“I’ve got it, Michael,” Peter interrupts, striding over. The moment he takes her arm in his, her head spins. He leads her into what she thinks is the direction of the parlor, but given how he makes her feel, he could be leading her into a lion’s den right now, and she’d still follow.
“So, it was a good work trip?” Vivian asks. They are indeed in the parlor, sitting on a love seat on the far side of the room, opposite from where they had tea. A few people mingle around them, and more members are filtering in by the minute, drinks in hand. Apparently, predinner cocktails are a Knox Saturday evening must.
She studies Peter carefully, waiting for his response.
“It was a fruitful few days, yes,” he replies, sidestepping her question. At least he’s not outwardly lying. Perhaps he’s waiting for a more discreet place to talk with her? Shehopes.
“Do you know what geomancy is?” he suddenly asks.
“I’ve heard of it,” she says. She’s not about to admit that she googled it after the masquerade ball.
“Geomancy literally translates to ‘earth divination,’ but I think worldly divination makes more sense. It’s a practice based on the belief that there are divine messages one can interpret from the markings on the ground; it’s about harnessing the world’s energy. But you don’t even need to make ground markings; some people use a coin flip, or a roll of dice. Something to generate an even or odd number, which translates to one or two dots. Those dots form the geomantic figures that are subsequently interpreted.”
At the word “dots,” Vivian is reminded of what Rachel had said:Dr.Thurgood wanted to leave a trail so someone—like us—could connect the dots.
“Oh…That’s interesting,” Vivian replies, shaking off the memory. “And one performs a geomancy reading to answer a yes or no question?”
“Yes, but the answer is more nuanced. Nonbinary, sort of like a tarot card reading.”
“And a Magic 8 Ball,” she teases.
“It is decidedly so,” he quips back. “In all seriousness, though, here at the Knox, we’re old-school. We use the ground markings. It’s what William Knox, our founder, used to practice back in the day.”
“So he was the one who introduced it?”
“Yes. Some people believe William Knox became interested in it because of his dealings with the Chinese merchants, who practiced feng shui, which is different from geomancy but does share similar underlying principles. Others think he was exposed to it by European sea merchants during his travels. Geomancy was, after all, one of the most popular forms of divination duringthe Renaissance. At any rate, he became an ardent believer in geomancy and made it part of our Knox fabric.”
Vivian sips her martini. It tastes surprisingly good, given her hangover the last time she drank them. “So, when I walked through that sticky tape, you ‘read,’ or interpreted, the markings my shoes left?”
“Close. We used the debris from your footprint to…Well, I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice to say we vetted you in a geomancy reading per proper Knox protocol. AndIwasn’t the one doing the reading or, as they say, casting the shield chart. I’m not schooled in it. But others are, like Michael.”
Jerry walks by and offers them sparkling water, which Vivian wisely takes but Peter declines with a dismissive wave.
“Geomancy has always been used with our decision-making here at the Knox,” Peter continues, and adds, somewhat slyly, as if showing off, “You might be surprised to learn about how it’s shaped not only the Knox but Boston as well.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, perhaps the ‘unplanned’ pattern of Boston’s streets was not so unplanned after all.”
Boston is known for its windy, confusing streets that make no sense on a map.
“I thought the streets followed old cow paths,” she says, frowning.
“That is the rumor,” he says with a smile, not elaborating further.
Vivian suddenly feels uncomfortable. Does he mean the Knox, and geomancy, are responsible for the layout of Boston? If true, the Knox’s reach—and mystery—is much deeper than she’d realized. In her direct view is the glass display case with the cryptic scroll. Whatisthat thing? She thought she’d known what she was getting into when she started this quest, but she’s now realizingthat she has no idea about the intricacies of this society. Occult practices, basement autopsies, her ancestor’s missing body…What is this place really about?
And who, exactly, is Peter?
Vivian is used to her mother acting like a snob to the hired help, but even her mother, Vivian thinks, would’ve picked up a napkin that landed next to her foot.
“What’s with the scroll?” she asks, nodding toward it.
A few people stroll by—the room is filling up quickly—and Peter waits until they are alone again to answer. “That’s the Heart of the Knox.”
“Okay…. And what does that mean?”
“The scroll contains the names of all the members of the Knox. We unroll it once a year, on initiation night, to transcribe new members. That is, if we have new members. Sometimes we don’t, so we skip a year. Then we wait three hundred and sixty-five days, as we follow the lunar calendar, to hold another initiation.”
