Original Sin

in an order that had been founded hundreds of years before?

“You’re leaving,” Pietro said.

Philip had said nothing of his journey during confession, but the bishop was astute, even in his advanced age. “Yes.”

They walked in silence. It was midday, the clouds obscuring the descending sun. Philip paused to pull weeds that surrounded the tree they’d planted after Peter’s death. So many trees in this row … too many trees. Peter. Lorenzo. Elijah. And more.

“Take Gideon with you.”

Philip hesitated, then slowly rose and faced Pietro. “I thought we’d decided Gideon would stay another year.”

“We haven’t the luxury of time.”

Philip didn’t want to disobey orders, but he wanted to keep Gideon safe. His mentor had died last year, and Gideon’s training here was complete. His calling was still obscure, but his gifts were many. Dangerous gifts, and easy for misinterpretation by the young man.

Pietro resumed walking down the broken stone path with deliberate steps, his age forcing him to walk slowly and carefully. “You have affection for the boy.”

Philip followed. “No more so than the others.” Was that a lie? Not a deliberate lie. To clarify, he added, “He reminds me of Peter.”

Pietro nodded.

“Peter failed.”

“Did he?”

“He believed he was stronger than he was; he believed he could turn dark power into light. He kept secrets.”

“You fear for young Gideon’s soul. Your greatest failing, Philip, is your greatest strength.”

When the older priest didn’t elaborate, Philip said. “I’m going to Olivet. I’ll need your blessing and authority.”

Pietro nodded. “You have it.”

“Anthony is asking questions.”

“As he always has. Let him ask. He’ll find answers when he asks the right questions.”

“If he’s right about the Seven-”

“He is.”

Philip stopped walking. “You know something of this?”

“I know the Conoscenza was not destroyed at Santa Louisa.”

“In Santa Louisa! The Conoscenza was destroyed hundreds of years ago. Here, in Italy-”

“A book that had been called the Conoscenza was destroyed, a brilliant forgery. But the real Conoscenza, the one written in ink tainted with demon blood, the one written by demonic hands, the original, which is older than Moses and unintelligible to most humans, is still on earth. Our ancestors in the Order were misguided, led by their own pride and erroneous sense of invulnerability. They were deceived. One of their own betrayed them, a Judas, who forged the book and hid the original so well that no one knew it existed.”

“Why was this kept secret? We needed this information. How can-”

“Philip, we weren’t certain until today.”

“Because of Anthony’s report about the Seven.”

Pietro nodded. “It confirms out deepest fears. We had no proof, but Anthony is not generally wrong about these things.”

“He’s not, but-”

Pietro held up his hand. “I know this is hard to believe, and I didn’t want to believe myself.”

The old man sat on a bench under a plane tree, one that had been planted more than four decades before, its gnarled trunk rising into countless branches. It was Father Lucca Zaccardi’s tree, planted after his death during a violent exorcism when Philip was still training under him. Philip often sat in this spot when he meditated, or when he doubted. Father Lucca had been a pillar of strength, much like Anthony. Philip felt weak between the two men, and was usually comforted here. Not today.

Pietro continued. “Father Salazar contacted me from the Santa Louisa Mission four months before the murders there. Poor Herve expressed a rather … paranoid, for lack of a better word … belief that the book was alive.”

“Alive?”

“His word, but fitting considering the origins of the book. The inner council didn’t want to accept it, but I believed him. So did the Cardinal.”

There were many cardinals in the Church, but only one cardinal publicly associated with the Order: Francis Cardinal DeLucca. He was their main benefactor, the one who ensured that St. Michael’s Order survived from his position high in the Vatican. Other high-ranking supporters did so with much discretion.

“The Cardinal sent Raphael to the mission at Santa Louisa to find the Conoscenza.”

Philip had to sit down at this revelation. He hadn’t known. How could he have not known? He looked up at the gray sky, through the leafless branches of the plane tree, and knew with certainty that he wouldn’t see spring blossom on the island.

Pietro continued. “It wasn’t until after the murders that the idea that the Conoscenza was at the mission took hold. The witch’s belief that her mother was searching for it meant we needed to-”

“The witch? You call Moira O’Donnell a witch?”

Pietro stopped for a moment, sat next to Philip, and said, “I’m sorry. I know you have affection for the girl.” He went on. “The Cardinal sent Raphael into the mission to assess the situation. You understand that we still don’t know his calling.”

By the age of twenty-one, the “calling” of all St. Michael’s children was clear. Whether they were to be priests, exorcists, empaths, demon hunters, demonologists, scholars, linguists, or one of many other specialties was discerned no later than twenty-one. Some, like Anthony, had been discerned at an early age. Others, like Raphael, were more elusive. He was in his thirties and still unsettled.

Pietro continued. “After Father Salazar’s cryptic messages, we sent Raphael to Santa Lousia, but we also began to discreetly investigate all the men at the mission. You know why they were there.”

“Because they’d been spiritually and emotionally damaged by evil.”

“And we have sympathy for our people. But-”

“You knew about the priest Jeremiah Hatch.”

Pietro paused long enough that Philip wondered if he was working on a fabrication, or if he simply didn’t want to comment. “We began to suspect Hatch was a practicing magician,” Pietro said. “It was in retracing his steps in Guatemala that we discovered some inconsistencies with his story, and in those inconsistencies accepted that he may have uncovered the Conoscenza.”

“By design.”

“We don’t know how the book came to be in Central America, or how Hatch learned it was there. But he was missing for three years, and everyone who was lost with him is still missing. They are likely dead. Hatch returned to America, and is the only priest who asked to be sent to Santa Louisa.”

“If you knew, why didn’t you stop him before the murders?”

“We didn’t know! We didn’t have all the information until after the massacre. If Anthony is right about the Seven, the only known spell to draw them from Hell is in the Conoscenza. You sent the wi-Moira-to track Fiona’s coven, and she lands in Santa Louisa. The same place that we were looking for proof that the Conoscenza survived all these years. Now that the Seven may well be on earth, we face an ancient evil we are ill prepared for.” He sighed wearily as the sky grew darker, as the sun slid farther down and the clouds grew heavy. The light breeze that had flitted through the courtyard all day strengthened, pushing at the men.