The trip home was quiet, Katherine was pleased with the way the evening had gone. She leaned her head back against the headrest. She felt very safe and comfortable in Vincent's company. Which she found odd since she had only that morning distrusted everything he had said! Now they were both full and happy to be together in a comfortable silence. Both were lost in their thoughts. When they arrived at Katherine's home, they sat in the car for a moment then she looked over at him, "Thank you again, Vincent, for coming to my defense."
"My pleasure, Katherine."
She got out of the car before he could get to her, and he shook his head at her but said nothing as she threw a sly grin at him. He did take her keys from her as they got to the front porch. He opened the front door, and he stepped back to let her precede him. She flipped on the lamp by the couch and Vincent closed the door and locked it. "Keys go in that little basket," Katherine said.
He dropped the ring of keys into the basket and watched as Katherine headed to the room where the baby grand sat waiting. The dimly lit dining room lights were warm and restful and Vincent felt the aura of peacefulness descend over him. She switched on the dining room chandelier which threw a bright glittering halo of light around her and the piano. "I need to wash my hands, they still feel a little sticky. I'll head to the back bathroom if you'd like to make use of the half bath just down the hall."
Vincent nodded. "I would, thank you."
"I'll be right back," Katherine said, and she headed down to the back bathroom. Once she was in the bathroom she examined herself in the mirror. She looked like someone who had been enjoying herself. She washed her hands and dried them on the hand towel. It was something her music teacher in college had instilled in her. "Always come to your instrument with a clear head and clean hands!" She smiled and returned to the living room. She found Vincent standing beside the piano. He had opened the lid so the music would fill the room with sound. Mrs. Ellis was a little hard of hearing, so she would not hear the piano at all. Katherine pulled the bench out and prepared to sit down, "Anything you prefer?"
Vincent thought for a moment, "Erik Satie is one of my favorites." He said.
Katherine folded back the cover and exposed the silky black and white keys. As she sat there Vincent watched the transformation occur as Katherine Van Dermeer became someone else entirely. "Rather a melancholy composer," she replied, glancing up at Vincent.
"A moody Frenchman," Vincent responded.
"Aren't they all?" Katherine quipped glancing up at him. "I like him, and I think I remember Gnossienne Number One pretty well, okay?"
Vincent grinned. "That happens to be the very one I like best." He told her. He went into the living room and perched on the arm of her sofa.
She nodded and briefly positioned her hands over the keyboard and then she began to play. The haunting melody drifted over him. While she was playing, caught up in the music, he discreetly took his smartphone from his pants pocket and began a live video of her to Vanderau. She did not rush through the piece and as she played, an unmistakable aura formed around her. The video picked it up clearly! Vincent glanced up from his phone and saw the same thing that his device was recording!
A text came to his phone, and he felt it vibrate as it appeared on the screen. "Say only Rachmaninoff. See if she selects, 'Prelude in C Sharp Minor'."
When she came to an end she looked over at him with a pleased smile. "Brava!" Vincent exclaimed. "May I request another of you?"
"You may, but I might have to put out my tips jar!" She said with a bright laugh.
"Well, how about something by Rachmaninoff," Vincent suggested.
"Ouch!" Katherine declared. "Melancholy to dark and brooding!"
Vincent chuckled, "I promise, I will tip well, it's your choice."
She got up and went to the built-in China cabinet that housed sheet music in matching green binders. She ran her finger over the binder spines and pulled one down and opened it up. She had inherited all her mother's sheet music library when she had gotten the Steinway. Right on the top not placed in the sleeves like the other music, was one she had decided to master during her first days of breaking up with Taylor. Dark and broody! She took it and held it up. "Dark and stormy Sergei, I hope he's not listening!"
Vincent waited as she returned to the piano and seated herself once again with the music propped up, it was fan-folded, and she opened it fully across the music stand. As with the first piece she played, she briefly positioned her hands lightly on the keys then looked up at the music then the first heavy notes came. Deliberate and demanding then moved into an almost frantic chase back to a dark and measured finish like the passing of a rainstorm. Vincent had not even realized it was the exact piece Vanderau had mentioned. He knew Vanderau could hear, but he raised his phone to video her playing. Then the last notes drifted up and faded away. Vanderau was gone.
"I flubbed up a few times," Katherine said looking over the music again. "It's been a while since I banged out this particular piece."
Vincent slipped his phone back into his pocket and joined her at the piano. "You were spectacular, Katherine. Thank you."
She got up from the piano and folded up the music. This time she would put it away properly. She pointed to the green binders in her China cabinet, "All my mother's music is here, A to Z." She placed the music in the plastic sleeve, replaced the binder, and closed the doors. She gave him a sideways glance, "I'll collect my tip now."
Vincent looked confused and from the look she gave him, he was suddenly on guard. "How much will it cost me?"
"Not in money, Vincent," she replied. "But in information."
She turned the lights off in the dining room and they were cast in the warm lighting of her living room lamps. Vincent sat on the couch and Katherine took a seat on a swivel rocker across from him. "I will tell you what I can, Katherine."
"On the phone, you spoke to someone, I couldn't understand much of what was said, but one word did catch my interest. You said something about a 'gladio' and in the letter, you were referred to as a consul and Indago, what does all that mean?"
Vincent nodded. "Gladio is Latin for broadsword. What I was referring to was that you had agreed to come with me to Geneva and that you had also agreed to be tested to see if you were the next gladio or blade."
"Blade," Katherine repeated. "As in a weapon?"
"Not exactly a weapon in the truest sense of the word," Vincent said. "I can only tell you the Sept has found itself without a gladio or blade. I and others like me are called Indago, we serve the Sept, and we were tasked to go on a search to find the next gladio."
"Indago, what does that mean?" She asked. "Another Latin word?"
"Yes. Loose translation is 'Ring of Huntsmen' but we're more like investigators."
"A blade and a band of hunters – and you say I have a blood-thirsty imagination!" Katherine declared. "Just how did my name come up?" Katherine wanted to know.
"When the gladio decided to step down, he began with a search of his own. He had at his disposal a fount of information to help him come up with a list of names. All Indago received their orders and were each given a list of people to search for."
"How many names did you have?" she wanted to know.
"Initially, I had quite a lot of names, but narrowed it down to ten," Vincent said. "But the moment I saw you, I knew you were the one."
She shook her head incredulously. "How?"
"It was a feeling," Vincent replied. "I just knew."
"And if I am selected?" She wanted to know.
"If you are to become the blade, you will be what gives the Seven their power."
"What kind of power? Political? Military? Magical?" Katherine wanted to know, her voice was derisive as she said the word 'magical.'
"I know," Vincent responded. "You do not understand the arcane that resides within the Sept or in you for that matter. I can only tell you so much because I only know so much. But you must trust me and try to understand how much more important you are than just being a member of the Vanderau family. Think about your life, Katherine. Haven't you felt you were meant for something more? Haven't you felt the stirrings of something in you that you couldn't quite explain?"
Rather than answer his questions, she waved a hand in his direction, "Has the testing started already?" Katherine asked. "I know you were recording me when I was playing and then asking me to play anything by Rachmaninoff that was part of some kind of test wasn't it?"
He nodded. "You do have very strong innate powers, Katherine. When you play you glow!"
She waved his comment away, "That's just the way the light is in the dining room."
"No, It's not a trick of the light," Vincent told her. "Whatever you have been told to explain away your abilities is to keep you from your powers. Part of the training and preparations will give you the tools to release your powers."
Katherine thought of her power dreams and suddenly felt exposed and vulnerable, "I think you should go, Vincent. I need to think about this."
Vincent nodded. "Very well. I enjoyed our time together, Katherine." He rose as she got to her feet and went to the door and stopped and faced her. He looked down into her deep worried blue eyes. "Sleep well. Please call or text me in the morning."
He opened the door, walked to his car, and got in. As he drove off, Katherine closed the door and locked it. She picked up the card he had given to her and looked at it. There was something on the back of the card that looked like a watermark. She took it over to the lamp next to the sofa and examined it up close. There was a series of numbers embossed across the card. It was an IP address!
She took the card to her bedroom, pulled her laptop out of her backpack, and set it on the bedside table. She took everything off, padded down the hall to her bathroom, and took a long hot shower. When she had put on a set of comfortable pajamas, she climbed into bed with the laptop and logged in, went to her favorite search engine, and in the address bar typed in the IP address. She poised her index finger over the ENTER key for a second then pressed it. Her screen went black and then the insignia of the Seven Noble Families appeared center screen and below was a steady blinking bar. She stared at the insignia for a long time, looking at each of the seven circles with their family crests in each circle, at the center was a blazing sun with the rays shining out from a field of cobalt blue.
As she was studying the different family crests the blinking bar moved to the left and began to type. Whoever was on the other end of the conversation was only identified as Guest 1. When it was her turn to respond, the cursor fell to the beginning of the next row, and she would answer as Guest 2.
Guest 1: Hello, Katherine.
Guest 2: Who is this?
Guest 1: You will come to know me in time. For now, I am Dominus Vanderau.
Guest 2: I assume Vincent has reported to you our evening.
Guest 1: He has.
Guest 2: And has he told you that I am seriously considering canceling my plans to Geneva?
Guest 1: I had hoped you would agree to come to my home. I believe you would very much enjoy a change of scenery.
Guest 2: What kind of testing and preparation takes two weeks?
Guest 1: Quite a bit will be happening once you arrive. You will need a new wardrobe, you have not eaten well in several months, Katherine. You need nutrition, fresh alpine air, proper exercise, stimulating conversation, language lessons, and more time to spend playing your music. You can rest and spend as much time in the spa as you wish, read, whatever you wish to do.
Guest 2: Sounds like summer camp. Will there be arts and crafts?
Guest 1: Your sarcasm cloaks your fear, Katherine. You do not need to be afraid. Just an open mind.
Guest 2: I do not believe in magic!
Guest 1: To borrow shamelessly from Shakespeare -- There are more things in heaven and earth, Katherine, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Guest 2: I do not believe in magic!
Guest 1: Very well, then let us test your beliefs. Sign out of this computer and go to your piano. Play the very first thing that comes to your mind. When you finish, log back into this site, and I will tell you exactly what you selected to play.
Guest 2: Ok, deal!
Katherine closed the browser and clapped the laptop closed. She even went as far as to pull the USB dongle that connected her to her server in the hall and set it on the bedside table. She stuffed the laptop under her pillows. She marched out to the piano and sat down. She opened the lid and looked down at the keys for a moment, then there in the deep shadows of her house she began playing an old song that her grandmother had on an old phonograph record. She smiled as she played through the song and then softly sang the refrain. "When a deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls, And the stars begin to twinkle in the night, Through the mist of a memory you wander back to me, breathing my name with a sigh…" she hummed the rest, thinking back to how much her grandmother had loved the song!
When she was finished she closed the keyboard lid and went back to her bedroom. She took her laptop, plugged in the USB dongle, opened the lid, and waited for it to reconnect with the server signal. Then as before, typed in the IP address. As before, the screen went black, and the insignia appeared. There was a message waiting for her.
Guest 1: In the still of the night, once again I hold you tight
Though you're gone, your love lives on when moonlight beams.
And as long as my heart will beat, lover we'll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams. Goodnight Katherine.
She gasped and slammed the laptop lid shut and pulled the USB dongle from the back of the machine. Her heart was thudding hard in her chest, and she felt as if she were being watched! Could there be a camera in her house? She put her laptop in a drawer with her underwear and went back to bed and turned out the lights. She lay there in the dark, looking up at the ceiling. Could this be happening to her? She had five hundred thousand dollars in her checking account and was about to jet off to some unknown destination. She was going to be evaluated for some kind of magical powers. She rolled over on her side and studied the digital clock as its red numbers melted away the time. What was she going to do?
"I don't believe in magic!" she said aloud then sighed heavily, "I don't believe I have magic!" She closed her eyes, drifted off to sleep, and began to dream:
She was flying! It felt good to be free once again. The currents of air flowed over her body like silken fingers. Ahead of her were banks of puffy white clouds. Those were fun to dart through! Sometimes ice crystals were spinning in the hearts of the clouds and though they stung as they pelted her face and body it was exciting and invigorating.
Far below was a large glassy lake she thought she might like to skim over the surface and let the claws of her feet draw deep lines in the water. She folded her wings and rocketed toward the lake and just before she hit the water she stretched her wings wide and let her feet rake through the water. She heard a voice in her head, and she knew her mate was close! This thought excited her and made her heart pound with desire! "To me! Come to me!"
A challenge! She roared in defiance. No one demanded her, she was powerful and swift. No one could capture her – not without a fight!
She woke with a jolt clutching the bed sheet in her hands. She laughed still feeling the power and thrill of her dream. She rolled and grabbed up her composition book and pen and began to write down what she could remember. What would Carl Jung make of this?