Jonah and Ashlyn stared at the dock, both in shock over what they had just seen. The rain crashed against the window in small droplets and began obscuring their view of the dock. Ash walked over to the corner of the bed rubbing her eyes.

“Oh my god?” She said scratching her head.

“We don’t know what that was?”

She stared at him shock.

“It was literally a body bag squirming. I know it is dark but there was definitely something moving in that bag. Not to mention your jacket on top of it.”

She ran over to her clothes. Jonah caught her arm.

“What are you doing?”

“Going after them.”

“Now?”

“Yes, whatever Sterling is hiding is down there, I am not waiting around to end up in at bag myself. All we went through in Boston to get that book just to lose it? No, that book is our only shot at possibly defeating Saint.”

She grabbed her clothes and rushed to the bathroom.

“I just feel we should discuss our options…”

Ash stopped and stood in the doorway.

“Jonah, I think I know why I am alive. I pondered while I was cleaning my hair. We called fire from heaven to kill a horde of demons crawling out of hell and lived. If that is not God spelling out His plan, I don’t know what is.”

“Is God’s plan really off into the night without fully knowing-”

“You are standing here alive after a pillar of fire struck a library you were standing on, burned everything around it but you and me and you don’t think there is an angel looking out for us? We are being tested before we see the devil himself. Let’s not be caught off guard like we were in Boston.”

Jonah nodded.

“I will fetch my clothes and meet you downstairs,” he said warmly.

She nodded and closed the bathroom door. He slowly crept towards the hallway door, peering out of the hole to attempt to spot anyone coming. The slow dragging footsteps of Sterling’s men seemed to have stopped as the mansion was devoid of sound save for the clatter of the rain outside. He pushed himself out into the hall, slowly tiptoeing back to his room. He pulled the door open and rushed for his clothes. As he was pulling on his pants and shirt, he gazed again at the bathroom. The grayish white liquid had found its way to the surface, once again coating his sink and tub in their stains. He tried to ignore it, quickly pulling on his coat and fastening his belt. The vividness of the dream and the heads of Ash and Samson flooded his brain.

He reached for his glasses, moving too quickly and knocking a book off the nightstand. He picked it up and looked at it. It was history of Paul Revere. He felt as if he had seen it before. He thought back to grad school remembering Coriolanus. Coriolanus was a smaller boy with a lot of money and little to no friends. Jonah tried to think of what he was studying. He felt it was a humanity, thinking Coriolanus mentioned trying to get a job as a curator in New York. Little Coriolanus, it was all coming back to him. More than anything from grad school in years. Little Coriolanus, the small kid with big dreams. He remembered some of the prep boys being mean to him. Pretending to be his friend while only using his money. Such as trashing his pool and stealing his car. They would promise him things only to leave him stranded on the side of the road with no money and no way home. Jonah remembered one night, driving up to New Brunswick to get him as his “friends” had left him after all agreeing to go swimming. He remembered wrapping him up in a blanket as they drove in silence back to Boston. Coriolanus did have one loyal friend, a dog, a small silver white looking mutt with a bent ear. Jonah thought about that dog, its smiling, shivering face much more appealing than the black dog he’d been seeing lately. He set the book back on the nightstand returning to the present. The flash of the memory surprised him like, a smell someone hasn’t smelled since they were a kid, yet he couldn’t guess what brought it on. The same creepy feeling that someone or something was rooting around his head returned, and he felt his stomach sink.

He adjusted his jacket and made his way down the stairs. The eeriness of the mansion gave a looming, almost mausoleum feel in the silence of the night. The rain echoing off the glass with the small slivers of moonlight peeking through clouds did not leave Jonah feeling very warm. He turned down the stairs quietly picking up his feet as he moved from step to step. Returning to the main hallway he collected his bearings as he headed for the door. As he approached the door, he slowly pushed it open, walking slightly out into the rain. He hugged one of the columns, holding his face to the wind, trying to hide his glasses from getting wet.

He looked out over the lake trying to see through the storm. The dock appeared to be a normal long stretch of wood protruding out into the lake. It was well maintained, as there were no stray boats tethered at the end, not even signs of a rope on the pier. He looked to the boat house which sat to the left of the dock by several yards. Similarly styled but even from the porch he could see it had a noticeably large golden lock latched to the front of its doors. As Jonah continued to survey, his focus soon turned to tunnel vison and he jumped slightly when Ash open the door and joined him on the porch. She tucked her turquoise bird into her shirt and motioned him to follow her down the steps.

They hurried down into the courtyard, taking each one in stride, trying not to slip on the heavy amount of puddles that had built up around the back of each step. Reaching the base of the courtyard, they picked up their pace, running quickly to the grassy lawn that stretched to the lake. The slushing of their feet made Jonah feel as if they were too loud in their movement but as he listen to the booming claps of thunder coupled with a shrill chime of the rain, he felt safe that they were unheard. Reaching the dock, he and Ash began to look for anything that would suggest the bag was currently being held under the water. She took the right side and he focused on the left, looking over each crack and crevasse of the dock for the bag. There was no sign of the bag or the person dragging it, it was as if the person up and vanished from sight. Ash bit her lip looking over the dock.

“How could he just vanish?

“Perhaps he took a boat, sailed off further in the lake to…to…”

“Dump the body?”

“Perhaps. Perhaps this is just another charade.”

“How so?”

“Well look,” he said pointing back to the mansion. “Both your and my room are directly facing this dock and Sterling was the one who offered us a place to stay. It is entirely likely that he set this up.”

“We should have stayed on the train, made the course to the Lodge,” she growled.

“I am sorry, I thought this would make the trip not seem be so stressful. You haven’t been seeming well.”

She kicked the water a bit, sighing at him.

“I’m fine. Just fatigued from the large amount of near deaths I’ve had recently.”

“I understand.”

They stood up and began to make their way back to the front of the dock. As they were walking back, Ash’s foot kicked a loose board, causing her to stumble. Jonah caught her before she tumbled over the side into the water. She looked back at the board.

“That is odd. Wouldn’t have thought a blue blood like Halliwell would keep a loose board on his dock.”

She knelt down, slowly moving the wooden panel out of the way, revealing a cryptograph embedded in the wood. It was golden, sparkling with two metal talons holding it in place. Engraved on the top of the graph was a simple phrase.

“Those who talk to angels, possess the power of the eagle and have the strength of heaven’s armies can be written in one word.”

Jonah was stunned. The words laid out nearly matched word for word the book Sterling had shown them. A book he claimed to be a zealot’s overactive imagination. Every turn was feeling more as if his hand was at work. He leaned down and typed one word.

“Righteousness”

Ash nodded in agreement as the last “s” was typed. The dock began to split apart in a low gurgling hum. The front of the dock rolled forward, creaking and squealing as a pulley system of chains rolled it forward. Ash and Jonah stood still until the rolling had ceased, both in shock as to what they saw. Where the dock had rolled forward, it revealed a long stone staircase disappearing down into the ground. Ash smiled.

“I think we just found the trap door on his magic act.”

Jonah nodded. As they continued to stare, the slow roll of the chain let loose and the dock began slowly rolling back. Ash quickly headed down the staircase, not looking back. Jonah hesitated, quickly glancing back at the mansion in a futile attempt at clarity. As he looked back the storm lit up the dark with a bright flash of lightning. The bright light lit up the window to his room. Standing looking out of the pane was a tall creature, hunched with long arms and a set of curved horns reaching down to its jaw. The sight of the abomination startled him, and he quickly ran down the stairs, ducking under the dock as it rolled back, leaving him and Ash closed off in the dark.

As the last of the dock rolled back and the clicking sound of the cryptograph relocked the door in place, the tunnel lit with hot blue flames from the torches placed on its walls further down the stairs. Jonah and Ash continued down, traveling for what felt like three stories, following the light of the torches as they began to light., each torch popping up right after next like dominos.

“Looks like they are leading the way.”

“Hopefully,” Jonah quipped.

They headed further down the corridor. The blue flames flickering off the glinting walls that appeared to be built with a mixture of steel and silver that gave an almost tundra like appearance in the blue light. As they continued the stones gradually turned to tile, a dark black sandstone that reflected well off the blue light. The blue light evenly dispersed around the corners of the hallway making the course way light up in blinding light. The light died down and returned to the faded tundra look as they came up to a large oak door. The door was lined in the same material as the wall with the blue flames reflecting off the perimeter of the door creating an eerie archway. The handle was black iron welded firmly to the wood. Ash turned the handle, pushing the door open.

The doorway led to a large basement, though with the strong oak walls and mahogany stairs it felt more like a wine cellar. As the two of them stepped into the cellar the oak door swung loose on its axle and slammed shut. Jonah turned back, attempting to open the door. The door remained stationary, not budging under the pressure. Jonah looked up around the cellar. Old stone and woodwork seemly untouched by time. The curve of the stones created arches that looped in and out of the walls. The shelves of wine looked freshly varnished and prepped despite each bottle being layered in dust.

Jonah and Ash shared a look of both shock and fear. Jonah looked back the door. The glimmering silvery border was now a dark black iron and the door itself looked aged and worn through years. Jonah tugged at Ash’s arm.

“How far would you say we traveled?”

“Maybe a quarter of a mile?”

“So, walking through a tunnel for a quarter of a mile under a lake that is roughly two miles long brings up to pre-Revolutionary cellar?

“Pre-Revolutionary?”

“Yes, look at the stonework of the arches and the way each bottle was organized this is likely the home of rich landowner possibly a mason…”

“A free mason?”

“Yes…this…this…this has to be the Lodge.”

“Let’s find out.”

Ash started up the stairs. The creaking of each stair was muffled by the close quarters of the cellar. Jonah quickly followed her, trying to take in every stone, brick and joist as they wandered up through the causeway to another old oak door. They both pushed hard against it, moving into a large open ballroom that was two stories high with blue adorned curtains, worn and tattered with age. Golden chandeliers hung from ceiling, each one filled with emeralds and sapphires. The walls were mahogany, black, coated in dust and cobwebs yet seemed to be sturdily intact with no visible signs of rot or decay. Both Jonah and Ash were taking it all in when their concentration was broken by the loud sound of a thump on one of the floors and the low voice of someone screaming.