“Yeah? And?”
Tony walked over to a newspaper stand and pointed at one of the sidelines. “Eclissi Lunare Stasera,” he read.
Ana shook her head. “I don’t know Italian.”
Neither did Tony, but he’d picked up enough over the last week or so to make out what it said. “Lunar Eclipse Tonight,” he translated.
A light went on behind Ana’s dark eyes. “Fully eclipsed moons often times appear red,” she said. “A blood moon.”
Tony nodded.
“What time is the eclipse?”
“Ten-oh-seven according to the article.”
“That doesn’t give us much time,” Ana said.
Tony shook his head. “Less than we hoped.”
“We’d better find an incense shop fast if we’re going to get back in time.”
Tony agreed and followed her through the streets of Naples all the while knowing that the clock was against them.
“I think I found something,” Saph said from behind a dusty book that probably hadn’t been opened in years, if not decades.
“What are you looking at?” Jesse asked as he took a seat next to her.
“Matt and Jorden said they wanted alternative methods of exorcizing the demon from Nigel and I may have found one in this book.”
“Which is?” Jesse questioned with annoyance as he pushed the book up to get a look at the title, which was thankfully in English. His eyes grew wide and his crabby expression dropped to one of utter shock. “A book on witchcraft?”
“What?” Saph questioned as she looked around the book at him.
“I know that they said alternative but that’s a bit around the bend…don’t you think?” he questioned incredulously.
“Why?” Saph asked with an expression as innocent as her tone. “If ghosts and demons are real then why not the spells that were written ages ago to dispel them?”
“Even if these spells work, don’t you need a witch to say them?” Jesse questioned.
“Not necessarily. You just need an open mind and the belief that it is real,” she said. “My sister has been a witch for years; most of it is about nature though there is a mystical side to it as well.”
“Which sister?” Jesse asked.
“Ruby,” she answered candidly.
Jesse thought of Ruby and of how normal she always seemed, though admittedly until this trip he hadn’t spent much time with Saph’s family and had only seen Ruby once and Mondy, Diamond, twice. It had only been in the last couple of weeks he’d gotten to know her better, in spite of their budding relationships before, and started to think of her as more than just one of the college students that liked to hang around and play ghost hunter for a couple of nights a year.
“To be honest I think that her religion makes more sense than most conventional religions,” she continued. “For the most part they are devout to that which can be seen…the Earth. I mean they have their Gods and Goddesses, and I can honestly say that I don’t know who or what any of them are, but the basic idea behind the religion itself is pretty simple.”
Jesse looked at her with new eyes. He was still wildly attracted to her, maybe even more so now, but he also respected her for her opinions. “Well that may be, but I’ll stick to good, old-fashioned Christianity.”
She nodded and shrugged. “To each his own.”
Saph grabbed a pen and notebook from her backpack and started writing down information from the books, starting with the incantation used to pull a demon from its host. She then took notes regarding what demands her spell should have.
“You know, I know that Matt and Jorden said to think outside the box and I admire your initiative, but this is insane. We should be looking up information on the demon, not questionable magic.”
Saph’s brow creased when she looked at him but she continued to write. “I already did that,” she said and handed him the book she’d found its name in. “Aside from the fact that it ferries souls to hell there isn’t much known about it. Several legends state that it has a quota and the more souls it brings the more rewards it receives. Like most demons it was a fallen saint or angel, though the texts differ there. What they all agree on is that it is damned to forever take the souls it collects to the underworld.”
“And I don’t suppose that there is something there that just comes out and tells you how to get rid of this thing,” Jesse said; less than hopeful.
“All things in life should be so easy, but no. I’m afraid not.”
Jesse shoved the books away and looked at Saph, who continued to write. “Do you think that we have a chance to get him back?”
Saph stopped writing and for the first time since they got up that morning her expression was less than hopeful. “I hope so,” she said. “I can’t imagine not.”
A heavy silence fell over them as Saph went back to writing. Time was not on their side and they needed to get back, but to what? Every instinct in Jesse’s body told him to run fast and far, and to take Saph with him, though he knew she wouldn’t go. He felt for Nigel and the others, but he and Saph were safe now; could the same be said when they stepped foot on the island once more? Would they make it off the island one last time with their lives…and their souls still intact?
Saph’s soft hand touched his and she squeezed with a comforting purpose. “We’ll be fine,” she assured. “Believe in that. You must have faith otherwise we will all die.”
Matt sat at the desk in the cottage and carefully leafed through the papers he’d retrieved from the village while both Syd and Jonas did their best to translate.
“From what I can tell it appears to be a log of sacrifices,” Syd said. “Men and women of all ages from the very young to the very old.”
“But sacrificed for what?” Matt asked. “I mean sacrifices are usually made for a gain, but I have yet to hear what that gain may have been. You haven’t found anything that might tell us why.”
“Maybe you should ask that woman in your head,” Isis said coolly.
Matt looked at Isis and he could feel her pain. While Jorden wasn’t possessed he felt as though she was already being consumed by what was going on and he was helpless to do anything about it. From time to time he would look at her and she would have a distant gaze on her face. He wondered if she was just tired, or thinking, or if something more sinister was going on. Throughout the night she had tossed and turned, though stilled when he held her close to him and whispered assurances in her ear that they would be okay, though that didn’t stop the nightmare; he could feel that much and he felt the same way now. He wondered if she was still linked with the demon that dwelled within Nigel…that somehow she would continue to be linked to it far after they left the island and returned home.
“Stop staring at me, I’m fine,” Jorden muttered for his ears only and without even looking in his direction, though she did look at Syd. “Does she have anything to say?” she asked so everyone could hear the question.
“She’s hiding and won’t come out while Nigel is in the same house with us. Once she shows herself Nigel will feel her presence and she won’t have a chance to get out of this unscathed.”
“No offence to the old woman, but she’s not the one I’m worried about. And she was here for and participated in the sacrifices so she’s already sealed her own fate,” Jonas said. “If there’s something she can tell us then we need to do what we can to get her out here and talk to us.”
Syd shook his head. “It isn’t up to me.”
“What if we went somewhere else?” Jorden suggested. “Maybe back down to the cellar or down to the dock. Maybe even the village.”
“The village might not be a bad idea. After all that’s where this all seems to lead,” Matt said. “Let’s go.”
“We need to pack up the computer and Syd’s camera, and grab the phone,” Jorden said as she started to shut down the laptop. “We don’t want to lose our only link off the island.”
“Nigel might suspect something if he comes down here and finds us a
ll gone,” Isis said almost absently.
Jorden walked up to her and grasped her hand in her own. “I know you’re worried about him Isis, we all are. But we can’t afford to separate on this island. He’s fine for now,” Jorden assured.
Isis’s dark eyes were far more troubled than Matt had ever seen in the five years he’d known her and he understood. Over the last couple of years he’d watched Isis and Nigel grow closer, but no more than over the last couple of weeks.
“Fine,” she allowed finally. “Let’s get this over with.”
Jorden held her hand tightly. “We need to do this whether we want to or not, because tonight is coming and the more prepared we are the greater our chances of getting out of it with our lives and souls intact, including Nigel’s.”
Isis took a breath and she nodded with a bit more conviction in her eyes. “Let’s go.”
Matt and Jorden gathered up the equipment and followed Isis, Syd and Jonas outside.
For a half hour the group, led by Matt, followed the narrow trail along the coast while avoiding the cemetery at all costs. When they reached the village it was still empty and nothing had changed. Everything was where it had been left, yet when Matt looked at Jorden he could see her discomfort. “What is it?”
She shook her head and looked around. “Something’s different,” she said and started a slow stroll around the ruins. “Call her Syd.”
While Syd called for Isobel, Jorden circled the ruins and while Matt was interested in what the old woman had to say, he was more interested in what was going on inside Jorden’s head.
As she walked she put her hand out as if she were reaching or feeling for something.
“Questo `e pericoloso,” a scratchy voice said from the far side of the ruins.
“I know that it’s dangerous, but we need to know what happened here,” Syd said, “we need the truth.”
The woman gazed around the village with dark eyes that held more terror than Matt had ever seen in anyone before and she started to circle the ruins much in the way Jorden was, though the woman kept her distance from the altar in the center he noted. However curiously she also kept her distance from both Jorden and Isis as well.
After a moment she started to speak once again and Syd translated. “Many of those the father brought here were lost souls looking for comfort at the monastery. Father Lorenzo determined if they were good souls worthy of sanctuary, but most often they were not and they were brought here.” She looked up at the others. “I do not know what Father Lorenzo offered them but by the time they arrived here they participated in the sacrifice willingly. They did not scream or cry or try to escape. For a sacrifice, the ritual was quite civil.”
“I bet,” Jonas muttered, which earned him a quick glance from Matt but nothing more.
The woman continued on, “For years the Father brought the lost souls to us to either care for or to send to the next world. He promised us that they were headed to the gates of heaven where they would be deemed worthy to enter…” her eyes grew even darker yet, “…we did not know until it was too late.”
“Know what?” Isis questioned. “What happened?”
Syd translated the question and the old woman’s gaze grew weak. “The night the villagers from the mainland arrived my sister and I went to the monastery with our weakly offerings. We were late that day and when we arrived the fathers were already at mass. We were told that it was forbidden to interrupt or even witness the ceremony but we were curious. For years we had heard the chanting and the bells that followed the mass but never had we witnessed it until that night. It was then that we learned just what kind of religion the fathers practiced. At first when we saw them take their communion we thought that they sipped red wine, but it was not wine. The drink came from Father Lorenzo himself, from cuts on his wrists.”
Matt felt sick to his stomach and he looked around at the others. He immediately noted that Jorden was nowhere in sight. He almost panicked until he found her in the center square of the village staring at the altar.
“What is it?” Matt asked quietly as he approached. “You’ve been squirrelly since the moment we arrived.”
She shook her head. “Something’s here,” she said. “I can’t put my finger on it but something is here.”
Matt looked around cautiously. “Not Nigel,” he said quietly.
She thought a moment then shook her head again. “Something bigger than that,” she said. She started to reach out to the altar but quickly pulled her hand back as if she’d touched something hot. “Isis!” she called. “Come here!”
Isis left Syd and Jonas, and jogged towards them though before she got too close she immediately slowed and approached with caution.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” Jorden said as Isis crept up to them.
Isis nodded. “This may be it,” she said as she looked closely at the altar. She too reached out to touch it but didn’t get far. Like Jorden, she quickly pulled her hand away as if something burned it.
“May be what?” Matt asked.
“I think you’re right,” Jorden said as if she hadn’t heard him.
“Right about what?” Matt questioned sternly. He was aggravated at the fact they were acting as though he wasn’t there.
Jorden turned her head and looked at him with a strange, twisted gaze that displayed both excitement and sheer terror. “We think that whatever is going to happen on the island tonight is going to happen here,” she said and looked back at the stone altar and the spire in the center of it. “All hope abandon ye who enter here,” she muttered.
“What?” Matt questioned.
The quote drew the attention of the others and they all stood at the base of the altar.
“Dante’s Inferno,” Syd said. “It was spoken at the gates of hell.”
“You think that the gates of hell are here?” Matt questioned. “Under the altar?”
Both Jorden and Isis shook their heads. “The altar and spire themselves,” Isis said with a sparkle in her eye. “There must be some kind of catalyst that affects the two, something that happens during this dark moon that Isobel continues to speak of.”
“That doesn’t track,” Jonas said as he circled the altar and spire. “Tonight is a full moon, not a new moon.”
Jonas was right about that and Matt shrugged. “I agree, but that doesn’t mean that whatever is going to happen won’t be tonight,” he said then looked back at Jorden and Isis. “How certain are you that whatever will happen, will happen here?”
Jorden looked into his eyes with a certainty he’d never seen before in her gaze. “It’s the only place it can happen,” she stated without doubt.
He nodded. He’d known Jorden a long time and for her to be that sure was a minor miracle. “My only other question then is what do we do now?”
Jorden shook her head and then out of nowhere she stopped and looked at him with the first hopeful gaze she had that day. “I need to call Tony,” she said then rushed off to the other side of the village and out of earshot of the others.
Whatever she had planned she wasn’t sharing it with the rest of them and that bothered Matt, but he trusted her and didn’t pry. He only hoped that whatever she had planned would work. For all their sakes.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The sun was low in the sky but still up in spite of the late hour and there was little time to prepare. With Jesse at the helm of their confiscated ferry – in order to assure that the boat remained as was there when they needed it – the teams from the mainland returned and Jorden pulled Tony out before Matt could see him while Saph followed.
“Why is she coming?” Jorden questioned. Jorden wasn’t accustomed to being rude, but time was of the essence, as was discretion. If word got back to Matt before she meant for it to they were all screwed.
“She saw the crystals I bought and insisted that I let her come. If I didn’t she was going to go to Matt and ask him and I didn’t think that you wanted her squawking all over the island about this.”
Jorden glanced back at Saph though kept her smile hidden. She wanted to scold the girl for being stupid but at the same time she appreciated the kid’s initiative and courage. In the years that she’d known Tony, no one ever had the courage to get into his face, much less threaten him. “You blackmailed him?”
Saph hurried up to Jorden’s side and continued to keep pace as they pushed through the dense brush. “I think I know what you’re planning and if I’m right I think that I can help.”
Jorden snorted a laugh. “And how do you figure that?”
“One of my sisters is into New Age practices and some of it has rubbed off.”
Jorden glanced back at her with a raised brow. “Would that be the witch?” she asked.
Saph slowed in surprise but thankfully didn’t stop. Apparently Saph hadn’t thought that anyone would remember the couple of times her sister dropped by the office, but Jorden did. She actually liked the kid.
After a moment Saph was at her side again. “Let me help you,” she insisted. “I know that I can.”
“It’s going to be dangerous. You should head down to the dock with Ana, Jonas, Jesse and Tony once we’re set up.”
“It’s going to be dangerous no matter where we are.”
“She’s got a point,” Tony said. “Which is why I’m not going to cower down on the dock while the rest of you are on the frontlines.”
If Jorden had had the time she would have stopped and knocked some sense into the both of them, but the operative word was if. The truth was that she didn’t have any time to spare. “You want to hang around you talk to Matt… not me,” she said to Tony then turned to Saph. “As for you, I refuse to let you risk your life here.”
“It’s my life and I’ll do what I want with it thank you very much.”
Jorden wanted to strangle the both of them but instead she threw her hands up in the air. “Fine,” she acquiesced. “And how exactly do you think that you can help?” she asked Saph.
The Haunting of Isola Forte di Lorenzo Page 32