“You okay?”
I shook my head.
“If it’s too overwhelming, we’ll stop.”
“We can’t stop. There’s about to be a sacrifice and we don’t know if it involves a shirt, a goat, or me.”
“Don’t say that. It won’t involve you.” He squeezed my hand.
“You know it has to, one way or another.” I turned to face him. “You better get used to the idea of seeing me naked and tied down while a bunch of monks rape me.”
“Don’t put that picture in my head, Eva.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “That’s not going to happen.”
“It happened before and we just stood there, watching, doing nothing.”
“I wish we hadn’t, but we didn’t know what was happening.”
“You don’t have to know the full details to know the difference between right and wrong.”
“We’ll be ready next time.”
One of our phones vibrated on the table and we all paused. Will stood and picked it up, sliding to unlock. His brows furrowed when he saw whatever was on it.
“Oh shit.” He glanced up at Adam, turning his phone so we could see it. “My brother just sent me this. Look at the headline.”
It read: Nun Kidnapped. It was accompanied by a front shot of The Manor.
“When did this happen?”
“Today.” Will took his phone back and started texting. “A while back I’d told my brother I’d seen some creepy nuns and monks around here. He must have remembered our conversation.”
“Yo, did you guys see the news?” Wolf appeared out of breath at the door of the room. “The nuns are freaking out.”
“What?” Adam stood. I followed. “Where are they? What are they saying?”
“I don’t know. They’re congregated outside on the lawn but they look pissed.”
I didn’t stand around to keep talking. I let go of Adam’s hand and marched out of the room, practically sprinting to the back door. When I opened it, I saw all of the nuns standing around the lawn, talking over each other, some pointing fingers at some of the monks. None of them seemed to notice my arrival, so I kept walking, looking for Marie. I needed to find Marie. She was the one I needed to direct all of these questions to, not Debbie, not Dr. Thompson, not Detective Barry. It all started with Marie. I weaved through the crowd of brown and black and white robes and tapped on one of the nun’s shoulders. She looked confused when she saw me.
“Where’s Marie?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned, grabbing my arm. “What are you doing? Everyone is worried sick about you.”
“What are you talking about?” I yanked, trying to get free, but she gripped harder.
“She’s right here,” she said. “Wendy hasn’t been kidnapped.”
The nuns around us turned and looked at us. One of them, the woman who had spoken to me by the stairs, walked over and pulled us apart.
“This isn’t Wendy.” She looked at me. “Are you okay?”
“What do you mean that’s not Wendy?” the other nun said.
“Mind your business, Sister,” she said scowling at her. She turned to the other nuns. “This is not Wendy. It’s a lookalike.” She pulled me away from the crowd.
“What was that? Who’s Wendy?” I asked once she let me go.
“Eva.” That was Adam, rushing toward us. “What the hell?”
“I was looking for Marie,” I said against his chest as he pulled me close. “We need to find her.”
“Sister Marie?” the nun asked.
“Do you know where she is?”
“She should be at the chapel. Cleaning.” She looked in the direction of the woods.
“Is . . . does Wendy really look like me?”
“You could pass as twins,” she said, looking back at me.
“Do you know where I can find her?”
“Wendy?”
“Yes.”
“She’s been kidnapped.”
“By whom?”
“They haven’t said.” The nun looked around and leaned in. “I think it’s one of the monks. I saw them arguing last night and it didn’t look very good.”
“Did you tell the police?” I lowered my voice to match hers.
“Of course not.” Her eyes bounced to our surroundings. “If I tell them, I’ll get sent away. That’s how things work around here.”
“Why stay?” The question came from Adam’s lips. “We’ve seen some pretty messed-up things.”
“My daughter is here.” Her eyes filled with tears when she said it. “Not here, she’s not one of us, but she and her family live nearby. It would break my heart to move far away from my grandchildren.” She put a hand on my arm. “Listen, I have to go, but if I could give you one piece of advice, stay away from here.”
She walked away and I felt something sit on my chest.
“You can stay at my place.”
“What?” I blinked up at Adam.
“You can stay at my place for now.”
“I have my own place, Adam. The only reason I’m not there is because I need to find out what happened to me and Stella and now possibly Wendy.”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” I sighed heavily, fighting the urge to take it out on him. I needed to stop blaming others for things they couldn’t help just because I felt like I was spinning out of control. I turned toward him and wrapped an arm around his waist. With the way his eyes widened, I knew he wasn’t expecting that. “Thank you for helping me. I mean, I know you have to get to the bottom of it as well, for The Swords and all, but thank you.”
“I’m here for you.” He pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head.
“I need to find Marie. That lady said she was back there cleaning.”
“Let’s go.” Adam started walking me into the woods. When I glanced over my shoulder and got the full scope of how many monks and nuns were here, I held his hand tighter.
“Do you think maybe Wendy left of her own accord? Maybe she was the one who was supposed to be sacrificed?”
“Maybe.”
“But if she’s gone and Stella’s not here, it would fall on me.”
“Stop saying that. Can you stop saying that?” Adam ran a hand through his hair. “Jesus.”
“It’s not that far-fetched.”
“It is, Eva. People don’t sacrifice people. We’re not the freaking Aztecs.”
“Do you see the people standing in your backyard right now?” I nodded in the direction of the house we were walking away from.
“Clergymen and women, yes, not murderers or rapists.”
“I was raised Catholic and even I’m willing to admit that a lot of them are disgusting.” I shot him a look. “Adam, we saw them raping a woman. Various women if we take the photographs into account. My mother may have been one of them.” A sudden wave of nausea overcame me and I stopped walking, letting go of his hand and setting it on my stomach. “Oh my God. Do you think my father is a priest?”