Secret Basement Lab Alphabet: S is for THE SEER

S is for THE SEER

The maître d' ushered the small group through the Puce Platypus nightclub, back through the bustling kitchen, down an unlit staircase towards the basement. Just off the first landing, halfway to the cellar, was a door.

            "Wait if you please," Creighton begged with the utmost politeness. "I will see if he will see you."

            The thin man disappeared behind the door. The two guests could see his silhouette move behind the pane of rippled glass inset in top half of the door like a large fish moving under the surface of a lake.

            Creighton returned. "He will see you. Please come in."

            Marvin Tracy and his wife hastily entered the room. They found the chamber dark, with their host sitting at a tabletop that appeared to float in the darkness, lit only with the small glass orb on its wooden pedestal before him. Coruscating within its glass shell was a green light.

            "The Seer!" Marvin muttered. "Thank you for seeing us. It's about our daughter–"

            "Mildred, yes I know," The Seer recited in a dead tone. "I know all about the kidnaping. I've seen visions of the man responsible. At least, the man who took her. By force. But there is a plot behind this…"

            "Yes," Tracy answered. "Money. I've got plenty, but I'd give every red cent to know that Mildred is safe!"

            The Seer bowed his turbaned head. "I do not charge for my services, Mr. Tracy. And at this juncture, should the hoodlums who've taken your daughter demand a ransom, I suggest you stall for time. Of course you're a wealthy man, but even wealthy men need time to convert assets to cash. And they will undoubtedly ask for cash."

            The Seer, his head floating disembodied above the glowing ball, in the dark of the room, narrowed his eyes towards the distraught couple.

            "But there is another element to this that has not been revealed. I see bats. I see a large bat the size of a man. But perhaps it is not what it seems," The Seer narrated. "Perhaps it is a man dressed as a bat. And a ransom that that man has stacked against himself!"

            Marvin Tracy's eyes bulged at the description. Mary Tracy gasped, fell backwards into Marvin's arms. He nearly missed his wife as she fell backwards, the room was so dark.