Hallelujah

Everything's Coming Up Roses

Chapter Playlist: Lean on Me - Bill Withers; Everything's Coming Up Roses - Rosemary Clooney. Forgive the short chapter. Lots of set-up and it gets squishy at the end. But it's necessary squish. One more after this one...

Everything's Coming Up Roses

"So. The shadows want Arden, but Arden is sealed up in his mole hole tighter than a gnat's ass." Shelley was smoking and thinking. A dangerous pastime for her. "How do we get him to the shadows without the shadows taking us out?"

Victoriana was gone. The group had opted for the clothes that made them feel strongest, most comfortable, Jude standing out in a red flare dress. They'd converted the common room into a war room. The card table was their battle center. In the background, the jukebox lowly serenaded them with Bill Withers' Lean on Me. "We have to get him out. Let Eunice lure him somehow," Jude answered. "It's the only way that makes sense."

"But will he come out at all?" Timothy asked. "I encountered the shadows on the basement stairs. Obviously they know he is inside, and he knows they are outside."

"I say we let the little sistah here blow his door open with her Wonder Woman powers," Frank offered. "Then we rush in there Semper Fi. Get shit done."

Jude shook her head. "Not in his territory. He'll be strongest in the basement. That's his fortress. He's strong like we are, but darker. He'll fight hard. I know he will."

"Then why the fuck are we talking about dangling Mary Eunice out in front of him like a piece of tasty salted jerky?" Shelley demanded. "What if his devil powers snuff out her light powers? What if the shadows get her too while they're trying to get him?"

"That is why protecting Mary Eunice is pivotal to our success." Timothy firmly tapped the tabletop. "This is non-negotiable."

Jude agreed, nodding. "We can fight off the shadows, giving Mary Eunice time to pull Arden from his grotto."

"If he comes out." Timothy fretted again.

"He'll come." Eunice was decisive. "I just need to figure how to call him. He's connected to me." She was fingering a pink rose, plucking its petals and piling them on the table.

Jude reached over and took a few of the petals, intrigued. "What do you mean, Eunice?"

"He died with me." She explained softly. "In the crematorium. When he put me in, he went in with me."

"You were cremated?" Jude shouted, eyes cutting to Timothy, who looked away guiltily.

Eunice touched her hand. "I was unholy, Sister. Imbued with the devil."

"That's bullshit!" Jude's eyes watered. "Ya cremated her? Timothy..."

"I didn't want to." He was pained. "But she's right, Jude. We could take no chances."

"Oh, Eunice..." Jude stroked the young nun's face. "I'm so sorry."

"I was cremated, as well." Timothy offered, not looking at anyone. "And yet here we all are. Together despite our methods of internment. Obviously, the church has some misconstrued ideologies regarding the soul."

"Amen, Father." Shelley preached.

When Timothy caught Jude's eyes, they watered for him, too. He brought the conversation back to topic. "I feel a direct approach would be best." Absently, he sniffed Mary Eunice's rose. "Lovely," he commented. And then the thought hit him so suddenly, so perfectly it nearly made his head ache. "Sister." His hand reached for Eunice's.