by Anni Taylor
Petrina’s reply text came back quickly. Please call me. I have information.
I called her, reminding myself not to sound anxious.
“Where are you?” Petrina asked.
“We’re still on Sikinos. With Jennifer and Sethi.”
“Sethi’s there?”
“Yes. He seems nice.”
“He is. I’m glad Jennifer has someone like him. How is she?”
“She’s fine. We’ve had a lot to talk about.”
Petrina sighed. “I’ll bet you have.”
“We just had a chat. Nothing too major,” I lied. I waited patiently for her to tell me what she knew about the chapel.
“Constance, where did you get that picture you sent me?”
“Oh, Gray and I have been looking at all kinds of things, trying to find clues. This is just something we couldn’t find any information on.”
“Well,” she said, “as it turns out, it’s extremely interesting. You must tell me later exactly where you found this. This discovery is going to cause quite a stir in Greek history circles. Rico and I went down to search at the library. We have special access to a rich catalogue of Greek literature that ordinary people do not. We found the chapel—it’s of a particular style that we were able to find the origins of.”
“Wonderful. Can you tell me where it is?”
“Well, that’s a little more difficult. We couldn’t pin down an exact location, but it is definitely situated on an island between Greece and Turkey. The chapel belongs to a twelfth-century monastery. What is interesting is the history of the monastery.”
“Oh?” I didn’t want to know the history. I wanted a location.
“Yes. It seems that the monastery was built by an order of monks, all based on the number six, which was thought to be one of God’s divine numbers. Many facets of the building, including the shape of the rooms themselves, are based around the number six. The rooms are all hexagonal, apparently. Like the cells of a beehive. We read that the monastery was built with the purpose of taking in the people with mental illnesses from the surrounding islands. Of course, they didn’t have the same understanding that we do now of mental illness. They believed they were afflictions that came from demonic power. The monks aimed to destroy the power of the demons and restore health to these poor creatures.”
“Goodness, well, I guess we can assume that didn’t work very well,” I replied.
“I would guess not. It seems that the monks even went as far as to install secret passageways through which they could observe the patients and see if their methods were working. Apparently, there was even a passageway they ran from the chapel into the cellar, where the monks kept the worst of the patients. The history is murky after that point. We couldn’t discover what happened.”
“How bizarre.” I held my breath for a moment. “Were there any maps of the monastery, showing where these passages are? Or any drawings of the exterior?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Her tone changed. “I’ll ask again what your interest is in this place? I’m finding it difficult to believe you found it by accident. It’s quite obscure.”
“It’s nothing, really. Like I said, Gray and I are casting a wide net, and he happened to find this. I’d ask Gray exactly where he found it, but he’s . . . gone out fishing with Sethi.”
“Fishing?”
“Yes,” I said weakly.
“I haven’t been able to get in contact with Jennifer this morning. Could you tell her I’d like to talk with her?”
“Of course, Petrina.”
I ended the call, thrusting the phone into my pocket, feeling like I was betraying everyone. Petrina’s worst fear was that Gray and I were going to pose a risk to Jennifer. And it turned out that we were doing exactly that. Jennifer was about to head into extreme danger, and I hadn’t even warned Petrina. I knew it wasn’t fair of me to risk her daughter to save my own.
But I couldn’t force myself to call her back.
I hoped they could all forgive me. I saw what I’d done as leaving a breadcrumb trail, just as Jennifer’s parents had done when they’d uploaded the photos of the Saviours’ meeting to the internet.
Gray sprinted up to me as I returned to the grounds of Jennifer’s house. “We’re going now.” He was breathing hard, his expression taut and determined.
61. EVIE
THE PLAN WAS TO STAY TOGETHER. Stay quiet.
But some of the people we’d freed from the cells scattered once we reached the top of the spiral stairway. Before we could stop them.
Kara tried to run, but Cormack still had her hand tightly gripped.
Blood pulsed wildly in my temples, images rushing through my mind like a frenzied show reel.
Dead. Dismembered. Chains. Hooks. Knives. Blood.
So much blood.
We had no plan for what to do next. I didn’t blame anyone for running. It seemed safer to stick together, but splitting up might be the only way any of us were going to survive.
Our group was now made up of Cormack, Kara, Louelle, Yolanda, Hop, Richard, Poppy, Thomas and me. Most of us were armed with knives, but that was no defence against a horde of murderers, especially if they had guns. And the three of us that had been rescued were still groggy.
“Richie, you can put me down,” whispered Poppy. “I’m okay.”
“You’re in no state to walk,” he said.
“Yes, I am,” she insisted. “They’d barely . . . started on me yet. I’m slowing you down.”
I glanced at her in horror, gory images in my head of what she’d witnessed.
Richard gingerly set Poppy down on her feet. “Who did all this? Who are they?”
Her eyes enlarged. “The same people as the one who killed Saul. There’s more of them.”
Yolanda stared down the dark hall. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m heading straight for the front door.”
“If the front door’s not locked, the gates will be,” said Louelle. “And those gates are freaking high. But I’m with you.”
“Me too.” Hop nodded, breathing hard. “The best way forward is usually in a straight line.”
“We’ll find a way over the damned gate.” Cormack started walking, pulling Kara along.
“Wait,” said Poppy. “Shouldn’t we warn the mentors?”
Cormack stopped and looked back over his shoulder. “We’ve got no guarantee they’re not dead. I’m not wasting any time.”
Richard and I locked gazes, each of us knowing what the other was thinking.
“There’s another way.” Richard gestured towards the wall. “Through there. The walls are hollow.”
Cormack spun around fully. “How the hell do you know that?”
“It was accidental. No time to explain,” Richard said. “But the passages would have to run all the way to the front.”
“Let’s do it!” I stared at Richard, trying to calculate the difference in time between just running for the door and heading around to the entry to the hidden passages. Every way we could choose to go was dangerous.
“Sounds like a good way to get trapped.” Yolanda shook her head emphatically, her mouth trembling.
“Yeah, why the fuck would we squeeze ourselves into some tiny space?” agreed Cormack.
Kara tilted her head back, staring fearfully at the ceiling. “If you don’t want to be seen, don’t go where they can see you. They can follow your every move out in the hallways. You know there’s cameras up there. If the killers have access to the cameras . . .”
“We have to take that risk,” Poppy cried. “I’m with Yolanda and Cormack. I’d kill myself before being strung up on that wall again. You don’t know what I was forced to watch in that room. I need to get out . . .”
I wanted to grab her hand and run with her, but images of Gray and my girls flashed through my mind and crowded all else out. Kara and Richard were right. The cameras would see our every move. It was better to try the hidden passages.
I whirled around to Richard an
d Kara. “I’m with you.”
They both nodded.
“Fuck, I’m with you lot, then,” said Cormack.
“You can’t just leave us.” Yolanda’s eyes grew huge, her dark skin looking ashen.
“Please come,” I offered, then shot Poppy a pleading look.
But Yolanda and Poppy shook their heads, backing away. Louelle, Hop, Yolanda and Thomas started away down the hall—Thomas now steady enough on his feet to run by himself. Poppy stood by herself, trembling.
“Hey, popsicle,” cried Richard to Poppy. “I just carried your ass out of there. The least you could do now is be grateful and try to live. You get here, now.”
She’d only taken one step towards us before Richard had run back and grabbed her hand. I exhaled hard in relief.
We sprinted to the alcove with the hidden passage.
Richard wriggled in and opened the doorway.
Cormack gave a low whistle. “You’ve got some serious explaining to do, Richie boy.”
Richard ignored him, herding us all in and closing the door again.
Immediately, I felt entombed.
In my mind, part of me was still running for the gate, in the open air. Along with Louelle, Yolanda and Thomas. But I hadn’t taken that option.
Richard led us, pulling out the flashlight he’d found in the cellar. We tore through the passages, me pulling Poppy along and Cormack pulling Kara.
We reached a point where the passage branched off into two directions.
“I heard something.” Kara’s voice echoed dully through the air. “To the left. We’d better go right.”
Our party of five stopped still, listening.
“What did you hear?” I whispered.
“I don’t know. Voices maybe,” Kara told me.
“But that path goes the wrong way. We need to go left.” Richard took out a knife from his pocket, the blade gleaming silver in the glow of the flashlight. He snapped the light off. “Better not show ourselves until we have to. I’ll take anyone on. I’ve been in knife fights before—I’ve told you I was living in the drains. And I always win.”
“Let’s do it.” Poppy’s voice shook in the pitch darkness.
“But what if there’s too many of them to take on?” Cormack said under his breath. “I think we need to head to the right.”
“You’d go anywhere she leads you, wouldn’t you, lover boy?” came Richard’s voice.
“We’re going,” said Cormack firmly.
I heard he and Kara move off.
“Please come,” Kara urged the rest of us in a low breath.
“Sorry,” replied Richard, his tone brittle and tense. “I came in here to get out the quickest way I can. Poppy, Evie—you with me?”
I wanted out. Desperately. “I’m with you.”
“No,” I heard Kara whisper, but waves of claustrophobia and fear spiralled through me. If the killers hadn’t already discovered that their victims had been freed, they soon would. There was no time left.
What had we done? Were Louelle and the others at the front gate now, escaping? Maybe we shouldn’t have come in here at all, but we were here now, and we just had to keep going, no matter what.
Drawing out two knives and clenching them in both fists, I stepped away with Richard and Poppy into the maw of black. Kara and Cormack pleaded with us again. They were two headstrong kids in love, and nothing could convince them they were wrong.
I anxiously checked our location at the first peephole I could find. We were no longer walking alongside the wall. I looked through into a supply room. Shelves of folded clothing like the outfits we were wearing. And metronomes—all still.
Poppy’s fingers pressed gingerly into my shoulders. “Evie? Why are you stopping?”
“I found a peephole,” I told her, trying not to sound guilty at telling a lie. I already knew about the peepholes. “There’s nothing to see.”
The three of us kept winding our way through the passages, my heart thrashing against my ribcage as I anticipated someone jumping out at us at any moment. Richard kept the flashlight off.
“Are we going the right way?” said Poppy softly.
“I’m good at finding my way through dark tunnels,” came Richard’s reply. “But this place confounds me.”
“We’re lost, aren’t we?” My hands had grown numb on the handles of the knives I held, my grip still tight. “Wait, did you hear that?”
Somewhere down the passage and around a corner, there was a scuffle of feet. Then silence.
Richard blew out a hard breath. “It’s on.”
Switching on his flashlight, he charged forward, a knife held high in his right hand.
I ran behind him.
The beam of the flashlight bounced around an empty passage.
Whirling around, he sprinted down another passage.
I turned to check behind.
Poppy was gone.
No.
“Richard!” I called, but he’d already run too far.
Had someone grabbed Poppy? Did they have a hand clamped over her mouth right now, and were they about to hurt her?
I ran back, retracing my steps.
The passage curved around. I understood now. The passages were winding around the hexagonal rooms. That was how we’d become lost.
I heard Poppy’s cry. I stopped dead still for a moment, frozen. I wanted to turn and head away. Save myself. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave her like this.
I raced around the curve of the wall, catching sight of Richard and his flashlight beam coming from the opposite direction.
With Richard here, the two of us could save Poppy.
Richard cast his light to and fro, searching.
Poppy stood with her back flat against a wall, terrified.
Someone leapt from the darkness, knife in hand. They plunged the knife deep into Poppy’s side. Poppy screamed.
The assailant glanced my way.
Kara.
Confused, I cried out for her to stop. She’d mistaken Poppy for a killer.
But Kara pulled out the knife and held its tip to Poppy’s throat. “Come closer, and I’ll slice her veins.”
Richard stopped short. “What the hell are you doing?”
Kara looked back to me again. “Walk past me. We’re going this way.”
“Please, Kara,” I begged. “Why are you doing this?”
Poppy moaned, clutching her side, dark blood staining her top. “Get this psycho away from me . . .”
“Do it,” Kara ordered me, her Southern accent steely, digging the knife into Poppy’s throat.
I obeyed, stepping around her and up to Richard.
Cormack came running up behind Richard, panting. “Thank God. I lost Kara and couldn’t find—” His words gagged in his throat as he drew close enough to see. “What . . . ?”
“Your girlfriend just stabbed Poppy in cold blood,” Richard told him.
“Cormack, I had to do this,” Kara told him.
“This is why you ran away from me?” Cormack’s face was white. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Who the hell are you?”
“Please don’t ask any more questions. Just keep walking. The way I tell you to,” Kara told him, her eyes hard.
“No.” Cormack shook his head. “You give me that knife and go. I don’t care what happens to you after that.”
Poppy moved her head to one side as Kara moved the knife lightly over her neck. “One cut and she’s dead. See this vein? If I slice it, the blood will spurt so far and fast she’ll lose three pints before you can blink. Her heart will race in a desperate attempt to pump blood through her body. Another blink, and her blood pressure will drop and her small blood vessels will go into survival mode, trying to do the job of the heart. But it will be too late.”
“Please,” Poppy whispered to us, her eyes wide and terrified. “Help me.”
I tried to rush to her, but Richard pinned me against the wall. “She’ll try to kill you, too. She’s one of them.” He stared at
Kara, dropping his hold on me. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? The killers.”
“Please,” I begged Kara. “Let me wrap up her injuries.”
Kara shook her head. “I can’t do that.”
My knees went slack as I leaned against the wall. “You . . . you were trying to set me up. From that time I met you in the casino. That Wilson guy is behind this thing, isn’t he?”
Kara refused to answer.
My breaths were ragged in my throat as I turned to Richard. “But if she is one of them and she knows her way through the walls, then the other killers do too. We’re sitting ducks in here. We have to get out.”
“You did a good job of pretending,” Cormack accused her. “You had me fooled.”
“I didn’t fool you,” Kara said to Cormack calmly. “I told you that I can’t be with you. I told you I’m not what you see.”
“I never thought you could be this.” Cormack’s lower lip trembled, and his teeth set hard together.
Kara’s flat expression remained unchanged. “Well, I am this. I’ve always been this. We need to hurry now. We’ve wasted too much time already.”
“We can’t trust you now,” Cormack told her. “Not after what you’ve done.”
“The people you call the killers will be here soon,” she said. “You have one chance. I’ll take you down to the shore.”
“She’s going to kill us all.” Poppy’s voice grew ragged, breathy. “That’s what you plan to do, isn’t it?”
I could hear my own heartbeat in the moments that followed, the air disturbed but silent as Kara refused to answer.
“Kara, who are you?” Cormack demanded, his voice as hoarse as it was broken. “Who are the killers? You owe us at least that much.”
“Yeqon’s Saviours,” she answered.
The sound of feet echoed in the passageway.
Kara turned her head sharply.
Panic churned through my stomach, blood roaring in my ears. We were stuck here.
Richard switched off his flashlight, plunging us into darkness.
There was a large group of people coming in this direction.
Please, please don’t come this way. If we stay here and stay quiet, maybe they’ll go another way.
