Although youths will faint and become weary, / And young men will collapse exhausted; / Yet those who wait on Jehovah will renew their strength. (Isaiah 40:30-31a)

The lights in the confessional booth were switched off with an audible click, and Sam turned around abruptly in response just in time to see the priest step out with a heavy Bible tucked under his arm, his face pale and creased with worry. Something was definitely wrong.

What exactly did Scam confess that made the priest look so disturbed? Sam wondered to herself, knowing that she enjoyed visiting this particular cathedral to admire its stunning Gothic architecture and sit in a peaceful, serene environment brought about by the priests' and nuns' rituals and chants. A chill shot up her spine as her mind ran through the possibilities. Did it have dangerous implications? Did it have to do with WOOHP? …With any particular agent? …With… me? Was that why he said my name? Her curiosity being piqued by the very last part, Sam knew she couldn't leave this place without finding out. Running after Scam and demanding exactly what he had said would clearly be a fruitless endeavor, so she decided right there and then that the priest was the second best choice if she truly wanted answers.

Watching the priest enter an obscured entryway and ascend a set of battered, winding wooden stairs to the cathedral's upper level, Sam quietly followed after him at a distance, taking care not to make her presence known. As she wound around the last spire just in time to see the priest's form disappear at the top of the stairs, another priest walked past while peering suspiciously down the staircase, causing Sam's breath to hitch as she quickly stepped into the shadows and flattened herself against the wall.

After what seemed like an eternity, the other priest moved on and Sam let out the breath she'd been holding. She hurried up the remainder of the steps and found herself in a candlelit corridor, with doors on either side of it. The priest who'd heard Scam's confession could be in any one of them. Making up her mind to act quickly before she was discovered, Sam began fumbling with each doorknob in an attempt to open it.

When Sam was halfway down the corridor, dismayed by the fact that all the doors she'd tried were locked so far, a muffled prayer reached her ears, and she recognized its source immediately as the same muffled voice that had come from the silhouette sitting opposite Scam in the confessional booth earlier. Soon enough, she was rewarded with a view of a half open door with a crucifix and a small, bronzed sign reading 'Office of Father John Millman', and she stopped just as she was right outside it, straining to hear the priest's words.

"…Heavenly Father, we ask for Your abundant mercy and grace in dealing with Your lost child, and that You forgive him his offenses against his fellow man. May he be tempted no longer by the lusts of the flesh, and give him the strength to make peace both with men and with God. Amen."

When Father John was done, he got up and began making preparations for an important phone call, not noticing as the redheaded girl right outside his doorway stared at him, mouth agape. "'Lusts of the flesh'?!" Sam thought to herself in shock. This was what it had been about? "It can't be me he's attracted to in that way, can it?" Sam wondered aloud quietly, knowing that she had clearly heard Scam say her name while in the confessional booth.

But as the priest looked up inquisitively at having vaguely heard something from outside his office, Sam knew she couldn't stay around for much longer and made up her mind to leave right then before she was caught.

x

Back in his jail cell, Scam was cursing himself. He couldn't stand the fact that he'd just confessed his biggest and only weakness to a Catholic priest. "Darn it!" he hissed, knowing that he'd messed up big time. If word of this got around, he knew he'd never be seen the same way by anyone at WOOHP again, especially not by her. How could he have been so stupid? What had gotten over him that led him to unravel just like that?

Pouring himself a drink of water from his dinner tray, he gulped it down nervously, wondering if anything would come of this. Hopefully that priest was a true man of God and thus trustworthy enough to keep his secret bottled in. But he couldn't help feeling suspicious at the same time, since he knew firsthand just how vulnerable anyone was to temptation, regardless of who they were.

A loud knocking on his cell door startled him out of his mental turmoil. "Scam!" the guard barked. "You're getting a visitor tomorrow. Ten o'clock A.M. It's with some priest guy from Saint Maria's – a Father John Millman. He specifically requested to speak with you. I personally hope he's here to perform your last rites – ha, ha!" He threw back his head, guffawing at his own joke.

Great, Scam thought bitterly. This was likely the same guy to whom he'd confessed his sins, as well as his most important secret. Yet he managed to calm down in time to smirk in response. "You'd better watch it or he'll be performing last rites for you instead," he retorted maliciously. "Also, be sure to remind him I'm a non-religious Jew and don't want to waste any precious time listening to some old guy ramble on about how I need Jesus when I could be planning my next escape instead."

"Noted," the guard replied dismissively before heading off.

Scam sighed before rolling back onto his hard prison bed and staring at the ceiling. Whatever happened at this point, he just could not afford to have Sam know about any of this.