“You should have left my sister alone.”
“We need her.”
“Didn’t you have enough others? Or does each kill excite you so much?”
“We punish the intractable.”
“Is that why you killed Daisy Jeannotte?”
“Jeannotte.” Her voice grew harsh with contempt. “That vicious, meddling old fool. Finally, she’ll let him be.”
“She didn’t want her brother to die.”
“Daniel will live forever.”
“Like Jennifer and Amalie?”
“Their weakness was going to hold us back.”
“So you take the weak and watch them torn to bits?”
Her eyes narrowed into something I couldn’t interpret. Bitterness? Regret? Anticipation?
“I brought them out of the famine and showed them how to survive. They chose cataclysm.”
“What was Heidi Schneider’s sin? Loving her husband and babies?”
The eyes hardened.
“I revealed the way and she brought poison into the world! Evil in duplicate!”
“The Antichrist.”
“Yes!” she hissed.
“You say death is a transition in the growth process. Do you nurture by slaughtering babies and old women?”
“The corrupt cannot be permitted to pollute the new order.”
“Heidi’s babies were four months old!” Fear and anger made my voice crack.
“They were perversion!”
“They were babies! ” I struggled and tried to lunge at her, but the ropes held firm.
Beyond the doorway I could hear the sound of others moving around. I thought of the children at the Saint Helena compound, and felt my chest heave.
“How many children will you and your henchman kill?”
The corners of her eyes pinched almost imperceptibly.
“Are you going to ask all your followers to die?”
Still she said nothing.
“Why do you need my sister? Have you lost your ability to motivate followers?” My voice sounded tremulous and two octaves too high.
“She will take the place of another.”
“She doesn’t believe in your Armageddon.”
“Your world is ending.”
“The last I looked it was doing fine.”
“You kill redwoods to make toilet paper and pour poisons into the rivers and oceans. Is that doing fine?” She thrust her face so close to mine I could see vessels throbbing at her temples.
“Kill yourself if you must, but let the others make their own choices.”
“There must be perfect balance. The number has been revealed.”
“Really? And is everyone else here?”
She drew back her head but didn’t speak. I saw something spark in her eye, like light skipping off broken glass.
“They’re not all coming, Elle.”
The eyes never faltered.
“Kathryn’s not going to die for you. She’s miles from here, safe with her baby.”
