Chapter Twelve

Ian fought the torrent of memories that returned to him as he followed Nathaniel and his men through the tunnels to the shaft under Trinity Church. He glanced back at Tanya, who nodded, and he returned his attention to the tunnel in front of him.

Finally the group reached the platform at the top of the shaft, Nathaniel took a torch and lit the chandelier, and Abigail sighed and said, "Thank God, it's still here." The network of reinforcements for the elevator and winding stairwell could be seen for about twenty feet below in the firelight of the chandelier, and even though it looked pretty sturdy to most of the party, to Ian and his men, it couldn't be trusted. It seemed still like a bunch of matchsticks to them.

"Who goes down first?" Nathaniel asked, and Tanya stepped onto the widing staircase first. Ian and Riley followed closely behind, followed by Ben and Abigail, and then Nathaniel and both parties of hired men. They descended the staircase in something of an elongated cluster, all taking careful steps. After a few landings, Tanya glanced into the abyss, swallowed, and then glanced back at Nathaniel. She glanced at Riley, who was in the process of handing Ben his torch and stepping over toward her.

"What do we do now?" Riley asked in a low voice.

"We keep going," Tanya replied in an equally low voice. "We keep cooperating."

After several more cycles of descending the reinforced wooden staircase, the light light from the chandelier was becoming increasingly dim, and as Tanya's eyes adjusted, the form of Shaw that followed her was beginning to seem more and more solid. She swallowed and continued to descend the stairwell with the others. When they reached the bottom and stepped onto the stone floor of the shaft, Tanya glanced to her left, where a half-rotted, unidentifiable corpse lay.

"So, where's this treasure room?" Nathaniel asked, clearly directing his question to Ben.

"Well, right through a series of doors starting here," Ben replied, stepping over to a wooden bridge of sorts and crossing it. The others followed, stepping into a chamber and through a stone doorway into another chamber and finally, through another stone doorway into an expansive room. The torchlight shining in the room revealed the troughs of fire and a small wooden stairway at the other end. "The treasure's been donated to various museums throughout the world," Ben continued, "but in the first chamber," he gestured behind him, "is a lantern."

"Yes, go on."

Ben took the torch and lit the fire troughs, illuminating an expanse of truly unimaginable proportions. Tanya's hand unconsciously drifted to the compass around her neck, and her eyes scanned the floor. She took a few steps into the expanse, studying the paint patterns. She reached the center of the room, where the fire troughs outlined a pattern on the floor which seemed both fitting and unusual. A giant full-color image of the Masonic Square and Compass, lacking a 'G' in the middle. She checked her compass, but it wasn't rocket science to determine that the tip of the compass wasn't pointing North.

Tanya walked over to the stairs and ascended up to the landing, staring down at the pattern on the floor. The paint on the floor was a giant compass rose, with the Square and Compass in the center, but the points weren't labeled. Instead, the tips of the four cardinal points gently touched the wall.

Ian walked across the chamber, directly toward the stairs. He met his sister on the landing and stared down at the floor. "Unbelievable," he breathed.

"I'm assuming whatever's on this floor means something to you," Nathaniel called from across the room.

"It's a giant compass," Tanya replied, "but it's not labeled."

"The compass points the way."

Her eyes drifted to the compass in the center, following the tip and finding it precisely aligned with the cardinal point touching a wall adjoining the one with the stairwell on it. Ian furrowed his brow and studied the wall at which Tanya was staring, which seemed about as solid as any other, except there seemed to be something on it. He walked down the stairwell and over to the wall, examining it more closely. There was, indeed, an inscription on the wall: 'The wisdom always refers to the beginning'.

"Well, then. It seems we don't need you anymore," Nathaniel said, causing Ian to turn on his heel. Nathaniel was pointing a gun at Ian's face, and Ian took a few steps back, until his back was pressed against the wall.

"Remember me?" It was Nathaniel's turn to spin on his heel, but he kept turning, seeing no one which could've been the one to speak. Shaw's form appeared, and he said, "I'm the one that stopped you in the warehouse, so don't look so surprised."

"What's going on here?" Nathaniel asked. "Ghosts aren't real."

"So how do you explain him?" Tanya asked from the landing on the stairwell, gesturing to Shaw.

"Alright," Nathaniel said evenly. "I'm not hallucinating, since others are seeing exactly what I'm seeing. Unless I'm hallucinating this, as well. This ends now." He pulled the trigger, but instead of the bullet exiting through the barrel, it shot out the butt of the pistol and tore into his chest. The gun fell from his hand and he clutched the wound in his chest. He staggered back a few steps, pressing himself against the wall.

Tanya descended the stairwell and walked over to where Ian stood. Nathaniel slid down the wall, and the two Howes walked back to the entrance of the room without even checking to see whether or not he was dead.

"So what happens now?" Riley asked, but Tanya didn't answer. Instead, he contented himself to follow Tanya and Ian back to the others.