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Gabriel,
What a surprise it was to run into you so literally last night. Are you here officially, as the Schattenjaeger?
I feel so awkward writing this.
I came here this morning, to the address you gave me, hoping to sit down and talk. I've been meaning to track you down for a while now. I even stopped by Rittersberg once on my travels, but you weren't there. I'm sure Gerde told you, and passed along my contact information?
She said... From what she told me, it sounds like you might have a lot to say to me. You deserve that opportunity. And I have a lot to say to you as well.
Even after talking to Gerde, I'd hoped that she only saw one side of you, that in your better moments you'd understand why I left, and why I've stayed away, but I guess after what you said last night I can dismiss that fantasy.
Cards on the table: I'm here semi-officially. Some friends of my parents asked me to look into a problem, and I've been researching and applying other methods I've learned to their problem. It's not exactly Schattenjaeger stuff, but I've found out a few things that make me think there's definitely something weird going on in this town.
If you're on the track on something weird too, maybe we should compare notes?
Grace
Gracie,
Sorry I missed you this morning. Just a little matter of discovering a murder and the need to investigate. The guy who asked me to come here is now dead, I guess he was on to something. Probably holding something back too. I hate it when they do that.
Day in the life of a Schattenjaeger. I'm not going to pretend like I'm shocked.
Remember when I promised that I'd never shut you out again? Never try to keep you safe away from all this crap? This isn't the situation I was imagining at the time, but I guess it applies. I won't stand in your way.
So what's it going to be Gracie? Want to help out with a Schattenjaeger case again? I'm up for sharing information, but I've got to know what to expect from you.
Gabriel
P. S. I don't know what Gerde told you, but I've missed you and your research skills.
Gabriel,
I can be professional if you can. 10:00am tomorrow at the breakfast restaurant down the street from where you're staying.
Grace
Gabriel,
It's not going to be as easy as I thought to synchronize our instances of SIDNEY. It's been too long, and you've made updates and I've made updates (I call mine NIDB now) and... I'm sure you don't want to hear about the details. My data is on this disk, whatever you want to do with it. I told you everything important at breakfast anyway.
I'm glad we had a chance to talk.
One more thing that I should have told you. The necklace I was telling you about, the one with all the history and the stories about curses and blessings attending it...
It was aquamarines. So you might want to be careful about the little blue stone you found at the scene.
Grace
Gracie,
I've got so much to tell you, you're never going to believe what just happened. It all ties in with your investigation.
You remember how I mentioned that one of the flunkies tried to throw me out of my little corporate bungalow after the murder, right? And how I suspected it had something to do with me being right next door to the old corporate headquarters, also known as the scene of the murder?
The weirdness of the sunset exodus happened again, they even managed to get the police to pack up and leave before sunset. I had to know what was going on in there, and I finally figured out a way to get in. And not just in to the lobby, or the offices, or the big room where the murder happened. There's a secret courtyard, all walled around with stone that looks even more ancient than Schloss Ritter, and...
There's a ghost.
She's the one I've been dreaming about. Schattenjaeger dreams.
But I'm ahead of myself. Even after I found the courtyard, I didn't see anything at first, until I realized that the flagstone path was in the same pattern as that necklace you gave me the picture of, and the fountain was creating running water.
I'm pretty sure you'll tell me this was stupid, but I wasn't going to find out anything if I didn't do anything. So I found the valve and turned off the fountain, and that's when the ghost appeared, rising up out of the water after it was all still and peaceful.
Lucky it wasn't a monster, but I had the Ritter talisman ready. I put it away before I scared her off with it.
She was maybe twelve or fourteen, blonde hair in a plain braid down her back, wearing a plain green dress. Very plain. I'd say it was from before fashion. She looked peaceful, and she wouldn't say anything to me until I put the aquamarine on the edge of her pool. As long as I kept it there, and kept my hand on it, she could see me.
When she talked, I could hear her in my mind. I don't think she was speaking English, but I could understand her.
She said the aquamarine was hers. Her dowry, I think. They married young, didn't they?
I got the main points of her story. She was kidnapped on the way to her wedding, and her mother tracked her down and got her back, but she died soon after, and after she died her body was stolen, and that's why she has no rest.
When I asked her if she knew anything about the murder in the room next door, she got upset and disappeared. Funny, huh?
If there's a curse, I think she's a victim. And it has something to do with your necklace, that's for sure.
After this, we should work together more closely, since we know we're working on the same thing.
I thought by the time I'd written this all out you'd be back and we could talk, but you're not here, and I've got an appointment with the successor to the guy who brought me in, some kind of big shot in the corporation.
Let's meet again soon. Pick a time and place and let me know, I'll be there.
Gabriel
Gracie,
I got your friend to let me in, and it looks like you haven't been back to your room for more than a day. My other letter is still here.
Hope you're off finding out everything you need to know to figure out what's going on. I've got a few more pieces to share.
The big shot told me all about the corporation, and its history. Turns out this whole town was founded by immigrants from Ireland more than two centuries ago, and the corporation is just ... well, the impression I got is that it's all a giant family business, with fancy lawyers to make everything good for taxes, but they run it like a family.
When I asked him about that courtyard, he turned pale. Asked me if I'd been there at night. Asked me if I'd heard anything.
He relaxed when I told him about the ghost, which is not the reaction I was expecting.
He said that they brought the stones lining the courtyard over from Ireland. Used to be a castle. I guess the ghost came along, but he wouldn't admit to that. They must have done what they could to keep her contained.
She seemed nice enough, I wonder what they're really trying to contain.
I'm still on the job, they still think that they're being targeted with magic by a business rival, but I've got to wonder if there's more to this business rival than they make out. If you were here, I'd ask you to look into it.
I guess the research is up to me this time. If you want me tomorrow, I'll be at the town library and then the town records office.
Take care.
Gabriel
Gabriel,
I'm back. I guess you need to know what happened, because it's relevant to the case.
I told you that I was here because of some friends of my parents, right? I didn't tell you that I was in New York in the first place to visit my family and try to settle some things about their plans and my plans. I'm sure you can guess.
I thought we'd settled all that, and I thought they had at least accepted that I wasn't going to marry the guy they'd picked out for me. He seemed like a nice guy, but I'm following a different path, and when you're following this path, you can't just get married to someone who just wants an ordinary life. I told them that.
I knew they were unhappy, but they recommended me to their friends, so I thought...
I wasn't expecting them to show up here, with a new plan for my future. But that's what happened. They dragged me off to meet this new guy, who was from this town. That's important.
I didn't realize how important that was going to be, though, so I was just trying to get away without disrespecting my parents, but also without getting this guy's hopes up or anything.
So that's my excuse for not realizing that magic was involved until it was almost too late.
It was the moment that I agreed to go to a bridal shop with my mother that I realized--
If I ever get married, I'm eloping, not letting my mother plan everything. And that goes double after this, because now I know exactly how it's going to be if I ever give my mother free rein. It was the only way to see what was going on; play along and try to see who was behind the magic. Who benefits?
I don't think it was the guy. He was too sweet, and so caught up in everything -- sort of like I was at first, until I was jolted out of it. I had to really work at it to stay jolted out, and that's why I think he was just a pawn, caught up in the same thing. He didn't ever realize that the fairy tale romance wasn't real. We had nothing in common.
But he did ask me to give him access to NIDB, and when I refused, he tried to steal my computer.
It was a mystery to me until I read your letters, and did a little additional research and found out that the business rivals you're talking about -- he's with them.
So that explains the magic. And the interest, if they saw me with you, and knew we were working together and you're working for their rivals. Maybe they wanted to distract you through me?
But it doesn't explain what happened next.
Things were moving really fast, and I could only play along for so long.
I told my parents that I wasn't ready to commit, and it was like they couldn't hear me. They brought me to an engagement party, and they produced a ring -- aquamarines.
I don't think I'm ever going to find that necklace intact.
I didn't let it touch me. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had.
I don't think it's any kind of spell speaking when I say that the whole situation was incredibly romantic. Candles and flowers and beautiful words... I hope if I ever get engaged, it's just as romantic.
But I blew out the candles and stomped on the flowers and negated the words, and it broke the spell enough that I could get out of there. I expected to be chased, but when I circled back, everyone was leaving the party, seeming confused. Including my parents, so I might not have burned every bridge with my family, which is comforting.
But that's still not the end of it.
This morning, the guy's mother came to beg me to take pity on her son. She said something about his life being forfeit if I didn't. And she mentioned that the banshee would wail three times, and then it would be too late.
I couldn't get her to tell me anything more, but I'm including links that should take you to basic information in SIDNEY.
A banshee! What do you think it means? How is the necklace related? And the ghost? There is more research in my future.
I hope you're checking your email through SIDNEY, because I'm going to press send and forget about everything for a while. Except maybe that research...
Grace
Gracie,
You don't seem to have realized the obvious. You're more valuable on the board than off, so I'd say they were trying to recruit you. If they got you on their side, then whatever their goals are, they'd have you to help them with it, and that's pretty big.
You sound tired. Of course you're tired. Let me bring you dinner this evening. We can share our research. Talk about how I learned how to use a computer. All that fun stuff.
Gabriel
Gabriel,
It was nice having such a low key dinner last night. I had a dream last night, and I think it was about your ghost.
What do you think about this scenario:
Once upon a time, a long time ago in Ireland, there was a young woman, just a girl really. She was from a rich family, and she was promised in marriage to another family. Her dowry, aquamarines, was sent ahead and the bridegroom had them fashioned into an elaborate necklace for her to wear at the wedding to prove his love. (Or maybe to prove his power over her. I got both feelings equally from my dream.)
But she never made it to the wedding, because the necklace was cursed and as soon as she put it on, she was instantly killed. Her ghost watched the wedding dissolve into confusion, and her family fight with the other family, until she couldn't bear it any longer. She told her bridegroom how to reverse the curse on the necklace, and he took on the quest, and after many trials he succeed. And the families were friends from then on.
I know the details don't match exactly what the ghost told you. I think the necklace is the most important thing, though.
Grace
Gracie,
The banshee wailed the second time. I was right there, in the old courtyard, when she showed up with her wrinkled skin and tattered dress and eerie green eyes, and tilted her head back and made THAT NOISE. Not gonna lie, it was terrifying.
But I lived to tell the tale.
I went to the courtyard to ask the ghost more questions. I wanted to know more about that necklace, and she has to know, doesn't she? I plucked down my aquamarine and there she was, and she would have told me too, but we were interrupted.
After that, all I could think about was to get away, but I couldn't tell up from down, much less right from left, and I ended up back by that fountain again, crouching behind it trying to decide whether I should turn the water on. Does running water get rid of banshees as well as ghosts?
I couldn't remember, and meanwhile, the ghost and the banshee were talking, which eventually got my attention.
I heard the ghost say, "Mother, have mercy on the poor man."
I thought she was talking about me, and believe me, I was hoping for mercy, but what if she was talking about your poor schlub? She was wailing for him, wasn't she?
I always thought banshees were wailing out of grief, but at least in this case, it was more like triumph. So I'll take your story and raise you a hair-raising wail and a few more details:
Once upon a time, yada yada, skip ahead to the part where the girl gets kidnapped. But she's no ordinary girl, she's the daughter of a banshee. Or maybe just a shee back then, however you want to spell that. And when she gets kidnapped, her mother goes after her, but she's too late. The girl is dead.
The banshee curses the necklace that was her daughter's dowry, and the repercussions of that curse have echoed down through the history, all the way to the present day. The courtyard, keeping the ghost happy and restful, that's all an attempt to quiet the curse.
What I want to know now is who are all these people? Your schlub, my employers, they're head to head over something, but what's at stake now?
Let's have dinner again tonight.
Gabriel
Gabriel,
I'm sorry about the way I reacted to your proposal. It was just so unexpected; I didn't know you could be so sweet. It threw me off.
Now that I've had enough time to take it in, I think we should get together and talk. But don't get your expectations too high in the wrong direction. I'm not planning to melt into a puddle of goo like I guess you expected me to, and accept without another thought.
But now that I know you're serious, I --
Gabriel, it's not so simple. After what you told me and everything I've heard about the Ritters -- do you even realize how well known you are among certain people? -- getting married carries implications. It's not just about me and you. There's the next generation to think about.
We have to be practical.
But that doesn't mean I'm saying no.
We need to talk.
Grace
Gracie,
Can't we just leave the future to the future?
What will be, will be?
Gabriel
Gabriel,
This is why you drive me crazy.
Grace
Gabriel,
We were both wrong. It's not a curse.
I ran into the schlub, as you call him. I thought it would be awkward, but he barely seemed to remember what happened. The funny thing is, he was trying to interest me in investment opportunities.
Seems like a weird thing for a man under a curse and about to die to be obsessed with, doesn't it? But it had the same feeling of compulsion...
I tricked him into getting me access to the special room at the library, the one sponsored by your corporation that's only open on the first Monday after the new moon or by special arrangement with the trustees. And, apparently, by people for whom the banshee wails, no matter who they may be and what their status as enemies of the corporation. It doesn't matter.
Because there are things they need to know. They've got journals, and letters, and every other kind of evidence from illuminated manuscripts to modern books and newspaper articles, and a whole section in which historians try to make sense of their earliest oral stories. It's a little like the Schattenjaeger library, except it's a different family, a different story.
Once upon a time, one of the good folk married a human man, and they had a daughter. She lived in between realms. For her, the threads of this world and another world were woven into a single fabric.
If she married, that would open the gates between worlds to her husband. She was going to do it any way, but her mother's kin kidnapped her to stop the marriage. Her husband tracked her down and reclaimed her -- the necklace played a part, and the usual sort of holding on no matter what.
The girl's mother tried to stop her from being removed from the halls of her kin, and the husband, who was a magician, and who had just won back his bride, stopped her and stole -- it's not clear what. Her glamour, more or less. She became the banshee, tied to that family forever.
It's not exactly that she announced deaths. She announced it when parts of her glamour had twisted in human hands and failed them and were about to be returned to her.
All these years, they've been using a fairy's luck, to make alliances and choose what side to support and tempt others into business opportunities. And all these years, they've paid a price for that as well. They're stuck, just as much as the banshee or the ghost.
We have to do something about it before the banshee wails the third time.
I'm going to need your help. I think I can get all of the aquamarines, but that courtyard is designed to keep the ghost here. Which means we're going to have to move the ghost before I can banish her. I don't know what will happen then. We need to be prepared to fight the banshee.
Are you with me?
Grace
Gracie,
Good work. I'll let you take the lead on this one. I'm with you.
Gabriel
It was done. It had taken both of them in the end, and Grace produced some surprises while Gabriel just relied on that old standby, the Ritter talisman. It made him feel--
"It must have been hard being a Schattenjaeger when the talisman was lost," Gabriel said. "But they didn't ever stop. Just like you."
Grace was looking around like she could barely believe it was over. She had a long rip in the side of her jeans and a white streak in her hair where something had hit her, but she'd deflected almost everything the banshee had thrown at her, just as surely as Gabriel with the talisman.
"When something is fate, you make a way," she said, pushing back her hair. She took a step back toward the road. "Are you coming?"
"In a minute," Gabriel said, expecting Grace to go on ahead. She didn't need anyone to else to lead the way, or show her what was real, or important. She could have everything she'd always wanted without the constraints of family history. They'd freed one family today. That was good enough.
Grace came back and stood next to him, brushing at the dirt on his shirt. There wasn't much she could do about the shredded material near the shoulder, but it wasn't bleeding.
"Do you ever regret being born to fight the dark?" Grace asked.
It wasn't the sort of thing that Gabriel was comfortable with thinking too hard about. But for Gracie...
"It keeps things interesting," he said after a pause. That wasn't exactly what he meant, the complex mixture of pride and fear and determination that made up Gabriel Knight, Schattenjaeger, but he trusted Gracie to understand. "Do you ever regret being born with an insatiable curiosity and the ability see beyond what most people see in the world?"
That made her stop and think. "I guess I am what I am," she said. "Not what anyone else wants me to be." Did she mean her family? Gabriel?
"What are you going to do now?" Gabriel asked her.
"Well..." Grace said.
He always had been impulsive. He held out his hand. "Grace Nakimura, will you marry me, and work out what that means in terms of fate along with me?"
Grace had opened her mouth to object, he could see it in her face, but his last phrase got her. He could see that too.
"We're going to have to--"
"We will. Whatever it is, we will," Gabriel said. "I promise."
Grace nodded. "I'll make a list," she said softly, leaning into Gabriel.
"Is that a yes?"
"Yes."