Darkness at the Edge of Town (Iris Ballard #2)(44)

“I had a horrible time in high school too,” I said. “I actually got spit on once.”

“See? There is nothing positive about the modern school system. We’ve let them ruin it, just like we’ve let them ruin everything else,” Nessa said.

“Who is ‘them’?” I asked.

“The government. Well, the corporations who own the government,” Nessa said, “and the media. We’re all just walking cash machines to them. They want us stupid. They want us in debt. I mean, debt is the new slavery. We’re slaves and we don’t even recognize it.”

Once again I didn’t disagree with the rhetoric. I’d worked for the government for over a decade. We once had a case shut down because of pressure from a senator. I almost quit on principle, but Luke talked me off the ledge. However, I did not agree with keeping kids out of school without proper homeschooling protocols in place like social functions and state-approved curriculum. I bet they hadn’t even registered the kids in the district. The county probably didn’t even know there were children there. That way the authorities wouldn’t investigate the group. The more official channels the members were in, the greater chance of scrutiny. I learned very young that the best way to be is invisible. You could do what you wanted, free of judgment and meddling. Pure freedom. I filed this new bit of intel away. I had no intention of doing anything that would potentially put the children in foster care, but the information was useful nonetheless. Any leverage was useful.



“Why do you ask?” Helen asked me.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just making conversation.”

“Or trying to change the topic away from Paul,” Britt said, inadvertently saving me.

I hung my head in “embarrassment” and all the others chuckled. “Can we please just make dinner?” I asked in a small voice.

So we did. As Helen showed me how to make lasagna, which proved easier than I imagined, the other two girls worked on the potatoes for potato salad and the pies for dessert. They chatted about the upcoming seminar Britt would lead and Nessa’s potential recruit from the drug rehab center where she worked in the kitchen, a handsome financial planner from Philadelphia. Apparently he was a wonderful kisser and an even better lover. “I feel a real bond with him,” she said, still peeling potatoes. “Mathias was right. The guideposts are all there. He is the one from my dream, the one who’s going to give me my daughter. I really believe he is.”

“Have you gone off the pill?” Britt asked behind me.

“Two weeks ago, and I got my period right away. I’ve been drinking Ruth’s special tea too. Her mother swore by it and she had five kids,” Nessa said as I just kept layering the cheese with my mouth clamped shut.



“Do you think you’re pregnant already?” Britt asked.

“I could be, I don’t know. But soon. I keep having the dream, and Mathias swears he can sense my daughter’s energy growing stronger by the day.”

What do you want to bet if this guy were a poor student or something the guideposts would all read “Stop,” I thought as I sprinkled the cheese. But since we were on the subject of their fearless leader…“Is Mathias coming to dinner tonight?” I asked. “I’d love to finally meet him.”

“Unfortunately not,” Nessa said. “He’s busy with the harvest and helping Billy settle in.”

“Is Billy settling in all right?”

“Do you want him to be?” Helen asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes and no,” I said honestly. “I just can’t imagine Billy working the fields. He was a TV and video-game addict who never met a park bench he didn’t hate.” Helen’s eyes narrowed. “That’s what Gia said, anyway.” I could sense it. I’d stepped in it again, a quagmire of suspicion. If I could talk my way out of it, I would never bring up Billy again. I hung my head and frowned. “Right before she called me every name in the book for saying you guys were really nice and that I had every intention of coming back here. That’s why my mother said all those nasty things to me. They both called me stupid and a traitor. Gia stole two of my boyfriends in high school and I’m the traitor? And I’m not stupid. I’m not.”

“Of course you’re not,” Helen said, rubbing my arm again.

“Maybe…maybe Billy leaving is the universe’s way of getting her back for what she did to me in high school. I really loved Luke. I wanted to marry him, and she…” I hung my head. “I can make up my own mind about you all. And I like you.” I looked up at them. “I like you all. A lot.”



Helen hugged me again. “And we like you a lot too.” As I embraced her, I mentally sighed. I’d pulled that one out of my ass. No more Billy talk. At least not that night. Helen broke away first. “You should always listen to your instincts. Always. It’s the universe whispering to you and the universe is always right. You just have to trust it and yourself, as Mathias always says.”

“D-Do you think he’ll like me?” I asked meekly.

“He is going to love you. We’ve told him all about you.” I bet you did, especially my “settlement” money. “He’s dying to meet you too.”

“What’s he like?” I asked.