Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 02 - Dark Carnival Read Online Free PDF Page B

carefully.
    She
closed the oak doors and led me to the eastern side of the courtyard.  Here,
she opened the door and I was immediately taken with the smell of freshly-baked
bread as we stepped into the kitchen.  It was well equipped with a six-burner
stove and large refrigerator.  Despite the professional stove, there was also a
brick oven embedded into one of the walls.  There, a nun was pulling one of two
loaves of bread from the oven.  She carefully placed it on a cooling rack and
then did the same with the other loaf.
    “Sister
Margot was a great cook, but Sister Adele is just as good, right Adele?”
    The
nun turned toward us with her oven mitts still over her hands and nodded,
smiling, revealing a missing tooth at the bottom.  She was perhaps in her
seventies with wisps of white hair peeking from under her habit.  Around her
waist was a woolen belt like the one Sister Alice wore, but from Sister Adele’s
belt hung a small wooden cross.
    “Smells
heavenly, Adele,” she said, smiling warmly.  “This is Leigh Benoit.  She’s with
Miles.  She’ll be training to do the Lord’s work tonight.”
    “Very
nice to meet you,” I told Sister Adele.  She nodded in return.
    “She
is unable to speak.  She’s never uttered a word, not even as a baby.  Isn’t
that right?” she asked her.
    Sister
Adele grinned.
    “Miles
offered to try to cure her once, but she refused.  She wrote to us on a piece
of paper, saying that it was God’s will that she be mute.  She did not want to
go against God.”
    Sister
Adele nodded, smiling proudly.  I smiled back at her, nodding my recognition of
her faith.
    “I’ll
just show Leigh around the dining room now.  Right this way, Leigh.”
    The
dining hall had two large tables with enough room to seat fifteen at each
table.  Two enormous picture windows were embedded in the right-side wall.  The
light that poured in created one long glare on the smooth wooden floor of the
hall.
    After
the dining room, Sister Alice led me back to the lobby and into the gift store
in the next room over.  Here, a visitor could purchase anything from Bibles and
prayer beads to hand-crafted items, pottery and trinkets, all made by the
Dominican Sisters of St. Geneviève’s.  And, of course, donations were always
welcomed.
    “I
forgot to show you, but we have an arts and crafts room on the other side of
the courtyard,” she said.  “These crafts sell out more than the other items in
the store.  They make great gifts.”
    “They’re
lovely,” I said, making a mental note to buy something for Clothilde.
    She
smiled warmly.  “I think Miles will probably be ready now.  Let’s go find him.”
    Sister
Alice led me out of the lobby and back into the courtyard.  We took a right,
following the covered pathway to a set of ornate double doors with blue stained
glass windows that depicted a man with a halo surrounded by stars.
    “That’s
so beautiful,” I marveled.
    “That’s
St. Dominic.  He’s the patron saint of astronomers.  That’s why the stars are
there.”
    She
opened the doors to reveal a small chapel with wooden pews and a navy blue
carpet that led to a small altar.  There was a door behind the altar.  Judging
from our location in the courtyard, I guessed that the door led to the bell
tower.
    Miles
was behind the altar.  He had a black cloth laid out with his vial of holy
water resting on it.  He smiled when he saw us.  “Did you give her the grand
tour?” he said.
    “Just
about,” she replied.
    “You
can open the doors now,” he said.
    Sister
Alice nodded and left the chapel.
    “Come
here, Leigh,” he said.  I joined him behind the altar.  “When the sisters
start bringing in the people who need healing, we’ll take them one at a time.  I’ll
handle the first few, and then I want you to try, okay?”
    I
nodded, feeling my stomach knotting up.  After a few minutes, Sister Alice
returned with a line of people trailing behind.  They ranged in ages