Momentum carried Matt stumbling forward, feet tapping on flagstone, into the dimly lit abbey hallway. He caught himself on the cool stone of the opposite wall, narrowly missing the candelabra; only one of its three candles held a flame. Air rushed behind him, drawing a flicker and pulling at his back.
“There,” Sister Chloe said, voice now rich and clear. “May I have the locket?”
Matt spun to face her. Smooth white stone curved into intricate arches above. The portal was gone. The blur was gone. So were his friends. Matt handed over the necklace.
“My Jake…” She sighed and held the necklace to her chest. She smiled and nodded left down the hall. “Come this way.”
Matt followed her, white text trailing: ‘143,000 XP,’ ‘721,500 XP.’ That put him a third of the way through Level 10.
He followed the nun until she paused before an arched doorframe, just far enough away that he couldn’t yet see inside. Matt was about to ask what they were waiting for, but then she smiled and whispered, “This way.” She ducked through the doorway and was gone.
Matt stepped forward and peered through the opening. It revealed a huge vaulted room, much like a church sanctuary but without the pews. Stained glass colored the pale stone floor in vibrant hues. A platform, like where a priest might stand, rose at the right end of the room, and the left end bore heavy lacquered double doors.
Where’d she go? Matt thought.
Matt stepped through the arch.
Muffled sounds rose around him, the chatter of people—a crowd.
“Matt?”
“Hey, man.”
“Give Chuckles a minute.”
Matt’s eyes adjusted. He wasn’t sure if he’d opened them or if they’d been open the whole time. He blinked and stretched his sockets. He adjusted his glasses and felt at the ballcap atop his head.
“Hey,” said Fallyn quietly, touching his arm.
The room was full of more people than he’d seen in a week. Relief and excitement washed over him. All of these people were here—and alive!
“I have so many quests!” Val exclaimed.
“Erwu!” said Wiggles toddling beside her.
“Looks like all these nuns are quest-givers.” Kurtis gestured out to the room. “Not sure where I get my blessing yet though.”
“How many do you have, Valkyrie?” Sofia asked.
“Five.”
“I need three more then,” the black-clad wizard confirmed. “Shall we do a tour of all of them?”
“Works for me.” Matt shrugged.
“Oh, stop scowling, Dirk,” Sofia said. “I know you’re doing that under there.”
Dirk crossed his arms in response.
“Lead the way, Wiggles!” Val said.
The beaver stood on his hind legs, hands clasped, and stared up at her.
“We’ll work on that,” she muttered and strode to a nun straight ahead.
Matt followed the group, clockwise, around the grand rectangle of a room. He couldn’t help smiling at all of the people. The six large stained glass windows stretched their colors over the crowd. Matt chucked, realizing they were representations of the movie posters from the tent.
“Fucking gankers,” a stranger said near the King Arthur window.
“They got us just outside. Like, they couldn’t let us turn in the quest?”
Matt caught snippets of similar conversations as he walked and his smile slowly fell. He paused in front of a window he didn’t recognize. Yellow and green tones shone on the people below. The glass depicted a cream building with a yellow star near its tower—the abbey with the talisman.
“It’s fucking not okay,” said a woman Matt didn’t know.
He brushed beside her to get to the nun and another quest.
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“Come on, Matt,” Val urged when he had barely finished with the quest-giver.
“I don’t care,” that woman angrily said.
Matt pressed his lips into a line and followed Val to get the last quest. The final nun stood below a stained glass window with a half circle and a squirrel. Whatever that was about, he instantly hated it. Damn, fucking squirrels.
Organ music filled the vaulted ceiling, pouring out over the crowded room. It was I Will Follow Him from Sister Act, one of the few movies his parents owned. Without fail, Mom would put it in the old DVD player over the holidays. Matt could hear her singing along as the organ played and the crowd quieted to whispers.
“What’s happening?”
“Where’s that coming from?”
The double doors opened and softshod nuns filed through, forming two lines. They stood, gazes cast downward, waiting. Then a nun with a metal walker edged into the room between them. She was the oldest person Matt had ever seen. Her eyes looked hollow and her movements betrayed frailty.
She inched forward, walker clacking. When she got past the lines of nuns, the crowd parted to make way. The organ music stopped, but the onlookers stayed quiet. The clack of the walker echoed through the room. Matt waited for something to happen.
“She’s really old,” Val whispered.
“Shh,” Kurtis said.
“Well, she is…”
The lineup of nuns fell into a column behind the aged woman. They walked in pairs, solemnly stepping at her pace. When she finally reached the platform, one of the younger nuns helped with her walker, setting it behind her. The elder nun settled back on it as a seat. Then she clasped her wrinkled hands and smiled weakly at the crowd. The organ music played a single refrain. When it stopped, all eyes were on the old woman.
A younger nun, who couldn’t have been much older than Matt, leaned down close to her mouth. She stood and announced, “First Sister says she will now perform the blessings.”
Kurtis’ ears perked up. Fallyn gave him an encouraging nod and the the cat-man started towards the front. Then a familiar voice rang out.
“That’s me!” Cathleen stepped onto the left side of the platform. She had replaced her foam finger hat with a pink glowstick circlet and she wore a plastic green knockoff of a Hawaiian reed skirt. It rustled when she walked.
Matt’s smile returned. She’s okay!
Kurtis hesitated but then continued forward when it was clear that a lineup was forming.
“Approach,” said the younger nun, with an open-armed gesture.
The old woman reached out shaking hands and Cathleen accepted them. She leaned in and the nun whispered something.
Cathleen looked surprised and whispered something in return. Then the First Sister released her hands. She cupped her knobby fingers in front of her chest. They began to glow pale green. The glow jumped to Cathleen, surrounding her with light. Then it fell from the air, dissipating.
The nun opened her hands and held out something small to Cathleen. She accepted it with a nod and moved off to the right.
Matt pressed his way to the front of the crowd.
Next up was a hulking muscle of a man, in a shirt that looked like mummy bandages.
“Hey,” Matt whispered, awkwardly reaching between two strangers to tap Cathleen.
She met his eyes. Then they alighted with recognition. “Matt, hey,” she whispered.
“Been here long?” he asked.
“Since yesterday.”
Matt nodded.
“Got lucky,” she whispered. “They only do this once a week.”
They watched the mummy-bodybuilder move off to the right.
“I see Kurtis went cleric,” she whispered.
“Yeah. I chose knight, Fallyn wizard, and Val hunter.”
“Good mix.”
A woman wearing a hijab was next. She had a ballcap perched atop it, so Matt guessed it was from before. After she glowed, the First Sister presented her with a folded blue and gold cloth.
Kurtis was next. He hesitantly walked forward. Then he leaned down to speak with the nun, his back’s orange tabby patterns on full display.
“It really goes all the way down there, huh,” Cathleen whispered.
“Seriously?” Kurtis said, loud enough for Matt to hear.
“He didn’t…” Cathleen whispered.
“Okay…” Kurtis told the nun, slipping back into a whisper.
“You’re fine,” Matt told Cathleen.
The pale green glow leaped from the nun’s hands to Kurtis’ fur, surrounding him. The orange hairs stood on end, puffed out, and then fell flat with the light. The nun handed him a silvery bowl—a colander. He stalked to the right side of the platform.
“What did she give you?” Matt asked Cathleen.
She opened her palm to reveal a small green pin in the shape of a leaf. “They ask what religion you want to be blessed in. I told them I follow the ancient ways of the elves of Middle Earth.” She smirked.
Kurtis reached Matt and showed off his colander with eyebrows raised.
“Come on,” Cathleen whispered. “I want you to meet my group.”
Cathleen led them through the crowd. Matt caught Fallyn’s eyes, on the way, and signaled for the others to follow. They picked their way slowly to the back of the room.
Halfway there, the organ sounded again. It played a single refrain and the nuns started to file out.
“Weird,” Val muttered.
Fallyn raised an eyebrow.
“Old people creep me out.” Val shrugged.
“Wu,” said Wiggles.
Matt was surprised at how well the animal was doing in the crowd. He just barreled through where he wanted to go. Matt hoped he had a hard head.
Cathleen stopped in front of the window with the burning office building and turned to Matt and his group. A blue rectangle cascaded over her shoulder. “We were supposed to meet here,” she said.
“Cathleen!” Val attacked her with a hug. “This is Wiggles,” she added, pulling back.
“Erwu.”
“Well hello, little one,” Cathleen said. “May I?” She reached out a hand.
“Yeah.”
Cathleen gently stroked the beaver’s head, then she rose on her tiptoes to search the crowd. “I’m not sure where they’re at.”
The beaver squeaked and Val took over.
“Dirk, Sofia,” Matt introduced, “this is Cathleen. We met back at zero.”
“Roger,” said Dirk.
“Hey.” Cathleen acknowledged distractedly. Then she waved out to the crowd.
“Nice to meet you,” said Sofia.
The darn beaver couldn’t get enough attention. He pawed at Matt’s leg, even while he was getting petted by Val. Matt caved and crouched to stroke his side. Next, he would have Kurtis and Fallyn roped in too.
“Got your blessing?” came a warm female voice.
“Yeah,” Cathleen confirmed.
Matt stood to meet the speaker.
“Hey, I’m Maria,” a short olive-skinned woman in a red Snuggie said.
A man with stiff black hair, filled with too much product, and an arrogant smile fed an arm around Maria’s waist. “Nice to see you again, buddy.”
“Hello,” Matt said through gritted teeth.
Then Dirk decked Brett from the office.