Subj: Petofi's Maze pt 4
Date: 1/23/99 4:03:07 PM Central Standard Time
From: miranda

Chapter 4

Quentin Collins and Beth Chavez, or more accurately stated, "Mr. and Mrs. Collins", for they had married shortly after Barnabas left 1897, arrived at the Old House to be reunited with Julia and Barnabas. Although the later pair only experienced a brief absence, Quentin and Beth had not seen them in over seventy years. Much to the surprise of Julia and Barnabas, Beth did not appear to be one day older then when she had last been in their presence. This was expected of Quentin, whose portrait practically granted him immortality, but Beth's appearance was quite an enigma. Unfortunately, the explanation would inevitably cause an icy fear to pierce the hearts of Barnabas and Julia alike.

"What do you mean 'Petofi is alive?" Barnabas asked, not trying to hide his alarm.

"Petofi is alive, Barnabas," Quentin replied soberly. "He never died."

"But the fire…I thought it killed him."

"Let me explain Barnabas. Please understand that it was my intent to reveal this secret to you back in 1897, after you married Kitty Soames, but you just vanished without a trace."

Julia fidgeted uncomfortably in her chair wondering to herself how much Barnabas might blame her for losing Kitty.

"I'll explain that later," Barnabas said quickly, "go on with what you were saying."

Quentin looked solemn, as if he was a little boy confessing his sins to a priest. "One night Petofi came to me. He said he wanted a truce and was willing to make me a deal…"

Quentin recounted Petofi's persuasive words that so eloquently described Quentin's plight and Petofi's own remedy for his impending sorrow. Quentin would come to detest his immortality imbued by the portrait. He would witness all those he love wither and die while he remained unchanged by the passage of time. His true soul mate, Beth, would become wrinkled and gray. She would die an old woman and Quentin would be alone. How fortuitous for Quentin, according to Petofi, that there was an alternative that could benefit them both.

Petofi wanted to be free from the pursuit of the gypsies who, no doubt, would search for him relentlessly until they stole back his hand. Even if he took Quentin's body now, the gypsies could easily discover this information. Petofi's proposal was simple: in exchange for the promise of Quentin's body at a future time, Petofi would arrange for Charles Delaware Tate to paint Beth's portrait. Quentin and Beth would live together for slightly over seventy years, more of a life span with which many mortals are blessed, without fear of sickness, age, or death. Eventually Petofi would claim Quentin's body. In the meantime Petofi would fake his own death in order to deceive the gypsies. Petofi had foreseen through the I-Ching that the gypsy beliefs and practices would die out by the time the switch would be made in the future and the "legend of Count Petofi" would be no more than a tall tale.

In order to safeguard against the possibility that Quentin would resist Petofi when he finally came to claim his prize, he insisted Quentin sign a parchment in his own blood sealing the contract between them. He then used the power of his hand over the document to ensure that the switch would automatically take place regardless of the distance separating the two of them.

Although Petofi's words were persuasive Quentin was not a naïve babe in the woods. He decided to go along with Petofi's plan thinking that he would have seventy years, with Barnabas' help, to finally destroy Petofi. So with each of the pair secretly harboring the belief he had deceived the other, Petofi and Quentin entered into the pact together.

"I decided to accept his offer, but not tell you about it until you married Kitty and settled into your new life. I knew that with your assistance we would find his Achilles heel, Barnabas. I can't tell you how distressed I was when you left my time. My only hope was that you returned to 1970 and we would be reunited in the future."

"During all these years we have searched the world over hoping to discover a way to kill Petofi," Beth explained.

"Were you successful?" Julia asked, even though she could tell by the look of hopelessness in their face that they were not.

"No. We only followed what turned out to be unfounded rumors." Quentin said flatly.

"And so you have come here," Barnabas said. "How long do you have Quentin?"

"Two months."

"Two months?" Julia exclaimed. "How can we possibly discover a way to defeat Petofi in two months, when you have been searching for years without any success?"

"You and Barnabas are our last hope," Quentin said with a finality that sunk Julia's heart.

Barnabas leaned forward, "Of course we will help you Quentin and if there is any way on this earth to destroy that fiend we will find it."