The Forgotten Sanctuary

48 Hours Earlier – The Call That Changed Everything
Jessica sat on the edge of her bed in a nondescript Rome hotel room, the glow of the bedside lamp casting sharp shadows against the wall. The Vatican files were spread across the mattress, her phone resting beside them.

She had been staring at the documents for hours. Eight records. Eight lifetimes. And one name that should not have been there.

She picked up her phone. One hesitation. Then dialed.

Olivia answered first. “Tell me you’re in a café enjoying espresso and not about to drag us into something insane.”

Jessica smirked faintly. “That’s optimistic.”

A groan. Then, “You’re in the Vatican, aren’t you?”

Jessica exhaled. “Not anymore.”

A pause. Then Olivia’s tone sharpened. “What did you find?”

Jessica hesitated. Then she went for the simplest answer.

“A name. Mine. Eight times. Across six centuries.”

Silence. Then Leanna’s voice—cool, controlled, but already focused. “Explain.”

Jessica leaned forward, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“It’s tied to the Templars.” She reached for one of the documents, running a finger along the faded script. “The records reference something called ‘Sensus et Memoria.’ Rituals of memory. The Church buried the research, but it was never erased completely.”

Olivia was already typing. Jessica could hear the keyboard clicking.

“Jessica, you don’t just find your own name in sealed Vatican records and act like that’s normal.”

Jessica sighed. “I’m not acting like it’s normal. I’m saying I don’t have all the answers yet.”

Leanna cut in. “Yet. Meaning you have a lead.”

Jessica reached for the oldest document in the stack. “There’s a location in the records. A church. Officially, it burned down centuries ago.”

A beat. Then Olivia, flatly: “And you’re standing in the ruins right now, aren’t you?”

Jessica smirked. “Not yet.”

Leanna was the one to bring the conversation back to strategy. “Is there enough here to warrant a trip?”

Jessica exhaled slowly. “I wouldn’t call if there wasn’t.”

Silence. Then, Olivia’s voice lighter, but edged with something else. “All right. We’re coming.”

* * *

Rome, 10:43 AM – The Church That Shouldn’t Exist
Jessica stood in front of the crumbling stone façade, hands in her pockets, studying the remnants of the abandoned church.

It had been erased from records, but history never truly disappeared.

The morning light filtered through the skeletal remains of the building, casting long shadows through shattered archways and ivy-covered pillars. The doors were gone—either stolen or rotted away long before her time.

She adjusted her bag strap and turned as the sound of approaching footsteps cut through the stillness.

Leanna and Olivia had arrived. Reuniting the Team

Leanna stepped through first, moving like she always did, controlled, scanning the area, already assessing the exits. Behind her, Olivia followed, pulling her scarf tighter against the wind. She had a leather satchel slung over one shoulder, already pulling out her tablet.

Jessica barely had time to speak before Olivia exhaled and said, “All right, let’s hear it.”

Jessica smirked faintly. “No warm greetings?”

Leanna gave her a long look, sharp and unamused. “You dragged us across the world. What are we looking at?”

Jessica gestured toward the ruins. “A church that doesn’t exist.”

Olivia raised an eyebrow. “That’s vague as hell.”

Jessica nodded. “Exactly.”

She stepped through the remains of a grand entrance, now just an empty frame where the doors had stood. The interior was silent, untouched by modern restoration efforts. The floor was cracked, overgrown with weeds and patches of dry earth where pews once stood.

Leanna let out a low whistle. “And you found this how?”

Jessica reached into her jacket and pulled out her phone, flipping to the images from the Vatican Archives. She handed it to Olivia, who scrolled through the scanned documents with narrowed eyes.

Jessica kept her voice even. “Eight records. My name. Spanning centuries.”

Leanna stiffened. Olivia stopped scrolling. Her fingers hovered over the screen, eyes flicking back to Jessica.

“Say that again.”

Jessica crossed her arms. “My name was in Vatican records dating back to the 14th century.”

Leanna’s gaze sharpened. “That’s what you didn’t tell us over the phone.”

Jessica exhaled. “Would you have believed me if I had?”

Silence fell between them, then Olivia muttered, “Jesus Christ.”

Jessica gestured toward the inscriptions on the church walls, where faded symbols had been carved into the stone. “There’s more.”

Leanna stepped closer, kneeling to brush dust off a section of the floor. Her expression didn’t change, but Jessica saw the way her fingers tensed slightly against the stone. Jessica knew what she had found before Leanna even said it: the Templar sigil. The same symbol buried in Vatican records. The one that reemerged as Vanguard’s emblem. The one Foscari died to put in her hands.

Jessica handed the original parchment to Olivia showing her the sigil. They studied the records again, cross-referencing the oldest document in the stack. The fourteenth-century parchment contained a single redacted location.

Jessica turned to Olivia. “Can you restore it?”

Olivia didn’t answer. She just pulled out her tablet and began running an infrared analysis on the aged ink.

Minutes passed, then a single word appeared beneath the redacted section. “Avinionis.”

Leanna spoke first. “Avignon.”

Jessica exhaled. That made sense. The papacy wasn’t in Rome in the 14th century. It was in Avignon. Which meant the real records weren’t lost.

They were moved.

* * *

As they exited the ruins, Jessica couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

She turned once and noticed just a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye. A shadow where there shouldn’t have been one. Then it was gone. She didn’t say anything, but as they walked back toward the city, she could feel it. Something had changed.

They weren’t just chasing history anymore. History was chasing them.