Blood Sins

She also knew better than to approach the church; she had watched and listened, and nobody had to explain to her that cameras just about everywhere made sure that Mr. DeMarco or one of the other men knew when anybody got close to the church.

Besides, that wasn't where she needed to be.

She followed whatever it was urging her on, and when she realized that she was nearing the barn in the west pasture, her heart sank. This was the side of the Compound nearest to the road to town, the shortest way out of the Compound.

Escape.

'Brooke, no,' she whispered, her steps quickening. All she could think was that her friend had gotten this far in her escape plan and then panicked, maybe remembering that there was a fence and more cameras between here and freedom.

But somethinginstinct or her five senses or one of the extra oneswarned Ruby not to just go into the barn as she usually would. Instead, she worked her way around to the back, where a split plank provided a narrow, secret view into the barn.

At first, Ruby wasn't quite sure what was going on in there. She saw Brookejust standing there, a few yards from Ruby's position, in the wide hall between rows of now-unoccupied stalls.

It took a moment for Ruby to make out that Brooke was shaking visibly.

It took another instant to see why.

Father.

Ruby caught her breath and instinctively put extra effort into making sure her shell was hard and thick, imagining herself encased in something unbreakable. So he wouldn't know she was there.

Then she realized there was an awful lot of strange in the barn. For one thing, she couldn't ever remember seeing Father alone, not outside the church. And for another thing

He was shimmering oddly.

And his feet weren't touching the ground.

'Answer me, Brooke.' His voice was quiet, even gentle, but something about it made the hair on the back of Ruby's neck stand straight out.

'Why would you want to leave us? Why would you want to leave me?'

'I I wasn't.' Her voice was small and broken.

He pointed silently to the ground beside her, where her bulging backpack lay.

'I I My aunt. I just wanted to go visit my aunt. That's all. That's all, Father.'

'I don't believe you, child.'

'I I swear, Father. I swear I just wanted to see my aunt.'

'I wish I could believe you.'

His voice was sorrowful now, but there was something strange happening to his face. Something that made Ruby press her fists against her mouth to keep herself silent when everything inside her wanted to scream.

For the first time, she could see his true face.

The face his soul wore.

And it was something so black and hungry that Ruby had the terrifying notion it could swallow the whole world with room left over for even more.

'I would have much preferred to wait until God allowed your talents to fully blossom,' Father was saying sadly. 'Until you were ripe and ready for His holy work. But you've made that impossible now.'

'Father, pleaseI'll be good. I promise I'll be good. I won't even try to leave, honest, and I won't say anything to anybody, I won't tell my parents or my friends, or anybody'

Her words were tumbling over one another in her frightened haste to get them all out, and her legs were so wobbly it was a wonder she was still able to stand on them. She probably would have promised anything in that moment, anything at all.

But it was no use. Ruby could see that, and she bit down on her fist without even feeling it as the scream clawed its way up out of her soul and writhed around inside her, desperate to escape.

'I'm so sorry, child,' Father said.

Brooke must have known what was going to happen, or perhaps she felt the first jolts of pain, because she opened her mouth to scream.

The sound was no more than a gurgle, a choked cry of terror and agony. As Father raised his hands, Brooke was lifted nearly a foot off the ground and hung there, her body jerking as though some invisible giant shook her angrily.

Father's head tipped back, his mouth opened slightly

And Ruby could see the power leaving Brooke, being sucked out of her, coming out of her eyes and going into him in crackling white-hot threads, like lightning, sparking and sizzling.

But he wasn't burned.

He wasn't burned.

When Ruby saw Brooke begin to smolder, she turned away from the split plank and pressed her back against the other rough boards of the barn, too terrified to even try to run away. Her fist was still pressed to her mouth, and she could taste blood but still felt no pain.

All she felt was horror.

She listened to the awful crackling and sizzling sounds for what seemed like hours but was probably no more than a minute or two. Then, abruptly, there was silence.

Ruby counted to thirty, then forced herself to look into the barn again.

Father was gone.

Brooke was gone.

There was nothing to mark what had happened inside the barn except a scorched place where Brooke had stood.

Sawyer had no reason except obstinacy to return to the Compound late on Thursday morning, and when he called ahead he was more than a little surprised that DeMarco didn't offer an objection to the visit.

Maybe it amuses him to watch you fumble around and come up empty every time.

But when DeMarco met him at the square as always, he was, if anything, more than usually stone-faced and seemed just the slightest bit distracted.

'What can I do for you today, Chief?'

'You can let me look around. Alone.' Sawyer had made virtually the same request every time and fully expected the same polite refusal.

DeMarco looked at him for an unblinking moment. Then he said dryly, 'It seems to be the day for it. Reverend Samuel is meditating, and most of the children are at their lessons. The residential floors of the church are, of course, private, as are the cottages; I would ask that you respect those limitations.'

Too startled to hide it, Sawyer said, 'No problem.'

'Fine. Then look around to your heart's content, Chief.' DeMarco half turned away, then paused to add even more dryly, 'Say hello to Mrs. Gray for me.'

'She's here?' There were several cars parked around the Square; he hadn't noticed hers.

'Like you, she wanted towander around. Get a feeling for the place. Ruth didn't see the harm.'

And you were too late to stop her without being obvious about it?

'I don't suppose you'd know where Mrs. Gray is now?' Sawyer fully supposed he did.

DeMarco almost smiled. 'I actually don't, Chief. Though Ruth did say she believed Mrs. Gray wanted to see what we call the 'natural church,' where Reverend Samuel preaches when the weather isjust right. It's up on the hill behind the Compound. Follow the path through the old pasture. You'll have no trouble recognizing the place.'

'Thank you,' Sawyer said warily.

'You don't play poker, do you, Chief.' It wasn't a question.

With deliberation, Sawyer replied, 'No. Chess is my game.'

'You'll have to give me a match sometime. Enjoy your wanderings. I'll be in my office.'