"You expect to find a track node in a churchyard? Are you serious?"
"Has to be here." Pete bit his lip, as though not sure himself. "We've looked all other places." He clambered over the lych gate. Alex sighed, left a hasty sigil on one of the posts for Else and vaulted after him. "You'll have to keep watch for me," Pete continued, "I'm going to have to be wide open to find anything."
Alex nodded, "Alright. Search the paths first?"
Pete shrugged. "May as well, but the human paths around here are much more recent than the ones you expect to find tracks coming off. It could be anywhere." He wandered off into the dark, and Alex followed, grateful that he wasn't relying only on eyesight in the chiarascurro landscape cast by the distant streetlights on gravestones, yew trees and the church itself, so inconsistent with the physical forms.
They had checked out about half of the ground when Alex called a halt. "Else just arrived." Pete's eyes snapped open form their slits, and he rubbed at his neck.
"Can't find it," he said, mainly for the benefit of Else. "It's here, I'm sure, there are so many track segments, but no sign of the node itself. And it's strong enough not to have been wiped by the human worship." Else held her hand out to Alex.
"Here," she said, face set, "your sigil. You did it so tight I couldn't unwrap it. I barely managed to get it off the post."
"Sorry." He grinned sheepishly. "Not the easiest of circumstances in which to have fine control. And you should expect me to be a bit clumsy." She dropped it into his open hand, the tiny silver sparks where it hit him and vanished adding nothing to the illumination.
She made a sound suggesting that she wasn't totally convinced by the apology. "You OK to continue Pete?"
"Yes." He pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Let's get on with it."
They completed the search of the churchyard without success, but finding more and more evidence suggesting they had been looking in the right place. Finally, it started to rain, and they took shelter in the porch to reconsider. Pete slumped to a seat, back against the wall, head back and eyes closed. "It's here. I know it is."
"I'll believe you now," said Alex, absently reading the notices, "But it doesn't get us anywhere."
Else stared out at the rain, arms folded, hugging her coat to herself. "More interesting is the question of what a Christian church is doing on a track node. I've not seen any records of activity in this area, but there's been a church here an awfully long time. Maybe it was put here originally to try and close the track down."
Pete's eyes had opened, and he was sitting forward. "What did you say? Right at the start of that?"
"Something about it being interesting how a church came to be on a track node. Why?" She turned, both of them looking at Pete. Slow, amazed comprehension stole across her face. "You mean, it's _inside_ the church?"
Pete nodded, pushing himself to his feet. Alex's breath hissed through his teeth. "Shit. That must take an awful lot to keep open."
Pete nodded. "Door looks easy enough to open." Else stepped up to it, running her hands along the striated wood.
"Two bolts and a deadlock," she confirmed. "I'm working on the lock, given how clumsy Alex is being."
"No need to take that attitude. Anyway, I've got the bolts." Almost immediately, Else swore and jerked back. "What is it?"
"One of the pins has a guard on it. I can't touch it, and it's probably triggered an alarm."
"I don't think so," said Pete. "Let me try. I didn't pick up any signal from it." He rummaged in an inside pocket of his coat for the right tool, and, finding it, knelt by the door.
"Curiouser and curiouser," said Else. "That was not a Christian ward. What the hell is going on here?" The lock clicked and Pete, stood up, pushing the door open.
Alex's mouth twisted into an uncertain grin. "Let's find out, shall we?" and gestured for her to follow Pete. He closed the door quietly, the three of them standing in an amazed silence which Alex broke. "This is one seriously screwed-up building."
"You can say that again," said Else. Pete was already wandering down the aisle. "Concealing a track node this big with someone else's place of worship," she shook her head. "I'm surprised there's a congregation left."
"They probably get quite a rush from the node," said Pete absently. "They don't know what it is, so it acts on them as positive feedback. There's probably a sizeable flock here."
"There is," said Alex, lighting some foxfire in his hands, and casting it up. "At least, I'd guess that from the notice board." He and Else looked around, but to normal appearances the church was quite ordinary, even in the pale violet light.
Pete reached the alter, and turned, giving them a weary, triumphant smile. "Notice anything odd?"
"You mean, other than the fact that this is a Christian church positively crawling with track segments?" asked Else. They joined Pete, and looked at it from his perspective.
"Bloody odd place for a fount," remarked Alex.
Pete grinned. "Quite. Look where you'd expect to find it."
Else was there, crouched on the flags, tracing a circular outline on them. "The original fount was here. It was used enough for there still to be a trace, but I can't tell how long it's been moved."
However, Alex's attention had shifted back to the actual fount. "Oh, shit," he breathed, "It's there, isn't it?" Pete's grin became more vicious as he nodded, his hair flicking in his eyes. "I don't believe it. That bastard's huge!"
Else rejoined them. "It's not just hiding in the church, it's sourcing itself from it." She shook her head in amazement. "That's how it can be so big but concealed, how it can withstand the faith here. It's feeding off it, off the baptisms."
"Naming ceremony," said Pete. "That's powerful to anyone. They could have caused real havoc if they wanted to, and I imagine they would." He exhaled deeply. "Right. Let's trash it," and he took one step forward before pulling up with a look of horror on his face. "Fuck. Something's coming through!"
P"I thought you said we hadn't tripped anything!" yelled Alex, hastily trying to pull a shield together.
Pete shook his head. "I couldn't know." He sounded dazed. "There's a track going through the door. There was a signal on that guarded lock, and it went directly onto that track. No way I could have picked it up."
"Here!" Else shouted as best she could through gritted teeth. She was standing on the original site of the fount. Pete sidled woodenly towards her, eyes fixed on the top of the fount where something was starting to come through.
"Are you crazy?" Alex screamed back. "That must be completely residual, and there's no way we can tap a Christian source!"
The circle Else had traced earlier was starting to glow around her and Pete. "At least it's human. Bring that shield over here you stupid bastard!"
Pete stepped back into her. As she whirled, it fully arrived, one foot on either side of the bowl, the carved stone pedestal adding unwanted height to an already towering presence. The node jarred to behind it. Pete was holding onto her, fighting panic, and there was nothing she could do but return it. "Oh God," she whispered, "I think we're in over our heads."