Codes of Arcana

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Ciaran punched the call button on the intercom in his office. A short moment later, Tadgh and Madeline appeared at the door. Ciaran looked at Madeline. His views about her had changed. Much more than the woman he loved, in front of him stood a world of secrets that he had to explore.

Madeline c****d an eyebrow at Jo, who was sitting comfortably with a laptop on a reading chair. “I tried to drug him, but he figured it out,” Jo said in response to Madeline’s look.

Ciaran smiled and gestured to the table and chair in the far corner where they could sit. Tadgh frowned.

“Are you okay to be up and about? I’ll call Doctor Thomas, Ciaran.”

“You can pull a better threat than that, Tadgh. Coffee anyone?”

“I’ll have one, please,” Madeline said.

Ciaran went to the coffee machine. “I told Jo about what happened at the cemetery. We need to decipher a few puzzles before we can plan any strategies to deal with the problem at hand. What’s a Sciphil, and what does being a successor mean?” Ciaran sat down on the sofa with a tray of coffee for everyone.

He served Madeline her coffee, resting his gaze on her face for a brief moment before continuing. “Jo heard of the term Sciphil way before us.”

“A couple of months ago, my friend, Zach, asked me if I knew what a Sciphil was. He never told me where he came across the word. He asked me because he thought it had to do with hologame technology. He’s a player, not a designer, and he didn’t know the technical aspects of the game. I didn’t have an answer for Zach and really didn’t think much about it.”

“Maybe I should talk to him,” Ciaran said.

“I don’t think that’s necessary. If he knew, he wouldn’t have asked Jo,” Madeline said.

Ciaran noticed Madeline shift in her chair. She looked uncomfortable with the idea. “I just want to know how he came across the concept. But first things first, we should be safe from Sciphils if we stay inside Mon Ciel. My father designed its shield to protect us,” Ciaran said.

“Is that the same shield you used to put Mon Ciel on lockdown before?” Madeline asked.

Ciaran shook his head. “No. That was an emergency lockdown. Mon Ciel’s energy lock is permanent. To put it simply, it locks anything carrying extraterrestrial energy out of this place.”

Tadgh grabbed his coffee and dropped two sugar cubes in it. When he reached for a third, Ciaran smacked his hand away. Tadgh grumbled some profanity and withdrew. “All Father told me was that if we had any problems, we should just stay inside Mon Ciel.” Tadgh sipped his coffee. “Like sheep.”

"I’ve seen Ayana before. I remember her,” Ciaran said.

“The woman at the cemetery?” Madeline asked.

Ciaran nodded. “Father and Mother took me outside Mon Ciel's fence to see Ayana and a man. I was only two or thereabouts because Mother had just had Tadgh. The man said something to me that I didn't quite understand. But then he gave me a golden toy and asked if I liked it. I must have said yes and taken the toy because I thought it would look nice dangling on his cot.” Ciaran shot a glance at Tadgh.

“Is that what the woman meant by you have agreed to be a bloody successor? If that’s the case, it hardly qualifies as a consent,” Tadgh exclaimed and snatched a cube of sugar, popping it in his mouth before Ciaran could stop him.

Ciaran shook his head at Tadgh. “Anyway, Father argued with the man, and Mother took me and ran inside. The man and Ayana tried to chase her, but they stopped just before the fence.”

“They couldn’t get through the shield!” Tadgh said.

Ciaran nodded. “We never talked about the incident again, and I soon forgot about it. I can ask Mother for more information.”

Tadgh shook his head. “I just got a voice message saying she’s fine. She has something to do and will get back to us when she’s done. I tried to return the call, but it didn’t work.”

Ciaran reached his hand out. “Give me your phone. I’ll trace the number.”

Tadgh shrugged and gave the cell phone to Ciaran. “It’s weird. She’s never done this before.”

Ciaran looked at the message, entered some codes, and stared at the small screen of the phone. “She didn’t use the standard telecommunication technology. These are frequency signals,” Ciaran muttered and pulled out his cell phone.

He retrieved the message Sciphil Two had sent to his cell phone last week then entered a string of code into his phone and looked up at everyone. “Sciphil Two used the same type of frequency.”

“We talked to Sciphil Two’s people in the basement at Mrs. Hanson’s place. We might have to go back there to get the equipment,” Jo said.

Ciaran nodded. “Yes. We have equipment here, but to get the right communication frequency, we’ll have to go back.” He stood up.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Tadgh asked. “What if Juliette comes back? Can you handle another round of tornado wrestling?”

“Can you handle one? Guns won’t work on whatever it is out there that’s using Juliette’s form,” Ciaran said.

Tadgh laughed. “You still don’t believe that that thing is Juliette?”

Ciaran sat down and leaned back in his chair. “Juliette is clinically dead. And it’s not a statement made out of sentiment, Tadgh. What we saw was a collective of energy, a simulated form based on Juliette’s psychological and biological profile when she was alive.”

“In layman’s terms, we call it a spirit. A ghost,” Madeline deadpanned and sipped her coffee.

“I know a ghost is not a viable scientific explanation, Ciaran. But a simulated profile in a hologame requires someone to design and control it. Apart from you being one of the very few people on this planet who can do that, to make it happen, the person has to have an intimate knowledge of Juliette’s profile. Unless . . .” Jo blinked her big green eyes, expecting Ciaran to understand and complete her sentence.

Ciaran nodded. “Unless Juliette’s brain is still alive, and she is creating the profile herself. Given her body is not where it is supposed to be, I’d say it’s a plausible explanation, Jo.”

Tadgh sneered. “I’d buy Madeline’s ghost’s theory before that!” He shook his head. “Regardless, I’ll go to Mrs. Hanson’s place to get the machine for you. Whatever Juliette is, she wants you, not me. And you stay here, too, Madeline. Richard wants you, and until we figure all this out, leaving Mon Ciel isn’t a good idea.”

Ciaran arched an eyebrow and chuckled to himself as he watched his brother take charge.

Jo stood up. “Let’s go,” she said. “You don’t know how to pack up a computer system properly—apart from pulling the plugs and stuffing the pieces into boxes. If the equipment is damaged, there’s no way we can communicate with the person or being that we need to talk to.”

Ciaran chuckled. Tadgh shrugged and turned on his heel. Madeline grabbed Jo’s shoulder. “Be careful, Jo.”

“Don’t worry, Madeline. I’m more capable than you think.” Jo smiled and followed Tadgh out.

When Tadgh and Jo had left, Madeline started to follow, but Ciaran grabbed her elbow, pulling her into his arms.

"They know their way out." He smiled.

"Do they?" Madeline played with Ciaran's hair. "How’s the pain?"

"Fine." He kissed the dimple on her left cheek. Then he moved to her lips. She didn’t let the kiss go deeper.

"Let me." Madeline unbuttoned the top of his shirt and examined the bandage that Doctor Thomas had secured to Ciaran's chest. Satisfied that the wound was not bleeding, she redid the buttons. Then she checked the big gash on his arm and the swollen tattoo of the golden crucifix.

“From this angle, the crucifix looks like a key,” Madeline said.

“From my angle, it looks like a cocktail spoon.” Ciaran grabbed her chin, lifting it up. "Why are you avoiding looking at me?"

"I'm not." She turned toward the window.

Ciaran turned her face back to him. There were tears in her eyes. He kissed her big brown eyes. “Ayana mentioned the consequence of not having a virtuous soul when accepting the successor role with your grandfather. I’m not questioning you. But I’m asking you to tell me honestly whether or not I should let you go through with the promise.”

She eased away from his hold. “It’s my promise . . .”

“No, it’s our promise. You’re an important part of my life now. You know all about me, so you don’t get to reveal only some information to me and withhold the rest. Why were you uncomfortable when Jo mentioned Zach? What happened in Australia ten years ago, Madeline?”

Tears gleamed in her eyes now. “I need time to think about this.”

He wiped the tears and kissed her. “An hour. I can’t bear any longer than that. I need to know.”

A loud bang echoed through the house. It didn’t shake the building, but they could feel the vibrations in the air. Ciaran darted to the window. From the sky, beams of light struck Mon Ciel but disintegrated and vanished into thin air.

“Whoever that is couldn’t penetrate the shield,” Ciaran muttered.

Amid the disintegrated beams of light, a gigantic image of Juliette appeared, glowing in a white and blue halo. She smiled at Ciaran. A flash of amusement crossed her face. She hit Mon Ciel again with the light beams then turned on her heel and moved away because her beams were unable to damage the premises.

“Tadgh!” Ciaran said and rushed toward the coffee table to grab his cell phone. He called Tadgh and heard only the endless sound of static from the other end of the line.