Chapter 10: Pieces of the Puzzle
Alyssa felt both excited and nervous as she returned to the downstairs hallway. She hadn't been inside her grandfather's study in over three years, but she still remembered it clearly.
Bookcases lined nearly every wall, with colorful paintings hanging on the brief spaces in between them. The bookshelves were impossibly crammed with books of all shapes, colors, and sizes, and more were piled on the tables and her grandfather's desk. It felt more like a library than a study—a library she once spent a great deal of time in as she lost herself to tales of far off places and wild adventures.
The memories that filled Alyssa's mind as she unlocked the study door saddened her; that innocent time seemed so far away now.
Beyond the threshold, the large study was just as she remembered. The wallpaper was white with brown and purple stripes, and much like most other rooms in the house, the wooden floor was brightened by an ornate rug. To her left was a rocking chair and a small table, and to her right were two leather chairs, colored purple. Her grandfather's portrait hanging on the wall behind them; Alyssa went over and gazed at it wistfully.
As much as she missed her mother, Alyssa was beginning to long for the comfort only her grandfather could give. Dick Hamilton, old and wise, would know how to help his granddaughter, even through something as bizarre as today.
If there was any knowledge to be found in the wizened eyes looking back at her from the portrait, Alyssa couldn't see it, and she turned away with a small sigh.
The desk in front of the large window at the far end of the room was cluttered with papers and books, but despite the mess, there wasn't a speck of dust to be seen. Her mother had frequented this place, too, keeping it clean until its owner returned.
Alyssa went around the desk and sat in the old swivel chair, her eyes scanning the stacks of papers and books, searching for whatever it was her mother wanted her to find. One particular book stood out from the others; it was worn and cracking, and looked so old Alyssa was half-afraid to touch it, but someone had deliberately set it in the center of the desk where it was the most likely to be seen. A colorful bookmark was peeking out between the pages, and when she carefully opened the book to that place, the words 'Entity' and 'Rooder' jumped out at her from the center of the page.
'The Entities,' the paragraph below the boldfaced header read, 'are a form of evil spirit that have plagued our world since the time of the Roman Empire. This evil is characterized by an Entity's attraction to a person or persons who are pure in heart but weak-willed and easily manipulated, traits that make it possible for an Entity to possess its target with little resistance.
'Once an Entity is joined with its human host, the person will begin exhibiting violent behavior and uncontrollable rages, and will usually go so far as to kill within days of possession. Though some act more discreetly than others, those who are possessed will continue their acts of violence without cessation until the host body has been killed.
'Unfortunately, slaying the human body won't stop the Entity; the evil will simply revive the host after death, which creates a remorseless, undead monster known as a Subordinate. Once created, a Subordinate will immediately begin killing again, feeding off the energy of each of its victims. A Subordinate is capable of growing immeasurably powerful in this manner.
'However, a newly created Subordinate, though much stronger than a normal human, will remain in a weakened state until they have garnered enough strength from enough victims. During this period, a Subordinate's own energy will fade from time to time, forcing it to return to the place where it all began; specifically, its first victim. All who die at the hands of a Subordinate are cursed to wander the earth until they are freed from the spell and able to pass on, but a Subordinate's first kill suffers by far the most. When the Subordinate's energy begins to ebb, it has the power to travel back through time and force its victim to relive his or her death, thus reenergizing the Subordinate all over again.
'Once the Subordinate progresses past this stage and is no longer hindered by this weakness, the unfortunate spirit will be free from its personal hell, but it will not be able to leave this world completely until the Subordinate is defeated.
'Though many have battled Subordinates, there is only one group of people who have the power to destroy them completely; the Rooders. These warriors, who have been battling Entities and their Subordinates for many centuries, are always female and in their early teens. Undoubtedly, the war between them will continue for centuries to come.'
Alyssa reread the last paragraph again before slowly lifting her eyes from the page. Resting the book in her lap, she leaned back in the rickety chair and stared blankly at the spotless ceiling. "Entities," she repeated out loud. "Was that what I saw?"
"There you are," a voice exclaimed loudly, making her sit up with a startled gasp.
Dennis came trotting into the room, looking winded. "I've been looking all over for you," he said, panting a little. "I forgot how huge this place is. A guy could get lost if he's not careful."
For a moment she felt annoyed, having her thoughts interrupted like that, but then Alyssa found herself standing up and bringing the book over to him. She felt the need to share what she had found, even if it was with Dennis, who probably wouldn't understand a word of it.
"What do you make of this?" she asked, holding the portion she had just read out to him.
Dennis squinted at the page, his hand absently tousling his own shaggy hair as he read the strange passage.
"What's an Entity?" he asked, confused.
"I'm not really sure," Alyssa sighed. She turned and walked back to the desk, still staring at the words as she set the book down. "Only..."
Only I know now that it wasn't just a dream.
"Is there something going on?" asked Dennis, interrupting her thoughts again.
Instead of answering, Alyssa turned to him with her hands on her hips. "Just what are you still doing here, anyway? I don't remember saying you could stick around."
"You didn't tell me to go, either," said Dennis, grinning impishly at her.
"Well, I am now. I need to find my mother."
Alyssa started to step around him, but Dennis quickly hopped in her path, blocking the doorway. "But your mother's off somewhere in her car," he objected, frowning. "I saw her drive off this morning."
"I know, but..."
Alyssa turned away, her hands clasped over her heart. "I can't explain how I know, but she's somewhere nearby. She's waiting for me to find her."
"Well, let's look for her together, then," Dennis offered. "It's not like I have anything to do at home, now that Linda's gone."
Alyssa nodded absently, understanding. Linda was Dennis' older sister, and a nurse who often went abroad to do relief work. "Where is she now?"
Dennis shuffled his foot across the rug as he replied, looking glum. "Somewhere in Africa. She's not due back for another six months."
He quickly turned around again, smiling despite the sadness in his eyes. "So, that means I'm available for any errand you might need—including searching for missing mothers."
Alyssa couldn't help smiling at his eagerness. She really didn't feel she needed any help, but she didn't have the heart to send him away. He was trying hard to look cheerful, but she could tell he was lonely with his only family member so far away. A loneliness she herself knew all too well.
"Okay," she agreed. "You go search upstairs while I finish checking around here."
Dennis nodded and started for the door, then turned around with another grin. Alyssa eyed him warily, wondering what he was up to now.
"You know," the rust-haired teen began slowly, "there's a special day coming up soon, isn't there?"
"Special?" Alyssa repeated, feeling puzzled.
"Of course its special," exclaimed Dennis. "It's your birthday, after all. You turn fifteen tomorrow, don't you?"
Alyssa glanced sheepishly at her shoes; she had completely forgotten. Dennis grinned and puffed out his chest, looking pleased with himself. "See? Even after all this time, I still remembered."
"Next you'll be telling me you've gotten me a present," said Alyssa slyly.
Dennis shrugged, undaunted. "You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"
Alyssa shook her head, amused. "Right. Now get upstairs, Mr. Helpful."
Saluting, Dennis hurried out of the study. Alone again, Alyssa turned her attention back to her grandfather's desk.
Aside from the mysterious book about Entities, there didn't seem to be anything important. Sitting down on the chair again, Alyssa began checking the drawers, but she didn't find anything until she tried the top drawer on the right side of the desk.
Unlike the rest of the drawers, it was locked tight. Frowning, Alyssa began sifting through the books and papers again, searching for any sign of a key.
Instead, she uncovered a small slip of paper written in red ink. The short message looked hastily scrawled, but the handwriting was unmistakably her mother's.
'The keys to unlock time are behind him.'
Alyssa made a face at the cryptic message. Great, she thought. Another mystery.
She looked up from the desk and slowly scanned the room, wondering what sort of keys she was supposed to find, or who the 'him' they were hiding behind was.
To her right was a narrow space of wall decorated with a variety of old masks. Alyssa had never taken a close look at them before; they had been rather frightening to her as a child. Now they just seemed like harmless bits of wood and paper, and she got up to take a closer look.
She had no idea how old they were, or where any of them had come from, but she wasn't really concerned with their history. What caught her attention was the blank space in the middle of the wall, particularly the empty hook that was hanging amidst the rows of masks. Alyssa gave it a curious tug and was surprised when it jiggled up and down, like a switch.
Alyssa tugged it again and could swear she heard some kind of clunking sound deep within the wall. Pressing her ear against the paper, she wiggled the hook around again; yes, there was definitely something moving around in there. She experimentally moved the hook into different positions, but it didn't have any visible affects. Disappointed, she gave up and continued her search.
She checked along the underside of the table and chairs and peeked inside various books, but she didn't find anything that looked like a key. Growing frustrated, she went over and gazed up at her grandfather's portrait again. She gazed at the kind eyes again, the warm smile—and then it hit her.
"You're the only him I see in here," Alyssa murmured as she gripped the side of the picture frame.
She carefully lifted the frame away from the wall and slid her hand along behind it. After feeling blindly for a moment, her fingers slid into what felt like a square hole cut out of the wall. Her hand closed around something cold and hard, and she quickly cupped the object in her palm and pulled it out where she could see it.
It wasn't one object, but two, one colored silver and the other gold. They were both shaped like keys, but instead of being covered in teeth, their ends were short, flat and stubby. Alyssa studied them in puzzlement for several moments before realizing that they were winding keys, the kind used to wind a clock.
She glanced around, but there wasn't a clock of any kind in the study, so she pocketed the keys and, after taking one last look around, went back out into the hallway. As she started for the entryway again, she tried to remember all the different clocks that were sitting around the house, but something caught her eye that made her pause.
The door at the other end of the hall, which had been closed earlier, was open a crack. She didn't think much of it, since Dennis had probably opened every door on the ground floor while he was looking for her, but instead of going over and closing it tight again, curiosity made her peek through the crack at the next hall.
Throughout her childhood, there were parts of the house she rarely saw. They were used by the lodgers, and she was often told that, even though they lived in the same house, she wasn't to bother them or their private space. But no one was around now, and the blanket of silence in the air hung particularly heavy as she stepped through the doorway and started down the dim, narrow hall.
The walls were covered in cream paper, with oak paneling near the floor. There were small pictures hanging here and there, most of them with round or oval frames. Alyssa wasn't sure if any of them were new or if they had all been around since her mother first started taking boarders; her memories of this portion of the house were fuzzy at best.
Aside from the pictures, there were small tables with vases filled with dried flowers and plants, all evenly spaced between the rows of doors. Each closed door led into a lodger's room, and while she was curious to explore further, Alyssa knew she had more important things to do and started back the way she came.
As she neared the front of the hall again, she noticed that a door to her left was open. It was only by a hair, so small she hadn't noticed it before, but from this angle she could see that a small light was shining inside the room. Knowing that Dennis wouldn't have gone so far as to light a lamp, Alyssa pushed the door open and peered inside.
The light source came from a small lamp sitting on a bedside table. Lying next to the lamp was a pile of newspaper clippings. As she continued to scan the room, Alyssa realized that there were also clippings on the bedspread, and more were scattered across the gray carpet. It looked like someone had gone through them all recently, but it was impossible to tell exactly how long ago someone had dumped them around and left the lamp still burning.
Remembering her manners—not to mention her search for the clock the winding keys went to—Alyssa was about to close the door and continue on, but then a headline from a clipping that was lying about a foot from the doorway made her pause.
'Body of Missing Girl Finally Found'.
The words gave Alyssa a little chill, but found herself kneeling down and reading further, strangely compelled to learn who the girl was and what had happened to her.
'The search for Jennifer Simpson, age 15, has come to an end. Her body was found beneath the rubble of Barrows Castle, which most likely collapsed during an earthquake. The ancient structure, considered by many across England to be a treasured relic from a bygone era, was deemed unsafe several years ago and hadn't seen any visitors since. Simpson was part of a group from Norway, though it is unclear why they entered Barrows Castle despite the danger. While some of the bodies have still not been found, the authorities have deemed the case a tragic accident. No further investigation is planned.'
The article was dated late 1997. As she set the clipping back where she found it, Alyssa noticed that most of the articles scattered next to the bed were also from that year, with a few from the year before. As her eyes scanned the papers, the bold-faced headings seemed to stand out sharply in the soft light. Her search faded from her mind and was forgotten as she continued to read, and she noticed that the dates marked on the clippings were close together, as if the person who had collected them had tracked the articles across a year's time with great care. She also noticed that the further back she read, the stranger the headlines became.
'Bizarre String of Murders Still Unsolved...Local University Takes On Elaborate Psychological Study...Brutal Killings Continue, Authorities Fear that 'Scissorman' Has Returned...'
Alyssa read article after article, each more disturbing than the last. Nearly all of them had a mention of a mysterious wave of murders that had rocked a small town in Norway, and she didn't see a single one that didn't include a mention of the girl from the first article, Jennifer Simpson.
As she continued to sift through the pile, Alyssa came across another article about her, only this one included a picture. It was printed in black and white, but it clearly showed a girl around Alyssa's age, with light skin and long black hair. She wasn't looking directly at the camera, and something in her downcast eyes made her seem pensive. Despite the lack of a smile, she was obviously very pretty.
Beneath the picture was a caption that read, 'Lone Survivor of Scissorman Murder Case'. The article on the clipping was brief and mentioned that Jennifer was the only survivor of a group of orphans who had apparently been lured to Barrows Mansion in Romsdaaren, Norway, under the guise of being adopted. The article also mentioned that a young boy had also escaped the brutal killings, and had been taken in by Granite Orphanage. The date written on the upper hand corner indicated that the article had been printed late 1996.
Alyssa set the scrap of paper down with a shiver. She didn't bother to look at the clippings that littered the bed; she was pretty sure they were more of the same, and she didn't want to read about unsolved murder cases anymore. She had her own mystery to solve, and she silently scolded herself for wasting time, and for snooping in someone else's room.
As she stood up and stretched her stiff legs, she heard a footstep in the hall, followed by the creak of the door behind her opening wider. Thinking it was Dennis, Alyssa turned around to ask him if he had found anything.
Only it wasn't Dennis. It was Edward, and he was looking at her with a stern frown.
"What are you doing in my room?"