Chapter Fifteen

Sisters Helen and Agnes had been sitting at the edge of the hearth in the kitchen where they had been keeping warm – even in a castle it gets cold and damp at night. Sister Agnes was staring into the fire wishing she were someplace else.

Sister Agnes didn’t understand why her elder told lies to Tracy Andrews Kingston way back when. None of the Sisterhood had any blood relation to the Queen of Grendels. When Sister Catherine had explained to Tracy that the three of them were the last of the Grendel lineage, Sister Agnes asked her later that night why she lied to Tracy.

“Would you want to stay here if you knew that our only purpose was to make sure Nanaac’s prophecies unfold and that our master confronts Orion in the Forbidden Realms,” smirked Sister Catherine behind wrinkled eyes.

Sister Agnes shook her young head. “I just don’t understand, Sister,” she said and Sister Helen smiled and placed her hand on her shoulder.

“How long has it been now since Ilias called upon you? Three years?”

Sister Agnes smiled and nodded her head.

“It took me fifteen years to learn and accept all that was to take place,” explained Sister Catherine. “Can you imagine what it must have been like for our dead Sisters? Having to look after Tracy’s ancestors, knowing that the first prophecy wasn’t even to take place until generations after them,” she said.

Sister Agnes had glanced down at her clothes and took hold of her habit. “I still don’t understand why we have to wear these – I haven’t stepped foot in a church in years.”

“That, Sister Agnes, was all Ilias’ idea.”

And now, after twenty years, Sister Agnes was staring into the fire wishing to be anywhere else but here. She really didn’t understand the point of waiting half your life for one tiny moment in time. Like when Tracy vanished, Sister Catherine had waited forty years for that one moment, only to have Sister Helen plunge their sacred blade into Sister Catherine’s heart.

“What do you plan on telling Vincent and Samantha,” she finally asked as she broke the familiar silence and Sister Helen looked up from her cup of coffee.

“I shall continue with the notion that we are descendants of Queen Nanaac, bent on preserving her prophecies. I shall say nothing of Ilias – it is Samantha’s child who will have to learn what Ilias has planned for humanity.”

Sister Agnes turned back to the fire and gently shook her head in disgust. “I don’t understand why everyone has to be kept in the dark about Ilias’ plan to overthrow Orion,” she whispered but Sister Helen sighed; they had been over this argument a hundred times already and she didn’t want to start it at this time of night.

“In the morning, I want you to prepare breakfast – make it a simple one – for our guests. I will talk to them while we eat.”

Sister Agnes nodded her head and lost herself once again in her own adventures as she longed for something more than this hellhole.

“Where to begin?”

Vince, Samantha, and Sister Helen had been sitting around a large table with sandwiches in front of them. Earlier that morning the younger nun had brought a hot breakfast of eggs and toast to them and later informed Sister Helen that Vince looked much better than yesterday.

“Where is the other sister?” asked Samantha, half-way through her meal.

“Sister Agnes? I sent her away to the grocery store.” Helen folded her hands and placed them in front of her plate once she pushed it back. She turned and fixed her attention on Vince. “You must understand, Vincent, that I can only discuss your prophecy. What happens when your prophecy is concluded is for Sister Agnes to tell.”

He nodded and was sure that wherever Mykella was she wasn’t too pleased to hear this. She wanted to know more about what her prophecy was. Later he knew she would hound him into talking with Sister Agnes. “Just tell me what you can.”

Samantha listened in silence as she knew this meeting was more between them than anyone else. She felt lucky she hadn't been sent to the grocery with Sister Agnes.

“There are three prophecies pertaining to the race of Dreamkillers. Your mother was the first prophecy; you are the second; and Mykella, I’m sure you’ve met her by now, is the third and final prophecy. With the three prophecies come us three sisters who have learned of the prophecies long before even your mother was born.

“We are the last that remain of the Grendel lineage. We are direct descendants of Queen Nanaac. It was Nanaac who had foreseen the prophecies and written them down and it was our ancestors who had preserved the scrolls and when our queen perished we made a vow to make sure her prophecies came to pass.”

Vince glanced over at Samantha and he could see that she wasn’t too sure she believed the tale. “Do you know why my mother was envisioned? What was her prophecy exactly?”

Sister Helen smiled at the question. “I only learned of it shortly after Sister Catherine passed on. Her prophecy was to bear the man-child who would become mankind’s guardian.”

“But I thought Mykella was chosen for that role.”

“No. She has a different prophecy which will take her on a different path than yours – but I don’t know much more than that of her prophecy. Sister Catherine was chosen to keep watch over Tracy. I am your watcher and Sister Agnes will be Mykella’s.”

“This explains why my mother knew Sister Catherine and I knew you.”

“What happened to Sister Catherine?” Samantha chimed in and Sister Helen turned and looked at her.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“She passed at the same moment Tracy concluded her prophecy.” She turned back to Vince. “As I shall when your prophecy concludes.”

“It’s a shame that your Queen Mother died with the visions of the end of the Dreamkillers.” Vince shook his head. “But I still don’t understand why she saw so far into the future.”

Before Sister Helen could reply, Samantha turned. “There’ve been prophets predicting the coming of Christ hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus.”

Sister Helen grinned and in her heart she knew that this truly was the Mother. She had been careful what to tell them and what not to. What was she to tell them if they became suspicious when Sister Agnes came back empty-handed? She must not think that far in advance. She had to brace herself for whatever they asked her.

There was a pause at the table and Sister Helen was about to assume that the meeting was over. She moved her hands on the table and was about to stand.

“My mother didn’t die.”

Sister Helen fell silent. She was wondering what he was getting at – this wasn’t the typical thing someone says. “No, she didn’t.”

She was holding something back; he could see the reluctance in her eyes. Samantha moved her eyes between the two and she could almost feel the air thickening.

He didn’t take this any further. He would have to be on guard as long as he was here and tonight he would tour the convent with hopes of answering Mykella’s questions without having to talk to them again.

Sister Helen was one of the nicest teachers Vince had ever had and when she had become his principal, she had not suspended him for missing too many days of school. And now, this Sister Helen was veiled in a mystery Vince had to uncover before Mykella came into this world.

“If you’ll excuse me, I must pray the hours. You’re welcome to worship with us,” Sister Helen said as she stood up.

“Sister Agnes came back pretty fast,” Vince said while keeping a suspecting eye on the old nun.

Without another word Sister Helen turned and walked out the door leaving behind her a grinning Vince.

Samantha looked at him in confusion. “Why do you look so happy?”

“I came here and unraveled their little world.”

“Did you see the way she was looking at me? She was making me nervous.”

With a smile, “You are the mother of the final prophecy.”

She lowered her eyes and shivered at the thought of her daughter being involved with anything that dealt with Dreamkillers. “I only wish I knew what was going to happen to her.”

Vince moved his chair over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Everything’s going to be all right. I’ll see to it that Mykella never gets hurt by anyone. Does that sound good to you?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and burst into tears. “If only you could swear to it.”

With his index finger he lifted her chin up and their eyes met. He looked deep into her eyes. “I swear to it. Your daughter will not get hurt.”

As he promised himself he waited until it was after midnight and he heard the soft snores of Samantha as she lay asleep on a cot on the other side of the room. He quietly stood up and almost tip-toed his way out of the room and cursed himself for not bringing a flashlight.

There wasn’t much he could see in front of him. He walked with his back against the walls, sometimes running with his hand against it for support in an unseen world. Every corridor seemed to have the heavenly sight of the moon shining its light into half of the corridor.

There wasn’t anything suspicious and he must have walked for about an hour through darkness before he decided to call it quits and head back to his room. It wasn’t until the third turn that he could no longer remember where to turn next. He stopped and saw that there were three adjoining corridors: Left, right, and a third jutting off diagonally to the left.

He didn’t remember ever walking through anything that looked like this. Maybe he made a wrong turn previously. Well, he had to make a choice and so he chose the diagonal corridor because he felt that he hadn’t made any turns around here.

The moment he stepped foot into this section of the convent a different feeling came over him. It wasn’t the claustrophobic feeling one gets when walking alone in a darkened castle at midnight. It was the feeling that nothing was right and everything was wrong – including everything he was told.

After a short while walking he came to a staircase of stone and took his time climbing the steps; he knew he had not come this way, but there were other emotions driving his suspicious mind. Once at the top of the landing he saw another corridor but this one was well lit and wiped clean of webs. Even the floor looked as if it had recently been swabbed.

He didn’t know why but when he came to the fifth door on his right he turned and pushed it open. He saw a large bed – very well-made – and a vanity carved into the wall. A tall wardrobe lined the entire wall opposite the vanity. He went over to the wardrobe and opened it and ran his hand across the long sleeves of the gowns which were hung by order of color (greens, reds, yellows, blues, and grays). No trust, came to his mind at that moment. Trust no one.

Vince went to the large window and pulled back the long tapestry and looked down into the garden. He saw the glowing figure of his mother standing, looking up at him behind worried eyes. To her side stood another glowing figure that had wrapped her arm around his mother’s shoulder and was smiling up at him. He had never seen the young woman before but he knew in that instant that it must have been Queen Nanaac.

He looked hard into his mother’s worried face and saw that she had lipped the word vanity. He didn’t want to leave this moment but he knew that she was trying to tell him something and so he went to the vanity. There was nothing unusual about it. He ran his hand across the sides and found nothing. He ran his hand across the glass and was about to pull it back but he felt something along the border between the glass and wood frame.

With care he pulled out the small folded paper and looked down at the foreign object he now held. He pulled out the chair and sat down and then unfolded the paper and saw that it was a letter addressed to him!

My Dearest Vincent,

During the days following your birth a battle had been waged. I was inhabited by Queen Nanaac’s soul just so she could continue her war of vengeance. My mind is beginning to no longer be mine, so I pray you can pull out of this what you need. I have learned through Nanaac that Orion’s father has been called back to a spirited form so I’m not sure who she’s after: Orion or his father? But hear me please: Nanaac is bent on vengeance! She was never here to stop the war. She knew the war would continue – she saw it in her dreams. She thinks you are to become a guardian of humanity – the nuns think you’re the son of Orion. I don’t know what to think. All I do know is that you are my child, my son. Never lose sight of your dreams and always remember: dreamers live forever. I’m sorry I won’t be there for you but I hope Rick will do as I wish. God bless you, Vincent, my son.

He closed the letter and put it in his pocket. He sat there for a few moments before standing up and walking back to the window. He was disappointed to find his mother gone but he knew why. There was nothing more she had to do here.

He turned and walked back to the door and when he opened it his heart jumped into his mouth. The sensation only lasted a second and then anger filled his soul. “Come in, Sister. We’ve lots to talk about.” He moved aside and Sister Helen entered the room without any facial expression whatsoever and went over to the window.