It was a tacky staging but Rafael fell for it. The form approached with steady steps which only strengthened the hold the question had on him. It was a church, a public space right? Had he trespassed without knowing it?

The figure turned out to be a stocky white man with gray hair and a short beard of the same color. He was dressed in a long black cassock on which swayed a silver pectoral cross.

"So young man, have you come to atone for your sins in the light of God?" asked the priest solemnly.

"No Father. I'm Rafael, I'm looking for my uncle."

"Rafael? The archangel protector, the guardian of humanity? Oh Azarias! You who guided the blind Tobias on the dangerous path to deliverance, you who freed Sarra from the ancient wrath and braved the serpent. Asmodeus, Asmodeus, the demon is still there! Gambling and lust have taken root in our world, have you come to heal our sick minds?

"Uh," said Rafael, confused by this tirade. "Is everything all right?"

The priest smiled dementedly. "I'm fine, but are you? How is your soul?"

He has a sick mind indeed, Rafael thought.

"My soul is fine," he answered, taking a step backwards, caught by the urge to leave the place without further delay.

"Are you sure?" asked the priest. "Are you not an infidel? Don't you trade with the demon?"

"No," Rafael said in an insecure voice. He was uncomfortable and did not know how to react to the priest's behavior. He looked mad as hell! Rafael was afraid he would become violent if he upset him too much. Moreover, part of him couldn't help but wonder if it was his spirit that the priest was calling a demon. If he could see it... but no, he was psyching himself out again. The priest was probably just a little overzealous in his faith.

"How do you know?" the priest insisted as he moved dangerously close to him. "How do you know you're not corrupt?"

"I'm not corrupt," cried Rafael, panicked. "You don't know me, you can't judge me!"

"I know who you are Rafael Duprat," thundered the priest. "I know your family and your grandfather was a wicked man! He drove his neighbors to eternal damnation. You are of the Judas lineage. Only repentance can bring you salvation!"

My grandfather? What does my grandfather have to do with this, what did he do?

"I failed to follow James' example," the priest continued in a contrite voice as a statue mysteriously lit up behind him. It carried a staff and a sword, and Rafael felt as if it was about to pounce on him.

"I knew but I remained silent, never again! I will turn his own demons against the magician Hermogenes and convert him, even if I have to end up beheaded!"

The priest suddenly seemed to have grown taller and Rafael became more frightened with each passing second. He turned away and started running towards the exit as fast as he could. Before reaching the door, he heard the priest shout again: "Don't run away from the light of God! It is your only chance to find salvation before the Last Judgment. The end is near!"

As soon as he was out in the open Rafael could breathe normally again, but he didn't stop. He ran down the street and turned behind the block to get out of sight of the church. Only then did he stop to collect his thoughts, gasping.

He's not coming for me. He stayed in the church.

Rafael didn't know where the irrational fear he felt was coming from, perhaps the priest's madness had infected him? He sent a thought to the dryad and immediately found their connection. This reassured him. He should have thought to use his spiritual energy in there. To do what, he didn't know. There were no plants in a church...

Rafael began to tremble. The backlash of too much emotion. "The end is near" had shouted the priest. It was the same thing Alek had said when he met him: "Say goodbye to the life you know as it will soon be gone forever! Were they talking about the same thing?

Or am I going crazy too? I almost tried to photosynthesis in the garden this morning...

Inhale. Exhale. Rafael concentrated on his core. He had to calm down.

Inhale. Exhale. He had loosened his grip on his aura at some point, he concentrated on getting his spiritual energy flowing again.

Inhale. Exhale. What was the story with his grandfather? Now that he thought about it, he remembered that there had been a lot of trouble at his metal factory before it closed. His grandfather had aged suddenly and they had pratically stopped seeing each other after that.

I should talk to my dad about this, maybe he knows something?

What about Leonard? Rafael was sure that his uncle was here in that church! But what could he do? He certainly didn't want to go back there while that priest lurking around. He would have liked to go to the police and have them solve everything for him. Unfortunately, that was impossible. He was too smart not to know that, without proof, it would lead to nothing.

No, it would only serve to discredit him. Besides, he had decided to be careful not to be noticed by the authorities. The best solution was to return at night, when the priest had gone home to sleep. That said, he didn't want to find himself in this church alone… Rafael took out his phone and quickly texted Jay:

Rafael: "Hey buddy, can you come over to my house later? I need to talk to you about something."

Jay's response was quick. He always promptly responded to messages. If only he was that punctual when they hung out.

Jay: "NP, I'll come by after lunch."

Rafael only realized what time it was, almost 1 p.m. His search had taken longer than expected and he was starving. He lifted himself off the wall he was leaning against and went to get his bike. He wasn't very comfortable with the idea of getting closer to the church, but he wasn't going to leave it there!

As he got on his bike and started it, Rafael thought about what the priest had said again. He hoped his father would be home. He had to get to the bottom of this story about his grandfather.

 

***

 

When he got home, his parents and Tiffany had just done eating. His mother had left a portion for him, as she had the previous days, but neither she nor his father seemed worried about him despite his behavior over the past few days. He felt they should have. Maybe they thought it was due to the aftermath of his depression? He had not been very easy to live with after his breakup after all...

Rafael sat down at the table and said, "Can I talk to you dad? It's about grandpa Louis."

Alfred raised an eyebrow in surprise, his father had been for almost ten years now: "What do you want to know?"

Alice motioned for Tiffany to accompany her into the kitchen. Rafael felt a pang of gratitude to his mother for withdrawing like this. He suspected it was going to be a difficult subject, and he preferred to be alone with his father to talk about it.

"I don't know," Rafael answered his father. "This morning I met someone who knew him and he told me he was a wicked man. Is it true?"

Alfred shook his head. "No, he wasn't wicked. He was a strong, proud man who was sadly broken by life."

"How so?" asked Rafael.

"You were young, but surely you remember that he was a foreman at the old metal factory?"

Rafael nodded.

"That didn't end well," Alfred explained. "The economic crisis hit them hard, causing several waves of layoffs. Then the shareholders started demanding more profits, they would close the factory if it didn't become more profitable."

Rafael had never had a salaried job except for odd ones in the summer, so he didn't really understand the working world. It was hard for him to imagine how these events had turned his grandfather's life upside down.

"If that had happened, the workers would have lost their only source of income and would not have been able to provide for their families anymore. Your grandfather was close to retirement, so it wasn't a problem for him, but he couldn't abandon those men for whom he had been responsible half his life."

"What did he do?" asked Rafael apprehensively.

"He made them work harder and longer," his father answered. "He put pressure on them to increase productivity, to make the factory more profitable as the shareholders demanded."

"Did it work?"

"Not really," Alfred said. "The shareholders were happy, but the workers were having trouble keeping up, and the threat of closure was affecting their mental health. In the end, there were several suicides and the factory was closed. Your grandfather always blamed himself, maybe that's why he died so early..."

Eternal damnation was suicide... maybe this priest wasn't as crazy as he seemed.

"It's a life lesson," Alfred concluded. "He was too worried about the factory closing to see the other dangers that threatened his colleagues. So much so that he himself became the danger! Remember well my son, a man must always keep in mind the consequences his actions may have."

Rafael nodded his head. It made him think of how he had unconsciously influenced others with his aura. These new shamanic powers could definitely affect the lives of his loved ones, and he wasn't sure he could keep the consequences of his belonging to the spirit world in check.

"Who told you your grandfather was wicked?" asked Alfred, concerned.

"It was the priest at the church Grandpa used to take me to when I was little."

"Ah yes, I understand better," assented Alfred. "All the workers used to meet there on Sundays. After the suicides, your grandfather and the priest had a violent argument, and he never went to a church again after that."

All the more reason to avoid this weirdo.

Rafael was certain that Leonard was in the church now. That priest must have gone nuts and confused his uncle with Grandpa Louis or something. He hoped he hadn't hurt him... he looked really threatening this morning!

Rafael wanted to tell his father everything, but something was holding him back. He was afraid he wouldn't take him seriously, and that he would find him immature for still being interested in magic. That's what he thought about Leonard. Besides, his father would probably insist that they go to the police even though he had no proof, it would only waste their time.

I hoped it's not already too late.

Their conversation finished, Rafael concentrated on his plate while his father went to slump in front of the television. While devouring his food, he thought about the night ahead. The afternoon would be busy, he had to get everything ready to break into the church and he wasn't sure how to do that. He had never broken into a place before.

No sooner had he swallowed his last bite than he heard the doorbell ring. Rafael got up to open. Surpinsigly, his friend wasn't late.

"Hey buddy, how are you?" Jay asked with a smile. "Is Tiffany around so I can say hi?"

Rafael shook his head, half annoyed, half amused. It was probably because he was hoping to see his cousin that he was on time! "You're here to see me Jay," he reminded him. "You can flirt later, what I need to talk to you about is important." Jay's smile disappeared, he understood the seriousness of the situation. Rafael was never that severe usually! They went up to the room and were soon both settled on the bed.

"So, what's so important," Jay asked.

"I found my uncle, but I can't tell the police," Rafael said.

He told his friend everything: the old shaman, the plant spirit, the crazy priest, how the kidnapping must have had something to do with his grandfather... Jay remained silent the whole time, letting Rafael talk. At times his eyes showed keen surprise, at other moments they shone with excitement.

"So," Jay said when Rafael finished. "You're telling me this spirit gives you magical powers?"

"Yes. His spirit energy flows through me and I can use it, which is how I was able to follow my uncle's trail."

"You have to show me that," Jay exclaimed. "Do you know how to grow plants super fast or something?"

"I don't know," Rafael replied embarrassed. "It's still very new to me, you know." His friend's reaction made sense, but he wished he had focused a little more on his uncle's plight. Who knows what that priest had done to him?

Jay stood up from the bed. "I think your parents have some potting soil and seeds in the corner of the garage, I'll be right back!"

After all, this was part of the preparation for the evening expedition wasn't it? He needed to know how to use his powers, and he hadn't really had time to experiment until then. He had to admit that the prospect of being able to grow plants at will excited him, it was just the kind of power he had dreamed of having as a child.

When Jay returned with a pot of potting soil and a bag of seeds, Rafael was ready, and just as excited as his friend. He placed the pot on the desk, added the seed and some water, and then concentrated. He could feel the seed without going through his body senses. He recognize it from inside! It was a simple Calendula seed that his mother used to decorate her garden, but he knew that the plant was also used to treat skin problems of all types.

"So?" his friend whispered.

Rafael didn't answer. He mobilized his spiritual energy, passed it through the node of sensation that connected him to his spirit, and then put it into the seed. He added an intention: GROW, a thought that he echoed over and over into the link, an insistent vibration.

"It's working," Jay shouted. "I see something coming out!"

Rafael already knew that. He had felt the sprout break through the integument, he had felt the radicle settle into the soil, he had accompanied the tigelle in its conquest of the outside world... He felt as if it were he who drew nutrients from the earth to grow, to create leaves, a flowerhead that suddenly blossomed in a wave of pleasure.

He hadn't closed his eyes, but Rafael had been so focused on the plant that he had lost all sensation of his own body. Now that he had released his control over his spiritual energy, he could see that the seed had grown into a fiery orange flower. A silly smile appeared on his face. He possessed nature's magic, like the druids in fantasy stories!

"You did it, you did it," Jay repeated beside him in awe. "It was all true! Can you do it again?"

Rafael couldn't believe what he had done. Rationally he knew he had shamanic powers and that he must be capable of extraordinary things like this, but living it was something else entirely. He couldn't take his eyes off the flower, amazed at its beauty and their spiritual connection.

"I'd better not," he replied to his friend despite his envy. "I'm not very good at it yet, and I had to use a lot of spiritual energy to pull off this trick. I'd better save what I have left for tonight."

"Tonight?" remarked Jay.

"Tonight," Rafael repeated, looking him squarely in the eye. "I intend to break into the church and I want you to come with me."

Jay swallowed loudly as he saw that he was serious. Then, after a few moments of silence, his friend asked, "Can you teach me this basic rune?"

Rafael didn't think Jay could bind a spirit in the time they had left. However, it wasn't fair to ask him to help without sharing his knowledge. "Okay," he said, "but promise me you won't tell anyone."

 

***

 

Jay left a half-hour later, after learning the basic rune. He had been much quicker than Rafael at mastering the magical gesture, but, of course, finding a spirit to bind and mastering its shamanic powers was another matter.

Even though he hadn't had to ask his friend twice, Rafael was a little angry at himself for dragging Jay into this world. The more it went on, the more he realized that with magic came new dangers... dangers he had never suspected when he dreamed about having power as a kid. However he had no choice, it was the only way to save his uncle.

He heard Jay downstairs laughing with Tiffany. He had reminded her of the importance of serious preparation and rest before tonight's expedition, but he wasn't sure if Jay understood how serious things were. Sometimes, it was hard to tell if his friend's insouciance was feigned or real.

I hope everything will be all right tonight.