The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 337

13 August 2025

Clara was not entirely certain that the ability to drive acolytes’ crazy was not a feature rather than a bug. She knew of several students who ended up hopelessly lost, left to cry in some forgotten part of this place.

“Besides,” Clara said. “I wouldn’t have made it without being able to navigate these halls.”

There was a pause, Julia’s jaw muscles pulsated as though attempting to chew on the gristle of the idea.

“You had a fucked up childhood,” Julia said.

“…It could have been worse…”

a dramatic, high-contrast, cinematic photograph of a young girl with a pale complexion, tear-stained face, and reddened eyes, sitting in the corner of intersecting marble-lined hallways, wearing a traditional, cream-colored nun's habit with a white wimple and a silver crucifix around her neck, surrounded by the eerie, labyrinthine atmosphere of a centuries-old monastery, with vaulted ceilings disappearing into the shadows, and a sense of isolation and despair permeating the scene, captured in a warm, muted color palette with deep shadows and soft, diffused light, emphasizing the girl's vulnerability and emotional distress.

Disclaimer: This novel is an work in progress and readers may encounter grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Please view this a draft and not a published work.