She gives us a little bow before turning toward my sister. She doesn’t say any of the rehearsed recruiting statements that I would expect from someone so obviously part of an apocalypse cult. She just moves toward my sister quietly, then stops in front of her.

My mother bows to the lady. ‘Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for volunteering.’

‘Volunteering for what?’ I ask, feeling uneasy.

‘Don’t worry about it, Penryn.’ My mother waves me away. ‘I’ll take care of this.’

‘Take care of what?’ I’m not used to seeing my mom dealing with people, and I’m certainly not used to seeing her interacting with people the way she is with this woman. ‘Take care of what, Mom?’

My mother turns to me with exasperation, as if I’m embarrassing her. ‘I’ll explain it to you when you’re older.’

I stand under the trees and blink several times at her. It’s all I can think to do. ‘When I’m older? Seriously?’

‘This is not for you. I know you, Penryn. You don’t want to see this.’ She shoos me away.

I take a few steps back and join Raffe to watch in the shadows. My mother gestures for us to move farther back, and we turn and walk away. I slip behind a tree to watch when Mom stops looking at us. Raffe stands beside me but doesn’t bother to hide.

The cult woman bows her head and kneels humbly in front of Paige. A part of me wants to leave, never knowing what’s about to happen. But another part of me wants to barge in between them and break it up.

Something is going on with my mother’s full approval that definitely needs supervising. Are they trying to recruit Paige into a cult? I feel no guilt about spying right now. I’m normally big on privacy, but I just need to make sure that there’s nothing . . . well, crazy going on.

‘I am here to serve you, Great One,’ says the woman.

‘It’s okay,’ says Mom to Paige. ‘She volunteered. We have a whole line of cult members who volunteered. They know how important you are. They’re willing to make sacrifices.’

I don’t like the word sacrifices. I rush over to them.

Paige sits on a fallen tree, looking down at the woman now kneeling in front of her. The woman loosens her sheet and tilts her head to the side to expose her vulnerable neck.

I stand frozen, taking in the scene. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Penryn, stay out of this,’ says Mom. ‘This is a private affair.’

‘Are you offering her as meat?’

‘This isn’t like the other time,’ says Mom. ‘She volunteered. This is an honor for her.’

The cult member looks at me awkwardly with her head still tilted to the side. ‘It’s true. I have been chosen. I am honored to nourish the Great One who has resurrected the dead and will lead us to heaven.’

‘Who wants to go to heaven anymore? There’s nothing but angels there.’ I look at her to see if she’s joking. ‘You actually volunteered to be eaten alive?’

‘My spirit will be renewed as my flesh nourishes the Great One.’

‘Are you kidding me?’ I look back and forth between my mother, who is nodding seriously, and the woman, who must be on drugs or something. ‘What makes you think she’s the Great One anyway? The last time we were here, this camp tried to draw and quarter her.’

‘The doctor from Alcatraz has told Obadiah and the council that she is the Great One, the chosen one who will be our savior. The rest of the camp doesn’t believe, but we of the New Dawn know that she must be the Great One meant to save us from this holy tragedy.’

‘She’s just a little girl.’ I want to say the word normal, but I can’t.

‘Please don’t stop this,’ says the woman, her eyes pleading. ‘Please don’t interfere. If you reject me, someone else will have the privilege, and I will be disgraced.’ Her eyes actually fill with tears. ‘Please allow my life to mean something in this world. This is the greatest contribution and the greatest honor I could have in this life.’

I stand there with my jaw slack, trying to think of something to say.

My baby sister, though, doesn’t have any problems turning her down. She shyly shakes her head no and crosses her legs, sitting in her monk pose. We’d always called her our little Buddha since she decided to be a vegetarian when she was only three.

Tears stream down the woman’s cheeks. ‘I understand. You have different plans for me.’ She looks like she’s been personally rejected. She gets up slowly and ties her sheet firmly back into place, giving me a glare.

The woman bows and backs out, refusing to turn her back to Paige.

My mom sighs beside me in exasperation. ‘This doesn’t change anything, you know,’ she says to me. ‘I’ll just have to go back and find the next one in line.’

‘Mom, no.’

‘They want to do this. It’s an honor for them. Besides,’ she turns to follow the woman, ‘they come with their own sheet for easy cleanup.’

23

‘You know where this church with the stained glass is?’ asks Raffe.

‘What?’ I’m still thinking about the cult and the messiah belief swirling around Paige.

‘The church?’ Raffe looks like he wants to wave his hand in front of my eyes. ‘With the stained glass?’

‘There are a couple of churches downtown. We can just walk to there from here. What’s this about?’