Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
The blue-eyed beauty looked around, as if expecting her old Reverend Mother of the Damned to pop out from around a corner and scold her for contemplating skipping away early from her community duties. “Won’t we get in trouble?”
“Not if we make it back for lunch on time. We can check my traps while we’re there, if you want to.”
“Well…” Sister Lilith clutched her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. “I suppose a walk through the forest would be alright… as long as we aren’t late getting back.”
A smile quirked my lips. “Shall we?” I offered her my elbow.
“We shall.”
I led Sister Lilith back up the path and out of town. The soft, wet grass squished beneath the soles of our thin shoes as we passed Altar Church and headed towards the forest. As we walked by the iron fence, a familiar sound panted and thumped over.
Sister Lilith let out a shriek and jumped behind me. “That is the largest dog I’ve ever seen!”
My hands roughed up the canine’s shaggy ears. “This is Bernard. He’s a blind Irish wolfhound.”
“So he’s part wolf, then?”
“No.” I chuckled. “Wolfhounds were bred to hunt wolves. They’re great guardians, I’m sure. Well, the ones with vision probably are. Bernard here just sniffs around the chickens and follows us to the woods. Here, give me your hand.”
“Why?” she asked nervously over my shoulder. “Will he bite me?”
“No, but I might.” Smirking at her little inhale of surprise, I took her wrist and inched the nervous nun around me, guiding her hand toward the dog’s snout.
Sister Lilith squinted her eyes closed, tensing next to me as Bernard sniffed at her palm.
He looked up at her with cloudy, unseeing eyes and tilted his head.
His usual goofy prancing and flopped over tongue replaced with a frozen posture and look of stern concentration.
Lilith peeked an eye open. “What is he doing?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’ve never seen him do this before.”
Bernard then let out a loud bark.
Lilith jumped, ducking back behind me and gripping my shoulders.
“Buddy,” I soothed, rubbing his head. “Sister Lilith is a friend.” The wolfhound eased a bit. “Maybe you smell like your old convent.”
“I guess so,” Lilith said, unsure.
We continued our trek to the woods with Bernard following a good twenty paces behind us. “So strange,” I remarked. “He’s usually by my side or trotting ahead of me. He is getting old, though, so who knows, maybe he’s tired today.”
Sister Lilith cut through the brush and eased us onto the trail. “These trees are magnificent. Redwoods, cypress, evergreens, oaks… so many varieties in one place.”
“It is beautiful out here. My favorite part of Howl Moor, really.”
“Are you permitted to come out here often?”
“Once or twice a week, yes.”
“You have a generous Reverend Mother, then. We cannot so much as stroll the graveyards by ourselves at the abbey.”
“Is that why you came here? To get away from it there?”
“Oh, I, um…” Sister Lilith reached into her pocket, twisting something in her grip. “No, it was simply my turn to travel. My Reverend Mother says it is good for our faith to minister to new communities and fellowship with sisters from other congregations.”
“Right…” I eyed the sag of her pocket with interest. Too heavy for beads or a crucifix, I surmised. “The lake is just up here... but I take it you know that, being as this is where I found you. Do you swim often?”
“No,” she replied quickly. “Never, really.” Sister Lilith glanced over her shoulder. “Where did the giant dog go?”
I stopped by my favorite redwood tree and gazed through the creeping fog. “Huh? He was right behind us.” I called out for him, but he didn’t appear. “He must have gotten distracted by fun smells. Don’t worry, he may be blind, but he knows his way around.”
“I’ll try not to… worry,” Lilith said with an air of uncertainty. “You should check your traps quickly. I fear it’s getting late.”
“Seems it gets dark earlier and earlier these days. It storms several times a week here.” The sound of lapping water splashed in the distance. I leaned against a tree and worked to kick off my shoes.
“What are you doing?” Sister Lilith asked, crossing her arms, her gaze darting around the forest.
“You said I should check my traps, well, to do that, I need to swim across the lake.”
“Oh,” she said, glancing at me before blushing at the realization that I’d be getting naked again.
“Care to join me?” I asked, unbuttoning my tunic. “We don’t have to… I mean… we can just swim, if you want.”
“I think I’ll only dip my toes in this time. You go ahead.”
My heart sank a beat, but I nodded and let my black tunic fall to the ground. Standing in my white under-dress, Sister Lilith stared for a moment too long before remembering herself and spinning around to give me privacy.
She unlaced her shoes as I finished getting undressed, my stare fixed to the side of her face, daring her to look at me and my naked body. However, with a tense jaw, Sister Lilith only stared into the water as she eased her bare feet in.
She didn’t want me. I was a fool to think, or rather hope, that she might still. We were a one-time thing, a momentary lapse in vows and judgement. There would be no repeating our fling in the forest.
With a sigh, I waded into the deep, twisting around as my toes left the muddy lake floor. I wetted my hair and leaned backwards, feeling the tension melt from my muscles. When I glanced up, Lilith was watching me, her blue eyes fixed on my form.
Satisfaction unfurled within me. Perhaps Sister Lilith wasn’t wholly unaffected by me after all. Did a part of her still desire me?
At the water’s edge, Sister Lilith resembled a watercolor painting.
If I were an artist, I’d convey some sort of meaning behind the stark contrast of her long black tunic, the veil covering her hair, and the deep greens and rich browns of the woods behind her.
The salacious, yet pure nature of her exposed foot gracing the water mixed with the lustful heat in her cool blue glance as she admired me silently from afar.
Pulling my stare from the painted woman, I flipped around and swam for my trap, eager to check its contents so I could get back to her.
The net rippled as I neared, though I couldn’t see the source of the movement.
Finally, after a moment, I identified a long, sepia-toned grasshopper.
“You’re not what I want,” I told it as I carefully untangled the insect’s thin limbs from the wire net.
“Off you go. Well, this was a useless trip all around,” I said to myself, spinning back in the water.
When I looked up at the shore—Sister Lilith was gone. My breath caught in my throat. Startled by her absence, I called out for her.
No answer.
Surely she’d only stepped away to have a look at something or to put her shoes back on. Even so, I swam faster than usual. Once I’d reached the middle of the lake, a sound in the distance pulled my attention.
A dog barking.
I’d recognize Bernard’s gravelly bellow anywhere. My pulse beat in my ears and I was out of breath by the time I pulled myself from the shore. I called out for Lilith again, and then Bernard, as I shimmied into my undergarments.
With one palm pressed into the bark of the tree for balance, I pulled my shoe over my heel. Suddenly, a flash of black ducked out from behind the tree. A small scream wrenched from my throat and I fell backwards.
Blue eyes widened as she rushed to help me up. “Oh, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Sister Lilith said, kneeling to help me up. “Are you alright?”
I nodded, my head pounding and my mouth dry. “Where did you go? Did you find Bernard?”
“No, I haven’t seen the dog.”
“Didn’t you hear him barking?” I stopped once I was upright and swayed on my feet, listening. “I don’t hear him anymore.”
“I didn’t hear a thing. Are you sure that’s what you heard?
” Lilith grabbed my tunic and shook it out, clearing it of twigs, and looped it over my head as if I were a child in need of tending.
I would have scolded her or brushed her off if my mind weren’t spinning, trying to decipher if I felt fear or paranoia.
My mind then reminded me of the long howl I’d heard last time I was in these woods. “I know I heard Bernard,” I said, brushing out my tunic as Sister Lilith fetched my veil. I snatched it from her hold. “I can dress myself, thanks.”
She raised her palms in surrender. “Of course you can. I’m just trying to be helpful, not offend.” Her gaze caught on my veil as I secured it to my hair. “Oh,” she gasped, bringing her hand to cover her mouth. “Sister Jezebella, you’re injured.”
“What?”
She rushed to my side, inspecting my head.
“I don’t see a cut. Did something happen?
” She brushed her fingers tenderly over my forehead, her face inches from mine.
The aroma of vanilla invaded my senses once more and just the mere proximity of her flushed me with heat.
“There’s blood,” she whispered, though it sounded more like a lover’s confession than a haunting statement.
“How can you smell of vanilla?” I asked softly, finding that I forgot my carefully guarded pathway from my brain to my words whenever Lilith got too close to me. “Perfume is forbidden for nuns.”
Sister Lilith pried away from her inspection of my forehead and met my eyes for a moment. She looked as if she were about to speak, when instead she shook her head and reached for my wrist.
“What are you—” My question died as she flipped my palm over.
My red palm.
“Blood,” we both said in unison.
Lilith’s face grew pale.
“The only thing I touched—” I trailed off, inspecting the redwood tree where I’d stashed my clothes. Sure enough, blood trickled down its grooves from an unseen source.
“Where did it come from?” Lilith asked in a small voice behind me. A cold chill trickled down my spine as I bent to wipe my hand on the grass. “At least you’re not hurt,” she added.