Turning the tables

Chapter 14 - The plan

As I opened my eyes, I understood three things simultaneously. First, that I was currently laying with Bill on the couch, second that it was early, and finally, that I had more questions in my work than I did answers. I yawned as I sat up, careful not to wake Bill as I got off of both him and the couch. I couldn't help but smile at how ridiculous Bill looked, sprawled out on the couch with a thin trail of drool sliding down the side of his chin. I quickly went upstairs, grabbed my phone from my room, and returned downstairs in time to snap a photo of Bill. I giggled as I looked at the picture, walking away and into the kitchen. I made myself some coffee before heading upstairs and sitting at my desk. I suddenly heard the pitter-patter of paws and looked over to see Freud attempting to climb the loft stairs. He was most likely hungry, and so I scooped him up and returned to the kitchen, quickly feeding him some milk and meat before returning upstairs to my desk, the Hedgett lounging comfortably across my shoulders. I picked up my pen once more, staring at the pages of my journal. When I realized just how much work I actually had to get done, my motivation immediately drained and I wanted nothing more than to just go back to bed. I sighed, trying to figure out a plan about how to get it all done. I started to make a list of what exactly I needed to figure out.

1. What exactly were those shadow figures I had seen in the woods, and what was their deal with the crystals?

2. What was the moon demons' plan?

3. What exactly did Periculosis do to Bill?

and finally,

4. If only Bill could open 'illegal' portals, then how the hell did William appear outside the window, and why did he move me closer to Bill?

I sighed, my work already looking hopeless. The only way I could get any sort of answers on any of these questions was to investigate, however, investigating anything other than the shadow figures would most likely be impossible, and I didn't exactly want to press Bill about his trauma for fear that I would cause him to break down. Finally, I went and got my satchel, taking out the crystals and placing them across my desk. I examined them, debating whether or not I should look at them under a microscope. I decided that I would since If I could figure out what exactly these were made of I could maybe figure something out about the shadow figures. I made my way down out of the loft and towards my closet, pulling out boxes. I searched around for my microscope, heating plates, and other things that I had bought for some of my scientific experiments. While I was doing that, I found some of my old journals and set them aside, deciding that I would read some of them later for nostalgia. Once I found the correct box, I brought it to my corkboard room and set up my equipment, making sure to grab my phone from my desk. I quickly went and got the crystals, my journal and my pen, then returned to the corkboard room. I broke a small piece of the crystal off and placed it on one of the slides. I put the slide under the microscope, making sure it was properly secured before looking through the eyepiece, using the focus dials to adjust how well I could see the crystal. I wrote down in my journal that the crystals seemed to be made of salts, small traces of gold, silver, brass and some sort of black metal or mineral, as well as large amounts of irradiated iron... each of these things, could be considered 'Holy', except for the black metal, which was usually associated with unholy things, from what I could tell.

I cringed as I wrote all of that down since I wasn't really religious, and I had no intentions of becoming so. Though, on the off chance that those shadow beings really were some sort of demon, and these really were 'angel crystals' as Bill called them, it was useful to have knowledge of certain religious practices, like having holy water around, or saging/smudging a house or space to rid it of evil or negative energies. I chuckled at the thought of saging Bill's room, just to see what it would do. Would it get him high? I shook my head, chuckling at my own thoughts as I took another small piece of the larger crystal and placed it on another slide so that I could compare the two. I switch the two slides and examined the new piece of crystal. This one had more traces of the black mineral, and fewer traces of gold than the previous, leading me to make the assumption that the amount of each metal was random, and that any of the other kinds of angel crystals would most likely be very different as well.