8 - A Piece is Missing

Jim Bung

June 8, 2000

I was there when shouts sounded from the lower floors. I was there when they carried the battered body of our proprietor to his room. I watched as a frantic, grim faced healer marched into the room, telling the others to remain calm.

I, unnoticed, remained hidden behind a vase stand. I saw everything.

~

The night was falling and the shadows long as the last of the staff wandered away. I crept out, and began to dance. A voice that was not male came from the room.

Hesitating, I crept close. They were talking. There was one left with him. I pressed my ear to the door, careful to keep my breathing shallow. No one must hear.

"He may have said what brought the curse, not why," a lady said. Ginny. "It has something to do with the founders. Some sin of theirs?"

"Perhaps." The proprietor could think despite being injured, evidently. "Can we trust the ghost? The first spirit was of a human, the second, not."

"He said he was there."

Ah, that'd be Pennyblighter. Always complaining and making vague moans about the curse, him. Rather dramatic for a kitchen boy.

Ginny went on, "I see. So what was the sin of theirs?"

Silence. Appeared to be thinking. I knew something more, but there was no need for it to be said. Let them figure it out if they could.

" 'whole nights together,' " the proprietor suddenly said. Was he...sad? I heard Ginny gasp in what might have been horror. The proprietor sighed, then said, "I think we know. Then who laid the curse?"

"The Church wouldn't have, they aren't that kind of people," Ginny said.

I couldn't take it anymore. In a fit of anger, I turned the knob and marched boldly in. Ginny turned to glare, the proprietor jumping in bed.

"Of course they might," I said hotly. "Plenty aren't perfect, you know. It might have been a back alley thing, or something!" My eyes glittered with the idea, but it made the proprietor look sick.

"I know," he said, shushing me with a glare when I made a triumphant sound. "but in order to lay a curse one has to be very deep into the evil side of the spiritual world."

I delicately ignored his last comment. "Well, it makes total sense that the Church would do it, they have been our enemies for years...Guys, just admit it. God made the rainbow. He's on our side."

"What of Sodom and Gomora?" the proprietor levied evenly.

"That was unjust!" I said triumphantly.

"If so, that would mean He is capable of acts that are unjust. That would make him as broken as the rest of us," the proprietor said calmly.

My face became red, and I snapped. "SHUT UP!" I screamed. "You're wrong! So very wrong!"

I saw him smile faintly, and spat his direction. "Curse," I hissed. I dashed out the door, shaking.

"Jim!" Ginny's firm voice roared. "You show respect!"

"Just don't come any deeper! The secret is ours!!!"