Page 57 of Silent Ritual

They walked in silence, the only sound being the crunch of their footsteps and the occasional drip of water somewhere out in the darkness. The air in the tunnel was musty and stale, with a hint of mildew and dampness. There was also a faint smell of something metallic, like old blood or rusted metal.

As they ventured deeper into the mine, the air grew thicker and more oppressive. Suddenly, their flashlights illuminated a group of figures blocking their path. Sheila and Finn instinctively raised their weapons.

"Stop right there!" Sheila commanded.

As they drew closer, Sheila could make out five individuals dressed in dark robes, their faces partially obscured by hoods. One of them stepped forward, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and excitement.

"You cannot interfere!" he shouted. "The Cherubim must complete its work!"

Finn glanced at Sheila, confusion evident in his eyes. "This again?"

"The demon we summoned," another robed figure, a woman, chimed in. "It's a divine being, carrying out a celestial mission!"

Sheila lowered her gun slightly, realization dawning on her. "You're the occultists from the university, aren't you?"

"We are the Chosen Ones," the lead figure said, sounding a bit offended. "And we cannot allow you to stop the Cherubim's work."

"Listen," Sheila said, "there's no demon. The killer you think you summoned is actually Professor Erik Solberg."

A murmur of disbelief rippled through the group. The leader shook his head vehemently. "No, you're lying! We performed the ritual correctly. The Cherubim is real!"

"Nothing supernatural has happened," Finn said. "You've just been interpreting ordinary events as miraculous."

The occultists exchanged uncertain glances. Sheila pressed on, "Solberg is just a man—a disturbed and dangerous one, but still just a man. Now step aside and let us do our jobs."

The occultists looked at each other, bewildered. A few of them whispered Solberg's name as if trying to make sense of what they'd just been told.

"But we were so sure," one of them murmured as they slowly parted, allowing Sheila and Finn to walk through.

As Sheila and Finn moved past them, the leader spoke up once more. "We're...we're sorry. We thought we were part of something greater, something…cosmic."

Sheila paused, turning back to the deflated group. "The desire to be part of something greater isn't wrong. But next time, maybe channel it into something that doesn't involve summoning demons, okay?"

With that, Sheila and Finn continued deeper into the mine, leaving the disillusioned occultists behind.

The tunnel narrowed as they moved deeper underground, forcing them to duck their heads. Shallow pools of water reflected the beams of their flashlights. The smell of damp earth was stronger now, the metallic tang more pronounced.

They rounded a corner and found themselves staring at a pair of tunnels branching in separate directions like nostrils. Sheila listened intently, but she couldn’t tell which tunnel the sounds had come from.

“We’ll take one tunnel,” Finn said, “then loop back if necessary.”

“No,” Sheila said. “We don’t have time for that. We should split up.”

“Look at me.” Finn placed a hand on Sheila’s shoulder and stared earnestly into her eyes. “Do you have any idea what it would do to me if you went into that tunnel and never came back? Any idea how much guilt I’d feel?”

It occurred to Sheila that maybe she did have an idea—she felt guilty every day for Natalie’s death, after all.

“There’s no time,” she said.

“I love you, Sheila.”

The words stopped Sheila in her tracks. “You can’t say that just to—”

“I’m not saying it to manipulate you. I’m saying it because I mean it. And if I were to lose you now…”

Sheila looked around helplessly, unsure what to do. This was the time and place he chose to declare his feelings for her. She knew he cared about her, but love…

She took a deep breath and looked directly into his eyes. “Listen, Finn. I care about you, too, and if something happened to you, I’d be devastated as well. But right now, it’s not about either of us. It’s about a crazy serial killer and all the women he’s going to harm if we don’t stop him right now. So if we have to put our lives in harm’s way to stop him…” She shrugged. “That’s what we signed up for when we put on the uniform. And it’s what we signed up for when we started dating.”

---