He reels me into his arms. “Fathers aren’t involved in this part of the process. Plus, I’m only an expert. It’s a pay grade up from the grunts,” he adds before I can pose the question. “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be involved at all.”
I open my mouth to ask why, but he responds again before I have asked the question.
“You’ll learn more about the structure in the coming days, weeks, and months ahead, and we’ll tell you whatever you need to know.” He kisses the top of my head. “I hate it has come to this, but at least we don’t have to keep any more secrets from you.”
My parents share another one of their looks.
“Go, Douglas,” Mom says. “I’ve got it from here.”
“Be brave, my princess.” His words send ripples of fear crashing over my skin. “I love you. You’re the very best thing to happen to me, and I’ll do everything in my power to protect you.” He hugs me tight before releasing me with tears shining in his eyes.
“Daddy,” I croak, reeling him back for another hug. I cling to him, fighting tears as emotions try to smother me. “I love you too.”
He smooths a hand down the back of my hair. “It will be okay. Stay strong.” With a kiss to my cheek and a quick nod to Mom, he turns around and leaves.
ChapterThirty
Ashley
“Come on. I have much to show you and explain.” Mom takes my hand, leading me down to the end of the room, and we take the left-hand door down to the basement level. “Even if your father was a Luminary, he wouldn’t be permitted to stay with you tonight. Only mothers are permitted to prepare their initiates for the ceremonial process.”
“What does that mean, and what’s involved?” I hold on to the wall as we descend the narrow winding stairway.
“Our society has existed in secret for thousands of years and many, many generations,” she explains as she walks in front of me. “It is steeped in traditions and rules and laws that date back to the fourth century.”
I gasp when we reach the end of the stairs and enter a large, cavernous space. This level is wide-open with the exception of a couple of doors at the rear indicating enclosed rooms. A myriad of candles is burning. Some are mounted to walls, like the other parts of the crypt, and many more are freestanding, forming a perimeter around the space and resting on ledges and shelfs.
An earthy, woody fragrance tickles my nostrils as we slowly make our way into the center of the room. My nose twitches as other scents reach me—sweet citrus notes balancing out the heavier aroma. “What is that smell?” I ask, clutching Mom’s hand as she leads me into the room. There’s an air of reverence about the space as I glance up at the rudimentary etchings on the ceilings and the plain tapestries lining the walls.
“It’s frankincense.” Mom steers me past the altar and long table in the center of the room toward four stone coffins. “Grunts were here earlier to start the preparations for the ceremony. Usually, initiations take place twice a year in January and June. While every initiation is an individual one, they are usually successive, so anyone who has come of age is initiated on the same day.”
Releasing my hand, she places hers on one of the stone coffins. “These guys are to blame.” Her mournful expression is tinged with a hint of reverence. “These coffins house the original luminaries. The ones who started our society. This crypt is considered the holy grail within our world. Our most sacred place.”
I know which place I’ll target first should I want to burn their world down around them.
I have a feeling I’ll be consumed with murderous thoughts and ideas after I’m forced into whatever this induction is. “Where did they come from because it can’t be the US if the society has been around since the fourth century,” I inquire.
“Ancient Rome.”
“Wow.” I don’t want to be impressed, but that period of history has always fascinated me.
“The original luminaries were obsessed with the seven deadly sins. They were consumed with fear for the future, if humans couldn’t control their unhealthy desires and behaviors, so they made it their mission to save humanity. The structure for our society was born from that goal.”
“Is it religious then?” I place my hand on the top of the coffin next to the one Mom has her hand on. They are very basic in design with the same five carved drawings on the top of each one.
“It started out like that,” Mom confirms as I bring my face closer to examine the marks. “But as our society has evolved, it has become less religious though our rules and laws are still heavily imbued with the traditions of Christianity.”
“It sounds like something someone dreamed up while high on psychedelics,” I muse, running my fingers back and forth across the etching of the sun. In the center of the wide sun is a big eye and underneath it are four small circular symbols. “What do these drawings mean?”
“Those four smaller insignia represent each Luminary family.” She points them out one at a time. “Two intertwined snakes symbolizing lust and envy. The lion and the peacock for pride and wrath. A sloth for sloth.” Her lips kick up briefly. “And the wolf and the eagle representing greed and gluttony.” She places a hand on her chest, just over her heart. “I have the sloth emblem branded here.”
I can’t say I have ever noticed, which is weird.
“That main one is the Luminary symbol,” Mom continues explaining, tapping her finger on the larger drawing of a sun. “Every member of a Luminary family and a masters family has that mark branded on their upper arm.”
“What is a master?”
“They are the next level down from a Luminary family. These are very important people in our world. They operate at the grass-roots level, implementing The Luminaries’ plans on their behalf. They are the lynchpin linking the four levels of our world.”
