Will puts his hand on my shoulder to calm me down—or keep me down. “Shannon is right. When you have sin in your life, bad things will happen and God cannot protect you.”
Shannon glares at me smugly, and then looks around the room. “Where’s Kara?” she asks me. “I haven’t seen her in days.”
Will cuts in quickly. “Kara is working on our mission elsewhere.” To my surprise, he glances at me and quickly raises his voice. “Everyone needs to listen up, because we are being tested. Just listen to us fighting amongst ourselves. How is God supposed to protect us when we turn our backs on Him? The mission of the Kingdom must take full priority, even over our families back home. We have bigger issues than the fact that we’ve managed to lose two interns. The issue is sitting right here in this group.”
We all shift uncomfortably.
“There can be only one reason for our failures,” he says matter-of-factly.
No one says a word. Will drops his head and stares at the floor, and then raises it again with a look of sorrow.
“There is sin in this group.”
With that, Will storms out of the room and slams his office door. Ben scurries after him while everyone else sits in silence, glancing around with shocked faces. Before anyone can stop me, I bolt straight out of there to go find Kara, pausing only once to be sure no one followed me outside. I find her floating around the pool by herself. Her new friends are abuzz with activity inside the villa, so I charge to the edge of the water.
“So it’s just you now?” I ask her.
“Em!” she says, rowing with her hands to the edge. “No. They’re packing to leave.”
I’m not in the mood for fake talk. “Andrew and Lily are missing.”
“What? No shit.”
“They ran off together. ‘To live in sin,’ as Shannon put it.”
Kara laughs. “I highly doubt that.”
“I really think he was helping her get back to see her brother, but I saw them in the vineyard the other night. And as I’m sure you’re aware,” I add sarcastically, “we’re not supposed to be alone with the opposite sex.” I press my fingers into my forehead to block out the way-too-detailed memories of Josh in my room.
Kara swishes her hands in the water. “I’m pretty sure Lily is safe from living in sin with Andrew. Also, they really should rethink that rule.”
I fold my arms and tilt my head back, inhaling with frustration. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She has no idea how weird Will’s speech was just minutes ago, while she was floating around in this pool like she isn’t even part of our mission anymore.
“Nothiiiing.” Kara scrunches her toes on the side of the concrete and pushes away from the edge to the middle. “Why don’t you swim with me? You can borrow a swimsuit. Or not. They’ll be gone soon, so you don’t have to be so embarrassed.”
I try my best to keep my cool. “Kara. I don’t want to swim with you. I need your help. Please come back to the villa with me. I can’t do this anymore. Everyone keeps asking where you are.” I pause, searching for the right words, but I just say exactly what I’m thinking. “They’re starting to scare me.”
Kara rolls her eyes and laughs. “Just stay here with me, Em. We’ll float and do water flips and eat pasta. It’ll be fun.” I look past her at the distant green hills, trying to come up with the right words. I feel conflicted and so helpless. Trapped here so far away from people who could help us—who could help me. My eyes well as Kara blurs into the water. She paddles back to me and reaches for the side of the pool.
“Seriously, Em. Come here.”
I sit on the hot concrete at the edge where we can talk quietly. “Stay here,” she says. “I can get us out. I have a plan. You didn’t tell anyone where I am, right?”
“No,” I say, skimming the water with my fingers.
“Good. Has anyone ever followed you here?”
“Not that I know of.”
Kara is whispering now. She’s so close I can smell the wine on her breath, yet she seems completely sober—more focused than I’ve ever seen her, actually. “They may be watching you. I already got our stuff,” she says.
I remember Andrew telling me mine and Kara’s things were gone. “How did you get in? When were you there? Everyone has been looking for you.”
“It’s a long story. Listen. I just need you to get one more thing.”
“What. Your Tampax box? Can’t live without your mix tapes?”
“I have those here,” Kara says.
“Apparently not,” I say. “And I took a lot of heat for that, you know.”
Kara’s face turns serious. She almost seems afraid. She grabs my arm, almost pulling me into the water. “What are you talking about?”
“Someone had headphones with your mix tape in it. I had to answer a bunch of questions, and Will tried to get me to read some dirty lyrics out loud while he pulled the tape apart like a psycho.”
This gets her attention. “Emily. Do you know which tape it was?”
“I think it said MY MIX.”
Kara sighs in relief and lets go of my arm. But her eyes seem frantic. “Who’s been in our room?”
I stare at the sunlight dancing on the water, hoping the question will disappear on its own.
“Emily?”
“No one,” I say. The lie falls out of my mouth so easily. I stand up and pace along the edge of the pool.
An awkward silence fills the gap between us as Kara studies my reaction.
“I can’t imagine why anyone in our group would want to take your stuff. I mean, what if it was just an accident?”
Kara twists her mouth as if deciding what to say next. “Emily, I know it’s hard for you to understand, but you cannot trust anyone.”
I want to scream. To demand straightforward answers from her, but seeing Kara’s friends inside the villa windows makes me swallow my frustration instead. “Look,” I say in a calm voice. “All I know is everyone has been acting crazy, and I can’t do this anymore. But I don’t know how to just… leave. I mean, I don’t even know where my passport is.”
“Your passport is here,” she says matter-of-factly, swishing her hands in the water.
My body tenses with concern. “Here where?”
“Here at the villa. In David’s room.”
The realization rushes to my head: She’s really serious. “Kara, what the hell?! Were you just going to kidnap me in my sleep?”
“No, silly. I knew you’d come back to look for me. And here you are. It’s so easy now. We can just leave.” She flashes a triumphant smile.
“Kara. What is going on? They told me I had to bring you back, and then Will lied about the fact that you’re missing. They marked Lily and Andrew—we can never speak to them again, which doesn’t matter since I doubt they’ll be back. And Dolce is dead.” I immediately regret saying too much.
“What?” Kara’s voice is quiet. Her eyes glaze with tears.
“I’m so sorry. I tried to tell you before. I think it was that snake…. Please, just tell me what’s going on.”
She dunks herself underwater then swooshes back up and grounds her arms elbows-out on the edge of the concrete. Her gaze is focused and determined without a hint of emotion.
“If you really want out, I can help you. I have everything we need, except one thing: You need to find some money, or better yet, your credit cards.”
“Kara—” My head is in a fog. Leaving is the only way I can think of to remove the weight crushing my chest and the pressure constricting my throat, but something—a strong sense of dread—is holding me back. I’m scared, but I don’t even know what it is I’m afraid of.
“Listen. David already invited us to meet them in Rome, beyond that would be iffy. And once we leave the villa, that’s it. We can never go back to see anyone in the Kingdom. They won’t even be allowed to speak to us.” She gives me a serious look. “Not even Josh.”
“I don’t care,” I say. Even as I say it, I tell myself Josh will eventually come a
round. Sometimes when you need to keep a clear head, you have to hide your decisions from your heart.
Kara smiles. “Okay, I got our passports and travel passes from the office, but the money must be in a different place. It’s got to be somewhere in the office, probably locked up. You’ll have to figure that part out when everyone is asleep.”
“How did Lily and Andrew leave without any money?”
“She probably got her parents to wire it to her since she was calling home.”
“I’m still confused. Why didn’t they mark you and forbid me to speak to you if they don’t even know where you are?”
“Because you’re the only person who knows where I am, and I’m the only person who knows everything.”
Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board
I wait in the vineyard until everyone seems asleep, just like Kara said. I go back to the window where I overheard Ben and Will. The wooden shutters are closed. A slender bar of light glows underneath.
The villa is quiet as I rush toward Will’s office. I reach for the knob and stop when I hear a voice on the other side of the door. Ben. And then someone else—a woman—says, “We have to pull this together before he gets here tomorrow. And you’re going to have to take over this fiasco, because I’ve got my hands full.”
A jolt of fear steals my breath. Meredith. I hear drawers opening and closing, papers being shuffled on a desk. “I see all the Accountability Sheets and BT checklists, but where are the SLs?” she says.
A pause, and then Ben: “We don’t know.”
Meredith laughs. “I don’t know how y’all ran things down in Florida, but Boston is a whole different story.” More drawers open and slam shut. “‘We don’t know’ will not fly in Boston, I can tell you that.”
“Maybe your husband knows.” Ben’s tone is sharp. “I’ve looked in every corner of this villa and still haven’t found them.”
No response. Just the sounds of more rummaging. My instinct tells me to tiptoe away, but my desire to hear what’s going on overrides the risk.
“Can he talk yet?” Ben asks, his tone now more sympathetic.
“He’s still resting. They said he needs some time to recover.”
Recover. From what?
“Is it his blood sugar?” His voice sounds tentative. “He seemed really unsteady the last few days.”
“Blood sugar? No. Probably dehydration or exhaustion.” She says the words like someone else’s improbable guesses. “But those are just sympt— What in the world are these for?” Her tone shifts to confusion.
“Oh. I just got those from town for his insulin shots. He was almost out.”
“He isn’t diabetic,” Meredith says as if Ben must be an idiot.
“He said—”
“Well, he must be delirious from that fever because he’s never taken insulin in his life.”
“Then why would he—”
A car driving up the hill flashes a bright light into the hallway where I’m standing. I hold in my breath, trying not to panic. I exhale through their long pause as quietly as possible.
“Ben. This mission is doomed, and we both know why. The issue is clear-cut. This group came here with sin in their hearts. I can’t believe you threw together such a divisive and rebellious bunch. Has anyone else fallen away other than Lily and Andrew?”
“Well, technically, no. Kara is working from another location. Or so they say….”
“Who in the world is Kara?” Her voice is tight and irritated.
My minds reels in confusion. How could Meredith not know Kara?
“Kara from the Florida church. She was with her mom, the nurse, on the mission in Africa?”
“In Africa? How have I never heard of them?”
Silence.
“Well, I don’t have the first clue as to what’s going on here and clearly you don’t either,” Meredith continues. “I shouldn’t even have to be here at all. We’re moving to California in a matter of weeks. Do you have any idea how stressed out I am?”
“Look. I know how to handle this,” Ben says, his voice now authoritative and closer to the door. “I’m already working to get this mission back on track if you’ll just let me lead.”
“Fine. Whatever. Go ahead and take over. But what we really need is a miracle.”
“I completely agree,” says Ben.
Meredith’s laugh fills me with a nauseating dread.
“I know what to do,” Ben says. “We just have to eradicate the sin. It’s the only way.” His definitive tone prompts me to slip away and down the dark hill to my building.
I’m surprised to find the bunk beds occupied. Kara never said anything about meeting me back here. The plan was to meet at the pool. I take a few steps forward and see Eva is in mine. A sleeping body is under Kara’s blanket. Shannon’s curls spill across the pillow. Shit. I tiptoe to the drawers and open one. It’s empty. I squat to look under the bed where our suitcases were, but nothing is there. I open all the drawers, only to find them empty.
“What are you doing?” says Eva, half-asleep.
“What are you doing? Where’s my stuff?” I say, playing dumb.
“Ben told us to sleep here tonight with you and Kara. I have no idea where your stuff is. He just brought us out here about an hour ago. Can you keep it down? I’m exhausted.” She turns and pulls the covers up over her head.
Ben? I’m frozen with panic, not sure whether to run back to Kara or try to get back into the villa. I think better of the latter, as Meredith is probably still in there.
I hear voices coming toward the door. Suddenly it opens and Ben walks in with Josh and Todd trailing half-asleep behind him. If Josh is surprised to see me standing there, he doesn’t show it.
“Here are your instructions,” Ben says. He hands a folded piece of paper to Todd. “There’s sin in this room, living in some or all of you. It’s killing our mission, so you guys are going to stay in here until it’s gone,” he says calmly.
Before anyone has a chance to object, Ben walks out and shuts the door. Just as my eyes adjust to the darkness, a locking sound clicks from outside. I turn to see the wooden shutters are closed. I rush to open one, but it’s secured from the outside.
Todd unfolds the piece of paper. “How am I supposed to read this?” he asks.
Josh clicks on a small flashlight. He shines the light on the paper:
Put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you … God’s terrible anger will come upon those who do such things.
Colossians 3:5-6
I recognize the handwriting from the writing on the tag with the snake. I’m lightheaded, like I’m about to fall off a high ledge. “Is this Ben’s handwriting?” I ask Josh.
“Yeah, why?” he mutters.
Shit. I hurry back to the shutters and try them again. When they don’t budge, I start pounding them with my fists. Josh puts his arms around me and backs me away from the window. “Shhh,” he whispers into my ear. “The last thing we need to do is wake up Shannon before we figure out a plan.”
I know Kara said not to trust Josh, but after the bizarre conversation I just overheard, I don’t even know if I can trust Kara. Why had Meredith never heard of Kara even though Kara was part of the notorious Africa mission? Kara herself has become an even bigger mystery than before. “There’s something I have to ask you,” I whisper back. “What are ‘SLs’? I overheard Ben say he can’t find them.”
Josh stares at me, worried. Oh God.
“What’s going on?” Todd is right beside us. “Why are you guys whispering? Do you know something? Why in the world would Ben lock us in here?”
Josh lightly nudges my back, a signal to be careful. I stay composed. “I have no idea,” I say. Josh’s hand stays on my back. It’s a protective gesture, but I can’t help thinking about what happened when we were alone in this room.
Todd paces and rambles out questions. “How are we supposed to know who is sinning? Don’t we all sin every day? I mean, isn’t that why we need DPs
, so we can confess?”
“Well,” Josh says, cutting his eyes at me. “Emily’s DP is God knows where, so I’m not sure what good that would do here.”
“Maybe Eva and Shannon could have a BT session,” Todd pleads. “Maybe that would make Ben happy. I can’t do this for long. I get claustrophobic.”
“Please don’t wake them up,” Josh says.
“It’s too late.” Shannon, who obviously heard everything, sits up in bed. “I don’t understand why we’re the ones being forced to fix things in here, while our biggest sinner is out there, probably shacked up with some guy. Kara is the issue, and we all know it. Ben knows it too.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask Shannon.
She climbs out of bed and gets in my face. “I don’t know. Maybe you know what I’m talking about.”
“I know! I know,” Eva says. She’s manic and animated. “We can pretend I’m her. I’ll confess for her! Will that work?”
Shannon narrows her eyes. “No, Eva. That won’t work.” Her condescending tone sends Eva into silent despondency. Shannon turns to me. “But you could do it. You and Kara are close. And she knows all about you, so your sins are a part of her, which makes you permanently connected.” Her rambling logic is frightening. While Kara knows a lot about me, she’s more of a mystery to me now than the first day I met her.
“Come on, Emily. Take one for the team,” Todd says. Eva is beaming at Todd, nodding.
Everyone looks to me expectantly, but it feels like a threat. It’s as if I’m the prey, and they’re all about to pounce. I look to Josh for any kind of support. He’s silent as if deep in thought, as if … he might be willing to go along with whatever the others decide.
Suddenly the door opens and slams shut and locks again. Everyone breaks away in confusion.
“Hey,” Todd says from the other side of the room. He’s staring at the base of the door. I open my eyes. He bends down to pick up a small black box with a silver rectangle inscription.
“What does it say?” Josh asks.
I’m heavy with exhaustion.
“‘For purification,’ and there’s a cross on it.”
Those Who Prey Page 19