Cloister of Secrets Sandbox

Mozzie likes to remind us that every con has an expiration date. That holds true for even the lighthearted ones. As of November 2005, the Clueless con has lasted for 5 months of Neal's life. That translates into 11 stories and over 600,000 words. In this story, the con begins to unravel in earnest.

The process began in The Musicians when Mozzie told Sara he'd discovered their secret. I didn't initially intend for him to be the first one. But when Mozzie was staying in the loft while Neal was being influenced by Electra's curse (Night Howls on the Hudson), the opportunity for Mozzie to hear Neal mutter about Sara in Spanish was too enticing to pass up. Later, his knowledge became an essential ingredient in the mission to rescue Neal from Ydrus (The Musicians).

The Clueless con started under serious circumstances. Sara suggested it the week after Neal had been subjected to an attempt at virtual-reality brainwashing. Part of the allure of the con was Neal's desire to enjoy a lighthearted, playful game as a way of de-stressing. The con became much more serious when Neal needed to pretend he was in love with Bianka as part of the operation to bring the Mansfelds to justice. Now that the bad guys are in prison, I could return to the earlier lighthearted aspect, turning it into a comedy of errors. That was the initial impetus for Cloister of Secrets—a game of secrets, cons, and misunderstandings.

In the original design, I'd hoped to have Peter be the first one to learn the truth, but Neal was reluctant to ask Peter to keep secrets from his wife. When Henry became fixated on Alex Hunter, I was able to inject additional stewing on Peter's part. Neal's conversations with Peter, whether in canon or in stories, have been a fan favorite. Writers have daydreamed about having Neal and Peter exchanging confidences while locked up in a vault, stuck in an elevator, and riding in a car. For me, a medieval bell tower provided an appropriate setting for tolling the bell on the Clueless con. Neal didn't disclose the deception in the tower, but Peter's concerns provided the triggers for the reveal a couple of days later.

Ever since I began writing Caffrey Conversation stories, I knew I wanted to feature the Cloisters in a story. It's one of my favorite museums in New York. Its medieval arcades are an ideal location for confiding secrets. Figuring out a plausible reason for Neal and Peter to be in a bell tower with time to kill was the major hurdle of the story. Design elements to help chart a way forward were an origami nun and medieval music. The origami turned into Hildegard of Bingen, the power woman of her age.

The Play of Daniel, a personal Easter egg for a medieval play I saw in a college chapel, is a reminder that the con isn't over. The remaining two acts will be in the next two stories, Night Music and Italian Masquerade.

Cloister of Secrets on Archive of Our Own
Cloister of Secrets on FanFiction