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The look I caught there was different from the one I had expected. Neither mistrust nor the typical grimness lay in his blue eyes. No, it was thoughtfulness, coupled with concern, that I thought I recognized.
Was he concerned about what he might tell his client about my trip to the church? Probably.He's not to be trusted, I reminded myself and put the knife aside again before Stephan noticed I was watching him. It was better to stay one step ahead of him.
CHAPTER 7
Thomas drove up on time in a black limousine. While he opened the car door for me, my father took me to the vehicle. The sun was burning unbearably intense today, and I could hardly stand it in the lush layers of my dark dress.
Gently, my dad blew a kiss on my cheek and squeezed my hands, which were wet with excitement. Neither of us could say for sure that no one had gotten wind of our plans. Perhaps we had been overheard in Central Park after all, or someone close to us who knew something of the true meaning of my trip to the church had ratted us out. The possibility we would not see each other again after this morning could not be ruled out and was frightening.
"It's going to be okay, Dad," I whispered so softly that only he could hear me. My father nodded silently, and I saw a tear flash in the corner of his eye. As I embraced him, my eyes drifted over to our house. Stephan stood in the shadow of the open front door, out of the sunshine. Motionless, he watched us both with wary eyes. None of our emotions seemed to escape him. Even the slightest movement caught his eye. His eyebrows drew together as soon as our eyes met. Hastily, I closed my eyes,hugged my father one last time, and then, without hesitation, slipped into the limousine. Thomas slammed the car door, and sadness enveloped my heart as I saw my father’s worried face through the mirrored window. As he stood there on the sidewalk in front of our house, I realized he had been as lonely as I had been since my mother’s death.
The car started to move. Stealthily, I looked again at Stephan, and I could have sworn he was holding my gaze, although he couldn't see me through the window. Before I could follow up, we were already turning right onto 5thAvenue.
I looked longingly at the passing of New York. To our left, Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art passed by; to our right, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, and the Museo Del Bario. Tourists, students, and city residents used to crowd the sidewalks, but today, everything was swept clean. Only a few Yellow Cabs drove on the Avenue, so we progressed faster than expected.
At the park's north end, we turned left onto Central Park North and, a few blocks later, turned right onto Amsterdam Avenue. Thomas stopped right in front of the largest church in North America—the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
It had been built for centuries. Each time, it was enlarged in different places. Only recently was the second tower of the front side finally completed. The sight of it made me shudder, as it had done on my previous visits. I could not grasp why it gave me such a creep. I liked churches and their atmosphere, but this cathedral was different. I always felt I was looking at a bad omen when I saw it.
Thomas got out of the car to open the door for me. The sun was burning on my head and made me stagger right away. The lack of sleep and this heat were not a good combination. Chris was already walking towards us.
“Are you all right, Myrina?” he asked anxiously as he supported me until I regained my balance.
"It's all good. Thanks, Chris," I replied with a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "Let's go in." Sighing inwardly, I walked toward the large portal. Inevitably, my eyes slid over the impressive front, also called the Portal of Paradise, although there was nothing paradisiacal about the depicted scenes carved in stone. Quite the contrary. In the columns, which bore figures of the Old and New Testament, were carved images of the fall of New York on the day of the Apocalypse for eternity. Deadly monster waves, atomic bombs, fire, death, and the four horsemen who played a significant role in John's Revelation. John himself stood centrally between the two huge double doors, his gaze fixed on the sky.
As I walked quickly past these statues, I was overcome with the urge to want to flee. Anywhere but far away from these prophecies that, according to the Knights of the Seals, had already begun to become a reality.
The two men followed me, and only after I had passed through the gate into the church's interior did I slow down. The coolness here in the nave did me good, and now I also noticed the beads of sweat that hung on my forehead and lips.
Hastily, I wiped them away and looked into the interior, illuminated only by the light falling through the windows. The entrance was overwhelming. High columns lined the right and left of the way into the centuries-old cathedral.
Each of them had been lit in a different color of the rainbow, and you had felt as if you were entering paradise after facing John's revelation at the portal.
But these colorful lights were taken away long ago, and now the sight was more like a Greek temple. Impressive, but at the same time, also oppressive.
"Come, Myrina. We will retire to the chapel in the northern part of the church. Thomas, do you want to accompany us until then, or would you rather make yourself comfortable with a cold lemonade in the Cathedral House?" Chris asked the chauffeur, who looked at us both uncertainly at first but then turned grumblingly towards the southern exit and the gardens. There were various other buildings belonging to the church and a school.
Meanwhile, Chris took my hand and pulled me to the chapel, two rooms behind the baptismal hall. He quickly pushed me into this part of the enormous church, took one last look around, and then closed the iron lattice gate connecting the central nave with this side wing.
"Hurry up, Myrina!" Hissed my brother, who had already disappeared into one of the confessionals on the other side of the chapel. I, too, peered through the bars again, checking to ensure we were genuinely unobserved, then followed Chris. I chose the entrance to the confessional, which was for the priests. Inside, gloom awaited me. Slowly, I stumbled my way along the wall until I felt something soft. Carefully, I pushed aside the curtain I had discovered. A faint cry escaped me when suddenly fingers closed around my wrist, and I was pulled behind the cloth.
“Chris!” I scolded. “You scared the hell out of me!”
"You look very much alive for that, sis," my brother teased me as he pulled me further into a narrow passage. The stones on the walls were older than the chapel. So, this hidden part must have been realized when the nave was built. It went steeply downward, deep underground.
Astonished, I ran my fingers over the hewn-out rocks. It was creepy, damp, and musty down here.
"When was this built? And what was it originally intended for?" I whispered into the clammy darkness. My brother had turned on a flashlight, but its weak beam illuminated only asmall area so that we could see loose stones on the ground in time.
“I don’t know,” Chris whispered back. “We tried to find out at the time but couldn’t discover a clue anywhere in the cathedral's books or blueprints. A fellow student in my sorority – his father was on the board of the building committee – arranged to have a chapel built right here over the tunnel entrance. These corridors already existed then. We only connected the St. John underground tunnel to the Columbia University tunnel system."
“What?” incredulously, I held my brother by his priestly robe and prevented him from continuing. “You’re not telling me the legendary tunnels under the Columbia really exist? And I don’t mean the supply tunnels, but those rumored to extend beyond the campus?”
Chris turned to me, and a grin flitted across his face. “That’s exactly what I’m saying, sis. We tried to figure out all the tunnels back then, but many were filled in or ended in locked steel doors. But I can assure you, there’s a dedicated street system down here, and when you combine that with the old disused subway tunnels, it makes a second New York City. Only underground!”
"This is fabulous!" I blurted out, unable to suppress a beaming laugh. Was this my path to more freedom? "Are there tunnels like this under our house, too?" I asked, feeling excitement rising in my cheeks.
Chris's look became severe, and pity appeared on his face.
