Lost

Chapter 25

Ava sat in the cold room of a small chapel, located in a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. When Beatrice told Ava she needed to disappear, hunkering down in the basement of a chapel was no exactly what she had in mind. Their story was that Ava went MIA when she heard about the Pope's request, then when the Pope goes the Cat's Cradle, Mother Superion will convince him that having the Warrior Nun operating with the OCS in Spain is better than not at all. But this convincing was taking longer than she thought and she was starting to go a little crazy.

She was lying upside down on an old couch that was in the basement while Camilla sat next to her playing the piano on her small tablet, the small jungles bringing a smile the the younger woman's face. Ava twisted so that she was sitting up on the couch hovering over Camilla's shoulder, watching her fingers glide over the screen.

"I'm not gonna let you out." Camilla predicted Ava's impending question, the question she had been asking for a week, or for Camilla, the last few days. Mother Superion requested that someone be with Ava 24/7 while she was "undercover," most likely so she wouldn't do anything stupid which wasn't out of character for her. Beatrice had been out on assignment in Barcelona, so Camilla was tasked with babysitting her.

"Camilla please, I've been stuck in here for a week. I just want to take a step out, a breath of fresh air. There's no natural light in here. Any longer and I'm going to end up turning into Golem." Camilla's eyes moved to the ceiling as she thought for a brief moment, the gears turning in her head, searching for what Ava might be talking about.

"That weird naked guy from that Ring movie?" Ava was unsurprised at Camilla's lack of knowledge about her cinematic reference. Not everyone had 13 years to sit in a bed every single second of everyday and watch movies. "That's not the point. The point is, I'm going crazy here. You have to let me out."

"Ava, I've been on the other side of one of Beatrice's throwing knives before, and it's not fun. So the answer is no." Never once did Camilla's eyes leave the tablet, still the small melodic sounds were heard even as she was denying Ava's request. Impulsively, Ava snatched the tablet from Camilla's small hands, because it was so unexpected, it gave way into her grip almost instantly. Ava stood up from the couch holding the tablet behind her back while Camilla tried to take it back. "You're such a child!" The Warrior Nun laughed at Camilla's futile attempts to retrieve the device from her hands.

"And you're an iPad baby. Just let me out for 5 minutes, and I'll give it back." The thought could be seen rattling behind Camilla's eyes, it was enticing, she knew it was. "Beatrice will never have to know." The younger woman glanced backwards almost to see if anyone was watching her give into the Warrior Nun's temptation, with a sinful sigh, Camilla agreed, "Fine. Fine! But five minutes. ONLY. If you're not back on the dot the first person I text will be Beatrice. And you know how she gets." Ava pulled Camilla into a brief embrace before quickly heading for the stairs to the outside world.

"Thank You! Don't worry! I'll be back!" She called out as she pushed open the cellar doors which led up the the street above. The basement of the chapel was where they carted in the communion wine and the sacramental bread, so it led directly into the street. "Just a quick run." Ava said to herself before looking down at her phone to gauge what time she needed to be back before taking off. Camilla didn't need to worry, she would be back before anyone saw her, and it was nighttime so nobody would recognize her, she was just happy to get out of that god forsaken cellar. Even when Beatrice was there it was boring, and while she could sometimes be a stick in the mud, usually Ava and Beatrice had more fun together than with anyone else. Ava soaked in every second of fresh air and the cold outside breeze as she could, savoring it for the moment she would have to return back to the basement. Her quick run around the block took three minutes. See? She told Camilla she would be quick, but when she approached the side of the street where the cellar door was, it had been swung open and left that way. Panic surged through her body and she felt her legs running before her mind even had time to process what she was doing. There was no way in hell that someone could have broken into the basement in the three minutes she was gone.