Ghost of Rose Manor Chapter Three Part Four

“Samuel, did you put all the conditions in or what?” I asked again. He smiled at me and nodded. I was sure at this point he was just trying to annoy me. “Samuel, I‘m leaving right no_” I started to get up and he grabbed my hand. “I swear on the memory or my dear family that it’s all there… mostly.”  He said and smiled. I wasn’t amused and pulled my hand away. “Let me guess, this bit about traveling ‘wherever’ is it isn’t it?” I asked irritated. “Well, I wasn’t sure how to word it exactly. I’m not sure where all we will have to go so I couldn’t really be detailed.” He reasoned.

“Fine… let me call my parents and let them know I am staying over… I guess you better show me how this compass works, too.” I said taking my cell from my bag. “You didn’t sign yet, though…” He said nodding toward the notepad. “Yeah, because I am not signing it until I see where that compass points, Samuel.” I said and with that I got up and walked out of the room to phone my parents. Once I was finished with that… and the warnings from my mother that he might be a ‘groper’ I walked back into the office and sat down.

Samuel must have retrieved the compass while I was out of the room because there was a lovely, highly decorative box sitting on the desk now. It was intricately carved wood with gold decorations on it. “So, this is it?” I asked. Samuel nodded and leaned over to open the lid. “Yes. It took me quite a while to get this. Without being able to leave the house, I had to actually hire a ‘treasure hunter’ of sorts to get it for me.” He said. I took note that his demeanor had changed.

The lighthearted Samuel was all but gone and it frightened me a little. His face was serious and worse, gloomy. “Is something wrong, Samuel? You… aren’t being…” I trailed off as I watched him looking over the box. “Anastasia… Ana, I… there is something else I must tell you about our journey.” He said quickly, shutting the lid of the box. I leaned back and narrowed my eyes. He looked guilty and that made me even more worried. “What is it?” I asked.

“I know where the Despra is… I know where the compass will point us and…” He hesitated, “It’s far from here, Ana.” He said. The guilt on his beautiful features was so pronounced that I felt a twinge in my stomach.  “How far?” I asked swallowing the lump in my throat.  “Another world, another reality. One from which all strange things come.” He explained drearily. I watched him for a moment trying to decide if he was being truthful. I felt that he was because he seemed so distraught.

“And you think that I won’t agree once I see this for myself, right?” I asked, pulling the compass toward me. He nodded. “It’s going to be more than a simple few days of travel, Ana. I can’t say how long it might take us to find the Despra that did this; a few days to a few months maybe longer. However, time passes differently there. What might seem as a life time there is but a blink here. I imagine that is how these creatures remain immortal.” Samuel explained.

“So your connection to that world is what keeps you alive?” I asked. He shrugged. “I have no idea. I’d imagine so.” He said. Then a terrible thought occurred to me. “Samuel… if we break the curse… you might die.” I said. Caring far more about that then I should. “If I do then that is fine. I can be with my family again… you have to realize, Ana, that I have been alone for so long… Death would be a release.” He said. I didn’t like it, not at all. It was downright depressing.

Changing the subject before I started arguing with him for reasons I wasn’t sure of myself, I opened the box and pulled the compass out. It was a glorious looking piece of craftsmanship. It was about the size of a soft ball and completely contained inside a crystal sphere.  The arrows that seemed to be freely floating within the center were loose along with the symbols for north, south, east and west. “How does it work?” I asked, shifting it in my hands.

“You ask it what you want to find and it will find it. It’s pure magic contained inside that quartz sphere. Once you have asked, those arrows and symbol will align to show you the way but that is not the best part… let me show you.” He said and pulled a map from a shelf behind him and smoothed it out on the desktop. He took the compass from me and set it on the map where it stayed perfectly still. I glanced at the map; it was a map of the town.

“Watch.” He said and smiled. “Where is Ana’s house?” He asked and the arrows inside began to form and the crystal sphere rolled over to the exact spot where my street was located. I leaned over and looked more closely and sure enough, the arrows inside were pointed directly on my house. “That’s amazing…” I muttered. “But how did it find this Despra if it is in another world?” I asked looking up at Samuel. He grinned and pulled another map out and sat it on the desk.

“This… This took some very sly trading on my part. Luckily I have enough odd crap to entice the greediest and most eccentric of collectors. A map of worlds… it was found in ancient Greece, thought have been left by Persians. It’s believed to be the first map ever made and by whom no one knows. Whatever it’s written on it’s imbued with magic and it has not faded nor worn a day of its existence. I believe it’s from where we need to go, actually.

It lists hundreds of different realities and had to have been made by someone that knew and saw them through some kind of special foresight. When I first got the compass, the map was already in my possession and the crystal rolled right off the table toward the shelf when I asked where the Despra was. It took me awhile to go through all the maps but then it centered on this world…” He said, moving the compass and rolling the map out.

The map was… confusing to say the least, it was hundreds of little dots and writing that looked like Chinese mixed with Elvish!  Samuel set the compass down and the sphere rolled to one particular dot on the map and centered its arrows.  “Are you sure it’s not a mistake?” I asked warily. “I’ve done it over eighty times and it goes to the same place each time. Sadly, there is no map of that world here on earth, at least not one that I have found.”

I considered this for a moment. “How are we going to get to this place, Samuel? I mean, can you read this map?” I asked. “Oh yes, it took a favor from Morpheus though… but yes, I can read this map and I know the name of the world. If I didn’t we couldn’t open the gate to get there.” He said matter-of-factly. “So, let me get this straight in my head. We do a ritual to attach you to me then we travel to, not just another world but another reality? Find the Despra that did this and... Then what? He isn’t going to hand your life back. You need to trade something, right?” I asked.

Samuel raised a brow and then smiled. “Wow, I am so glad to have you on my team, Ana! I… actually hadn’t thought it through that far…” He said and had the decency to look embarrassed. I rolled my eyes hard and gave him a disbelieving look. “Samuel, you are insane, you know that? It’s no wonder you got suckered into this deal!” I scolded. He pouted slightly. “I was grief stricken! ...and I don’t have a good enough excuse for anything else so let’s just move on.” He said somehow keeping a straight face but I had to laugh.