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Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Two days till the Global Unveiling of Bluetannia: Lugh looked out at the English landscape from the window of the Prime Minister’s car. He could feel a sense of excitement in the pit of his chest as they rode on to the next tour stop on the “Road to Energy Independence,” an idea was concocted by one of Charon’s converted. It covered three cities in three days, espousing to the public the litany of benefits that Bluetannia would bring all of Britain.

The first stop was Bishop’s Hall Park in Brentwood. Charon spoke for a half hour before a crowd of fifty about how parks like these will remain beautiful and pollution free for generations to come thanks in part to the Bluetannia. He also explained how families would be “freed from the financial burden of the petrol pump to spend toward the shops and businesses that will make up this great nation’s future.”

That night, he took questions from the locals in a town hall setting inside the school auditorium. A couple of Labour supporters in the audience hounded the PM with questions about allegations of police brutality that had first surfaced in the pages of the Guardian. He looked out with his red glinted eyes from the car next to Lugh with a great annoyance as the convoy continued along the A12.

“Gods, these humans complain a lot,” Charon opined with an exasperated sigh, sifting through a stack of papers. He turned his attention to Lugh. “If only I could incinerate the whole lot of them…meddlesome hunks of meat!”

Before Lugh could respond, he noticed the only human in the car, Martha Kent, had heard their conversation. She was one of the Prime Minister’s chief personal assistants. Lugh turned to the side and saw the woman’s eyes wide with fright.

“I’m sorry, Martha,” Lugh said, leaning towards her. “The Prime Minister’s been a little bit on edge lately, especially after the whole town hall incident.”

“Well, w—we can schedule a brief rest for him,” Martha said, clearing her throat. “Perhaps between the speech at Wildford Lodge this morning and the town hall at Chelmsford Cathedral this evening.”

He gave the woman a pleased smile. “That sounds perfectly fine, Martha.”

The woman nodded happily and slowly sank back into her seat. She took out her Blackberry and made notes of the necessary schedule changes. Lugh leaned back in his seat, returning to prior business.

“Try to keep on point next time,” Lugh whispered to Charon. “We are trying to instill hope and optimism in the humans. Scaring the hell out of them runs antithetical to that goal.”

“Why should I listen to you, doppelganger,” said the Prime Minister condescendingly. “You’re a place marker, for gods’ sake.”

“Someone had to be back in the city to recite the spell,” the doppelganger fired back. “Doing it at Gerry Arthur would be too much of a hassle.”

“I don’t understand why Lugh couldn’t have gotten one of you to do it,” Charon said.

“We can only mimic the physical form and characteristics of the original,” doppelganger Lugh replied as the Chelmsford cityscape came into view. “Only the original possesses the necessary power to perform such magic.”

The Grecian shook his head and chuckled. “For the life of me, I’ll never understand you Gaelic brood.”

***

The multi-car convoy arrived at the driveway leading to Widford Lodge Prepatory. They were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of seventy-five people who waved flags and held banners in the mid-morning sun. Charon looked out at the crowd from the Prime Minister’s car. “I should have gone into politics ages ago,” he smiled.

The assistant was the first to step out of the car. She gripped her clipboard and walked through the onlookers, creating a path for the PM to walk through. As Charon unbuckled from his seat and began to step out, doppelganger Lugh pulled him back inside.

“Don’t forget,” he said as the sound of voices played in the background. “Speak of the future, how this will make us a stronger and more prosperous nation, and how this is the beginning of the end of fossil fuels for all—”

“Yes, I know. I did not forget,” the PM scoffed, taking the doppelganger’s hand from his arm and stepping out. “I’ve done this long enough that it is as easy as training a Cerberus!”

The Prime Minister turned and walked off. Lugh stepped out of the car shortly after and watched as Charon shook hands with some of the people nearby. He quickly caught up to the staff behind Charon as they made their way to a makeshift platform behind the school.

From atop a large tree near the school grounds, Ghede examined the path the Prime Minister and his entourage took to the stage. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a small spiraled notepad. She flipped through the pages of yellow notebook paper. Each one detailed what she had observed on the first day in Brentwood. She saw nothing useful that would benefit Brigid and Amanda back in London. Hopefully today gives me better luck, she thought.

Ghede pocketed her notepad. She turned into a black mist and descended toward the crowd below, hovering for a short period of time looking for suitable people to inhabit. She saw a middle aged man with his wife and daughter standing five feet away from the prime minister. The man wore a tan casual dress shirt and khaki shorts. The features of the man’s face and physique were as plain and ordinary to her as a divot of grass. In short, she thought, he was perfect.

It took just under a minute for Ghede to gain control of the portly man’s body. The only affectation he showed as the process concluded was a shiver and a twitch in his left hand. Ghede situated herself in the new body, focusing his green eyes on Charon and his entourage as they approached him.

“Hello there, sir,” Charon smiled. “What a lovely family you have!”

“Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister,” Ghede said cheerfully through the man’s refined staccato voice. “I can’t wait to work for the Party in the next election.”

“We can’t wait to have you on our team,” Charon answered, flashing a perfectly tuned smile to the teenaged daughter. “I have no doubt we can make this a stronger and truly greater Great Britain.”

They shook hands. Ghede quickly noticed a fiery orange glow in the prime minister’s eyes. She recognized the glow as a byproduct of possession, which varied based on the entity. In this case, the orange glow represented beings who came from the land of Hades.

Just before Ghede released his hand, she was bombarded by a set of random images. A window, a street light, the smell of cocoa beans, Adele playing in the background. The only concrete thing she could recognize was a glowing cast-iron suitcase that was lying on top of a nearby table.

She smiled and kept silent, giving no indication of her acquired knowledge. “Have a good day.” said the Prime Minister, turning away.

“The same to you,” Ghede cried, watching him walk off with his staff. “Gods bless you, mon—”

She put her hand over her mouth. Almost gave myself away, she thought. The man’s wife turned, perplexed by her husband’s odd behavior. “Are you alright, dear?” She asked.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Ghede replied in the man’s voice. “Just some trouble sleeping last night.”

The wife smiled and let out a light chuckle. Ghede checked the human’s analog watch to see if there was enough time for the change. Twenty seconds shy of ten minutes, she thought. Ghede took the woman by the waist and gave her a long passionate kiss.

Doppelganger Lugh turned around just as the middle aged man collapsed in his wife’s arms. There was something familiar about this, he thought. There was little time to investigate, though, as the crowd started to gather around where he stood. He jogged up the line to join Charon as the entourage reached the edge of the stage.

The co-ed school choir was already on the stage, playing Queen’s “The Show Must Go On.” Doppelganger Lugh noticed from his periphery the crowd that had swelled in size since they arrived, stretching to the back of the school’s walls. Each one of them cheering and holding more of the signs supporting the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party.

“Did you notice something suspicious with one of the people in the crowd?” the doppelganger whispered as they reached the top of the staircase.

“Which one are you referring to,” the Grecian replied. “They all look the same to me.”

“It was a middle aged man, near the stage,” Lugh replied. “I felt something strange as we walked away. If I remember correctly, humans refer to this feeling as déjà vu.”

Charon looked unconvinced, turning back to the podium. “Are you sure those doppelganger senses of yours aren’t just misfiring?”

“This is serious,” doppelganger Lugh fired back, walking beside him. “The last time I had this feeling was when the original saw Ghede in Valencia.”

“You think she’s here?”

The doppelganger nodded. The half-smile faded from Charon’s face. He walked back to Lugh. “What possible reason would the ghost have to be here,” said Charon. “She knows that she would be discovered after the third body collapsed.”

“Brigid must have sent her,” Lugh said. “They must be planning to stop us from using the Athghiniúna.”

“Or they’re desperate for information,” Charon fired back.

“Still,” Lugh said. “This is the perfect time to capture her or—”

“Oh, don’t worry that doppelganger head of yours. We are fine,” said Charon, patting the doppelganger twice on his shoulder. “Now, let’s not keep these humans waiting!”

Lugh reluctantly nodded. He turned and sat down on a white folding chair behind the podium. Charon plucked a few stray hairs from his dark blue blazer and approached the podium.

“Thank you! Thank you,” he said as the music slowly faded. The noise from the crowd peaked momentarily before settling down to a comfortable level. “You folks here in Chelmsford have given a needed spark to these tired bones. I feel like a kid again!”

The doppelganger watched as the audience let out a hearty and deep laugh that reverberated through the front of the school. Charon soon settled into the day’s speech, well received by the crowd, about the better world Bluetannia would leave for children. A few minutes later, the doppelganger’s phone vibrated. He quietly reached into his pocket and answered it.

“Yes?”

“I just saw you and Charon on TV at the podium discussing something,” said the original Lugh from his flat in central London. “Everything fine over there?”

“Yes, Original. Everything’s fine,” the doppelganger replied in a tone that would not agitate the other staff members next to him. “We were just going through a rundown of the speech.”

Lugh stood up and measuredly paced the living room floor slowly. “Were there any protesters in the crowd you came across?”

The doppelganger shook his head. “No sir. Though I did notice something strange as we came to the stage.”

The original stood next to his black leather upholstered couch and watched as Charon got the crowd into an energized frenzy. “What was that?”

The doppelganger paused upon hearing the question. Lugh detected the hesitation. “Is it something I should be concerned about, offspring?”

“Well…There was an incident.”

Lugh groaned in frustration. “What happened?” he said, pacing once again.

“He was talking with some formless human and his family,” the doppelganger replied to the growing irksomeness of the others next to him. “As I left with Charon, I could hear the man yell something in our direction.”

“What did he say?”

The doppelganger paused, clearing his throat. “Gods bless you, mon!”

Lugh’s fist balled up in a quiet rage felt through the many miles and satellite relays back to the doppelganger. “If you see her again, offspring, dispose of her immediately.”

“Do you want me to do it or Charon?” It asked.

“Either one, I don’t give a damn,” replied Lugh in a fit of rage. “As long as it’s taken care of!”

Lugh took a deep breath and calmed himself back down. “Are we clear?” he added.

“Yes, sir.” The doppelganger replied, hanging up.

Lugh hung up shortly after and pocketed his Molltach. He sighed and walked over to his bedroom. On his writing desk there was a stainless steel suitcase with a black handle that drooped over the top of it. He walked over to the desk and opened the complicated lock. A green glow lit his face up and shined to the roof of his bedroom.

“Very soon, my small friend,” he smiled ominously, looking inside it. “We shall rise!”

Next Chapter: Chapter 26