FOR ALL HUMANITY

Raindrops spattered against the yellow caution tape surrounding the Hayward residence, on Barberry Road, near Stone Mountain, Georgia. The front porch light shined but felt dim compared to the motorized spotlights brought in to illuminate the dark wet property. Crime scene technicians worked like ants, chaotically photographing, dusting, and labeling anything that seemed unusual. They were dressed in all black, unified by navy windbreakers with SID detailed on the back. The Security and Investigations Division was an elite FBI task force responsible for investigating unusual cases. They had clearance at the highest level and already secured jurisdiction over the scene from the local municipality by the time Olivia Cox arrived.

Olivia sat in the back seat with her legs crossed, gracefully looking out the window. She was an elegant woman with blonde, shoulder-length hair and bangs. She wore a navy-blue Saint Laurent belted trench coat and Hermes gloves. She was in her early sixties but looked presumably younger. Despite her favorable appearance, Olivia had a reputation for being a renegade, blurring the lines of morality to finish the job. Before she retired, she spent nearly a dozen years working across several government agencies as a medium. Her methods were viewed as highly controversial and widely unconventional, but her record for solving the coldest of cases spoke for itself. Notorious for clashing with her peers, she preferred to work alone. Olivia was the strongest person she knew, and she felt other people just held her back.

Olivia closed her eyes, trying various channeling techniques to help guide her through what she was about to do, but her guides were silent. She opened her bag and pulled out the manila envelope that appeared mysteriously on her kitchen table Sunday Morning. Inside, one-hundred-dollar bills bound by a marked red currency strap totaling $20,000 and a note that read “Brian Noble - ᛗ-.” She knew this symbol was a mannaz rune and understood the implications of receiving such a message.

A quick nod to her driver signaled she was ready to get out of the car. After a moment, he opened her door. Her heels expressed dominance with every step across the masoned walkway. She walked with the posture of a supermodel, gliding past the investigators working on the front porch and stepping through their dusting pattern without care or hesitation. Inside the entryway, she saw Special Agent Brian Noble, former Marine and a twelve-year veteran of the FBI. They called him The Bulldog. He was a durable, stout man with powerful shoulders, chiseled forearms, and a cleft chin. His five o’clock shadow was awake at all hours of the day and highlighted by a bushy, dark mustache that Olivia found repulsive. It was also well-known Brian did not like Olivia and she loved that.

“You again? Olivia, I told you not to—"

Olivia immediately muted him with a wag of her finger as she walked towards the kitchen. “I won’t be long.” Her dismissal was cemented without as much as a look in his direction.

“Now, wait a minute. Wait one goddamn minute,” he said as he marched after her. “You don’t get to just waltz in here like you own the place and interrupt another investigation. Do you hear me? We have the entire property documented, doing actual detective work. I refuse to let you keep interfering with our investigations.”

“Are you done?” Olivia removed her gloves, neatly folding them before placing them in her jacket pocket. Her attention immediately shifted to the obscure symbol drawn on the lower cabinet.

“Am I done? Am I done??” scoffed Brian in disbelief. “You have some nerve.”

A SID agent appeared in the kitchen holding camera. “Sir?”

“What is it, Harley?” barked Brian.

“Same thing as Ohio. There is no trace of the homeowner. No recent footprints or fingerprints. Nothing disturbed except the symbol.” Harley gestured towards the cabinet.

“Harley darling, who reported her missing?” Olivia asked, pen pressed, ready to record the note in her little black book. The bends in the fine Italian leather were a celebration of her experience. Her book constantly challenged her to connect the dots while always reminding her to look for more. Her book was her vault, a citadel for her ideas and a canvas of limitless potential all framed within sleek rounded corners. Her book was the perfect partner.

“Harley, not a word, don’t give her a damn thing.” Agent Noble ordered with his arms crossed, his bulldog-like stubbornness on full display.

Olivia held up her hand. “Harley, would you mind if I have a word in private with Special Agent Noble?” Olivia asked as she leaned against the kitchen counter waiting for Special Agent Noble’s approval. He nodded.

“Agent Noble, this has become a very vexatious pattern. You know my reputation for not only working but cracking these types of cases. Your reluctance to accept my help is baffling.” Her nasal delivery lingered in the air.

“Reluctance?! To accept some psychic’s help?” he spat, emphasizing the absurdity. “Three people are missing- including my niece, random cult symbols, and you, Ms. Cox, keep showing up out of nowhere, meddling in my investigations and spewing your psychic crap. This is life or death lady, and you’re getting on my last nerve. Get off my crime scene.”

Olivia smiled and used the ribbon to open to a saved page, reread a few notes, and clapped the book shut.

“So, Theresa Daniels was your niece. That explains a lot. Agent Noble, you, like most FBI Agents, see the world from one lens, one perspective. But there are things beyond physical evidence that you miss, like metaphysical evidence. Cases like this one do not need one-dimensional detectives. I, sir, see beyond the frames of your limitation. I look through a prism of my own intuition. Brian, while your intentions are... noble, you simply cannot do this on your own.”

She anticipated Agent Noble’s objection and continued before he could raise it.

“Do you know why we are here, Special Agent Noble? I mean right here, in this very house?” Olivia points towards his feet. “Did you ever stop to think why this location is so significant? Serpent Mound, in Ohio, Cape Fear, North Carolina, Great Falls, Virginia. Did you truly stop and think about the connections, or are you too busy dusting for prints to really see what’s going on?”

“What are you getting at Olivia? I don’t have time for this.”

Olivia opened her black book, flipping to a diagram drawn across two pages. “I suspect the four locations where these girls disappeared correlate with powerful energy vortexes-”

“Are you kidding me with this shit?!” he blurted out.

Olivia, unfazed, reached into her bag and took out a road map of the United States. She pushed aside the half-eaten bowl of cereal forensics tagged as evidence and unfolded the map on top of the kitchen table. She grabbed the cereal box and flipped it on its side. With Cocoa Smacks as her ruler, she drew an “X” shape connecting the four crime scenes. Agent Noble put both palms firmly on the table and leaned in to examine the map.

“You were called to investigate these disappearances because your department suspected the symbols found were cult-related. They are not. They are druid emblems, representing the four elements. This one here,” she pointed towards the Cabinet, “is the earth rune. It’s no coincidence this earth symbol appeared near Stone Mountain, a place of major earth energy.

She paused, hoping the moment helped her explanation sink in. “Listen to what I’m telling you. The crime scenes are all equidistant, all in towns known for their great energy pockets,” she said as her finger landed on the map. “The place they all have in common, where their lines converge is here. The greatest energy vortex in the eastern United States. Pilot Mountain. That’s where you’ll find the missing girls.”

Brian sat down at the table. He rubbed his eyes hard. Olivia knew he was trying to make sense of it all.

“That’s a really nice story ya’ got there, but I need proof.” he threw his arms up. This was non-negotiable. “I’m a detective, lady. I follow the evidence. All this mysticism, vortex, mumbo-jumbo isn’t tangible. If I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.” He shrugged and slouched back in his chair.

“I can help you see.”

“See what, exactly?”

“It requires belief, Agent Noble.”

“Honestly, I don’t know what I believe. None of this makes sense.”

“That’s not good enough. You can’t see if you can’t believe. Your niece’s life, Theresa’s life, is at stake, Brian. We don’t have much time. We can save her before it’s too late.”

Olivia took hold of Agent Noble’s hand. After a second, he reluctantly relinquished control of his limb and stood up. They kneeled together in front of the rune drawn on the light green cabinet. The marking was shaped like an inverted triangle with a peg through its center and was written in mud. She asked him to close his eyes. His fidgeting told Olivia he was uncomfortable and struggling to settle into his faith. She touched the side of his cheek and wished him calm. His breathing settled. She ceremoniously joined her thumb and middle finger together, closed her eyes, and reached for the rune. The contact with the ancient symbol warmed her hand. The heat charged through her body. She was now its conduit, channeling and filtering its voice into communication that could be shared with Brian. Fully vested, her eyelids opened exposing her eyes, light blue, and pulsating. She reached for Brian a final time, softly reconnecting with his cheek. The contact sent his body into flux, writhing as the information downloaded from the ancient symbol, through its conduit, into an unlikely host. He pulled away to sever the bond, furiously crawling on his back trying to regain his sense of himself. He was sweating and wildly out of breath.

“I saw a mountain, felt the cold air, numbing my face. I saw the sky. How was that possible. My God, Theresa, she called for me!” His face fell into his hands.

Olivia and Brian walked out of the home on Barberry Road together. Her signature strut returned as she glided across the porch and down to the stoned walkway. Agent Noble, face flushed and more reserve in his steps followed. He ordered his team to shift their focus to Pilot Mountain, scheduling an immediate departure.

Olivia pulled her trench coat belt tight and retraced her steps back to the car. She settled into the backseat, pulled out her phone, and sent a quick text message.

It’s done. He’s yours – For all Humanity ᛗ

As the car pulled out onto the interstate on its way to the airport, Olivia felt the residual moments that lingered from her connection with Agent Noble. She saw flashes of him having lunch with his niece and kissing his wife. She relived him holding his son and celebrating his last birthday. She empathically experienced his joy, fondness, and love. As Brian’s memories faded out of view, she felt comfort knowing, at the very least, he got to experience some beautiful cardinal moments in his life while he had the chance.