Penny Wise and the League of St. Claire

Chapter 9

Penny called for a League meeting the next day at her house.

“I hate to admit this, but I’m not sure that we can accomplish our mission by ourselves,” she said. “This Harold Peron person is a slippery character. We’re going to need help to find him.”

“I thought that you were able to locate him using your clairvoyance power,” Milo said, squinting as if trying to perceive her convoluted reasoning.

“My powers are being blocked,” Penny said, holding a hand to her forehead as if she had a headache. “I’m unable to reliably sense his presence.”

“How are we going to find help?” Harriett asked. “All of the people in the future are afraid to challenge this Peron character.”

“We have no other choice,” Penny said. “We must find people that could help us find him.”

“How about finding someone here in our time that could help?” Jordan asked.

Penny stared at him for a brief moment before replying. “There is another, but we don’t have time to locate him.”

“Him?” Harriett said, her eyes brightening. “You mean that there’s another boy out there like us?”

“Yes, but there’s no easy way to locate him.”

“Can’t we put an add in the newspaper?” Carmen asked.

“That’s would be some add,” Milo said, grinning. “Wanted: Super hero willing to go to the future to kill the Antichrist. No experience needed.”

Jordan chuckled. “People would think that we’re some sort of cult.”

Penny exploded with disgust. “We’re not a cult, Jordan. Each one of us has volunteered by his or her own free will to complete this mission. I’m not a cult leader like Heinrich Himmler who believes that his SS gang of thugs is a cult of Arians gods and that all other races are inferior. The League has nothing to do with race. We’re a diverse mix, and we’re certainly not gods. Unlike the Nazis I don’t demand anything from any of you. We are blessed--or cursed if you will-- with powers beyond those of normal humans. If we were not united under the auspices of religious faith, we would go rogue and be considered dangerous criminals. We would certainly be hunted down and destroyed.”

“We would be forced to kill to survive,” Milo said.

“Exactly,” Penny continued. “I do not wish for that to happen. That’s why we must do whatever it takes to avoid being detected and exposed to the world. At this critical time in history, the military would be very much interested in our powers. They would dissect one of us to find out how we are able to do what we do. We can’t let that happen. If we don’t stop this Peron idiot the world as we know it will be obliterated, and we need all of us to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“What do you think we should do to get help?” Jordan asked.

“We must pray. It is our only course of action at this juncture.”

Jordan held a hand up. “Ah . . . maybe it would be better if we went to the church to pray.”

“That’s an excellent idea, Jordan,” Penny said. “Hopefully, no one will become suspicious when we walk into the church together.”

“We could enter separately,” Harriett suggested.

“Yes, that’s what we’ll do,” Penny said. She got up and led the rest up out of the basement.

“We’re going to the church, mother,” she said.

Her mother was sitting in the parlor reading. She looked up at her daughter and smiled. “Very well, dear.”

Penny and her followers walked up Maple Avenue on the way to a street that intersects Main Street where the church is located. A gray stone Gothic church with flying buttresses dominates the street. Its main door is intricately carved with various medieval symbols and ugly gargoyles populate the spires that rise into the heavens, looking down on worshipers like demons and giving silent testimony to the syncretization of Paganism with Christianity.

As agreed upon, they entered the church individually to avoid suspicion even though the practice of leaving churches open for visitors to pray was common in that time period. Penny went first, and Jordan joined her. Carmen and Milo knelt together and Harriett was alone.

After crossing herself, Penny began a litany. “God, the Father of heaven.”

They all replied: “Have mercy on us.”

“God the Son, Redeemer of the world.”

“Have mercy on us.”

“God the Holy Spirit.”

“Have mercy on us.”

Holy Trinity, one God.”

“Have mercy on us.”

“Holy Mary,”

“Pray for us.”

A priest came into the sanctuary via a side door. He stopped when he heard the litany being said, and his curiosity got the better of him.

“Excuse me,” he said, softly. “Why are you praying the Litany of the Saints?”

“We’re praying that America doesn’t get into the war, father,” Penny said.

Father stood there for a moment staring at them before he replied. “Yes, I concur.”

Penny exchanged subtle smiles with Jordan before continuing.

“Holy Mother of God.”

“Pray for us.”

And so on, and when they were finished, they filed out of the pew, genuflected, did the sing of the cross and walked out.

“We obtained remittance for some of our sins today,” Penny said.

“I forgot about that,” Jordan said.

Each of them was aware of the possibility of gaining a plenary indulgence by reciting this litany in church. A plenary indulgence is a remission by God of the punishment due for sin, a practice that is not emphasized in our time.