Secret Sacrament by Sherryl Jordan

Author:Sherryl Jordan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-06-20T04:00:00+00:00

13

HAUNTINGS

THE WINTER WORE ON. People said it was the longest and worst winter for a hundred years. In the hills around the Citadel the snow was deeper than a man was high, and the roads were impassable. Even in the city, snow and sleet fell, and the cobbled roads and ancient steps were treacherous with ice. Water froze in the aqueduct, and the city was without clean water. Every day people were taken to the Infirmary with winter illnesses, injuries from falls, and diseases from contaminated water. Travel became dangerous, and only messengers carrying mail braved the roads. Many businesses and public places closed, and people stayed inside huddled by their fires, waiting for the storms to abate.

In the Citadel the disciples studied with the Masters in the Library, and for leisure played sports and held friendly contests in the Citadel gymnasium. On the most bitter days the disciples, and often the Masters as well, gathered around the massive fireplace in the recreation room, to play chess and complex Navoran card games. Always Gabriel was there with his friends, and they marveled at the serene way he endured both the grief of his brother’s murder, and the strain of the long and fruitless investigation that brought no arrests and no justice.

Gabriel did not always feel serene. At times he felt a sense of joy, almost of elation, knowing where Myron was. If he wept it was for himself, because he missed Myron’s letters and the huge pleasure his brother had been in his life. But there were times of unbearable longing, when he would have given half his life to see Myron one more time. The torment was not helped when he received a letter from Jaganath, full of compassion and apologies, and with hints that he had seen Myron and that the veils were thin. Jaganath offered again to teach Gabriel the skills to communicate with the dwellers on the Other Side and ended his letter by saying that he and Gabriel shared the same power, and he did not offer anything Gabriel did not already possess in his own heart. Though seeming warm and empathetic, the letter made Gabriel more suspicious than ever, and he burned it. But in the bad times he doubted his judgment, and Jaganath’s words haunted him.

There were other letters, too, that disturbed him. Occasionally his lawyer wrote about the investigation, and the reports awoke in Gabriel a great rage and helplessness. He never spoke of his anger and thought he was dealing with it well; but there were nights when he dreamed he was hunted by shadowy beings, inhuman and terrible. Sometimes he turned and fought his pursuers, hacking them to shreds with a sword, until they were no more than bits of hair and flesh in pools of blood. Then the pieces would mingle together, would smirk and clatter their pointed teeth at him, and he would mutilate them again and again, until he woke screaming, with Ferron leaning over him. For

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