The Devil's Labyrinth

CHAPTER 26

ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN RAND closed his office door behind the last member of the diocesan committee for the protection of children, returned to his desk, and slumped back into his chair. He had known that putting the Boston Archdiocese back together was going to be a long-term task, but he hadn’t anticipated just how difficult and uncooperative his committee members were going to be. It seemed as if all they wanted to do was fight him on every point with endless, circuitous debate that ultimately resolved nothing. Indeed, every item on today’s agenda had been tabled until next month amid claims that all of it needed additional research and further extrapolations. It was as if they hoped that simply by stalling, they could make the whole mess go away.

Rand was sick of it. He just wanted to make some headway, somewhere, in some area that mattered.

There was a soft knock on his office door, and the Archbishop glanced at the clock. Not even nine in the morning, and he felt as if he’d already put in an entire day’s worth of very hard work. He sighed heavily, needing no one to tell him that ignoring whatever his assistant was bringing him wasn’t going to go away.

The door opened and the seminarian appeared. “Father Laughlin from St. Isaac’s, to see you.”

The Archbishop nodded. “Give me five minutes, please, and then send him in, along with a cup of tea.”

The seminarian nodded and backed out, silently closing the door behind him.

The Archbishop closed his eyes and systematically relaxed his body, beginning with his feet. He visualized soothing blue light going up his legs, infusing his hips, then moving up his spine to that place at the base of his skull where all the tension in both his mind and body seemed to come together, creating a painful knot. Using a technique he had learned from a Cardinal from India, he focused the visualized light on the knot, then concentrated on letting the knot itself dissolve and flow down his arms and drain out his fingers. Though he didn’t profess to understand how the exercise worked, Rand had found that it never failed to revitalize him.

Faith, he knew, worked in a lot of ways.

When the seminarian again knocked, then opened the door bearing a steaming cup of tea and leading Father Laughlin in, the Archbishop was ready to meet the next challenge, his strength fully renewed.

“We have finally had a success,” Father Laughlin announced as soon as they were alone.

The Archbishop lifted a skeptical brow. “Really?”

Father Laughlin’s head bobbed, and when he picked up his cup of tea his hand trembled, though Rand wasn’t sure it was from excitement or merely age. “I witnessed it myself,” the priest said, leaning forward in his chair to lay a manila envelope on the Archbishop’s desk. “Here is my report, though I’m afraid I am utterly unable to convey the magnitude of what happened last night. It was amazing to witness — absolutely astonishing. Truly, Father Sebastian has a gift!”

The Archbishop eyed the envelope warily. He knew about the work that had been going on at St. Isaac’s, of course. Indeed, he’d been instrumental in bringing Father Sebastian to Boston after all his work at Notre Dame. Nor was he completely skeptical of the value of the work, for the rite of exorcism, he knew, could be a valuable tool. Though he himself had never been convinced that “demons” were the cause of psychological disturbances in people, he was also aware that if someone believed something was going to make them better, it often did.

It was simply another demonstration of the power of faith.

But still, he couldn’t help but be somewhat skeptical of this remarkable statement from a man who had been a priest too long. On the other hand, it had been a long time since he’d had any good news at all to report to the Vatican, and something — anything — was better than nothing. “You saw this?” he asked cautiously. “You actually witnessed it yourself?”

Father Laughlin nodded and began to recount exactly what had happened last night in the tiny chapel beneath the school.

“What is the girl’s condition this morning?” the Archbishop asked when Father Laughlin was finished. “Is she aware? Does she know what happened to her?”

“She’s understandably tired this morning,” the elderly priest replied. “She’s calm and cooperative, and resting comfortably. She doesn’t seem to have much memory of the event, but I shall never forget it. It was unquestionably one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen.”

The Archbishop picked up the report and placed it on the stack of papers in his “In” box.

“And there is other good news,” Father Laughlin said quickly, sensing that he was about to be dismissed.

Rand looked at him inquiringly. “Go on.”

Father Laughlin was now fairly beaming. “I’m happy to say that absolutely no drugs were found in the Adamson boy’s system.”

The Archbishop lowered his head and gazed at the old man. “And how is that good news for us? If drugs were not the impetus for his irrational behavior, Ernest, then what was it?”

Father Laughlin cleared his throat. “Father Sebastian believes it was a manifestation of the evil that dwelt within the boy. An evil which he was unfortunately not successful in driving out.”

Archbishop Rand’s brief hope of being able to send good news to the Vatican evaporated; there was just no credibility here. “Is this in your report?”

Father Laughlin nodded. “Father Sebastian and I agreed we couldn’t — and shouldn’t — hide our failures. Certainly not from the Vatican. But both of us feel that the success last night far outweighs the earlier failure. It is of great significance. Possibly even global significance.”

The Archbishop paused, but finally nodded, and then stood, signaling the end of the meeting. Father Laughlin struggled to his feet, and shook the Archbishop’s outstretched hand.

“I shall forward your report to Cardinal Morisco,” Rand said, “and I shall, of course, advise you of whatever response the Vatican may have.”

Only when the elderly priest was gone did the Archbishop finally open the envelope and glance through the headmaster’s report.

A successful exorcism, he decided, was possible.

But highly unlikely.

Still, he rang for the seminarian, and when he arrived, handed him the envelope. “Scan this into the St. Isaac school file, please, and fax a copy to Cardinal Morisco at the Vatican.”

The young man took the envelope and left the office.

Archbishop Rand glanced through his daily calendar. More meetings. More wheel-spinning. More make-work without concrete results.

Is this what God had in mind when He had issued the call for young Jonathan Rand?

Apparently so.

The Archbishop allowed himself a moment of self-indulgent frustration, then sipped his tea and began to prepare for his next meeting, as, in the next room, the fax machine began transmitting Father Laughlin’s report to Rome.

† † †

Melody Hunt stood just outside the main door to the infirmary, struggling to control her racing heart, to banish the tight knot of fear that had grown larger in her belly with every step she’d taken as she climbed the stairs. She composed her face into what she hoped was a concerned, but — most important — innocent, expression. The problem was that Melody’s mother always knew when she was hiding something, and Melody was absolutely certain that the nun in the infirmary would be at least as able as her mother to read the guilt on her face the moment she walked through the door.

But despite her best efforts, her face had an awful wooden feel, exactly as it always did when she was trying to hide something.

Maybe she should just turn away from the infirmary and go back to her room. But she needed to see Sofia, no matter what the nuns might read on her face, and besides, wouldn’t walking away seem even more suspicious than anything that might show in her expression?

Taking one final deep breath, Melody pushed her way through the door and saw two students, their faces pale and their eyes bloodshot, sitting unhappily in the anteroom, waiting to see the nurse.

Ignoring the sign-in sheet, Melody stood at the front desk, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she waited for one of the nurses to appear.

A moment later, the curtain separating the waiting area from the rest of the infirmary swished open, and Sister Ignatius, dressed in the white habit of a nurse, appeared, deftly closing the privacy curtain behind her. “Melody!” she said, automatically assessing the girl’s condition with her practiced eye. “What are you doing here? I do hope there isn’t a bug going around.”

Melody relaxed slightly — at least she didn’t appear nearly as nervous as she felt. “I just wanted to find out about my roommate. Sofia Capelli?”

The nurse visibly brightened. “Aren’t you nice! But you could have just called us.” She cast a sidelong glance toward the two students in the waiting area. “This isn’t always the healthiest place to be,” she went on. “Anyway, we would have told you that Sofia was doing fine. She just fainted. Low blood sugar, I imagine. Sometimes you girls simply don’t eat right — there’s nothing wrong with a little meat on your bones, you know.”

As if the food would let anyone at St. Isaac’s lose weight, Melody thought darkly, hoping Sister Ignatius wasn’t about to go off on one of her famous rants about “maintaining a healthy weight,” which, Melody thought, was at least forty pounds more than she herself ever intended to weigh. But to her immense relief, for once in her life, Sister Ignatius decided not to push her point. “Would you like to see her?”

“May I?” Melody replied, suddenly feeling a little better. If they were going to actually let her see Sofia, whatever was wrong couldn’t be too bad, could it?

Sister Ignatius drew the curtain far enough aside for Melody to enter the examination room, and led her through to the small ward, where Sofia lay sleeping in one of the dozen beds that made up the infirmary. She wore a green hospital gown, her clothes neatly folded on the chair next to the bed.

Though she was asleep, her face had far more color than those of the students in the waiting area; in fact, Sofia didn’t look much different than she always did in the morning.

Not wanting to waken her, but wanting even more to know exactly what had happened last night, Melody quietly approached the bed.

Sofia’s eyes opened as she drew near.

“Hey,” Melody said.

“Hey, yourself,” Sofia replied.

“You okay?”

Sofia nodded, and Melody moved her clothes from the chair to the next bed and sat down as Sister Ignatius disappeared back through the curtains to start tending to her two new patients. “What happened?”

Sofia barely even glanced at her. “I don’t know,” she sighed. “I was in that chapel — the one I told you about — and Father Sebastian was giving me absolution, and the next thing I knew, I woke up here.”

“You mean, like, you just fainted?” Melody was sure there had to be more to the story than Sister Ignatius had told her.

Sofia shrugged. “I guess so. Doctor Conover is going to come see me, and if everything’s okay, they’ll let me out this morning.”

Melody’s brows creased uncertainly. “Weird.”

Sofia spread her hands dismissively. “I guess.”

Melody wanted to tell Sofia what she and Ryan had done last night, slipping into the tunnels after lights out, and seeing her being carried up the back stairs, but with nothing separating them from Sister Ignatius, she couldn’t take the risk. “I prayed for you this morning at matins,” she said loudly enough to make certain the nun would hear. She was also sure the words would elicit at least a rolling of the eyes from Sofia, if not some kind of sarcastic remark, but all the other girl did was close her eyes.

“That’s nice,” Sofia said sleepily.

Melody cocked her head, her lips pursing slightly as she gazed at her roommate. “Sofia?” she finally said, touching Sofia’s arm.

“Hmm?” Sofia didn’t open her eyes, but pulled her arm away.

“I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” Sofia said.

“Melody?” Sister Ignatius peeked through the curtain. “If you don’t hurry, you’ll be late for class.”

“Okay,” Melody replied, her eyes still on Sofia. “You need anything?”

Sofia shook her head.

“Okay, then,” Melody said, standing up from the chair. “I’ll see you later.”

No response from Sofia.

Had they given her a sedative or something?

Melody put Sofia’s clothes back on the chair, and smoothed their imprint from the sheet on the next bed.

“Bye,” she whispered.

Sofia gave no indication that she’d heard.

Melody slipped past the nun, who was now taking the temperatures of the sick students, waved a thank you, and a few moments later joined the throng of students heading for their first period classes.

But she was still thinking about Sofia.

Sofia, who had said she was fine.

But she sure hadn’t acted fine.

In fact, it was almost like Sofia wasn’t there at all. The Sofia she had always known would have told Melody every detail about last night and recounted every feeling she’d had before she fainted. But even more than that, Sofia wasn’t the kind of girl who ever even got sick, let alone fainted, and had always hated the whole idea of the infirmary so much that when Melody herself had been there last year, Sofia hadn’t even been able to bring herself to come and visit. So, if she was “fine,” why wasn’t she demanding to know why she couldn’t get out of the infirmary right now?

Why was she just lying there?

Maybe she should call Sofia’s father. But what good would that do? According to Sofia, all her father ever did was drink, at least since her mother had taken off three years ago.

No, better to just wait until lunch, when she’d be able to talk with Sofia. She and Ryan would tell her what they’d seen last night and Melody would watch Sofia’s reaction to the story.

She would watch it very carefully.