I must admit, this was not my best chapter. And for that, I'm sorry. Have any of you read Inferno yet?

It's amazing. Dan Brown does not dissapoint.

shoutout time:
icanhearthedrums: you, my friend, are a marvel. you have left a reveiw for all three of my chapters and have made my writer world go round. I can only hope the rest of my readers are as good as you. also, YOUR USERNAME IS AMAZING. vote Saxton.

now that i've finished creeping people out, I can do the Disclaimer:

I do not own the Robert Langdon Series.

enjoy!


Chapter four

SILAS'POV

Sophie's face looks flushed. That's the first thing I notice as she steps into the room, burgundy shirt a little rumpled and dark jeans caught around her converse. Her eyes are wide, she looks frightened, I note to myself. Her question hangs in the air, unanswered. I shoot a concerned glance towards Patrick, who's sitting on the couch, his head in his hands, murmuring softly to himself. He raises his head, to look at Sophie and I standing by the door with bloodshot eyes. "Sophie." He says in a cracked voice. "The Pope-the-the Pope is dead." She staggers a step towards me and raises shocked eyes -to my face. "Is," is all she manages to get out. I nod. "It's true." I say softly. She sinks onto the couch by Patrick and sighs. "Oh God." She whispers in French. "Oh dear God." Sophie leans into Patrick and wraps her arms around him. "I'm so sorry." She says quietly. He engulfs her in a hug and says "it's okay. He had a good long life." I step over and place a hand on her shoulder. She leans into me and takes a deep breath. "What now?" she asks, sounding very much like the small child that had first come to live with us. Patrick stands, eyes red, but stands tall and firm, already assuming the role of the man in charge of the church, as he had been told to, now that the acting Pope is dead. "Now the Cardinals will come and hold conclave to elect the next Pope." He says. The three of us look at each other until a knock sounds at the door. Father Patrick crosses to the door and it opens with a loud creaking sound. In the door way stands the hulking form of Commander Richter, the head of the Swiss Guard. Upon seeing the Camerlengo, he touches Patrick's wrist and murmurs something in soft Italian. Patrick smiles-a sad, though soft, smile- and says something in return before gesturing inside. Richter shakes his head, and says, in slightly accented English, "No thank you, Padre, but you must see something right away. Please, come with me to my office." Patrick looks taken aback for a moment, and then says, "Silas and Sophie, can they come as well?" The burly man nods and strides from the doorway. Silently, Patrick waits until we step outside the threshold and closes the door behind us. Then, Sophie and I exchanging wary looks, we follow the Commander down the hallway to his office.

PATRICK'S POV

I'm still numb from seeing the Pope die. Honestly, even though I've said the necessary prayers, and rendered his seal unusable, ever since I heard the Pope officially declared "Dead,"

I still can't get over the shock.

Now, I'm reeling from what the Commander said to me earlier. "You must come quickly. The cardinals are in danger!" How? I ask myself. How can they be in danger? We barely released the official death of the Pope two hours ago! But still, I find myself unsurprised. Things like these have happened before, I remind myself. This is not the first time someone has struck against the Church and in such quick time after the death of one so prominent. We follow Commander Richter down two hallways and a flight of stairs before we reach a glass door, which he opens. There are several Swiss Guard members scurrying about, barking orders to each other. They all look very tense. I shoot a look back at Silas and Sophie, and smother a chuckle. Silas, with his menacing lope and haunted eyes, not to mention (how do I put this in another's eyes…) strange appearance, has already managed to draw several suspicious stares towards himself. Sophie gazes discreetly around with wide-eyed curiosity. She looks pale, her fists are clenched. I notice a flash of white peeking out from under her curled fingers and remind myself to ask her about it when we have the time. Ahead of me, Richter opens a wood door with a polished handle and moves inside, shutting the door behind us. There is a computer quietly humming on the desk. He nudges the mouse and the screen flickers to life, bathing the room in glowing blue light. There's a play button in the center of the screen, and he hesitates before he looks at us. "What I'm about to show you is shocking." He warns. "Please be ready for that." Silas nods at me, and I say, "I'm ready, Commander Richter." Sophie, still pale, nods uncertainly at us and says, "Sil vous plait, Commander, play the movie. Before we decide to back out." With all our approval, Richter clicks the button.

What I saw astounded me.

" we have captured your four preferiti…" a heavily accented Italian voice spoke as images of the primary Cardinals for Pope showed on the screen, behind bars, squinting into a flashlight, all sullen, pale, a voice in the background praying in Italian. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death…" the Italian man who ran the video warned that the first would show at eight, and that afterwards, on the hour, every hour, another would be killed.

I felt sick.

"Who would have done this?" I say angrily to the Commander, feeling helpless. "HOW-could this have been let to happen? And now we must save them before they are all killed!" "We don't know yet who sent us this video," Richter begins calmly, before he is cut off by the very last person I would have expected.

Sophie.