Stoned in Charm City by Kelly A. Harmon

Author:Kelly A. Harmon [Harmon, Kelly A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Pole to Pole Publishing
Published: 2014-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

SHE KNEW WHAT she had to do.

She had to go to Holy Rosary and find the relic brought as a gift from the Vatican from one of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla’s visits to Baltimore. Saintly artifacts emitted holiness with their very presence. Maybe she and Greg could use it to fight the minions, and use it against the main demon controlling them. Worst case scenario: it could be used to heal Greg or her own stony hand. But demons—even minor minions—wouldn’t want to remain for long around a holy artifact, right? She didn’t know for certain, but she had to try.

And she hated to go alone, but she hated just sitting and waiting even more. She didn’t need to apartment shop or job hunt for the moment, so this was as good a time as any to get it. And when Greg got back, they could use it together.

Sunday morning, she rode the bus to the corner of Bank and Chester and walked to the rectory. Mass had already begun. Even from the street Assumpta could hear the clarion resonance of the pipe organ.

Perfect, she thought. Anyone likely to care about what she was going to do was probably all tied up in church. No prying eyes.

She looked up and down the block; no one approached the church. For all intents and purposes, she was alone. She bounded up the steps of the rectory and turned the handle, then stepped cautiously into the foyer.

No pain. Did that mean the rectory wasn’t blessed, unlike the church, or that her minion didn’t travel with her this morning? She had no way of knowing.

She looked around. It had been a long time since she’d been this far into the rectory. A black-and-white tiled hallway led all the way to the kitchen area in the back. Three rooms veered off on the left, and two on the right. But a wide staircase on the right led up to the second story.

Assumpta pulled her pendulum from her right front pocket and ran her fingers down the string to straighten the kinks. She released the glass and let it dangle, then took a deep breath to center herself. She had limited time before Mass was over and the priests returned.

She started with an easy question to make certain she and the universe were connecting.

“Am I standing in the church rectory?” she whispered.

The pendulum hung slack for a moment, then began a slow clockwise swirl.

Yes.

“Is there a missing church relic in the rectory?”

Yes.

Excellent. She wasn’t on a wild goose chase. She would find Holy Rosary’s missing relic, use it to rid the church—and her and Greg—of their demons, and then return it. She felt a small pang at the duplicity; she really ought to give it to Father Tony once she found it, but she couldn’t be certain he would let her use it before he locked it away again. It had to be done this way.

“Is the relic I seek in a visible location?”

No.

I knew it wouldn’t be that easy, she thought.

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