“I honestly can’t imagine.” I smiled. “But you’ve made it this far.”
“And I’ll make it further.” He smiled. “I have to say, as far as academia goes, things have gotten better than when my dad attended. I’m not the only black guy in my classes.”
“And here?” I pointed back to The Manor.
“There will be more of us. And now we have you.”
“You mean a woman?”
“A Hispanic woman who doesn’t come from a rich, privileged family. That’s gotta count for something.”
“Except I’m the only woman here.”
“You know you were the one I was supposed to hunt?”
“Hunting?”
“Try to recruit.”
“Oh. How’d you figure it out?”
“There was an email I was included in. I wasn’t supposed to be, but it was between the Chancellor and someone else. They never signed their name and the email didn’t have one either.” Will shook his head. “The email had your name, Eva Guerra, and a picture.”
“Can you show me the picture?”
“Let me check.” His brows pulled in as he reached for his phone in his pocket and scrolled through it. We stopped walking just on the other side of the black ropes on the grass, where the caskets were buried. Finally, Will handed me his phone. “Grainy.”
I looked at the photograph in question and felt the color drain from my face. It was a picture of me, with my long hair, before I’d cut it to my shoulders to look more like Stella Thompson. I was wearing a white Stones T-shirt and ripped shorts. Both things which I no longer had and hadn’t since two summers ago when I donated them to the church, which meant the photograph must have been taken before I was even attending Ellis.
“You’re shaking,” Will said.
“Can I screenshot this and text it to myself?”
“Sure.”
I did, sending it to myself and Adam with the message, “wtf?”
“What’s wrong?” Will took his phone back.
“This confirms that I didn’t get a fluke invitation.”
“Even if you did, they deposited the money into your account, right? Not Stella’s?”
“Good point.” I nodded.
The church bells rang out making us both jump a little. The bells rang again. We looked at each other and walked faster. Will hurried as well. We slowed down as we reached the doors. There was a woman there, a nun who seemed to be watching the monks and nuns as they walked in. At the sight of us, she frowned.
“May I help you?”
“Marie invited me to Mass.”
The nun looked at me, looked at Will and back at me. “You’re not dressed for Mass.”
“I’m wearing a dress.” I looked down at the floral maxi dress I wore. “And a jean jacket.”
“Your face isn’t veiled. I can’t let you in.”
“What?”
“Ma’am, we’ll sit in the back,” Will said in his good-behavior voice.
“I’m sorry. I can’t let you in either.” She looked at him. “We’re holding a special Mass today.”
“A special Mass?” Will frowned. “It’s not even a holiday.”
“It’s an initiation.”
“My initiation was the other night.” I looked at Will, who looked just as confused as I felt, then back at the nun.
“Yours was. Ours is now.” She made to move. I moved in front of her. She took a step back and arched an eyebrow. “Excuse me.”
“I’m sorry, but I just really need to see Marie.”
“I’ll tell her you were looking.” She stepped forward again and brushed past me.
I watched as she walked up the steps and ushered a few more nuns inside. Will stood beside me without saying a word. We both continued staring at the nuns, with their heads bowed and eyes to the ground. The very last one looked up briefly, so briefly I almost missed her, but when our eyes met I felt the earth shake beneath me. Will’s hand on my shoulder, squeezing his own confirmation, was the only thing I had to let me know this was real. Once the doors shut, I managed to look at Will, who was still looking like he’d seen a ghost and in a sense he had because it was my face on the nun who was walking inside.
“Was that Stella?” he whispered.
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s find out.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me to the other side of the church. “There’s a back door here somewhere that they used to get in and out.”
My phone vibrated in my back pocket, but I ignored it.
Will’s phone vibrated in his pocket and we both looked at each other.
“It must be Adam.”
“I’ll text him back,” I whisper-shouted, pulling my phone out and seeing his name next to a missed call on my screen. I shot him a quick text: at the church in woods. We’ll be over there soon.
Adam: wtf? We’re not allowed there
Me: Emergency
The phone rang immediately. I ended the call and shot him another text.
Me: can’t talk. Will is with me.
There were no little dots after that, so I put my phone away and looked at Will, nodding that I was ready to keep going. We continued walking. The windows were just slightly higher than we were; the church was built on a concrete platform. Basement maybe. We seemed to be walking into the ground as we continued on. This side of the church was definitely steeper than the other. Will stopped walking. I stopped behind him, then looked over his shoulder to see a wooden staircase and a door. He pointed to it and we both walked faster in that direction. Just as Will set his hand on the doorknob, a person appeared in the woods, moving toward us and we both froze.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“What the hell are you doing here?” Will whisper-shouted.
“What are you doing here?” Adam asked, his eyes wild on Will and me. “Are you insane?”
“Stella’s in there dressed like a nun.” I pointed at the church. Adam’s eyes widened as he looked at Will.
“We think Stella’s in there dressed like a nun,” Will said.
“They specifically told us to stay away this weekend.”
“Marie invited me to come.”
“What?” Adam’s voice broke out of the whisper and the three of us cringed.
“And the nun by the door said they’re having their own initiation. What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know.” Adam wasn’t whispering, but at least his voice was lower.
“Why is it so quiet?” I looked up, trying to gauge whether or not Mass had started.
“The walls are soundproof.”
“What?” Will and I said simultaneously.
“Why would they soundproof their walls?” Will asked.
“Do you really want to find out?” Adam shot the two of us a pointed look.
“Yes,” Will and I said simultaneously.
“Shit,” Adam swore under his breath. He looked at the building beside us, then at the door above the stairs. “It’s probably locked. It has to be locked.”
“Let’s find out.” I rushed up the stairs, Adam and Will at my heels. I turned the knob slowly. “Unlocked.”