Spector Class

"What the...?" Bob muttered.

As I held the wand in my hand I could feel a chill climb up my arm. I forced the feeling to retreat as I realized that I might need to explain the Spector I was holding.

"This was the wand from a book called "Victoria's Ice Pick", written in 1901. The soon-to-be queen in the story was given the blessing and curse of being able to use this wand to turn whomever or whatever she wanted into ice by the King of a beautiful kingdom, rich in magic. As long as she stayed away from the King's son, Aramis, this wand would work according to her every command, but if she even mentioned his name the wand would turn against her. The book became a bit of an obsession for some. The main character was Queen Victoria's namesake, and since her funeral was in 1901 people started to entertain themselves by fantasizing this story to be about the real Queen."  I stopped talking as Bob's eyes began to glaze over. I had forgotten how much I really did enjoy losing myself in the stories behind the objects.

"You still with me?" I questioned 

"Yeah, I'm fine love. This is just a lot to take in. The door itself is like something out of a

dream. Can you...can you just slap me please. Just to make sure I'm not dreaming. This place is too spectacular to not to be a dream." My husband slowly turned in circles as he looked around the room. "This place is a techno fiction come to life!"

I let out a sigh and gently took his hands and led him to a sitting position on the floor. "Okay, let me slow down." I whispered "But, you are on the right track. These things, in this area are part of the Spector class of Artifacts, are indeed, techno fiction brought to life. Each are created by a book or another form of fiction and brought to life by belief. Belief that is pure,simple and very very powerful."  

My husband gave a look of understanding and nodded his head as he said, "I'm listening."

I stood up, taking the Spector Ice Wand in my hand. I began to worry whether I could remember why I was chosen to be the "Dream Catcher" in the first place. I had nothing to worry about. I took the wand in my hand and, like old muscles waking from atrophy, felt the chill run through my body. This time, I didn't fight it. The resentment and bitterness grew until they threatened to consume me ; it took all my strength to keep my consciousness in control.

"Watch." I took the wand in my hand and turned toward one of the blank screens on the opposite side of the wall, I touched it lightly with the tip of the wand. Slowly, very slowly, the screen started to freeze. The screen turned light blue, then crystal clear, then as I focused the power of the wand, the screen split and cracked until it finally splintered into a thousand frozen pieces.

"Whoa" Bob murmured. "That was incredible!"

"Victoria was able to use this wand to turn anything into ice. The ice, when melted, could help to bring water to her Desert kingdom. She loved Aramis,but she wanted to help her Kingdom. The thought of being alone without the man she loved eventually made her decide not to take the King's deal.  That is until the King captured Victoria's father and promised to turn him into ice if she didn't take his "generous suggestion." Eventually her fear of the losing her father won out and she took the King's deal, but decided never to use the wand. Since Victoria could never be with her true love, she took to secretly watching him as he moved about the castle. The King found out, and flew into a jealous rage. He sent his spies to catch her in the act and capture her.  Startled, she flung out the wand and aimed it at her captors. Aramis, seeing his love in trouble, had sprung to her aid moments before. He lunged into the direct path of the wand's power, dropping to the floor a perfectly preserved iceman. The shocked silence that followed was shattered by the queen's screams. Victoria ran, pushing past her stunned assailants, Aramis' name trailing behind her in painful waves of anguish. She lived out her days in hiding, angry, bitter, and alone. The wand took its promised toll, slowly turning her heart and soul hard as ice.Victoria's kingdom soon became known as...”

Mid-breath, a huge crash echoed throughout the hall. Bob stood up from the floor and looked at me, "Is that supposed to happen?" 
"um, no. Let's..." gripping the ice wand tighter in my hand, "go check it out. It sounded like it came from the entrance door." 
I tilted my head toward the sound and said, "Follow me." 
As quietly as we could we started to jog toward the once blue door. I listened with my ear on the door for about a minute. When we heard the sound again, I turned around as I realized that the sound was not coming from the other side of the door but from inside the room.