All Chapters of The Return of The Forgotten Son: Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
89 chapters
The New Generation
Three months following the death of Dr. Marsh, I had an unexpected visitor.A young woman, perhaps twenty-two, showed up unannounced at the Oxford office. The receptionist buzzed me. "Someone named Lily Marsh is here. Says she's Dr. Marsh's granddaughter."I hadn't known Dr. Marsh had a granddaughter. But then, I'd only learned about her daughter weeks before she died.She was slight, with dark hair, her grandmother's piercing eyes. She held herself with that same quiet determination that reminded me, painfully, of Dr. Marsh."Thank you for seeing me," she said when I invited her into my office. "I know this is unexpected. My grandmother and I weren't close. Family complications. But after she died, I found letters she'd written to me over the years. Never sent. Just written and saved."She pulled out a folder. "In them, she talked about her work. About you. About the network. I had no idea what she'd been doing. My family thought she was just an eccentric academic.""She was somethi
The Corporate Threat
It came from a company I had never heard of.The idea was to discuss "partnership opportunities" between the Ashbourne Prevention Network and Sentinel Solutions, a private security firm. They offered a meeting at their London headquarters."This feels wrong," Sarah said when I showed her the email. "Private security companies don't usually partner with nonprofits. What would they want from us?""Only one way to find out."I took Marcus and Detective Chen along with me to the meeting. Chen had contacts in the private security world and could assess whether Sentinel was legitimate or not.The Sentinel offices were sleek and corporate: glass and steel, expensive furniture, the atmosphere of money and power. We were shown to a conference room where three executives waited.It was the lead executive who introduced himself, Graham Pierce. Fifties, expensive suits, smooth confidence of someone used to getting what he wanted."Thank you for coming. We've been following your network with great
The Sabbatical
Two years following the death of Dr. Marsh, Iris suggested I take a sabbatical."You've been at crisis level for four years straight. Led the network through numerous existential threats. You need real rest. Not a weekend off. Months away from work.""I cannot leave the network for months. We are still operating under the Covenant threat, training new practitioners, expanding international operations-""The network will work without you. That's the purpose of building solid institutions. They outlive the absence of an individual. Take six months. Rest. Rediscover who Victoria is beyond network founder."The suggestion felt impossible. Also necessary. I was exhausted in ways I hadn't fully acknowledged, running on purpose and momentum rather than real energy.I proposed this to the network leadership. The response was unanimous."Do it," Sarah said. "We've been worried about you. You've been running on empty for months.""The network needs you to be healthy long-term," Marcus said. "Si
The Reunion
The message came through network channels six months after my return from sabbatical.Victoria, this is Thomas Wright. The former Circle member. I need to speak with you urgently. It's about the Inheritors. I have information that could stop them permanently. Please contact me.I was immediately suspicious. Wright had helped us convict Edmund Price, but he'd also been part of the Circle for fifteen years. Trusting him completely felt naive."Could be a trap," Detective Chen warned when I showed her the message. "The Inheritors might be using him to lure you somewhere vulnerable.""Or he has genuine information. He's helped us before.""Under immunity agreement. With nothing to lose. What's his motivation now?"Good question. I arranged to meet Wright in a public location with security present. A café in central London, busy enough that an attack would be complicated.Wright looked older than when I'd last seen him. Thinner, more worn. Prison time on the Circle members he'd testified ag
Going Public
The week after Edinburgh, my phone wouldn't stop ringing.Media outlets wanted interviews. Government officials wanted meetings. Academic institutions wanted to study us. The public wanted answers about what they'd seen on those viral videos."This is what going public looks like," Dr. Santos said during an emergency strategy session. "You can't control it. Can only try to shape the narrative before others shape it for you."We developed a communication strategy quickly. Key messages about who we were, what we did, why people should trust us. Then I started doing interviews.First was BBC News. The interviewer was skeptical but professional."Miss Ashbourne, millions of people watched videos of what appeared to be a demon in Edinburgh Castle. What exactly did we see?""You saw a manifestation of an extradimensional entity. What many cultures call demons. It was summoned deliberately by people trying to create public panic. Our network responded, contained the threat, and banished the
The Documentary
The documentary proposal arrived nine months after the Edinburgh event.A reputable production company wanted to create a comprehensive documentary about the Ashbourne Prevention Network. Full access to our operations. Interviews with practitioners, volunteers, clients. Behind-the-scenes footage of actual interventions."This could be powerful," Dr. Santos said when we reviewed the proposal. "Documentary format allows depth that news interviews don't. You could really show people what you do.""Or it could be exploitative," Marcus countered. "Producers might edit footage to create drama. Sensationalize our work. Make entertainment from people's supernatural crises."The filmmaker, a woman named Rebecca Chen (no relation to Detective Chen), came to Oxford to pitch the project personally."I've been following your network since the Edinburgh event," she said. "I'm fascinated by what you've built. Crisis intervention for supernatural emergencies. It's unprecedented. But most people still
The Academic Program
The university proposal arrived six months after the documentary premiered.Cambridge University wanted to establish the first academic program in Supernatural Crisis Intervention. A master's degree combining psychology, anthropology, religious studies, and practical supernatural training. They wanted the Ashbourne Prevention Network to design the curriculum and provide instructors."This is legitimization at the highest level," Dr. Santos said during the leadership meeting. "Academic programs create professional standards. Establish credentials. Make your work a recognized field rather than fringe practice.""It also risks bureaucratizing what we do," Marcus countered. "Academic programs have rigid structures. We succeed because we're flexible, adaptive. Can we maintain that within university systems?"The Cambridge representative, Professor James Whitmore (distant relation to the Dr. Whitmore who'd died at the beginning of this journey), met with us to discuss specifics."We've watc
The Global Conference
The invitation list for the first International Supernatural Crisis Intervention Conference included three hundred practitioners from forty countries.We'd outgrown network meetings. The field had expanded beyond what started as the Ashbourne Prevention Network. Academic programs existed at seventeen universities. Regional organizations operated independently on five continents. The work had become a genuinely global profession."This conference establishes us as a serious field," Dr. Santos said. She'd been instrumental in organizing the event. "Academic conferences legitimize disciplines. We need ours."The conference was held in Geneva, neutral location, good infrastructure, and symbolic significance. Three days of presentations, workshops, networking. First major gathering of practitioners from around the world.I was terrified. As network founder and field pioneer, I was expected to give a keynote address. Speaking to three hundred expert practitioners felt more daunting than any
The Tenth Anniversary
The tenth anniversary of the network's founding fell on a bright autumn day.We held a memorial service first. Honoring those we'd lost. Patricia Thompson, murdered by the Crimson Circle. Dr. Helena Marsh, who'd trained so many of us. The clients we couldn't save. The practitioners who'd died doing this work."We remember them not with guilt but with gratitude," I said during the service. "Gratitude for their contributions. For their courage. For their dedication to helping others. They're part of this work forever."We planted a memorial garden at Oxford. Trees and flowers representing each person we'd lost. Physical space for remembering. Place practitioners could visit when carrying grief from difficult cases.The afternoon was a celebration. Network gathering, practitioners, volunteers, clients, supporters. Over a thousand people attended. Too many to fit in a single venue. We used multiple spaces at Cambridge, where the academic program had originated."Ten years," Sarah said, lo
The Letter from the Past
The letter arrived on an ordinary Tuesday, fourteen months after the tenth anniversary.Hand-delivered by a lawyer I'd never met. He apologized for the strange request but had been instructed to deliver it personally and watch me open it."Who's it from?" I asked, examining the sealed envelope. The paper was old, yellowed with age."I'm not at liberty to say until you've read it. Those were my instructions."I opened the envelope carefully. Inside was a letter written in elegant handwriting I didn't recognize. Dated twenty-three years ago, three years before my family's deaths.Dear Victoria,If you're reading this, I am long dead and you have survived whatever darkness consumed our family. I am Constance Ashbourne, your great-aunt, though we have never met. I am writing this letter as insurance, as warning, as a small attempt at redemption.I know what your parents are planning. I've seen the texts Margaret is studying. I recognize the ritual preparations. They intend to sacrifice yo