All Chapters of The Return of The Forgotten Son: Chapter 41
- Chapter 50
89 chapters
The International Expansion
The email was from Australia.Dear Miss Ashbourne, my name is Rachel Kim. I'm a practitioner in Sydney who's been dealing with similar copycat ritual problems. Your network's methods have reached us through the research of Dr. Santos. We'd like to adapt them for Australia. Can we talk?It was the fifth international inquiry that month. The word was out. The academic legitimization had opened doors we had never considered.I called Dr. Marsh. "People want to replicate the network internationally. I don't know if we're ready for that.""We should be ready. The problem is not confined to the UK. Desperate people attempt dangerous rituals everywhere. If we can help them build effective prevention networks, we should."She was right. But international expansion felt overwhelming. Different legal systems, different supernatural traditions, different cultural contexts. Could our methods work elsewhere?I reached out to Rachel Kim. We spoke over a video call, her morning, my evening. She was
The Prodigy
The application arrived through official network channels.Name: Daniel Foster. Age: Nineteen. Background: Survived a failed ritual attempt at seventeen. Wanted to join as a volunteer, possibly train as a practitioner. References from three therapists and a social worker.Something in the application clicked. The seriousness of the statement of intent. The rawness of his story. I decided to interview him personally.We met in a café in Oxford. Daniel was thin, pale, with eyes that had seen too much too young. Scars on his forearms, no effort to hide them."Thanks for seeing me," he said. His voice was low but firm. "I know you probably think that I'm too young or too damaged to be of any use."Tell me what happened. Your application mentioned a failed ritual but not details.He took a deep breath. "My father went bankrupt when I was sixteen. Lost everything. He found information about the Ashbourne ritual before your prevention work was widespread. He decided I was the sacrifice he ne
The Betrayal
Our financial accounts were the first indicator that something was wrong.Margaret Lin, who'd helped dismantle the Circle's finances and now managed our foundation's books, called with concern in her voice."Victoria we have a problem. Fifty thousand pounds missing from the operating account. Transferred out in small increments over three months."My blood ran cold. "How is that possible? We have controls.""Someone with access to an account bypassed them. They knew the systems well enough to mask the transfers within real expenses. I didn't catch it until the annual audit."We had five people with that level of account access: Dr. Marsh, myself, Marcus as network treasurer, Sarah as backup, and Patricia's replacement as volunteer coordinator, a man named Thomas Webb."Pull records for all five accounts. Find out who made the transfers."Margaret worked through the night. Called back at dawn. "It's Thomas Webb. He's been systematically stealing from the foundation for months. Maybe lo
The Council's Final Judgment
The copycat epidemic ended eighteen months after Thomas's betrayal.Dr. Santos, who was still tracking our data, confirmed it during the quarterly review. "You've had zero attempted Ashbourne rituals in twelve months. The threshold is met. The epidemic is over."The network had accomplished what it had set out to do. The ritual which destroyed my family was now recognized universally as fatal. Forums were warning against it, practitioners refused to facilitate it, and even desperately struggling people looked elsewhere for solutions."This is what success looks like," Sarah said. "Not perfect prevention of all supernatural harm. But complete cultural rejection of one specific deadly practice. We did it."Soon afterward, the Council of Shadows summoned me. All seven members were present, as they had been at my original judgment."Victoria Ashbourne," the lead figure said. "Two years ago, we bound you to remediation. Tasked you with stopping the epidemic your disclosure created. You hav
The Haunted School
The call came from a headmaster in Birmingham.St. Augustine's Academy, a private school with three hundred students, was experiencing what he delicately termed "unusual disturbances." Lockers opening by themselves. Strange sounds in empty hallways. Students reporting feeling watched in certain rooms."I don't believe in ghosts," Headmaster Collins said during our initial consultation. "But something is happening. Teachers are refusing to stay late. Students are frightened. Parents are threatening to withdraw enrollment. I need this resolved discreetly."It was exactly the kind of expanded mission we'd committed to. Not a ritual attempt, but a supernatural crisis nonetheless.I took Daniel with me. His first major case beyond copycat prevention. Time to test whether his training transferred to other supernatural phenomena.St. Augustine's was a Victorian building. Beautiful but oppressive, all dark wood and narrow corridors. The kind of place that looked haunted even without actual su
The Inheritance
The letter from a solicitor arrived in late spring.Dear Miss Ashbourne, We represent the estate of Constance Ashbourne, your great-aunt who passed away last month. You are named as sole beneficiary. Please contact our office to discuss the inheritance.I hadn't known I had a great-aunt. My family tree was something I'd avoided examining too closely, too much darkness in those branches."Could be a trap," Sarah warned when I told her. "The Inheritors might be using it as bait. Get you somewhere isolated to attack."But curiosity won. I contacted the solicitor, verified the legitimacy, and traveled to Yorkshire where Constance had lived.The estate was a small manor house. Nothing like Ashbourne Manor, but substantial. The solicitor, Mr. Pemberton, greeted me with professional courtesy."Your great-aunt was a remarkable woman. Lived to ninety-three, kept her mental faculties until the end. She was quite specific that you should inherit everything.""I never met her. Did she say why she
The Political Pressure
The Parliamentary inquiry began six months after I inherited Constance's estate.A conservative MP named Geoffrey Hartwell had been raising concerns about "unregulated supernatural organizations operating outside government oversight." He meant us."The Ashbourne Prevention Network claims to provide crisis services," Hartwell said during a Commons debate. "But who oversees them? Who ensures they're operating ethically? Who protects vulnerable people from potential exploitation?"It was the Dr. Walsh argument repackaged in political language. The same accusations, cult behavior, exploitation, lack of accountability, but now coming from someone with governmental power.Detective Chen called immediately. "This is serious. Hartwell chairs the Home Affairs Committee. He can call inquiries, demand testimony, and create real problems.""What does he actually want?""Government regulation of supernatural organizations. Mandatory licensing. Official oversight. Essentially, bringing you under H
The Prodigy's First Crisis
Daniel's breakdown happened on a Tuesday afternoon.I was reviewing case files when Sarah called, her voice tight with concern. "Victoria, you need to come to the volunteer center. Daniel's having some kind of episode."I found him in one of the counseling rooms, curled on the floor, hyperventilating. His ritual scars were glowing, not metaphorically, actually glowing with faint blue light. That had never happened before."Daniel, look at me. Focus on my voice." I knelt beside him, keeping my tone steady and calm.He looked up. His eyes were wild, unfocused. "I can feel them. All of them. Everyone who's ever attempted a ritual. Everyone who died. They're screaming and I can't make it stop."His sensitivity had always been heightened by his marking, but this was different. This was an overwhelming psychic reception, his gifts spiraling out of control."Sarah, get Dr. Marsh. Now. And call his therapist."I stayed with Daniel, talking him through breathing exercises, trying to ground him
The International Crisis
The call came at three in the morning from Rachel Kim in Australia."Victoria, we have a situation. Multiple ritual attempts happening simultaneously across Asia-Pacific. Coordinated somehow. This isn't random."I was awake instantly. "How many attempts?""At least twelve that we've identified. Probably more. All started within the same forty-eight hour window. All using variations on dangerous binding rituals. It's like someone organized this deliberately.""The Inheritors?""Maybe. But the geographic spread is too wide. This feels bigger than one organization."I called an emergency network meeting. Within an hour, representatives from every region were online. The picture that emerged was terrifying.Simultaneous ritual attempts in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and India. Different specific rituals but all involving sacrifice and entity summoning. All started within days of each other."This is coordinated," Dr. Marsh said. "Someone is triggering desperate peo
The Mentor's Departure
Dr. Marsh called me to her office on a spring morning."Sit down, Victoria. I have something difficult to tell you."The tone warned me. Something serious was coming."I'm dying. Pancreatic cancer. Stage four. The doctors give me six months, possibly less."The words didn't make sense at first. Dr. Marsh was eternal, unchanging, the foundation everything was built on. She couldn't be dying."There must be treatments. Options. We have resources now. Money for the best specialists.""I've consulted specialists. The cancer is too advanced. I could undergo aggressive treatment that might give me a few more months of poor quality life. Or I can decline treatment and use the time I have remaining productively.""What are you choosing?""Productive time. Victoria, I've lived seventy-three years. Trained dozens of practitioners. Built a life's work I'm proud of. Six months is enough time to ensure continuity. To prepare the network for operating without me.""We can't operate without you.""Y