Ritual Room
The room inside is dark, mainly because it's been painted black. Slightly fluorescent symbols cover the walls, ceiling and floor, along with a pentagram inscribed in a magic circle, with even more strange symbols within it. Bowls and jars full of colorful powders line the side of one wall, and tall candle holders stand at each corner.

Today is a special day. Today is the day Zahnrad and Parsley will be linked together with Parsley's sister, Clover. Why? So that they can travel into her mind and see things as the Lapi does, and experience what she did so that they can learn what happened and how to fix it. To accomplish this, Madame Natasha agreed to perform the appropriate ritual. "Amelia, since vou are not part of dis ritual, vou must sit in ze corner. Parsley, Zahnrad, sit in ze middle of the room and hold hands, please," the Khatta notes as she unpacks several things from her bag. The first of which is a series of chalks.

"Uh, okay. You're certain this is safe to do?" Zahnrad asks in a nervous chitter as he sits down in the middle of the room. He sits fairly still … except that his tail is twitching a mile a minute.

Amelia does one step better, and sits just outside the doorway. Parsley seems… excited? Jittery? She holds onto Zahn's hand and says, "I've never done anything that involved magic before. But Amy said it would be fine, right?"

"Well, I hope it'll be safe," Zahnrad admits with a small shrug. "I've not done anything with magic either."

"Stop worrying," Amelia says. "I'll be right here if anything goes wrong," she promises, although what that means is anyone's guess since the Kadie can't do magic herself.

"It vill be fine," Natasha notes calmly as she goes about drawing a circle around the pair. Once the circle is in place, she switches to a red chalk and works on intricate symbols all along the outer edge. "All dat I vill be doing is forming a union between vou three for a short bit. Spiritually speaking, vou three vill be one person. Dat is how vou kin share her experiences."

"Woah, what, wait? I'm going to be part of Clover?" Zahnrad asks. He looks … ill.

"And me," Parsley says. "Really, it's only… two and half people as one."

"No physically. Just relax. Ze bond will only be temporary. Dere is no reason t' make it permanent," Natasha notes as she works. The symbols keep growing in complexity and intricacy. For the layman, it seems like a mage is also expected to be an artist.

"What, two and a half? Who's the half?" Zahn asks.

"Clover and I aren't that different," Parsley notes. "So… together we'd just be like one and a half instead of two."

"That's silly," Zahnrad notes.

The Lapi's ears droop a bit. "Why would you say that?" she asks.

"You're a full person," Zahnrad tells Parsley.

"So is Clover, we just… share a lot in common," Parsley asserts. "That's why I'm coming along, remember?"

With a glance to Amelia, Natasha says, "Do ze witches of Stonebarrow do much with spiritual union? I understand dat in Sylvania many people gain dere abilities by union with some sort of spirit." She then stands and returns her chalks to her bag, then draws out a bottle with some crimson liquid in it and walks over to the two.

"Yes, but I like you better than Clover," Zahn notes with a grin. "You're not mean to me."

"Well, some do," Amelia says. "It depends on the local spirit. Some witches can just be sorceresses, and call on it. Others require… deeper connections, like ours does. I don't have the spark for magic, so I can't bond with our spirit."

"I can be as mean as Clover, and she can be as nice as me," Parsley says, eyeing the red liquid. "That isn't blood, is it?" she asks Natasha.

"Dere are ways to develop de spark. If you are interested, perhaps ve can discuss it later," Natasha tells Amelia. Natasha's attention returns to Parsley and Zahn. "No, it is vine … but it vill require a drop of each of vour blood and den both of you must drink from it. It vill help make vou two very distinct to me in case I must sever de connection quickly."

The Khatta then holds up a long, thin, needle. "Finger, please," she tells the two.

Zahnrad almost looks green. "You want us to drink each other's blood?" he says weakly. "That's gross."

Parsley winces and closes her eyes, but does hold out a finger.

The prick on Parsley's finger comes quick. It's sharp, but doesn't last long. Natasha squeezes out a few drops of blood into the flask of liquid. She repeats the procedure with Zahn's finger. The flash is swirled slowly in her hand. "I hope vou do not mind vine," she says.

"I like wine," the Lapi notes, before sucking on her pricked finger. Amelia pipes up suddenly, asking, "Natasha, could you do the same by just kissing them instead of drawing blood?"

"Ves, but I don't make it a point of kissing or having people kiss each other. Dat's Lili's pleasure, no mine," Natasha notes. She offers the flask to Zahnrad, then says, "Drink."

Looking rather, well, grossed out, Zahn takes the flask. Slowly, he takes a drink from it, then offers it to Parsley. "Geh. Even though I can't taste it … knowing there is blood in there is … blech," he complains.

"I've had weirder things in wine," Parsley mutters, then takes a drink as well, before offering the flask back to Natasha.

"Like what?" Zahn asks Parsley.

"Pickled frog eyeballs," the Lapi says. "It's a long story."

Natasha takes the flask back then sits down near the two. "I vill begin vhen you two are ready."

"You're a lot freakier than I ever knew," Zahn admits to Parsley. To Natasha he says, "Ready."

"Ready as… as ever!" Parsley says, nodding her head.

Natasha holds out her hands as if cupping something and begins to chant in a melodic and unknown (to them) language. The chanting continues … and continues, and continues. It seems like an age (though really it's about fifteen minutes), before the pair in the circle start to feel something. The sensation is hard to describe. It's not unlike feeling thousands of tiny little pricks all over their skin. It's not painful at all … just a bit disconcerting. In Natasha's hands … three small balls of light float and dance. Two of the balls appear in similar shade and size, twins. The other one … well, it's different, a strange chaotic array of colors and uniform protrusions from it.

Parsley and Amelia both lean forward a bit to get a better look, being fascinated by the magic.

As chaotic as the third of the two may look, it moves in very rigid and deliberate movement. Her hands spread apart and the three balls float there for a moment. They then float over and above the Lapi and Kadie's joined hands, spinning slowly.

Zahnrad looks … well. He looks as one would expect an engineer to look at something magical; he looks stupid.

One of the twin balls floats towards the chaotically colored one. For a moment, they touch … then the two slowly flow together. It's at this moment Parsley and Zahnrad feel very strange. For both of them, it's like they're seeing double … except that for Zahn it's like he's seeing himself as if he was sitting across from his own body. For Parsley, it's the reverse, she sees herself sitting across from her body. But it's all very indistinct, because for both of them, they still see the other as well. So this is what it is like to see through two sets of eyes at the same time. It's slightly nausea inducing.

For better or for worse, Parsley decided to forgo eating before the ritual, just in case. It doesn't do anything to diminish the vertigo-like sensations though.

Zahnrad looks … well, he looks confused. "Why is everything so loud?" he complains. Well, he must also be hearing a bit through Parsley, too.

Natasha glances towards Amelia, pausing the ritual. "And now I sync in Clover. Once dat happens, dey will be in her mind. Here, vell, dey'll just sit like zombies," she explains.

"And I forgot to bring ink and a brush," Amelia says, smirking.

"Oh, vell, if vou'll be bored, I kin occupy you," Natasha says and grins a bit too ferally. Her head rolls back to the two before her and the chanting resumes. This goes on for a couple more minutes … and the third ball of light finally moves towards the joined others. When it contacts them, there's a flash of light. Well, it seems like a flash of light to Zahnrad and Parsley anyway. To Amelia … it just looks as the last two did when they merged. When their eyes clear, Zahn and Parsley and floating in darkness; in limbo. At least they can see and feel each other, though.

After the dizzying sense of their brains spinning around inside their skulls, Zahn and Parsley find themselves in an odd room. At first, it seems to be a chamber carved out of chalk, but then at the same time it also seems to a room inside a palatial mansion. Shadowy phantoms of Lapi children fill the room, milling around and bumping into the two.

Zahnrad lets go of Parsley's hands. He can't help but blink a few times to try and clear away the dizziness. He then rubs lightly at the back of his skull, making sure his brain didn't spin out, or something. "Where the heck are we? What is this? Who are these kids?" he babbles.

"We shouldn't linger," Parsley says, looking gloomy. The whole chamber has a somewhat melancholy pressure to it. "These are the children Clover and I will never have," she says quickly, and then heads for the open doorway.

"If you can't have children, then build something else to fill your life. That's what we do," Zahnrad says as he looks around at the odd specters. "But then, we're also not Lapis. I've never really understood your kind." With a sigh, he follows after Parsley.

"It's not like that," Parsley notes. "We can have children, we just aren't allowed to." The chamber opens into a grand hallway (that is also a dark dusty chalk tunnel) lined with doors, statues and paintings (or, again, just chalk). "I suppose we showed up in there because it's the greatest area of overlap between me and Clover."

"You could always join up with the Gypsies. I bet they would let you have children," Zahnrad notes as he follows along. "Why am I seeing both chalk tunnels and real walls?"

"Because we haven't gone far enough along for me and Clover to be different enough," Parsley reasons, and starts down the hallway. "Once we get to where it's always a mansion, we'll be in Clover's territory."

"Er, why would it all being a mansion represent Clover?" Zahn asks, looking rather confused. Behind him his tail flicks about.

"Because, she's the ambitious one," Parsley explains, a bit shortly. They come to an intersection, where the hall branches off to the right and left. Parsley heads left without even pausing.

Zahn just continues to follow Parsley. "Are you mad at me?" he asks after a bit of uncomfortable silence.

"No, this is just… difficult for me," the Lapi says, turning to look over her shoulder at Zahn. "You're in my mind – part of it, anyway. The faster we get to where you and Clover mesh, the more relaxed I'll be."

"Sorry?" Zahnrad offers. He's really not good in dealing with people at times, and this is one of the times. "I guess these are things you don't want people to see about you? I promise I won't tell anyone about them."

"Mmmm," Parsley buzzes noncommittally, and pauses at another intersection. This time there are stairs, and she chooses the flight going upwards. "You and Clover are a lot alike you know," she comments.

"Now that I doubt," Zahnrad counters as he starts up the stairs. "The only reason she even tolerates me at the moment is because she sees me as her savior right now. When this all ends, I'm sure she'll hate me again."

"You don't look much past the surface of people, do you Zahn?" Parsley asks at the top of the stairs. The hall is stable now, with no flashes of chalk tunnels. "You're both ambitious, and put that ambition above almost everything else in your life. You want to be remembered, revered, respected – and you want to get out of Stonebarrow in the bargain."

"I don't want to be revered, I just want to get out of Stonebarrow and do something with my life," Zahnrad notes, through a bit quieter. "And I don't put it above everything. Well, not anymore, anyway." He takes a moment to rest here and leans against the wall.

"But you used to," Parsley points out. "You and Clover also have Amelia in common now too. The fact that Amy turned to admire your ambition while dismissing Clover's made her feel… inadequate? Maybe it's what drove her to seek out Buffy."

"That's silly. Clover has a lot more going for her than I do. She certainly has a lot more reason to stay in this town, most everyone else likes her," Zahnrad says with a shrug. He can't seem to bring himself to look at Parsley though, and instead stares at the floor.

"She'll never be more than she is now in this town," Parsley says, a bit softly. "Once someone takes her place, that'll be it. And that will happen as soon as she's too old to still be cool."

"Oh," Zahnrad says. That he understands. "Well, then she needs to find her own path and define herself not with how others see her, but by her own means and her own ways. That's what us Wingnuts do. We've been on the wrong side of Stonebarrow for so long, we just, well, we define ourselves as we want. It's hard to explain." He waves his hands a bit, adding, "And if she isn't cool anymore, that doesn't mean others won't still want to be around her. You certainly will. And as much as I complain about her, well … I'm here. If she needs help, I'd help. I just… geh. I can't even explain that. Stupid desire to fix things; if not being cool was a machine, I could fix it."

"It's all different for girls, Zahn," Parsley says, simply. "Let's keep going, I hear gurgles down this way." The Lapi takes the rightward path from the stair landing.

"It doesn't have to be different, though," Zahnrad says as he follows the Lapi again, "I think you do that just to frustrate guys. Like how Gunther deliberately tries to irritate me."

"He just does that because he craves your attention," Parsley says. "Be nice to him, involve him in things, and he won't resort to bad behavior to get you to notice him." The sound of gurgling can be heard by Zahn now, and some of the details of the hallway are changing as well: exposed pipes are showing up, some of them venting puffs of steam. Gears appear at random on the walls, and clocks have replaced the paintings.

"Djivan likes to irritate me too, and I don't think he craves my attention," Zahnrad counters, though a bit weakly. His attention is distracted for a bit as he starts to look over the piping and the gears. He almost comments how they serve no practical purpose … but lets that drop. "Parsley?" he asks.

"Yes?" the doe asks, pausing to look at Zahn.

"I'm sorry that bad things happened to Clover. I'm sorry I couldn't fix them when I found her. When I first saw her I … I don't hate her, Parsley. Yes, she can make me mad, but … when she was hurt all I could do was try and think of ways to help her," Zahn admits and looks at the floor again. He absently rubs at the back of his neck before continuing, "I hope she comes out of this okay. I don't even care if she yells at me or hits me … I just hope she'll be okay."

Parsley smiles and holds out her hand. "I hope so too, Zahn. We wouldn't be here otherwise, right?"

Zahn takes Parsley's hand. "Right," he says.

The machinery-mixed-with-mansion motif gets more apparent as the pair continues on, until finally the hall opens into a grand ballroom of sorts. Underneath each sparkling crystal chandelier floats a machine of some kind. Nearest is a now familiar, if odd, 'flying machine'. It spins in place, and sometimes is solid and sometimes made of lines and numbers. Occasionally it 'explodes' to reveal more detail, and parts can be seen to move and spin and slide inside of it. To anyone not used to visualizing something like that, it would probably cause a headache.

"Ugh, this stuff is giving me a headache!" Parsley complains.

"This is actually how I see stuff in my head," Zahnrad comments and taps the side of his head for emphasis. I can visualize how something is assembled and broken down, down to sizes and spacing." He can't help but stop and look over the 'flying machine', making mental notes of the various design sizings and placements. "I know I've seen some of this stuff before."

"Well, that's fine and all, but how do we get rid of it?" Parsley asks, not getting too close. "It must be what's overwhelming Clover, trying to keep all of this… going like it is."

"Well, I think we have to find Clover in here first. I mean, something has to be feeding this into her mind. We just need to, well, unhook it somehow or redirect it," Zahnrad comments after a moment of thought. He can't help but reach out and touch the image of the flying machine. Resisting it is just asking too much.

Upon touching the image, the entire thing folds up into a booklet that fits in the palm of the Kadie's hand.

"Handy!", Zahnrad declares. He then drags Parsley around by her hand and tries to 'collect' all of the diagrams floating in the room.

There are plenty to collect, too. Some are familiar: the heating and cooling systems from the underground kitchens, for example. Others defy description, and seem to deal with machines that are more than merely mechanical, and only then just parts of them. There are pumps and motors and things that may be chemical formulas and mixing instructions. It isn't obvious how all of them work, not even to Zahn, but the pair of travelers is at least making good progress along the ballroom. Zahnrad's arms are full of little booklets by the time they reach the far end.

There they find Clover, hunched over in front of a cold fireplace and clutching something to her stomach. On the mantle above the hearth, the message 'No more blood from a stone' is written in Clover's own blood. Her hair has been replaced by bundles of glowing wires that seem to just fade out after a bit, instead of having distinct ends.

Zahnrad kneels down by Clover. He sets the pamphlets aside for the moment, then reaches out to touch the doe's shoulder. "Clover? It's me, Zahn. We've come to help you," he says quietly. His eyes look down to what she's clutching to her stomach, wondering just what it could be. The wires coming out of her head, well … he's not sure what he can do about that … yet.

Parsley also kneels down opposite, and just hugs her twin. Clover looks up, her eyes bloodshot and baggy, and holds out what she was hiding to Zahn, even though it's a bit bloody. It appears to be a notebook. Written on the cover in the same scrupulous print that all Wingnuts use for annotating designs is written: Notes 6040-6041 A. W.

"A. W. Wait, this looks like something a Wingnut has done," Zahnrad says quietly and takes the notebook from Clover. He starts flipping through it slowly. "What happened to you?" he asks quietly.

Every page in the book says the same thing over and over: Find Me. Clover shudders, and whispers, "The pale men took me… far. Down and down. They… " here the Lapi pauses and chokes, as if unable to say more.

"Who was A. W.? Why does he want to be found? The W. is a Wingnut … but who is A?" Zahn murmurs as he flips through the pages. He closes the book and tucks it into his shirt. "they must have hooked you up to something that fed this stuff into your head," Zahnrad says as his attention shifts back to Clover. He reaches up and takes some of the wires into his hand, feeling them. "I wish they had taken me instead of you. I might have a chance understanding all this and be okay. You … you aren't used to this sort of information. I'm not even sure how to unhook it from your head." His other hand goes to her chin and he tries to lift it so he can look into the Lapi's eyes. "Please try to tell me more. The more I know, the more likely I can figure something out."

"B-blood," Clover mutters, looking at Zahn in either fascination or terror. "Blood from stone. It makes no sense, but they sang it. But they don't have voices! They sang to me! And then they put me into a chair, and it… burned me. It hurt so much!" She reaches and tries to tear the wire-hair out herself, but is clearly too weak.

Zahnrad curls his hand around one of the sets of wires, with a slow and steady pull, he tries to see if he can disconnect a bundle. If Clover shows any sign of pain, he'll stop. "I've seen references to blood from a stone before, and something called the Overseer," Zahnrad confesses to Parsley. "I've been trying to unravel what it means. I think at one time there was an extremely intelligent race that lived under us. They had technology far beyond anything I've ever seen before. I've been trying to understand some of what I uncovered in some writings, but … anyway, something bad happened to them. I don't know if the pale men are what is left of them … or is what destroyed them."

The wires are rooted deeply into the Lapi's scalp, and she cries out when they're pulled. Parsley gets frustrated, and takes a bundle of the wires in hand. After a moment of thought, she simply bites them, sawing through with her massive incisors. Amazingly, it seems to work! Severed wires become hairs, while the disconnected strands just fade away.

"Drat. I was going to try to plug it into my head to see if I can learn more," Zahnrad complains. With a sigh, he goes about biting through the bundles now too, to disconnect Clover. Afterall, Clover is the goal. If he has to sacrifice knowledge … so be it. Just don't expect him to be happy about it.

It takes time, and tastes bad, but eventually Clover is freed from the wires. Her body seems to deflate as the tension leaves her muscles at last, falling into sleep.

Zahnrad then scoops up Clover into his arms. There he just holds her. One hand lightly pets over her scalp. It's a rather uncharacteristic sign of compassion from Zahnrad in many ways. "Just sleep and forget," he whispers to her. "The nightmare is gone. You're free."

"I hope that's all we -" Parsley begins to say, and then is interrupted by a horrible grinding noise from the walls of the ballroom. The pipes and other mechanical components are pulling away from the rest of the structure.

"I guess without it funneling into her mind, the machinery is going to fall apart," Zahnrad says flatly as he stands. "If you can, grab those pamphlets. I'll carry Clover out of here." He starts looking for a quick way out.

"I can't pick them up," Parsley says, slightly panicked as her hands pass right through them. The Lapis are both starting to look a bit spectral to Zahn now, just as the fancy hall begins to give way to something like an airship hangar.

Zahnrad looks at himself. If they're fading, he should be too, right? Quickly, though, he tries to hand Clover over to Parsley. "Get her out of here," he tells her, "Clover said they wanted me anyway. I don't know what this is … but they might be sending you out. I'll find a way out, somehow!"

Parsley takes her sister, and looks more insubstantial now, while Zahn… appears quite solid, as do the hangar and booklets. "Our spirits must be separating!" Parsley calls, although her voice is barely a whisper at the end, before she and Clover fade out completely.

"Looks like you're on your own in here now, Zahn," Zahnrad tells himself, trying to sound brave. In reality, he's quite on the verge of having a panic attack. Not sure what else to do … he kneels down and takes the pamphlets himself.

It only takes a moment for the world to change, as the saying goes. In this case, it's true. Zahnrad blinked while he was picking up the pamphlets… and when his eyes reopened, he found himself looking at the stone floor. "Uh … " he starts to say.

"Did it work?" Amelia asks from the doorway, looking to Natasha. "They woke up so soon!"

"That vas fast. Connection held only about five minutes or so. But in ze mind, time flows differently," Natasha notes quietly from where she sits by. Hovering above one of her outstretched hands are those three spheres of light again. Her hand closes around them and they puff from existence. "They separated on dere own accord. Day implies part of the link was undone. I kin only assume whatever was holding Clover to Zahn was severed."

Zahn taps his clawtip on the floor. "Amelia. You know a lot about my clan history, I think. How many have had a first initial of A, other than my father?" Zahn asks oddly.

"What? Uh, I don't know, other than old Abner, the clan founder," the Kadie says, looking confused by the odd question.

Parsley manages to get to her feet, if shakily, and says, "I need to go see my sister."

"The dates match that name then. Dagh," Zahnrad says and looks up, then gets up. "He might be still alive. He might be part of this somehow. Clover found one of his notebooks, dated 6040-6041. And if you're going to Clover, we are too. I want to check on her."

"He isn't alive," Amelia says. "I know that! I grew up with his head hanging in the meeting room." She gets out of the doorway quickly so the others can leave.

"Don't be so sure," Zahnrad tells Amelia as he heads towards the doorway. "After we leave here, we're going directly to the archives. If any of his papers still exist within the clan, that's where they should be."

"Vou're velcome," Natasha says bluntly as everyone suddenly seems to be in a hurry to leave.

"Oh, sorry, Natasha! I am grateful! This just opened up more questions and Dagh, I have to get an answer. Thank you!" Zahnrad chitters at the Khatta before darting out of the room.

Amy pauses, then turns around and gives Natasha a big hug! "ThankyouthankyouMadameNatasha! Ioweyouonebigtimejustaskifyouneedanything!" she chatters.

The hug catches the Khatta by surprise. She shakes her head quickly to settle herself, then tells Amelia. "Dangerous thing to offer me, Miss Blacktail. I vill call upon vou someday, den," she says with a typical enigmatic, and creepy, smile of white teeth.

---

By the time the Kadies and Lapi reach the guest bedroom of the castle, Clover is already awake and propped up by extra pillows. Igor has removed the restraints that kept her from sleepwalking, and is trying to get her to drink down some soup.

Zahnrad raps his knuckles on the doorframe. "Clover?" he says quietly as he peers into the room, looking worried.

Parsley doesn't wait for a reply, and rushes right in and up onto her sister's bed. "Be careful," Igor advises. "Thee'th thtill groggy from the thedativeth."

"Parrrrr," Clover slurs, perking up at the sight of her sister. "Go' into so' bad scumble," she says, and pats her bandaged head with one hand. "Made my 'air fall out. Gotta… kick Emmett… for me."

Zahnrad walks in, hands held behind his back. "Does she remember anything?" Zahn wonders, "Or is she back to hating me?." "You were in pretty bad shape when I brought you up here," he says quietly, "Glad to see you're getting better, though."

"Heyyy, Zany," Clover says, smiling and trying to wave, although it's clear she doesn't have very good control of her limbs yet. "And Aaaaaameeeeee. Did we have a party together?"

"She's zonked on the Doc's happy-sleepy juice still," Amy whispers to Zahn.

After nodding to Amelia, Zahnrad sits down on the side of the bed. "Something like that. I think you took a wrong turn. You ended up in my workshop. When you wouldn't wake up, I carried you to the best doctor in the area. We've been keeping an eye on you since then to make sure you got better."

"Pleathe, be careful what you thay around her," Igor says, trying to get the Lapi drink more of the soup. "Thee'th in a very thuggethtable thtate right now."

"The dam?" Clover asks, pushing away the soup to rub her head again. "I must have been drunk. Did… did I get my hair caught in something?"

"I don't think so. Looks like you caught it on fire, actually; small burns. I bet you fell into one of the torches the otters like to put out when they do parties or something. We're not really sure, though. Couldn't figure out where it happened and we did look," Zahnrad says with a small shrug, "Sorry I don't have a better answer for you. I'm sure it'll grow back."

"I'll thee that it doeth," Igor promises. "If you'll drink your thoup, that ith." Clover squeaks and takes the mug of soup, draining it down in a single gulp. "I'll stay with you until you're all better, okay?" Parsley tells her.

"I love you Par," Clover says, looking droopy again already. She hugs her sister, and says, "I don't deserve you."

Zahnrad stands. "Well, you get better," he tells Clover, "You gave Amelia and I quite a scare."

"Sorrrry," Clover mutters, and falls back asleep in Parsley's arms.

"If you have a moment, see me in the hall," Zahn tells Parsley. The Kadie then steps back out of the bedroom. He nudges Amelia to follow.

"Well, now she'll think what you told her is probably what happened," Amy whispers to Zahnrad out in the hall. "Did you find out everything you needed from her already?"

"As much as I could get from her. The trolls did hook her up to some sort of machine that fed information into her mind. Somehow that information is connected to an A. W, which I think was Abner Wingnut," Zahn tells Amelia quietly out in the hall. "I think my ancestor had connections to the trolls, or was hurt by them before, too. The only two words from him I saw in there were 'Find Me'."

"Find him, specifically?" Amelia asks, a bit nervously. "We've got his head. Took it down for that big dinner and all, but it's still there… "

"And the phrase we've seen before: Blood From a Stone," Zahn adds, "That was sung to Clover by the trolls."

"Well, I want to find his section of the archive first. I don't see how his head can help us … unless," Zahnrad starts to say, "Unless we check it for the same burn patterns on the scalp."

"They can sing?" Amy asks, as Parsley joins them and closes the door behind her. "She's asleep," the Lapi reports. "Igor says she should wake up tomorrow and be okay."

"Zahn nods to Parsley when she returns. "Good. It's probably best if you don't mention anything we say or what really happened to her," he tells Parsley, "Best that she not know the risks we did." To Amelia, he says, "Somehow. They don't have voices, she said, but they still sang. I don't understand it either."

"She could have just been babbling too," Amy points out. "Between the drugs and whatever was done to her, I'd be leery of anything she said while you were all tied together."

"Given we've seen the same phrase, I tend to believe it," Zahnrad says with a shrug. "Anyway, I want to see Abner's head, then I'm going to the archive. I need to understand what he knew, and how."

"Okay, if you really want to," Amy says, and turns to Parsley. "Did you want to see it too?"

"Ah, no thanks," Parsley says. "I'm going to get some things and come back here to stay with Clover if that's okay. It's been weird enough today as is."

Zahn pauses for a moment. "Igor?" he calls into the bedroom, can you come here a moment?" To Parsley, he nods, noting, "I doubt it's a problem if you stay. Just … watch out for Rey."

"Who?" Parsley asks, as Igor sticks his mismatched head out of the doorway. "Yeth, young Marthter?" the Skreek-skeek inquires.

Zahn drops down to his knees and bows his head to Igor. "Humor me," he says, "Check my scalp for any pattern burns like Clover has, please."

"Someone call me name?" comes the voice of the male Eeee. He then peers around the corner and spots Parsley. A rather predatory grin curls onto his lips and he says, "Ah, another vision of beauty doth grace dis castle… "

Igor shrugs (which is quite a spectacle in itself) and starts running his fingers along Zahn's scalp. "Thome bumpth, old thcar or two," he comments while working. "You haven't been to Dr. Fether, the retrophrenologitht have you?"

Parsley curtsies to the Eee. "Pleased to meet you sir, I'm Parsley Chalk."

Amelia just gives a low warning growl to the gypsy.

"No. I wouldn't go to that weirdo," Zahnrad comments. "I just had an odd thought about my clan and I wanted to clear it up before I left, is all."

"Well, there ithn't anything thuthpiciouth that thith weirdo can detect," Igor says with a grin. "And when it cometh to finding old thcarth, I'm very good."

Rey saunters into the hallway. When Amelia growls at him, he just smiles, noting, "Nice t' see vou too, Amelia." His attention then quickly returns to Parsley, where he drops down to one knee, takes Parsley's hand, then kisses the back of it. "Oh, de pleasure is all mine, I assure vou," he says, then winks one glowing eye to the Lapi.

"Are you staying here in the castle too?" the Lapi doe asks the vampire. "You must be a friend of Dr. Pike's then."

"Thanks," Zahn tells Igor. "I was mildly concerned that maybe my clan's skills came from, well… " he motions towards Clover in the bedroom. "The same thing that happened to her."

"Ah, woundth are very hard to inherit, young Marthter," Igor says. "I've got experimental data to prove it, if you don't believe me."

"Ve are quite intimate friends, ves," Rey says, still grinning as he gets back to his feet. He digs under the collar of his shirt and lifts out the edge of a chitin collar that's snug to his neck. "She's quite fond o' me and likes t' keep me around."

"I wasn't expecting wounds to be inherited … I was thinking, well, if there was an initiation rite that people don't like to talk about," Zahn says with another shrug. "Anyway, Amelia, let's go see the head," he says.

"Really?" Parsley asks, and reaches up to tug on the collar. "You must be related to Liliana. Is there a leash that goes with the collar?"

"Yes, I don't think I want to know Rey's answer to that," Amy mutters to Zahn, and practically drags him along towards the stairs.

"She's m' cousin," Rey notes as he lets the Lapi tug on the collar. "Ze Doctor likes t' keep the other bits vith her, vou see. She certainly keeps the key… But … Hmmm." As Zahn and Amelia start down the stairs, they can just barely hear Rey say, "But I'm sure dat ze good doctor could be persuaded into letting vou join in ze fun. It vill make vour stay here quite pleasant, I assure vou."

"I really didn't need to hear that," Zahnrad grumbles as he puts his hands over his ears. "Come on, looking at an embalmed head will be less creepy than that conversation just became… "