by J. F. Penn
Biosphere 2, Oracle, Arizona, USA
May 27, Pentecost Sunday, 11.52pm
Firefighters and police arrived at the Biosphere, drawn by the storm and the inferno that had been seen across the plains to the town of Oracle. An ambulance crew rushed to meet the group as they emerged from the dome, coughing in the smoke. Jake squeezed Morgan’s hand and then disappeared towards the police vehicles. She watched a paramedic work on Gemma as she held her arm around her sobbing sister. She borrowed a cellphone and dialed David’s number, handing the phone to Faye when he answered in a desperate tone. They belonged together and only now was her guilt beginning to lift.
Morgan turned to watch as the structure of the Biosphere burnt furiously in the night, the fires still fierce even in the bucketing monsoon. She held her face up to the storm, feeling the wash of cool rain running down her neck, hiding the tears of relief now that her family were safe again.
***
Hours later, Morgan sat in one of the Biosphere’s outlying adobe houses watching Faye and Gemma sleeping on the bed. Faye was wrapped around the little girl, her body a protective shield. Morgan reached out to gently brush a curl from her sister’s forehead. She thought of what these two meant to her and how she would have given her life to save them. It was time to go home. But first, she wanted to find Jake.
Standing, she looked at herself in the mirror on the rough wall. Her eyes were bloodshot, skin bruised from the beating and still sooty from the ash. Her arm was in a new sling but her t-shirt was dirty and she smelled of smoke. She smiled. This wasn’t Morgan the academic anymore and she was glad of it. Despite Jake’s betrayal, he had come back and he had helped her find this side of herself again.
She walked out into the Arizona dawn, the first rays of the sun inching over the horizon. The fires still smoldered but she could see firefighters and police now sifting through the ash. Jake stood at the edge of the debris, his back to her. She could see the strength in his stance, the muscles in his back through the torn shirt. There was so much to say but she knew it would go unsaid by both of them. As she walked up behind him, he turned, silhouetted against the russet sky.
“Hi,” Morgan said, smiling up at him.
“Hi yourself. How are Faye and Gemma?”
“They’re sleeping now.”
They both fell silent and then spoke at once.
“Jake ...”
“Morgan ...”
Laughing, they turned back to look at the shattered ruins, the moment broken.
“They only found one skeleton,” Jake said.
“What? How can that be?” Morgan looked puzzled, remembering the vision she had seen. “Nothing could have survived that inferno.”
“It’s true. ARKANE is working with the police to ID the body we have but they were twins and the remains are burnt beyond recognition so we don’t know which one it is.”
Morgan looked at him, “And what about the stones?”
“I’ll find them, don’t worry. It’s time you took your family home.”
As they watched the last of the fires burn down, Jake reached for Morgan’s hand. Her fingers entwined with his, united for a moment at the end of the storm.
London, England.
2 weeks later.
Morgan had been invited to London for a debriefing on the mission with ARKANE Director Elias Marietti. She decided to accept for a sense of closure, and she knew that part of her wanted to see Jake again. There was so much that remained unsaid between them and she had left that night before he had found the stones. Perhaps they hadn’t survived the inferno after all?
She was met at the official entrance of ARKANE by Marietti’s secretary and taken up to the Director’s office. He rose to greet her and indicated a chair. She glanced at the art on the walls, the books on his shelves and saw evidence of the latent power Ben had spoke of.
“You’ve been a great asset to us, Morgan. Thank you for helping our mission to retrieve the Pentecost stones.”
“You’re mistaken, Director. It was always my mission. I was never there to help ARKANE find the stones, I only wanted to help my family. You would have sent them to their deaths just to save some relics of the early Church.”
Marietti gave a thin smile.
“But you’re intrigued by ARKANE, aren’t you, Morgan? You saw something in the flames that was evidence of another reality. You know some of what we research here and it fascinates you. We have many mysteries to solve, many unique areas of research you could be part of. There are things happening in this world that you can only imagine, the stuff of angelic dreams and demonic nightmares.”
“Why are you telling me this now?” she asked.
“I want you to join us,” Marietti replied.
There was a sharp intake of breath from behind her and Morgan turned to see Jake in the doorway. He was clean shaven and wearing a slate grey suit, his white corkscrew scar standing out against his tanned skin. He was a handsome incarnation of the man she had travelled with, who had been beaten, bruised and smudged with ash from the flames of Pentecost. But this man was a stranger, his face stony as Marietti ignored his entrance and continued.
“We need a top researcher who can help us solve some of these mysteries, someone with your expertise in biblical matters and psychology of religion and someone who can hold her own in the field. Of course, you would have access to all our research.”
Morgan thought of the database of which she had only touched the surface, the amazing resources ARKANE had and the secrets they protected. Marietti certainly knew how to tempt her professional side. Being back in staid academia for such a short time already, she was already longing for adventure. But then she thought of what Faye and Gemma had been through, of how close she had come to the flames of Everett’s fire and the bullets of Thanatos. She started to speak but Marietti held up his hand.
“Just think about it. Right now, you want to see this.”
He picked up a plain black case from behind his desk and held it out to her. It was dark wood, inscribed with tongues of fire that were picked out in gold leaf.
“You found the stones?” she said, amazed that they had been pulled intact from the flames. She reached for the case, laid it on the desk and opened it. They lay benign, all twelve, just pieces of rock, each with its own place carved so that they sat snugly. She recognized her own stone, remembering when her father had given it to her, no hint of what powers it might contain.
“This one is mine, you know, and that is my sister’s. You have no right to keep these.”
“But I think you appreciate their potential power now.” Marietti said. “Perhaps it’s best that they rest together in our vault. No one will come for you or your family again if we have them.”
She traced the outline of her stone with a fingertip. Then she nodded and closed the lid, without relinquishing the box. Marietti stood.
“You deserve to see them laid to rest. Come, we’ll go down together.”
Morgan glanced sideways at Jake as they entered the elevator. They had still not spoken directly. His eyes were dark and hooded, as if he had withdrawn into his agent self. The Jake she had seen in the ruins of the Biosphere was hidden again. She was confused by his conflicting signals and didn’t trust her feelings enough to speak so she stood away from him in the elevator as they descended into the depths of the ARKANE vaults.
Marietti stopped in front of the main vault door. It looked like an ancient portal, but inlaid with modern steel bars, protected by a high level security system. He scanned his retina and entered a passcode. Jake spoke his keywords to authenticate the entry. The doors opened and Marietti waved Morgan inside.
“Few outsiders see this, but I thought you’d find it interesting.”
A puff of cool air blew over them from the humidity controlled vault as they walked through the doors. Morgan marveled at the size of the hall in front of her. It stretched into the distance with separate opaque sealed rooms for books, religious artifacts and unknown object
s hidden inside.
“This is our treasure vault,” Marietti said, “where we keep the most precious and dangerous artifacts. Here are the manuscripts of heresy and occult knowledge, the bones of martyred saints and secrets the world would have us keep.”
“Or you would keep from the world,” she countered, but followed him down the hallway. Marietti stopped in front of a doorway and led her in. It was dark and cool inside; a dim light outlined boxes, paintings and scrolls all in numbered places around the walls.
“The light must stay dim to protect what is here, but these are secrets that the stones can rest easy with, Morgan.”
She didn’t relinquish the box.
“After what you’ve put me through, after leaving me and my family to die and taking the stones, how can you ask me to give these back to you? There’s more to ARKANE than protecting religious secrets for the good of mankind, I know that. Why should the stones stay with you?”
Marietti sighed, age showing in his face.
“We couldn’t let the power of the stones into the world and you’re a resourceful woman. Clearly, you inspired great loyalty in Jake, and you both made it out, with the stones so no harm done. This time. But this is a safe place for them now, especially if you work with us. Think about it. I know you’re intrigued by what lies within these vaults and we can give you access. You’re a scholar. Knowledge is what you seek.” He paused. “... And perhaps adventure as well.”
Morgan looked around the vault, at the cornucopia of intoxicating possibility. She bent and gently laid the case of stones down in their allotted place, as if saying goodbye. She backed out of the vault as Marietti followed.
“I’ve just got my life back,” she said. “I’ve found my family again and have a chance for a normal life. I’ve seen what you do and I don’t want this crazy dangerous ARKANE life. The price is too high.”
She looked pointedly at Jake then. He met her eyes with a challenge, saying nothing to stop her. Turning away, Morgan began to walk down the long corridor back towards the elevator. Marietti called after her.
“A war is coming, Morgan. A religious battle where millions may die and ARKANE is the only group capable of stopping it. Thanatos will not give up this easily. We need you.”
She stopped for a second, but didn’t turn around as he finished.
“Ask Ben. Ask him about your parents and the pale horse of Thanatos. You’ve heard of the prophecy, that the stones will be together in the end times. Those times are upon us. Ask him, and then call me.”
She walked on faster then, away from his haunting voice. Up in the elevator through the levels and into the light of another London day, to be lost in the tourist crowds of Trafalgar Square.
Thanks for joining Morgan and the ARKANE team.
Enjoyed Pentecost? Morgan's adventures continue in:
Prophecy, ARKANE Book 2
Exodus, ARKANE Book 3
You can also get both books for 20% off if you buy the ARKANE Box-Set which includes Books 1, 2, 3 - available here.
One Day In Budapest - an ARKANE novella
Day of the Vikings - an ARKANE novella
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Author’s Note
Thank you for joining Morgan on the hunt for the Pentecost stones. I hope you enjoyed the ride! One of my favorite parts of thriller novels is when the author outlines where some of the ideas came from. Now I can share my own inspiration, where research meets fiction.
The Pentecost stones and the Apostles after the book of Acts
Whatever your personal beliefs about God, the Bible is full of inspiration for writers. I have a Masters degree in Theology and I find myself returning again and again to the realm of the spiritual for ideas.
The Biblical book of Acts, Chapter 2, describes the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Apostles of Jesus. They spoke in tongues, preached to crowds and performed miracles. However, there is no biblical tradition of the stones of the Apostles. That is my fiction but it certainly seems to be the last time the Apostles were together in one place as the twelve scattered across the known world. Is it possible they took symbols of brotherhood with them?
In my research, I found that little is known of what actually happened to those twelve men and what is documented is contradictory and confusing. I used multiple sources to try to locate where the likely resting place of the stones might be if they had been left with the bodies of the Apostles. Some are well known, like James and Peter, but others have disappeared into myth, like Simon the Zealot.
A National Geographic article in March 2012 goes into some of the research I also used. More details here: http://joannapenn.com/national-geographic-apostles/
Resurgam comet
The Resurgam comet is fictitious although I based the information on some of the theories around comet Elenin which did pass close to the Earth during the period of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.
The related Biblical verses are: Mark chapter 13, Matthew 27:51-52, 28:2, Revelation 6:12-14
Locations in the book
I have tried to be accurate in the physical description of the locations in the story, most of which I have been to in person. I’m a travel junkie and particularly love places of religious and cultural significance.
INDIA. Manikarnika ghat in Varanasi is indeed where bodies are burnt and Hindus believe they can escape the endless cycle of rebirth. I’ve been on one of those boats watching the burning bodies. As a Westerner, it was a profound experience that affected me deeply. This first scene was the birth of the idea for the whole book.
ENGLAND. Oxford is my spiritual home and the place I return to in my dreams and in real life as often as I can. Steeped in myth and history, it crops up in every story in my head. Morgan’s office in Bath Place is a real location, but it’s a hotel. The Turf pub is just behind it. Blackfriars is on St Giles and I attended tutorials there myself when I did Theology at Mansfield College, but I have taken liberties with the interior and layout. The Pitt Rivers Museum is a wonderful treasure trove of inspiration that you can now roam online as well as in the flesh. In London, Trafalgar Square is well known as a tourist destination, but I don’t know what lies beneath it!
SPAIN. Santiago de Compostela does have a silver reliquary of St James and also the largest swinging censer in the world. I found this when roaming the cathedral online and just had to use it as an escape route for Jake. The vision of Pope Leo XIII is from real Church archives.
IRAN. There is a church of St Mary in Tabriz and the Armenian faith is one of the oldest in the world. I took liberties with the actual location as there was little definite information. It seems certain that one or more of the Apostles made it that far east.
ITALY. The Pope does take Mass in St Peter’s regularly and anyone can attend. My husband and I stumbled in there for Epiphany in January 2010 and were amazed at how close you can get to him. There is a glass case holding the remains of Pope Pius X, and the statue of Alexander does feature a skeleton with an hourglass. Venice is flooded increasingly more often each year and may indeed be underwater one day, hopefully not in our lifetime. There is a spectacular Pentecost mural in the Basilica San Marco which reshaped the whole plot after our visit there. Amalfi is the supposed resting place of St Andrew.
ISRAEL. Jerusalem is one of my perpetual inspirations, having travelled there a number of times. The church of the Holy Sepulchre is as crazy as I describe and the Ethiopian Coptics did live on the roof when I last visited.
USA. The founders of modern psychology did indeed visit Clark University in 1909 and there is a statue of Freud on a bench. I visited the Biosphere 2 in Arizona years ago and was entranced by the various habitats. The glass ziggurat came to mind as somewhere that would explode dramatically, and the storms in Arizona make the crazy weather a possibility.
Carl Jung, The Red Book and Wolfgang Pauli
One of my abiding fascinations is psychology, particularly when it relates to religion and faith. I have read Carl Jung for years and almost trained as a psychologist, but that would have been another life.