TWISTED DESTINATION - TRIMVIRATE
CHAPTER 11
A Week Later
Lucy read the manuscript and couldn’t handle the truth. She was terrified and petrified. What was she to do? If the world knew all that, Chaos would inevitably follow.
The next day, she wore her outfit and headed to Church. In the middle of the sermon, she opened the door and made sure it made a lot of noise to grab everybody’s attention. On her hands, she was holding the manuscript with both her hands in front of her. The Church was silent. Father Michael was in shock. When she got to the altar, she knelled to him and said, “I am sorry, father, for I have sinned.”
Father Michael helped her stand up, asked another younger priest, Father Gustavo, to continue the sermon and he left the room with Lucy. Inside the sacristy, he asked Lucy, “My child, did you read it?”
“Yes father,” She answered coldly, “I have read it.”
“Then it's time you meet someone.”
They went on a path behind the Church that Lucy had never used. She didn’t even consider its existence. They entered a door that was never open. They walked for a few minutes in a dark underground hallway and all Lucy was thinking was whether the Cow had brought itself to the butchery. In this case, she was the cow. Suddenly, they stopped. Father Michael drew out a big key and they entered at exactly the place she had found the manuscript the other day. She was astonished. There was an underground path connecting the Church and the library. Father Michael touched a button on the wall and two minutes later, Mr. Morgo entered the room. He was genuinely surprised to see Lucy there.
“Morning Father Morgo,” The priest said, “I have just come to bring you, my child. Please be merciful.” Mr. Morgo made a peculiar sign and Father Michael said, “Yes, she has read it!” And he left the room. Only Mr. Morgo and Lucy remained. Mr. Morgo took a chair for Lucy and another for him. Lucy saw in the eyes of Father Michael fear and respect for Mr. Morgo so he wasn’t a simple librarian as she thought.
“Lucy, that is your name right?” Mr. Morgo asserted.
“How do you know my name?” Lucy answered.
“There’s a lot of things I know and now since you have read that manuscript, you know a bit more than I know.”
“What do you mean?”
Mr. Morgo made a gesture with his hands and Lucy handed him over the manuscript. He started reading it and his face was as shocked and surprised as Lucy’s when she read it. She said, "You haven't read it.”
“No,” Mr. Morgo answered, “This manuscript has been disappeared for centuries. I believe no one found it because it was inside the vase you broke when you were trying to get out of here. I knew something was missing because there were parts not covered in dust in the remainders of the chattered vase and they had the shape of a scroll. That vase is as old as this manuscript. It stayed there for centuries and you found it. God doesn’t play with dices so it was your faith to find it. How long have you known about this place?”
“Twenty Four hours. After preventing me from reading the most important books, I sneaked in and went to read my books between the Latin shelves where almost no one ever goes. I lost track of time and you closed the library with me inside. I was locked here. When I wanted to leave, I saw you heading towards the desk, clicking a bottom and coming down here. When you came out and went to sleep, curiosity took the best of me and I came down here as well. When I got here, a rat went through my legs, I fell and I broke the vase. I saw the manuscript. The adrenaline controlled my actions. I took it as a souvenir, left the desk as it was and used the windows to get out.”
“But those windows are 6 metres high,” He asserted in incredulity.
“I have been climbing trees and stealing the Church’s almonds since I was a kid so my 6 metres weren’t exactly like 6 metres for Mather Maria.”
“Alright Lucy, now that you have read one of the most kept secrets of the Catholic Church, what will you do?”
“So it's true?”
“It could be. It depends on us.”
“I believe this is a secret that should remain a secret for all eternity. I believe it should be burnt so that no one ever gets to read it.”
“Indeed Lucy, it is your faith. I have been securing crucial documents at the Vatican’s secret archives my entire life since I was about your age. I see my younger self in you. Nothing shakes your fate. Anybody else would decide to leave his faith after reading this. But you, you are different.”
“Yes, Mr. Morgo. Not the bible’s prophets, not the literature I have read and much less the atheists. It’s all about God. I believe he exists and nothing and nobody can show me otherwise.”
“Exactly my child. You see, the position I take is only surpassed by the higher priests who respond directly to the pope. I will send you to the Vatican and I will give you a letter to show directly to Primate Antonio. You will take my place. I am too old for this and I believe I have found the right person.”
“What? Me? At the Vatican?” She couldn’t believe her own ears.
“It’s not a matter of whether you are qualified or not, I just want to know if you are up to it.”
The Vatican was the right place to find out anything about her parents so she had made her decision before Mr. Morgo ended his speech, “Of course I am. I believe my love with old manuscripts comes exactly because I was meant for this job.”
“Ok. Next month you leave to the Vatican.”
“What if they disapprove me, you know, because I am…” She didn’t have to finish. Although in her sentence what was missing was ‘young’, Mr. Morgo concluded it differently, “A woman? Trust me. They won't. At most, it is surprise that will strike them. There, it's all more about bookkeeping and secret keeping. You will learn a lot more secrets you cannot possible fathom.”
“Ok then, the Vatican it is.”
What awaited her was still a mystery but she knew that there she would find the answers that have been haunting her all her life and perhaps, she would be re-joined with her family. Or if dead, with the people who murdered them. It was a promising adventure but of the dangerous kind.