Sister Cecilia takes Ruby and Candice up to the altar and starts telling them all about the paintings, but back in the pews, an oppressive silence settles over me. Disoriented, I drop my head into my hands. I shouldn’t have skipped lunch. Or…breakfast, for that matter. But I’ve feltoffall day. Allergies, maybe. Or a POTS episode threatening. The vascular disease causes dangerous drops in blood pressure when I stand up too quickly.
If I’m not careful, I can even pass out.
I dig a hard candy out of my crossbody bag and pop it into my mouth. The strawberry sweetness usually helps.
It’s a full ten minutes before Father Shin emerges from a door behind the altar. He’s pale. Dark bags swell under his eyes. Deep lines etch his forehead. Sister Cecilia startles when she sees him, crosses the cathedral, and rests a hand on his elbow. He looks like he feels as awful as I do. Maybe he needs a candy too.
The priest stares up at the golden crucifix behind the altar and makes the sign of the cross. After a moment, he runs a hand through his thinning salt and pepper hair, shuffles over to me, and forces a smile.
“Dr. Saunders, please accept my apology for being late.” The middle-aged priest has an easy way about him, despite how rattled he’d looked only seconds ago. “The previous tour had many more questions than usual.”
“It’s no problem, Father. You’re doing us a favor. The woman I talked to at the rectory said you’d stopped giving tours a few months ago.”
He offers me a weary smile as Ruby and Candice finish taking photos of the frescos and head over to us. “I had. The cathedral needs renovations, and the work was to begin this week. But there was a delay, and when your call came in, I’d just scheduled with the previous group. The scaffolding will go up soon. I’m afraid this is the last tour I’ll be able to give for the foreseeable future.”
The two young women are eager to get started, but my stomach is still in knots. So I hang back and pull another hard candy from my bag.
Father Shin leads Ruby and Candice through the sanctuary, his voice almost reverent as the cathedral’s history spills from his lips. I gaze up at the vaulted ceiling, intricate designs almost coming to life in the shadows.
The stained glass windows, though beautiful, depict macabre scenes. Saints and sinners, their faces twisted in expressions of torment and ecstasy, are bathed in hues of crimson and gold by the setting sun.
I can’t shake the feeling ofwrongnesshere. I grew up in churches like these back in Boston. My parents baptized me and sent me to a Catholic grammar school. They believe in a higher power. Though I suspect more in the general sense than one true God.
The strange sensations skittering down my spine grow stronger with each step. Awareness prickles along the back of my neck. I glance around, my shoulders hiked up to my ears, but the few parishioners seem oblivious to anything out of place, and Father Shin prattles on about the fire that gutted the church more than a century ago.
“After the earthquake, the flames burned so hot, they destroyed everything but the bell tower and the walls. The marble altarmelted,” he says, his voice reverent.
“Stone can melt?” Ruby presses her hand to her throat with a gasp.
“I was as surprised as you, my dear. But yes. It can. There are only a few grainy photos from that time, but it must have been a sight to behold.” Father Shin pulls a heavy, purple velvet drape behind the altar aside to reveal a narrow alcove. “Now, watch your step. The stairs down to the antechamber are steep, but this is one of the most interesting parts of the entire cathedral. And one of the most mysterious.”
A cold blast of air washes over me, carrying the scent of the bay. Salty. Dank.Old.
I should stay in the sanctuary.
Where it’s safe.
“Dr. Saunders? Youhaveto see this!” Candice calls. The girls were so excited to come here. Even happier when I agreed to go with them.
There’s no reason to be scared. It’s a basement. Nothing more.
I find a scrap of courage and make my way down the winding steps. As I reach the last one, I falter, grab onto the metal hand rail, and suck in a deep breath through my nose. Father Shin’s voice fades as a strange, almost imperceptible hum fills the air. My bodyvibrateswith it. Something deep within me strains to break free.
My hesitation burns away in a heartbeat. Suddenly, I’m desperate to keep going. To get past Shin, Ruby, and Candice and find out what’s just beyond the reach of the dim bulbs running along the ceiling.
The world tilts on its axis. I stumble toward the far corner of the space. My vision blurs and the room starts to spin. A haunting melody seems to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
I reach out. I’m so close. My fingers ache. There’s so much power here. Power I need. Power I want. Power that’smine.
Everything goes soft and dark, and an ethereal whisper from somewhere beyond is the only thing I can hear.
“Welcome, Whisper Keeper. We have been waiting…”
“Dr. Saunders? Willow?”A woman’s voice cuts through the fog swirling around me. Someone touches my neck. I jerk away—or try to—but my limbs feel like they’re encased in cement. “Take it easy. Try opening your eyes first, dear.”
Oh. Right.
The old light bulbs swim in and out of focus over my head. The scent of the bay—of salt water—is so strong, it burns my nose. Under it, the subtle spice of incense and something else. Something familiar. From long ago.
