness for her toes he did," Reid stated. "I don't think they could have taken much more of my stepping on them. Anyone want something to drink? I'm parched."

When everyone said they wanted something to drink, Sean went with him to carry the drinks back, and they all sat and sipped together, talking. Mostly the talk centered around past dance themes and how they compared to the present one, and some of their chat discussed the food. Louis had had three of the chocolate logs and was contemplating a fourth.

"I'd take it easy on those," Reid cautioned him. "Those pack a punch."

Louis looked at him and gave him a fond smile. "I know! Aren't they fabulous?"

Sean had brought two plates of goodies to their table from the refreshments table and pushed a plate of the flower sandwiches and pond cakes towards him. "Here. Try some real food before you have any more sweets with alcohol in them. We still have the toast to get through later."

"What toast?" Reid asked.

"Everybody gets a glass of champagne to toast the assembled company," Louis said, his voice sounding a trifle detached. "Happens at midnight. It's a quaint ritual the Director likes to see. After the toast, the party's over and we all go to bed, kinda like Cinderella. Except we don't lose our shoes. Well, some of the ladies might-those hurt to walk in."

Reid felt as if Louis had had too many chocolate logs already. Just how much liqueur was in those things?

He didn't get a chance to think about it since Wendy asked him to dance, and then Mara was back, and then Mara was introducing Reid to her friend Lily. Reid was kept busy with dancing, apologizing for stepping on his partners' feet, and chatting with his friends. Occasionally he would grab a snack or something to drink.

He was on his way to get another cup of punch when he spotted the guy that he'd seen wrestling with WBKJ the other night. He hadn't told anyone about what he'd seen and no one had brought it up to him, but the man had been in the back of his thoughts since that night. He hadn't seen the man since that night or heard from anyone about a new resident, so he was brought up short when he saw him.

The man spotted him, too, and moved to stand in front of him. "You're staring."

"S-sorry," Reid stammered, taking a step back. "I was surprised."

"By?"

"Well, I saw you the other night, fighting with WBKJ, and…"

"WBKJ?"

"Wallace, Bell, Keller, and Jackson," Reid clarified. "They're the heads of security…"

The man raised an eyebrow as if to say, hurry up and get to the point.

"New residents don't usually...well, no one's been punished for your fighting...I was just surprised to see them getting their asses kicked."

It had been the right thing to say. The man cracked a smile. "It was a little too easy. They must have had orders not to hurt me, or something. What's your name?"

"Spencer Reid, but everyone just calls me Reid."

The newcomer stared. "Seriously? Spencer Reid?" He looked Reid up and down and nodded. "Yep, you're him. Thought you looked familiar!"

"You know me?" Reid said quickly, surprised again.

"I'm in law enforcement," he said. "Your picture and details came to us from the FBI two days before I was snatched. Never thought we'd end up in the same place!"

Reid could feel some tight knot inside his chest relax. He'd never doubted that his friends would be looking for him, but hearing that little detail reassured him that they were.

"What the hell is this place? Each time I see that bastard that ordered me brought here he refuses to say anything other than that this is my new home. What is up with that?"

"It's called the Trust," Reid explained. "The Director-you know him as the bastard-set it up to protect gifted individuals and to encourage them to use their gifts. I've only been here a few weeks, so I can't tell you what it's like long-term. One thing you need to remember, though, is that if you break the rules, someone else is punished."

Reid received a long, thoughtful look. "Knew he was a bastard."

"Um...yeah." Reid looked him up and down. Up close, he looked even more like a Norse god, but something about his facial structure looked familiar. "So, what's your name?"

"James. James Norwood." He held out his hand to shake.

"Good to meet you, although I would have preferred to meet you somewhere other than here."

"Likewise."

"Which cottage are you in?"

"Cottage?"

"I'm in Beech," Reid offered. "Are you nearby?"

James shook his head. "I'm not in one of the cottages. I'm in the big, white stucco building with the red tile roof."

Reid's jaw dropped open. "Why are you in the Director's quarters?"

"No clue," James confessed. "He's freakin' creepy, though. I have to have all my meals with him, he calls me 'my boy' and things like that, and every night he has to come into my room to say good night to me. It's so weird that it's beyond all of humanity's capacity for weirdness. He's treating me like I'm a kid or something. He even has Bell following me around whenever I'm out of the house. I don't need a stupid babysitter."

Reid nodded. "No, he's more your watcher. I know someone else who has one, too. He escaped once and since then Wallace has been with him whenever he's outside."

"Well, it's annoying," James stated, combing his fingers through his hair. "Look, could you introduce me to your friends? I feel like I need to talk to people."

"Sure. Let's go."

Sean and the rest of his group were happy to welcome James and soon James was seated with them, nibbling on bits of tasty flora and fauna and sipping punch, stopping only when one of the girls wanted to dance. At one point Louis dragged Reid to his feet for a turn around the floor just so Michael could cut in, and Reid re-took his seat, laughing. "Everytime I think he's gone as far as he can go, he ends up surprising me," he confessed to Sean, who clapped him on the back.

"If it's any consolation, he often surprises me, too," Sean said. Mara jumped up from her seat and headed straight for James, saying that he was the only one she hadn't danced with.

"I am no kind of dancer," James warned her.

"Reid said the same thing, but he still danced with me," she argued. "Pleeease?"

"If you complain later, I'll remind you that you insisted," James said, getting up and taking her hand. "Let's go."

Sean watched them go. "A police officer," he said thoughtfully. "And his quarters are in the Director's house."

"He's on a par with us, intellectually," Reid told him. "Just talking with him is enough to show anyone that, but what I don't get is why he's not in one of the cottages."

"I'm sure the Director has his reasons."

Reid looked at his friend. "Sean, do you have a theory?"

"More of a guess, really. I don't want to give voice to it until I have more information, though, so I think it would be best if I kept it to myself for a while."

Reid thought about it. "Mm-hmmm. Well, that might be a good idea." He knew that the staff had big ears and eyes and they would report anything they heard or saw to the Director, so Sean was right to keep things to himself if he didn't want the Director to hear about it. "I wonder what his name is."

Sean did a double-take. "James?"

"No, the Director."

Sean sighed. "I've never asked. He always introduces himself as the Director. Perhaps he thinks of himself that way, instead of as a man with a name. In truth, that's a little frightening, if you think about it."

Reid thought about it and wished he hadn't. "Why is it always night out when people bring up creepy stuff?"

Chimes interrupted them and the music stopped. The Director headed to the front of them room and beamed at all of them, clearly visible in the light from the fairy lights. "Good evening, everyone! Another month has passed here at the Trust. Thank you all for your hard work at settling in here and in working with the people around you. I am proud of all of you. Please, enjoy a final dance and rest well when you return to your beds. I will see you all in the morning."

A good number of people clapped and the staff scattered among them, holding trays with glasses of champagne for everyone. Reid took one and everyone sipped theirs as the Director drained his glass. Reid took one tiny sip and set the glass aside. He'd had that chocolate liqueur log earlier and he had no idea what the cumulative effect would be if he downed a glass of champagne on top of it. Sean pulled him onto the dance floor for the traditional last dance, which was everybody just bouncing around in time to the music. As they headed outside after the music ended, Reid reflected that it was a nice way to bond with the people around you, with everyone moving in time to the same music and all crowded into the same space. Sean had told him a few days ago when Reid had asked about the dance that the Director had started the tradition. It looked as if the Director was doing his best to get them to...well, come together as a group. He'd certainly chosen some effective ways to do it. If he were a bit less tired, he might be able to make a list of just how many ways the Director had done it.

He and the rest of his housemates made it back to Beech and all of them trudged upstairs, the ladies carrying their shoes in their hands. Reid bid his friends good night and swiped himself into his room. He'd taken lots of mental notes about the dance and he would have to include them in his next letter to his mom. As he prepared for bed, he thought about James and why he might be under the Director's roof, rather than in one of the cottages, and he found his thoughts wandering a bit. They ended up on the last letter he'd written his mother. He'd included plenty of clues for his friends so they could find him-he'd drawn them a map, really. He just hoped they'd be able to decipher it. If he were lucky, he'd be able to include more information in the next letter.

A/N: I have no idea if you guys are still with me, but the plot rabbit is not letting up. Once again, requesting backup.