Marker of Faith

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 31

"Is it safe out there?" Roddy asked as he peeked out the front door at John's receding form. Roddy watched him stomp down a path, and shook his head when John turned a corner, disappearing from view behind a row of shrubbery.

"Sure," Minerva retorted. "As safe as it is in here." She laughed, the sound fading into a weary sigh.

"Lady, you've got some bedside manner, real comforting," Roddy said derisively, sitting down heavily next to Rattle.

"Oh, he's perfectly fine out there. Too full of piss and vinegar to get bothered by anything right now, anyway. He just needs to get his head cleared, let his anger run its course so he can come back and start asking the right questions." Minerva laughed bitterly, rolling her eyes as she waved at the air. "He'll be just fine."

"So, back to what you were saying before." Rattle pulled at the straggly whiskers of his beard for a minute, staring at Minerva through hooded eyes. "That energy that zooms out of us when we're fighting the 'bad guys'." He hooked his fingers in the air, punctuating the words with a smirk.

"That's the power?" he asked.

"Yes. Part of it."

Rattle tapped his chest and looked at her in disbelief. "I used to have a bad heart," he whispered, afraid his words would cause a painful flair from the acknowledgment.

"Well it's fine now, Tin Man," Minerva said with a throaty chuckle.

"What is with all this Wizard of Oz crap you like to spew?" Roddy asked her.

"Oh come on, Lion." She wiggled her fingers at him and sat back against the wall with a big smile. "I liked that story. Besides, you started it."

"Touché."

"So what else can we do?" Rattle wondered aloud.

"I'm not sure yet," she answered thoughtfully.

"Hmm."

"Hmmm, yourself." Roddy elbowed him and hunched down to get more comfortable. "This whole deal is just too weird. Seriously! How am I supposed to get my head around all of this?"

"Well--" Minerva started, but Roddy waved her quiet.

"That was more of a rhetorical question."

"Hmm."

"Yeah...hmmm." Roddy leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

"Why did Lem do that with the crucifix?" Rattle asked quietly. "He pushed it under the skin in his hand."

"Lem? He's the one They took first for Their army." Minerva fingered the rough edges of the battered cross and then looked at Rattle. "The priest was the first Marker of Faith to be opened. His symbol -- this crucifix, was a token, impedimenta, a focii for your friend's obliteration of his humanity and a foothold for the Old One's to cross the dark threshold into our world."

"Wow. That's quite the mouthful," Roddy said, his eyes still closed.

"But why did the Old Ones take Lem?" Rattle asked, ignoring the M.E.'s sarcasm.

"Oh, sweet pea, your friend was born with this in his future; he didn't have a choice. A victim of circumstance really. He was to be the Bringer of the Chasm, but you shut him down." Minerva nodded sadly at the old man. "Weren't nothing you could have done to change it, neither. He made the choice."

"So if I stopped him, how come the Old Ones are still able to come through?"

"They can't come all the way through yet, just enough to begin the rituals. Also because Lem jumped right in and took his job seriously from the start, they got a little passway torn open. He's the one who started gathering the Shadow Army. Entropy and inertia works, darling. Once it got rolling, it took on a life of its own. You slowed the Old One's down by taking Lem out, but it wasn't soon enough to stop them."