Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
The next morning, Sister Lilith’s bed was made neatly, as if she’d never been there at all.
I’d have convinced myself that our prayers were a dream if it weren’t for the bittersweet tang of the evidence she’d left on my lips, my chin, my cheeks.
After washing up in the darkness of the earliest morning hours, I made my way to the sanctuary for morning prayer.
As I rounded a dark stone hall, I bumped into a dark figure. Sister Delilyx’s eyes widened as she brought her hand to her chest. “Oh, Sister Jezebella, you startled me.”
“Sorry,” I said. “How are you feeling, Sister? We missed you at dinner last night.”
Delilyx eyed my tunic and reached forward, peeling back the hem near my collar. She shook her head, ignoring my question. “I thought I’d already sewn a heart into this one. How many dresses do you have?”
“Four, I think?”
“Put this on the top of the laundry stack and I’ll ensure it gets a heart. Just don’t tell Reverend Mother. The last thing I need is another one of her reflections—which is just another word for punishment.”
I had a feeling our versions of punishment from Reverend Mother were very different.
“Are you on your way to morning prayer?” I asked quizzically, knowing that the sanctuary was in the opposite direction from where she’d been scurrying off from. “Have you found your bible yet?”
Sister Delilyx’s gaze darted over my shoulder and to the ceiling, then back to me. She bit the corner of her lip and whispered, “I fear they will hear me should I speak of it to you.”
“Speak of what?”
“What’s happened… what they’ve done now.”
“Sister…” I held her shoulders gently. “What has who done?”
Delilyx took my elbow. “We can’t speak here. Come with me.” She turned right, and before long, we were slipping on our boots and sloshing through the wet grass in the drizzle of overcast morning air.
“Where are we going?” I asked as she pulled me across Reverend Mother’s garden. “And why can’t we talk inside where it’s less… wet?”
“Shh,” she shushed me, opening the creaky wooden door of the toolshed. Bernard lifted his sleepy head from the corner where he rested next to bags of mulch. “In here is the only secure place I’ve found.”
“Secure? Sister, is everything okay?” Sister Delilyx paced before holding onto a rake for support. I took a seat on a mulch bag next to Bernard, who yawned a big, jagged-tooth yawn before flopping his head back down on his thick paws. “You’re worrying me, Sister.”
Delilyx’s shoulders sagged as she let out a breath. “I can’t be too careful, not with what I’ve found. They’re listening, Sister Jezebella. They’re everywhere and they’re listening to us.”
Her words were nonsensical, but the way her brown eyes widened in earnest, married with the oddity of her words, caused hairs to prick along my arms. “Tell me what’s going on?”
Orange light from the sunrise filtered in through the cracks of the old shed, striping the nun’s long black tunic in slashes of copper. Sister Delilyx put a finger to her lips. “Promise on god you will not tell a soul?”
I nodded.
The worried nun reached into the pocket of her tunic and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She held it out, turning her face away. “Here, read it.”
Plucking the thin paper from her hold, I unfolded it. I recognized the flimsy, gold-lined, tiny font instantly. “Is this torn from a bible?”
Delilyx nodded, jerking her chin towards it and urging me to read on.
Even the dog lifted his head to eye the page.
Opening it carefully, a circled passage caught my attention. I read it aloud:
“The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him.” (Mark 1:12-13)
I’d read the verse no less than a dozen times throughout my vows as a holy woman.
However, never on a ripped page, in a musty toolshed with a frightened nun.
The combination of that and the words themselves sent a small shiver down my spine.
The bible speaking of beasts echoed through my mind as I thought about the howls I’d heard in the days prior.
I swallowed, attempting to find some sense of logic as Sister Delilyx wrung her hands together. “Whose bible is this from, do you know?”
“Mine.”
“Are you sure?”
“That’s my pen’s mark, I know that. This is taken from my missing bible.”
“Where did you find it?”
“I didn’t… it found me.” Sister Delilyx was pacing again. “It’s the bats, they’re angry with me. Do you think this is punishment for my sins? How do I atone?”
“No, Sister, no.” I stood, folding the paper back up and placing it back in her shaking palms. I held onto her.
“I believe this to be a coincidence, albeit a spooky one… and sister—” I fought to latch onto her darting gaze and finally her big brown eyes stared back at me.
“What could you possibly have to atone for? Even so, who could stand to punish you? You are the most gentle, sweetest person I’ve ever met. ”
“So much, Sister Jezebella. My sins, they… they follow me like beasts through the wilderness.”
“Well, unlike jesus, you are not alone. You have me and Sister Pandorian. We’ll find your bible and this will all be explained away in a logical manner. Okay?”
The nun forced a weak smile and nodded slightly. “We should get to the sanctuary—”
Bernard was on all fours in a flash, letting out a series of deep barks. Sister Delilyx yelped and grabbed onto my arms. My heart raced and I fought to compose myself as the giant dog snarled in the direction of the doorway.
Suddenly, it creaked open, and a black and white draped figure appeared. “Good morning, Sisters,” Lilith’s voice soothed from the doorway. “Hello, Bernard, you don’t seem too happy to see me.” Sister Lilith glanced up at us. “Are you two… am I interrupting something?”
Delilyx crossed her arms. “I’m sorry but I don’t remember you receiving the title of Prioress or Reverend Mother. I don’t believe we need to tell you what we’re doing.”
Bernard growled low in his throat. I reached down to hold his collar. “All is well,” I jumped in. We were just feeding the dog.”
“Feeding the beast is more like it,” Sister Lilith eyed the tall animal’s size… though her choice of word made Delilyx and I spare a glance at each other. And he was with the wild beasts. Another eerie coincidence.
“What brings you to the toolshed at this early hour, Sister Lilith? Is there something we can assist you with?”
“No,” she said quickly. “Reverend Mother sent me to find you for prayer… she mentioned you may be out here.”
Delilyx stuffed the ripped page back into her pocket. “Well, now it’s an uneven number of us out here, anyway.” She pushed past Sister Lilith in a huff.
“Did I say something to offend?” Sister Lilith asked as I finally guided Bernard back to his corner. “I only mean to be helpful.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied, walking out. “Let’s get going. Today is town confession, so we must be finished with the sanctuary so Father Benedict can prepare to receive Howl Moor.”
“Is confession every Wednesday?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And it is facilitated by a priest and aided by your Reverend Mother?”
“Yes.” I stopped in the grass by the garden and raised an eyebrow at the inquisitive nun. “Is it not the same at Damned to Hell Abbey?”
Sister Lilith huffed a small laugh and her shoulders relaxed slightly. “Our confession is on Sunday after Mass.”
“Well, we just can’t get enough church here in Howl Moor, so we do a small Wednesday blessing and confession, followed by Mass on Sunday.”
“I’m learning. Your town is… nice.” She crossed her arms, hugging her waist and looking over the smokestacks. “Dreary weather, but nice people. I suppose that is part of what makes it charming.”
I nodded, leaning against the fence post. Her lips were moving, but my mind kept floating back to the way her thighs felt pressed against my ears. “It’s a hell of a lot better here than my last convent.”
“You each came from other abbeys, correct? You, your sisters, and Veilentine?”
I inclined my head. “Indeed, we did. We are a priory of misfit nuns.” I watched her sparkling blue gaze scan the rooftops before landing at the tree line as if lost in thought. “Are you ready for more prayer?”
Lilith’s face flushed crimson as she quickly glanced back at me.
I chuckled, remembering the events of the previous evening. “In the sanctuary,” I clarified. “Although… nightly prayers are important, too…”
Sister Lilith cleared her throat before smoothing her black tunic. Prim and proper, not a hair out of place. No longer my kneeling angel in a sheer gown with a long blonde braid. “I prefer solitude for my evening prayers, but thank you for your… contribution last night.”
Her dismissal stung like a bee against my heart.
“Sure,” I replied, pushing off the garden gate.
“Glad to help.” Clearly, it meant nothing to her.
In reality, it shouldn’t have meant anything to me, either.
My encounters with my Reverend Mother never left me stumbling over my thoughts and words.
So why did my moments with Sister Lilith tangle up my wits to such an extent?
Part of me wanted to confide in someone about these feelings… yet Sister Lilith had asked me to keep our relationship… if you could even call it that… a secret.
Now I also had the secret of Delilyx’s bats and mystery bible page. The nun was young and easily frightened, but even still, the missing bible along with a torn verse like that showing up… I’d have been just as spooked as she was.
There had to be an explanation for it all.
There were no bats.
There were no devils in the woods.
Right?
The charred candle wicks in the sanctuary awaited our flames. Sister Lilith and I arrived right on time, without as much as two passing glances from Reverend Mother. Delilyx and Pandorian lit their prayer candles, and Lilith and I followed.