Harker had seen pictures on the Internet, but he didn't really expect Jamestown to be this… antiquated.
He had never been to Virginia before or any historical sights, besides the occasional trip to New Orleans. He didn't have money to afford going on vacations like his affluent classmates that spend their summer somewhere like the Bahamas or Tokyo.
Actually, all he ever does during summer is to study, study, study, and also work part-time and take care of his family. And he was satisfied with that, thinking that he doesn't really like traveling much.
But it's not as bad as he thought.
This place was the first settlement itself, and much of the Pilgrim and Native American houses in the area were restored by the government to stay as authentic as possible. Harker had seen a lot of touring groups, buses for children going on their field trip or summer camp in this area.
The locals were long used to tourists, so they didn't really pay attention to Harker pulling up a map once in a while. Upside down.
Yeah, traveling wasn't really his strongest suit.
He thought he did just fine in Las Vegas so he should too here, but this was much different from a city where you could ask people for directions and see signs and placards right at your face. The woods-to-houses ratio was staggering. Harker thought he had never seen more trees in his life than he did now as a born and raised city boy.
Eventually, he had to give up and ask some help from the bodyguards Roland sent. He initially told them to just stay at the outskirts of the colony and that he will look for the Seward's residence himself. But this was going nowhere and he had been asking around for hours now.
"The locals probably don't know them anymore since they moved a long time ago. But maybe if we asked some of the elderly here, they'd have some ideas." Alejandro assured him. "Don't lose hope, Mr. Jones."
"Yeah, that's true. You said that even Roland's team couldn't locate where exactly they lived here, right?"
The bodyguard nodded. "Yes, it's most likely that they got rid of the documentation or the property wasn't recorded in the first place."
"Pretty shady, if you ask me." Harker thought.
They searched around until night time came, and got nowhere. They rented this pretty nice cabin and caught a wink, hoping they get some clues tomorrow.
And they didn't.
They talked to all sorts of people. Young, old, tourist guides and even some Algonquin people in the area. None of them have ever heard the surname Seward or knew of a family of scientists that lived in the former colony.
At night, Harker would toss and turn in his sleep, so frustrated that they were so close to finding Victoria yet also so far.
"Grahhh!" He punched the fine brick walls of the cabin.
Suddenly, an eyeball appeared by his side.
"U-Um…. Are you alright, Master?"
"Do I look okay to you? My mother just got her body used up in a science experiment by some wannabe female Dr. Frankenstone and it's taking so long for me to find her! If I don't, there could be people that are in danger!"
Yan nervously moved away from his master going amok. "I-I see. But is that the only reason? That you worry for the welfare of those who may get hurt or….. Is there something else?"
Harker delivered another blow, knowing very well that his busted knuckles will get regenerated eventually. "What the fuck do you mean?"
"Well…. Y-You seem to be in a hurry to find Victoria… And I thought maybe…. Maybe it's because you wanted to follow Mina to Oregon."
Harker stopped punching. He sighed.
"I mean, that's not the only reason. I do care about innocent people getting hurt." He stumbled back to his bed. "But… the sooner I get to Mina's side, the sooner I get to help her and make sure nothing happens to her. Roland's right, there's a strong possibility that she won't make it."
"I trust Mina's skills, but she's alone. We don't know how powerful those An Xin guys are, if they really were this 'An Xin'."
Yan flew closer to his side, placing one of his wings over Harker's shoulder. "It's alright, Master. Why don't you ask Joan Seward where her house was, then?"
"Huh? My professor? She is always stoned out of her mind and can't even remember where her damn keys were all the time. She probably forgot where her old house is already."
Yan shrugged. "I think it won't hurt to ask. She's the only lead so far."
Harker grumbled. "Fine. But it's summer vacation, and I don't know her house's telephone number. I only know the school's. I better go ask the guards to find it for me with Roland's intel team."
So the next day, Harker did try to ask Professor Joan Seward. But….
"So you go over this trail that has this big oak tree, from there you turn left. No wait, you turn right. You look for this Dancing Lilies statue, the ones with three tribal girls dancing around on a fire pit. And then you go...… And then….. And then….."
Harker had already filled up two pages of his notebook while writing down the instructions. Back to back. And Joan kept on changing them up and mixing up the directions.
In the end, Harker had to call her out. "Prof, I'm starting to think you don't really remember where you live anymore."
There was silence on the other end of the line.
Then, Joan only gave a short and cheeky: "Yeah. You got me."
Harker wished he could wrap the telephone cord around this woman's neck.
"Sigh. Do you know anyone who is present in this area that could recall where you lived? Anything at all?"
"No. But...." She trailed off.
"But what?"
Joan Seward made the most preposterous proposal Harker could think of given this situation.
"If you could book me plane tickets to go there and a cab, I could probably refresh my memory once I see the area and remember it. Oh, but you gotta make sure I have a place to stay too. And a vehicle to travel around, my legs aren't as sturdy as they were before."
Harker broke the telephone and had to add that to the bill.
Still…. He agreed to this ridiculous arrangement in the end. The next day, Joan Seward got back to her roots by the James River wearing sunglasses, white shirt and ripped jeans, red leather jacket, and a straw hat.
"Tally ho, Harker Jones! There's my favorite homosexual top student!"
She yelled this in front of a crowd of middle schoolers observing a statue of two tribal men clashing their spears together, with the guide telling them about the value of camaraderie and how native men would go through lengths for their 'brotherly love'.
Harker already regretted this decision, rubbing his face. "Sweet mother of corn….."
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