{"sf1_id":830887,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Finding a Pen Pal","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":3615,"posted_at":"2015-03-15T15:46:00.000Z","tags":["FAMILY","Human","Plot Development","Story Progression","Werewolf","london"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/830887-finding-a-pen-pal","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/830887","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=830887\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#95 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"                Maggie\ngrabbed the card back and stared at it, and then off towards the direction the\nlittle man had gone. She stared for a long while before turning back to the\ngroup.\n                \"You\nknow, I was going to say something really stupid right now, but then I was\nthinking that maybe it wasn't so stupid.\"\n                Edward\nsucked in a long breath and held for a moment before blowing it out. \"And what\nmight that be?\"\n                \"Well,\nI was thinking the Edward Hyde is the name of the villain in the book, and Dr.\nJekyll was the good guy, right?\"\n                \"Yes,\nmore or less. Mr. Hyde was the bad side of the main character. But the key here\nis that those are only literary characters, written a long time ago.\"\n                Maggie\nwas looking at the card.\"I know that. The author was Stevenson, right?\"\n                Her\ngrandmother spoke up. \"Yes. I remember father had a copy of it in the palace\nlibrary. It was a very interesting story. I'm afraid I haven't read it in many\ndecades.\"\n                The\ngirl sniffed the card. \"And there is no way a fictional character can come to\nlife, is there?\"\n                Edward\nsmiled. \"Not even with our powers, strange though they are and at times unpredictable,\ncan anyone create something out of nothing.\"\n                \"Right.\nBut you can create characters from real life can't you?\"\n                \"Meaning?'\n                \"Meaning\nthat I have a vague feeling that this little guy is a lot more than he seems.\nLouis Belfour. The name isn't familiar. And yet I think it should be.\"\n                She was\ncorrect, for the more he repeated it in his mind, the more it stuck.  He finally grabbed her cell phone, and once\nhe waved down a waitress and got the wifi login, he punched up the name. He\nstared at the screen for a moment, and then turned it so that she could see it.\n\n                \"Well\nI'll be damned. You don't think it's a coincidence do you?\"\n                \"Nothing\nin my life is left to coincidence anymore kiddo. The real question is what are\nwe going to do with this information?\"\n                Everyone\nelse was still in the dark over what they were discussing. Alexei cleared his\nthroat. \"Would you care to enlighten the rest of us? Who was that man?\"\n                \"I\ncan't say for certain of course, but I think he was leaving us some clues on\npurpose.\"\n                \"What purpose?\"\n                \"That\nis what I wish I knew right now.  If I'm\nright, and I think Maggie agrees with me, he could prove to be as dangerous as\nAlbert Fish or the cardinal, and maybe even infinitely worse.\"\n                Kathryn\nspoke. \"I get where you're going with this, but as you said, Mr. Hyde was a\nfictional character. The man who wrote that book died over a century ago.\"\n                \"So did\nmy grandmother and her siblings, and yet here they are. We know that Leonardo\nis still alive, making him the oldest of The Kind. So I am not putting anything\npast anyone at the moment. If this really is Robert Louis Stevenson, then he is\nvery, very old, and if his book is an account based on his life, then I think\nhis bad side would be inversely worse in comparison to his good side. And he\nwas very nice, don't you think?\"\n                There\nwas momentary silence. \n                \"So\nwhat are we supposed to do now?\"\n                Alexei\nwas quick to answer. \"I think we should just leave him alone. I have heard of\nno real trouble in London as of late, so I would think that he has his problem\nunder control, assuming your suppositions are even close to being correct.\"\n                Maria\nlooked thoughtful. \"You may be correct, but there could be more afoot here than\nappearances allow. Remember our linage.\"\n                \"Our\nlineage means nothing these days sister. We are dead to the world, and we are\nbetter off for it.\"\n                \"That\nis not what I meant, and I think you know it.\"\n                He\ngroaned. \"We will not dredge that up. I say we leave and act as though we never\nmet this man. If not for an act of fate, we would never have met in the first\nplace. All this can do, if we drag it out, is open up a lot of old wounds and\npossibly rend some new ones.\"\n                Maggie\nheld up her hand. \"Wait. What the hell are you talking about?\"\n                Anna\nshushed her. \"Watch you're language dear. We are in public.\" She lowered her\nvoice even farther. \"Are you unaware of who you're great, great grandmother\nwas?\"\n                \"Sorry.\nI didn't go back very far in the genealogy. There was a lot of crisscrossing\ngoing on. I didn't think there was much point at the time, and I haven't had it\non my to-do list since.\"\n                Her\ngrandmother looked around to make sure no one else was listening. \"Our mother\nwas a wonderful lady by the name of Alexandra. She was born with the name and\ntitle of Alix of Hesse and by Rhine.\"\n                \"OK. If\nthat's supposed to mean something to me, I'll admit I'm drawing a blank.\"\n                Anna\nsighed. \"So much history will be lost to the ages at this rate. That old book,\nwhatever they call it, needs to be updated. Mother was the daughter of a queen\nyou know.\"\n                \"No, I\ndidn't know. Which one?\"\n                Anna\ncleared her throat. \"Queen Victoria.\" \n                \"What?\nThe queen of England?\"\n                \"Shhhhhh!\nYes, that Queen Victoria. Haven't you ever heard about the royal disease?\"\n                \"Yeah,\nbut they said it was...\" Maggie looked incredulous and dropped her voice. \"You\nmean that the modern royals might have the same, errrr, condition that we do?\"\n                \"They\nmight. They are cousins after all. Not everyone has it. But there is a chance\nof it being the case. Alexei is worried that our presence here has suddenly had\na decided twist. I for one agree. If this little man is indeed the famed\nauthor, and he is as old as that would make him, who else with the werewolf\nability lurks in the shadows of London?\"\n                Maggie\nwas considering things. \"Well, I have heard that they like to hunt. They do\nhave a private estate. It might explain a few odd things that you hear about\nthem from time to time. And the present queen is old...and her mom was like what,\na hundred when she died?\"\n                \"One\nhundred and two to be precise, which isn't all that old, depending on who you\nare. Like you have seen, the traits are variable. Leonardo is remarkable, but\nhis preservation is outside of the normal capacity for even the strongest\nwerewolf. But Mr. Hyde, or Belfour, or whoever he happens to be; if he is really\nthe creator of Jekyll and Hyde, and the potion in the story has its foundations\nin reality, then there might be something we need to know about him.\"\n                Edward\nstood up. \"I'm going to use the restroom. When I get back, I want you all to\nhave come to the conclusion that we will return to sightseeing and forget about\nthis guy. I for one don't wish to mess up my upcoming nuptials. I've had my\nfill of violence and mystery to last me a lifetime.\"\n                He\nfound his way to the closest lavatory and installed himself behind one of the\ndoors. He did have to go, but his reason for leaving the table was because his\nhead was starting to buzz. He had a feeling it was something trying to come\nthrough to his brain, and he didn't want anyone to know. He had been dealing\nwith these visions for a while, and they often threw him a curve ball. He\ntended to see what he expected to see, and not anything more. They were as good\nas useless to him, like seeing the fuzzy transmission of a television station\nfrom a foreign country featuring a show in some language you didn't understand.\nYou might recognize the images, but you had no idea what any of it meant.\n                He sat\nthere, closed his eyes and concentrated with all his might. He could see the\nlittle man, and he did seem to have a tenuous connection with the book, though\nwhether that link was weak from the passage of years or from something else he\ncouldn't tell. He tried to branch out from him and see where there might be\nmore connections, but everything just sort of faded out. It seemed like his\n\"spidey senses\" were as useless as ever.\n                But\nthen he saw a face; a hideously contorted face, full of anger and rage. It was\nfrightening to behold, and not because of the lupine, feral features. It was\nfrightening because those features were lacking, and the expected appearance of\nthe acceptable werewolf look was gone, to be replaced by those same features\ndevoid of fur. It was an exaggerated human face, pulled out to length like\nputty, and yet all the more horrible for the pale skin and beady, red eyes.\n                He\nshuddered. He had enough of this. He was torn between the desire to keep moving\nforward and the nagging wish to have life return to the way it was. As angry as\nhe was with his parents, he was beginning to understand what they had been\ntrying to save him from. The life of a werewolf was hardly a pretty one, not\nwith all of the characters he kept bumping into. Like calls to like. That was\ntrue. He had to wonder just how many of The Kind there were hiding out in plain\nsight. \n                He\ncould also see the flaw in gathering them together. Maybe his plan, like the\none his grandparents had tried to carry out at Wolf Creek was nothing more than\na schoolboy fantasy. It was probably best to keep everyone who had the ability\nto change as far away from one another as possible.  The elders, and he was including the\npossibility of this little man among them; they had survived by staying low and\nout of sight. And yet, this notion riled him. He didn't want to be forced into\nhiding by what he was.\n                As\nusual, his thoughts just made him angry.\n                He\nflushed and opened the door to the stall. He nearly ran into the little man he\nhad just been contemplating.\n                \"Oh,\nhello again!\"\n                The man\nsmiled. \"And hello to you.\"\n                \"I\nthought you had left.\"\n                \"Oh, I\nforgot that I wanted to get some confections for a friend of mine, so I\nbacktracked to have the counter prepare a box for me. The journey home is long\nenough I decided that emptying my bladder was a practical idea.\"\n                \"And\nyou weren't following me?\"\n                \"Following\nyou me dear boy? Why ever would I follow you to the loo? I know where your\ntable is at upstairs.\"\n                \"Nothing.\nJust call it mild paranoia.\"\n                \"Ahh.\nNothing like a little paranoia to keep you healthy and alert. There is no value\nto being complacent in life. But if you'll excuse me, I need to make use of the\ntoilet behind you and be on my way. You have my card son, so don't be afraid to\nlook me up.\"\n                \"OK\nRobert, I will.\"\n                \"Good\nenough then.\"\n                Edward\nstepped to one side and headed up the stairs. The look on his face was\nunreadable to those still gathered around the table.\n                \"What's\nwrong?\"\n                \"I ran\ninto our little mystery man at the restroom.\"\n                \"And\"\n                \"We had\na brief exchange, which amounted to nothing really, except for one thing.\"\n                \"And\nthat was?\"\n                \"I\ncalled him Robert and he didn't flinch or correct me.\"\n                \"So you\nthink he really is Robert Louis Stevenson?\"\n                \"I\ndon't know. He might just be hard of hearing and paid no notice to what I said. But\nI think maybe we should look him up. I have this vague uneasy feeling that\nthere is something we can learn from him that he wished to impart. Then again,\nI might just be full of shit.\"\n                Maggie\ngiggled. \"Didn't you just come from the bathroom?\"\n                \"Shut\nup Mags. Think about the Jekyll and Hyde story. If it's based on something that\nhappened in his life, don't you think that it might mean something?\"\n                \"Maybe,\nbut he was a writer and maybe a story is just a story.\"\n                \"And\nmaybe it's not. He still seems keen on us visiting him, though he hardly\npressed the point. I say we do our sightseeing while we can, because who knows\nwhat this next can of worms is going to be.\"\n                \"There\nare more of us than there are of him,\" Alexei pointed out. \n\"True, but then he knows the city\nand probably has connections with others of The Kind.  We don't need to have a battle going on for\nno good reason. I say we visit a few places and then make our way down to this\naddress.\"\n\"As you wish. I for one am torn as\nyou are; between taking the safer path of ignorance and the  wilder one that leads to knowledge. I think\nthat I would be more concerned about those things I do not know, than those\nthat I do. Does that make sense?\"\n\"Complete sense. They say you'll\nregret the things you didn't do over the things that you have and you may have\nfound less than appealing.\"\nAnna smiled. \"I might argue with\nthat, but I will consent to let it pass. I understand the premise behind it.\nAnd so yes, I think that a polite conversation with this gentleman might prove\nconstructive; at some point in time. If nothing more, he will prove to be as he\nappears to be. If he is one of us, I would rather acquiesce to his desires, and\nif they be that he is left ignored in whatever hole he occupies, then so be\nit.\"\nMaggie was nodding. \"I don't think\nthis can wait. But what shall we do about the royals?\"\n\"We leave the royals alone. There\nis nothing to be gained from antagonizing them. Relatives or not, they would\nprobably go catatonic once the facts were laid out for them. Truth is well and\ngood, but a large dose of unexpected and unwanted facts will never go over\nwell, especially not in an instance like this.\"\n                \"Whatever\nyou say grandmother. I can see your point, but I still think it would be\ninteresting to make our presence known.\"\n                \"Once\nyou are married and on your own, you may do as you wish. For now, please bow to\nthe wisdom of your elders.\"\n                Maggie's\nreply was to stick her tongue out.\n                Edward\nstifled a laugh, knowing the older woman was right, and yet loving the sheer\nimpudence of his bride-to be. It was still odd to think that she was truly\nolder than she looked, for she clung to immature mannerisms like a drowning man\ndoes a life preserver. It made dealing with her a constant challenge, since you\nnever knew how she was going to react to a situation. But having seen her\nability to age her body, he had to think that she was somehow stuck in this\nnotion of her being a juvenile\n                Oh, she\nwas probably physically what she seemed, for he was beginning to understand the\ndelayed maturation of The Kind. He was an exception because he had his normal\ntransformation interrupted by the chance presence of silver in his body. It\nmade him feel a little better about their interactions, something he constantly\nreminded himself that she had initiated. Looking back on it though, it wasn't\nlike he hadn't been enjoying himself all along.\n                There\nwas a mild argument going on around him, and since it was nothing important, he\nslipped farther into his remembrances. \nShe was amazing in the way she could change form, though he was\ncertainly taken in by her seemingly natural body. That was about as taboo as\nthings got, and with her calling him father; well that had been the ultimate in\nsocially unacceptable behavior. \n                It was\nquite the turn on.\n                But\nthen, his recent history was filled with such things. While it was true he did\nlong for those earlier days, now that he put his mind to it again, his life was\ninfinitely more interesting now than it ever could have been unaltered by that\nsingular, incessant need to follow after her on the fateful, dark night. He\nknew that already, but being thrust into this role had given him little time to\nprepare.\n                He\nchuckled quietly.  Thrust. He had been doing an inordinate amount of that, to be sure.\nHe was glad his new form came with a seemingly unlimited supply of sexual\npower, because she certainly had a lot of it too. He looked up to gaze at her\nand found everyone staring at him.\n                \"What?\"\n                \"Why\ndid you laugh just now? Is our conversation so amusing?\"\n                He\ncould feel the color rise to his cheeks. \"No. Sorry, but I was thinking\nsomething that made me laugh. I wasn't listening to your argument anymore.\"\n                Maggie\nsaw his eyes, and the fact that his pupils were dilated. \"Oh were you now? Then\nwhy don't you agree with my side and see what happens.\"\n                \"Not\nwithout knowing.  I'm learning a little\ndiscretion.\"\n                \"Fine.\nI said that you and I could go down to meet this fellow and find out what he\nis. The others can do their sightseeing and well meet up at a hotel later on.\"\n                \"I\nthink that would work fine. If there is danger, then that would reduce the risk\nto only those least likely to come to harm from it.\"\n                That\nbrought forth a flurry of complaints as to who was and who wasn't vulnerable.\nEdward held up his hand. \"Look. I have the metal inside me. I might as well put\nthat to good use. And Maggie is a lot tougher than any of you give her credit\nfor, except for Leonardo, and he's not here. This is our decision, and if you\ndon't like, too bad, because there isn't much you'll be able to say or do to dissuade\nus.\"\n                Alexei\nagreed. \"Let them go. I have faith in them. They have not gotten this far and\nmanaged to reconnect this family without going through extreme peril and even\ndeath. We have no right to more than our opinions on the matter, and after\nthat, the decision is theirs. If they wish to go, let them go.\" Despite his\nwords you could see he was filled with dread.\n                \"Then\nit's agreed. We'll head to this address and you go enjoy yourselves. With any\nluck this will be quick and we'll join up with you in less than a day's time.\"\n                \"That\nlong?\"\n                He\nchuckled. \"I have a feeling that if this man is who I think he is, then his\nstory is not going to be a simple hello and goodbye.\"\n                Maggie\nagreed. \"Just think! If he is the famed author, what has he been doing with his\ntime for the past hundred or so years? And what link does he have with\nwerewolves? I can think of a thousand questions for him, and that's probably\njust the tip of the iceberg.\"\n                \"Fine,\nfine. Go. But I have misgivings about this.\"\n                \"Grandmother,\nyou have misgivings about everything. We'll be fine.\"\n                So they\nparted ways there at the table, with promises to keep in touch. Once outside\nthey flagged down a cabbie and gave him the directions. He gave them an odd\nlook but immediately pulled out into traffic like a pro and wended his way\nthrough the crowded streets until he made his way to some of the lesser\ntraveled routes.\n                When\nthey finally pulled up in front of the old brownstone, if that was the proper\nterm for it, it fit just what they had imagined it to be. It was old, but not\ndecrepit, showing its age from the numerous layers of filth covering the\nexterior but still showing itself to be in good repair. Some of that grime,\nshould a person cut through it with a knife, dated back to the dark days of\ncoal soot and debtor's prisons.\n                They\npaid the fare and stepped up to the front door. They rang the bell and waited.\nIt took a moment, but then they heard light footsteps from within. A lock or\ntwo clicked and the door opened with a faint creaking noise. A pair of eyes was\nvisible in the resulting crack.\n                The\ndoor then swung open all the way. \"My friends! I didn't expect you to come so\nsoon! I have so few guests these days. It is good to have someone new to talk\ntoo.\"\n                \"There\nwas some debate about whether we should come or not, but the wiser minds\nprevailed,\" said Maggie with a grin.\n                \"Good,\ngood! Don't just stand there, come in. Will you walk into my parlor?\"\n                Edward\nfelt a chill. \"Said the spider to the fly?\""}