Chapter 3

Tim looked back into the closet and then gasped.

"Lieutenant Mason!" he said in surprise.

Distracted from the raven, Ellie looked as well. On the floor in the closet was Lt. Mason, looking worse for the wear. He had a deep gash on his head, torn clothes and bruises.

"Call 911," Tim ordered. "And then call Gibbs."

Ellie nodded and put her gun away, pulling out her phone.

Tim knelt down in the closet and started checking on Lt. Mason.

"He's alive?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, but his breathing is irregular. I don't know how much blood he's lost. He seems to be unconscious, but he's alive."

Ellie nodded and relayed the information to 911, reporting on the injuries and the need for an ambulance while Tim started working on stopping the bleeding. Then, she hesitated for a moment before calling Gibbs. She still found him to be intimidating and he always seemed so irritated on the phone. Still, this was important. So she dialed.

"Gibbs, we found Lt. Mason in a closet in the house. He's injured and unconscious, but..."

Suddenly, she broke off as Lt. Mason gave lie to her words. He surged upward and started attacking Tim who was taken completely by surprise as Lt. Mason lunged at him, screaming inarticulately.

"Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" he screamed. "Don't touch me!"

Tim didn't get a chance to answer. Lt. Mason scratched at him and then threw Tim hard against the closet door. He fell to the floor, unconscious and bleeding from a gash on his head and scratches on his neck. Ellie pulled out her gun.

"Stay where you are, Lt. Mason," she said. "Stand down!"

He looked like an animal as he prowled around in front of her.

"We're trying to help you, Lieutenant," Ellie said. "Why did you attack Agent McGee?"

"Leave me alone," he whispered, sounding somehow more menacing than when he'd been screaming before. "Leave me alone."

"I can't do that," Ellie said.

"Not you," Lt. Mason said. "Them."

"Who?"

"Behind you," he said and then grinned with insanity blazing out of his eyes.

Ellie wanted to look behind her, but she knew that there was a wall behind her, not a door. That was where the broken mirror was. No one could be back there. She was afraid, but she stood her ground as best she could.

"Stand down, Lieutenant," she said again.

"Lieutenant Mason is gone," he said. "You'll have to deal with me."

"And who are you?"

"I am the Raven," he said.

And then, he leapt at her, growling. Ellie fired and hit him in the arm. He hit the floor, holding his arm and groaning in pain.

Ellie stepped backward as he looked at her again.

And then, before she could decide what to do, suddenly the raven began cawing loudly and dove at the man with its talons, forcing him backward as he started screaming again.

"Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" he screamed.

Then, the door behind them burst open, revealing Gibbs and Tony, both with their weapons drawn. The raven seemed to panic and began flying around the room much as it had the day before and the room was full of chaos with Lt. Mason screaming bloody murder, the raven cawing and then Gibbs and Tony wrestling Lt. Mason to the ground and putting him in handcuffs. Lt. Mason began jerking around, screaming.

"Let me go! They're going to get me!"

Then, he passed out and everyone was standing there, more than a little shocked. Gibbs and Tony started working on stopping the bleeding on his arm. Then, Ellie looked over and saw Tim still unconscious on the floor. She put her gun away and ran over to him and rolled him over. His head wound was bleeding profusely as head wounds tended to do. The scratches on his

"Tim? Can you hear me?" She looked at Gibbs in concern. "That's a deep gash, Gibbs."

Ellie began pressing on the wound to stop the bleeding, hoping that there was no permanent damage.

"What happened?" Tony asked.

"He was out and Tim was trying to take care of him, but he just went nuts," Ellie said. "It was like he was seeing things... delusional. I don't know. The raven fended him off."

"What raven?" Tony asked.

"How could you–?" Ellie began, but then, Lt. Mason woke up again and started thrashing. Ellie moved in front of Tim as Tony and Gibbs restrained him until he suddenly passed out again.

"Man, what is wrong with this guy?" Tony asked.

"I have no idea," Ellie said.

"Whas...happening?" Tim mumbled.

Ellie turned back to Tim and saw his eyes open slightly. She smiled with relief.

"Everything's okay, Tim."

"Okay..." His eyes closed again.

The EMTs arrived. One set went to Lt. Mason while the other set joined Ellie with Tim.

"What's his name?"

"Tim McGee."

"All right. Any injuries you know of beyond the head and neck?"

"No," Ellie said, shaking her head. "Lt. Mason scratched him on the neck and then threw him against the door. He caught the corner of it really hard. He woke up once but..."

The raven had settled back by the broken mirror, but it was very calm at the moment. Ellie wanted to say something about why it was still there rather than flying out of the room, but she tried to focus on Tim. Things did seem rather strange, though. It was probably because of the adrenaline rush.

Lt. Mason was strapped to a board and then carried out of the room. He seemed unconscious still.

Tim began to stir as the EMTs were putting gauze on his head and neck. He started mumbling incoherently.

"What was that, Agent McGee?"

"...-enore... raven... Pallas..."

"What is he saying?" Ellie asked.

"I'm not sure. He's pretty out of it. We'll just get him to the hospital and do a scan, make sure everything is okay."

Ellie nodded.

"Bishop, you go with him," Gibbs said. "We'll talk with Maggie L'Orange, coordinate with Metro. Start back again tomorrow."

"Okay."

Ellie followed the EMTs to the ambulance. Tim was still mumbling without seeming to recognize anyone.

"Will he be all right?"

"We'll know more once the doctors have been able to check him out, but head injuries can leave people not thinking clearly."

Ellie nodded and watched them load Tim into the ambulance. Then, she got in the car and followed them to the hospital. Tim was checked in, evaluated by the ER staff and then scheduled for an MRI and moved into a room. Somewhere in all of that, he'd fallen unconscious again.

Ellie settled down in a chair, ready to wait it out, hoping that Tim would be fine. She looked out the window and was surprised to see a raven (the same one?) there on the window sill. She stood up and stared at it. It began pacing back and forth, looking at her all the while.

She took a step toward the window and the raven flew away, cawing.

"I don't like that," she whispered.

She kept staring at the window for about ten minutes but the raven didn't return. Finally, she sat back down in the chair and waited for Tim to wake up or a doctor to come by.

Tim woke up off and on for the next few hours, but he still was more than a little loopy and he was asleep more often than he was awake. Ellie had decided to stay with him for the night and so, even when Abby came, she didn't get to settle in, much to her annoyance.

Tony and Gibbs checked in as well and relayed the fact that Maggie L'Orange had seen Lt. Mason seemingly yelling at the mirror and she was sure she hadn't seen anyone else there. She had thought it was really weird but she had looked away and then back and he'd been gone. She'd had no intention of going into the house and she had decided not to say anything until she'd got in trouble for breaking her curfew. Lt. Mason was in the secure wing of the hospital, but they didn't yet know what had caused his delusional behavior.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Now, it was late in the evening and Ellie was sitting in the room, worrying. She was afraid that there was something still going wrong. She was feeling fidgety and the raven kept coming back and sitting outside the window, looking at her. The problem was that every time she moved, it flew away so it wasn't like she could point it out to anyone, but why was it still there? Why wouldn't it leave them alone? And why had it defended her from Lt. Mason?

Suddenly, Tim woke up again and sat up, looking around.

"Tim! You're awake!"

Tim looked at her and there was something wrong with his eyes. She couldn't have explained it if anyone had asked her, but it was genuinely off.

"The raven," he said.

"Yeah, it's been outside the window, but it's not doing anything."

Tim got out of bed and walked to the window. For a while, he just stood motionless, facing the window. Ellie stood up, unsure of what to do. Tim was acting very strangely and she wondered if she should get someone.

"It's calling."

"I don't hear it."

"Listen!"

Tim grabbed her arm tightly and pulled her over beside him. Ellie listened. She didn't hear anything at first, but then, the raven was back again and it started cawing.

"We have to go," Tim said.

"Go where?"

"The raven will show us."

Tim let her go abruptly and walked back to the bed. He put on his clothes and then walked back to her.

"Let's go."

Ellie looked back at the window. The raven was still there. She needed to know what was going on. She nodded and the two of them left the room.

When they got out of the hospital, Tim looked up and pointed into the sky.

"There it is!"

Ellie didn't see anything, but she trusted that Tim did.

"Do you have a car here?" Tim asked.

"Yeah."

"Good. You drive. I'll watch for the raven. It will lead us where we need to go."

"Okay."

They walked to the car and got in. Ellie started driving. Tim still didn't seem quite right, but everything about this was weird anyway. For the first few minutes, Tim just told her when to turn. He was looking out the window and apparently taking directions. Then, he started mumbling to himself. Ellie realized that they were going back to the house again.

"Tim... why are we headed to the crime scene?"

"That's where the raven wants to go. We have to follow it. It won't ever leave us alone until we do. It's trying to communicate with us."

"Why?"

"It has the answers."

"What are the questions?"

Tim didn't answer because they got to the house. As soon as Ellie stopped the car, Tim got out and walked quickly into the house, ducking under the crime scene tape. Ellie hesitated and then followed him in.

"Tim, what are we doing here?" she asked, softly.

The house was completely dark and empty and even beyond that, it wasn't really the safest place. Tim didn't let that stop him. He walked through the house and then up the stairs. He tripped on the steps more than once, but he kept moving until they got back to the room where they'd found Lt. Mason.

Ellie took a deep breath and thought she smelled something strange beyond the general mustiness. She hadn't noticed it before.

"Tim, what's going on?"

Tim turned back to her, but before he could say anything, the raven flew back into the room, cawing loudly. It settled by the broken mirror.

"Can you hear it?" Tim asked. "Can you hear what it's saying?"

"No."

"Nevermore."

"What?"

"It's always here," Tim said. He turned back to Ellie and he had the same strange look in his eyes. "It's always been here and it will be here forever."

"But why?"

"Because of loss."

Then, Tim grabbed Ellie's arms. His eyes strange and expression even stranger.

"Lost Lenore."

"That's just a poem, Tim."

"No, it's real! The raven is here! It's real!" Tim said, his voice getting louder.

"Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" the raven cawed.

"Tim, snap out of it!" Ellie said. "What's wrong with you?"

She was actually a little afraid.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Gibbs was working on his boat, thinking about how odd this case had turned out. They had no idea if any crime had actually taken place at this point. Lt. Mason had reappeared. From where? No one knew yet. He was violent, but that wasn't his normal demeanor according to his unit. Why had he changed?

He was about to shut it down for the night when his phone rang.

"Gibbs," he said, tersely.

"Hello, Agent Gibbs. This is Dr. Moritz."

"You have a diagnosis on Lt. Mason?"

"Yes, but we also have a problem. Agent McGee has gone missing and it's possibly related to Lt. Mason."

"Why?"

"Lt. Mason was found to have been poisoned by ergot alkaloids. The poisoning was severe enough to have caused his delusions."

"Why would that be related to McGee?"

"Because ergot alkaloids are produced by a fungus. They're similar to a component of LSD and can produce hallucinations and psychosis. So Lt. Mason was in a place with enough of that fungus that he ingested large quantities of it."

And Gibbs got it.

"How long has Agent McGee been missing?"

"We just discovered it ten minutes ago. We've been conducting a search of the hospital, but security just informed me that he left in the company of the other agent who was staying here. If he also ingested a significant amount of the alkaloids, he could be delusional as well."

Both Tim and Ellie had been in the house more than anyone else had and it was possible that both of them were experiencing it if Dr. Moritz was correct. Tim's head injury might also have exacerbated any problems he might be having. It made sense, unfortunately.

"We'll start looking for them. What's the treatment?"

"To stop ingesting the alkaloids. It will take time for the body to get rid of them, but other than that, it's supportive care for any symptoms and it will clear up on its own, given time."

Gibbs thanked Dr. Moritz and hung up. So they had to find Tim and Ellie and just make sure that they were being watched over. Hopefully, it would be that simple. He quickly called Ellie. Her phone rang multiple times and went to voice mail. Gibbs called again.

The phone connected, but all he heard was a cawing sound, like a raven and then, strangely, what sounded like talking.

"Leave me alone! Leave me alone!"

Who was that?

"Bishop! Where are you?"

Then, there was that strange voice again. "Leave me alone! Leave me alone!"

The phone disconnected.

Gibbs quickly made a decision. He dialed another number.

"Abby, I need you to trace a phone for me. Yes, I know it's late."