Order of the Shattered Cross: Pt. 02

"You're serious. What she's describing is the Void."

"I don't know if it destroyed it..."

"...the empty was so severe he vomited." the girl interrupted. "The Void is real."

"Lilith," Nora said, taking all that in. "She will consume this world into nothingness if we don't destroy her. Then all worlds after ours."

"This is where I need your help. A witch brought the Void."

"Nonsense," Nora immediately snapped. "We have nothing to gain. All our power comes from the thing she destroys."

"I didn't say she did it intentionally," Timothy said, and pulled the pictures from his pocket. He splayed them out on the table and Nora leaned over them. "Whoever the witch was, did this at the same location. I know she was there when Theo was and saved her life. Saint Greca confirmed a witch helped Theo escape."

"Greca doesn't like it when her filthy witch sister hugs her, so she must have been desperate to allow that," Nora said as she reviewed the photos. "Bone chalk?" Timothy nodded. "Definitely a doorway...shit."

"What?" Timothy asked.

"Indigo," Nora said and pushed the photos toward him. "She's an exiled witch from a banished coven called the Sisters of the Keys. Banished because we found out they were practicing dark magic. The Confederation only abides allegiance to old ways. Coven of Lilith in particular, but several Pagan Gods are allowed, but only if they expand our understanding of magic and don't draw their powers from the Morningstar or his disciples."

"What makes you assume it's this Indigo," the girl asked.

"Indigo is the daughter of their Priestess. We destroyed the coven a year ago, but Indigo evaded death or capture. The Sisters of the Key were notorious for making séance doorways. They would contain souls and take that energy for themselves for other rituals. Where did she do this?"

"Sunland Asylum in Tallahassee," Timothy said, and Nora's eyes burst wide.

"Sunland...is she out of her mind," Nora said, finishing her drink and slamming the glass down. "There's no way she could control that. The entire coven couldn't. If that energy lingered, she may have summoned more than she bargained for."

"My thoughts exactly," Timothy said. "Any idea on how to find her?"

Nora made a buzzing sound with her lips and leaned back into her seat.

"Let me be clear. You find her, the confederation brings her in, not the church," Nora said, and Timothy crossed his arms. That wasn't Timothy's decision to make. He was also one to ask for forgiveness, so relented. "Got anything you know she touched?"

"Not on me," Timothy said. "Anything in particular?"

"Writing works best. Writing requires mental intent and contact. I can track you down to ends of the earth with a handwritten note."

"Didn't you do that once?" the girl asked, fulling remembering, but wanting to antagonize the two.

"It's how I found out he was fucking my sister," Nora said and crossed her arms over her chest. "While he was stringing me along."

"Eight years later and you're still mad about that," Timothy said.

"Of course, I am. I'm a woman," Nora said and looked over her shoulder to the closed curtain. "That's longer than one song."

Nora's eyes lit up and the curtain was violently pulled open by nothing. The Sister had removed her veil and coif and the dancer was sitting next to her, talking like old friends. They both jumped from the sudden shock, and the dancer made eye contact with her Priestess and parted ways with the nun after whispering something into her ear. The Sister giggled and hid her hair before walking over to Timothy and Nora.

"She's funny," the Sister said as she sat down with rosy cheeks.

"You're blushing sister," the girl said.

"It's just warm," she said. Nora looked between the exorcist and the girl, and then to Timothy.

"You're kidding. She's like Theo?" Nora asked.

"I'm not a Fractured, ma'am...priestess..." the Sister inquired, not sure what honorific, if any, she required from her position.

"Just Nora. Interesting," Nora said, eying the Sister with an inquisitive gaze. She turned to Timothy. "Remember, find her, but she's mine to deal with."

"I'll see if I can find anything. You'll be the first to know if I do," Timothy said and stood up. "Theo's at the Capital Regional Medical Center in case you want to check in on her."

"Thank you, but before you go," Nora said, and pulled out a ten-dollar bill from her pocket. Her eyes glowed and a pen from the bar whipped across the room and gracefully landed in her hand. She extended the pen out to Timothy. "Write something on this. So, I can find you later." Timothy took the pen and leaned over to table to slide the bill across to himself. He wrote something, flipped it over, and pushed the bill back. "See you soon."

"Looking forward to it," Timothy said and committed to leaving.

Nora received another drink and placed her finger on the bill Timothy had left her. She skated it around the table several times before she flipped it over.

'Sorry'

"Still couldn't say it to my face," Nora whispered to herself.

The Sister followed Timothy out the door and past the bouncer. Timothy was surprised by her mood which seemed vastly improved after her private time in the booth. She appeared to be beaming with the giddiness of a schoolgirl.

"You seemed to have had fun in there," Timothy said.

"Nothing that would violate my vows before you ask," the Sister said. "All the dancers are witches."

"I know," Timothy said. "They lure men and bewitch them. Their tips are great. What did you two talk about?"

"Sex mostly," the Sister replied and Timothy turned to her. "She's a virgin as well. We talked about temptation. Witches are surprisingly virtuous and have similar beliefs in relationships and chastity. They're not required to be monogamous, but often only mate with one man, but it's customary a witch loses her virginity while she's on top."

Timothy paused at the door of the truck and laughed a little before opening it and taking a seat behind the wheel.

"Now where?" Sister Frost asked after slamming her door shut.

"Back to Tallahassee. We have to pick up a note in police evidence," Timothy said. The girl appeared in the center seat with a grin.

"I thought you didn't know where to find anything," she said.

"I lied. I also didn't tell her about you," Timothy said, looking at the Sister.

"What about me?" the Sister asked.

"That you're basically invulnerable and could harm the Void by touching it."

The Sister wasn't sure if that was kind of him, or negligent. She did understand that the less people knew about her, the better.

"You're also calling her the Void now?" the girl asked.

"For now," Timothy said and started the truck.

--

It was nearing dusk when they returned to Tallahassee. Timothy had parked the truck outside of the Tallahassee Police Department. He told the Sister to wait a few minutes for him and left the truck with the engine running. The Sister cranked the window down and stuck her head out of the vehicle.

"You really don't think they're just going to let you walk right into the evidence room?" she asked.

"Nope," Timothy replied without stopping or looking back.

Timothy strolled straight up the stairs leading to the door and let himself in. There wasn't much activity in the reception area. A few officers were on their way out, and several civilian employees strolled past and paid him no mind. At the desk was a uniformed officer with a thick mustache and a mustard stain just above his badge he still hadn't noticed since lunch.

"Need help sir?" the desk officer asked.

"I'm a journalist with the..."

"...let me stop you there buddy. Public affairs office for comment, records section for records," the officer interrupted.

"I'm running an article about that Priest who was killed in the asylum the other night," Timothy said while spacing out the room. Evidence was to the right, but he wasn't sure how far. "Between you and me," Timothy said, faking a lean to show he was looking both ways to eavesdroppers. "I heard there was some witchcraft going on there."

Evidence was in the basement it looked like. The sign down the hall had a downward arrow, and the sign above the door showed it was a stairwell. His true concern was the cameras perched on every corner, so knew he needed to enter the room directly.

"More leaks," the officer said under his breath. "I can neither confirm nor deny that," he added, not knowing Timothy heard the first part. "We really don't need any more of this Satanic Panic bullshit."

"What about the woman who was brought to the hospital with only the note on her body. I'd like to see that note," Timothy said. The officer stood up off the chair and looked down the hall before placed his palms on his desk.

"Who do you write for?" he asked.

"St. Petersburg Times," Timothy replied.

"Okay. Get out of here, before you, and your entire publication is blacklisted by this department." Timothy held his hands up in false defeat and took a few steps backward before spinning a full 180 degrees and out the door.

"Just bewitch him. So much easier," the girl said while sitting on the hood of the truck.

"I can't bewitch a camera," Timothy said and jumped back into the truck. "Did you do it?"

The girl reappeared next to him in the truck and nodded. "I know where it is. Let's do it the boring way," the girl pouted.

"Boring way?" the Sister asked. "What were you doing in there?"

"Casing it," Timothy said and put the truck in reverse to back out of the space.

Timothy drove away from the department and parked the truck a few blocks away. He chose the building due to it being out of immediate line of sight from any passerby. He parked the truck with the headlights facing the wall and left the truck with it running again. He touched the wall, running his hands over the brick structure and nodded to himself. It'll do.

"What are we doing?" the Sister asked.

"You are watching. I am infiltrating the police department evidence room," Timothy replied and looking around the ground for something. He found a moderate sized rock and ran his thumb over the edge. He tossed it in the air and caught it once as he walked back to the wall. The Sister watched him draw a rectangle in the wall by scratching the brick with the stone. He drew a small circle waist high. His art resembled a door.

Timothy drew a five-pointed star in the center of the door and circled it to form a pentagram. The Sister couldn't help but notice his symbols looked like the ones from the asylum. When he finished drawing, he leaned down to place the rock on the ground.

"Ready?" Timothy asked the girl who nodded. She closed her eyes, and her hair began to levitate. Timothy placed his palm on the pentagram and closed his eyes. The pentagram began to illuminate. The light spread away from his palm, leaving a physical door as the light spread over. Soon the entire door was present, and a final burst of light left a functioning doorknob. The girl's hair fell back to her ankles, and Timothy opened the door.

"What in the world?" the Sister asked as Timothy walked through and shut the door behind him.

The doorway only worked to grant him access to places he had already been. His short foray into the police station allowed the girl to project herself into the room. Their souls were entwined, so her being there was the same as him being there.

Timothy stepped into a room with rows of cabinets and shelves filled with boxes. His head moved side to side as he tried to discern the way it was organized. Walking down a few rows of evidence boxes, he found that they were organized by case file number. He walked toward the front and saw the greenish glow of a computer. The monitor itself was the size of a television, and the computer tower rested under the desk knee high. He woke it up by pressing the spacebar and it hummed to life. Password protected. Taking an educated guess, he lifted the keyboard and found a sheet of paper with the username and password written on it.

"My tax dollars at work," Timothy said.

"You don't pay taxes," the girl said.

The only thing the screen populated was for searches. It had several fields to search, such as date, name, case number, investigating department, but Timothy chose name. In last name he typed 'Rover' and scrolled the mouse over to the search button. Several results like Grover, but only one he wanted. He looked at the location and left the computer to find it. It was on a closer shelf and Timothy found the box in less than a minute.

Several items were in the box, such as the Fredrick's bible which was stained with his blood. A bag protected the blood from contaminating the rest. Pictures of the ritual site and his body. In an evidence bag was the note found on Theo when she was dumped outside of the hospital. Sunland Asylum is all it said. Timothy tucked the note into his pocket and replaced the box. He returned to the computer and turned it off before walking right out the door.

The Sister was amazed when he walked back through the door minutes after he left. He shut the door and picked up the rock. In one movement he scratched across the pentagram, breaking the circle, which caused the light to reemerge. It spread in reverse, leaving behind a brick wall until it converged in the pentagram and flashed one last time before everything returned to normal.

Timothy turned around and looked at the Sister through the windshield. He reentered the car and said, "I told you I can do more than talk to the dead."

Timothy pulled the note from his pocket and removed it from the evidence bag. He ran his fingers over the letters and closed his eyes. The girl appeared next to him, and her hair began to levitate again. She channeled her powers to him, and the ink left the paper and climbed up his arm like a tattoo. It ascended his arm, past his neck and slipped behind his eyes. When he opened his now pitch-black eyes, he no longer saw through his own. Timothy saw through the eyes of the witch who had wrote it. He didn't dare do anything but look. It was within his ability to influence her actions, but that could alert her to the intrusion. She could cut him off easily and shield herself.

The witch was in a dark place lit by candles. She sat in the center of a pentagram, reading from a grimoire. Timothy couldn't understand the language inscribed. He studied the area best he could, hoping for the slightest hint of her whereabouts.

Look up.

The witch kept her eyes on the book, turning several pages before finally looking up at her surroundings. Timothy saw trees and vegetation. She was outdoors. Timothy waited for her to breathe, so he could smell it also. Its scent was earthy, yet also salty. He listened but didn't hear ocean. Forest area, but not quite at the ocean. He waited for another breath. Not just salt, there was something else. Mineral.

'Find her' Timothy said in his head. The girl vanished and reappeared standing next to the witch. She was projecting herself through Timothy and expanding her reach all the way to the witch. 'What do you see?'

The girl walked around the pentagram, and saw it wasn't a doorway this time. She walked as far as her reach would take her. The girl took off into the air to see over the trees and scanned the area. In the distance she saw a small town, so knew she wasn't entirely isolated from civilization. The sun was sinking in the horizon. She could see the ocean in the distance to the south. In another direction she saw several structures above small pools of water. Mineral springs. A road to the north ran east to west and connected to the highway where traffic was currently moving.

The girl sent herself back to Timothy and helped him break the connection with the witch. The ink crawled from his eyes and slithered down his arm to reform the word on the note.

"She's just north of the ocean," the girls said. "Sun is setting. And I saw a road with a small town and mineral springs in the distance."

"Panacea," Timothy said and put the truck into gear.

--

Panacea, Florida is a small unincorporated town south of Tallahassee near the coast. It was originally named Smith Springs until the land was purchased and renamed Panacea after the Greek Goddess of universal remedy due to the natural mineral springs. The springs themselves are the primary driver for tourism for the town of less than one thousand residents.

Timothy took route 319 straight south until he was able to follow signs to the town. He pulled to the shoulder outside of the town to read a map and try to pinpoint where the witch was. Surrounded by a forested area within spitting distance of the ocean. The girl confirmed it was almost straight south to the ocean. Most of the town had the ocean to the east, so that narrowed it down. Timothy circled on the map where a decently large, forested area was between a road and the ocean.

"She's in here somewhere," Timothy said, and began to chart the best path.

"Do mineral springs have anything to do with witchcraft?" the Sister asked.

"No," Timothy and the girl said in unison.

"She's just hiding," the girl said. "On the run from the Confederation, but still wants to be near the rest of the world."

"Let's find her," Timothy said and folded the map up so his path was facing upwards.

Timothy followed the map, turning onto Bottoms Road and driving a short distance before parking on the right shoulder. He turned off the engine and stepped out of the truck. The Sister followed, and traced a cross across her body before following him. Neither noticed after they entered the woods, the ground shimmered behind them.

Timothy was mindful of his footsteps. He tried not to make too much noise, and to watch his footing through the bushes and trees. The Sister had the horrid luck of having every stick and branch grabbing onto her habit. If the trees had ill intent, they could strip her naked. Timothy placed a finger over his lips and looked back at her as she struggled with a thorny bush.

"Go wait in the truck," Timothy ordered.

"I can help."

"How? We're not exorcising anything, and you can't use magic," Timothy stated.

"Why can you?" she asked. As far as she knew, only witches could use magic, and all witches were women.

"Not now," Timothy said and trudged along. The Sister huffed and tugged her habit away from the bush. The plant fought back, tearing a large hole into her clothing. The Sister groaned and finished tearing it off and followed the seam to rip it off her clothing entirely. She had turned her dress into a skirt, but at least she was more mobile.

"Timothy, stop!" the girl shouted. Timothy had his foot in mid-step, and slowly returned it to the ground. "That was close."

"Yeah, I see it," Timothy said, crouching toward the ground and brushing leaves away. A pentagram was drawn into the dirt with air elemental symbols. He was nearly launched a hundred feet into the sky by a protective barrier. "We know we're close. Sister, follow my steps, exactly. This whole area is booby trapped."

"Yes sir," the Sister said, her breathing now audible.

Timothy took a wide path around the pentagram and kept his eyes to the ground as he walked. Within ten feet he came across another. Ten feet later another. It was a magical mine field. Sister Frost placed her feet into his prints to match his steps exactly.

"Stop!" The girl shouted, and Timothy flinched. "Just kidding." Timothy scowled at her, then stepped forward. He was instantly neck deep in mud. "Shit, guess I wasn't."

"Sir," Michelle said and ran to help him. She stepped onto a pentagram and was suddenly propelled into the sky. She screamed as she sailed through the air, alerting anyone nearby. Stealth was over.