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The meeting between Colin and Logan has the air of a Cold War summit meeting.  Each participant--Colin, Logan, and the mediator, Sylvia--has a large hand-thrown ceramic mug in front of him or her and a plate for sampling Mitzi's cookies.  Sylvia has her Hello Kitty notebook out and her little pink pen, and even with her Sanrio fetish she manages to look serious as she waits to see if one of the boys will take the initiative.

They sit in a typical kitchen, clean and perfumed with Christmas spices.  A hand-tied broom hangs over the door, and a battered Route 66 highway sign occupies a large shadow box on the wall, looking like a heraldic shield or perhaps the dented armor of battles long since fought.  Eccentric ceramics and bundles of dried herbs hint at the head cook's free spirit and make things look a little Weasley despite the house's stylish Arts and Crafts bones and sound construction.

"Sylvia has provided me with some information, but apparently you hold the crucial answers that I need concerning Rory's death and my role in it.  So, I thought it would be a good idea for us to talk."

The failure with Preston, and the limited info they got from the meeting with Shelia weigh somewhat on Colin.

"I wish I had the crucial answers. Ask away, I'll tell you what I know."

"The curse that caused Rory's transformation.  It was something that required some time to be effective, correct?  Also, was it meant to kill or was that just a side-effect of the curse?  Sylvia mentioned that he might not have been the target, but the available data suggests that he had to be, do we know why?  And lastly, Vandross.  This all ties back to him, how?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure how much time it required, but it was powerful. It called upon one's darkness, drawing it out. It poisoned Rory's dreams, making him feel more and more alone and frustrated, until one last abuse made him snap. It filled him with dark energy, and turned him into a monster. But his heart couldn't handle the transformation, and Rory died of multiple heart attacks. I know because I tried to help him, but I could only feel the pain of his heart gnawing upon itself. I'm not sure I could call this a side-effect.
Why Rory? I don't know. He was a geek. He was lonely. He was bullied upon a lot. Maybe on someone with a better life it wouldn't have had this effect. It was an experiment. Whoever enchanted that card hadn't much real experience with magic. At least it's what the police expert says.
Emille Vandross is the name used to buy the black magic book that described the spell used on the card, not much before you bought it. Rory is just the first of a trail of dead people that leads back to him."

"What's always bothered me," Sylvia says, "is that Vandross seems to be doing so much with so little apparent motivation.  If I had to characterize his crimes, I'd have to call them a kind of anarchist terrorism.  He funds and enables others to pursue crimes, and as far as I can tell, there's no money going back to a central source.  What does he get out of it?  Just kicks?  The pleasure of having hurt others or the pleasure of tempting those around him to commit evil?"  She frowns.  "That's what makes me angriest.  It's like we're dealing with the devil."

Logan silently sips his tea and absorbs the information and observations that Colin and Sylvia make.  When they speak he looks at them, not staring so much as attentive.  "No, not the devil.  Someone with a high degree of attention to detail, that doesn't like to leave anything to chance.  Someone with big plans, but lacking experience.  Someone practicing.  Someone who is experimenting so they can find their preferred modus operandi for future actions."  He takes another sip of tea.  "Rory was obviously the target of the curse, and they knew the end result but not the risks to the subject.  Or, more likely, knew the end result and was not concerned with the risks.  That implies they consider some people expendable."  Logan turns his gaze to Colin, "What other criminal endeavors is Vandross connected to, I assume the Superman trade, anything else?"

"Lots. He's behind some robberies, often made by robots. The tell-tale sign is a device, a ray that makes holes into things. The black magic book got in the hands of a boy from Fenwick, who used it to summon a demon within himself, and he and his band raped several girls, both physically and mentally. And I think he also helped Jane Spofford and her witches. They had lots of superman, and magic tips to try to kill us. He seems to think we can get in the way of his projects, but he knows how to stay below my radar."

Colin doesn't say that he thinks Vandross is a teacher or a student at OPRFH. He wants to see what Logan makes out of it.

"Mastermind."  Logan says softly.  "And good at deception and misdirection.  I'll have to sort through it all to find a fixed point, if there is one."  He seems to come back to the present, as though he were thinking out loud.  "I'll have to do some homework, and see if I can figure out who means what in this little puzzle.  He most certainly feels that you aren't a serious threat to him personally, only to his assorted plans.  And he feels he's well insulted from them."

"Do you think I could be of help? I collected a lot of material on crimes that might be connected to our school."

"I'd love to take a look.  It might help speed things up."  Logan takes a sip of his tea.  "What are we going to do if we find out who this Vandross is anyway?"

Sylvia controls herself only by gritting her teeth.  "We make sure he can't hurt anybody anymore."

Colin gets out his notebooks, and slowly explains to Logan the hidden stories within, the Usual Suspects' few successes, and the many unanswered questions. He really hopes Logan can see something he overlooked, looking at them with fresh eyes. He shows him the connections Vandross seems to have with most of it. He explains what he thinks he must be able to do, how he messes with people's memory to cover his tracks, how the only real thing about him seems his cellular phone. He seems to be able to manage everything by phone.

"Can I copy these and get them back to you.  I'll need to spread this stuff out to really get a proper picture of it."

"Ok." Colin says, a little reluctantly.

"I'll get them back to you tomorrow."  Logan says, studying the pages.  "You're very detail oriented."

"I try my best not to miss anything. I screw up often enough."

"If I might offer some advice.  I get the impression from what little I know about you that you're in a hurry to be something.  Maybe you should grow into whatever it is, life is a learning process and we all make mistakes."

Colin shakes his head sadly "I'm not sure I've got the time. While I learn, people suffer."

"People will always suffer.  You wont ever be able to help everyone, and letting yourself get burdened by that thought will only serve to hinder you helping the people that you can help.  It's a self destructive downward spiral.  No one will ever be able to help everyone all the time.  If they could, that would ruin the human experience."

"I know. But I still feel it's my duty to try."

"Well, good luck on that path."  Logan takes the binders Colin gave him.  "I'll give these back to Sylvia tomorrow, and I'll let you know what I find out."