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eight.
FACILIS DESCENSUS
AVERNO
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THEIR FOOTSTEPS ECHO against the sprawling stone walls and high ceiling decorated with buttresses to support its structure. The stained glass windows near the top send scattered pigments of colored light onto the rows of empty pews below. The benches are made of dark pine, creaky and old, turned to face the golden altar, which glitters under the candlelight.

Tate wishes they had time to appreciate this extravagant building fully. She would love to learn about its history as she explores. Her hand runs across the back of a pew as they walk down the central aisle, trying to picture what the Basílica de Santa Maria del Pi was like when it was new. How many people have walked the same path as her? How many have knelt and prayed to their God? How many marriage ceremonies were performed here, how many baptisms or funerals?

While Tate feels centuries-old ghosts slipping past her, Nathan spies a nun dressed in a powder-blue habit walking near the altar. She pauses upon hearing him sigh in disdain.

"Nuns," he mutters. "Why's it always gotta be nuns?"

Tate clears her throat, dipping her head closer to him. "She can hear you."

Clearly thrown off by Nathan's comment, the nun continues on her way, eyeing him warily.

"All right, let's just split up and figure out where the keys go, huh?" Sully proposes quietly.

"Okay," Nathan says, whispering this time.

Almost like an unspoken agreement, they break off in different directions—Sully north, Chloe east, Tate south, and Nathan west. Unfortunately, there isn't much ground they can cover, because any place outside of the main hall is blocked by iron gates. Tate peers through the thin bars for any potential signs from Magellan's crew. She hopes they don't have to open one of them, but she had brought a set of lock picks just in case they need to enter one of the alcoves.

The worn stone floor is exceptionally hard under her feet. She's glad she'd worn her boots with padded in-soles, which will keep her comfortable for a long day of walking. She'd also ensured to wear a jacket this time, keeping her well-prepared for any temperatures she'll encounter.

"Hey, Sully." Nathan's voice echoes back to her from across the room.

Even if she hadn't been addressed, she still turns, noticing him standing by a rack of postcards. Does he want to buy one?

"What?" Sully asks.

After a pause during which Nathan debates something internally, he replies, "...Nothing."

Tate wonders if she can weed some information out of him later. It clearly isn't "nothing", especially judging by the way he looks back down at a card in his hand for several long moments.

Another sound catches her attention—one of wood scraping against stone. Sully drags one of the pews back and calls, "Hey, guys. Come here."

Tate adjusts her backpack in her grip and heads toward him. He points to a carving on the floor— a long rectangle with a circular design at the top and sets of initials on the bottom.

"JSE," Chloe reads. "Juan Sebastian Elcano."

"The eighteen were here, all right," Sully says.

Nathan points to a cross etched at the top of the circle, his finger following the lines in the design. "Look, if that's the cathedral, then these must be the stairs, and they lead... that way."

He points to the left of the altar. Luckily, the stairwell there isn't blocked off, allowing them to make the spiral descent into the basement. It gets considerably cooler the moment they get underground—and darker. The stone offers no insulation, trapping the cold air in. Gone are the stained glass windows that offer any source of natural light. Now the place is illuminated by lamps against the walls, offering dim illumination.

The room they land in is small and circular. Rows of colorful, flickering prayer candles are stacked near a nook containing more gold, which has been barred off. A statue of Mary holding baby Jesus sits against the back wall. To their right is another locked-off alcove containing a shining tabernacle.

Tate walks closer to the statue and tilts her head to the side, admiring the floral crown atop Mary's head. The statue gazes back at her with blank eyes.

"Thoughts, altar boy?" Chloe asks Nathan.

Nathan flicks on a flashlight and shines it above the archway they'd entered through. "'Caelum.' That's, um, Latin for 'heaven'. It says in the journal, 'Trust in your fellow man, for one shall go to heaven, the other to hell.' So if heaven's up there, then hell has to be around here somewhere. I hope."

Tate eyes the barely legible script carved at the point of the ogival arch. "If heaven is near the ceiling, then wouldn't it be logical to assume hell is somewhere closer to the floor?"

She has no idea what they're looking for, so she's just thinking out loud, voicing her presumptions as they come to her. When she casts her eyes toward the ground, though, she doesn't notice any more carvings like the one Sully had discovered, even with the aid of her flashlight.

"Hey, I got a skeleton with angel wings," Nathan says. He points to a picture on a column near the tabernacle. "That's kinda between heaven and hell, right?"

He traces it with his thumbs, but the pressure causes it to push inward like a secret button. The ground trembles. Tate looks up, wondering if the ceiling is about to cave in on them, only for it to stop once she hears an ancient-sounding squeak from behind her. She turns around. The picture of Mary on the tabernacle is slightly off-kilter.

Tate stops beside Chloe, whose face is pressed in a slot between the bars. "Does Mary look a little off to you?"

Sully had been analyzing the floor like Tate had. He stands, his eyes going wide. "Yeah."

"No way," Nathan says, excitedly heading over to see for himself.

Tate unzips the top pocket of her backpack and produces the set of lock picks. She glances through her options before selecting one with a spiral end, jimmying it into the rusted lock. No dice. She tries a different one, clenching her teeth in determination.

"Hey," Sully says, passing Nathan a pair of bolt cutters. "Come on, open it up."

"I'm not gonna do that," Nathan replies. "We're in a church, man. Come on, have some respect."

"One step ahead of you," Tate says. The padlock clicks open, allowing her to unwind the set of chains holding the gate shut and let them drop to the floor.

Chloe glances at Nathan in amusement. "Scared of a little old nun?"

"Well, you haven't met Sister B, have you?" he asks.

Tate wonders where his aversion toward nuns comes from. She is not religious herself, nor had she been brought up that way, but she's done extensive research on the most popular worldly religions, so she's familiar with the terminology of the church's various aspects.

The gate creaks when they open it. The tabernacle is much larger up close, the secret door containing the portrait of Mary residing above their heads. On the small altar in front is a monstrance used for Eucharistic Adoration. She can't tell if there is currently something in the red-tinted luna at the center, but since the two candles on either side are extinguished, there probably isn't.

"Okay..." Nathan reaches up and presses the edge of the panel. It turns, though reluctantly after centuries of lying dormant, and he grunts with the effort to revolve it. He finally spins it to reveal a small painting of fiery demons on the opposite side. "Well, there's hell—woah!"

They jump back when a hidden compartment beneath the altar slides open, revealing two circles just big enough to fit their keys.

"Holy shit," Sully breathes. "You found 'em."

After recovering from his minor heart attack, Nathan glances at Tate. "Is that another point for me?"

Tate wants to shove him, but she can't without risking him knocking into the monstrance and sending precious gold flying, so she settles on grinding her teeth and narrowing her eyes into slits.

"Hey, what does that look like to you?" Nathan asks, examining the newly revealed compartment.

"A keyhole," Chloe says. She rummages through her bag, digging through her belongings to find the cross.

Nathan expectantly holds out his hand toward Tate, who scoffs. "Seriously? You think I'm letting you put the key in there? Move over."

She nudges him with her foot. Nathan almost loses his balance as he crawls to make room for her. Tate unzips her jacket and then the hidden interior pocket, retrieving the cross. She and Chloe push the ends into the circular holes, their hands resting on the makeshift handles.

"Wait, which way should we turn?" Chloe asks. "Left or right?"

"Uh... I dunno," Nathan replies. He looks back at Sully. "What does the book say?"

"It said something about turning to the left," Tate responds. "I remember reading that page last night."

Sully pulls the journal out and opens it to a marked page, briefly scanning it. "Oh, right here. Uh... it says for both of you to turn your keys clockwise at the same time."

Tate frowns, muttering to herself, "Are you sure? I could've sworn..."

"Three... two... one," Nathan counts. "Turn."

After the last second, Tate and Chloe turn their keys. The tabernacle rumbles. Several arrows shoot out from behind the monstrance, embedding into the far wall of the basement behind Sully, who barely ducks in time.

"Shit!" he cries, holding up an arrow that had narrowly missed his midsection, lodging into his bag instead. "Thanks a lot. You almost got me killed."

"Clockwise, Sully?" Nathan exclaims.

"Well, it was 50-50, so I made a guess."

"And you guessed I was wrong?" Tate demands. She pushes herself to her feet, marching over to snatch the book from his hands. She stares at the looping cursive and jams her finger onto the page. "'Izquierda.' Left. Do you need to brush up on your Spanish or something?"

"That could've been our heads!" Chloe seethes.

"Well, clearly, you should turn the keys the other way! Kid, I don't even have my glasses. I can't read this shit."

Tate glares at him, shoving the journal into his chest. She grabs the arrow from him for good measure—she could always use it as a shank if they're in a pinch.

"Yeah, clearly," Nathan says dryly.

"Just be careful, all right? You're gonna get somebody killed."

"Yeah, well, if you would've listened to me instead of your faulty old man eyes, you wouldn't have been in danger," Tate bites back.

She crouches back down in front of the keyhole again. Chloe looks at her, also resuming the same position. The two women roll their eyes at Sully blaming them for his near-death experience. He risked their lives rather than trust that Tate was right. She's met people with trust issues before, but Sully takes the cake for being the worst.

"Just... look away," Nathan advises.

Tate and Chloe nod, ducking their faces to avoid getting impaled in the eye by any flying projectiles. Sully holds his bag in front of his head. Tate wants to yell at him to duck or move out of the way or something, then decides that if he gets hurt, that's on him, so she bites her tongue.

After the count of three, she and Chloe turn their keys to the left. Instantly, the tabernacle thunders again, and Tate tenses in preparation for more arrows, but this movement is stronger than the last, threatening to tip the candlesticks over. Nothing flies at them.

"Look at that," Sully says. "I was right the second time, huh?"

"And I was right the first time," Tate reminds him. She looks at Nathan, her eyes blazing with victory.

"You're still one point behind," he tells her. Then, noticing a gap between the tabernacle and the wall, he says, "There's, like, an opening back here."

They stand and start pushing the heavy case, but after so many years of residing in one spot and being made of nearly solid gold, it doesn't move easily against the stone floor. Nathan's face flushes with effort. His voice is slightly strained as he asks, "Sully?"

"Oh, kid, I'm watching our back. What if the nun comes down to get ya?"

Tate is not surprised that Sully has an excuse. He seems to prefer they do the heavy lifting while he stands there and looks pretty. Chloe moves to help them instead, and the tabernacle finally shifts, thus opening a wooden door behind it.

"There you go," Sully says.

Tate straightens up, blows a piece of hair out of her face, and shows him her middle finger.

The passage they've uncovered is completely dark. It was built before the discovery of electricity, so there are no lamps on the grime-coated walls to let them see how far down the staircase leads. The smells of stale air and mildew waft into the basement.

"'Facilis descensus Averno,'" Tate mumbles to herself as she gazes down at the endless path below.

"'The descent into hell is easy,'" Nathan translates from beside her.

Tate nods, her mouth pressed into a grim line. She's excited that they've uncovered yet another part of the mystery, but she doesn't like the cramped stairwell. Who knows how far beneath Barcelona they'll go? How long will it be before she sees the sun again? Feels the wind on her face? How many people walked down those steps and never made it back up?

"All right, we're making some progress," Sully says, stepping forward. "Let's go."

"No, wait." Chloe stops him. "Hang on. What does the book say?"

"Uh... heaven and hell," Nathan recalls. "One of us goes up, the other goes down."

"Exactly," Chloe says. "I'll go down."

"Yeah, I'll go with you."

"Really?" Sully asks, cocking his head.

"What?" Nathan asks.

"Well, that was quick."

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you just gonna follow her down there like a lost puppy dog?"

"What, do you want me to go with you and hold your hand?"

Tate watches this squabble with boredom. When there's finally a small gap in their quick remarks, she shoves her way through it. "I am not being stuck with Sully."

"Oh, I see how it is," Sully says dryly. "I see."

"You didn't even trust me a few days ago," she argues. "And you still don't. I'm not spending this whole trip under your nose."

"Fine," he concedes stiffly. "I don't need you kids. Give me your cross."

"What?" Nathan asks. "Why would we do that?"

"'Cause I'm probably gonna need it up there. You've got Chloe's cross, don't you? You don't need 'em both."

Nathan and Tate share a look. They have a full mental conversation in the span of a second.

"Okay, good point." Nathan holds out a hand. "Give me your phone."

"No."

"Sully, just give me your phone."

Tate inches to the right.

"For what?"

"What, you don't trust me?"

"I don't trust anybody."

"And that's your problem." Tate, having moved close enough during their bickering, plucks Sully's phone from the front pocket of his jeans. She passes it to Nathan.

"What—? Hey!" Sully protests.

Tate gives him an overly sweet smile in response.

Nathan presses a few buttons on Sully's screen and winces. "Oh my God. You have so many apps open. What is wrong with you?"

He begins swiping up to close them, his thumbs a blur as he gets rid of countless apps that had been running in the background and probably draining Sully's battery. One makes him pause and glance up. "Tinder? Really?"

"I own that," Sully replies nonchalantly.

Tate snorts, wondering how well that's working out for him. He just said he doesn't trust anyone, and he's not exactly the most hospitable guy around. She hardly knows anything about him. How can he go on dates if he doesn't like talking about himself? The conversations must be very one-sided.

Nathan uses the GPS-YES app he'd made her download earlier to connect his and Tate's phones with Sully's. "Okay. Now you can track us." He passes it back to Sully. "Try and stay on top of us, okay? Tate?"

He glances at her. Tate realizes she's still holding the cross. She reluctantly hands it to Sully, taking a few seconds to let go of it, her jaw set. She's grown protective over the thing.

"Have fun in the haunted tunnel," Sully tells them in a sing-song voice.

"The only thing that's going to be haunted is your ass if I somehow die on this trip," Tate tells him.

"Mmhmm. Enjoy."

"Oh, we will," Nathan replies. Once Sully turns his back on them to head back up the stairs, Nathan elbows Tate to get her attention. "Stealing Sully's phone? Look who's the thief now."

"It's still you," she replies, switching on her flashlight.

Tate can still see him grinning out of the corner of her eye.

_________

a/n:

if i ever went to barcelona, i just know i'd have to resist the urge to go to the santa maria del pi and act like a treasure hunter. like, i know the tabernacle doesn't actually lead to a secret stairwell, but i would have to stop myself from breaking through the gate and seeing for myself (i should never be allowed to visit barcelona)

and yes, chloe will be third wheeling but it's not like i could exactly have her NOT go with them,,, ya know? so sorry if you're mad that she's there but deal with it😎 tathan will still have their moments, don't worry!!

— kristyn

( word count: 3k )