Caitlin felt her heart beating faster. She was nervous to finally meet her father, if he was alive. And nervous to see his grave, if he should be dead. She wasn’t sure how she would react either way. But she was also excited, relieved to at last know exactly who he was, where she came from. She was excited to know what her lineage was, and what her destiny would be.
She was also nervous that this would mean the end between her and Caleb. What if they really found the sword? What would he do then? Would he go and wage his war? Save his coven? And where would that leave her?
The two of them held hands as they walked towards the graveyard, only 30 yards away. She felt his grip tighten. Maybe he was sharing the same thoughts. Whatever they found in the next few minutes could change both of their lives forever. Caitlin felt Rose retreating within her jacket.
The sun was setting as they entered the small burying ground. The King’s Chapel Burying Ground was relatively obscure, the smaller and more forgotten of the two historic Boston burying grounds. It wasn’t even all that big, a mere 100 feet wide and just a few hundred feet deep. It was scattered with small, humble tombstones, hundreds of years old.
A narrow cobblestone trail wound its way through, and Caitlin set Rose down beside them, and the three of them walked it together. Caitlin and Caleb scanned each and every stone. Caitlin’s heart was pounding, as she read each inscription. Could this one be her father? That one?
They began in the back, at the very last row, and went stone to stone, searching for a clue, for anything. She found herself attracted to the larger stones, the bigger monuments. She had hoped her father would be someone important, whenever he lived, hoped one of the grand monuments would be reserved for him.
But none were. In fact, his name was not to be found anywhere.
As they finished their search, back to where they began at the entrance, Caitlin looked over, and realized that there was one last row of graves. It was the row closest to the street, closest to the entrance. They walked it slowly, stone to stone.
And there, at the very end, it was.
A tombstone: “Elizabeth Paine. Died 1692.”
It was the same Elizabeth Paine of Salem. The same woman of Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter. The same woman who, Caleb had told her, had mated with a vampire. The same woman who bore Caitlin’s last name. This was where she was buried.
Was this who they’d been looking for all this time? Had Caitlin been looking, not for her father, but for her mother?
Or was it Elizabeth’s husband that was the vampire?
Caleb came close, and kneeled beside the grave with Caitlin. Rose came and sat down beside him, also staring at it, as he examined the stone carefully.
“This is it,” he said, in awe. “This is where we’re supposed to go. It’s her resting place. Your ancestor.”
“So,” Caitlin didn’t know how to begin, “is it my mom we’ve been looking for all this time?”
“I don’t know,” Caleb said. “It could be that she was the vampire. Or it could be the one she wed.”
“But,” Caitlin began, still confused, “does this mean that they’re dead? Or are they still alive?”
Caleb shook his head slowly. “I don’t know,” he finally said.
He took out the scroll again: “And find the ones they loved beside the fourth tip of the cross.” He looked around the graveyard. “This must be the place. These are the ‘ones they loved.’ This must be the fourth tip of the cross. There is nowhere else it could be,” he said, scanning the yard. “Yet I see nothing that hints at where the sword is hidden. Do you?”
Caitlin look around the small yard again, as the sun lit it a blood red. She sighed. No. There were no clues whatsoever.
And then something occurred to her.
“Read it again,” she said. “Slowly.”
“‘And find the ones they loved,’” he read, slowly, “‘beside the fourth tip of the cross.’”
“Beside,” she said, her eyes lighting up.
“What?” he asked.
“It says beside the fourth tip of the cross. Not at the fourth tip of the cross. Beside it,” she said.
They both suddenly, at the same time, turned and looked at the large, stone building beside them.
The King’s Chapel.
*
As they entered the empty church, Caleb quickly shut the massive door behind them. It slammed with a bang, reverberating. The church was closed and the door had been locked, but he had broken it with his sheer strength. Now they had the place to themselves.
As they walked into the beautiful, small chapel, the sunset light poured in through its stained-glass windows, Caitlin felt immediately at peace. It was a cozy and elegant place, its pews segmented into family boxes and all lined with red velvet. Perfectly preserved. She felt as if she’d stepped into another century.
Caleb walked up beside her, and the two of them slowly looked around. A stillness hung in the air.
“It’s here,” he said. “I can feel it,” he said.
And for the first time, Caitlin could feel it, too.
She noticed that she was beginning to sense things more strongly, and she could sense the sword’s presence here. It electrified her. She didn’t know what excited her more: that the sword was here, or that she could sense it on her own.
Caitlin set Rose down beside her and walked slowly down the carpeted aisle, trying to use her heightened senses to feel where it could be. Her eyes locked on the pulpit.
At the far end of the chapel, a beautiful, small circular staircase ascended and ended in a pulpit. It looked like a place where ministers had preached for hundreds of years. For some reason, she felt drawn to it.
“I feel it, too,” Caleb said.
She turned and looked at him.
“Go,” he said. “Ascend. It is your sword. It is your lineage.”
She continued down the aisle, and slowly ascended the circular staircase. Rose walked with her, and sat at the base of the steps. She looked up at Caitlin and watched her. She whined softly.
Caitlin reached the top, a small box, just large enough for a preacher to stand in, and surveyed its woodwork, wondering where it could be. There was no obvious sign of anything, only a wooden railing, as high as her chest, built in a semicircular shape. She felt the smooth wood, aged with centuries of use, and saw no compartment, no drawers, nothing obvious.
Then she saw it.