The Castrator by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (short books for teens txt) 📕

- SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT'S WHERE THE TRAIL IS. AND THIS TIME WE WILL GLIMPSE A GREAT DEAL OF THE TRUTH ABOUT FELISTER.

WITH THAT, OUR CONVERSATION WAS FINALIZED AND THE THREE OF US WENT TO SLEEP. WE WERE EXTREMELY TIRED DUE TO THE INSANE DRIVING AND THE IMMENSE LACK OF SLEEP THAT HAD SAPPED OUR STRENGTH. BEFORE HEADING TO BED, HOWEVER, IN ADDITION TO SLEEPING IN SHIFTS TO RESORT TO SOME MORE SERIOUS MAGICAL PROTECTION SUCH AS BUILDING SOME SORT OF MAGICAL FIELD THROUGH THE SEAL OF SOLOMON. IT WAS PLACED ON A MOST ORDINARY RING OF SOLID GOLD THAT I WORE ON ONE OF THE FINGERS OF MY RIGHT HAND, AND WHICH COULD ALSO BE USED TO INVOKE SPIRITS - INCLUDING DEMONS. JUST IN CASE, I ALSO DREW A MAGIC CIRCLE, STARTING ACCORDING TO TRADITION FROM THE NORTH AND MOVING THE INDEX FINGER OF MY RIGHT HAND CLOCKWISE. USUALLY SOME SORT OF PHYSICAL TOOL WAS USED TO ACCOMPLISH THIS, BUT THE BASIC PRINCIPLE WAS TO CONSISTENTLY BUILD UP LARGE AMOUNTS OF ENERGY WITHIN THE CIRCLE TO DO THE REST, AND THE OTHER IMPORTANT ASPECT WAS PREVENTING NEGATIVE ENERGY FROM SEEPING IN, AS IT COULD WREAK HAVOC AND BREAK DOWN ITS EFFECTIVE DEFENSES. WITH THAT, THE OPENING OF THE MAGIC CIRCLE WAS COMPLETE. I DECIDED THERE WAS NO POINT IN OVERDOING IT AND LEFT MYSELF IN THE HANDS OF SLEEP.

HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST TO FIND THE ONE WHO COULD TELL US THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THE MAIN VILLAIN, WHO ALSO HAPPENED TO BE MY BENEFACTOR. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, I WONDERED IF GOOD AND EVIL WEREN'T JUST TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN - ONLY WE WERE LOOKING AT IT FROM THE WRONG SIDE AND IT WAS DISTORTING OUR PERCEPTIONS OF REALITY.

IT IS REDUNDANT TO DESCRIBE THE DETAILS OF OUR ENTIRE JOURNEY, BUT I BEGAN TO REALIZE THAT THERE WERE ALSO MANY LOST SOULS IN THE SNOWY HELL OF CANADA WHO WERE MOST LIKELY SEEKING THEIR SALVATION.

DURING THE REMAINING FEW HUNDRED MILES OF OUR JOURNEY, LITTLE OF NOTE HAPPENED.

WE HAD TO CROSS THE REST OF THE TRANS-CANADA HIGHWAY-A DISTANCE OF SOME EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY MILES. THIS TOOK US SEVERAL DAYS, FOR OWING TO THE BAD WEATHER WE WERE MOVING LIKE TORTOISES.

MILTON WAS IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE REGION OF HALTON, WHICH ITSELF WAS PART OF THE GREATER TORONTO AREA. WHEN WE ARRIVED, I REALIZED SOMETHING WAS WRONG - AND I WAS RIGHT. THE CITY WAS EXTREMELY PICTURESQUE AND IMPRESSIVE. AND ITS ATMOSPHERE WAS INCREDIBLE - THE MODERN SKYSCRAPERS STOOD OUT AGAINST THE CLASSICAL BUILDINGS IN THE BACK, STANDING OUT LIKE PROUD COLOSSI IN THE WINTER NIGHT - THEIR LIGHTS RESEMBLED SOME KIND OF WHIMSICAL FAIRYLAND, AND THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATES WERE EXTREMELY LOW. WE ARRIVED LATE IN THE EVENING OF MARCH TWENTY-SECOND VERSUS TWENTY-THIRD. IT WAS STILL BITTER COLD!

THE MAPLEHURST CORRECTIONAL CENTER WASN'T TOO FAR AWAY EITHER, BUT WE DIDN'T WANT TO POKE AROUND.

THE CLOSER WE GOT TO THE FINAL LEG OF OUR JOURNEY, THE MORE DOUBTS I HAD ABOUT FACING THE TRUTH. IT MADE ME KIND OF UNCOMFORTABLE TO HAVE TO ADMIT THAT WE COULD PROBABLY WITNESS STRANGE AND UNEXPLAINED TWISTS AND TURNS REGARDING WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW.

IN THE ANCIENT TEACHINGS OF THE KABBALISTS - FOR FELISTER DEALT WITH ALL ASPECTS OF THIS ART, IT WAS SAID THAT THE FOUR PLANES OF THE UNIVERSE WERE ARCHETYPAL, SPIRITUAL, ASTRAL AND MATERIAL. AND A TRUE MAGICIAN HAD TO HANDLE ALL OF THEM WELL. IN THE SO-CALLED MALKUTH[2], THE ENERGIES OF THE HIGHER PLANES REACHED THE END POINT OF THEIR ROUTE AND ... I WANTED TO RECALL HOW IT ALL BEGAN - THE MOMENT I WORKED ON THE FARM OF A FELISTER, THE MOMENT I RESIDED IN THE BOARDING SCHOOL, AND BEFORE THAT ...?

BUT THE BITING COLD INTERRUPTED MY MUSINGS. ARLO AND ZONARA WERE TOO DEDICATED AND KEPT FOLLOWING ME BECAUSE ALL THREE OF US PLAYED ON THE SAME "TEAM".

IF ANYONE EVEN KNEW A FELISTER IN THIS TOWN, HARDLY THE SMARTEST THING WE COULD HAVE DONE WAS QUESTION ABOUT HIM LEFT AND RIGHT.

IT WAS TOO COLD THAT NIGHT, SO WE DECIDED TO GO INTO A BREWPUB - WHERE WE COULD WARM UP A BIT. AND SOME POOR GUY WALKED PAST US - I WAS AMAZED. I EXPECTED HIM TO ASK US FOR SOMETHING ...

THERE WAS SO MUCH SUFFERING ON EARTH! BUT HE PASSED INTO THE NIGHT AND DISAPPEARED.

IN THE MORNING WE WERE AT MAPLEHURST, WHERE WE HOPED TO GET OUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED. TO SEE A PARTICULAR PRISONER ONE WENT THROUGH A DEFINITE PROCEDURE, AS DIFFERENT RECIDIVISTS WERE CONVICTED OF A VARIETY OF OFFENCES. INCIDENTALLY, THE LEVEL OF VIOLENCE IN SUCH A PRISON INSTITUTION WAS QUITE HIGH, AND THE HIGHEST IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO - SO SOMETIMES THERE WAS TREMENDOUS PERVERSION GOING ON IN THE PRISON. SEEN FROM A BIRD'S EYE VIEW, THE PRISON WAS ENVELOPED IN GREENERY, AND THE NATIONAL FLAG FLEW PROUDLY OUT FRONT, BUT I GUESSED THAT INSIDE ATROCITIES WERE A DAILY OCCURRENCE, AND THE "FURNISHINGS" IN THE CELLS WERE MORE THAN SPARTAN.

WE DECIDED TO PRETEND TO BE HIS FRIENDS, BUT A LITTLE LATER IT WAS MADE CLEAR TO US THAT SUCH A MAN HAD NEVER EXISTED AND HAD NEVER BEEN HERE.

BUT HOW WAS IT POSSIBLE?

THE WARDENS AND SERVICE STAFF WERE ABSOLUTELY POLITE, BUT THEIR COOPERATION WAS TOO FORMAL FOR ME NOT TO HAVE CERTAIN DOUBTS - THEY WERE JUST EMPLOYEES OF THE SYSTEM. DUMB AND DEAF TO EVERYTHING.

ON THE WAY BACK, WE HAD TO ADMIT THAT WE FOUND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - IT WAS AS IF WE HAD JUST GOTTEN SOMEWHERE AND FROM THERE ON SOME INVISIBLE WALL PREVENTED US FROM CONTINUING - BUT THIS TIME I WONDERED WHAT NATURE IT WAS - WHETHER IT WAS ADMINISTRATIVE, MAGICAL, CRIMINAL, CORPORATE OR WHATEVER.

[1] The idea behind the word emet is that it includes the first, fourteenth, and twenty-eighth letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which in other words means that truth encompasses everything.

[2] According to ancient kabbalistic teachings, Malkuth is the tenth sephiroth of the tree of life.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE STRANGER

AFTER RETURNING TO MILTON AND VISITING THE SAME BREWERY FROM THE NIGHT BEFORE, A STRANGER APPROACHED US AND TOSSED ME A VERY SMALL SEALED ENVELOPE. IT WAS DOWNRIGHT TINY. STRANGE AS IT WAS I COULD NOT SEE HIS FACE NOR SMELL THE STRANGER'S SCENT.

THE THREE OF US PRETENDED NOT TO CARE, BUT AS WE STEPPED OUTSIDE, OUR CURIOSITY GOT THE BETTER OF US. WE WERE CONSTANTLY ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A TAIL THAT MIGHT HAVE SPRUNG A SURPRISE.

THE CONTENTS OF THE NOTE READ AS FOLLOWS:

"YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR. FROM NOW ON THE JOURNEY IS AT YOUR OWN RISK."

THE NOTE CONTAINED NO OTHER INFORMATION AND WAS NEITHER HANDWRITTEN NOR PRINTED, BUT WAS ASSEMBLED FROM ASSORTED CLIPPINGS. I WAS ALSO SURE THAT THERE WERE NO FINGERPRINTS ON THE PAPER, AS THE STRANGER HAD EITHER PUT ON GLOVES OR SIMPLY APPLIED A SPECIAL GLUE TO "MASK" THE PAPILLARY LINES ON THE PADS OF HIS FINGERS AND PALM.

I MADE A VERY BOLD CLAIM, THOUGH - WHAT IF WHOEVER HAD DIED WASN'T THE REAL JAKE, WHAT IF IT WAS SOMEONE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT - THE ONLY SURVIVOR OF THE RAID ON FELISTER'S FARM - BESIDES MYSELF. THAT THEORY DIDN'T INSPIRE ANY CONFIDENCE IN ME, AND I SOON DISMISSED IT. JAKE WAS LYING SOMEWHERE IN LA POINTE CEMETERY - QUITE FAR FROM US, UNDER AT LEAST TWO FEET OF LOOSE EARTH - IF NOT MORE.

I SHARED MY CONCERNS WITH ARLO AND ZONER - WHO KNOWS WHY I SEEMED TO HAVE BECOME MORE ACTIVE IN THE INVESTIGATION THAN THEY WERE.

GOING BACK TO MILTON WAS COMPLETELY POINTLESS. THERE REMAINED THE POSSIBILITY OF GETTING TO THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER WHO HAD HIMSELF GIVEN US THE NEXT TRAIL TO FOLLOW.

AS WE WALKED THROUGH THE STREETS OF MILTON THE NIGHT BEFORE, THE FACES OF THE PEOPLE SEEMED SMILING, BUT SOMEHOW BLANK AND EXPRESSIONLESS - AS IF IT WERE ALL JUST A FALSE FACADE.

THE CITY GOVERNMENT HARDLY FELT ANY REAL CONCERN FOR THAT HOMELESS MAN WE'D SEEN THE NIGHT BEFORE. THERE WAS, OF COURSE, A HOMELESS SHELTER IN MILTON - AS THERE IS EVERYWHERE, SO HE WOULD MOST LIKELY HAVE SPENT THE NIGHT EITHER THERE OR HIDDEN IN A BOX UNDER SOME STREET STAIRCASE, YAWNING AND CURSING HIS LIFE AWAY. A SOUL'S LONELINESS WASN'T DEFINED BY HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE AROUND, AND THIS POOR GUY DIDN'T ASK FOR ANYTHING FROM ANYONE - HE DIDN'T EVEN REACH OUT FOR A HANDOUT! HE QUIETLY DISAPPEARED... AS HE HAD APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE! I COULDN'T EVEN SEE HIS FACE - IT WAS AS IF HE WAS INVISIBLE AND USELESS TO ANYONE!

THE LETTER FROM THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER MUST HAVE HAD SOME CODED MESSAGE IN IT AGAIN - AND I DECIDED TO USE THE SAME CODE WE HAD LEARNED AT THE FELISTER RESIDENCE - 5392.

I STARTED LISTING THE POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS... NOTHING WAS WORKING - IT WAS TOO EASY FOR IT TO WORK. TOO OBVIOUS.

HOWEVER, I DECIDED TO PLAY THE ELIMINATION METHOD - IF THE CIRCLE NARROWED, THE SECRET MEANING OF THE MESSAGE WOULD BE MORE SPECIFIC - NOT THAT IT WAS NECESSARY, BUT I DECIDED TO TRY THAT OPTION AS WELL.

THE SECOND WORD OF THE SECRET MESSAGE WAS "BROTHER" AND IT CORRESPONDED TO THE LAST DIGIT OF THE CODE. THE ONLY ASSOCIATIONS THAT CAME TO MIND WERE BIG BROTHER. BUT AGAIN, THERE WAS SOME UNDERSTATEMENT AND MISCOMMUNICATION. I THINK THERE WAS SOMETHING MISSED AND WE HAD TO FIND IT.

I ASKED ARLO AND ZONARA FOR THEIR OPINIONS - THEY WERE ALSO SILENT AND TRYING TO MAKE SOME KIND OF GUESS.

THEN THE NEXT BOLD GUESS OCCURRED TO ME - BIG BROTHER - WELL YES 222 - THERE WERE TWO WORDS AND THEY BOTH STARTED WITH B IN LATIN, AND THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN SOME ADDRESS OR PRISONER NUMBER.

HERE WAS MY DETECTIVE LOGIC GIVING SOME ASSOCIATIONS AND PUSHING ME FORWARD ... INTO THE UNKNOWN.

THE NEXT DAY WE WENT TO MAPLEHURST AGAIN - THIS TIME NOT EVEN ENTERING THE TOWN. WE ASKED TO SEE INMATE 222'S FILE, BUT THIS TIME WE HAD PREPARED OURSELVES - WE HAD MORE THAN SIMPLE PLEAS AT OUR DISPOSAL - WE HAD LEGAL GROUNDS. ONE OF THE LAWYERS ADVISED US TO HIRE A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR WHO HAD THE AUTHORITY TO REQUEST CERTAIN INFORMATION UNDER THE APPROPRIATE CHANNEL OF THE LAW. THIS PRODUCED GOOD RESULTS - NOT IMMEDIATELY, OF COURSE.

IT TURNED OUT THAT THE ALLEGED INMATE, 222, HAD NEVER SERVED HIS SENTENCE AT MAPLEHURST - OR, MORE ACCURATELY, HAD ONLY RESIDED THERE FOR ABOUT A WEEK BEFORE BEING PERMANENTLY TRANSFERRED TO A STATE PRISON. THIS TWIST SEEMED LIKE A ROLLER COASTER - I FELT LIKE WE COULDN'T LEAVE SOME WEIRD VICIOUS CIRCLE WHERE EVERYTHING WAS HAPPENING. BUT THE PRISON AUTHORITIES REFUSED TO GIVE US ANY MORE INFORMATION. ALL THEY SAID WAS THAT AS FAR AS THEY WERE INFORMED AFTER THAT HE HAD MADE A DEAL WITH THE FEDS AND FROM THEN ON WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS A COMPLETE MYSTERY. OF COURSE, WE WEREN'T TOLD THE LATTER WITHOUT ZONARA USING ONE OF HER CONNECTIONS - CONGRESSMAN JOHNSTON, WHO WAS INDEBTED TO HER FOR FINANCING HIS ELECTION CAMPAIGN WITH THE UNIONS' DIRTY MONEY - AND IN PARTICULAR THROUGH ZONARA'S ADVOCACY