Halloween Plans
“Halloween is close.”
“Mmhm.”
“Are you going to be doing research all night?”
“I’m reading, not researching.”
“I mean on Halloween. All Souls Night.”
This time, Lichtenstein sat up. He was re-reading the book Adia had given him for the twentieth time, but he was willing to bet his sister was after his attention. So he’d look at her, answer her questions, give her ten minutes and get back to reading.
“I don’t have much planned. Most of my current work is based on this side of the veil,” he told her. The first update she’d heard in about a month. Suddenly he frowned suspiciously. “Why? You didn’t get us invited to a dinner, did you?”
“Well, Mr. Werner was asking if you know his daughter...” When his face had paled adequately and he was just about to protest, she laughed and shook her head. “No! No, I know you’d only be rude and insult the poor girl.” She had to laugh again at his sulky scowl. “Anyway, I was going to ask if you’d do something for me.”
“What?” he grumbled, turning back to his book, a little irritated.
Helena calmed, looking almost serious. “I want you to scare someone.”
This only got him to look to her and frown more. “Who? And why?”
“There is a young, arrogant man called Johan Beike,” she told him eagerly, sitting forward in her seat. There was a glint in her eyes that he wouldn’t notice she ever had for some years to come. “He thinks he is a gift to women and brags constantly to his fellows. But as soon as he’s around the ladies, he is mister charming.” She sighed then as a storyteller sighs for the tragedy of a hero. “They don’t realise that he is a cruel man. He uses smooth words to pressure them, but when he doesn’t want them anymore he makes them so ashamed that they tell nearly no one.”
Lichtenstein lurched in his seat, the arms of his chair nearly creaking with the tightness of his grip. “Did he...?”
She blinked and sat back. “Me? No.” The relief as he sat back all but radiated from him. “But Martel, these are other men’s sisters, other men’s daughters. You have to...”
“No I don’t,” he told her firmly and tried to focus on the text in front of him. “I’m not going to go around fixing domestic little problems for everyone.”
“Then you’ll make me look a fool!” she snapped suddenly.
All this looking up and down was getting tiring. With a sigh, Lichtenstein put the book down gently on a nearby table and rubbed his eyes. “What have you done? If you’ve ‘put a curse’ on him, they’ll just think you’re a witch and burn-”
“I’m not an idiot, Martel!” she snapped again. Honestly. She did wish sometimes that he’d realise that he didn’t get all the brains. Again, she calmed down before she spoke. “He asked me to dinner one day.”
Lichtenstein straightened in his seat, his voice immediately a growl. “Helena...”
She shot him a look that screamed ‘I know what I’m doing’. “But I told him I should consult with God to see whether it was the devout thing to do. So I sat in a church for three days...”
“So that’s where you’ve been....”
“And I went to him again and refused. I told him that God had spoken to me and said that the vengeance of many was about to befall the man I spoke of.” She paused to look pleased with herself. “I added a bit about contempt for others growing hatred for him and something about it manifesting. Of course, I looked very clueless but obedient to God all the same. So...” She clasped her hands together and tipped her head to plead with him. “Please will you finish it off?”
He stared at her, stunned. Part of him thought he should probably be annoyed. Part of him was annoyed that this ‘Johan’ had gotten the chance to ask his sister out in the first place. Pushing these thoughts aside, he had to consider this carefully. She had been clever in using God, not any mention of spirits or the Devil or a randomly spouted curse. Yet if it never came to pass, nobody would take her seriously again.
“You haven’t been going to church. They’ll know you’re not devout,” he grumbled.
She clasped a hand to her heart and looked away, the picture of a dainty, innocent young maiden. “Oh, but Martel. You can’t imagine my shame. I could not bear to be present among the pure, kind-hearted masses and taint the crowd with my sinful presence. I must pray alone, mustn’t I? And try to live a good life. Not even go to all those immoral parties.” She looks at him and grins, breaking her facade. “That wasn’t because of my brother worrying for me, at all.”
Lichtenstein sighed and rolled his eyes. “You’re going to have to play the devout Christian for the duration of our stay here, you realise.”
Helena smiled and shrugged. “If I get bored of it, I’ll just make them think I’m a witch and you’ll be forced to make us move then.”
“Don’t even joke about it!”
She left him alone after that. At least she knew better than to specify what he should do. It was a little difficult though. He knew what scared people, and he knew many things he could use to make that night utterly terrifying. The difficulty was in trying not to go overboard whilst making the punishment fit the crime.
Ah, maybe he should just let Johan be chased by a playful demon until dawn.
“Mmhm.”
“Are you going to be doing research all night?”
“I’m reading, not researching.”
“I mean on Halloween. All Souls Night.”
This time, Lichtenstein sat up. He was re-reading the book Adia had given him for the twentieth time, but he was willing to bet his sister was after his attention. So he’d look at her, answer her questions, give her ten minutes and get back to reading.
“I don’t have much planned. Most of my current work is based on this side of the veil,” he told her. The first update she’d heard in about a month. Suddenly he frowned suspiciously. “Why? You didn’t get us invited to a dinner, did you?”
“Well, Mr. Werner was asking if you know his daughter...” When his face had paled adequately and he was just about to protest, she laughed and shook her head. “No! No, I know you’d only be rude and insult the poor girl.” She had to laugh again at his sulky scowl. “Anyway, I was going to ask if you’d do something for me.”
“What?” he grumbled, turning back to his book, a little irritated.
Helena calmed, looking almost serious. “I want you to scare someone.”
This only got him to look to her and frown more. “Who? And why?”
“There is a young, arrogant man called Johan Beike,” she told him eagerly, sitting forward in her seat. There was a glint in her eyes that he wouldn’t notice she ever had for some years to come. “He thinks he is a gift to women and brags constantly to his fellows. But as soon as he’s around the ladies, he is mister charming.” She sighed then as a storyteller sighs for the tragedy of a hero. “They don’t realise that he is a cruel man. He uses smooth words to pressure them, but when he doesn’t want them anymore he makes them so ashamed that they tell nearly no one.”
Lichtenstein lurched in his seat, the arms of his chair nearly creaking with the tightness of his grip. “Did he...?”
She blinked and sat back. “Me? No.” The relief as he sat back all but radiated from him. “But Martel, these are other men’s sisters, other men’s daughters. You have to...”
“No I don’t,” he told her firmly and tried to focus on the text in front of him. “I’m not going to go around fixing domestic little problems for everyone.”
“Then you’ll make me look a fool!” she snapped suddenly.
All this looking up and down was getting tiring. With a sigh, Lichtenstein put the book down gently on a nearby table and rubbed his eyes. “What have you done? If you’ve ‘put a curse’ on him, they’ll just think you’re a witch and burn-”
“I’m not an idiot, Martel!” she snapped again. Honestly. She did wish sometimes that he’d realise that he didn’t get all the brains. Again, she calmed down before she spoke. “He asked me to dinner one day.”
Lichtenstein straightened in his seat, his voice immediately a growl. “Helena...”
She shot him a look that screamed ‘I know what I’m doing’. “But I told him I should consult with God to see whether it was the devout thing to do. So I sat in a church for three days...”
“So that’s where you’ve been....”
“And I went to him again and refused. I told him that God had spoken to me and said that the vengeance of many was about to befall the man I spoke of.” She paused to look pleased with herself. “I added a bit about contempt for others growing hatred for him and something about it manifesting. Of course, I looked very clueless but obedient to God all the same. So...” She clasped her hands together and tipped her head to plead with him. “Please will you finish it off?”
He stared at her, stunned. Part of him thought he should probably be annoyed. Part of him was annoyed that this ‘Johan’ had gotten the chance to ask his sister out in the first place. Pushing these thoughts aside, he had to consider this carefully. She had been clever in using God, not any mention of spirits or the Devil or a randomly spouted curse. Yet if it never came to pass, nobody would take her seriously again.
“You haven’t been going to church. They’ll know you’re not devout,” he grumbled.
She clasped a hand to her heart and looked away, the picture of a dainty, innocent young maiden. “Oh, but Martel. You can’t imagine my shame. I could not bear to be present among the pure, kind-hearted masses and taint the crowd with my sinful presence. I must pray alone, mustn’t I? And try to live a good life. Not even go to all those immoral parties.” She looks at him and grins, breaking her facade. “That wasn’t because of my brother worrying for me, at all.”
Lichtenstein sighed and rolled his eyes. “You’re going to have to play the devout Christian for the duration of our stay here, you realise.”
Helena smiled and shrugged. “If I get bored of it, I’ll just make them think I’m a witch and you’ll be forced to make us move then.”
“Don’t even joke about it!”
She left him alone after that. At least she knew better than to specify what he should do. It was a little difficult though. He knew what scared people, and he knew many things he could use to make that night utterly terrifying. The difficulty was in trying not to go overboard whilst making the punishment fit the crime.
Ah, maybe he should just let Johan be chased by a playful demon until dawn.