Father Benjamin turned off the engine to the car and released a heavy sigh. Kazuki had just informed him of the conversation held between himself, Father and Mr. Dancey.
"Kazuki... your father's history has made me feel... a little uncomfortable." Father Benjamin finally said in almost a whisper. His fingers began to trail along the steering wheel in a fidgety manner.
"With what?" Kazuki asked when the priest basked in silence for a length of time and resulted in him feeling uncomfortable.
"The relationship I have with the Collaborator is rather... volatile at times, and my confidence in our alliance has always been a little shaky... more so now than ever."
Kazuki shifted in his seat so he could look directly at the priest. "Who is the Collaborator?"
A question he had asked many times in the past. All he managed to discover was... One; he/she had been Father Benjamin's mentor concerning the Unknown World since in his early priesthood. Two; Father Benjamin was indebted to him/her in some way. Although his/her identity was unknown to Kazuki, he assumed the Collaborator was a Purifier. As time passed, the question needn't matter... until now.
The strained expression across Father Benjamin's face at this very moment, had Kazuki's confidence in the priest waver like a single naked flame threatened by a breath of ambiguity.
Father Benjamin turned to meet his gaze. "You will meet him but keep your wits about, and have your Holy Artefact ready as you might very well need it."
"Do we need back up?"
"I'm sure both of us can handle one man." Father Benjamin's fingers caressed the black leather cover of his prayer book in a reminiscent manner.
It seemed even a priest has the shadows of a past hanging over him.
****
Iliana, Jung and Caitlyn sprinted into the Cathedral's back door. They decided to split up to cover the area quicker. Jung searched the cloister, his first port of call was the door leading to Father Benjamin's private quarters. Iliana and Caitlyn searched the central of the Cathedral. The morning service had just finished and the church goers were slowly filtering out. Casting her eyes through the crowd down the long nave, Iliana couldn't see Kazuki or Father Benjamin anywhere. The echoes of Jung's voice calling out Caitlyn's name, tore Iliana's searching eyes from the nave back to the door. He was waving frantically at them.
"Talk about coincidence... I've just seen Kazuki's father and another man... who I think might be Mr. Dancey, come out from one of the rooms connecting to the cloister... they're heading for the back door!" He informed, sounding as if he had run a marathon.
They ran back to the cloister like their lives depended on it, they eventually caught up with them outside of Cathedral.
"Mr. Dancey...!" Iliana cried out.
The man spun around in surprise, his face warmed when he saw Iliana stand before him. "Iliana... how are you?"
She had begun to lose count how many times she had heard that question this morning.
"Better than I thought I'd be."
"I heard what happened to you, your mother and... Yuki. I offer you my sincere condolences."
"Thank you... you and Mrs. Dancey have been most kind."
Her gaze was soon captured by a set of sapphire eyes which had piqued her attention from those visions. The man was far more unkempt than the first and last (and brief) time she saw him at the yacht lunch party, a little while ago.
YOU ARE READING
Gift of a Miracle
Teen Fiction((COMPLETE)) Iliana possesses a Gift, not only the power to control water but also the ability to see a world unknown to humans. But after years of fighting with only the support of her dog, she turns a blind eye to the Unknown World and her Gift un...
