“Mother, please don’t feel bad. I had a very happy life at the convent.”
She nodded with tears in her eyes. “The midwife and nurse took a sacred oath to protect you. The nurse remained here and became Tatiana’s nanny. The midwife promised she would take you to a safe and loving place on the Isle of Moon where she would watch over you.”
“Then I know her?” Luciana asked. “What is her name?”
“Ginessa. Do you remember her?”
Luciana exhaled with a short laugh. “Of course! She took me to the Convent of the Two Moons, and now she’s in charge. She’s Mother Ginessa.” With a smile, Luciana resumed her trek through the tunnel. No wonder Mother Ginessa had sent all her practice pages and illustrations to Father. She was already acquainted with him.
“I’m so relieved it worked out all right for you,” Ariana said with a sniffle.
“It did.” Luciana glanced back with a grin. “I grew up with four sisters. We’re all Embraced, so we were taken to the convent as babes so we would be safe.”
“Tell me about them,” Ariana urged.
“Well, Brigitta is the oldest of the four, just six months younger than me.” Luciana rounded a corner and narrowed her eyes. “Is that a light up ahead?”
“I believe so.”
“We’re almost there!” Luciana lifted her skirt in one hand and the torch in the other as she rushed forward.
The light grew until it began to take the shape of an arched entrance. As they approached, she spotted bars. A gate?
The stone floor gave away to sand, and the sound of seagulls reached her ears.
“It’s the beach!” Luciana ran to the gate. She passed the torch to her left hand to push the gate open with her right.
It wouldn’t budge.
A quick inspection showed no locks. Apparently, the water level had risen high enough in the past to flood the tunnel, and the gate had rusted shut.
She found a crack in the wall where she could wedge the torch, then she attacked the gate with both hands, shoving with all her might. Still no luck.
“Hello! I’m here!” she screamed as loud as she could, but she couldn’t be sure if anyone in the fortress would hear her.
“Help me!” she yelled, pushing at the gate. If she threw the torch through the bars, would anyone see it? No, she couldn’t risk losing her only source of light in case she had to go back to the catacombs. And the terrible ghosts.
Panic threatened to return full force. “Goddesses help me, what should I do?”
“We’ll think of something,” Ariana said.
“If I can’t get out, I’ll have to go back to catacombs. I need to warn Leo before he and the others are killed!”
“Stay calm. I’ll see what I can do.” Ariana shimmered and vanished.
Luciana gave the gate another shake, then yelped as a big rat ran past her onto the beach. Calm? If anything happened to Leo, it would kill her.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Leo was grateful he’d thought of marking their descent into the catacombs. For half an hour, they’d been winding through passages lined with shelves stacked with bones. These were the more recent dead, Jensen had explained, for over the years, people had grown reluctant to venture into the depths of the catacombs for fear they would be lost down there forever.
It was a legitimate concern, Leo thought, as they veered one way, then another each time the path forked. Father Rune could have hidden down here for weeks without being detected.
Nevis had tied one end of a ball of twine to the entrance of the catacombs, and he’d been unfurling it as they went. Already, he’d gone through three balls. Brody could probably sniff his way out, but they’d all agreed that having a second lifeline was for the best.
Brody was in the lead, his nose to the ground, while Leo and Jensen held torches to light their way. They had finally reached a series of large chambers, each one lined with shelves of more bones.
The air was chilly, as it usually was underground, but Leo wondered if part of the chill came from the presence of ghosts. If that was the case, then poor Ana had to be terrified.
Up ahead, he spotted an iron gate extending across the room, separating this room from the next. He held his torch up high. The next room had a back wall, so it was a dead end. She should be here.
“Ana!” His voice echoed about the chamber.
Brody suddenly halted with a jerk.
Arrows burst out of shelves in the chamber walls. With lightning speed, Leo jumped back, pulling Jensen with him. The arrows thudded into bare wooden shelves on the opposite side, passing several feet above Brody, who had flattened himself on the stone floor. A human would have been killed.
“Is everyone all right?” Nevis asked.
“Yes.” Leo lowered his torch and spotted another wire. “There’s a second trap. Move back.”
Brody scooted back to join them, then Leo tossed a bone at the second wire.
Another barrage of arrows shot across the room.
Jensen eased closer to the side to inspect the walls. “Someone emptied the bones from this section of shelves and fastened several crossbows.”
“I knew it,” Nevis muttered. “That damned priest kidnapped Lady Tatiana so he could lure Leo to his death.”
“But where is she?” Leo demanded. The next room was empty.
Loud footsteps echoed in the distance as someone hurried toward them. He must have been following their lifeline.
Nevis and Jensen drew their swords.