Keepers of Balance

Episode 2: Flowering Trust amid Weeds of Defilement

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   The EVE rolled through the streets of California City early the next day, the skies cloudy and gray, giving a depressing feel to the day.

   “Are you sure they’re here?” Rachael asked, looking around from the window of the passenger’s seat.

   Ian nodded. “She said they were somewhere in the city, probably in hiding, but they are here.” Ian said, twiddling the steering wheel a little.

   “Guys, we have a hit.” Oracle reported.

   “Corruption,” Ian muttered, frowning a little, “This is going to put a delay on our search…do you know where?” Ian asked, stopping at a red light.

   “There’s a church here: the New Life Assembly Church. That’s where the signal is coming from.” Oracle explained, causing Ian to nod.

   “Very well: we’ll take care of the Corruption first, and then we can find the Seekers.” Ian decided.

   “Where are we going to find them?” Rachael asked, looking at Ian. “Or even better, how are we gonna find them? If they’re totally underground, I highly doubt a trail is going to just pop up for us,” she pointed out. Ian smiled a little bit.

   “First rule of the EVE, Miss Hale;” Ian said, glancing at her with a confident smirk on his face. “Nothing is as it seems.”

   Rachael smiled a little bit as Ian parked in the parking lot of the church, which was empty.

   “Rachael, wait. Before you go in, I have something for you.” Oracle said, smiling.

   Rachael tilted her head slightly, curious. “What is it?”

   Oracle handed her a white rectangular box tied with a blue ribbon. Curious, she opened it, a hooded jacket and a shirt meeting her sight. The shirt was a white tank top with blue at the bottom, the blue coming up at two points just above her belly button. The hooded jacket was light blue, with what appeared to be white wingtips on the shoulders, a white pattern on the sleeves that seemed to resemble fire, and the strings to the hood had wings on the end. Rachael couldn’t help but smile widely as she looked over the outfit.

   “Wow…Where did you get this?” She asked, looking at Oracle.

   “I made it!” She said with pride. “I made Ian’s outfit as well. They’re durable and hopefully comfortable for you. I hope you like them.” Oracle said happily.

   Rachael nearly beamed. “They look really cool. I’m gonna go change real quick,” she said happily, turning to go back to her room. Ian smiled a little at the sight.

   “You must really like her to be making clothes for her already.” Ian said with a teasing edge to his voice.

   Oracle’s smile faded a little. “She’s basically our last chance, Ian. We can’t do this by ourselves.” Her look grew serious. “But I can tell something’s not sitting right with you.”

   “I’m not sure what’s wrong, before you ask.” Ian said, cutting straight to the point. “I know that we’re the only ones who can stop it, or at least delay it, but I feel this unknown fear. Like I know that if we fail, there’s no one else left.”

   “Well then, failure is not an option.” Oracle said seriously. “It’s not like you to worry about something this much. Don’t worry about it. And also…don’t let what happened in the past tarnish your chances for a solid friendship in the future.” Oracle warned, shooting Ian a firm look.

   Before Ian could ask how she knew the issue he had, Rachael re-entered the living room, dressed in her new shirt and jacket.

   “Ready?” Ian asked, unable to stop a small smile from forming on his face.

   Rachael nodded, a small smile blossoming on her own face as well as their eyes met. “Whenever you are.”

   They both left the EVE, Oracle saying that she will keep in touch. Rachael and Ian approached the church and opened the large wooden doors, walking into the grand room with the high ceilings and the rows and rows of wooden pews.

   “It doesn’t look too different…” Rachael said, looking around at the fascinating piece of architecture.

   “Except the fact that there are no statues, comparing it to the pictures of the interior we saw online…” Ian said, looking at empty podiums and stands where statues often stood. “This is getting weird already.”

   Rachael hmm’d in agreement, catching up to him, still looking around. “This has been weird for me. I’m not a huge fan of churches. They have always made me a little uncomfortable, if I’m being honest…”

   “Um, may I help you?”

   Rachael and Ian turned around to see a nervous-looking blonde young man behind them.

   “Yes, we’re a couple of travelers, and we’re just stopping by. My cousin tells me about this church all of the time; just thought we’d visit it ourselves.” Ian lied effortlessly. “Is there a priest here? We would like to speak to him.”

   “That’d be me, young man.” A deep voice intervened.

   An older man walked up to them. He was a little short and pudgy, but his face looked like that of a kind grandfather. He smiled cheerfully at the visitors, his beetle black eyes shining. “It’s good to know that people still want to visit, even in these troubling times. My name is Father Phillip, and this is my altar boy, Fredrick.” He said, gesturing to the blonde young man next to him.

   His eyes are awfully blue…Rachael thought as she caught Fredrick’s gaze. Fredrick caught her stare and looked away bashfully, his eyes darting around the church and nervously at the priest.

   Rachael’s eyes narrowed, feeling an odd chill underneath her skin. Something isn’t right here…why is he looking around like that? Rachael asked herself as she filed it in the back of her head for later before turning back to Ian and Father Phillip.

   “Good to meet you. My name’s Ian, and my friend here is Rachael.” Ian said just as nicely. Father Phillip smiled before walking (or waddling, if you prefer) past Ian and Rachael, leading them to the front of the pews. “Pardon me, but I believe I overheard that you two are travelers, correct?” Ian nodded.

   “Yes; we’re just going cross-country in an RV. We thought we would stop here, just to sight-see.” Ian finished, smiling at Father Phillip.

   “Well, I’m flattered that you took time out of your travels to see my church.” Father Phillip said with a smile. “Hardly anybody comes by anymore, even my Sunday Mass has shrunk. Now, it’s just me and Fredrick here.” Phillip finished sadly, looking down a little.

   “May I ask why?” Ian asked politely.

   “Well, it started when people started turning up missing. A fair few were member of my church; mostly young women. We were suspected of foul play and put underneath investigation. Then, all of my statues started going missing.”

   “Do you think someone stole them?” Ian asked.

   “Impossible.” Phillip said immediately, waving a disapproving hand. “Those statues weigh over a few tons—not such an easy task to accomplish. In addition, I live merely upstairs, so I would’ve heard if someone tried to break into this church.”

   “Valid reasons,” Ian agreed, nodding a little.

   “No, I fear the work of the Devil is the answer here.” Phillip said fearfully. “A great evil has befallen this city. It’s only a matter of time before the Devil himself rises to the Earth.”

   ~Well, SOMETHING evil has certainly come to this church, though not the kind of evil Father Phillip has in mind.~ Oracle’s voice rang loud in clear in Ian and Rachael’s heads, causing Rachael to jump a little bit.

   ~I’m sorry, did I startle you?~ Oracle asked, concerned.

   ~A little, yeah…~ Rachael admitted through thought-speak, still a little shaken. She was even more surprised to hear Ian chuckling in her head.

   ~You’ll get used to it. Oracle has established a three-way link in our minds, so we can now talk and communicate with each other with ease. This is more convenient than using ear buds, or anything else of the kind.~ Ian explained.

   ~Don’t worry; I won’t view your thoughts if you don’t want me to. I do know a thing called privacy.~ Oracle assured, ignoring Ian’s mental scoff of incredulousness.

   ~Well, I wasn’t worried about that, but thanks for saying so anyways.~ Rachael thought back, slightly amused and quickly getting used to the sensation of being able to feel her mind linking with Ian and Oracle.

   ~Oracle, did you locate the source of the corruption?~ Ian went on, getting to the issue at hand.

   ~It’s somewhere in this church,~ Oracle replied. ~…Maybe our priest and altar boy doesn’t know it’s here.~

   Ian nodded a little, trying to gather what information he had now as Father Phillip went on.

   “If you two are willing to, you both are more than welcome to visit here during your stay. If you two even wanted to sit in during a service, you both are more than welcome to do so…I would love to spread the word and love of our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, to new people.” Father Phillip offered cheerfully.

   ~We should at least come back to investigate.~ Ian suggested to Rachael and Oracle through thought-speak. ~We might be able to find out something about the Corruption and maybe even the Seekers.~

   ~But not everything in the church will be accessible.~ Oracle argued.

   ~Let me worry about that.~ Ian assured. “We would be willing to come back, if just once,” Ian said to Father Phillip, giving him a kind smile, “We would also like a look around, if you don’t mind too much.”

   “My dear boy, I don’t mind in the slightest. I have some preparing to do for this Sunday’s mass. I will have Fredrick prepare dinner for the four of us. Please, make yourself comfortable.” He said before bowing politely and leaving, with Fredrick scurrying behind him.

   “So, Miss Hale, what do you make of this?” Ian asked.

   Rachael sighed thoughtfully. “Well, I think the source of the Corruption is here: the missing statues and the controversy surrounding the church right now…this isn’t a coincidence. So, either they are unaware that it’s here…or they’re causing it. I think Father Phillip knows something. Something he’s not telling us. Plus, there’s something unsettling about Fredrick.” Rachael added, her look turning into a concerned frown.

   “How so?” Ian asked, looking just as concerned.

   “He caught my eye and broke eye contact very quickly,” Rachael explained, “…and then he started looking around nervously. Also, his body language was off to me; he was more than shy: he’s scared about something.”

   ~Do you know what?~ Oracle asked.

   Rachael shook her head, her frown growing.

   “No…I think—and this is just a hunch—but I think there’s more to him than we’re seeing. There’s just something off about the pair of them in general.”

   Ian nodded in agreement. “So…course of action?” Ian asked Rachael, wanting to hear her suggestion on the situation.

   “Let’s see what we can get out of Father Phillip. I know he knows more than he is letting on. The trick is getting it out of him without making him suspicious.” Rachael said, looking at the empty podium. “I don’t know what to think of the vanishing statues, though…”

   “Me neither, but first things first; let’s find out more about the missing people, then we’ll worry about the statues.”

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   Later that evening, Father Phillip, Fredrick, Ian, and Rachael all sat around a small wooden table in a comfortable room, eating a quiet dinner of spaghetti.

   ~Ready?~ Ian asked Rachael, who looked up at him and nodded slightly.

   ~I’ll try my best.~ Rachael replied, her look wary but determined.

   “So, how long have you been the priest here?” Rachael asked.

   “For about thirty years or so. I was an altar boy here in my youth. I took over soon after the previous priest died.” Father Phillip said with pride.

   “Do you know a lot of people here?”

   “Oh yes, I do. A lot of Sunday Mass regulars used to come here. They came here even more when people started to go missing, but when my statues vanished, nobody wanted to set a foot inside, so it’s been very quiet for the past month or so.”

   “Do you, uh, know anyone who might want to do this? Kidnap people?” Rachael asked, hoping her wording wasn’t too blunt.

   “Well…not one person…more like a group of people.” Father Phillip asked, his voice going low.

   Ian perked up slightly as he heard the change in the conversation.

   “A group?” he asked cautiously. “Do you know who?”

   “A group obsessed with the Devil,” Father Phillip said dramatically. “They are so evil that I dare not soil my tongue with their name.”

   “Have you gone to the police or anybody with this information?” Ian asked.

   Father Phillip shook his head. “No, no, my claim’s not strong enough. I need evidence that this group of evil is behind this, and even if I had the evidence, I don’t want any more lives lost. A few have been murdered and investigators have been scared off. But, I have a name;” Phillip said in a whisper. Rachael and Ian (as well as Oracle, as they felt in their heads) leaned in closer as to better hear him.

   “His name is Michael. Michael Bee. I know he’s a part of this satanic group.” He said, his eyes narrowing.

   “How do you know?” Rachael asked, raising an eyebrow.

   “…He used to be my best friend. We traveled to the Vatican together, and in our youth, we were both altar boys…but then he started to sink away from God’s light and guidance, and he left the church after a few harsh parting words from both of us, he left. I know he wants my position of priest, and I know he’ll go to any lengths in order to get rid of me.” Phillip explained, his eyes saddening.

   “Well, we want to try to help with this. It would be a shame to see such a nice church close down, and for you and Fredrick to be left homeless,” Rachael assured, her voice taking on a soft and gentle tone that even had Ian consoled, “Please, tell us as much as you can. It’s a small price to pay for letting us stay here.”

   Phillip looked to be touched, an admiring glow coming to his eyes and an equally admiring smile spreading on his face.

   “You are very kind to offer…we may or may not share the same religion, but it warms my heart to see that you still want to help regardless…almost like a flower blossoming in the middle of a terrible environment…much like the lotus blossom.” Father Phillip closed his eyes in thought before nodding. “Very well: if you two can find some way to help, then I will offer my aid if needed. In fact, I may be able to start now. I may have an idea as to where the group is located.”

   Ian and Rachael both leaned forward in anticipation.

   “There’s an abandoned warehouse just outside of the city. It’s been abandoned for years, and it’s slowly falling apart, but I’ve heard rumors of people coming and going in that direction. It might be a good place for you two to start.” Phillip finished, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

   ~Oracle? Confirmation?~ Ian thought-asked Oracle.

   ~He’s not lying; it’s only a few miles outside of the city.~ Oracle reported in their heads.

   ~We haven’t a moment to lose: if the group Father Phillip is talking about is indeed the Seekers, then we have to get to them first, before the Corruption does. We’ll go tonight, a little after midnight or so. Miss Hale, are you ready?~ Ian thought-asked Rachael, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

   Rachael hesitated, but mentally nodded, swallowing a small lump in her throat.

   ~As I’ll ever be. Let’s go.~

To be Continued in Part 4...