Hunt 33: Triage - Chapter 6

Game was 10/23/20.

At the Troy household, William heads outside to clean up the damage in the yard. He jokes to himself, "There's a lot of house in this yard!" He starts picking up the debris but is secretly pleased when young Ray Curran joins him to help. Inside the house, Josh realizes that he needs a set of crutches to get around. Leta helps him look for some and they find a pair in the basement; William likely kept them after Josh broke his leg at Shelburne Falls back in early April. They head upstairs and Josh tests his weight on the crutches; he swiftly realizes the problem of putting his weight on said crutches while having holes in his hands and feet.

Down in Springfield, business at the botanica dries up around 4:00 PM. Anita closes the botanica early and checks her phone. She still has not received any messages from Peter or Gothi, so she texts Peter, "Are you dead and is it still attached?" She drives back to the Montoya home and walks in to see Abuela staring at her. Her grandmother demands to know why she's home so early, and Anita replies, "Dead today." This clearly does not process in Abuela's mind, and she demands, "Then why did you close?" Anita repeats her statement a few times before she takes a quick shower, changes her clothes, and then heads out again. she stops by the botanica quickly, and heads inside to retrieve several of the wards protecting the store. She packs those in the back of her Honda and then heads north up I-91.

Anita reaches the Troy household at about 7:00 PM. She sees the tarp covering the broken bay window as she gets out of the car and heads up to the door. She knocks and then lets herself in; Josh and the others look up in the living room. She greets them all with, "Out the window again, I see?" She eyes William, looking for his tattoos, but William is all covered up by now. Anita turns to Josh and asks, "How are you doing? You look wrecked." Josh concedes, "That's about right." He gives Anita some more details of the events of last night, causing Anita to cry out at one point, "Back up, what? An Egyptian god?" Leta tries to laugh again but only makes the same croaking noise; Anita turns to her in time to see the goblin fruit in her throat squirming. Anita muses, "At least it's not singing! How are you doing?" Leta writes, "Not great!"

Josh finishes his story and Anita stares at William while internally thinking, "404 error; File not found." She demands, "She made you take everything off?" William replies flatly, "That's not important." Josh begs, "Please stop acting like you want to see my grandad's booty." William winces but that comment leads Ray and Leta down a mocking path as they wonder if William is CuteButt001. Anita and William clash a bit over his joining with an Egyptian god versus the totem, but Josh insists that it was William's decision.

Anita shrugs and adds, "Oh, I almost forgot. I'm supposed to rub Veltis's belly. Leta scribbles furiously,"What the fuck?"* Anita replies,"Do you know Kirk?" Leta writes and underlines, "Mage."* Anita nods and replies, "That sounds right. We met him downstairs last night." She fills them in on the krewe's encounter with Kirk in the temple past the hallway. Leta writes down, "He was a cool dude, and he hates the True Fae."

Anita nods and declares, "Apparently, William needs to visit the Pope?" Josh adds, "Apparently, he needs to go into the Underworld to do that." William insists, "That's not happening anytime soon!" Anita muses, "Yeah, Egyptian-god tattoos will make things with the Pope difficult." She turns to Ray and comments, "This is a lot. This is too much. You need so much therapy." Ray shrugs helplessly and Josh decides to order a bunch of pizzas. Anita approves and then heads out into the backyard to prepare the space for the ritual. Luckily, the Troy house is on a cul-de-sac, and there are no neighbors to see into the backyard.

The plan was for the hunters together between 7:30 and 8:00 PM, but at 7 o'clock Doctor Ranjip texts, "We're going to be late, 8:30." Josh texts back, "Everything OK?" Doctor Ranjip responds, "My friends insisted on coming along." Leta gurgles and writes, "No! That court is whack!" Josh asks Ray if he wants to depart before the insanity begins. Ray shrugs and replies, "I have nowhere to go." Anita walks in at that comment and calls out, "Did you just join the cell? Did Josh talk you into it?" Ray refuses to answer but Josh is inwardly thrilled to have a little brother. Ray insists, "it's complicated. Put me down as undecided." Anita retorts, "Welcome to the family." Leta writes, "You got Troyed!"

Mick and Polly arrive with the pizzas and people dig in until 8:25 PM, when three dark limousines pull onto Sovereign Way. They pull up into William's driveway and Leta groans and writes, "Boston! Different whack!" Josh asks,"Are you sure it is Boston?" Anita realizes what he's asking and looks out the window. None of the limousines are the one Silas Black uses so she relaxes. Josh texts Doctor Ranjip, "Are these your friends?" The doctor replies, "Yes." Leta writes "Danger!" and points to Josh. Ray and Anita look confused as Josh squirms in fear. Abby explains,"The Summer Queen of Boston doesn't like him. Now, I do love him, but I also love not dying from a hammer to my face!" Leta writes, "But you wake up in the morning!" Abby retorts, "It's not an infinite supply!"¹⁾

Anita heads into the kitchen to raid the liquor cabinet but only finds a handful of beers. She brings them out and hands once to Josh as several strange-looking characters climb out of the limousines and walk to the front door. Josh jokes, "At least no one is knocking on the basement door!" - just as someone knocks on the basement door. Josh groans but gets to his feet and hobbles over to the kitchen. He opens the basement door and stares up at crazy Tim L'Ereux- Jäger! Tim howls with glee and grabs Josh! He lifts him up in a crushing hug and Josh whimpers as blood starts pouring out of the holes due to the pressure change. He gasps a warning and Tim sees the bloody stigmata and asks, "Did you have a religious experience? Did you join a cult?"

Back in the living room several human mercenaries - all with automatic weapons and body armor, all sharing a stylized ‘H' insignia - flank a short red-haired woman. Despite the fact the hunters cannot see fae miens right now, it is blatantly obvious to everyone that this is the human form of Queen Máirín V. They spot a man in flannel that they're pretty sure is the Winter King Sean and a gawky young man that is probably the Spring King Slim Tim. A dark-haired woman, likely Aislin, glides in followed by another redhead but this one seems definitely unstable - probably the Autumn Queen Burning Mary.

Queen Máirín V growls, "Where is the idiot?" Anita jibes, "You need to be more specific." The Summer Queen grunts and replies, "The idiotic ray of sunshine." Anita chirps, "Oh, Josh is in the kitchen getting his fluids squeezed out." Queen Máirín V's eyes narrow as she declares, "This, I want to see." She heads right for the kitchen while King Sean steps up to William and apologizes for just suddenly dropping in. William replies, "It's OK." William figures they're here to help and they know what they're doing. Tim releases Josh and they head into the living room, leaving the Summer Queen irritated that she didn't get to see Josh bleed.

The hunters eye the Autumn Queen Burning Mary and realize that this woman lacks any moral center. She is a genuine sociopath, and she creeps them all out. An old man, bent at the waist, lurches in and greets them all; Leta cocks her head in confusion. The old man chuckles and introduces himself as Cuthbert. Leta scratches out, "You're four feet too short!" Cuthbert shrugs but eyes the goblin fruit squirming in her throat. He asks,"Would you be willing to do me a favor and collect its secretions for me?" Leta writes and underlines, "Gross!" but doesn't outright deny him. Cuthbert laughs and replies, "We will talk later, after all this." Leta nods and writes, "Thank you!"

Anita steps to the side and tries to figure out who is who until Polly sidles up next to her and quietly starts naming names.²⁾ She identifies Cuthbert and Anita gapes and declares, "He was like eight feet tall!" Polly shrugs and Doctor Ranjip also sidles up next to them and gives a quick explanation. One of the Hessians approaches William and offers to seal the tarp tighter to the house frame. William immediately agrees and the Hessians turn and start working.

Anita tries to slip away quietly and heads outside to the backyard, completely unaware that Cuthbert has followed her. Anita eyes her ritual space and then takes her time to make some adjustments to accommodate for the larger group. She also updates and modifies the wards before turning around and realizing Cuthbert has been watching the whole thing. Cuthbert offers, "May I give you advice?" Anita recalls his ritual work in Boston and immediately nods. Cuthbert observes, "You're an urban witch, aren't you?" Anita nods, embarrassed, but Cuthbert insists, "That's alright, I'm much the same. But there's an adjustment in dealing with more rural setups; you have more space to work with." He offers her a series of critiques which Anita follows to the letter. This ends up shifting the ritual space into two circles; an inner circle for the ritual itself, and an outer circle so those within can protect the inner circle, granting a dual layer of spiritual protection.

They finish, and Anita thanks Cuthbert profusely. Cuthbert waves off the praise and admits, "Crazy Tim pressured me to come so I would get out of the freehold for once. I realize that he is probably right because I think the last time I left the freehold was to go vote for Dukakis." Anita mumbles, "That may have been before I was born." Cuthbert frowns but concedes the point. He warns her, "We may have done all of this for absolutely nothing; this could go off without a hitch. But there is the potential for something much bigger. William Troy and another one of your hunters, the nurse I think, were once claimed by The Silver Lady." Anita nods, as this was how she met the Troy's in the first place. Cuthbert warns her, "There is the potential for this magic to start and The Silver Lady to arrive looking to reclaim that what she considers hers."

Back inside the house, William keeps out of the way while several changelings examine Veltis; he is still unconscious and is now tucked into a small basket. Cuthbert and Anita reenter the home, and Cuthbert gets everyone's attention by loudly clearing his throat, with includes a fair amount of phlegm. He announces, "Miss Perez-Montoya has prepared the ritual space, with two circles." He then looks pointedly at the changelings and the Hessians and reminds them, "We are here to protect them. The Silver Lady is possibly in play, so keep an eye out and no one give her the boy." A few of the changelings look to Ray but Cuthbert snorts and replies, "I meant Josh."

The cell grabs a mixing bowl filled with cold water, and William goes into the basement and digs out an ancient tiki torch, still wrapped in the original plastic with the Caldor's price sticker! With the bowl, the torch, and the Tupperware containing the frozen eyeballs, the cell is ready. The motley alliance heads outside to the backyard where Cuthbert starts directing people where to go and where to stand. Leta bundles Veltis up in the basket and brings him out; Cuthbert offers to keep him in the outer circle. Leta thanks him but decides she is going to carry him.

As everyone takes their positions, they all look around to see the silent night and the glittering frost that looks far too much like silver for their comfort. The hunters then step into the inner circle of the ritual. They set up the tiki torch, hoping it will still burn, and Leta eyes the Caldor's sticker oddly. The others make fun of her gently but Leta reminds them through text that she's a West Coast girl.

Anita takes charge of the ritual as Leta blasts hellfire into the tiki torch, setting it alight with green flame! The instant she does so, however, the goblin fruit in her throat starts to sing! Leta curses as Disney showtunes now echo throughout the ritual space. There is then a shift in pressure and the Academitrix appears! She snarls, "It was you!" as she dumps a bowl of yellow vomit that also is singing! Leta groans as she recognizes the vomit, which she left at the gate of Smith College, and then it harmonizes with the thing in her throat! The totem glares at her before she vanishes, and Anita decides to just roll with it. She gets the Tupperware, pops it open, and then carefully pours the frozen eyeballs into the warm water. She hands the bowl to William as Cuthbert exclaims, "This is amazing!"

Before Anita can begin the ritual, Josh speaks up and says, "Let's do morale support first, this time!" The other hunters agree, and then huddle up even closer in the inner circle. Although whatever they're doing is lost on the changelings and the Hessians in the outer circle, Cuthbert immediately takes advantage of the wards and the ritual space and casts a spell to enhance the effects of whatever Josh is doing. Josh succeeds brilliantly, and then Cuthbert's magical enhancement kicks in, granting a psychological edge to everyone in both circles to resist mental and/or emotional domination!³⁾ With that out of the way, the ritual begins, but Leta notices that Queen Máirín V detaches two of the Hessians specifically to keep an eye on Veltis.

Anita prepares a ritual on the fly and instructs William to stir the eyeballs in the water counterclockwise to act as a banishing agent. She will lead a chant and Josh's job is to pluck out each eyeball, one by one, and hold them up to the moonlight to remove the fae magic. Josh gulps but bravely sticks his hand into the bowl and snatches out a thawing eyeball. He holds it up to the moonlight and everyone is surprised when visions appear in the flames of the tiki torch! The first vision is that of someone coming in hard with a melon baller, which is then followed by the image of a young girl! This repeats the second time Josh grabs an eyeball, and then the hunters realize that they're seeing through the victims' eyes their last moments followed by whatever it was they loved the most.

This parade of images continues for the next few moments as one after the other, the eyeballs are cleansed of their magic. Then, suddenly, a voice calls out, "Well this is depressing, ain't it? Let's liven things up!" Everyone turns to see an older version of Josh hovering above the ritual space! Leta groans as she immediately recognizes evil Future-Josh, while Josh himself eyes this future incarnation in shock. Future-Josh jokes, "Think of me as the ghost of Christmas future!" He leans into Anita and says loudly, "Would you like to know how Del dies?" Anita refuses to engage the apparition and continues her chanting. Future-Josh pouts and whispers loudly, "Silas Black kills Del!" Future-Josh darts about both the inner and outer rings, trying to crack a hole in their defenses, but nothing seems to stick. William outright ignores him, ⁴⁾ an act that seems to drive Future-Josh to rage! Anita breaks her chant only once to growl at Josh, "Can you shut yourself up?" Josh looks at his future-self with absolute pity, sending Future-Josh into a blind rage and he launches himself at Josh! But as Future-Josh touches Josh, he vanishes!

Anita adjusts the ritual and continues now that Future-Josh is apparently gone. However, before Josh can get out a fresh eyeball from the bowl, the vision within the green flame shifts and they all see a short man, clearly of African descent, looking out and then staring at William! This man has marks all over his body that start to glow, and then the corresponding marks on William's body also start to glow! The vision then shifts to a subterranean chamber containing a large, ornate sarcophagus. Suddenly, the lid of the sarcophagus is torn free from within and something lashes out and grabs Berry Kells' throat and then squeezes so hard his head rips free from his torso in a bloody fountain! Leta whispers, "Oh shit, Merat-Su just woke up. Or will wake up. Whenever it'll be, it's going to be a major problem!" She then gags in pain as the vision ends.⁵⁾ The ritual continues, and Josh starts offering words of comfort to each eyeball he holds up.

However, as Anita continues the ritual, they all see a cold mist start to rise around the outer circle! As soon as the mist reaches head-level for most, the ritualists see figures moving within the mist, and realize in horror that there's a pack of silver briarwolves circling the space! This means the Hedge is very close, and now everyone's fae miens are visible! The hunters can feel reality start to buckle once again at something is forcing its way through from Arcadia; William stirs faster while Josh continues to offer comfort to each eyeball. Suddenly, a silvery, smooth voice washes over all of them, "Well, this is interesting!" William stirs even faster, but then the ritualists realize that there is a True Fae here, but it is not The Silver Lady!

The Purveyor appears in the mists, chuckling to himself as his female-changeling-drawn chariot appears behind him! The Purveyor circles the ritual space and then calls out to the hunters in the center, "Wait, I remember you! You have those things, what do you call them? Oh, right, names. You have names!" Leta eyes Josh carefully as The Purveyor muses, "You are the ones the Seer wants to protect. You're the Troys!" He suddenly laughs with sickening confidence and crows, "Oh, this is delicious! I already own you!" Leta shifts her position to protect Josh while all the other hunters pull out the cold iron daggers they received back in February.

Anita hisses in fear as she feels the wards shake and the protection spell become gossamer-thin. She realizes the True Fae's presence is about to break through, and all they can do is try to finish the ritual in time. The Purveyor feints forward, towards Aislin and Burning Mary. One of the Hessians shifts just slightly to protect the Autumn changelings, but in doing so he partially exits the protective circle. That is all The Purveyor needed, and he ruthlessly lashes out, ripping open the poor man open from belly to throat and sending his severed head and spinal cord over the others' heads and into the center! The hunters immediately realize that the True Fae spiked the skull to land into the water dish; William shifts to protect the dish while Josh gibbers but bats the head away! William hisses in surprise as warm blood splatters all over his back, but Josh's aim is true, and the head soars back over the outer circle! With a laugh, The Purveyor spikes the severed head deep into William's backyard! Cuthbert yells of warning as Josh grabs the final eyeball. The hunters in the inner circle form a tight ring around Josh, William, and Anita, cold iron daggers drawn! Even Ray holds out a penknife!

The wards collapse just as Josh holds up the last eyeball! In that heartbeat between the collapse of the wards and Josh's lifting the eye, The Purveyor tears open two Hessians and shoots forward at Josh's back, interrupted only when Abby steps in front of him! He punches through her torso, killing her outright, and his fingers slice open the back of Josh's jacket, leaving a tiny row of beaded blood as the faintest tip of his finger slices through Josh's skin! Then the sympathetic link to Arcadia is severed, and The Purveyor vanishes! Leta makes a horrible noise as Abby collapses while William shudders as memories of the Korean War come flooding back, especially the scent of blood and offal! Josh turns, not yet having realized what just happened - or who just saved his life again.