CHAPTER 90

CHAPTER 90

— WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? Nicole asked, seeing her mother getting ready to leave.

— Excellent! — Replied the woman — I didn't want to wake you, but since you're here, let's go down together, you go with me.

— Where? — Asked the newly awakened young woman.

— Didn't we agree that we would deliver the Golden Book to the Vatican?

Nicole agreed with a slight nod.

— Well then — continued the woman — the time has come. Father Green is already downstairs.

JOSEPH MESSINA HELD THE BOOK in his hands and opened it. His eyes were mesmerized by a relic forged millennia ago.

— It's fabulous! A golden book created by Enlil himself!

His hands eagerly flipped through page after page as if he understood their contents.

— It's a really impressive book — agreed Victoria —, so many deaths must have occurred due to the incessant search for this book.

— Yes — agreed the Cardinal without taking his eyes off the book — for millennia this book has been the cause of the ruin of many. Kings, magicians and priests lost their lives and their very souls trying to find it to seize its secrets.

— But now I'm calm, I know the book will be in good hands.

— Yes — Messina confirmed, closing the book and looking at her.

— Rest assured, Victoria, that you made the right decision. The Golden Book will be completely safe here in the Vatican.

— Tell me, Your Eminence — asked Roman Green — doesn't the Vatican intend to investigate the map in this book to find the Tree of Life?

— I understand your concern, Father Green, but rest assured, the Vatican would never make a mistake of this magnitude. To bring the Tree of Life back to civilization would be to doom mankind to failure and defeat. Imagine the world's powerful involved in wars and intrigues, as never before in human history, simply for the opportunity to eat one of its fruits.

Saying this, the Cardinal pressed a button hidden under his desk. Instantly the gigantic bookcase, which ran from top to bottom along one wall, moved.

— What is this? — Nicole was surprised, when contemplating a secret room.

— Well — continued the Cardinal — since you have entrusted me with the Golden Book, I see no reason to hide from you the place where it will be temporarily hidden.

A room filled with books, manuscripts, works of art and statues unfolded before everyone's eyes.

— My God, what horrible thing is this?

Nicole had bumped into a life-size statue of a being that from the waist up was a man with horns, and from the waist down, a kind of animal never seen before.

Roman Green stared in amazement at the parchments protruding from the pigeonholes. There was one of them open on an altar-like marble table. It was a very old scroll with dozens of symbols; the Star of David was visible in its upper part. There were other symbols lined up and crisscrossed with each other.

— What place is this? — Asked the haunted woman observing the enormity of occult symbols and talismans.

— Gentlemen, I present to you the largest collection of esoteric objects in the world — said Joseph Messina, while noticing the perplexity stamped on the faces of his visitors.

— This is really scary — Green confessed to opening and checking the terrible drawings of a century-old book.

— Even more frightening if I tell you that the cover of this book was made from the skin of a famous witch from the Middle Ages — said Messina.

— This is diabolical! — Nicole said, opening a book and seeing pictures showing children thrown into the fire and women who had their children removed from their wombs.

— Really diabolical — confirmed the Cardinal. — These books and objects that you are seeing are extremely rare, if not unique. I can even say that very few eyes had the privilege of contemplating them.

— I confess that this privilege does not excite me in the least — said Nicole, now looking at some other objects of magic.

— What door is that? — Asked Roman Green, pointing to the back of the room where an enormous dark wooden door with carved designs was visible.

— That door gives access to the underground.

— Underground?

— Yes, maybe you don't know, but the Church in the first century was severely persecuted. Thousands of Christians lost their lives being devoured by wild beasts in the middle of the Coliseum, while the people of Rome applauded the spectacle. Well, one of the ways Christians carried out their cult was hiding in a place where Roman soldiers would never imagine: in the cemetery!

— Did Christians hide in the cemetery? — The woman asked.

— Well — continued the Cardinal — that wasn't the name at that time. The cemeteries were known as catacombs, that is, underground niches where the Romans deposited the remains of their relatives. Millions of niches arranged in countless caves, connected by huge underground corridors, formed a chaotic labyrinth where Christians gathered.

— And today, what are they used for? — Nicole asked, visibly curious.

— No one has entered there for several centuries — replied the Cardinal — as I said, these catacombs are made up of hundreds, perhaps thousands of extremely confusing corridors. Some dozens of kilometers long... It would be very dangerous if someone got lost in there. Perhaps it could never be found again.

— And yet Christians hid there? — Asked the woman.

— There was no other way out, either they ran that risk or they faced the wild beasts in the Coliseum — answered Messina.

— VICTORIA — ANTOINE SAID, as soon as the woman, accompanied by Nicole and Green returned to the suite — Greg called you.

— What did he want?

— He didn't say, he just asked me to inform him that the matter was urgent.

— Did he leave the number?

— Yes, it's here — Antoine said, handing him a note.

— Bring the phone, please.

— Humm... — murmured the daughter into the phone — I understand... yes, yes, you can count on our help.

— What did he want? Nicole asked after her mother had hung up the phone.

— Many things that maybe we can't give...

— But we will try...