Chapter Sixteen

-Chapter Sixteen: Black Holes and Revelations

In which our heroes are manipulate two of their greatest foes into fighting one another (possibly involving a third) and get trapped in their own home, possibly freeing their greatest foe of all.

What the bloody hell just happened?!

One

Mr. Information Cowers in Fear

Our heros visit Mr. Information in an effort to learn the final fates of Mr. Black's grandson, the movements of the Fetches and Family Quay and the meaning behind their recent trip into The In-Between. Mr. Information is a bundle of nerves and insists they not ignore the Quay, stating that they MUST kill the vampires before the weekend, or "all will be lost".

Two

Our heroes begin to round up support for a war on the Vampires of the Family Quay to little avail. Lord Thomas Gage says he would be honored to ready an assault, but he cannot go to war without the approval of the Seasonal Regent and for all his power King Percival is NOT regent, Queen Mary is. Percy, who has already sugested to Mary that the meet to discuss policy on the weekend, scrambles to communicate with her before then.

Three

Gram and Nellie go to visit Queen Edane at Hole. Edane has somehow already heard of Percy's offer to Mary to visit The House and insists that she be invited as well. Gram tries to bring up a number of pressing problems to Edane but she dismisses them all as either "boring" or "upsetting". Gram decides that perhaps he needs to step up into a more authoritative leadership role in the court.

Four

Queen Mary accepts Percy's offer of a parlay, and sets the meeting date for Friday. She refuses to authorize a death sentence on the Quay before they hold formal discussions on an "Enemies List". Percy becomes nervous because Mr. Information said the Quay must die BEFORE the weekend, and Mary's meeting would certainly cause them to miss that deadline.

Five

Nellie is called into the HR department at work to deal with David Althorp. Althorp tells her that the grand and imperious Fetch Empire has claimed the south London neighborhood of Battersea as their official domain. All changelings within it will clear out immediately or they will be slaughtered.

The Fetch Empire

Six

Nellie quickly calls Gram who reports the situation to Edane. Shockingly, Edane works quickly and efficiently to locate the changelings living in Battersea and get them assistance from The Modern in clearing out ASAP. Gram plans on taking credit for moving them.

Seven

Percy heads to The Hide-Out to rally his fellow members of The Brotherhood against The Quay. Joshua Wolff is all for it (The Vampires have apparently attacked children in the past and the Brotherhood doesn't tolerate that sort of thing) but he does seem a little wary of going against Queen Mary's orders. He is particularly concerned that she'll send Lord Vallum and Prince Edward after the Brotherhood, a prospect that fills him with no small amount of dread. Percy tells him to meet him in a few hours at the museum for "recon". He is told to bring all the men he can muster.

Eight

Working with Gram, Nellie comes up with a plan to stymie the efforts of the Fetch Empire. Calling for another meeting with David Althorp, Nellie convinces him that the empire's "great allies" the family quay will not stand for the incursion to Battersea. Althorp is all to ready to believe this lie because the Quay ended up siding with the Empire during the last days of King George's War. Althorp promises that the Quay will be dealt with.

Nine

Percy, Nellie, Gram and Perth meet up to head to the British Museum to face down the family Quay. While they are preparing themselves, the museum makes a sudden announcement that they have to close. Large numbers of Fetches appear and slowly start ushering people out of the museum.

Ten

[[The Duke Of Exeter|

The Duke At War

The Duke Of Exeter]] arrives and dresses himself in a grand imperial robe with a gigantic sword carved of cold iron. He will lead his "people" into glorious victory over the Vampires. The fetches notice our heroes but leave them alive, as The Duke wants witnesses to prove to The Empire of the White Tower that the Fetch Empire can do what it pleases. As they are dragged out, they hear the start of the fight, including a Quay screaming that the Ashwood Abbey was attacking them (a point of confusion assumed to help our heroes even more).

Eleven

Our heroes travel back to Mr. Information who seems furious with them. He insists that THEY were supposed to fight the vampires and die in the process. Now that they have survived all hope truly is lost. He flees immediately.

Twelve

Percy goes out and procures a large quantity of LSD. He takes it and passes out.

Fourteen

Dinner Party

Percy wakes up the next day highly confused and missing a large block of time. Our heroes prepare to fete the royalty of the seasons. The guests are as follows-

• Queen Mary
• Lord Vallum
• Queen Edane
• Prince John
• Princess Anne (giving regards for King Albert)
• Gloriana
• The Man For All Seasons (giving regards for Empress Victoria
• Lord Thomas Gage
• Joshua Wolff
• Duke Mortimer
• Dr. Elspith Glaistig
• Sir Rowland Widdershins

The guests are split into two groups- one group will join the royals for a discussion of the "Enemies List" and the others will go with Duke Mortimer to discuss the renewal of The Membership Committee.

Thirteen

Nellie, the new Spring member of the Membership Committee is shocked to discover its chairman is none other than Mr. Black. Black quickly banishes Dr. Glastig ("For Cowardice and Insanity"), threatens Sir Rowland ("I don't care what court you claim to belong to, you work for me") and lays down a new rule to Nellie- namely that she will do as she is told, without question for the good of the Empire and its people. When she asks for an explanation of the higher mysteries, he hints that not telling her is kinder.

Fourteen

The royalty of the empire negotiate an official list of enemies. Some are thrown out, and others accepted

• Mr. Black- vetoed by imperial mandate. It is indicated that the Empire wanted to slaughter Black after The Anglo-Goblin War but the Empress stopped it that time too. Common wisdom is he's blackmailing her somehow.
• The Family Quay- vetoed by Queen Mary, who wants to study them first. Edane offers to try and negotiate a truce.
• The Fetch Empire- Agreed, though Mary wants someone to capture a few alive for her to... talk to.
• The Ashwood Abbey- vetoed by Queen Edane who worried about the real-world implications of attacking such a well-connected group.

Fifteen

The house begins to shake, rock and transform. The furniture comes to life and attacks guests. Knives fly out of the kitchen to try and impale visitors and monsters made of the wallpaper try to bludgon guests. Everyone scatters and holes up in random parts of the building.

Sixteen

The Nihil

Gram, Nellie, Perth and Percy try to lead some of their guests to the exit but find that it is blocked off by the thorns of the Hedge. Fog starts to roll into the windows. Percy makes a break for the basement to confront The Mirror while Gram, Nellie and Perth head upstairs in an effort to find weapons. They are confronted in the second floor corridor by a Nihil.

Seventeen

The Man in the Mirror looks to be in a highly agitated state. He is hooked into some sort of clockwork machine and he thanks Percy for bringing such powerful magic to him at just the right time. He claims that he's going to slaughter everyone in the house, even if it kills him.

Eighteen

Gram realizes that many of the monsters they are facing have an increadibly dream-like quality to them and tries to alter the dream they are having. His actions summon The Cat who explains he has pulled the house into The In-Between as part of a deal previously struck with "The King". Assuming he means Percy, our heroes try to use this sudden dream-strength to their advantage.

Nineteen

Percy runs upstairs and is handed the Shattering Axe by Baron Crayle. He heads upstairs to help his motley-mates fight off a horde of skeletal warriors and the Nihil. He asks the cat to summon "The Man from the Mirror" and the cat gleeful complies, popping Mr. Information into the room. Percy, furious that Mr. Information was the mirror all along smashes his face in with the shattering axe, apparently killing him. Crayle also tells Nellie to go to the other room and procure a box for him. She finds it and can hear muffled screams coming from inside.

King Henry Carver, King of the Goblins and the Lost

Twenty

As the disturbances in the house have not stopped, Percy makes his way back down to the mirror as Gram, Nellie and the rest work with Lord Gage and Queen Mary to fight off the monsters seemingly sprung from their own imaginings. Mary compares what is happening here to an old trick "The Dark Lord" used to play. Jumping on this slight point, Gram wrangles that "The Dark Lord" was the sarcastic nickname that the Autumn Court gave to the Gothic King Henry Carver. Gram and Nellie suddenly put 2 and 2 together and realize that the thought-dead King Henry is the one plaguing them.

Twenty-One

"Bad form!" --King Percival, after King Henry sneak attacks and nearly kills him

Percy hits the Mirror with the Shattering Axe, freeing King Henry from it. It seems that the Deep End, realizing that Henry, Like King George, could not die trapped him in the mirror years ago, exiling its true form to Purtobello Road where it became Mr. Information. Henry nearly kills Percy but is grivously wounded in the process. Baron Crayle (called Baroness Crayle by Henry) helps him flee. She also retrives the box from Nellie containing the head of Lord Rictiovarus.

The World Famous London Daily Mirror

For other articles see- London Daily Mirror

Explosions Rock Underground

The British Museum and several other businesses in Bloomsbury were evacuated on Friday after an electrical transformer exploded in an underground vault, engulfing the buildings in smoke, authorities said. There were no injuries.

Firefighters responded to the Museum around 6:19 p.m., said Capt. Stephan George-Blakely of the London Fire Brigade.

“Luckily, we were there prepared,” George-Blakely said. “It was definitely burning pretty good.”

A total of about 250 people were evacuated from the Museam said Officer Geoffery Buckshern of the MPD.

Other than smoke, there was no structural damage to the buildings, Buckshern said.

READ MORE ON PAGE C2

Questions... Questions that Need Some Form Of Written Response

For other questions see- The Master Question List

• How the F*** is Percy not dead yet?
• What is Henry's plan now?
• Is the Baron Crayle a traitor or is it something else?
• How did the mirror suddenly have enough power to attack everyone in the house? Why did he never try before?

The Books
The Book of Spring: Chapter One: Black Masks and Coronation Cake • Chapter Two: The Illuminated Texts • Chapter Three: The Good Fight • Chapter Four: A Little Drop of Poison • Chapter Five: Games of Fortune • Chapter Six: For Everything
The Book of Summer: Chapter Seven: War Aeterna • Chapter Eight: War Plan Red • Chapter Nine: Trust No One • Chapter Ten: Best Laid Plans • Chapter Eleven: The Quest • Chapter Twelve: The Saber Arch • Chapter Thirteen: The Diary of Prince Martin • Chapter Fourteen: Sacrifices • Chapter Fifteen: There Is A Season
The Meeting
The Book of Autumn: Chapter Sixteen: Black Holes and Revelations • Chapter Seventeen: The Last Magic Mirror • Chapter Eighteen: The Final Terrible Fate of Elizabeth Chandler • Chapter Nineteen: Treason, Sedition, Heresy • Chapter Twenty: Iron Sacrifice of Body, Will and Soul • Chapter Twenty-One: Time For Every Purpose
The Book of Winter: Chapter Twenty-Two: Pax Hiems • Chapter Twenty-Three: The Diary of Mrs. Thistle Sept-Dec 1888 • Chapter Twenty-Four: Choices