“So what do you want to do this afternoon, Scully?” Mulder said.

Scully shrugged. “You got any ideas?”

“Well, we’re in New York. I was thinking maybe I’d spend the afternoon in some raunchy porn shops, you know, the kind they don’t have in D.C., then take in a Knicks game tonight.

Scully seemed lost in thought. “What’s on your mind, Scully?” Mulder asked.

“It just seems to me I’ve heard about something like this before. People dropping dead for no apparent reason.”

Mulder rolled his eyes. “You’re not seriously thinking about doing this case are you? C’mon Scully, New York. It’s like, the porn capital of the world. It’s Porn Heaven!”

“Charlie,” said Scully.

“Who?” Mulder asked.

“My brother Charlie,” said Scully, whipping out her cell phone. “He told me about these once before.”

Mulder sighed heavily, resigned to the fact that his afternoon wouldn’t be spent in Porn Heaven like he’d hoped.

“Hello,” said a voice on the other end, the volume on the phone turned up so loud Mulder could hear both ends.

“Charlie,” said Scully. “How are you doing?”

“Good sis, how about you?”

“Hanging in there. Look, I wanted to ask you about something I ran into today. We have a dead guy who shows no apparent signs of being dead, other than, you know, he’s dead. You think that’s something your department might handle?”

“Maybe. But I’m not the guy you want to talk to. The guy’s name is-“ but Mulder couldn’t make the name out.

“Uh huh, Fudge,” said Scully. “Can you get us in to see him today?”

“Sure can,” said Charlie. “In about thirty seconds, I want you both to grab the salt shaker at your table. You dig?”

“Uh huh. Will do. Thanks Charlie.” Scully hung up.

“What was that all about?” Mulder asked.

Scully ate the last bite of her doughnut and said, “yeah, my brother isn’t in the marines. He’s a wizard.”

“A wizard?” Mulder asked.

“Uh huh, yeah. He’s kind of embarrassing looking in those robes, so he doesn’t come home much. Still, he hooked us up with a guy named Cornelius Fudge, who knows more about these things than him. He’s at Hogwarts now, and we can get in for a five minute meeting with him before he meets with Albus Dumbledore.”

Mulder got up. “Fine let’s go get this over with. But you’re driving, I don’t know where Hogwarts is.”

Scully put her hand on the salt shaker at the table. “Sit down, Mulder, and put your hand on this.”

Mulder obeyed, but had a look on his face as though sure this would never work.

Suddenly, he felt a tugging deep in his navel. He wanted to scream, but he had no voice to scream with. A second later, he and Scully landed on their feet in a stone hallway.

Previous Page Next Page