“He’s your prisoner now,” Caleb says. “Lose him and we’ll cull the herd by half.”
I feel her shudder, but she says, “It will be done as Father Tom wishes.”
“Everyone stays in until you get different orders,” he says. “Get them ready. Reckoning is coming.”
She opens her mouth to say something, then just looks down and nods instead. Caleb turns and leaves, and Harmony closes the door. I hear locks turn, and I realize Caleb’s turned a key. Locked us in.
Harmony turns to me, and for a second there’s something so angry in her eyes that I hold up my hands and say, “I’m sorry. I didn’t—” My teeth are chattering, I’m so cold. She sees that, and some of her anger slides away.
“It isn’t your fault,” she says. Her face is tense and pale, and she grabs a blanket and puts it around me. “You’ve done nothing wrong. You’ll find no punishment here.”
A few of the other women look up, and murmur to each other. Aria frowns. She steps forward and says, “If Father Tom made him a prisoner, we shouldn’t be so nice to him.”
“Quiet!” Harmony snaps, so sharp that I see Aria recoil. “I need to think.”
“There’s no need to think, Sister,” one of the other women says. She sounds tentative, though. “Father Tom’s told us what to do. Aren’t we to prepare for the reckoning?”
Harmony ignores that. She moves past me to the window and looks out toward the gate. I join her, trying to see what’s happening. She doesn’t snap at me or order me away. That causes more whispers behind us, but I don’t care. I’m hoping I can see Dad out there . . . but I don’t. He must be back in his cell by now. There are a bunch of men gathering in the compound with guns. Some are handguns, some are rifles, but there are some that look like Caleb’s rifle—real military-style weapons. I recognize them from playing Call of Duty. Scary, especially now. I’m still shivering and freaked out from what happened at the waterfall, and now it looks like they’re prepping for a real war.
“What’s the reckoning?” I ask Harmony. She doesn’t answer. She looks tired and very grim. “We’re in trouble.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” she snaps, which shocks me. It doesn’t seem like something someone who buys into Father Tom’s women-aren’t-human shit would say. More like something my sister would, though. “Connor, it’s clear Father Tom doesn’t want you. You need to stick close to me, and whatever you do, don’t trust anyone else unless I tell you it’s okay. Do you understand?” It’s a harsh, serious whisper.
She’s got that Mom presence and energy, and I just nod.
Then she says, “They’re opening the side gate. Someone’s coming in.”
I twist to be able to see what she sees. The men crowded up at the little door in the fence pull somebody inside, and I can’t see who it is. Please, don’t be my mom. I’d feel so relieved if she was here, but I don’t want her here either. Not now. Not like this. I’m barely keeping it together, and if they hurt Mom . . . I just can’t. I can’t.
“Who is it?” I ask Harmony. Maybe she can see better. She’s taller. But she shakes her head.
“It’s just a young woman,” she says. “Strange. She shouldn’t be here.” She turns away from the window and looks at me. “Do I need to lock you in a closet like Aria suggests? Or will you give me your word to do as I say?”
“How do you know I wouldn’t lie?”
She smiles just a little. It makes her look even less happy. “I’d know,” she says. “Connor, did you hear what he said? About culling the herd?”
“I don’t know what it means.”
“It means we’ll have to draw lots,” she says. “Women and children alike.”
I stare. “Like . . . like in that story? ‘The Lottery’?” It was a creepy story, all about a normal place and normal people but one person gets chosen and the whole town kills them.
“Just like that,” she says, and my whole body wants to cringe, bones and all. “That’s the culling. Only it won’t be death by stoning.”
She sounds scared and sick and angry. Just like me. But she’s keeping her voice low, so quiet that I don’t think the rest of them can hear. “I promise,” I tell her. “I’ll be good.”
She just nods. “They’re going to bring that girl in here,” she says. “Whatever happens, stay quiet. Promise.” She stiffens as Aria drifts closer to us. “Hush now, boy.” She’s louder, so Aria can hear. “You’ll do as you’re told without question. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” I say. I can see Aria reflected in the glass, staring at us.
We turn away from the window, and Sister Harmony leads me over to the others, then turns toward the door. I do too. I can feel Aria’s stare digging into me from behind, and I don’t know how I ever found her pretty. I hate that I kissed her. I’m thinking about that because my brain won’t shut up; it’s pinging around from one thing to another—Mom, Sam, Lanny, hating myself, being scared, being angry, wanting to smash Caleb’s face—and I can’t slow it down. I’m still cold. I still stink, and the smell keeps making me remember how helpless I felt out there in that water, with Father Tom ready to pour it over my head. I don’t know why that scares me so much.
There’s a rattle of keys outside. Harmony composes herself, gaze down, hands folded, and all around me, the other women and girls do the same. The kids do it too—even the toddlers. It’s weird and scary.
The door opens, and Vee Crockett walks in. I almost blurt out her name, and the relief at seeing a familiar face is intense. My brain even goes quiet for a few seconds, stunned by the weirdness of seeing her here.
But this isn’t the Vee I know. This one is wearing one of Lanny’s old plaid button-up shirts and warmup pants and she’s got all her makeup washed off. She looks way younger this way, and kind of sweet.
And scared.
“Prisoner,” Caleb snaps. “She says she’s from Wolfhunter. She says her mother told her about us. Keep her here until Father Tom confirms she was a recruit. Father Tom says the reckoning will be coming. Until we say different, she’s your responsibility.”
“Stray lambs are always welcomed,” Sister Harmony says without looking up. “God be praised.”
“God be praised,” everyone echoes, but from Caleb it sounds sour. He’s looking at Vee in a way I don’t like. “Get her cleaned up and into modest clothes. Father Tom will want to talk to her. We’ll see what her real story is.”
Harmony nods, and Caleb shuts and locks the door again. I stare at Vee and open my mouth, but she quickly looks away, and I realize she doesn’t want me to talk to her. So I don’t. But I’m burning to know why she’s here and where Mom is and what the hell is happening.
I spot one of Caleb’s RV guys looking in a window. He’s watching what we do. Sister Harmony must see him, too, because she turns to the other women and kids and says, “Let’s be to our beds. Lights out, please. I’ll keep one on here until our new brother and sister are settled.”