505: Manifest Secrets

Synopsis

As the shopkeeper leads them out of the Witch House storeroom, Simeon fails a POW check. Once outside, he puts the bottle of witch repellent into the new briefcase, and he and Denny promise to come back for the desk before heading for the hospital through the snowstorm.

Meanwhile, Dom, Billy and Timeon walk down into the train tunnel under Washington Street. Timeon wears his goggles of night, the magical item he brought back from Keeper of the Ways. A quarter of the way in, they find the symbol they glimpsed from the train: a worn circular carving darkened with soot. Dom feels his magic mirror vibrate in his pocket, and when he holds it up to the carving, the symbol of the Order of the Scorpius rises out of the wall in the mirror's reflection. The scorpion glows red, and the constellation of Scorpius, which had never stood out before, glows blue. It is the group's first solid confirmation that the Order is, or has been, in Salem, and Dom remembers Daly saying that Fiona was "in the stars."

A man who lives in the tunnel, who goes by Hobo Joe (or "Hobosif Joe"), chases them out of his "house." He mistakes them for "star crazies," the people who come around drawing these symbols and screaming about the stars. They all sound like "limey blokes" and have been turning up every so often since the great fire of 1914, sometimes foaming at the mouth and attacking people. A couple of weeks ago, one of them attacked several people at what Joe thinks was the Hawthorne Inn and was thrown in jail. For a couple of five-dollar bills, Joe also tells them that the fire started in the Korn leather factory on Boston Street, on the west side of town, and burned about a third of the city. Somehow it also burned down Devereux Street, across the river to the north and nowhere near the fire. Dom tells him to send word to the Last Lighthouse if he hears anything more.

At the train depot, which feels empty without Mitch, the attendant Rochelle Bisson tells them the station closes after the last train, around 9 or 9:30 PM. Billy shows his badge, says he is investigating missing women, and mentions his friend Tallahassee Turner, whose adventure novels Rochelle loves. His first attempt to charm her fails, but Dom's plea about his missing wife wins her over. She lets them look through the recent passenger manifests, where they find their own names, Garibald John Daly and "Constance Venus," all on that morning's train from Arkham. She then takes them up to the records room in the station's tower. Billy organizes a swift search that turns up several passengers named Grayson. Drawn to the date of the great fire, Dom pulls out a binder from 1914 and finds Fiona listed on a train arriving on June 21. Then, on June 25, 1914, he finds the name "Mr. Dominic Druncard."

Funny Moments

Simeon stores the witch repellent in the briefcase: "You now have a briefcase containing one vial of witch repellent."
The Keeper insists that they had better come back for the desk.
Hobo Joe's "house" in the train tunnel, which only has room for a very narrow futon.
Hobo Joe on whether the great fire was "great": "Don't tell anybody I said this, but both."
Crows tend to lie, so "north as the crow flies" might not be true north.
The depot is conspicuously lacking Mitches, complete with candles, a photo and people crying openly. "They're just the Mitchless witches."
Rochelle's favorite novel is "Tallahassee Turner and the Train Tunnel Hobo," even though Tallahassee wasn't involved in the hobo incident.
Billy's "four-wife smile," and his "zero-wife smile" after a failed Charm roll.
"Has anybody told you how beautiful your eyes are?"
"I hope you find your dead wife." "Me too."
"How long should I have been missing?"

Notable Quotes

"If we can find the Order of the Scorpius, we can find Fiona." —Dom
"Beggars can't be choosers, and I'm a literal beggar, so it goes double for me." —Hobo Joe
"He's not like that. Mitch is such a gentle soul. Everybody loves him." —Rochelle Bisson