The Monarch Papers

5. No Constants-1

Chapter 5

No Constants

“It seems like in the past all the clues we needed were in front of us, it was just a matter of deciphering what was there.”

Ryvick

That night I dreamed of disembodied faces in the dark, screaming at me. No words, just a constant, raging howl that I couldn’t turn away from.

I woke the next morning in my web of tangled blankets and sweat-soaked sheets. I immediately checked to see how the Mountaineers were doing and learned some of those who’d helped perform the spell were suffering some adverse effects. Ricardo had a fever, OracleSage developed a splitting headache, while both Revenir and Furia came down with a rather nasty cold. It seemed that even a relatively mundane protection spell could have physical consequences. I could only hope that it all meant the Safeguard worked.

Deirdre was still posting to her blog, this time from Istanbul.

Deirdre: April 6th, 2017:Hey Mounties,

Still in Istanbul.

Lovely, yes, one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever visited (though I haven’t visited lots) but I am tired, in the throes of perpetual jetlag, and it turns out the Alhambra clue I thought I knew the answer to hasn’t led me anywhere. So I was wrong. And no new clues, no new passages. Just stuck. And even if I wanted to leave (I don’t, and won’t) the idea of getting on another plane right this very moment makes my stomach turn.

Feeling :emoji for frustrated and jetlagged girl who is stymied by the magical journal her dead father left her:

I went back and read the story I wrote to break the spell on me. The one where I said I was done with my father and was never looking back, blah, blah, blah…

Here I am, still chasing him. Still stuck, lonely, frustrated.

Am I ever going to be out of his shadow?

Am desperately trying to get used to the idea that you’ve all been here the entire time and I need to just go with it.

I need a nap.

The Mountaineers all knew that she was, rightfully, having a difficult time. And to their great credit, they offered their support and recommended ideas on how to find some of the answers she was looking for. After all, they knew a thing or two about unraveling mysteries. In the comments of her post, they followed up:

Leigha:Please get some rest and take care of yourself. And if there’s anything we can do to help, we’re here.

Deirdre:Very much appreciated. Still at a loss. Still in Instanbul. Does Topkapi mean anything to you, besides the actual palace? I’ve scoured the place and haven’t found anything, with the not-changing journal reinforcing the fact. I’m working on a bigger post (with all my free time) but the last clue in Alhambra led me to a pillar added in the 16th century, but no luck with the palace here. The clue that led me here reads “A line of lovers offer a sorrowful rest in Topkapi.”

Revenir:Hey Deirdre! We Mounties are looking into your clue. There’s a location in/near Topkapi called the Palace of Tears – a place where a Padishah’s harem would be exiled to when the Padishah passed away. It was said to be a sad and lonesome place, and the women were forbidden to leave it. Maybe you could look there?

Something must have clicked, because Deirdre soon responded with a post titled “Something’s Worked”:

Deirdre: April 12th, 2017:Not sure what. I spent the entire day looking into everything you guys recommended. The university, back to the palace, back to the museum there. There were a couple places/things that were definitely “sorrowful” including a painting with a harem and this chained-up monkey that was heartbreaking, but who knows . . . Regardless, #goteam

The journal now says “return to the line of silver, the line of the craftsmen. Where Archemedes’ cry shines brightest through its adoring cut.” The “line of silver” bit has to do with the two paths my dad found (will explain as soon as I can put a big post together, hopefully on a long flight to somewhere else, no offense Turkey) but the rest seems like the clue for the next leg. Any ideas? My brain is scrambled.

Cole: I got your messages. I was never able to get my phone working here. Write me?

I was glad to see her reach out to Cole. We all knew he was heartbroken, so it was good to know that some future mending between them was possible.

Mountaineer Nahemah replied to Deirdre with some of the thoughts that had been percolating on the forums.

Nahemah:We think that the “Archemedes’ cry” means the word “Eureka.” We also found that it may relate to either the Eureka Diamond (the first diamond found in South Africa which is on display at the Kimberley Mine Museum) or a painting about a sort of death ray Archimedes invented which is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. (I have personally been there and if it’s not the place you are supposed to go for the next leg, go there some other time nonetheless because it is awesome!) We do believe that the diamond is the most likely choice, however, but since we do not know how they relate to the first part of the clue, we decided to send you both options.

These are our findings so far, but if anything else comes up we shall tell you.

Have a safe journey.

The Mountaineers were certainly doing their best to help Deirdre on her quest, but their own progress toward the next fragment had stalled when Constance stopped responding to Revenir. I wondered if maybe the Safeguard spell had failed. On the other hand, if she really had given us the spell at her own personal risk, then this could mean she’d been found out. By whom, I didn’t know. Someone at Kemetic Solutions? The strange video narrator with the southern drawl who wanted to speak with Aether? One thing I knew, there were more players than we could see.

But the next day, Constance showed up on the forums. The spell had worked after all, I realized. The Mountaineers compiled a list of questions, which Constance did her best to answer:

M: Who are you?

C: Constance.

M: How did you get involved with the Low?

C: Aether found it. He was my best friend. It’s a long story but he can look into machines and technology, like send his mind out of his body. He was having a hard time and his parents put him on stuff for depression. When he took it he found out he could do that. He used to stay over and we’d screw with people at school, mess with their social, check their email . . . then he saw a bunch of sites online when he was looking for stuff about what was happening to him. It’s when he started finding people talking about magic and stuff. That’s how he found the Low. He showed it to me. I’ve always been obsessed with that sort of stuff. We kind of went crazy getting into it, finding a way in.

M: Do you know why the Low is so quiet?

C: Not really. There are sort of tiers of access. But a site I’m on started talking about “guidelines” and how talking about the Low to anyone who wasn’t already in could get you booted. And people were saying people were getting kicked out for talking, but also suddenly forgetting about the Low. Nobody wants to risk getting booted or their memory wiped. I don’t know.

M: Is there some kind of organization that controls the Low?

C: Not that I know of? I’m not sure, like I said.

M: Who is Aether and why is Kemetic Solutions interested in them?

C: He’s my best friend. Aether’s not his real name that’s just what he was called online. I don’t know who Kemetic Solutions is. There was a guy who was calling a while back before he “ran away” saying he knew what he could do and could help him. The guy kept saying he knew other people like him and wanted to meet him. Maybe that’s him.

M: How do you know Aether?

C: We’ve been friends since we were eight. So, nine years?

M: Why are you concerned about Aether/why do you need our help?

C: Everybody said he ran away or killed himself. I knew it wasn’t true. I’d been waiting to see something from him. But he found you guys. I don’t know what to do but I know I can’t really do anything by myself. I’m glad he told you guys to find me, but I don’t know why. I don’t have powers or anything.

M: How can we find Aether? If you don’t know, where were they last spotted?

C: His mom said she dropped him off at my house, but he never showed up. That was back in November.

M: What do you know about Kemetic Solutions?

C: Nothing.

M: Do you recognize the voice in the Kemetic Solutions video?

C: No.

M: Is there anything at all that you recognize in the video?

C: I’ve watched it a lot (lurking) and I see his mom’s truck at the beginning and the playground in the park behind our school. I see A’s feet in there for a second, his shoes. His purple hoodie. I think he was just trying to tell me he’s alive. I can’t do anything. You guys can though yeah?

As I read Constance’s answers, my constant chill disappeared, replaced by heated anger. It was Brandon Lachmann all over again. Another poor kid had gone missing.

I knew where he was. We all did: that damn, bland, godforsaken business park outside of Boston. I’d been so close. I realized Aether must have been behind the corruption on the photos I took during my visit. He’d been reaching out, desperate for help. If not for the Mountaineers, I would have never known. But I would be good and god damned before I’d stand by and let another kid get swallowed up by corporate malfeasance, magical or otherwise. We were going to have to bust him loose.

The Mountaineers were certainly up to the task, but no one was quite sure how to go about it. Constance had low-tier permissions to a few sites those in the Low frequented, including an online library. But she worried that if she started poking around and asking questions, she’d be locked out and we’d lose our only insider. She wanted to help—Aether was her friend, after all. But she was expecting us to provide her with the answers, not the other way around.

She did have something for us, however. Constance sent us to Aether’s own secured Tumblr blog with the password: “TheCommonDrumCalls.” A link on his blog led to a surprising discovery: Aether had co-opted the Mountaineers’ YouTube channel and scheduled a live video five days hence.

In the meantime, I decided to do some digging. I had a good feeling that the Lost Athenaeum was the Low library Constance was talking about. It was known for its rare book collection and was a research Mecca for anyone fortunate enough to be given access to its sizable archives. I reached out to a low-ranking contact in the Low, a woman I’d had occasional communication with for nearly fifteen years, but, as was becoming too common now, she didn’t respond.

My research into the Suffolk County high school system didn’t bear any fruit, either. There were no students named Constance (obviously our secretive friend was using an alias). I called a few police contacts—they, at least, answered my calls—but none had any records of missing kids matching Aether’s story.

More missing kids.

There’s something about the burn of whiskey at the back of your throat, the way its warmth vines its way along your limbs until the numbness blossoms beneath your skin and the terrors of this world seem just a little bit farther away. I remembered the terror I felt finding Brandon Lachmann. I remembered the barrels of bourbon it took to dull the jagged edges of those years following that day in the library with Sebastian.

Impatience, bad memories, and the agony of ignorance was waking that old beast in me. I needed to stay busy, stave it off. I found respite when Deirdre posted to her blog. She was on the move again and wanted to catch the Mountaineers up on where she was going, as well as how her journey had started.