Game was 11/2/19; Anne-Marie was absent

Anita remains at the botanica and intends to stay late to make up for opening late. She is busy from the get-go as people shop for the Day of the Dead, but she also listens for any gossip about Silas Black. Unfortunately, she comes up with nothing new. Leta finds Abby doing actual homework, and she tries to take an interest. Abby explains she’s taking an English class on local stories and urban legends, and jokes, “We’ve gotten to the 18th century, so no William yet.” Leta retorts, “Just wait, the Troys have been creeping around this valley for a while.” Abby snorts and shows Leta collections from local authors and the like. Abby then curses, “Motherfucker, I need to go the library.” Leta is game, but Veltis remains behind to continue cataloging his collection. Abby drives Leta to the Forbes Library for their learning adventure.

Once there, Abby teaches Leta how to research, and finds references to a collection of works on local supernatural phenomena collated by one Sally Troy in the late 1800s! They drive to the Jones Library in Amherst, and then walk over to the archives at Amherst College; luckily, Abby’s UMass Amherst ID gets them inside. Eventually, Abby finds what she was looking for: a reference to Sally Troy’s collection, which she sold to one ‘SM’ in 1919. Abby has been hunting this same collection for weeks.

Back at the Troy household, Josh tries to summon the Academitrix of Classical Studies at Smith College for Women. The house suddenly smells of old books as the totem spirit manifests directly behind William, and Josh asks, “What sort of supernatural types have flashing blue eyes?” The spirit whispers in reply, “There’s not enough data points. I need more information.” She adds, “From what I’ve witnessed on campus, mages’ eyes sometimes flash different colors when they cast spells. However, it could be things that fell from heaven, things that crawl out of humanity’s primordial nightmares, or things that were made from dead parts. If it was infernal, Leta could tell.”

The spirit continues, “Oh, tell Abby that ‘SM’ refers to ‘Salvatore Montoya.’” Josh nods and takes a note before asking, “Do you know Silas Black?” The spirit shakes her head, as her frame of reference is the campus, with a dim knowledge of greater Northampton and nothing beyond. Josh says, “At least four gang members went after him and they died. Very killy.” The spirit replies, “That doesn’t help; you humans are fragile.” She then turns to William and says, “You. These are for you.”¹⁾ She opens her hand and two dozen pairs of eyeballs drop onto the kitchen table!

Josh retches at the sight, and even William is startled. The spirit says, “That pair is your eyes. Well, a dream-you, anyway. I found these here, at Sam’s, at Jake’s, and even your cars.” Josh turns away and the spirit murmurs to William, “Should I tell him which set is his?” William replies, “No.” Josh tries to come to terms with his great-aunt’s casual use of other people’s eyeballs, and writes a note demanding they speak. He lifts the note to the eyeballs in the hopes she’ll see it. His stomach then curdles, and he announces, “Be right back.” William jokes, “Take these with you,” and Josh replies firmly, “No.” He then runs to the half-bath to be violently sick.

The spirit tells William, “They’re… I think you call it ensorcelled. You must bathe these under the light of a full moon to disconnect them from her magic. Otherwise, they’ll simply return to their original locations.”²⁾ William confirms the totem means the various spyholes and not the owner’s eye sockets. Josh returns and asks the totem why his great-aunt would do this. The spirit retorts, “Because she’s bat-shit nuts, yo.³⁾ She prefers pairs.” Josh freaks out and writes another note demanding a meeting that he again holds up to the eyes. He then runs to be sick again, and the spirit says quietly, “This pair I had to pull from your granddaughter’s coffin. You should know, but the boy should not.”

William agrees, and asks, “Can we see what they’ve witnessed?” The spirit replies, “Yes, but the method would drive anyone mad. Too many perspectives at once.” William nods and asks what they should do with the eyeballs until the next full moon, the spirit points to the freezer. William sighs but grabs Tupperware and collects the eyeballs. The totem vanishes as Josh returns, and William sticks the eyeballs into the freezer. Josh sends Abby a text, and William decides they should go to the NPD to see Vandernoot and MacLeod. Josh agrees, and they get into his Ford Explorer and head there.

Vandernoot is in her office dealing with various administrative details, and banished MacLeod into the basement to review old case files for hints of the supernatural. There comes a knock on her door, and she growls, “What?” A sergeant steps in and informs her, “William and Josh Troy are here and asking to see you and officer… special agent… special MacLeod.” Vandernoot snorts with amusement but agrees to see the Troys. The sergeant adds, “We’ve gotten Officer McManus’s prognosis. The doctors don’t think he’ll regain full use of his arm, but he’s awake, alert, and seems determined to return to duty.” Vandernoot sighs and the sergeant concludes, “And finally, everything we have on Officer Travis Lacombe. I’ve checked some unofficial channels as well as the official ones, and nothing stands out as to why he’d shoot a fellow cop, much less steal two corpses. He’s also awake, but not answering questions.”

Vandernoot mutters, “Lawyered up?” The sergeant nods, so Vandernoot tells him, “Tell the Troys to come up, and then get MacLeod and send him up too.” The sergeant nods and exits. The Troys arrive a few minutes later and Vandernoot waves them to chairs as they wait for MacLeod. MacLeod is working in the archives and the clerk on duty is taking the opportunity to file. MacLeod sits at the call desk and tries not to think about how this is the same spot where Danny Moulton committed suicide back in 1984. The sergeant comes down and passes along Vandernoot’s request, so MacLeod quickly bundles everything up and leaves a note promising he’ll refile these when he’s done with them.

MacLeod walks into Vandernoot’s office and stands behind her as she glares at Josh. She growls, “William keeping this from me, I can accept that. But you kept this from me… that is a lot.” MacLeod adds, “On the one hand, well done, On the other, creepy.” Josh looks pained and tries to apologize, but MacLeod waves it away and demands, “What new fuckery?” Josh blurts out, “Eyeballs!” Vandernoot and MacLeod stare at him in shock before turning to William; William clarifies, “We didn’t bring them with us.”

Josh states, “We have several pairs of eyeballs at home. This weirdness is not limited to our family.” William adds, “Not a Troy,” and Vandernoot retorts, “So there was an eyeball hunt this morning? Did someone walk into your house with them?” William replies, “Basically, yes.” MacLeod opens Vandernoot’s desk drawer and openly takes a swig form her flask. Josh clarifies, “Something friendly passed two dozen pairs of eyeballs along to us; they were used to spy on us.” Vandernoot sputters, but MacLeod frowns as something clicks. He grabs Vandernoot’s computer and uses his state police access to bring up several files, all from about three months ago. Each file is an incident report about desecrated corpses or homeless people found missing their eyes in Ware, Palmer West Warren, and Barre. The state police labeled it a gang initiation.

MacLeod shows them the files and Josh asks, “Wait, how were the eyes removed?” MacLeod shrugs and replies, “A melon baller, I’d guess.” Josh looks like he’s going to be sick again, but MacLeod peruses the files and says, “Looks like an officer in Ware pulled all this together and thinks we have a budding serial killer or a black market organ harvest. The eyes all had two things in common: the victims were easily accessible, and they had no vision problems. There are eighteen reports, so if you have two dozen there’s six victims unaccounted for.” William remains impassive, as Josh looks sick again.

MacLeod demands, “You have a reason for bringing this to our table?” William allows, “We did want to see how you were doing after yesterday.” In response, MacLeod pulls open the desk drawer and takes another swig of whiskey. Josh adds, “That’s a short-term solution,” as Vandernoot silently wonders if this is what led to Polly Wagner’s alcoholism. William says, “If you come across any new cases of missing eyes, maybe we can help. Do you want them after we disconnect them?” MacLeod replies, “Call me after all the hocus-pocus. You all are a never-ending crap cannon.” Josh nods forlornly, but then asks, “Do you know anything about Silas Black?”

Vandernoot and MacLeod share a look and MacLeod replies, “Why are you asking?” William retorts, “We’re asking, draw your own conclusions.” Josh says, “He’s something, and we don’t know what.” MacLeod shrugs and says, “We’ll keep an ear to the ground, but so far the guy’s Springfield only.” Josh asks about the Night Watch gang, so MacLeod accesses the SPD’s computer system, thanks to his state police credentials. Josh implies Black killed some of them, but MacLeod finds no missing person’s reports. The Troys then take their leave and return home. Josh heads down to Springfield for his shift at the Montoya Botanica.

The afternoon passes, and Abby finally notices Josh’s text around 4:15. She grumbles as she picks it up, and Leta jokes, “Josh sent a dick pic?” Abby glares at her, but then actually reads Josh’s text and stares. She swears suddenly and calls Anita. Anita picks up and Abby ask, “Do you know of a Salvatore Montoya, from about ninety years ago?” Anita replies, “Yeah, that’s my great-great-grandfather. Why?” Abby replies, “He bought a collection from one Sally Troy back in 1919. I’m trying to track it down.” Anita goes silent and Abby grouses, “You have it in your basement, don’t you?” Anita replies, “Yes,” and Abby swears. Leta calls into the phone, “We’re on our way down!” Anita replies, “I hope you can read German.”

Abby and Leta walk into the botanica around 5 o’clock, and Josh looks up and blithely exclaims, “Wait, he was a related Montoya?”⁴⁾ Abby glares at him, and Anita waves them to the basement. As they descend, Josh ask Anita, “Are the books allowed to leave the store?” Anita shakes her head, so Josh asks, “Do you have blankets and a pillow down there?” Anita groans as she realizes Josh’s point, Abby is unlikely to leave the books alone.

Downstairs, Abby and Leta find a large Rubbermaid container with twelve old, moldering books inside. Abby gingerly retrieves them and opens a few. Leta also carefully examines the books and finds half of them in old German. Abby finds a book that appears to be English phonetic translations of Nipmuc and Pocomtuc legends. Leta spots one book clearly bound in human skin and grabs that one. She opens it effortlessly, and finds it written in an older demonic tongue. She flips through it, unable to decipher some of it, but finds twelve infernal genealogies in Massachusetts, some starting in the 1400s and one as recent as 1810. All the genealogies cut off at 1900, presumably when the book changed hands. The genealogies contain births, deaths, some locations, and even a few notes of the manner of death. Leta then makes a grisly discovery, a list of women seduced, and another list of holy men corrupted, both written in seemingly still fresh blood!