“I’m Benji.” He nervously took the boy’s hand.
“It’s okay, Benji,” Judah said. “You don’t have to be afraid. Come on, I’ll show you where we grow our crops. We got a working tractor and everything.”
“See you at supper, kiddo,” Felicity said, stopping Benji for a moment and kissing him on the head. Judah led Benji outside and I turned on Bryan.
“Okay. Now that the kid’s out of the way, let’s hear it. What’s your deal?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Bryan said, looking slightly offended.
“Come off it.”
“Your little brother will be fine. Better than fine with Judah as his guide. I would never hurt a child. The Lord said we should be like children if we are to enter into his kingdom.”
“What’s with the religious compound?” Felicity said, cutting to the heart of the matter. “You’ve built up a cult following for the end of times and armed yourselves to the teeth, hoping something like this would happen and it did. You’ve been planning this since long before Z-Day. That about cover it?”
“Are these not the end of days?” Bryan asked with that creepy grin appearing on his face again. “The book of revelations describes the end of times as a period when the dead shall walk the earth because Hell is overflowing and there is no more room for them. Does that sound accurate to you?”
“I don’t believe in Hell,” I said flatly.
“The fact that you don’t believe in it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. If you ceased to believe in electricity because you don’t understand how it works, electricity would still exist. For hundreds of years people thought the earth was the center of the physical universe and that the sun rotated around us. It makes sense if you think about it. They were observing it every day with their own two eyes. It was hard to get them to believe otherwise, to teach them to understand that our planet actually rotates around the sun. Did that make it less true, because people didn’t want to believe in it?”
“I thought you religious types eschewed science,” I challenged.
“We don’t,” he said, calmly looking between us. “And you’re missing the point. Hell is as real as this world, and the end of times as predicted by the divinely inspired book of God is at hand. We are all living witnesses of God’s great plan to abolish sin from the earth once and for all and restore this world to the paradise it once was.”
“Praise him,” Rowena said, making the sign of the cross over herself.
“Sin?” I scoffed. “You mean like kidnapping wayward travelers at gun point?”
“The earth was once a great paradise,” Bryan said, ignoring my jab. “A Garden of Eden, until sin entered in the form of the serpent. Man’s weakness cost him dearly but the blood of the Lamb atoned for that weakness with his great sacrifice. The scriptures tell us he will come again and cleanse the earth with fire and we will be set free.”
Felicity gulped, looking scared.
“Your followers referred to you as the Messiah,” I said. “Is that what you’ve been telling them?”
“It’s not for me to say that I am the chosen one,” Bryan said, in a well polished routine. “As I told you, I am but a humble servant of the one true God.”
“Sounds great,” I said. “Like I told your armed guards here, we’re just passing through. All we need is a little gas and we’ll be on our way.”
“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible.”
“Why?” I stared him hard in the eyes. “We know you have petrol. We passed the station on the way here.”
“You’ve come at a very special time. We are celebrating a religious holiday we call Harvest. We’ve spent months getting ready.”
“That’s great,” I said. “Just one more reason to let us get out of your hair.”
“You don’t understand,” Bryan said. “No one can pass through this area without receiving a special blessing. This is hallowed ground. You are standing in the promised land.”
“With all due respect,” I began in a voice that seemed anything but respectful—but Felicity cut me off.
“Then give us your blessing and we will be on our way,” she countered.
“I will be happy to give you my blessing, child,” he said, turning his full attention to her. “At the proper time and place.”
“Well how long is that gonna take?” I asked, flabbergasted.
“Don’t worry. It won’t be long. After the feast and the teaching tonight many will be blessed and baptized as the spirit moves through them. By morning you will feel like a different person.”
“Can’t you just give us your blessing now?” Felicity asked. “Why can’t we leave before the festival?”
“You could,” Bryan said calmly. “If you had gas in your car, which you won’t. Worldly work is frowned upon during Harvest time, especially after sundown. Besides, everyone is preparing for the great feast tonight. It truly is a special occasion. You’ll see.”
“Why didn’t they just let us barter for some gas and be on our way then?”
“I’m sorry, but it is the law,” Bryan said with a touch of genuine regret in his honeyed voice. “All new visitors must be questioned before being allowed to pass. The righteous have many enemies during this period before the Lord comes again. We can’t be too careful.”
“We’re not even adults yet,” I argued. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“You have killed before,” he said, staring directly into my eyes. “You would strike me down right now if I threatened harm to you or your friends. I have no doubt about that.”
A chill ran down my back as I felt Rowena’s hatred surge toward us.
“You must earn my blessing to leave,” he said. “I will be happy to grant it to you tomorrow so that you may be on your way. Until then I’d like you to think of yourselves as my guests. You will be staying with me tonight. I insist.”
Listening close by, Rowena looked both shocked and hurt by these words but she recovered quickly.
If that’s some kind of big honor he just bestowed on us, I thought, he can keep it.
Felicity slipped her hand into mine and gave it a squeeze. She was obviously just as scared by this turn of events as I was.
“Rowena, please show them to my quarters and stay with them,” Bryan said. “I will be along after I have a word with Darren.”
“As you wish,” she said, then turned to us. “Follow me.”
We were marched back out at gun point and across the yard to another entrance. On our way out I glanced over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of Darren skulking in and kneeling before Bryan Crowe.
Chapter Nineteen
“So what’s the deal with that guy Darren?” I asked, picking at the edges of the hem of my new clothes.
“He was kinda like my first boyfriend,” Felicity said.
“You sure know how to pick em.”
We were sitting in a large waiting room full of sofas and chairs. There were crosses on the walls and a Bible in the corner, but nothing else. No television, no reading material, nothing to occupy us except ourselves and our own thoughts.
After we were led off to Bryan Crowe’s private mansion and guest quarters, we were separated and treated to our own private tour of the immediate grounds. My guide was a kid about a year younger than me named Jonah. He was perfectly brainwashed to give the most banal sort of answer to any question I could come up with. He rattled off the great history of their leader, talking about his trials in the desert and how they mirrored the tales of Christ in the Bible. Jonah told me that Crowe was drawn to this special land by an angel of the Lord, that he settled here and prepared for the end of days as instructed by God. I did my best to follow along, but I was pretty bored after ten minutes. I started asking questions about the way things worked and what they thought the rest of the world was doing, trying to catch Jonah off guard and get him off topic, but he didn’t budge.
“You can’t trip me up with your worldly questions,” Jonah patiently explaine
d. “I am a child of God now.”
I hated him with an unnatural intensity after that. I half wished a zombie would come along and bite him so I could do the honors of sending him off to his redeemer.
“I see, but aren’t we all God’s children, no matter what religion we practice?”
He glared at me. I was certain that it was only a matter of time until I was escorted to a mass grave site where troublesome visitors were disposed of. Instead I was taken to a private showering area and left to get clean, despite my numerous protests that I didn’t need another shower. I wasn’t really comfortable so I just splashed some water on myself and washed my face.
When I got out I found all my clothing gone. Instead, a neat new pile of bright white sheets that had been stitched into garments awaited me with my katana sitting on top.
Smooth move, I thought. Sneak in and snatch my clothes but leave my weapon. Smarter than you know. I would have torn this place apart to get it back.
I picked the garments up and held them out in front of me.
“What are we going to, a Klan rally?” I mumbled.
They fit well enough, and since I didn’t have any other options I put them on. It felt like I was wearing a cheap Halloween costume.
“Where are my clothes?” I asked when I came out of the bathroom to find Jonah patiently waiting for me.
“Civilian clothing is not appropriate for tonight’s festivities,” Jonah replied with a smile. “Your street clothes will be returned to you in the morning.”
I was tempted to say something smartass like don’t forget to use starch but I held it in. I just stared at him instead, trying to make the moment as uncomfortable as possible. They were keeping us as prisoners but kept acting like we’d actually chosen this. It was the least they deserved.
Jonah led me to the waiting room where I found Felicity wearing an equally disastrous pair of bed sheets stitched into the shape of an ugly dress. If this had been an episode of Project Runway, the designer would have been cruelly excoriated then sent home weeping. I tried not so successfully to stifle back a giggle. Felicity shot me a nasty glance for a warning.
“Hey,” I said, turning to Jonah. “When are we going to eat? I am starving and you’ve separated us from our resources.”
“Someone will be along shortly to take you to the feast,” Jonah said. “Have a blessed night.”
“Oh and you too, buddy,” I said, flashing him a fake smile. “Mahalo.”
He retreated out of the room, shutting the door behind him. I could hear the lock click into place.
Great, I thought. Once again I’m locked up like a caged animal. How do I keep getting myself into these situations?
After some time had passed and we realized we were probably alone, I took up the subject of Darren with her. She hadn’t seemed to want to talk about him much, but I had lots of questions. She tried her best to answer my inquiries in single word replies but I wasn’t backing down.
“He seems a lot older than you,” I said, referring to Darren. “That’s all.” A little voice in my head reminded me that just a few hours ago I thought Darren looked the same age as me. I promptly invited that little voice to shut the hell up.
“He was a senior in high school and I was still in junior high,” Felicity said. “It was before my acting career took off. It feels like forever ago.”
“Creepy. What kind of guy goes for a girl that young?”
“He is actually one of the sweetest, most genuine people I’ve ever met,” Felicity fired back, sounding annoyed by my persistent line of questioning. “It’s a small town with small town values. There was nothing creepy about it.”
“If you say so,” I said, trying to fight off my obvious jealousy. “He just seems a little weird.”
“Besides,” she said, ignoring my taunt, “all we ever did was hold hands. We never even kissed.”
“Never?”
“Not once. Are you satisfied? Can we stop playing Spanish Inquisition now?”
“No one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition,” I said in a high falsetto voice, but instead of laughing she just smirked. I was really under her skin today.
Does that mean she wishes she had kissed him? a little voice in the back of my head asked. I shouted it down yet again. I was disgusted with myself. Less than a week ago she didn’t exist and all that mattered was getting Benji to the safety of the base. Now I had no idea where Benji was or if he was safe and I was thinking about Felicity way too much for my own good.
“What do you know about this Bryan Crowe guy?” I asked, switching gears. “He is supposed to be the Messiah according to my new best friend, Jonah, but I don’t recall the Bible saying anything about Jesus holding people against their will at gunpoint.”
“He may not remember me, but I remember him,” Felicity said, shaking off a tremor that ran through her. “I was six years old and my friend Caley was having a birthday party. It was a big deal since her family was what we used to call wealthy back then. What?” She had turned to me when I made a face.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just hard to think that there was a time in your life when you weren’t rich and famous.”
“I grew up dirt poor,” Felicity protested. “My mom and my sister and I didn’t have much after my dad left. We moved out here because it was cheap, and we lived in a rented mobile home for the first year after the divorce. I remember my only toy was a half melted Barbie with no clothes that I found abandoned in the sand lot. My mom cleaned her up and sewed her some new outfits. They weren’t much better than what we are wearing now, but they meant the world to me.”
“That must have been tough,” I said.
“It was,” she admitted, looking up and making eye contact with me. “Anyway, most of my grade school class was there. Bryan Crowe showed up to do magic tricks and make balloon animals for all the kids. It was a perfect day with a piñata and cake, but it ended strange. There was some commotion and then my mom came to get me and all the kids left at once.”
“What happened?”
“One of the kids had gone missing for over half an hour,” Felicity said. “They found her out near the stables with Bryan Crowe. Her dress was torn. She was eight.”
“So why didn’t they put him in jail then and there?”
“They tried, but they didn’t have any proof of wrong doing,” Felicity said. “The girl didn’t have any signs of abuse. She said she went to the stables on her own to look at the horses and he found her there. She said he just talked to her but she couldn’t remember about what. She didn’t know how her dress got torn. The police questioned the rest of us but nothing ever came of it. That was the end of his career as a kid’s party entertainer though.”
“I’ll bet. I’m sure word got around pretty fast after something like that. I’m surprised that he wasn’t at least run out of town.”
I expected her to argue about how easy going and permissive Ojai was, but her brow furrowed instead and she looked really upset.
“I started having nightmares about him. I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing him waiting for me in the dark in a clown costume. It got really bad. One day I begged my mom to tell me about him. I thought if she made him seem more human to me, I could get past my irrational fear.”
“What did she say?”
“At first she wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“That must have been frustrating,” I offered, trying to move the story along. I wanted to know as much about this guy as I could. What were his weaknesses, aside from young girls?
“She told me it wasn’t appropriate for kids. But I stuck with it, bugging her the way only a child can and eventually she caved,” she said. “She told me that he was a drifter. She said she didn’t know where he was originally from, that no one did, but everyone knew he arrived from Vegas as a failed magician. He’d gone there to show his act on the strip and had fallen flat on his face. Shortly after the incident at Caley’s party, he reinvented himself again.”
&n
bsp; “Let me guess,” I said, “he became the Chosen One?”
“Pretty much. He set up in the old Jehovah’s Witness church and began preaching about peace and love.”
“I can’t believe anyone would even show up. I’m going out on a limb since I’ve never seen him pull a rabbit out of his hat, but I’m guessing his second coming routine is only slightly worse than his card tricks.”
“Are you kidding?” A fiery spark shone in her eyes as she recalled details from her pre-celebrity childhood. “This is Ojai, land of burnouts and hippies. He had an immediate following. They loved him! He stopped wearing black clothes and trying to look like Cris Angel and started looking more like a Biblical prophet with that ridiculous beard.”
“So what happened?”
“He set up a commune in the woods. People came from all over the world and lived there. You would see them dressed in white rags like the ones we’re wearing now, coming and going by foot into town. They were always smiling these big creepy smiles, like they were loaded out of their minds.”
“Let me guess,” I said, “it didn’t last. Something went wrong.”
“Sort of,” she answered. “At first it was quiet up in their commune. Everyone kept expecting something to happen, a sex scandal, a mass suicide, just something . . . but it never did. Eventually we just accepted them. They were another strange part of our crazy little town. Weird but harmless.”
“And then?”
“And then the kidnappings began,” Felicity said.
“Gee,” I blurted out, looking around the room, “why am I not surprised to hear that?”
“No. You’ve got it wrong. It’s the other way around. People began kidnapping his followers.”
“Who would want to do that?”
“Friends and family members of his devotees,” she explained. “It was in the national news. A rich heiress came to hear him speak one night and refused to leave. She gave everything she owned to him and became a true believer. Her parents were mortified. They hired a team of cult deprogrammers to kidnap her and undo the brainwashing.”
“Did this happen a lot or was it just the one incident?”
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