Three ascensions remain
Back in Santa Fe, everyone fills in Alexandra on the new rituals. Then things are mostly quiet until the night before Christmas eve, when everyone has strange dreams.
Gavin dreams of the circle of thrones, and a new arrival taking a seat. The figure is green and brown, woody almost. None of the powers are paying much attention, however, mostly being grouped in small circles whispering amongst themselves.
Angelina dreams of a man coming home to a house filled with different masks. He comes to a blank spot on a wall and unwraps the box he has been carrying. It's a new mask, made of leaves and fur.
Esteban dreams about a wild party. As new arrivals appear, it gets even wilder, with people doing crazy, impossible dance moves.
Alexandra dreams of being in an old theater and watching a 1930's style newsreel. In scratchy black and white, it presents a meeting between Alex Abel and Bashra Krovalek. They talk about how Alex almost ascended but didn't quite. Bashra thinks he can try again, but has to go to a whole level - where before he had to succeed against all odds, now he has to take his whole organization to an even higher level. Bashra gives him a huge leather-bound book with the Masonic symbol on the cover, and says it may help.
Everyone talks about the dreams the next morning except Esteban, who is out. They decide it probably means another ascension, but are unclear who. Later research turns up a missing environmentalist who had been protecting the little old cedar trees that make anti-cancer drug. He seems a likely candidate. In the course of the research they talk to Moonglow, who reports that Kim Naybors has been in bed all week. A few days later they find out that she is up and eating ice cream - unusual for a vegan. She says "it just doesn't matter" in response to questions about it.
Later that afternoon, Xerxes arrives with "an early Christmas present": the huge book Alexandra saw in her dream. He's a bit startled when the reaction is "it's about time that showed up." Before they can get too far into it there's a Christmas dinner and Christmas itself and many quite strange presents.
Over the week between Christmas and New Years the book is studied extensively and the following understanding is gained. The book is the notes/journal of a Masonic society that ran the United States from its birth until the late nineteenth century, when it fell apart under internal stress. The president was often a mason, but sometimes they merely ran the country from behind the scenes with a shadow president. Washington D.C. was apparently laid out in accordance with principles of sacred geometry to be a giant energy accumulator, and this energy could then be used by the cabal.
The ritual that is most interesting is the one to anoint the president or shadow president, which will give that person access to the energy in Washington, and traditionally make them either the president or the power behind him. For that ritual they need seven participants, all thirty-third level masons in this sect (for which there is another ritual). They also need a lot of Masonic trappings in gold and expensive woods, but nothing actually exotic. And they need to do it at one of the sites in Washington - such as under the capitol dome, or inside one of the memorials. It also seems like it will take ten significant charges - Violet and Esteban get to work accumulating them.
New Year's Eve there's a little get-together at the ranch, during which Esteban teases Gavin until he finally snaps and knocks Esteban down. Gavin is dragged off to his room by Thielo, and the two of them have an argument about hitting Esteban and whether that's being loyal and who puts up with more shit from the team and so on. Gavin shows Thielo the ring that Esteban got him for Christmas to give to Gwen. They end in a bit of a stare-down until they notice that there is a scorched smell in the air. A little looking around reveals that the big diamond ring that Esteban gave Gavin has turned into a little scorch mark on the dresser.
Meanwhile Angelina gets Esteban to admit about getting the ring for Gavin after prodding him a bit, then goes outside and throws up as the alcohol and tension get to her. Thielo arrives and asks Esteban if the ring was normal (or maybe that happened before and was why he admitted it) and Esteban says it was. Thielo reveals that it blew up, which disturbs everyone. Finally, Gavin takes the black eye back from Esteban using one of his channels.