Reading – Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, p. 473- 500

In chapter 117, Langdon has little doubt that the chaos and hysteria coursing thought St. Peter’s Square at this very instant exceeded anything Vatican Hill had ever witnessed.  The camerlengo, as if in some sort of post-traumatic trace, seemed suddenly possessed by demons.  He began babbling, whispering to unseen spirits, looking up at the sky and raising his arms to God.  The whole scene was epic.  The camerlengo, in his torn cassock, with the scorched brand on his chest, looked like some sort of battered champion who had overcome the rings of hell for this one moment of revelation.  He bellowed to the heavens, “Ti sento, Dio! I hear you, God!”  The hush that fell across the crowd was instant and absolute.  For a moment it was as if the silence had fallen across the entire planet…everyone in front of their TVs rigid, a communal holding of breath.  The camerlengo raised his arms to the heavens and, looking up, exclaimed, “Grazie! Grazie Dio!”  The silence of the masses never broke.  He cried it out again and a look of joy spread across his face.  The camerlengo was radiant now.  He shouted to the heavens, “Upon this rock I will build my church!”  The camerlengo turned back to the crowd and bellowed again into the night, “Upon this rock I will build my church!”  Then he raised his hands to the shy and laughed out loud yelling “Grazie, Dio! Grazie!”  With a final joyous exultation, the camerlengo turned and dashed back into St. Peter’s Basilica.

In chapter 118, it is 11:42.  Langdon, Vittoria, Chartrand, Glick, Macri, and some other Swiss Guards chase the camerlengo through the church.  Langdon tries to stop the camerlengo because he thinks he’ll die in the church.  The camerlengo keeps shouting “Upon this rock I will build my church!” as he runs through St. Peter’s.  Macri is transmitting the whole chase to the world while lighting everyone’s way.  Glick unwillingly tags along, thinking it’s suicide, and gives a terrified blow-by-blow commentary.  Langdon stops the camerlengo before he goes down an open grate in the floor.  Beneath the grate lay the most sacred place in all of Christendom.  Terra Santa.  Holy Ground.  Some called it the Necropolis.  According to accounts from the select few clergy who had descended over the years, the Necropolis was a dark maze of subterranean crypts that could swallow a visitor whole if he lost his way.  It was not the kind of place through which they wanted to be chasing the camerlengo.  The camerlengo tells everyone that he has had a revelation and that he knows where the antimatter is.  He says to the group, “Upon this rock I will build my church.  That was the message.  The meaning is clear.  The Illuminati have placed their tool of destruction on the very cornerstone of this church.  At the foundation.  On the very rock upon which this church is built.  And I know where that rock is.”  Langdon thinks he is literally insane and says, “The quote is a metaphor, Father! There is no actual rock!”  The camerlengo looks strangely sad and says, “There is a rock, my son.”  He points into the hole, “Pietro è la pietra.”  Langdon freezes and in an instant it all came clear.  Peter is the rock.  The camerlengo says, “The antimatter is on St. Peter’s tomb.” 

In chapter 119, they all follow the camerlengo down the grate.  Vittoria realizes there is not enough time to travel back to CERN and recharge it so the antimatter will detonate.  What’s more, if the camerlengo brings the antimatter up, everyone will die.  Langdon realizes this also and finds the cruel irony that the only way to save the people now was to destroy the church.  He figures the Illuminati were amused by the symbolism.  The camerlengo tells everyone that they all must trust and to please have some faith.

In chapter 120, it is 11:51 and they enter Necropolis.  Necropolis literally means City of the Dead.  They arrive at La tomba di San Pietro.  Before the camerlengo, at waist level, is an opening in the wall beyond which is a small grotto and a meager, crumbling sarcophagus.  The camerlengo gazes into the hole and smiles in exhaustion.  Outside in the square, surrounded by astounded cardinals, Cardinal Mortati stares up at the media screen and watches the drama unfold in the crypt below.  A gasp went up from the throngs and everyone suddenly pointed at the screen saying “It’s a miracle!”  Mortati looks up.  The camera angle was unsteady, but it was clear enough.  On top of St. Peter’s tomb was the antimatter canister.  The camerlengo’s revelation was correct.  The globule of liquid was still hovering at the cylinder’s core.  The grotto around the canister blinked red as the LED counted down into its final five minutes of life.  Also sitting on the tomb, inches away from the canister, was the wireless Swiss Guard security camera that had been pointed at the canister and transmitting all along.  The camerlengo stood suddenly and grabbed the antimatter.  He began running back towards the way they had come from.  Out in the square, Mortati let out a fearful gasp, “Is he bringing that up here?”  On televisions all over the world, larger than life, the camerlengo raced upward out of the Necropolis with the antimatter before him saying, “There will be no more death tonight!”

In chapter 121, the camerlengo bursts through the doors of St. Peter’s Basilica at exactly 11:56.  He runs down the stairs.  Langdon screams “Father! There’s nowhere to go!”  He replies, “Look to the heavens! We forget to look to the heavens!”  In that moment, as Langdon saw where the camerlengo was headed, the glorious truth came flooding all around him.  He knew their salvation was directly overhead in the star-filled Italian sky – the escape route.  The helicopter the camerlengo had summoned to take him to the hospital sat dead ahead, blades already humming in neutral.  The camerlengo ran to the chopper’s pilot’s door and told the guard to get out now.  He handed the canister to the guard while he pulled himself into the helicopter.  He could hear Langdon yelling excitedly running towards the craft.  He turned back to the guard to whom he had given the canister and the guard said, “He took it!”  Langdon, who now has the antimatter, gets in the helicopter and tells the camerlengo to fly.  The camerlengo seems momentarily paralyzed and whispers, “I can do this alone.  I am supposed to do this alone.”  Langdon wasn’t listening and yelled, “Three minutes, Father! Three!”  Without hesitation, he turns back to the controls and with a grinding roar, the helicopter lifts off.  Through a swirl of dust, Langdon sees Vittoria running towards the chopper.  Their eyes meet, and then she drops away like a sinking stone as he travels upward.

In chapter 122, the canister counts down the last two minutes.  Langdon thinks that they are going to drop the canister over the quarries where there is nothing, but he sees that they are still over Vatican City.  He says that the quarries are just a few miles north but the camerlengo replies, “No, it’s far too dangerous.  I’m sorry.  I wish you had not come, my friend.  You have made the ultimate sacrifice.”  As the chopper continues to climb higher, Langdon realizes that the camerlengo never intended to drop the antimatter.  He was simply getting it as far away from Vatican City as humanly possible.  It was a one-way trip.

In chapter 123, Vittoria’s emotions are a cyclone of twisting agonies.  As the helicopter disappears from sight, she pictures Robert’s face.  She felt the tears begin to well.  Behind her on the marble escarpment, 161 cardinals stared up in silent awe.  Some folded their hands in prayer.  Most stood motionless, transfixed.  Some wept.  The seconds ticked past.  In homes, bars, businesses, airports, and hospitals around the world, souls were joined in universal witness.  Time seemed to hover in limbo, souls suspended in unison.  Then, cruelly, the bells of St. Peter’s began to toll.  Vittoria lets the tears come.  Then, with the whole world watching, time ran out.  The dead silence of the event was the most terrifying of all.  High above Vatican City, a pinpoint of light appeared in the sky.  For a fleeting instant, a new heavenly body had been born… a speck of light as pure and white as anyone had ever seen.  Then it happened.  A flash.  The point billowed, as if feeding on itself, unraveling across the sky in a dilating radius of blinding white.  It shot out in all directions, accelerating with incomprehensible speed, gobbling up the dark.  It raced downward, toward them, picking up speed.  Blinded, the multitudes of starkly lit human faces gasped as one, shielding their eyes, crying out in strangled fear.  As the light roared out in all directions, the unimaginable occurred.  As if bound by God’s own will, the surging radius seemed to hit a wall.  It was as if the explosion were contained somehow in a giant glass sphere.  The light rebounded inward, sharpening, rippling across itself.  For that instant, a perfect and silent sphere of light glowed over Rome.  Night had become day.  Then it hit.  The concussion was deep and hollow – a thunderous shock wave from above.  It descended on them like the wrath of hell, shaking the granite foundation of Vatican City, knocking the breath out of people’s lungs, sending others stumbling backward.  The reverberation circled the colonnade, following by sudden torrent of warm air.  The wind tore through the square, letting out a sepulchral moan as it whistled through the columns and buffeted the walls.  Then, as fast as it appeared, the sphere imploded, sucking back in on itself, crushing inward to the tiny point of light from which it had come.

Wow.  That was really intense.  I can’t believe that the camerlengo just had a revelation at the perfect time and was able to find the canister at the last minute.  I think that it was clever that the Illuminati had located the antimatter at the core of Christendom, both literally and figuratively.  Placing the antimatter on St. Peter’s tomb was the ultimate infiltration.  I can’t accept that Langdon died in the helicopter when the antimatter exploded.  The novel is not over yet and it wouldn’t surprise me to find that he found a way to survive another impossible situation. 

Reading – Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, p. 446- 473

In chapter 109, in St. Peter’s Square, the Swiss Guards try to push the crowds back to a safer distance.  Inside the Sistine Chapel, Cardinal Mortati is restless.  It is now past 11:15 and many cardinals were continuing to pray, but others had clustered around the exit.  Some cardinals began pounding on the door with their fists.  Outside the door, Lieutenant Chartrand hears the pounding and doesn’t know what to do.  It was time, but Captain Rocher had given strict orders that the cardinals were not to be let out until he gave the word.  Chartrand thinks that the captain has been acting very erratic since his mysterious phone call.  He asks Rocher if he should open the Sistine.  Rocher says, “Our guest is arriving shortly.  Take a few men upstairs, and guard the door of the Pope’s office.  The camerlengo is not to go anywhere.”  Upstairs in the Office of the Pope, the camerlengo is in quiet meditation.  He wonders if he will survive the night.

In chapter 110, it is 11:23.  Langdon and Vittoria are on the balcony of Castle St. Angelo.  Langdon tells her that he’s going back into the Vatican.  He tells her about the Samaritan, and how it is a ploy – the Illuminati leader, a man named Janus, was actually coming himself to brand the camerlengo.  He says that nobody in Vatican City knows and he has to warn the guards before they let him in.  Just then, the balcony begins to shake.  The crowd in St. Peter’s Square begins to cheer as the papal helicopter emerges from behind the tower.  The media lights are all on the helicopter.  As Rocher goes up to greet whoever is in the helicopter, Langdon pounds his fists on the banister and says that somebody has to warn them.  He turns to go, but Vittoria catches his arm and says “Wait!”  Fingers trembling, she points toward the chopper.  Even from that distance, there is no mistaking.  Descending from the helicopter is Maximilian Kohler.

In chapter 111, Rocher leads Kohler to the Office of the Pope.  As he waits, Kohler remembers how it was the church’s fault that he became paralyzed as a child.  He was terribly ill and his parents would not let the doctors give him any medication or pain relievers because they did not want the doctors to interfere with God’s master plan.  They told Kohler to have faith and that God will protect him.  At last, one of the doctors secretly gave him some new drug from England and told Kohler that “I will never forgive myself if I do not do this.  I wish I had done it sooner.”  When the doctor left, he told Kohler, “This will save your life.  I have great faith in the power of medicine.”  Kohler lived, but he was crippled for the rest of his life.  When Kohler enters the Pope’s office, Camerlengo Ventresca is all alone, kneeling in prayer beside a dying fire.  He says, “Mr. Kohler, have you come to make me a martyr?”

In chapter 112, Langdon and Vittoria race down Il Passetto towards Vatican City.  They can’t believe that Kohler is actually Janus.  When they reached the last door, they see that it has no handles, no knobs, no keyholes, and no hinges.  Langdon feels a surge of panic.  This rare kind of door is called a senza chiave, which is a one-way portal used for security and only operable from one side – the other side.  He looks his watch and it is 11:29.  They start pounding on the door.

In chapter 113, Lieutenant Chartrand thinks something is wrong.  He thinks that someone should be present inside the meeting and he heard Kohler bolt the door after he entered.  He also thinks it’s absolutely insane that the cardinals are still locked in the Sistine Chapel.  The camerlengo had wanted them evacuated fifteen minutes ago, but Rocher had overruled the decision and not informed the camerlengo.  Chartrand then hears a desperate banging coming from the Pope’s private library.  He breaks into the library and finds the keys in the door’s massive locks.  He opens the door sees Langdon and Vittoria stagger into the library.  They all run to the Pope’s office and Rocher stops them.  Langdon says, “The camerlengo is in danger! Open the door! Max Kohler is going to kill the camerlengo!”  Vittoria says, “Open the door! Hurry!” but it is too late.  From inside the Pope’s office, they hear a bloodcurdling scream.  It was the camerlengo.

In chapter 114, the confrontation lasts only seconds.  Chartrand stepped past Rocher and blew open the door of the Pope’s office.  The guards dashed in and Langdon and Vittoria ran in behind them.  The scene is staggering.  Kohler is near the fireplace, standing awkwardly in front of his wheelchair with a pistol aimed at the camerlengo, who is laying on the floor at Kohler’s feet writhing in agony.  Langdon can’t make out the symbol on the camerlengo’s chest from across the room, but a large, square brand is on the floor near Kohler.  Two of the Swiss Guards acted without hesitation and opened fire on Kohler.  He collapses into his wheelchair and his gun glides out of his hand, across the floor.  The camerlengo, still twisting on the floor, points his index finger at Rocher and yells “ILLUMINATUS!”  Rocher says while running at him, “You bastard!  You sanctimonious bas–”  This time, Chartrand reacts on instinct and fires three bullets in Rocher’s back.  Chartrand and the guards dash immediately to the camerlengo.  As Langdon studies the sixth brand, which he thinks looks like just a symmetrical square with meaningless squiggles, Kohler puts his hand on Langdon’s shoulder.  Kohler pulls out a small device off the arm of his wheelchair and hands it to Langdon.  His finals words are, “G-give…G-give this…to the m-media.”  Kohler collapses and Langdon stares at the device.  It is one of the new ultra-miniature palm-held camcorders.  Langdon slips it into his deepest jacket pocket.  The camerlengo asks about the cardinals.  Chartrand tells him that they are still in the Sistine Chapel, as Captain Rocher ordered.  The camerlengo tells him to evacuate everyone now.  He grimaces in pain and says, “Helicopter…out front…get me to a hospital.”

In chapter 115, in St. Peter’s Square, there is less than twenty-five minutes left until midnight and the people are still packed together – some praying, some weeping for the church, others screaming obscenities and proclaiming that this was what the church deserved, still others chanting apocalyptic Bible verses.  Inside the basilica, Langdon, Vittoria, and the two guards carry the camerlengo on a narrow table to the doors of the church.

In chapter 116, it is 11:39 when Langdon and the other step out of St. Peter’s Basilica.  The media lights are so bright that the glare that hit his eyes was searing.  The reporters come running to get a picture of the camerlengo.  Just then, like a man awakening from a nightmare, the camerlengo’s eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright.  Langdon and the others fumbled with the shifting weight and the camerlengo slides off the table.  The camerlengo’s torn cassock slides off his shoulders down around his waist.  The crowd gasps, cameras rolled, flashbulbs exploded.  On media screens everywhere, the image of the camerlengo’s branded chest was projected.  Langdon saw the symbol and it now made perfect sense.  Langdon had forgotten that iron brands, just like rubber stamps, never looked like their imprints.  They were in reverse.  Langdon had been looking at the brand’s negative.  As the chaos grew, an old Illuminati quote echoed with new meaning: “A flawless diamond, born of the ancient elements with such perfection that all those who saw it could only stare in wonder.”  Langdon knew now the myth was true.  Earth, Air, Fire, Water – The Illuminati Diamond.

Wow.  I cannot believe that Kohler was Janus.  I understand his hatred for the church comes from his traumatic childhood, but still I never thought he was that evil.  I wonder what he recorded on the tape he gave Langdon.  I wasn’t really surprised when Rocher turned out to be bad though.  I always thought something was weird about him after Langdon was trapped in the Archives without oxygen and then after he got the phone call.  I’m kind-of getting worried now though because they still have to find the antimatter and they only have a half hour or twenty minutes now.

Reading – Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, p. 408- 445

In chapter 102, Langdon arrives at the Bernini’s Fountain of Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona.  It is only 10:46 when a black van emerges from an alleyway on the far side of the piazza.  The van’s side door slides open and Langdon sees, on the floor of the van, a naked man wrapped in yards of heavy chains.  Langdon takes the gun, runs to the fountain, and wades in the waist deep water.  He makes his way to the other end of the fountain to the van, aims the gun at the Hassassin, and tells him not to move.  The Hassassin grasps one of the van’s roll bars and uses it to swing outward, launching the cardinal out the door and into the fountain.  Langdon pulls the trigger and the bullet explodes through the toe of the Hassassin’s left boot.  The two men splash down in a spray of blood and water.  Langdon searches the bottom for the gun that had been knocked out of his hands.  He finds the cardinal and tried to heave him up to the surface, but he loses his grip on the slippery chains.  Like a stone, Cardinal Baggia goes down again, disappearing beneath the foaming water.  Langdon once again tries to help and sees Water branded to his chest.  Then he sees two boots striding into view, one gushing blood.

In chapter 103, Langdon and the Hassassin battle once more, this time under water.  While fighting to stay alive, Langdon reaches for what he thinks is the gun on the floor, but it turns out to be one of the fountain’s many harmless bubble makers.  A few feet away, Cardinal Baggia drowns to death peacefully.  The Hassassin focuses on Langdon, who is now pinned beneath him in the churning water.  As he predicted, Langdon’s struggling became weaker and weaker.  Suddenly, Langdon’s body goes rigid and he begins to shake wildly for six seconds.  Then Langdon fell limp.  He waits another thirty seconds and then leaves.  Across town, Vittoria wakes up in pain.  She is on her back and her hands are tied behind her.  She scans her surroundings.  She is in a crude, stone room that is large and well-furnished, lit by torches.  It is some kind of ancient meeting hall.  Nearby, a set of double doors are open and beyond them is a balcony.  Though the slits in the balustrade, Vittoria thinks she sees the Vatican.

In chapter 104, Langdon is at the bottom of the Fountain of the Four Rivers with his mouth still wrapped around the plastic hose.  Air is being pumped through the tube to froth the fountain.  He was alive.  He thinks about how accurate his imitation of a drowning man had been and that, thankfully, the Hassassin had bought it and let go of him.  Langdon swims up to the surface and sees that the van is gone.  He then finds Cardinal Baggia and brings him up out of the water.  He tries to revive him, but after five minutes Langdon knows it’s no use.  The man who would be the Pope was dead.  For the first time in years, Langdon cries.

In chapter 105, Langdon realizes that he has to find the Illuminati lair and help Vittoria.  The dove on the top of the obelisk represents the Angel of Peace and it is looking west.  Langdon finds out that the Illuminati lair is in Castel Sant’ Angelo, Castle of the Angel, right outside of the Vatican.

In chapter 106, Langdon arrives at the castle.  He sees that at the very peak of the central tower, a hundred feet above, directly beneath an angel’s sword, a single balcony protruded.  The marble parapet seems to shimmer slightly, as if the room beyond is aglow with torchlight.  Langdon then sees a shadow and knows that someone is up there.

In chapter 107, it is 11:12.  While trying to find his way up to the balcony, Langdon passes a dozen tiny jail cells where the Hassassin held the cardinals.  Near the cells, he sees some sort of passage and realizes that it is Il Passetto.  The Il Passetto – The Little Passage – is a slender, three-quarter-mile tunnel built between Castel St. Angelo and the Vatican.  It had been used by various Popes to escape to safety during sieges of the Vatican as well as by a few less pious Popes to secretly visit mistresses or oversee the torture of their enemies.  Nowadays both ends of the tunnel were supposedly sealed with impenetrable locks whose keys were kept in some Vatican vault.  Langdon realizes that the passage is how the Illuminati had been moving in and out of the Vatican.  Langdon grabs the only weapon he can find – a four-foot section of iron bar – and then goes up the stairs.  In the room, the Hassassin has returned and he has a knife.  He begins sawing upward through the fabric of Vittoria’s khaki shorts when he suddenly stops, looking up.  Just then, a deep voice growls from the doorway, “Get away from her.”  Vittoria is overjoyed that it’s Langdon’s voice and that he is alive.  The Hassassin looks like he has just seen a ghost and says, “Mr. Langdon, you must have a guardian angel.”

In chapter 108, in the Church of Illumination, Langdon and the Hassassin circle the room while talking.  Langdon sees a copper chest with the five brands inside.  In the center is an empty compartment which is intended to hold another brand – a brand much larger than the others and perfectly square.  The Hassassin attacks and grabs the iron bar because Langdon lost his concentration for a moment.  The hunter had become the hunted.  Langdon says that he’s never read anything about a sixth Illuminati brand.  The Hassassin tells him that he probably has heard of it and that Janus is the only one who holds it.  Langdon doesn’t recognize the name and says, “Janus?” The Hassassin tells him that Janus is the Illuminati leader and he is arriving shortly to do the final branding.  Langdon looks at Vittoria, who is strangely calm, her eyes closed to the world around her, breathing deeply.  The Hassassin says that the final victim isn’t them, though they will die, but it is a truly dangerous enemy.  Langdon realizes that he means the camerlengo.  The Illuminati leader intends to brand the camerlengo and Langdon says, “But no one could possibly get into Vatican City right now!” and the Hassassin says, “Not unless he had an appointment.  Janus is the 11^th Hour Samaritan.  By this point, the Hassassin has backed Langdon onto the balcony.  Langdon is shoved off the balcony, but he manages to hang onto the railing with his hand.  Looming over him, the Hassassin raises the bar overhead, preparing to bring it crashing down.  Halfway though his swing, the Hassassin drops the bar and screams in agony.  As he spins away from Langdon, he sees a blistering torch burn on the killer’s back.  Langdon pulls himself up to see Vittoria now facing the Hassassin.  Langdon scrambles back up over the banister and Vittoria thrusts the torch hard into the Hassassin’s face.  There is a hiss and his left eye sizzles.  Vittoria says, “Eye for an eye.”  Both Langdon and Vittoria push the Hassassin backward over the banister into the night.  Langdon turns and stares at Vittoria in bewilderment.  Slackened ropes hang off her midsection and shoulders.  She says, “Houdini knew yoga.”

Ahh! That was so epic! I’m so glad Langdon saved Vittoria and that they killed the Hassassin.  He was just so evil.  It was too bad that Cardinal Baggia died though.  I thought that at least one of the four cardinals would survive, but apparently not.  I hope they get to the Vatican in time to stop Janus from branding the camerlengo.  I really like him and that would be really sad if he died too.  I also think the sixth brand is probably the Illuminati Diamond.

I love this show choir video so much!! It's the North Central Counterpoints from 2009.  The song is really great and I just love their tapping.  (Their taps are Converse - how freaking awesome is that?!) I'm not really fond of the beginning part, but if you start it at 1:25, it's really good.  The song is from the musical "In the Heights" and it about a lottery for $96,000.  My favorite part is when everyone starts singing all different things together towards the end.

2.23 Diction Exercise

a) effortlessly, cynicism, spectrum, habitual, amidst, inclination, strenuous, debilitating

b) elevation: cultured, majestic
connotation: anapestic, dramatic
sound: lyrical, harmonious

c) Alain de Botton's cultured and harmonious diction is used to convey his nostalgic and pragmatic view on why people fall in love.

Reading – Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, p. 372- 408

In chapter 93, Langdon battles with the Hassassin. He ends up hiding in an overturned sarcophagus.

In chapter 94, in the Sistine Chapel, the camerlengo tells the cardinals the horrible truth about everything that is happening. The camerlengo had two BBC reporters there also who would be transmitting his solemn statement, live, to the world. After explaining the entire situation, the camerlengo gives a statement directly to the camera. After his statement, Mortati understood. Conclave had been violated, but this was the only way. It was a dramatic and desperate plea for help. The camerlengo was speaking to both his enemy and his friends now. He was entreating anyone, friend or foe, to see the light and stop the madness. The camerlengo kneels at the altar and says, “Pray with me.” The College of Cardinals dropped to their knees to join him in prayer. Outside in St. Peter’s Square and around the globe… a stunned world knelt with them.

In chapter 95, inside the Vatican, Gunther Glick was walking on air as he followed the camerlengo from the Sistine Chapel. He and Macri had just made the live transmission of the decade. The camerlengo had been spellbinding. The camerlengo tells Glick that he has asked the Swiss Guard to assemble photos for him – photos of the branded cardinals as well as one of His late Holiness. He tells Glick that he would like him to broadcast the photos to the world as well as the live video feed of the antimatter canister as it counts down. Glick feels like it’s Christmas, he is so happy. The camerlengo says, “The Illuminati are about to find out that they have grossly overplayed their hand.”

In chapter 96, Langdon tries to escape the sarcophagus he is trapped beneath. He recalls the time in his childhood when he fell into a well and had tread water for five hours before being rescued. That was the event which made him claustrophobic.

In chapter 97, the Hassassin drops Vittoria off at the Church of Illumination, leaving her unconscious on the couch. He gets Cardinal Baggia to finish his final task.

In chapter 98, six firemen who responded to the fire at the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria extinguished the fire with blasts of Halon gas. They find Cardinal Guidera and Olivetti. They also hear a beeping sound coming from the coffin sounding like a bomb. The bomb squad rolls over the coffin and one screams, “Medico!”

In chapter 99, the camerlengo talks to Rocher. When Rocher leaves the Pope’s office, Lieutenant Chartrand tells him that they have a caller who says he has information that can help them and that the caller phoned on one of the Vatican’s private extensions. Rocher answers the phone and the voice on the other line says, “Rocher, I will explain to you who I am. Then I will tell you what you are going to do next.” Rocher listens and is stunned. When the caller hung up, Rocher now knew from whom he was taking orders. Back at CERN, Kohler tells his secretary Sylvie to have his jet be ready in five minutes.

In chapter 100, Langdon opens his eyes after being unconscious for a while. He has an oxygen mask. The paramedic tells him that his watch saved him. Langdon remembers setting the alarm. It is now 10:28. Langdon realizes that everything that had been driving him – helping to save Vatican City, rescuing the four cardinals, coming face to face with the brotherhood he had studied for years – all of those things had evaporated from his mind. A new compulsion had ignited within him. Find Vittoria. Langdon eventually figures out that the next altar of science is at the Piazza Navona, and Bernini’s Fountain of the Four River was there as the final marker. He has to get there quickly, so Langdon steals a sedan.

In chapter 101, Glick and Macri are talking. After the camerlengo’s address, Glick had overheard Rocher giving his men new orders. Apparently Rocher had received a phone call from a mysterious individual who Rocher claimed had critical information regarding the current crisis. Rocher was advising his guards to prepare for the guest’s arrival. Glick reported the news. He had said that a mystery guest was coming to Vatican City to save the day – The 11^th Hour Samaritan. Marci is mad at Glick because she thinks he blew it. Glick had added a little of his own conspiracy theory that the new headquarters of the Illuminati were at CERN. Glick wonders about the whereabouts of the Illuminati Diamond, which is a part of the Illuminati myth, and whether it might be yet another mystery he could unveil tonight.

I literally cried when I read chapter 94. I was completely blown away by it. What the camerlengo said was really spiritual and wise and I just thought it was great. That, for me, was the best part of the novel that I’ve read so far. I hope Langdon finds Vittoria before the Hassassin rapes and murders her. That would really suck if he was too late. I also think that the part about the Illuminati Diamond is foreshadowing something to come. I think the diamond will turn up somewhere before the end of the novel.

Reading – Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, p. 327- 372

In chapter 82, at CERN in Leonardo Vetra’s apartment, Kohler had just finished reading the leather-bound journal he’s taken from Vetra’s bedside table.  Now, he is watching the television reports.  In Vatican City, Cardinal Mortati carried another tray of ballots to the Sistine Chapel chimney.  He burns them and the smoke is black – no Pope.

In chapter 83, Vittoria, the camerlengo, and some Swiss Guards go down to the Vatican Grottoes.  Vittoria and the camerlengo talk.  He tells her that he is very sorry about the death of her father.  He says that he never knew his father.  He died before the camerlengo was born and he lost his mother when he was ten.  They were both in an accident and he survived but his mother died.  Vittoria asks who took care of him and the camerlengo says God.  A bishop from Palermo appeared at his hospital bed and took him in.  The camerlengo worked under the bishop’s tutelage for many years.  The bishop then became a cardinal.  He is the father that the camerlengo remembers.  Vittoria asks what became of the cardinal who took him in.  He tells her that the cardinal left the College of Cardinals for another position and then he passed on.  Vittoria asks “Recently?” and he tells her, “Exactly fifteen days ago.  We are going to see him right now.”

In chapter 84, Langdon finds a book of Bernini’s collection of work.  He finds that Bernini’s sculpture of The Ecstasy of St. Teresa was moved to an obscure church by the suggestion of the artist.  The sculpture also contains an angle and many references to fire, the next element.  The sculpture is at the Santa Maria della Vittoria church.  Just as Langdon makes his way toward the vaults electronic exit, someone killed the power.

In chapter 85, Vittoria, the camerlengo, and Swiss Guards arrive at the late Pope’s tomb.  When they look at the deceased Pope, they see that his cheeks had collapsed and his mouth gaped wide.  His tongue was black as death.

In chapter 86, Langdon struggles to try to open the door because the amount of oxygen in the vault is running out.  He eventually manages to break the glass and survive.  He finds the walkie-talkie and radios one of the guards who happened to be down in the Vatican Grottoes with the camerlengo and Vittoria.  Langdon tells the camerlengo that he thinks someone just tried to kill him and also that he knows where the next killing is going to be.  The voice that answered him back was Commander Olivetti’s telling him to not speak another word.

In chapter 87, Langdon arrived back at the Pope’s office to find Olivetti, Rocher, the camerlengo, Vittoria, and a handful of guards there.  Rocher takes the blame for the power outage and says that he didn’t know Langdon was in the archives.  Vittoria tells Langdon that the Pope was poisoned and that the Illuminati killed him.  Olivetti tells Langdon that he told him not to speak because the murder of the Pope is an act that could only have been accomplished with help from within these walls.  They can trust no one, not even the guards.  The camerlengo tells Olivetti that he is going to break conclave.  A guard emerges from the security center and tells the camerlengo that he just got word that they have detained the BBC reported, Mr. Glick.  The camerlengo tells the guard to have him and his camera woman meet him outside the Sistine Chapel.  Olivetti, Langdon, and Vittoria leave to find the third alter of science.

In chapter 88, on the way to the Santa Maria della Vittoria church, Vittoria gets a call from Kohler.  He says that he may have some information for her about her father. He says he may know who her father told about the antimatter.  Kohler says that he needs to check some security records and that he will be in touch soon.  They arrive at the Piazza Barberini where the church is.  At that moment, the Hassassin gets a call from Janus who tells him that his position may be known and that there is someone coming to stop him.  The Hassassin tells him that they are too late and that he has already made the arrangements.  Janus tells him that those who stand in his way are knowledgeable.  The Hassassin says, “You speak of the American scholar?” and Janus asks, “You are aware of him?” The Hassassin tells him that he in cool-tempered but naïve and says that he spoke to him on the phone earlier.  He also says that the female he is with seems quite the opposite.  Janus tells the Hassassin to eliminate them if need be.  The Hassassin says, “Consider it done,” while thinking “Although the woman I may keep as a prize.”

In chapter 89, the Swiss Guard continues to search for the antimatter.  Lieutenant Chartrand remembers a conversation he had with the camerlengo when he first arrived in Vatican City and he feels comforted knowing that the camerlengo was taking control.

In chapter 90, Langdon and Vittoria run into two nuns and ask where the church is.  They point to it, but say that it closed early.  They tell them that they had been inside the church fifteen minutes ago praying for the Vatican in its time of need, when some Arabic man appeared and told them the church was closing early.  Vittoria presses the auto dial on her phone to warn Olivetti who had already gone inside.  Langdon, who is speechless, points to the church which is on fire.

In chapter 91, Langdon and Vittoria run into the church and see a naked man suspended from cables.  Each wrist had been connected to an opposite cable, his arms outstretched in a spread-eagle.  The man was alive and he gazed down in a silent plea for help.  He had been branded.  As the flames climbed higher, lapping at his feet, the victim let out a cry of pain.  Langdon tries to get him down somehow while Vittoria looks for Olivetti.  She finds him dead, with his head twisted 180 degrees in the wrong direction.  She hears breathing behind her and turns around, but it is too late.  The killer’s elbow crashes down on the back of her neck.  He says, “Now, you are mine.”  Langdon realizes that Olivetti and Vittoria are nowhere to be found and then he sees the Hassassin.  Langdon recognizes the gun in his hand as the one Vittoria had been carrying when they came in.  He shoots at Langdon, but he dives under some pews.  High above, Cardinal Guidera endures his last torturous moments of consciousness.  He thinks that he is in hell.  He reads the word branded to his chest, Fire.

In chapter 92, the doors of the Sistine Chapel open.  Cardinal Mortati thinks that the preferiti are coming, but when the door opened, a gasp echoed through the chapel.  For the first time in Vatican history, a camerlengo had just crossed the sacred threshold of conclave after sealing the doors.  The camerlengo goes up to the altar and says, “Signori, I have waited as long as I can. There is something you have a right to know.”

Wow, that would be such an awful way to die!  Being burned alive is just horrible.  I also feel bad for Olivetti.  I was just starting to like him.  I also wonder what the Hassassin is going to do with Vittoria.  Langdon is really in trouble now.  It’s just he and the Hassassin.  I know he can’t die because he is the main character of the novel, but I wonder how he escapes.  I think it’s good that the camerlengo is telling all of the cardinals the truth.

Reading – Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, p. 292- 327

In chapter 72, Langdon figures out that the next alter of science is right outside St. Peter’s Church.  The sculpture by Bernini is in St. Peter’s Square and it is a marble block with the image of a billowing gust of wind.  It is called the West Ponente – the West Wind.  They go to St. Peter’s Square and the BBC van follows them, unnoticed.

In chapter 73, Langdon and Vittoria walk around St. Peter’s Square and pretend to be tourists.  Gunther Glick and Macri watch them.  They see that the same army that had found the cardinal’s body had fanned out and surrounded the piazza.  Glick thinks that something big is about to happen.

In chapter 74, Vittoria notices that a woman with a BBC camera is following them.  Then, the bells of St. Peter begin to chime.  Despite the clanging bells, the area seems perfectly calm.  Tourists were wandering.  A homeless drunk dozed awkwardly at the base of the obelisk.  A little girl was feeding pigeons.  As the echo of the ninth bell faded away, a peaceful silence descended across the square.  Then, the little girl began to scream.

In chapter 75, Langdon and Vittoria run to the little girl and see her pointing to the shabby, decrepit drunk.  Langdon sees a dark widening stain spreading across the man’s rags – fresh, flowing blood.  The old man seemed to crumple in the middle, toppled off the stairs, and hit the pavement facedown.  A crowd began to gather.  Vittoria finds that he has a pulse and Langdon rolls him over to find that the word Air had been branded to his chest.  The Swiss Guards race after an unseen assassin.  Nearby, a tourist explains that only a few minutes ago, a dark-skinned man had been kind enough to help the poor, wheezing, homeless man across the square before disappearing back into the crowd.  Vittoria rips the rest of the rags off of the man and sees that he has two deep puncture wounds, one on either side of the brand, just below his rib cage.  She tries to give him mouth to mouth.  As she blew, the wounds on either side of the man’s midsection hissed and sprayed blood into the air like blowholes on a whale.  His lungs had been punctured.  As the Swiss Guard moves in, Langdon sees the BBC woman crouched nearby taping everything.

In chapter 76, Macri is able to give the footage to Glick before the Swiss Guard can take it.

In chapter 77, Langdon is in the Office of the Pope.  Olivetti, the camerlengo, and Captain Rocher are debating what to do next.

In chapter 78, in London, a BBC technician plays a video cassette for the editor-in-chief.  As the tape plays, she tells him about the conversation she had just had with Gunther Glick in Vatican City.  The man tells everyone that they are going “live in five.”   He tells them to sell the story to CNN, MSNBC, and then the big three for a million dollars.  At that exact instant, somewhere in Rome, the Hassassin dials the BBC reported to whom he had spoken earlier.  It was time. The world had yet to hear the most shocking news of all.

In chapter 79, Langdon needs a list of all of Bernini’s sculptures so he can find the next alter of science.  A Swiss Guard takes him back to the Vatican Secret Archives.  Vittoria says that she can help, but Olivetti stops her and says that he needs to talk to her.  Just then, his walkie-talkie crackles loudly and says that he thinks they better turn on the television.

In chapter 80, Langdon is in the archives once more.

In chapter 81, the people in the Office of the Pope watch the television.  It is MSNBC news and it is broadcasting the whole story.  The reporter also says that the Illuminati have just claimed responsibility for the death of the Pope fifteen days ago.  By Vatican law, no formal autopsy is ever performed on the Pope, so the Illuminati claim of murder cannot be confirmed.  Everyone is completely shocked.  Rocher flips the channel and finds a BBC station also talking about it.  On that channel is Glick who explains that the assassin phoned only moments ago and said how the Illuminati were responsible for the Pope’s death.  The anchorman asks Glick how.  Glick says, “They gave no specifics except to say that they killed him with a drug known as Heparin.”  The camerlengo, Olivetti, and Rocher all exchange confused looks because the Pope’s medication was Heparin.  Rocher says that Heparin isn’t a poison, but Vittoria says that it’s a powerful anticoagulant and an overdose would cause massive internal bleeding and brain hemorrhages.  The camerlengo is troubled because no one on the outside knew about the Pope’s daily injections.  Vittoria tells them that if he overdosed with Heparin, his body would show signs. His gums would bleed and the inside of his mouth would be black.  They decide to go see the late Pope.

I think it would be really awful if the Pope really was poisoned.  If he was, I wonder if it was the Hassassin who poisoned him or someone else inside the church.  I also think the second cardinal murder was really disgusting and sick.  The way the second element of air was connected to the way he was murdered was really creative though.  The Illuminati must have spent a lot of time working to prepare for this day because they left no room for error.  The Swiss Guard failed to catch the Hassassin twice now.  I hope they can catch him soon so the two remaining cardinals can live.  

Reading – Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, p. 263- 292

In chapter 65, Langdon and Vittoria go into the Santa Maria del Popolo church where the Chigi Chapel is located.  There are eight chapels in all and all eight openings were covered with huge sheets of clear polyurethane due to construction.  They find which of the chapels is the Chigi Chapel and enter it.  It appears empty and that they are too late.  Langdon is in awe because the chapel is finished entirely in chestnut marble and on the ceiling is a field of illuminated stars and the seven astronomical planets.  Below that are the twelve signs of the zodiac and further down the wall are tributes to the Earth’s four temporal seasons.  On either side of the chapel, in perfect symmetry, are two ten-foot-high marble pyramids.  Vittoria blurts out, “Robert, look!”  Sneering up at them from the floor is the image of a skeleton – an intricately detailed, marble mosaic depicting “death in flight.” The mosaic is mounted on a circular stone that had been lifted out of the floor like a manhole cover and was now sitting off to one side of a dark opening in the floor.  Langdon gasps, “Demon’s hole,” and moves toward the pit.  The stench coming up is overwhelming.  Langdon looks in the dark and sees the cardinal.  He looks unmoving and lifeless, and yet he looks like he’s standing up.  They try calling to the cardinal.  Langdon decides to go down the hole to get a closer look.

In chapter 66, Glick and Macri are on their way to the chapel to see if what the caller had told them was true.  On the way, four identical cars all with four passengers race by heading to the same church.

In chapter 67, Langdon climbs down the pit on a rung-ladder.  At the bottom, he sees the man.  The man had his back to Langdon, and Langdon could not see his face, but he did indeed seem to be standing.  As Langdon draws nearer, he is close enough to see it all.  Emerging like a demon from the earthen floor was an old man…or at least half of him.  He was buried up to his waist in the earth, standing upright with half of him below ground.  He was stripped naked and his hands were tied behind his back with a red cardinal’s sash.  The man’s head lay backward, eyes toward the heavens as if pleading for help from God himself.  Langdon almost gags when he sees the cause of death.  The sight was gruesome.  The man’s mouth had been jammed open and packed solid with dirt.  He tells Vittoria that somebody stuffed a fistful of dirt down his throat and that he suffocated.  Vittoria says, “Dirt? As in…earth?”  The first element was Earth.  Langdon looks for the brand and sees the mythical ambigram of the word “earth” on the cardinal’s chest.

In chapter 68, at the Sistine Chapel, the conclave had officially begun.  Half an hour ago, Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca gave opening prayer and told the cardinals that the four preferiti are not present in conclave at the moment.  He told them to proceed as they must with faith and purpose.  It had taken thirty minutes to complete the preparatory rituals leading up to the first vote.  Now, Cardinal Mortati was receiving the final vote.  Almost immediately at the beginning of the voting, he sensed this first vote would be failed.  After only seven ballots, seven different cardinals had been named.  The cardinals were obviously submitting votes for themselves.  This apparent conceit, Mortati knew, had nothing to do with self-centered ambition.  It was a holding pattern, a defensive maneuver.  A stall tactic to ensure no cardinal received enough votes to win…and another vote would be forced.  The cardinals were waiting for their preferiti.

In chapter 69, Langdon climbs up out of the pit and Olivetti and some Swiss Guard members are there.  Vittoria is explaining what happened to Olivetti and how they found the right location.  Langdon realizes that they can follow the Path of Illumination to the next church to try to catch the Hassassin there.  Vittoria figures out that the Illuminati sculptor is the famous sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini.  She also shows Langdon the only sculptor in the chapel that is on the far wall.  It is a sculpture of two life-size human figures intertwined.  Langdon realizes that it is the “Habakkuk and the Angel.”  Both the angel and the Habakkuk had their arms outstretched and were literally pointing into the distance.  Vittoria is confused because they are contradicting each other.  The angel is pointing one way, and the prophet the other.  Langdon had already solved that problem.  He goes outside the building to see what direction the sculpture is pointing.  Vittoria asks how he knows which finger to follow.  He says, “The poem, the last line!”  Vittoria says, “’Let angels guide you on your lofty quest’? Well, I’ll be damned.”

In chapter 70, Glick and Macri are parked in the BBC van in the shadows near the Santa Maria del Popolo church, watching.  Langdon, outside of the church, sees that the angel is pointing southwest.  He thinks about the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.  Earth they had found – inside the Chapel of the Earth – Habakkuk, the prophet who predicted the earth’s annihilation.  Air is next.  Langdon tries to think of a Bernini sculpture that has something to do with Air.

In chapter 71, Glick and Macri see an army emerge from the church.  Moving like a human wall, they begin to descend down the stairs of the church.  Behind them, almost entirely hidden by the wall, four soldiers seemed to be carrying something heavy.  Macri tries to get a picture of what they are carrying.  When the soldiers tried to lift the object into the trunk, Macri found her opening.  Macri had her frame and tells Glick to call editorial because they have a dead body.  Far away at CERN, Maximilian Kohler goes into Leonardo Vetra’s study.  He begins sifting through Vetra’s files.  When he doesn’t find what he is after, Kohler moves to Vetra’s bedroom.  In the top drawer of his bedside table, Kohler finds exactly what he is looking for.

I think that the cardinal’s murder is really gruesome and disgusting.  That poor old man.  I do think it’s cool how the elements are tying into the murders of the cardinal.  I don’t want the other cardinals to die, but then again I kind of want to see if their causes of death are related to the specific elements.  I also think the part with Kohler is a little fishy.  I don’t know what he is searching for, but he shouldn’t be looking through Vetra’s personal stuff.  Whatever he is looking for, I don’t think it is a good thing.

Reading – Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, p. 227- 263

In chapter 56, Vittoria and Langdon explain what they have found out to Olivetti.  He finally agrees to send some of his men to the Pantheon

In chapter 57, Kohler wakes up in a private room in the CERN infirmary.  He quietly leaves.

In chapter 58, Vittoria convinces Olivetti to let her go inside the Pantheon to see if the killer is already inside.  Langdon goes with her and they hold hands to pretend they are newlyweds.  Langdon is given a gun and puts it in his pocket.

In chapter 59, the second-in-command of the Swiss Guard, Captain Elias Rocher, is prepping his men about finding the antimatter.  Rookie Lieutenant Chartrand listens and regrets having joined the Swiss Guard.

In chapter 60, Langdon and Vittoria walk into the Pantheon.

In chapter 61, Langdon and Vittoria split up to look around for anyone that could be hiding.  A guild at the Pantheon talks to Langdon.  Vittoria finds Raphael Santi’s tomb and reads the plaque beside it.  She then dashes in horror across the room to Langdon.

In chapter 62, they realize that the dates don’t match up.  Raphael wasn’t buried at the Pantheon until 1759; a century after Diagramma was published.  Langdon realizes that he misunderstood the clue.  It’s not Raphael’s burial site that they need, it is a tomb that Raphael designed for someone else.  With the help of the guild, they figure out that the correct church is the Chigi Chapel, which used to be called Capella della Terra – “Chapel of the Earth.”  They leave the Pantheon and tell Olivetti that they had the wrong place and that the first altar of science is at the Chigi Chapel.  They have four minutes before the first cardinal is murdered and they get into a taxi to go to the chapel.

In chapter 63, Gunther Glick shows Chinita Macri that the Illuminati do exist by showing her past news stories about them.

In chapter 64, Langdon and Vittoria arrive at the Chigi Chapel.  On the church’s front entrance there is a sign warning “Contruzione. Non Entrare.” The church is closed for renovation and the front door won’t open.  They try to find another entrance.  Langdon thinks that if there is another way in, it’s probably recessed in the rear bastion as more of an escape route than an entrance.  At the end of an alley, a stone bulwark jutted out from the base of the rear wall of the church concealing a narrow, compressed passageway cutting directly into the foundation of the church.  They make their way through the passageway until they find a heavy wooden door that once was locked but is not any more.  Vittoria takes the gun.

I like how Langdon at first got the clue wrong and went to the wrong place.  I think it shows that he is not perfect at solving everything.  I also think it’s funny how at first the guild at the Pantheon really annoys Langdon, but he turns out to be really helpful for them.  I like Langdon and Vittoria as a pair.  I think it’s really similar to Langdon and Sophie’s relationship in the Da Vinci Code.  They met as strangers and are now going on this insane adventure to solve a mystery and they are now learning to really trust one another.  I like the way their relationship has progressed so far.