Chapter 16-Through The Looking Glass Darkly

Chapter 16
Through The Looking Glass Darkly
Silence descended upon the company then.Evening now, the storm seemed to have abated. The fire burned low in the hearth, and only the hissing embers breaking apart remained. That, and the inexorable ticking of Grandfather Time in the corner were the only sounds echoing about the parlor.
No one heard Yeats's silent entry and when he announced, 'Dinner will be served shortly,' they all jumped.
'That time already?' Jack roused himself from reverie and went to the window. Drawing back the heavy curtain he gazed out at the night sky. How somber the day had become, he soliloquized...and he felt aware of a vicissitude from the morning's lighthearted banter betwixt himself and Em which had now declined into a wary sort of melancholy. Or maybe that was just him...
'Well, ladies?' Aleister enquired ,with a hand out to Alice,'Shall we?'
The party went in to the dining room, set for dinner for four. Emmeline paid little attention to the meal;it would have been delicious, if she'd the taste for it. She'd lost her appetite in the wake of Jack's meretricious meanderings and applied herself to the cassolet before her simply to settle her stomach after all that cognac...Her temples ached, her brain felt inflamed and seemed to pound against the parietal.
How much of that magniloquent tale should she swallow, she wondered?...Magick, eh? Merciful goddess...
'...is there any coffee, I wonder, Jack? I'm afraid I've abit of a slight headache,'Emmeline confessed.
Jack smiled and rose, saying,'that sounds an excellent idea, Em. I'll just see to it, and make a pot for all--'and exited into the kitchen.
Aleister eyed Em sideways then, and taking a ripe Winesap apple from the fruitbowl, began cutting it into sections. 'You know, the ancient Druids were magicians of a sort...Kelts in general seemed to have much of the uncanny in their generic make up,"Second Sight" and all that.' He crunched into an apple wedge.
'Have you Keltic ancestry yourself, Doctor?' Emmeline asked.
Al snorted softly a 'Ha!' and then, 'Well, "Aleister" should give me away! Yes, Scots-Irish, German and Cherokee my dear.'
'Quite close to my own ancestry!' Em remarked. 'Of course, you knew the Cherokee part already...'
Parsons munched meditatively.'Try some apple. Marvellous variety, Winesap...you can see the delicate red veins throughout the meat of the apple' the doctor handed out apple crescents to Alice and Em to sample. '"the Apple Isle", Avalon...' he mused.
'We have learned much of the Old Lore from the Neo-Druids back home,of course,'Alice joined in. 'I do so love tales from the Mabigion.'
'Yes,'Em agreed,'But the Druid's so-called magic is all Earth-based. They revere trees in particular-- oak, ash and thorn, holly and hazel. My great-grandmother's name was Oaks.'
'Indeed?' Aleister paused, mid-munch, apple wedge in air.
'Tree magic...'Alice rejoined,'Many different cultures have their own legends. The World-Tree in Norse mythology. And of course, the Hebrews have the Tree of Knowledge, the Kabbalah.'
Jack returned then, bearing with him the refreshing scent of roasted, freshly ground hot coffee on a tray with  mugs for all. He cleared the table, setting dishes on the sideboard, and poured first for Em. 'Have I missed anything interesting?' he asked, setting a mug before her.
'We were just speaking of the ancient Druids, and Kelts, and diverse cultures world-wide which share much of the same elements.' Em sipped her coffee gratefully. Mercy, why did I give myself such free rein with the brandy? Paying for it now, she thought.
'Tree magic,'Aleister heaped the sugar lumps into his cup,'and the Apple Isle of Avalon...'
'Ah.' Jack plucked a Winesap for himself. Shining it on his sleeve, he bit into it whole, and raised his cup. 'Here's to Arthur! The Return of the King!' he clacked mugs with the company and drank deep.
'...and Guinevere and Lancelot as well?' Em enquired, gazing up at Jack. 'Menage a tois' rarely fare happily history has shown. Ceasar, Marc Anthony, and Cleopatra...'she paused for a sip,'or John, Daryl and Morgana?'
Jack munched his apple and seemed to ponder it at arm's length. When he spoke, although his voice was soft and low, it carried a weight which gave his words a full sort of echoing resonance: 'The Tale of Percival, in particular, should be the herald of the New Age. When all men become as Percival, then
the lion shall indeed lie down with the lamb.'
Emmeline looked at Jack then. He seemed lost in a reverie of his own, frowning slightly at his apple. 'Percival...the knight who quested for the Holy Grail, Jack?'
Jack didn't answer for a moment. Then in the same low cadence he replied,'and what is the Holy Grail, indeed? Some think it a lost treasure of sorts. A cup, or bowl, the San Grael, which held Christ's blood. Some think it a family bloodline. How long has the tale been told, of knights of old, who quested forth and brought back only...tales.' He paused and sipped his black midnight brew, and sighed. 'Long, long has the world turned, on and on men quest, for power, or glory, or holy grails...ages and aeons pass,all the while missing the very thing they seek century after century, and the world spins on into chaos and nothing changes, especially men themselves, and they return from their questing, old and broken, bearing  only
some bright bauble perhaps, which they cannot take with them across the River Styx. Having nothing then,to barter with the Ferryman,  so they go...leaving: nothing.Nothing perhaps, but ruin.'
The company all looked at Jack, wondering if he was drunk perhaps. What brought on this lugubrious tale? But Jack wasn't finished with them yet.
'The Tale of Percival, the questing knight, is an old lay. There are many, many versions of it. Do you know it, Emmeline?' he seemed to emerge from a trance and looked over at her with his Misty Isle grey-blue gaze.
Em blinked and mentally shook herself from Jack's Ancient Mariner spell he'd cast over them all. 'Well, I, yes...'she sipped from her cup, trying to recollect it. 'Percival in his quest, comes upon an old man who is injured, I believe. But because he is a Knight Errant Upon A Holy Quest, he continues on, seeking. There are others who can aid the old man, he reasons to himself.'
Jack looked at her then and smiled. 'Yes, Em, exactement!--and so he didn't find The Grail.Not then.
He failed to utter the magic phrase...'
Emmeline leaned forward then,'And what was it?'
Jack smiled at her, 'The 'magic' phrase which had so escaped all men? It was, 'how can I help you?'
'There's a similar tale I heard from my aunt, a Cherokee legend,'Emmeline added,' Would you care to hear it?'
Jack nodded.
 'Well, long ago, when this land belonged to the People, there was a fine young brave, the chief's son, who needed a wife. The chief decided to hold a contest amongst the
Indian maidens who were of marriagable age, a footrace, and the winner would be the bride of the handsome young brave.
  And so the racecourse was marked over hill and dale and through the forest and back to camp, not an easy or quick route! Many young women lined up for the chance to become bride to the chief's son, who was not only handsome and brave, but a kind and gentle man who was good with animals and spoke their language. He was known for being wholley honest, and always talked 'across the pipe';speaking truth.
  The day of the race came, and one young woman who had been playmates with the cheif's son, had always loved him because of his gentle ways and knowing him, she felt they belonged together. She took her place at the start of the race along with the many other
strong and athletic girls who all coveted the honor of being chosen as the young man's bride. And the race was on!
  Far and long they ran, and many fell by the wayside from exhaustion, but the girl who had been the young brave's little friend, kept pushing on, until she came upon a wounded baby hawk, who seemed to have a broken wing. It pained her to have to stop, but it pained her more not to, and so she gathered up the little bird and gently folded him into her pouch and tucking it secure below her ribcage, ran on with the injured hawk chick knowing that she could bind the wing when she returned to camp.
She'd lost much time, however, and most of the girls had passed her by. But on she ran, until she rounded a large rock and heard cries of 'help!'--she ran to where she thought the voice had come from, to find an old Grandmother who had fallen into a deep gully and could not get out. 'I'll help you Grandmother!' she called, and searched until she found a log and rolled it into the gully longways, propping it up against the cliff edge. 'I'll hold the log, until you can climb up far enough for me to reach you, and then I can pull you out!' Which she did, when the old lady had climbed up the log far enough to grab her hands, and with a hefty heave, she hauled the woman out of the ditch. 'Thank you, young one! I'll be fine now, it's not far for me to walk. You go on and run your race!' And so the girl ran on, although the sun was now much lower and no other contestants could be seen.
  Of course, when she made it back to camp, she was the last one in. All the tribe was there, the chief, and the beautiful young Indian brave were gathered around a huge bonfire, waiting.
  'You are late, and you are last!' the chief said to her, as she came panting up to him, taking the bird out of her water pouch.
  'I came as soon as I could, I mean no disrespect. I found a young hawk, injured. I could not leave him, he needs his wing bound.' She showed the chief and his son the poor bird.
  Just then, the Grandmother she had helped stepped forth into the firelight. 'She means no disrespect. I fell into the gully and she helped to pull me out with a log. She is a good girl, and worthy of your son!' she said to the chief.
  'This is so?' the chief asked the girl, who nodded. And, smiling, the chief turns to his son, and taking his hand, and the girls, put their hands together. 'Because you showed kindness and mercy to others, and thought of yourself not first but last -- although you were last to run the race, you are first in the hearts of the People. You have a true heart, the heart of an eagle! And may your hearts now beat together as one!' And so saying, the young brave smiled into the tired but happy girl's eyes and said, 'I have always loved you, ever since we played together as children.'
 'And I, you!' she said.
 'Ah Ho!' said the chief, and it was done.
--The End!' finished Em, with a small smile.
                    . . . . .
'Yes..' Jack said, after a while. 'I have heard the tale. Slightly different, but it has the same message. That is the lesson of Percival's Quest, and the Holy Grail. The Return of the King shall come when humankind finds kindness within and is thus evinced without.' Jack sighed. 'If the day ever comes, before we destroy ourselves and the entire planet with us.'
'Are things that bad now, Jack?' Emmeline asked quietly.
'They have never been worse.' Jack admitted, unwilling to elucidate further.
'You mentioned...a Nexus point.'
Jack sat up, pouring more coffee for them both. 'We...are hoping, that at a certain time, we may be able to effect a change in the snowballing chaos that now has become the norm in the world. We have so little to go on, however. It's a shot in the dark.
But it's all we have. Clues, here and there. We are desperate, Em.' he paused and took a long drink.
'Otherwise, we never would have...done the things we did.'
'What brought the world now to such dire straights?'
'What else? Greed. Man's inhumanity to man. Wars. Compounded of course by dwindling resources coupled with overpopulation, causing climate change, drought, famine, and floods--a vicious cycle. My dear Em, you have no idea, thank the gods, of what unspeakable weapons of madness modern man hath wrought...'
'So, Mister Wells and Mssr. Verne were not so far off in their speculations...' Em decided.
'Spot on, I'm afraid.' Jack looked at her. 'But the turn of the 19th century was, IS, a time of great possibility--a different future was still possible then; and perhaps, still is.'
The company drank their coffee and fell into a somber and thoughtful reverie about the round table then.
'Well, I feel I must shift myself and clear my head' Emmeline said at last, pushing away from the table, and gathering the dinner things, 'I'll just take these in to the kitchen. I'm feeling in need of some fresh air. Care to join me, Alice, in a postprandial perambulation?'
Alice and the gentlemen all stood then, as Em and Alice exeunt, with 'We shall take a turn about the
house and not be long,'Alice took the empty coffee tray and mugs into the kitchen behind Em, and taking their coats from the hall closet, the two then
proceeded out of doors into the wild gardens about
the 'magically defended' Van Horn estate...
                  . . . . .
It was nearing dusk as the two friends went roaming in the gloaming together, amongst the straying tendrils of wisteria gone wild, now with winter's brown and winding branches. 'What a welter of uncontrolled wilderness this garden has become!' Alice noted as they pushed branches away that choked the walk in places.
'Rather like Jack himself,'Em commented.
'Do you truly think so?' Alice looked at her friend.
Em sighed softly. 'What can I say? Just how much of that exegete palaver has versimilitude, do you think?'
Alice said nothing for awhile, as they strolled on into the gathering shadows. 'Not only I, myself, but we both have been through some experiences of late that ventured rather far beyond the pale my dear.'
Em stopped a moment as they came to a break in the bush, and gazed at the dying sunset that had broken through the grey clouds. 'Yes.' She looked at Alice then. 'There's more to you than meets the eye, indeed, Al! Why did you never tell me of the incredible scope of your...adventures?'
'You said it yourself--'incredible!'--that's why,'answered Alice. 'Also...it happened so long ago, it sometimes seems just surreal to me now. I don't know...it's painful to think of Frank too much sometimes. There are things, I would prefer to forget.'
'Of course, oh, Alice--dear, I certainly don't mean to cause you any pain.'Em touched her arm, then put her arm through her friends', as they sauntered on.
'I know what you mean though, about remembering the past...I don't recall much of my childhood at all, certainly nothing before the accident. And after--I guess I just wanted to forget.' She looked over at the last glimpse of sunlight as it dimmed behind the cloudbank. 'Alice...I must ask, though--'
Alice, still gazing at the darkened path, made an inquiring 'hmmmm?'
'Why were you all so concerned about me when I...arrived here? I know I somehow 'lost' two days...how, exactly? Surely I wasn't unconscious all that time?'
Alice put her hand over Em's hand upon her arm. 'Emmeline. We all arrived here together, the four of us. And things seemed to be as they should. But, oh--I don't know how to put this...you began to, fade.'
'What do you mean?' Em stopped walking, and turned to face Alice, her face dark with shadows.
'Just that. One moment you were lying on the couch, and then you became sort of transparent. Then you faded out altogether. For some time.' Em looked down at the dark nothingness that was now their surroundings. 'Jack and Aleister, and I, of course, about went mad then, trying to get you back.'
'Did I 'fade out'--for two whole days?'Em demanded.
'No, dear, no! You seemed to fade in and out again,
not that often, but you were unconscious off and on as well. Sometimes, when you were wholley 'there' you were sortof talking in your sleep. But we couldn't rouse you fully. We each took care of you, and sat with you by turns, until your final renascence at last.'
Em took all this in silently as they continued around the garden and headed back to the house. This was becoming altogether too much, she thought. She was so weary of being someone's lab experiment! '...trapped like rats in a pyramid on Mars!' she muttered.
'What's that, Em?' Alice was becoming concerned.
'Oh, nothing. Just something my father used to say...'
Emmeline looked into Alice's face, now just silver and shadow in the dark. 'Alice. You know why Jack and Aleister came to Pankhurst? Why they wished to meet us?'
'Well, Em, as I understand it, from Aleister at least, and what I can glean from Jack's jibberjabber,
 they want our help in averting some awful calamity they fear may happen in the future...'
'Alice, doesn't this make you at all nervous? Don't you question this, this--mad science?' Emmeline paused and stopped, staring at the mansion house which squatted and sprawled before them.'You realize of course, that the only reason they have us here, is because of our relationship to Frank and my father!'
Em stared at the ground then, and began walking. 'We're being used, Alice.'
Just then, they beheld a red glow in the dark, next to the stairway leading to the house. Someone, Aleister probably, was smoking a cigar. 'Keeping an eye on us,' Emmeline discerned.
'Well, what should we do, then?' Alice stared at the red glow, perceiving some wisps of smoke in the half-light.
'Al, surely we're not altogether at their mercy, are we? Besides, even IF, and it's a huge IF, in my opinion--if there is something in the future that must be avoided, we've already given them what they wish!
They have my father's things, all that's left of them. They know where you have Frank's files kept.
I'm sure they can access about anything with their...
nefarious devices and machinations! They don't really need us any longer! I'm for getting out of here. How about you?'Emmeline stopped and faced her friend.
Alice looked at the dark glow in the distance where Aleister stood smoking, unaware of their plans for extemporaneous defection. 'Perhaps you're right.' she admitted at last. 'As, well, fond as I was becoming of Aleister, he doesn't inspire complete confidence. We don't really know these men all that well, it's true.'
She looked at Em then. 'I might know of a way,' she confessed.
'Do you Alice?!' Emmeline was ready for action now.
'Yes. At least, I believe so. And it doesn't require breaking into that stronghold of a laboratory downstairs, either.'
Em sighed, relieved. 'Oh, good. That was the tricky part, I was thinking. Oh, Alice, I so hoped you would
see things in this light! And when you said you had traveled, timewalked, with Frank, I thought perhaps you knew the, well, mechanics of it.'
'We'll see...' Alice took Em's arm then and continued their stroll. 'Well,' she sighed, 'No time like the present!' She looked at Em, and Em at her, and they laughed suddenly at the variable truth of that statement. 'So. How about later tonight then?'
'Yes. Definately!' Em agreed. 'Where and when?'
'Meet me in my room...oh, rather late, I'm thinking, when they should be asleep. How about 3 a.m., then?'
'Sounds good. I'll be there.' Em agreed, as they
neared the house and could smell cigar on the wind.

'How was your walk, ladies?' Aleister crushed his stogie underfoot and retrieved the butt.
'Most refreshing!' Alice answered him, as the threesome climbed the broad stairway and together entered the foyer of what Emmeline and Alice now considered the 'castle keep', although they'd not be kept long now, Em decided finally.
                    . . . . .
It was nearing midnight when Emmeline,pacing in her room, was thinking about their escape to come; her anxious thoughts came and went uncontrollably and she debated still about her decision, although she still believed that it was the only choice to be made.To think that she had 'faded out'for two days! Goddess!
What if she begins to 'fade' again? She certainly wasn't given to 'fading' before she met Jack! Oh, to be free of all...this!...she thought, and to have an end to meddlesome men and their interfering at last!
She felt quite rejuvenated as she considered the night's contrivance to come, and the liberation it would finally bring!
She moved softy to her bedroom door and opened it quietly, listening, hoping that the gentlemen...('gentlemen' were they? she mused)would turn in early for a change...then she discerned the notes of a piano rising faintly from the parlor below. Who could be playing at this hour? Jack, possibly?
She edged around the door and out into the hallway.
Yes, definately music. Drat! She thought. Now what?
She decided to, well, put an end to it, wouldn't she, then...and headed on downstairs.
As she reached the foyer, and turned toward the parlor, she recognized the haunting notes of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. The old but well-tuned grand piano rang out, resonating with echoes as of great bells from a distance.
She paused at the doorway to listen, and could now see Jack's dark head bent over the keyboard, eyes closed as he played, swaying a little and pressing forward and back, working into the piano some wild
passion that he seemed to feel then, the volume rising and falling, until  he was playing quiet, hushed notes as he leaned back, with such an ineffable look of sadness on his face, Emmeline nearly turned to go; but just then, he opened his eyes and saw her there, and as he continued playing, his face became a mask of inscrutability.
Emmeline approached slowly, and stood next to and a little behind him, watching as he played the soft closing notes of the rhapsody; he then switched gears as it were, and began a different song, something she didn't recognize.
'What a lovely melody. Although it seems a bit sad. What is it, Jack?' she asked quietly.
'It's a 20th century tune, by Lennon and McCartney, called 'Yesterday'...' Jack played on. 'Shall I sing it for you?'
'Please,'Em answered.
Jack's fingers ran lightly over the ivories then as he intoned in a low voice,
'Yesterday...all my troubles seemed so far away.
 Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.'
 Jack extrapolated on the melody then, improvising almost a different tempo,  before coming back to the original beat.
'Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be.
 There's a shadow hanging over me...
O yesterday came suddenly...'
As Jack continued playing the somewhat melancholy yet sweet and somehow endearing tune, Emmeline felt her throat grow tight. Oh, why does he have to play this now? Why can't he just plunk out 'Roll Out the Barrel' or something, damn him!? she thought to herself. But, truly, she didn't want him to stop. Ever.
'Why, she, had to go--I don't know.
She wouldn't say.
I, said, something wrong, now I long...
for yes-ter-day-y...yesterday...'
and Jack let the notes die off slowly.
'It's beautiful. Is that how it ends, Jack?' she roused herself to comment.
'No. No, it just sortof played itself that way... tonight.' Jack sighed, and continued on with 'Claire de Lune', she recognized.
'How was your walk?' he asked as he played on quietly.
Jack had been in the lab when she and Alice returned and had remained there until the company retired to bed. He sighed, 'We'll have to watch Dr. Who together sometime...'
Emmeline was caught off guard. 'It was, good.' Dr. 'Who'? thought Em.' I... admit I needed some fresh air. I do hope you realize that I am unused to strong spirits so early in the day, Jack!
I, I wasn't feeling quite myself at the time...'
'Understood.'
'...Dr. Who? Is that one of your uncle's plays, then?' Em asked, all innocence...
Jack's fingers faltered abit as they both heard the Grandfather clock start to chime the Witching Hour. He stopped playing then, and closed the piano as the last chimes died down to echoes and only ticking remained. 'Ah,no.Not exactly. It's late. I hope I wasn't keeping you up, Em?' He looked at her at last.
The only light in the room came from the low-burning fire in the hearth, and, she saw, the curtains were open to the night outside where the full moon had now risen exuding a pallid silver glow. She looked into Jack's eyes, dark now in the muted light, trying to read what lay behind them, trying...to see the real man, and to know his thoughts and discern his true motives. 'No. No, I was awake. I just, came into the hallway and heard you playing then. I'm glad I did,' she smiled. It was true, she was glad she had seen this side of him. But she steeled herself for what she knew she had to do, despite.
'I'm glad you did, too,' Jack said, and took her hand suddenly. He looked deeply into her eyes and a small sort of frown came between his brows. He leaned forward and, he was going to kiss her, she feared. She turned her head away, and his kiss landed on her cheek.
'I'd better...go up to bed, now...' she flustered, and spun away from him, heading determindly away from the parlor and away from Jack, away, away...up the stairs and away from here; Oh, Jack, damn you! She thought, as she gained her bedroom door, and closing it behind her, she leaned against it and realized she was crying, silently...
                        . . . . .
The moon lay low in the hollow of night when Grandfather Time chimed the lonely hour of 3 a.m.
Emmeline roused herself from an armchair then;she hadn't dared to lie down on the bed, fearing she'd miss her assignation with Alice.
They had decided to keep their coats with them in their rooms, and she grabbed hers then and went to the door, and opened it. She put an ear to the crack and listened for any noises, then tiptoed to Alice's room next door.
The door was unlocked, Em went inside to find Alice, not surprisingly, bright-eyed and ready to roll, her coat with her. 'Ready Em? You're certain you wish to go through with this?' she whispered.
'Oh, yes. Alice I just want our old lives back. Don't you?' Em kept her voice low, but Alice could hear the longing still.
Alice nodded, and for a moment touched the locket she always wore about her neck, with a picture of Frank inside, Em knew. She smiled at Em then, took her elbow, and said, 'Come with me then. Quietly now!' The two women exited the bedroom out into the hallway and paused, listening. So quiet! They could even hear the muted ticking of the parlor clock from downstairs.
Down they crept and into the parlor. The fire had burned out by now and Jack had left the window curtains open she saw. There was just enough ambient light from the few electric lamposts outside to enable them to see. 'What now?' Em whispered.
Alice held her finger to her lips, listening.  After a moment's pause, she looked at the fireplace, with it's balcony of marble and mahogany mantlepiece, and the immense looking glass which covered the wall above it, the frosted fleur-de-lis decorating the corners glowed somewhat in the dim light. 'Help me move this table over to the mantle. Quietly!'
Em looked at her, frowning, but then softly stepped over to the other end of the heavy wooden table and together they hefted it up against the side of the fireplace. 'That'll do. Now the chair,' said Alice as they lifted a hearthside armchair up against the table.
'Follow me,' said Alice, and to Emmeline's astonishment, she actually crept up onto the seat of the chair, and from there, onto the table; and reached down a hand to her. 'Come on, Em.'
Well, I asked for it, didn't I? thought Emmeline, and hoisting her skirts, followed Alice up their makeshift stairway til they both stood on the tabletop.
Alice's head was craned forward, listening. Only the Grandfather clock persevered in counting time's continual passing. Al blew out a relieved breath of air, then whispered, 'Alright then, Em. Here we go, follow me!' and holding out her hand to Emmeline, they stepped from the table onto the mantlepiece. Alice and Emmeline paused, and looked at one another. 'Ready?' asked Alice. Em nodded. Alice inhaled deeply and put her hands upon the surface of the looking-glass, which to Emmeline's shock, became rather fluid, and Alice's hands passed through and into the mirror, followed by Alice herself.
Em swallowed in a dry throat, and stepping up to the glass, 'mirrored' Alice's actions and was still surprised when her own hands went through the glass like water. She closed her eyes as she stepped through, and disappeared, following Alice into the other side of the looking-glass.
The parlor they left was empty now and quiet. Very quiet. The Grandfather Clock had quit marking Time.
                       . . . . .
...how about 'Laura' by Oscar Peterson...