He’d talked about places called zoos where animals were kept in cages and people came to see them. Restaurants where patrons paid money to eat food someone else cooked. Shops where one could buy anything and everything. The need to earn money to pay for rent and clothing and food.
Happiness and strife, war and love, different opinions, conflict and joy and more. Outside seemed like a confusing mishmash. Far different than her experience here in the quiet, well-organized compound. She could see why no one ever left. And, now that he’d gotten a taste of life inside COE, she found it difficult to believe that Jack ever could. Though she’d realized this was exactly what she was considering, she had a very good reason. If Ezekiel hadn’t decided to force her to marry him, she’d probably have happily spent the rest of her life here inside COE.
Why would anyone ever want to go from this—paradise, where every need was taken care of—to that, to what seemed to be a hardscrabble type of existence? Jack had laughed when she’d asked that question. He’d kissed the top of her head, sending a shiver of delight all the way down her spine, saying, “That’s just life, Sophia. Messy but beautiful. At times it can be challenging, but most times it’s exhilarating.”
All she’d been able to think about after that was how she’d do anything if she could have a chance to live that life with him by her side.
Since once again it was a slow day at the medical clinic, time crawled. Sophia felt jumpy and out of sorts. When Dr. Drew wandered into the reception area and suggested they go ahead and close early, Sophia busted her butt to finish up so she could get out of there. She couldn’t wait to get home and hear what Rachel had to say about Jack.
Since the school finished up before the clinic, Rachel always beat Sophia home. Even though Dr. Drew had let her go early, Sophia knew Rachel would already be there. So she rushed. She started out walking briskly, but ended up jogging home.
“Rachel?” she called out as soon as she’d pushed open the front door. Nothing but silence greeted her. Sophia stopped, jealousy and doubt clawing at her chest. “Rachel?” she called again, quieter this time.
“I’m in my room.” Rachel’s voice, shaky and so completely unlike her normal, confident tone that Sophia’s heart sank.
“I’m on my way.”
“No. Wait,” Rachel ordered. This time she sounded a bit more normal.
Sophia froze. “But—”
“I’ll be right out. Give me a minute. I’m...not alone. Just wait there.”
Not alone. Jack? Sophia’s heart sank. That had happened fast. No. She refused to believe it. Rachel knew how she felt about him. It had to be someone else. But who?
A minute later Rachel came into the kitchen. With her hair all mussed and her lips swollen, it seemed perfectly obvious what she’d been doing. And then Sophia saw that Rachel’s eyes were red, as if she’d been crying.
“Are you all right?” Sophia asked. “Have you been crying?”
“I have. Happy tears.” Rachel smiled, the brilliance of that grin making joy spark in her eyes.
Sophia swayed. She swallowed hard, forcing herself to smile back. “Are you going to tell me what’s happened?”
“I can do that!” a masculine voice—one that did not belong to Jack—said. A man appeared. A large man, with broad-shoulders and sun-bronzed skin. His brown eyes crinkled when he smiled. And he only had eyes for Rachel.
“Sophia, this is Phillip,” Rachel said, blushing. “We’ve talked a few times and—”
“Kissed,” Phillip interjected, grinning. “I promise you, I did not take advantage of your roommate. I respect her far too much for that.”
Looking from one to the other, Sophia could have sworn Rachel appeared regretful at his words. She knew Phillip. He was Jack’s roommate. She didn’t think he and Rachel had ever met.
“I really like her,” Phillip continued. “And I think she likes me.”
His words made Rachel blush harder. “He’s asked if I mind if he courts me,” she blurted. “I told him I don’t mind at all.”
Courting was one step before claiming. This meant Phillip was serious. A quick glance at her friend showed Rachel practically glowing from happiness.
Stunned, ashamed of her earlier thoughts, and honestly thrilled for her friend, Sophia squealed. “Oh, my stars!” Rushing over, she hugged Rachel tight. “That’s wonderful.”
After a moment, she released her friend and stepped back. Rachel looked past her and held out her hand.
With his gaze locked on his new girlfriend, Phillip grabbed her fingers and pulled her to him. He kissed her, hard and quick, before letting her go. “I’ll see you later,” he said, dipping his chin at Sophia on the way out.
After the front door had closed behind him, Rachel dropped down onto the couch. “What a pleasant surprise. After the day I’ve had, too. Even though he’d just finished work and hadn’t time to shower, Phillip was waiting outside the school for me when I got off work. At first I thought he’d come to see Jack, but he said no. This is like a dream come true!”
“I’m so happy for you,” Sophia said, meaning it. “This seems really...sudden.”
“We’ve talked a few times.” Rachel shrugged. “There’s always been a spark between us, kind of like you and Jack.”
“Speaking of Jack, how’d that go today?”
Rachel shrugged. “Since yesterday was his first day, I just let him observe. Truthfully, I don’t think he knows anything about children. At all. But maybe he’s a good therapist. Today I let him have an hour alone to talk with Benjamin. Jack reported the boy wouldn’t talk and let me know earning Ben’s trust was going to take some time. I sure hope he can do it. Goodness knows, I need some help with this.”
“True,” Sophia agreed, even though she had no idea. “I wonder if he’ll ever come back to work at the clinic.”
“I don’t know.” Rachel met her gaze. “I think he’s needed more at the school. Why?”
Sophia took a deep breath, deciding to share her own truth. “Because I like Jack. I like him a lot.”
“Really?” Then Rachel’s eyes narrowed. “When you say ‘a lot,’ what exactly do you mean?”
Sophia sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“No. It. Is. Not. You are about to be married to our leader. He is the Anointed One of the Children of Eternity. Please tell me you’re not seriously considering stepping away from your path.”
Emotion clogging her throat, Sophia looked down. “You’re right,” she admitted, her voice rusty. “But sometimes I feel like I’m suffocating.”
Rachel froze. “That word.”
Looking up, Sophia cocked her head. “What?”
“Suffocating. The little boy in my class—Ben—he says that. And the other night...” Expression troubled, Rachel hesitated. “I had a dream. Between you and me...I’ve been struggling with my beliefs lately.”
That made two of them. “Oh, Rachel. I had no idea. I have, too.”
“You have a reason, though.” Though Rachel only spoke truth, still her words stung. Something of Sophia’s feelings must have showed on her face.
“I’m sorry, Soph.” Rachel squeezed her shoulder. “You know I love you. And I love knowing I’m one of the Chosen.” She took a deep breath. “But I’ll be honest. Seeing what’s happening to you has made me really think about life here in COE.”
Sophia swallowed. Was Rachel testing her? Though it went against the grain to mistrust her lifelong best friend, why would Rachel say this? Especially since now more than ever, Rachel had a very real chance of having a bright and happy future with Phillip, something she seemed thrilled about.
When Sophia didn’t respond, Rachel sighed. “Come on, now. Can you honestly tell me you believe what they’re doing to you is 100 percent right?”
“No.” Heart pounding, Sophia could
barely push out the word. She couldn’t make herself say more. It was one thing to think about leaving inside her head, but totally another to actually say the thought out loud. Except to Jack, she amended silently. Jack was different. Unlike her or Rachel, he’d actually lived most of his life outside COE.
“Come on.” Rachel shook her head. “I want to show you something I confiscated from one of my students. Before I do, you have to promise me you won’t speak a word of this to anyone else. Not even Jack.”
Chapter 10
Intrigued, Sophia agreed. She followed Rachel back to her bedroom, studiously ignoring the rumpled sheets on the bed. Rachel glanced at her once or twice, her nervousness apparent, before getting down on the floor and reaching underneath her dresser. She fumbled around for a moment before straightening, a long rolled-up piece of black velvet in her hand.
“What’s that?” Sophia moved closer.
“Just a sec.” Rachel looked from Sophia to the door, swallowing hard. “I just need to make sure you understand that no one can know I have this. I’m supposed to turn this kind of stuff in immediately. I usually do, but something about this...” Silently, after unwrapping the velvet roll, she handed a glossy brochure over.
Sophia stared. Pictures of water and sand, sun and palm trees. Happy, tanned people wearing miniscule swimsuits, holding colorful drinks with umbrellas. Slowly, she unfolded the paper, gaping at the rest of it. “Where is this place?” she breathed. “I want to go there.”
“Me, too.” Hand shaking, Rachel took the paper back. “It says Miami, Florida. I have no idea where that is. Of course, I have no idea where anywhere else is beside COE.” She bit her lip. “I’ve always found it odd that all our textbooks are produced by us and don’t say anything at all about the outside world.”
“When I was small, I wondered about that, too. I even dared to ask the teacher. For punishment I had to clean the girls’ dorm bathroom for a month.”
“Yeah.” A thread of bitterness crept into Rachel’s voice. “We’re taught early on not to question anything. Now that I’m a teacher, I do it, too. And I hate every second of it.”
“I had no idea.” Sophia hugged her friend. “I thought you loved your job.”
“Oh, I do. At least, most of it. I adore the children, and the way I’m helping to mold them into good citizens. It’s just... There’s more.”
Stunned, this last comment rocked Sophia back onto her heels. “I never thought about that,” she admitted. “Basically, I’ve been pretty content, until right now.” Something Rachel had said earlier bothered her. “Do you have any idea where your student got this?”
Rachel shook her head. “No. I’m not supposed to discuss it with them, just report it.”
“How often does that happen?”
It took a moment for Rachel to answer. “Not much, but often enough. A couple times a year, maybe.”
An interesting—and terrifying—thought occurred to Sophia. “Are these mostly new students?”
“New?” Rachel’s frown showed she didn’t understand what Sophia was asking.
“As in, they came from somewhere else?”
Rachel’s expression cleared. “Oh, you mean like transferred from another class. As a matter of fact, yes. Every single one of them.”
“And you’re sure they came from another class?” Sophia persisted.
“Of course. Where else would they have come from?” Then, horror filled Rachel’s eyes as understanding dawned. “Are you suggesting what I think you are?”
This time Sophia was the one who glanced at the door, as if she expected Thomas or one of his assistants to rush through and grab them. “You know Thomas brought Jack in from outside, right?”
Slowly, Rachel nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you think it might be possible that Thomas brings in kids?”
“If you’d asked me that question a few years ago, my answer would have been an emphatic no. But now...” Rachel bit her lip. “I have to say the thought has occurred to me. But I have no proof. What I wouldn’t understand is why. Surely we have enough young couples getting married and having children, don’t we?”
“I have no idea.” For the first time, Sophia realized how restrictive their focus seemed to be. “Do you?”
“No.” Rachel’s troubled expression revealed she’d come to the same realization. “If you think about it, we’re programmed to focus only on our own lives and our family group. No one worries about what anyone else is doing. Or not doing, as the case may be.”
“We always just assume that Ezekiel—and by default Thomas and the other top tier—are looking out for us. And we all keep on doing what we’re supposed to, confident that it’s right for COE.” Sophia thought of her impending marriage to their leader and grimaced. “No one seems to care if it’s right for us individually.”
* * *
Despite his resolve not to, Jack couldn’t stop thinking about Sophia. Seeing her, being with her, breathing in her scent, touching the ivory softness of her skin. And kissing her. The way she’d wrapped herself around him had started a fever in his veins. He wanted her, wanted her with a fierceness stronger than anything he’d ever felt for anyone before.
She was unique and lovely and special. She needed to experience what it felt like to be loved by a man who recognized and celebrated all of that within her. She deserved the chance to find her own happiness, to raise a family if that’s what she wanted, and be given a chance to weather the often stormy sea of true love with all its joy and sometimes pain.
Instead, these bastards planned to marry her off to an eighty-year-old man in less than two weeks. The thought made him want to grab her and run, far and fast, to a place where the COE could never find them.
Then he’d make hard, passionate love to her. Like he’d wanted to with every single breath he took, every second he was around her.
He told himself to focus. The sooner he found out if COE had abducted children from outside, the quicker he could help Sophia get out of there.
But his first therapy session with young Benjamin hadn’t gone well. For most of the sixty minutes, the boy had refused to speak. He wouldn’t answer a single question, so Jack had resorted to talking about his own life.
It hadn’t been until the hour was nearly up when Jack had managed to get any kind of response. And that had only been due to a casual remark he’d made about his life outside COE.
Even then, he wasn’t sure if he’d imagined the flare of interest he’d seen in Ben’s eyes. Because the kid still hadn’t said a single damn word.
After the session, Jack had gone back to sit in the classroom and observe, as Rachel wished. He’d tried, but had to stand and pace a little to keep from dozing off.
When the school day ended, he’d told Rachel goodbye and left. Surprised to see Phillip waiting outside, he’d actually been relieved to learn his roommate had come for Rachel. Jack’s frustration level had been way too high to try to make small talk with Phillip.
He knew his impatience wasn’t realistic, so he planned to schedule talks with Benjamin every single day if he had to until the boy spoke.
Checking his watch, he saw he had at least another hour until the medical clinic shut down. So instead of going home, he headed out there to see if they needed his help with anything. At least that way he could pretend not to be seeking out Sophia.
When he arrived, the place appeared deserted. He walked through the reception area toward the back, but saw no one. One of the examination room doors was closed, which meant Dr. Drew was attending to a patient. Sophia might be assisting, so Jack found busywork tidying up the general supply area right outside the exam rooms.
The door opened and Dr. Drew came out, nearly walking into Jack. As Jack started to apologize, the other man frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“I fin
ished up early at the school, so I thought I’d come by here and see if there was anything you wanted me to help with.”
“Whew.” The doctor relaxed. “I thought maybe things hadn’t worked out for you at the school. That’d be on my head, because I’m the one who recommended you.”
Surprised, Jack shook his head. “No, I’m only on my second day there, and my first counseling session. These things take time.”
“True, true.” Turning, the older man dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “You can go home now. And until your work at the school is finished, there’s really no need to come back here.”
Disappointed, Jack nodded. “Okay,” he said easily. “I’ll leave. But first, do you happen to know where I might find Sophia?”
“Why?” Dr. Drew narrowed his gaze. Though Jack suspected the doctor knew the answer, he knew there was no way he could tell the truth.
“I just wanted to thank her,” he said. “Her help was invaluable to me as a new person here in COE.”
“I gave her the afternoon off.”
“Thanks.” Without a backward glance, Jack strolled to the door. He hoped Dr. Drew didn’t suspect how close he and Sophia had become.
Since Phillip had been waiting for Rachel, Jack figured she wouldn’t be home yet. Which meant if Sophia had gone home, she’d be there all by herself.
Heaven help him, his heart rate sped up at the thought.
Quickly, he covered the short distance to the bungalow where Sophia and Rachel lived.
Unsure of protocol, he rapped on the front door.
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