What is going on now, and Jo's daughter is dragged into it too - I'm really curious to find out 
And congratulations on 40k views!
Hopefully this chapter will explain it!
I was on Skype with my girlfriend when I noticed it and we both cheered. It sounds like a lot, but something I have to remember that it's actually less than 1/10th of the views that the Dreamweavers have. And still less than some other dynasties too. I'm still just a blip on the radar.
Chapter 122: Baroness
Telling Maeve about what I saw last night is a terrible idea. But, she has to have some terrible ideas for me anyways. Without knowing everything about what she knows, I’m going assume that she has the equivalent of
Eight Ways as an audiobook.
I don’t blame Eileen for finding someone who knows more scary. I don’t blame anyone for finding Maeve imposing, as I did from from the start. But I’m either going to die ignorant or die defending myself from her schemes. It’s time to face Maeve, one on one.
I go there in the morning. For the sake of dramatic atmosphere, I do wish that the day was darker out. I wish for a cold rain. Alas, I run to Maeve’s manor under the cover of an azure sky and 80 degrees of Roaring Heights warmth and sunshine.
I’ve stopped taking the taxi, at least for the complete route, because I felt bad for the cabbies. Who wants to explain to a higher power about those routes? To the secluded property of a
highly suspected crime baroness? So I go half the route in a car, and half the route on my feet. One might say it’s symbolic. I took up running late in my life. Real running, that is, because I took a daily jog away from my problems long before that. I made it into a splendid habit.
Up her walkway I go, and it’s like she is a psychic. Maeve waits for me near the stairs as she leans on her cane. I don’t even trust her claims of disability at this point. She never told me how she got that way.
Still, I’m here to face Maeve. I climb up and greet her, forcing a smile that she sees right through. She lifts a brow out of curiosity as I try to say hello.
“I had a feeling you would need me this morning,” she says.
I try to keep my smile. “Well, ain’t that funny?” I say. “There really is a problem that I’m worried about, and it might involve you.”
“I know that this is about the warehouse, Josephine.”
“I...I might’ve had a feeling. You called me beforehand?” Maeve nods. “And they’re here. For you.” She repeats that action. “So, why? What have I done to you?”
“I always found one thing ironic about you. You are not a Curious, at least by name. That’s for Lily, and what is she doing? Staying in her own zone, sculpting, I keep an eye on her when I feel like it. But you? You do not seem to care at all about staying put. And you get scared at the smallest things. I thought I would scare you out of here.”
“Look, Maeve, I don’t like being scared. And I won’t be,” I tell her, staying tense and firm. “No one ever told me about the family, and now I’m getting what you want. I’m even doing your dirty work. Why would you want me gone? This whole secrecy thing was Annette’s deal, not yours.”
“I quite liked the secrecy,” Maeve says, with an airy calm to her voice. “I think it’s the one thing Annette and I have in common.”
“What are you trying to get at?”
“I did not want to be found. And your Annette had things she wanted to run away from. But those aren’t an issue for her now. I still wish I was an unknown to you, Josephine. But I have to deal with this a different way.”
“I never meant to find you. And I don’t deserve punishment for one little accident. Plus, I mean, you embraced me first. When I first met you, it was
you that extended some diplomacy to me. What sort of alternate is that?”
“I don’t care what you know now,” she says. “Because I know how to not let it harm me. But I will say this; Olive, Meg, and that Welker lady? They originally worked to keep distance between me and the rest of you. And now, they’re just here to test you. I admire you not running away, because you might have bought yourself some more time.”
“I...Maeve, I don’t think this warrants...death,” I say, stuttering at a few words. “I-It’s...I don’t want you to hurt me.”
Her calmness is terrifying, and she keeps it. “Do you mind following me inside?” she asks me.
“For what?”
“A story you’ve never heard.”
“How much time have I been bought?” I ask her. “I’m not going into some kill room with you. I’m too smart to do that.”
“For one, I doubt that. And you’ve bought yourself longer than today. I do have a story.”
I shake a bit as she leads me through the door. As much as I fear for my life, I fear to from a woman who then has a pain-wracked face. Almost all her weight is born on that cane, and none on her right leg. Regardless of how she feels, she leads me into a dark study, close to the front door. I try to find a seat in the darkness, until she flicks on a light. Not for that room, but for a small addition. She gestures at me to come over.
“This is a special room to me,” she says. “I get my power from it.”
Idols stand, taking up much of the room. They’re all for goddesses and other female deities, or so I guess. And again, I see that veiled statue: Maire. The same one in Jamie’s hideout.
“I’ve seen that veiled one before,” I say.
“Yes, I know that you have visited Jamie’s office. He put it there for me. Maire is the dark goddess of the exiled. I’ve met her before. Also, I noticed that you were reading that book of yours, but I don’t know how far you are in it.”
“That’s none of your business.” I look away from her, and at one of the rocks in the small room.
“I know everything that is in it, just as well as you do,” she says. “So where are you?”
“When my grandfather died,” I answer.
“Yes, but which one? You documented both, as I recall.”
“Hephaestus.”
“Ah yes. Either way, you are past the first time travel sequence, and I am sure that you remember Albine. He is a god that many meet, and for a good reason, because he mandates time and order. So many people want to break it. He is powerful but he answers a few women. Come, Josephine, let’s sit down in there, in their presence.”
She takes a commanding posture in her seat, sticking her cane out in front of her. I sit about one foot away from the foot of her stick.
“Ah yes, many mortals worship as subordinates,” she says. “I worship in hopes of being one of them. And I make Albine tremble in fear. Do you know how I gather my knowledge? How I have watched every moment of your life? It is because he answers to me. I too exist to create order, even if just for my means, but through my work, I can part time just as he can. I can jump into the past and back again. In the blink of eye, I can go to watching a young Annette from behind the bushes to hovering over your granddaughter’s crib. I never wanted to see you mess up.”
“Then why can we, at least my family, do that now?” I ask her.
“I have one human equal, who put together as good of a case to Albine.”
“Does he answer to everyone here?” At least three female statues stand above us.
“Some of them are just folk heroines or spirits. But Maire is one of the most powerful. I seek exile and hiding as well, but I don’t want to be Maire. I am merely inspired by her, and not by the other things she offers. Comfort and safety are not for everyone. But I have met her, even if just to bypass her. She wants people to go through time for good, and you know me better than that by now.”
“Is this what you wanted to tell me?”
“No, it was a story about Annette, actually. Does it relate? I think it does.”
“Fine, I’m ready,” I tell her.
Before I was born, the family had a lot of time. If Annette wanted to duck out and travel, well, facing the TSA was her problem. But none of them would ask here where she was going either, or what for. She left one day for a short trip, with the only hint being the pair of shorts she packed in her bag. It wasn’t a ski trip up north, but her warm paradise was left to guess.
“How much has Moira told you about her life? Has she told you about Lucky Palms?” Maeve asks.
“I don’t think she has, at least not much,” I say.
“She lived there for a few years, with her first husband. Getting her to visit me there was difficult. There is a lot of baggage back there in the desert, but somehow, she agreed to after a while. I miss that time.”
“What was so great back then?”
“Control over everything, from her and her family to my right hip.”
Back in those days, Maeve looked the same as she does to me, at least in her age. Two lines in her face, around her cheeks, but that was it for markers of her adulthood. She dressed like a modern woman, however, with pants and her hair free from those tight curls. She also walked with a commanding, unassisted gait. And that afternoon, she waited until close to sunset for her guest, at a table overlooking the vast desert.
Annette sat with her back to her, at a different table. Maeve put her legs up on the table and smirked. “It is not like anyone remembers you,” she said to Annette. “Those days are long past you.”
“I’m breaking the law enough by getting here. Airlines keep blacklisting us,” Annette said. “Who knows who’s looking for you now? And if I’m conspiring with you, screw it, this whole mission’s over for me.”
“Fine, we can still talk this way. I have noticed that things have gone stagnant for you five,” she said. “Have you stopped caring?”
“I’ll let Phil decide on his own about things. I mean, they’ve probably figured it out by now. There isn’t anyone to save by finishing this. All of my fake stories are just that. Are...are you sensing a lack of ambition? Jesus, Maeve, let me deal with that.”
“Yes, I am indeed sensing that. Need I remind you why you’re there?”
Annette was about to answer, but her plate came. She got hungry and refused the airline food.
“I’m sorry, I’m starving over here,” she said, then taking her fork.
“I can wait, Annette. Just think about what I asked.”
She took a few bites of her dirty rice, until deciding that Maeve trumped the needs of her stomach.
“Need you remind me? You never gave me a reason, auntie. You preyed on a bad time I was going through and it just turned out to lead me somewhere great.” She huffed with defiance. “I mean, if you have it, tell me. I’m sober ‘cause I ended up on a dry airline and the TSA took my flasks. I’ll listen better now than I ever will.”
“Your drinking is another issue,” said Maeve. “However, you need to keep this in mind: I do jobs all over time. I have more money than you will ever have in Twinbrook, and I have a large account set up for you eight...once you have eight. If you and the others can finish the dynasty, you get twenty million simoleons to split between eight. Probably more by that time.”
“What, really? I thought that was all for you,” Annette said. “To scare people with.”
“I mean, it is for that too,” said Maeve, smirking and leaning back in her chair. “However, I have so much more than that. Setting aside that much money for you is easy for me.”
“And you’re serious?”
“I am serious.”
“So why?”
“I’m buying your silence, for one. And I want to buy Philip out. He knows a lot about these black markets we both deal in,” said Maeve.
“What, you fear him? For all the work he does, the kid’s set to collapse under his own vices without you,” Annette said. “I mean, you can see a lot. You’ve seen what he considers healthy workplace relations. Find one that doesn’t know what his bedsheets look like.”
“I’m not going to count on his demise, however. I feel like you all have forgotten that you are working towards something bigger. So this is my way of keeping you on track. It is easy to keep you under control when you’re focusing on a bigger prize.”
“What the crap, Maeve? Controlling us?”
“I am perfectly capable of operating without you. But I’d prefer you and your family out of my business. At first, I feel that is what this dynasty did for me and you. It gave you the new life you wanted, and enough of a distraction to keep me as just a distant thought while I did my work. And look where it got us, as we are both two wealthy women. But you can be like me if you exert some order and control. Give them a motive to go on, and let me buy their complacency.”
Annette got up from her seat, raging.
“No! I did this to get away from you, and Shaun, and all those people trying to use me.” Annette raised her arms as she went on to a calm, collected Maeve. But she had to give in. The arguing wore the old woman out.
“I am promising you 20 million. Between the eight of you, that is 2 and a half million simoleons each. Maybe I explained control in the wrong way. Are you thinking that I'm going to be an active ruler? I would rather not have to be, if I can control you with a simple goal to work towards.”
“Well, maybe you should have said that sooner,” said Annette.
“Perhaps. And now a question about you: how does that recipe work?” asked Maeve.
“Repairs your telomeres, heals physical injuries, leaves you saggy and old otherwise. Kind of a crap deal, but I’ll live.”
“So, about my offer?”
“I-I’ll think about it tonight.” She left Maeve to leave a tip inside.
Annette left to get drunk, according to Maeve, because she could smell the gin that spilled on her shirt from a mile away. They both stayed near the lake, renting separate houseboats for the weekend. Maeve leaned on a streetlight in a nearby parking lot. Even inebriated, Annette spotted Maeve with clarity.
“I’m too drunk to decide!” she said.
“I could tell,” said Maeve. “Thank goodness you have something to heal your liver.”
“I’d rather be drunk than dead, ya know?”
“I think I can back off for one thing. I would love your recipe, maybe for one of my cooks back home,” said Maeve.
“No!”
“You might be under the influence, but can you please think this through? Wouldn’t you want your old aunt to have a way to heal herself?” Maeve then found herself flung against the lamp post.
“It’s my recipe, mine!” Annette said it after pinning Maeve to the post, even though she let go and let her words keep her aunt in place.
“Don’t you know how many others have it, then?” asked Maeve, in an odd act of desperation. Elderly Annette had a strong hold on her.
“They don’t work like mine,” said Annette. “I do my research when I’m sober. You gotta work to deserve it.”
“I can take your money!” Maeve snarled. “I can destroy your husband’s spirit. I can find a way to resurrect Shaun, for all you care! I can ruin your life, but maybe I won’t if you give me your secret.”
“I’m not afraid of your bluffing, auntie. Y’all just want to scare me, but I’m too old to scare. Ha. I got you there.”
“I know how you are when inebriated. I can get you to agree with this. I want healing alongside my youth, and maybe if we talk-”
“I never expected her to do that,” Maeve says to me. “I can still hear the sound. Me against the pavement, and my right hip cracking. It shattered right at that moment.”
Annette punched Maeve down, hard against the asphalt. Maeve never screamed like that before, but she screamed until she was hoarse. She set off a few car alarms. Her entire right side might as well have been paralyzed, as the pain was too much.
“You don’t screw with me and my recipes, hun,” Annette said, standing over her injured aunt.
“I can’t believe you! You know when your family will see that money? When you’re in the ground, Annette, when you are rotting and buried! Oh, dear Christ.” She inhaled, trying to keep herself calm again until someone, anyone who heard her, called for help. “You broke it, you stupid drunk. And you won’t even heal me.”
“Darn straight. So what? I have millions anyways. I don’t need you. Enjoy your wheelchair, auntie.” Annette walked away before the entire emergency force of Lucky Palms came to Maeve’s aid. “And, just to show you, I won’t fail this. You just watch!”
“And that, Josephine, should explain my cane,” says Maeve. “It was Annette’s own intoxicated strength. But I think this should tell a story, that I do have your interests at heart. I believe that you wouldn’t have even been born without her rage against me carrying the dynasty on. I think she wanted that big empire, but your dad seemed to not care less until given a reason to settle down. I made your family work, and all because of the power I wield.”
“Are you trying to say that I should appreciate what you do?” I ask her.
“Yes, Josephine. Myself and my power is not just a force for evil.”
“But what does this mean for the future? You threatened me.” I still want to cry.
“That will stay a secret,” she says. “I think I have nothing else to say. I wish I could hide you from this industry, and keep you safe and exiled. But all I can do is try to control you. All that is left is to ruin your life with control.”
“I think I’m done here too,” I say, meekly, as I slide out the arch.
So that confirms it. All I can do is work and stay in the best graces I still can. All I can do is get those left to sway on my side. And most importantly, I can get my unfinished business with Moira done. She has a chance for a better life than what she has.
But for me? I don’t doubt the existence of Maire, the Goddess of the Exiled. But I doubt her power, because someone, something rules in her place.
Word Count for this chapter:
3,224Word Count so far:
260,435
