Chapter Text
NANCY
She needed to run. Nancy knew that she wouldn't be able to escape from Temperance Hudson, but she was Nancy Drew. Hell, biologically speaking, she was Nancy Hudson. Her blood and her upbringing graced her with more stubbornness and fortitude than should be possible. She would not go down without a fight.
With renewed determination, Nancy sprinted as fast as she could through the Gorgam Woods.
Despite being in the woods in the afternoon, she still zigzagged to avoid tripping over any wayward roots in the damp forest ground. Finding a large enough spruce, she hid behind the trunk to take a reprieve. Trying to calm her ragged breathing so she wouldn't give away her hiding spot, Nancy closed her eyes.
It was only supposed to be a recon mission.
-
Nancy had just barely comprehended the words she read from the letter left to her when urgent and incessant knocking on her front door drew her attention. Rushing to open the door, she had found a panicked and scared looking Hannah Gruen on her front porch step. Looking at Hannah's harried figure hunched over forward slightly over a large book she clenched closely to her chest, Nancy knew without a doubt that something was extremely wrong and it had to do with the letter she had just read. It was this thought that caused her to quickly move aside from the doorway to allow Hannah to come in.
Neither of the women said anything, but there wasn't any need for words. The two had somehow conveyed everything they needed to tell each other in the silence. Hannah pulled the book away from her chest and handed it to Nancy to take.
Taking it from the other woman, Nancy inspected it. It was obviously very old, was her first observation, as she took in the fading color of its cover and the yellowing of the page edges. The cover was smooth brown leather, indented with the black writing across it written in what looked to be Latin. The thick spine had a slight split at its top due to repeated opening past its elasticity. Nancy took a deep breath and opened the book.
"What is this?" Nancy asked, her hand flipping through the pages without any provocation. Her eyes skimmed through the words and symbols, hardly able to take them all in.
Hannah gave a long exhale. "This is the Ladies in White's grimoire."
Nancy's eyes shot up sharply to look at Hannah. "Their spell book?"
The other woman nodded her head solemnly. "This book has the spell that protected the border of Horseshoe Bay from Temperance Hudson for seven generations. But this doesn't just have spells in it. It had the complete history of the Ladies, especially Temperance." Hannah reached over towards the book still in Nancy's hand and turned to the designated page.
"Oh, wow." Nancy said slowly, tracing the swirling script with her index finger. There was just something about the book that called to her, begging her to keep touching it.
"Nancy, I made a grave error. The power that Temperance Hudson possessed before the Ladies punished her was inconceivable. The wraith was only a smidgen of what she was able to do because she wasn't at her full potential that night. They were right to be afraid of what she could do. And I think, I think she's immortal. She was binding her time until the seventh generation of Hudson was born. Nancy, that's you." Hannah exclaimed, unbridled fear coating her every word.
Nancy nodded, her focus finally pulled from the book of spells. "I know," she said, resigned. As she had told the group earlier in the woods, her Hudson family problems were far from over.
"What do you mean you know?" Hannah asked in shock.
Nancy gave a weary smile, and handed the letter still in her hand to her friend. "Myrle Hudson left this for me in my jacket pocket. I had just finished reading it a few moments before you came."
Hannah took the letter from Nancy and started reading its contents. Nancy saw the array of emotions pass across her face as she read. A soft gasp escaped from Hannah just as she finished reading.
"This isn't good is it?" Nancy knew it was a dumb question, but she asked it anyway.
Hannah shook her head. "No, no this is not good at all. Nancy, the Keepers haven't had to deal with something like this in recent history. I don't know what to do."
"Well, ready or not, here she comes." Nancy replied, with a shrug. "How should we go about this?" She was already in mission mode. Nancy figured that once the dire nature of the situation sinks in, she could panic and cry and scream at the unfairness of it all. She just got cured from a supernatural parasite a few hours ago for Christ sake.
"I guess we should start by making sure she doesn't get your blood." Hannah said after a moment.
Nancy winced. "Yeah, about that. I think that ship has already sailed. She must have gotten it from the machine that created the wraith."
"Nancy!" Hannah admonished, "I should have realized that's what happened. It explains the power surge that occurred, and makes things more complicated. From now on, please make sure you and your friends are more careful when spilling blood." She looked over to the Nancy, the coldness in her eyes making Nancy feel like she was ten again when she broke her arm trying to climb through a window during her sleuthing.
Carson and Kate really tore into her for that one. Although she still wasn't entirely sure if the lecture she received was due to her broken arm or if it had to do with spying on neighbors. Either way getting lectured then was as fun as it was now.
Cheeks burning due to making such a callous mistake, Nancy turned away from Hannah's gaze and went looking back to the book. "Always keep blood away from psychotic, supernatural power possessing, immortal estranged family members. Noted." Nancy did not need to be facing Hannah to feel the scathing, exasperating look sent her way.
"Okay, moving on, I think the best thing we can do," Hannah started as she started pacing back and forth, wringing her hands together. "The best thing we can do for now, is to find out as much about her as possible before we even try confronting her. We already know what she was up to before, but now her endgame must have evolved over the years. It is best to get the full idea when dealing with someone like Temperance Hudson."
Nancy nodded along. "That is a good idea. We should start at the historical society archives and check every single document associated with the power entity under Horseshoe Bay. Finding out what we can about it, we can try to stipulate why Temperance wanted to hone into that power so much."
"Good way to approach it. I can pull whatever I can find, and then you and your friends..."
Nancy's eyes widened in sheer terror. "No!" She exclaimed loudly.
Hannah froze at her enthusiastic non-consent. "Nancy?" She asked confused.
Nancy inwardly cursed at her loss of control, and took a deep breath to gain some composure after her outburst. "I don't think we should involve them just yet."
Seeing Hannah still confused she pushed onward. "She saw them with me at the cabin. If she catches them, she could harm or kill them. I refuse to let that happen." Nancy felt tears gathering in her eyes. She may be coming out as a Hudson, but she will not be the same as her grandfather and get her family and friends hurt just by association. A soft touch to her arm pulled Nancy out from her dreadful thoughts. Placing her other hand on top of Hannah's, she continued. "We also need to make sure she knows nothing about you and keep you safe as well."
Hannah gave a small smile of understanding and gratitude. "I understand, Nancy, but we cannot do this all on our own."
"I know, but I have a plan for that just might work in this case. All I need to do is reach out to other people's better natures."
At the other women's inquisitive expression, Nancy continued in more detail.
It did not escape either woman's notice that from the moment Nancy first took the grimoire into her hands, she hadn't put it down. So when Hannah finally left a while later, she gave the book to Nancy for safe keeping. Something told her that was the best course of direction in these unprecedented times.
-
In the following five weeks, both Nancy and Hannah took every free chance they could get to gather as much information as they could without trying to arouse suspicion.
Hannah had been researching every written document and journal she could get her hands on of the first Ladies in White to figure out how to stop Temperance Hudson in fulfilling whatever she had planned for Horseshoe Bay. She even found some information on the powerful entity living beneath the old town.
Nancy, on the other hand, did the physical searching about town in the hopes to find where Temperance was hiding. She also had been studying the spell book whenever she was able to. Under Hannah’s expert tutelage, Nancy tried her hand at making different potions and elixirs that were subtle enough to not alert the supernatural, but powerful in keeping the town safe until she was ready to face her foe.
She took extra care to be as discrete and inconspicuous as possible. By making sure that she designated enough time to finish her community service hours (no longer at the morgue), waitress at The Claw (still showing up late to George’s perpetual annoyance, but this time with a reason), work with Ryan with Carson’s cases (since Carson hired him until he was able to find another job), spend time with her friends (minus Ace who was still on his long road trip with Amanda Bobbsey), have dinner every night with her dads (something Nancy truly enjoyed and started looking forward to), and her therapy sessions (mandatory as per her dads), in between the time she spent trying to find a solution to the Temperance problem, Nancy had been able to go about her daily routine without alerting her dads or any of her friends about the dire situation at their proverbial doorstep. She knew without a doubt that this would not have been possible had it not been with the incredible assistance of some very surprising but extremely welcomed new allies.
The amount of gratitude she felt for them every time they covered for her, helped Hannah or her with something they needed but couldn’t get themselves, or distracted her single-minded focus whenever she was spiraling into her self-hate and extreme pessimism expanded exponentially. However, all of that paled in comparison when she realized that they trusted her even after all the crap she bought along with coming into their lives. They could leave at any moment, but they chose to stick around to help. After feeling perpetually cold for so long, the truth in front of her filled her with warmed from the ends of her toes to the tips of her fingers, and back.
It was because of her new allies she was able to investigate the Gorham Woods during her lunch break. Hannah had texted her during the morning breakfast rush about a new lead she had found in some obscure journal from a neighbor of one of the original Ladies in White. It mentioned something about how the supernatural gravitated to those woods for a reason. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much elaboration on the subject, but Nancy had agreed it was worth looking into. Considering that was where the wraith was created, where Temperance was defeated, and where she herself was latched onto by a parasitic supernatural entity, it made sense there was something to the Gorham Woods.
Hannah had equipped her with protection and tracking talismans as a precaution when she dropped by before heading on her mission. She even used a modified version of one of the spells from the spell book on her cell phone that would detect any magic or supernatural presence near her. If anyone or anything was curious as to what she was doing with the items Nancy had a perfectly good explanation that wouldn’t betray her initial objective to the enemy. After all, wouldn’t someone who was used as a psychological source of food for a wraith be more careful walking in the haunted woods where she first encountered the being? Wouldn’t it ring even more true for Nancy Drew (now Nancy Hudson since her press conference), who follows the mysterious like a dog with a bone?
However, it was truly only supposed to be a recon mission. Nancy was supposed to gather some readings and information, and then head back to the historical society where one of her new partners and Hannah would be waiting for her.
Instead, Nancy found Temperance Hudson kneeling, knees flat on the damp forest ground digging a whole. Trying to stay out of her sight, she observed Temperance pull out a vile from her coat pocket. It was filled with a dark red substance, at least three quarters of the vile still full.
That’s my blood.
Nancy came to this conclusion almost as soon as she saw the vile. Pretty much everything they have read mentioned how important the blood of the seventh generation would be for someone like Temperance, but sparse details did not explain how. In order to prevent Nancy’s blood to be used again, one of the first potions Hannah and Nancy made from the book was to ensure that Nancy’s blood can only be freely given. If anyone took it with force, the blood would turn to water. Unfortunately, due the machine used to get rid of the wraith, Temperance had quite a bit of Nancy’s blood to use. However, the positive is that her supply would not last forever.
That thought caused dread to spread through Nancy’s body. If Temperance had a limited supply to a substance that is so crucial to her, what could she possibly be doing that she would sacrifice whatever amount she had in her possession?
Knowing she needed to get closer, Nancy tried to be as quiet as possible to get a better view. As she was inching closer, she was able to hear a low rumble of words coming from Temperance’s mouth. After weeks of trying to translate the spell book in English, Nancy had gotten quite proficient in ascertaining different old languages. The words spilling from her six times great aunt was most definitely Nordic from what she could tell. But, she needed to get closer if she wanted to record what was being said on her cell phone.
Just as she was about to inch closer, a voice called out. “Hello Nancy, we meet again.”
Temperance Hudson gracefully got back to her feet from the ground. She took the time to smooth out the fabric of her pants where they creased at the knees, put away the vial of Nancy’s blood back into her pocket, and snapped her fingers to get rid of the dirt that covered her hands and clothes.
Taking the time to inspect herself she nodded. “There, that’s better. I would like to make a good first impression, or really the first one in my actual body.” She said with a wicked smile parting her dark red lips.
Nancy took a gulp, and tried to keep calm. “I got your letter.”
The smile on Temperance’s face did not diminish. Instead, it spread a wider. “That’s great, I am happy to hear that. I am also glad that we are finally able to truly meet as ourselves. Aren’t you?”
“Yeah, but it is your fault the wraith existed so I guess I have you to blame for what it had done to me.” Nancy bit out, spitefully.
Nancy saw her aunt’s face grow dark before a cool mask took its place, the smile steadily growing more sinister. “It is not my child’s fault, he was hungry. Being alone here all this time waiting for me, he must have realized you were family.”
“So what, because he missed you I was a good substitute?” Nancy asked, rolling her eyes. She figured if she could annoy Temperance enough, Temperance might show more of her hand. “Regardless, I am curious as to why you are here.”
“Why, I haven’t been back home in so long,” Temperance replied plainly. “I missed Horseshoe Bay.”
“Was it Horseshoe Bay you missed or the supernatural entity that fueled your powers that you missed?” Nancy asked her, trying to figure out a plan to get away but also wanting to know how her aunt would respond.
Nancy was not disappointed, her aunt’s face contorted and the fake smile dropped. “So little Miss Detective knows all about me then does she?”
“I know that the Ladies in White defeated you a long time ago.”
Temperance hissed. “The Ladies in White were weak! They could have followed me and we could have taken over this town. The stupid men of this town doing what they pleased and who they pleased, while we women waited on them hand and foot, as they get the glory. History books remembering their every so called trial and tribulation, while our stories get purposely left behind. The history books are wrong. We had the power to make those who did wrong suffer for their actions. We could have been great. But no, according to the Ladies we had to use our powers for good. Well, I’m still here, where are they? Dead and interred in the ground, bones dried to dust. I will make sure my plan succeeds, and you should join me, Nancy.”
“I’m sorry, but what?” Nancy asked in shock at the request.
“Nancy, you are family, a Hudson. Family is important, even if generations of Hudson males have completely besmirched our family reputation. In my opinion, Everett is getting exactly what he deserves. You have already started reparations to the evil Everett did, but don’t you want more justice? We can be more, Nancy. Don’t you want to be more?” Temperance appealed, eyes alit with fierce rage.
Nancy shook her head. “No, not when people could get hurt. I don’t want to be like you,” she proclaimed, hoping to distract her aunt as she turned on her phone discretely behind her back to send a text message.
Unfortunately, it was not discretely enough. When one moment she felt the smooth cover of her cell phone in her left hand, next all she felt with was open air. It was in this moment that the slow thrumming of fear kicked into high gear.
“I gave you a chance, dear Nancy, and you waste it. So be it then. I will end you, and everyone and everything you love. You should have joined me. We could have done great things together.”
Running away from Temperance did not seem like it would do any more than delay the inevitable. However, Nancy’s fight or flight response was kicking into high gear. She needed to get as much space between her and Temperance as possible.
Hiding behind the tree for a moment cost her more than she realized. Hearing the crunch of leaves beneath boots, Temperance was making her way close to where she was. Nancy took another deep breath in preparation, and then moved her legs to start running again. Or at least she tried to.
No matter how much she tried, Nancy couldn’t move. She knew that whatever was keeping her in place was magic, but she still tried to wiggle free. Eventually, Temperance caught up to her.
“I cannot kill you yet, my dear niece, but I am on a deadline and I need you out of my way. Who knows, maybe you will thank me for this later. Enjoy this gift, Nancy Drew, Nancy Hudson, because I assure you the next time we meet, I will not go easy on you.” With that said, Temperance released a ball of blue light and hurled it towards Nancy, who was still frozen in place.
As she saw the bright blue light coming towards her get closer and closer, Nancy closed her eyes. If she was going to finally die after everything she went through, she refused to let the last thing she saw before she died be Temperance Hudson's smirking face.
Instead Nancy's mind conjured the faces and memories of the people she most truly cherished: To Carson and Ryan, somehow making everything like even doing the dishes, a competition, yet still being freakishly fast in always being on the same exact wavelength when it came to anything in regards to her and her well-being. She regrets that she won't be around to witness their ridiculousness and enjoy their ever-changing dynamic with each other.
To Ned and George, who after everything, are finally living life to their fullest and taking advantage of every opportunity coming their way. Now "pre-engaged", the real engagement and subsequent wedding pending, are all something Nancy really wished she got to see.
To Bess, who loves so deeply because she never had anyone to do the same before coming to Horseshoe Bay. She is always there to lend a hand and an ear for whatever, whenever. Nancy regrets never thanking her for running the "Nancy Drew News" twitter account. It saved their lives on many occasions.
To Ace, for being a calming and warm presence. For always trusting her even when he had no reason to. Whether it was to prove that the poison in the evidence refrigerator was water, or to call upon an avenging sea spirit, he was there. He was even there when everything she thought she knew about who and what she was proved to be a crippling lie. Maybe that was why in the dreamscape he protected her most vulnerable self. Nancy knew that what he made her feel was something she never felt before with anyone else. He made her feel safe. She regrets that the moment she finally had the words, she wouldn’t be around to get to say them.
With all these feelings for the people she loved in her mind, Nancy felt a calm acceptance wash over her entire being.
I guess I will be seeing you both sooner than later, Moms.
And that was the last thought she had as the blue light hit her.