Bitter Falls (Stillhouse Lake)(95)

The man who takes hold of me marches me back toward the center of the camp. When I look back, they’re dragging Dad toward the shed. Father Tom is gone. I have no idea where he went.



I’m shivering and wet, and I stink of that awful water. I want to get free and get to Dad and get the hell out. I’m terrified that they’re going to hurt him more, or that he’s already so bad off that he can’t defend himself. I don’t know what to do.

I don’t know that there’s anything I can do.

Caleb shoves me into the women’s house—the Garden—and I find all the lanterns have been lit. The women’s bunkhouse isn’t very different; they’ve got the same beds, the same old military trunks, but they’ve tried to provide a little beauty here for themselves. There are flowers blooming in little planters in the windows.

The Garden.

They’ve got different Bible verses on their walls than the men do.

I count the people I see, because Mom’s always told me that information is the first step to defense. There are twelve adult women, and four who are younger teens—Aria’s in the back, and I hate the sight of her right now—and there are six younger kids, from two babies on up to about seven years old, boys and girls.

The women are all fully dressed in their long skirts and plain shirts, but some of them still have their hair in braids that I guess they do for sleeping. Sister Harmony’s blonde braid is as thick as my arm; it looks like she could whip it like a club. She meets us a few steps into the house, and Caleb thrusts me at her. She grabs me in surprise. She glares at Caleb before she remembers to look down.

“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?”