Chapter Text
Nancy frowned as the buzzing of her phone coaxed her from her doze. She sat up, peering through the darkness of her room. It was late and she was tired, unable to fully fall asleep. Park had called her. Lev was dead. Somewhere someone else was having a dream about Gettysburg. And she would have to find them, save them.
She frowned when she saw it was a call from Ace. She answered quickly, hearing his nervousness from the way he sucked in a breath before speaking.
“How fast can you get to the Claw?” he asked.
Nancy was already getting up, beginning to pull on clothes. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
“Five minutes,” she said.
“Okay. Meet me there in five minutes,” Ace said. “I need to talk.”
The graveness of Ace’s tone told Nancy it was not a topic he felt able to discuss over the phone. Which made her feel all the worse. She heard the click of him hanging up and threw her phone onto the bed so she could better rush about, getting dressed.
And then she heard her phone ping. She leapt toward it, seeing that it was Bess messaging her.
‘Ace wants to meet at Claw – ten mins. Didn’t add you???’
Ten minutes? Nancy’s brow furrowed. Ace had definitely told her five. She tugged on her jeans, calling Ace up.
“Ten or five?” she asked.
“What?”
He was driving. She could hear the rumble of Florence. He was already on his way to the Claw.
“You asked Bess to meet at the Claw in ten minutes. You told me five.”
“I wanted to speak to you first,” Ace admitted. “I need to speak to you first.”
“I’m on my way.”
Ace’s hands were shaking as he tried to slot his key for the Claw into place. Nancy stood beside him, mind racing as she tried to work out what could have happened. Carefully she rested a hand upon his arm, feeling the slight shifting as he flinched back. He turned to look at her and she could see he was mustering up the words for an apology, wanting her to know that he had not meant to upset her.
“Let me,” she said, voice coming out as a thin whisper.
Ace relinquished his key into her hands and Nancy slid it into the lock, battling to hide how she was beginning to shake too. A conclusion was forming, one that Nancy prayed was not true. But all the evidence, the timing… it pointed to one thing.
The Claw was too still, too quiet, as Nancy and Ace entered. The term quiet before the storm came to mind but Nancy stopped herself. It didn’t feel right. A new concept came to mind – a memory of her time doing community service at the morgue. The quiet of that place not being full of anticipation but rather a full stop. It felt like death was wrapping itself around her in an embrace.
“What did you want to tell me?” Nancy asked.
Ace let the door shut before his eyes settled on her. His eyes mesmerised her with their life. They had always reminded her of the ocean, hidden depths crowded with more than she could comprehend.
Looking at him, she was reminded of caged birds and wondered what could have taken such a strong light from the world.
“It’s me,” Ace said. “I’m the final piece.”
Nancy had been expecting it. She had known in her gut that those words were coming. But she was still not prepared, unable to comprehend what he was saying, unable to force out words.
She felt like she was back there, standing in her kitchen as Ace said he had feelings for her. He had rendered her speechless then, left her unable to tell if what was happening had been a dream or real.
The only difference was that Nancy had suddenly found herself in a waking nightmare.
Because Ace was… She had chosen him. She had been preparing to spend time seeing how amazing her life would be if she just accepted that her feelings for him were something to be embraced. She had been looking forward to a future spent with such a kind, a decent, brilliant young man who deserved so much better than to die for some quirk of fate where his bloodline meant he carried part of a soul that opened the door to chaos and darkness.
How could it be him? What had he done to deserve it?
“You have a brother,” she managed, weakly grasping at straws. “You’re not…”
“I have a half-brother,” Ace corrected. “I am my mother’s firstborn. I’m not… I’ve already had the dream. Lev’s dead. Park found him.”
Nancy nodded mutely to say she knew. She felt so lost. So out of her depth.
Why Ace? Why him, out of everyone? Someone so good and loved and so deserving of better?
“The Copperhead is not getting you,” Nancy said. “Temperance is not getting you. I won’t let anyone hurt you. No one is…”
Ace nodded, telling her that he knew she was going to fight it. They were going to fight it.
“The others are coming. I asked for everyone. But I needed you to know first. After what I said, it only felt fair that I-”
His words were snatched from him by the door opening. Carson and Ryan were standing there.
“There you are,” Carson said, relief painting itself across his face.
“When we saw your car was missing, we’d thought something had happened,” Ryan said.
Nancy offered them her most reassuring smile, telling them that she had simply needed to talk to Ace first. Carson nodded, moving further into the room. Ryan made a beeline to Nancy.
“Of course, I wasn’t sure if Carson had really been messaged or if he was just trying to nose his way in,” Ryan teased in a stage whisper.
“He checked my texts,” Carson said.
“Nancy gets her sneakiness from somewhere,” the younger man returned.
Nancy managed an awkward smile, her eyes glancing onto Ace. His expression looked almost apologetic and Nancy could tell he wasn’t sure if he should have invited both of her fathers without first asking her opinion on the matter. They had certainly helped out at other times but Carson didn’t know all the details about what was going on. Nancy wasn’t always sure she wanted him to know, not wanting to leave him endlessly stressing.
“It felt like an all hands on deck situation,” Ace admitted.
“It is an all hands on deck situation. Life and death stakes,” Nancy confirmed.
And the direness of the situation was confirmed to her by the next person through the door. Agent Park. She knew Ace would not have called him unless he was left with no other choices. The situation between the three of them was… developing and had reached the awkward stage where all of them were trying to work out exactly where they stood and the damage past actions had done. And Nancy was looking for the words to tell Ace about her decision, one Park knew she had already made.
“Have you found the final Copperhead victim?” Park asked.
“Copperhead?” Carson asked, brow furrowing. “As in the snakes?”
“No. The supernatural entity that is killed three people,” Park replied, his own confusion covering his face.
Nancy clapped her hands to draw attention to her.
“That is something we will discuss when the others get here.”
As if by cue, the door was thrown open and Bess, George and Nick hurried in.
“Have you found the final host?” Bess asked, rushing toward Ace.
“Yes,” Ace said, battling hard against the lump in his throat to get the singular word out.
The frantic expressions offered in his direction encouraged him to push out the answer they were all waiting for. But before Ace could find the words, Carson stepped forward, bringing all eyes onto him.
“Okay, I need an explanation now,” the lawyer said.
His voice was firm enough to tell them all he was not accepting any delays. Nancy glanced toward Ace and saw he had almost melted with relief that he had a few more seconds to prepare himself for letting his friends now. He was still trying to process how real telling her had made everything. Once the others knew, they would have to start facing Ace’s situation, viewing it as a real threat.
There was a pause as the gathered young people turned to look at each other, trying to work out who was going to take the lead on explanations. For a moment gazes lingered on Nancy. Normal it was up to her to tackle explanations to her fathers. It allowed her to control the narrative they were presented with. But it was clear to Bess, George and Nick that Nancy was not yet ready to speak.
Park went to speak so he could fill the silence.
“Nancy’s 200-year-old witchy aunt is trying to resurrect her dead daughter to begin the apocalypse,” George said, cutting off the FBI agent.
“She tried to do it years ago but the original Women in White stopped her and when her daughter died, had her soul split and put into four people to hide it,” Bess continued. “It’s been reincarnating down the generations ever since.”
“And as an extra backup, the Women in White turned the daughter’s husband into a creature meant to keep Temperance from getting the four pieces,” Nick added.
“Only the creature, a man we’ve been calling the Copperhead, collects the soul by ripping the host’s heart out and killing them. He already has three pieces,” Ryan finished.
Carson nodded, nervously reciting the names of the three previous victims. He drank in the nods of the gathered young people.
“And with Lev dead, number four will have started showing symptoms of being the host,” Park interjected.
“So what? We post something online about the dreams? See if anyone responds? Surely this could have waited until the morning,” George tried.
There were hesitant murmurs of agreement from the others. Nancy glanced toward Ace.
“We’ve already found the fourth,” Nancy admitted.
Bess’ eyes widened. She stepped toward Nancy, asking how she had managed to find the fourth host so quickly.
“Because he called the meeting,” Ace answered in Nancy’s place.
Every eye in the building landed upon the young man. Bess’ jaw dropped. Nick shook his head. Ryan tried to speak but the words died in his throat.
“You?” Carson managed.
“I had a dream about Gettysburg. When I woke up, I checked it wasn’t some mistake and then I messaged you all. Didn’t feel like you’d appreciate it if I waited until the morning.”
“No, you should have led with that!” George spluttered.
There were murmurs of agreement from the others and Ace shifted uncomfortably. Nancy cleared her throat, drawing gazes back onto her.
“We need to work out how to protect him from the Copperhead,” Nancy announced, knowing it was the most obvious thing in the world.
They all cared about Ace. They all would risk their lives to protect him, knowing he would do the exact same for any of them. She knew they would all fight tooth and nail to stop the Copperhead or Temperance from harming one hair upon his head.
“But you’re not a firstborn,” Bess spluttered, turning her gaze back onto Ace. “You have an older brother.”
Carson raised an eyebrow, about to interject.
“I’m a firstborn on my mother’s side,” Ace said before the lawyer had a chance to speak. “And she is the oldest child of my grandparents.”
“But you said your grandparents were from Russia,” George protested. “Your zayde had that watch.”
Ace nodded slowly.
“My zayde came to America when he was in his twenties. My bubbe, my grandmother… She was born in America. I discounted her from the search because she died in her nineties. But she… She died in an accident. Unnatural causes.”
Nick followed on that it meant Ace’s grandmother had had the potential to live into her hundreds and therefore could have had the natural lifespan to signalled she was a host for Charity’s soul. Ace hummed his agreement.
“I checked. I had an ancestor who fought with the 20th Maine Regiment. I like to be thorough.”
For Nancy, the details didn’t matter. They needed a solution.
“Bess, your protection ritual was able to break the trance Lev was in right?” Nancy said.
Bess paused for a moment before nodding. She pointed out that they had no idea whether it had worked the second time the Copperhead had come though. It could simply be a short time solution.
“Lev was tied down when I found him. Likely by Temperance,” Park said. “It could have been because the ritual had worn off and Lev was going to enter the trance.”
Ryan shook his head, pointing out that he had seen the Copperhead and if he had been in Lev’s shoes, he would have bolted.
“Do we even need a protection ritual though?” Nick asked. “You managed to split George’s soul. Why not do the same thing with Ace’s?”
Bess shook her head saying that they stupidly handed Temperance the soul-splitter because she had said it would remind her of Charity. Park grimaced, pointing out that Temperance might have taken it anywhere. He turned, going to explain the soul-splitter to Carson. Carson offered him a grateful smile but raised a hand to stop him.
“I was there for that one.”
“Yeah. We were turned into teenagers,” Ryan agreed.
Park paused, looking like he was about to say something. Then he merely nodded, turning back to the gathered group.
“I will call my men, have them search any properties Temperance is associated with,” Park said.
Nick frowned, asking what cover story he was going to use. Park paused for a second, holding his phone.
“I will tell them that a valuable and unique piece of medical equipment was taken by Temperance and a young man will die if he doesn’t get it back.”
Then Park was gone, off to make a call. Nancy clapped her hands together, saying that while Park’s people were handling that, they could search Icarus Hall.
“Should I start making the potion to help separate Ace’s soul from Charity’s?” Bess asked.
“Maybe we should hold off on giving the potion until the soul-splitter is in the same room as the person whose soul is getting split,” George said.
Nancy hummed her agreement. Last thing they needed was for Ace’s soul to become untethered. She turned to the others.
“The moment we start going after the soul-splitter, Temperance is going to realise we know where to find the fourth victim. We’ll head out to Icarus Hall at dawn. Until then, we are going to need to do everything we can to protect ourselves.”