Cashmere Botanical Gardens pt 4 midnight revels

The four of us walked back into the Gardens and towards the long buildings that had reminded me of class rooms. Doctor Thurston led us past rows of growing trays and glassed off rooms with biohazard signs on them until we reached a door with the legend Hadrian L Thurston MD on it. The doc slid a key in and we all piled into the cozy space. It was bigger than our security cubicle but not by much. Most of the space was taken up by bookshelves and the mahogany desk that Thurston planted himself behind. Carl stood at his right, and I took the seat across from him as Randy leaned against the wall near the door. Randy looked tired and unhappy to be there, but I guess when Carl called you, you answered the phone.

I don’t think I’ve talked a lot about Carl. He was a big bald guy, muscular through the chest, and the tattoos I could see on his arms led me to believe he might have been in the navy or the marines. He wore a handgun on his hip like it had grown there, and I could see the strap of some kind of rifle over his shoulder. The glasses he wore always looked a little fake, like a set piece to make him more approachable, and as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me, I felt like a kid called to the principal's office.

“So,” Doctor Thurston said, smiling amiably, “You’ve met the Bradylou.”

“A what?” I asked, the word sounding furry in my mouth.

“The Brandylou,” Doctor Thurston said again, “The Pale Ladies servants. She used them as her soldiers and emissaries, but their numbers are usually low. We normally only have to fight four or five of them, and usually not till summer. We were going to ease you into this part of the job, but it appears that you’ll have to be thrown in with both feet. She’s gathering power again, and instead of sacrificing her followers, she appears to be recruiting them this time.”

“Wait, you knew she was kidnapping people?” I asked, not wanting to believe it.

Carl looked ashamed, but Thurston’s mouth turned down into a sullen grimace.

“It was never very many, and it brought on the constant summer that makes the Gardens thrive. It usually takes between eight and ten in a year, but we’re up to eight already, and spring is just beginning. This has gone on long enough, and if we don’t act now, we may never have another chance. It may be too late already, but I have to hope not.”

He turned his full attention back to me, and his regard was more than a little uncomfortable.

“Tell me what you saw, don’t leave anything out. If we have to go to war with this thing, I need all the information I can get.”

I told him what I had seen, and by the time I was done, Gabe had come back.

He interrupted my telling as he came into the office, talking about how the police hadn’t been able to find anything, but Doctor Thurston shushed him so I could go on.

When I finished my story, the old man looked thoughtful.

“They're farther along than I had thought they would be. She’s been planning this for years, drawing her power, placating me even as she made plans to escape.”

“Sir?” Carl asked, “What's she planning?”

“They’re building her a conduit. Whatever those old priests, or whatever they were, did to keep her locked inside that statue, she’s trying to break it. She wants to walk the material plane again, and who could blame her?”

He looked up at Carl, accessing him for a long moment.

“Can we get any more help?”

Carl scratched his chin, seeming to run through their options, “Harlow and his boys said they wouldn’t help us after last year's debacle. Romeo owes me a favor, but it would take weeks to get his unit here without raising suspicion. Rustle and his “Minute Men” could be persuaded, but it would take grease, and lots of it.”

Thurston nodded, his smile returning though it looked strained, “Sounds like we might be on our own this year, then. Might be time to come up with another plan, I suppose.”

Carl shrugged, “We’ve held out with less. You and I held that island one year, as I recall.”

Thurston cackled, “Yes, but we were both five years younger.”

He turned back to me, but I believe he was accessing all three of us as his blue eyes bore into the troops he had.

“I won’t lie, boys. What we’re suggesting will be dangerous. This is nothing like we’ve faced in years past, and we all might very well become sacrifices for her to step over. If that's the case, then that's the case, but I won't ask the rest of you to throw your lives away. If you stand with Carl and I, I can promise you both that the Gardens will never forget what you’ve done, I will never forget what you’ve done.” He said, putting emphasis on the last.

“I’m in,” Randall said, and I was surprised at how fast he agreed. He didn’t even know what he was going to be asked to do. Or did he, I thought to myself. Randall had been here for a few years, just like Chuck. Maybe this wasn’t the first time he’d had to do things like this. I looked at him to try and get some clarity on what exactly we were going to do, but he didn’t seem to want to look me in the eye. I took it to mean that this wasn’t his first rodeo, and told the Doc that I was in too. Gabe didn’t take much convincing after that; he was young and wanted to be seen as an equal.

With that, Doctor Thurston had his devotees.

The doctor smiled, pilling a pad of paper over as he detailed the plan.

“We’ll close the park today, and reconvene tonight. Carl and I will get everything ready so we don’t walk in with our pants down. We’ll go back tonight and parlay with her. My father always kept her at bay, and if we put down a few of her friends, she will see reason.”

I must have made a face, because Doctor Thurston laughed.

“Don’t worry, kid. I have no intention of leading us into a suicide mission. I’ve got a trick up my sleeve, something that kept my father from succumbing to her little pets for decades. We’ll put on a show of force, let her know who's boss, and the status quo will be maintained. Everyone get some sleep and meet at the gate at midnight. We’ll get ready and go hold court and be open again for the weekend. She’s had her pound of flesh this year, and it’s time this came to an end.”

We dispersed after that, daylight mere hours away. Carl and Doctor Thurston stayed to make plans as Gabe and Randy left to get the laters SUV. Gabe was all a chatter about the night to come, but Randy looked like he didn’t know what to say. I walked with them as far as the parking lot, the police cars and ambulance now gone, and told them I would see them tomorrow.

“See you later,” Gabe said, but Randy asked me to wait.

He looked at me, his mouth opening and closing, but he seemed unsure of what he wanted to say. It was like he’d walked into a room and forgotten what he was looking for, but that wasn’t quite it. It was more like he had noticed the elephant in the room, but didn’t know how to tell me it was right there. He kept opening and closing his mouth for a few seconds, Gabe telling him to come on and that he wanted to get back home, before he shook his head and said it was nothing.

“We’ll see you tomorrow.” he said, hopping back in and pulling out of the parking lot.

I got in my own car and left too.

It would be nice to get some night sleep for once.

April 7th

I woke up around noon to a text from Carl.

“Don’t bring any firepower tonight. I can provide you with one. Meet at the front gate at twelve pm on the dot. I wouldn’t eat beforehand, sometimes these things are best done on an empty stomach.”

The rest of the day seemed to drag by. I tried to sleep, but I was too keyed up. I tried to pass the time playing video games or watching TV, but it was like I just couldn’t get into anything. My brain seemed to hyperfocus on what we had to do tonight, which was strange since I had no idea what that actually was. Were we attacking the things I had seen yesterday? Were we going to threaten a marble statue with our guns? I didn’t know, and it made me anxious. I was no soldier and I had never experienced anything like this before.

When it finally got dark, I got in my car and drove to the Botanical Gardens.

It was seven thirty, but I couldn’t stand to be in my house anymore.

Despite Carl’s warning, I stopped for fast food on the way.

It was a sucky last meal, but it was comforting somehow.

I ate it in the parking lot, watching the benign walls of the brooding structure as it sat at rest. It looked so quiet now, but I was sure they were already moving about in there. The sign they had hung on the gate read, “Closed for Family Emergency '' and I wondered if it would still be there tomorrow? The park could be closed for longer than expected, depending on the outcome of tonight's events. I hoped it would go well, and I was comforted somehow by the knowledge that Doctor Thurston and Carl had done this before.

Somehow, as I sat there worrying about all this, I fell asleep like a kid waiting for New Years.

I didn’t wake up again until someone tapped their knuckles on the glass of my driver's side window.

Carl seemed amused to have found me snoozing, “Hope you’ve got your wits about you kid. It’s almost time to go.”

I climbed out, looking around before I saw everyone else over by the gate.

“Doc wants a word with everyone. Head over for the briefing while I get our gear from the truck,” he said with a little wink.

I nodded, heading over to the gate to meet with the others. Randy was smoking, Gabe chattering animatedly to the two older men, and Thurston nodded as I approached. They all looked a little nervous, but we all seemed ready for what was coming.

At least, I thought we were.

“Good to see ya, kid. Now that we’re all here, lets go over the plan. Under no circumstances,” and he looked pointedly at Gabe when he said it, “are we to go in here guns blazing. We are going to parlay, to offer a renewal of the existing deal with the Pale Lady. If it comes to blood shed, then we will, but I’d prefer to remain civil. She’s been willing to talk the last few times, and I want to keep that line of communication open. Randy, you take up the rear with Carl. Kid, you and Gabe take my sides. We’ll head in and get this done so we can all be fresh when we open up tomorrow.”

“You said you had something up your sleeve,” Randy mentioned, tossing his cigarette as he watched the old man carefully, “Mind bringing the rest of us up to speed?”

Doctor Thurstan looked at him and I thought that he looked a little distrustful.

“I’ll keep that till the times right, if it's all the same to you, Randy. Carl, are you ready with the gear?”

Carl coughed and I jumped, not having heard him come back, “Yes, sir.”

He had a big green duffle bag over one shoulder and as he opened it, he took out several pump action shotguns. They were a lot nicer than anything I had at home, and when I checked the slide, it appeared he had preloaded it. He handed me a handful of shells and told me to put them in my left pocket. Gabe chuckled as he took his, the kid probably having never held anything bigger than a pistol. Randy accepted his without much comment and the five of us set out.

The park was quieter than usual, the muzak gone and the water features silent. It took a few minutes to put my finger on it, but I realized that the trees had been silenced as well. I had gotten so used to hearing facts about local trees that their absence should have been obvious right away, but I was so keyed up that I guess I just hadn’t put it together. The whole garden seemed to be holding its breath to see how this would turn out, and as the lily pond came closer and closer, I saw them arrayed before the concrete plinth.

The objects they had built were strange. Sculptures of odd geometry and peculiar angles dotted the pond, and before the plinth was what looked like a small stone house with a window that peeked onto our world. From that window, I could see the statue, and as we approached it turned its neck gratingly and looked at us. Gabe flinched noticeably, but this was just a typical evening for me.

“Ah, my jailer has come to parlay. What do you want, old man?”

Doctor Thurston stepped into the pool and the four of us followed him.

“I have come to renegotiate our deal.” Thurston said, still smiling placidly.

“Renegotiate?” The lady said, “The deal was ten years and then I would walk the plane again. I have kept my end of the bargain, but like all humans, you are grasping. Our deal is complete, mortal, and I am free to walk the earth.”

“Not so fast,” Thurston said, “Allow me a chance to renegotiate our deal. It was never part of the deal that you should hunt so well, but you have. It was never part of the deal that you should take my people to fill your ranks, but you have. You have not suffered in all this time. I have made you a fine cage to amuse yourself and given you shelter from,”

“DO NOT SPEAK HIS NAME!” she bellowed.

“What I’m saying is that you are comfortable here. Why not stay a little longer? You are immortal, and I am old. What's a little more time to a being that has all time?”

She looked through her window and appraised him critically, “What are your terms?” she asked.

She had barely gotten the words out when Carl kicked me in the back of the knees.

I went sprawling in the lily pond, losing my gun in the muck as I tried to make sense of it. What the hell was going on? Carl was on me then, forcing my hands behind my back as he held me in place. Randy didn’t move, but I could sense that Gabe felt a little torn about what was happening. Maybe they hadn’t brought him into this part of their plan, but he was in it now, I supposed.

“Gabe, don’t do anything stupid.” Carl warned, “Sorry, kid.” he added, almost sounding remorseful, “I like ya, but this is business.”

Randy stepped up to cover the old man's left, the place Carl had been a moment before, and Doctor Thurston cast a hand at me like a game show host showing off prizes.

“Meat from my table, just I have always offered, if you will keep our deal for another year.”