Author Note: ...sadly, the succubus continues...

Chapter 40– Clues and More Clues

After getting tired of watching Kelso struggling to find succubus in the encyclopedia, Eric snatched the book from those grubby fingers and easily turned to the page. He turned the open-faced book around and let Kelso read it.

After several seconds, Kelso's eyes grew big and he gasped in astonishment as only a Kelso could do. "Uh! Gross! I knew it was bad!´ He looked at Fez. "A succubus is a female demon that appears in dreams and takes human form to seduce men and through repeated intercourse which results in the deterioration of the man's health or even death."

Fez gasped. "I would like to die that way."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "I am not a demon."

Kelso protested, "I have had sexual intercourse and you woman are a succubus."

Hyde shook his head sadly. "Okay, we all know that Kelso likes his bus sucked – can we move on? Remember the dream we are all had that included Fleetwood Mac?"

"Ugh – you guys are disgusting." Jackie frowned. Eric squeezed her hand and smiled, "Yeah, most guys are but Kelso excels at it."

"For the record, Jackie Burkhart is not a succubus okay? Let's get on with it." Hyde said exasperated.

"Thank you Hyde." Eric said.

Jackie echoed the sentiment. "Yeah, thank you."

Hyde grabbed a chip and settled into his chair. "I'll go first. Let me begin by saying that Fleetwood Mac was definitely NOT playing anywhere in the Point Place area last January. There were no wannabe Stevie Nick's dancing around in a tour bus. This is what I remember."

The recollection of that fated January weekend was shared as if the group were in one big circle time.

Hyde:

Kelso came into Grooves and told me about a carnival

Eric:

Yeah! It was supposed to be out by Mount Hump!

Kelso:

Oh I remember! Leo wanted corn dogs and….and he knew some dwarves.

Jackie:

Eric rode the roller coaster with me.

Eric:

I caught the purple balloon.

Jackie/Eric:

It's my (your) favorite color!

Hyde:

Leo's cousin Eli was there – the dude that gave us the film

Eric:

Oh! And his other cousin was there – the two perfect inches to the left artist!

The memory circle time fell into a void. It seemed like everyone had a piece of something from that day but not the complete picture because each of the basement gang experienced something from a different perspective. The momentum they had started stalled out just like the Vista Cruiser on a really really cold day.

Kelso sighed and reached for the bag of chips. He pulled out a ruffled piece of fried potato chip and stuck it in the bean dip. He sighed, "Man I wish we had some of that special green butter and weed tea."

The room was instantly silent like a vacuum had sucked out all of the sound. Five friends sat staring, open mouthed and astonished. This was something they all actually remembered! They were all sitting on the floor or an old Airstream Trailer drinking nasty tea and eating crackers.

Suddenly, a loud crash from the floor above startled the basement gang and they were jolted back into the present. Hyde looked at Eric, "Did you lock the doors?"

"Dude, you guys came in after me. Did YOU lock the doors?"

Kelso stood on the loveseat trying to keep his balance. "Fez was the last one in." He leapt over the back of the small sofa. "Me and Hyde will go up the back steps." Kelso instructed, "Eric, you and Fez check the kitchen."

Eric wanted to protest but this was his parent's house and if there was anyone upstairs….well, he could always push Fez into the burglars and Jackie could call the police. No, that was a stupid idea. "We will all go upstairs – there's safety in numbers. Just in case, Jackie stays down here and calls the police."

Hyde lifted a brow. "Dude….we have smoke down here…do you really want to call the cops?"

Kelso sighed. "You're right. Everybody grab some a weapon." He looked around at the possible objects that could inflect pain. The stupid helmet, the Candy Land game, the lawn chair….oh, that heavy box of detergent! Instead of Kelso's original ideas, Eric picked up the cushioned stool, Hyde grabbed a crate that held some albums and Jackie was wielding the lava lamp. Okay – that worked too!

xXx

By the time the group got their act together and finally upstairs, the uninvited guest(s) must have departed. The glass kitchen doors were wide open but nothing seemed to be missing. Hyde looked at Eric and shrugged, "I think I'll just have a cold one while you and Scooby Doo check the rest of the house."

Kelso looked at Fez, "If you're Scooby Doo then Hyde must be Shaggy." He sniggered, "I would be Freddy and of course because Jackie is hot she has to be Daphne."

Eric frowned. "Hey wait a sec….that….that makes me Velma?"

Jackie grinned and put her hand on his arm. "Come on Velma; you and me can check out the living room." She smiled while gently tugging Eric's arm. Eric didn't protest – this actually worked out to his advantage.

"Yeah, thanks Hyde." Eric smirked as the kitchen door closed behind him.

xXx

The living room seemed unusually quiet. Jackie looked around in the darkening room and while nothing seemed to be disturbed it was slightly eerie. She still held onto Eric's arm as he reached out and turned on a lamp.

They both gasped.

The large wrought iron bird cage had been toppled to the floor and the door was open. Eric hissed under his breath. The Anderson's cat must have got in! Red was really going to be pissed off. He fell to his knees to see if Marco was okay while Jackie moved the curtain from the cage.

All that was left of the bird was the silk sling Kitty had made for Marco, some spilled seed and a bright turquoise feather that reminded him of some curtains he'd seen on an old silver trailer.

"Oh no." Jackie gasped. "Your mom is going to be upset. She loves that bird." She slid an arm around Eric's shoulder and sat next to him on the floor. "Do you think someone stole him?"

Eric twirled the bright feather between his fingers. "Nope. Either someone let him out or he was healed enough to fly away."

Jackie lifted a delicate brow. "A caged bird could actually open the little gate; fly through the kitchen door and escape? He loved it here. No, I think someone came in and took hm."

Biting his bottom lip, Eric couldn't help but thinking that Marco's escape was planned or the bird had help – but whom? "You know what Jackie? Let's worry about this later - we need to get back to those encyclopedias and get our memories back.

xXx

The tiny pipe made its way around the circle once more. Everyone but Fez was mourning the disappearance of Marco – having never met the bird, Fez didn't really care. He did, however, enjoy the whole bowl of chocolate covered raisins. Hyde took a really long toke, held it in and exhaled slowly. "Okay, so what we do know is that Stevie Nicks could be Tootsie or Tatiana-somebody. Agreed?"

There was a murmur of acknowledgment among the group. Eric picked up the "T" encyclopedia and opened it to the name Tatiana. He cleared his throat and read from the page, "Tatiana is the heroine in Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin based on the Pushin story."

Kelso shook his head, "Nope. Tatiana is the cool chick from that Bond flick – you know the one where Miss Moneypenny wore that really pointy bra…I mean c'mon you could see those headlights in the middle of the day!"

Hyde shook his head as if to clear it, "What?"

Kelso continued. "Look Bond is searching for some Russian machine and his love interest is this awesome blonde – er, Tatiana Romanova….cool name by the way, and there's this ex-KGB agent who is I think is really a dude in women's clothing and she has this totally cool poison-tipped shoe…." He shook his head in wonderment, "That is WAY better than a firecracker suit."

Scratching his sideburns, Hyde exhaled, "Huh. I don't remember paying that much attention to a Sean Connery movie but if there are pointy ta-ta's and poison- tipped shoes….might be worth a second look but wait….that's not even close to all of us seeing Fleetwood Mac."

Fez, threw a couple of raisins in his mouth. "It's the daughter of Princess Diane Von Fürstenberg. She married Prince Egon and they named their girl after a perfume or named a perfume after their daughter. I know this because my GIRLFRIEND, Selena, wears this wonderful scent."

Eric threw his hands in the air. "We have a name, sort of and Leo's cousins but what about that letter Leo left you?"

Hyde had an Aha moment. "I almost forgot about that." He reached in his back pants pocket for his wallet and pulled out a piece of Christmas wrapping paper. "Only Eric has seen this, but I think it's important that we all know what happening."

Fez's eyes lit up at the wrinkled paper decorated with candy canes. "I love Christmas. Was there something yummy in it?"

Kelso smirked, "Yeah….your girlfriend."

Hyde reached across the spool and frogged Kelso in the bicep. "Stop being tool and get serious." He flattened out the wrapping paper and read the scrawled writing to the group;

Hyde –

I'm going home again. Found my son and I'm hooking up with Theo, Eli and Toots. Life is like a carnival man; you ride the roller coaster and hope you don't throw up.

Until our paths cross again man….be cool

Leo

Jackie looked at the group. "Okay, so now who is Leo's son? Did we meet him ever? I'm asking because Leo gave Steven the El Camino since he didn't want to sell it to Michael."

Hyde laughed, "Yeah, he was going to give it to his son on his 16th birthday but his old lady split so….I was the son he never had." He chuckled while Kelso gave him a dirty look.

"I had the money." Kelso protested.

"Jackie had the money and you were her little slave boy."

Eric broke up the argument, "C'mon guys. We have a confirmed carnival, Leo's cousins and Tootsie. Plus I think Leo is going to meet us again. Why else would he say until our paths cross? Remember when I went on my road trip with the camera? I found Leo after I got a flat tire. He just pops up like a whack-a-mole!"

The group laughed. "Hey man, we are being way too serious." Hyde sprinkled some more weed into the bowl of his pipe. "The Forman's are coming back in a couple days – let's smoke one for Marco."

With the exception of Fez, the group gave a resounding, "For Marco!"

•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*• •*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*• •*¨*•.¸¸

A/N: …..no disrespect to the Bond movie actress Lotte Lenya (1898 – 1891) but she was a handsome woman….or as Austin Powers would have said, "That ain't no woman! It's a man, baby!