Bitesize 4.3

Bitesize 4.3

When Ed came to again he was in a hospital bed back at the Bureau, in the same room as his father. His vision was a little blurry but he could make out Alf's face looking down at him.
"Feeling better, Ed?"
"Yeah... What happened?"
"You had some internal bleeding from the blow you suffered. It's all been taken care of, though you'll be sore for a while. It would be best if you stayed in bed for a couple of days."
"A couple of days? There isn't time." Ed groaned and let his head fall back onto the pillow. "Why can't I see straight?"
"That will be the painkillers."
"Crowley got to him first."
"I know, Katia said. We still didn't pick up Crowley on the tracker."
"I doubt we will at all." said Ed, "Everyone in the damn country has a mirror and..."
"And what?"
"I'll bet that's it. The portal Crowley wants to open. It's not one portal, it's all of them. Don't you see? He'd be able to release all the onigawa where ever he wishes, all at the same time."
"I'm tempted to agree..."
"The onigawa, that's it!"
"That's what, Ed?"
Ed sat up, despite the twinges of pain.
"The onigawa who holds the key. Crowley wants him to open the portals. And if he can open them all..."
"Then he can close them all?" Alf nodded as he finished Ed's train of thought, "Well we can't take that for granted but it could be a good starting point. Hopefully Jean Fredericq wasn't the key."
"What about the others?"
"We haven't found the rest yet but we're working on it. We have a death certificate for one of the men, an Englishman named Henry Collins. Died in a housefire in 1961, still using his original name."
"Think it's legit?"
"The coroner's report says they found his body in an upstairs room after extinguishing the blaze. He wasn't burnt much, died of smoke inhalation. there was a positive identification by his lover."
"We should..."
"Contact her and make sure she was telling the truth? Katia's already on her way. Just rest Ed. You can be back on your feet soon."


One of the doctors gave him an injection a few hours later to help him sleep and sleep he did but his mind was far from idle. the more he thought about it, the more sure he became that the 'key' onigawa Crowley had spoke of could be the one to help them seal him away. Crowley was always one step ahead of them. He'd already been and got Jean Fredericq, probably before Ed even reached Scotland and yet, he'd left the bomb. It didn't make sense why. Crowley was untouchable, unreachable, unfindable. He had the skills and the knowledge to reach all these men before Ed, so why leave the bomb? The only justification Ed could see was that Crowley considered them dangerous and he would only think that if there was some way they could stop him. Crowley had to tried to eliminate them to prevent them finding the key and using it against him, of this Ed was certain.


When he next woke up the doctors brought him some food and he ate hungrily. It had been a while since his last real meal and it felt good to get something of substance inside him. A little while after that, Katia came to see him. Her face was concerned as she leaned over him.
"Feeling ok, Ed?"
He nodded.
"Could be worse I suppose."
"I've been to see Collins' lover."
"What did she say?"
"She wasn't exactly happy to have me dragging up her painful past. But she told me it was definitely him. I don't think she was lying."
"Great. So that's another one out of the equation. It can't be Fredericq, or Crowley would have made his move by now surely. So either it's Odolf, the dead guy, or one of the guys we've yet to find."
"We're not exactly narrowing it down." she said.
"Any other news?"
"Nothing. We'll let you know as soon as anything turns up though." she gave his hand a squeeze, "Rest and get well Ed, ok?"
Ed watched her leave and groaned. Now he knew how his father felt, confined to bed every day. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. Ed called one of the doctors over and asked for a laptop. He might not be able to leave the bed but that didn't mean he had to do nothing. If there was one thing Ed had learned from using the internet it was that there was always some geek who knew something no one else did about some obscure subject. It was just a matter of knowing where to look. Right now, his best chance was one of the many paranormal web forums he was a member of. One by one he visited them all, leaving a message asking for any information of the ritual that trapped the Onigawa in the mirrors. Someone out there had to know the full story.