little bit. But, so what? It wasn’t like they’d actually been having sex, or had done something really wrong. What kind of evil was he talking about? Even if what she and Darren had done was some kind of sin — which she supposed it probably was — that still didn’t make her evil, did it? On the other hand, Sofia had learned long ago not to argue with priests, so when Father Sebastian indicated that it was time for her to lie on the stone floor, she did as she was told.
The floor instantly brought back the chill that had come over her the moment she opened the door to the chapel, its cold reaching right into her bones.
Father Sebastian paced slowly in front of the altar, murmuring softly, but Sofia was barely listening, concentrating instead on holding the ache in her bones, the cold in her body, and the fear in her soul at bay. Soon it would be over. Soon it would
Soon she would hear the words of absolution.
Father Sebastian’s voice droned on, and Sofia’s mind began to drift until all of it — the pain in her body, the flickering light of the candles, even the priest’s whispering voice and time itself — began to blend into a single strange sensation. It was as if she was floating, borne aloft on unseen wings…
† † †
“Rise to your knees,” Father Sebastian commanded.
All the cold and aching and fear from which Sofia thought she had been released came flooding back, and as she struggled to get up she thought she might pass out. Finally, though, she was on her knees and crossing herself, bowing her head low.
Father Sebastian opened the pyx and took a single wafer. “On the night of his arrest, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks to God, broke it and said, ‘This is my body which is for you; do this remembering me.’”
Tipping her head back, Sofia opened her mouth and the priest placed the wafer on her tongue.
“After supper,” Father Sebastian continued, “Jesus took the cup and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood; whenever you drink it, do this remembering me.’” He handed Sofia the chalice, and she sipped the wine, then bowed her head once more, waiting for the benediction.
But Father Sebastian didn’t begin the benediction. Instead, he began to speak in Latin, his voice intoning cadences she’d never heard before.
She tried to concentrate, to understand what he was saying, but she recognized none of the words at all.
The ache in her bones and the cold suffusing her body was even worse now, and once again she felt as if time itself was warping, and she would never be released from this penance.
She blinked, then squinted her eyes. The stones on the floor seemed to have fuzzy edges.
Then they began to slide around, their shapes moving in strange patterns her eyes could barely follow.
Suddenly dizzy and feeling totally disoriented, Sofia reached for Father Sebastian’s cassock to steady her, but her arms had become too heavy even to lift. “I’m going to be sick,” she started to whisper, but even before she could make her lips move, dark clouds began to swirl around her mind.
For an instant — just an instant — Sofia tried to fight the darkness that was closing in around her, but a moment later it was too late. She gave herself over to the clouds and the darkness and silently begged to be once more borne aloft, away from the dark chapel with its cold stone floor.
The darkness closed around her….
† † †
Father Sebastian heard Sofia’s tiny cry and turned just in time to see her collapse onto the stone floor.
He dropped instantly to his knees, his fingers closing on her limp wrist.
Her pulse was strong and steady.
The chapel door opened, and Father Sebastian looked up to see Father Laughlin and Sister Mary David stepping over the threshold.
“Oh, my goodness,” Father Laughlin gasped as he saw Sofia’s body sprawled on the ground. “Is she all right?”
“Of course she’s not all right,” Father Sebastian snapped. “If she were all right, would she be here at all?” He glanced up at the old priest, whose face had visibly paled even in the flickering yellowish candlelight. “But I believe she may be in far more trouble than I thought. Fainting is often the result of feeding the flesh and blood of Christ to someone who is possessed by evil.”
Both Father Laughlin and Sister Mary David crossed themselves.
Father Sebastian lifted Sofia from the cold floor. “But she
Father Laughlin hurried to open the door to the vestry, and Father Sebastian carried the girl through.
Sister Mary David followed, pulling the vestry door closed behind her.
The two candles that provided the only illumination in the chapel flickered, then went out.
The chapel plunged into the same darkness that had swallowed up Sofia Capelli’s soul a few moments earlier.
† † †
Ryan McIntyre searched St. Isaac’s cavernous dining room for a familiar face among the churning sea of students, saw no one he recognized, and got in line to fill his tray. As he picked up a napkin rolled around some silverware, he scanned the room once more.
A hand popped up and waved at him.
Melody Hunt.
And she was now signaling that she’d saved him the seat next to her own.
Praying that she wasn’t simply seizing an opportunity to talk about Catholic History, Ryan threaded his way down the narrow gap between the long rows of chairs that flanked the tables, nearly tripping twice, recovering himself, but still managing to slop a quarter of his Coke onto the plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy that made up the dinner.
It didn’t really look like the Coke was going to make much difference.
He set his tray in the empty space next to Melody, and squirmed onto the chair. “Hi.” He sighed as he unrolled the napkin from around the silver.
Melody eyed his plate, then grinned at him. “Coke on mashed potatoes? Maybe I should have let you find somewhere else to sit.”
“Wouldn’t have mattered,” Ryan said, sweeping the room with his eyes. “There isn’t any other place. But who knows? Maybe Coke on potatoes is really good.” He looked around and saw that most of the people he knew were already there. Across from Melody sat Clay Matthews, flanked by Stacy Lowell and Darren Bender. Jose and Tim sat on the other side of Melody, and even though it was only his second day at St. Isaac’s, he seemed to have become a member of the group.
Maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
“Where’s Sofia?” he heard Clay ask Darren.
Darren rolled his eyes. “Doing penance.”
“For what
“Maybe we don’t know all they did,” Tim Kennedy said, trying — and failing — to leer suggestively.
“Well, they must have done something to get that kind of punishment,” Jose offered.
“So?” Clay asked, digging his elbow into Darren’s side. “Are you holding out on us? Come on — give!”
“Stop it,” Darren said. “What we did was nothing.”
Ryan started to pick up his fork, but Melody instantly put her hand on his wrist and nodded toward the nun who stood at the head of their table.
The room fell silent.
Clay leaned over toward Darren. “Where’s Father Laughlin?” he whispered, his lips barely moving.
