Agendas Part VI

## Official Summary

Pierce contends with the extraordinary arcane characteristics of the Long Legged Larry children's book, and ponders who could be trusted with such an enormous power. Meanwhile, Kiera takes up for Neveah, hoping to help her either quit the paranormal life altogether, or ease her transition into ORPHEUS's sphere of influence.

Later, Mitch receives news from higher up that the Chester mission is being declared complete...

## Detailed Recap

Pierce spends days or weeks examining and analyzing the pages from the Long Legged Larry book. He has pages from two versions, the scarier one and the softened one. The book appears to be hand-illustrated, -lettered, and -bound, with none of the typical copyright and publisher info you'd expect in a book. In researching the author, Henry Colfax, Pierce finds nothing about the man himself. He does find a Reddit thread where people around the world mention vague memories of Henry Colfax works. The books were always found in school libraries or garage sales, never for sale in stores. They were disquieting and memorable to the point of obsession. Pierce learns of one specific book that had been in a public school in Chicago, a picture book about the Candyman urban legend, which took the terrifying character and made him less threatening. In investigating the book's magical properties, he identifies symbols in the art and lettering, from diverse fields such as hermeticism, sacred geometry, and astrology of stars not found in the sky over Earth. Pierce concludes that it has an extradimensional source. When he takes it into the extradimensional space accessed through Impossible Geometries, he finds that the pages transform from physical objects to pure potential, a powerful magical source capable of being transformed into just about anything. He decides that rather than just handing it all over to the Prophetess, he should have her experiment with a tiny piece first, to assess its true capabilities and consequences.

During this time, Kiera spends most of her time at the Braddock house, studying Hailee's book and completing the nightly rituals to complete her induction into the Hecate. She has ample opportunity to go into the reflecting pool and talk with Hailee, but Vivien is typically deeper, doing whatever she's doing to keep the pool stable and working. Kiera asks Hailee for advice about Neveah. Hailee says the ideal outcome would be Neveah no longer using her powers -- but if she can't stop herself, she needs a "firm hand" keeping her from hurting herself or others. As a side note, Hailee mentions that Pierce was recently in the pool, and while she didn't speak to him, he seemed obsessed with something.

Kiera meets Neveah at a local diner. Out of the context of her CPRS performances, she seems small and ordinary, just a vulnerable young woman rather than a showman. She says Kevin is healing, and confesses that she blames herself to some extent, because she remembers feeling the ghost's emotions and reveling in the harm she was causing. She explains that she never believed in the supernatural before, just going along with the CPRS stuff because Kevin was interested in it and it was entertaining. When Kiera asks if she has any family history of supernatural powers, she says she was adopted, so she doesn't know. Kiera offers Neveah a choice: Stop using her power, or get help. Neveah admits that she doesn't think she can keep herself from using them, so Kiera gives her an ORPHEUS phone number she can call.

Mitch and Pierce both get instructions from headquarters to return to Chicago. Pierce's last task in Chester is to visit the Prophetess and discuss his findings. He enters the Prophetess's "subversion" of the pool, a secret corner of it Hailee can't access, and is surprised to find Nadra. Nadra hands Pierce a gem containing the memories they removed, and then he can recall their earlier conversation, wherein she explained that she created the cult at the mental hospital and healed patients there, working with Howarth to find and stop the cabal within ORPHEUS, from whom she is currently hiding in the pool. Pierce mentions that he believes Koji is aware of and opposed to the cabal.

They discuss the power of the Long Legged Larry pages. Nadra knew it would have something to do with the destruction of memories, but Pierce says he believes it's capable of far more. He confessed that he's concerned about what Nadra may attempt with it, and what collateral damage she may cause, as she did in the bar in Florida. They agree that Pierce will carve off a small piece of the power, suitable only for Nadra's stated purpose: Covering her tracks by deleting the memories of anyone who notices her while she investigates the cabal. The rest will be stored in an extradimensional space near the pool, which can only be accessed by Pierce and Nadra together. In this way, they both feel confident that neither can abuse it for purposes the other would not condone. Effecting this working takes a great toll on Pierce, but he manages to create a page that's a composite of the others, and gives it to Nadra.

## Quotes

"Sometimes, our fear is what fuels us." - Kiera

PIERCE: "I don't think you need to worry about me."

NADRA: "Oh, Pierce, We have a long history together, and one of the reasons I am still alive is that I never stop worrying about you."

## Music Credits

* Three Chain Links - Into Darkness
* Three Chain Links - Magic Hour
* Three Chain Links - It's All Too Much.
* Kai Engel - Highway to the Stars
* Natus - Into the Wind
* Somewhere off Jazz Street - If I Could Tell You
* Try-Tachyon - Edge of the Wastelands
* WARHORSE - Remote Control Dad Prelude
* Opening and Closing Themes by Nathan Kross and Rob Stith