Chapter Thirty-Three
I must have fallen into a deep sleep, because I didn’t even hear when Adam left my room, but something woke me up. A scratching sound, like the legs of a chair moving against the hardwood. I opened my eyes and looked around in the darkness, but saw nothing, so I settled back into my pillow. In the distance, I could hear the piano. Closing my eyes, I pictured Adam’s long fingers moving along the keys rapidly and smiled. With my left hand, I blindly reached for my phone on the nightstand, my eyes still closed. When I opened them, I googled Kidnapped Nun. The story hadn’t been updated. In the corner of the room, I heard the sound again, creak. I positioned the face of my phone in that direction and screamed when I saw the outline of a person sitting there.
“No one will come,” the voice said. A woman. A soft voice. I sat up rapidly, my feet kicking the sheets as my back met the headboard behind me.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“I wanted to meet you. I’ve watched you from afar for so long.”
“Wendy?” I swallowed.
“That’s right.”
“I want to see you.”
I heard rather than saw her stand and walk toward the door, switching on the bright overhead light. She walked to sit back down. Her hair was curlier than mine and Stella’s. Her skin was also darker. She was fresh-faced with tiny freckles on the bridge of her nose and light brown eyes. She was gorgeous. The kind of gorgeous that was unfiltered but could still land on a magazine cover. She reached down and brought a bottle of Blue Label up with her, setting it on the small table between the chairs.
“Come. Have a drink with me.”
I stood slowly, grateful that I’d pulled on my pajamas before I fell asleep. As I walked over, I kept my eyes on her, examining, as she did me. She reached down again and brought up two glasses, setting them down in front of each other and pouring some whiskey into each of them.
“How’d you know I like whiskey?” I took my glass.
“Like I said, I’ve watched you from afar.”
“You’re the one who’s been going to visit Stella at The Institute.”
“Poor thing.” Wendy lifted her glass. “No matter how many times I tell her, she thinks she’s hallucinating me every time.”
“So you’re a nun. Who drinks.” I swallowed some whiskey, loving the way it burned on its way down.
“Most of us do.” She smiled and winked at me. “Don’t tell anyone.”
“So I take it you weren’t kidnapped?”
“Nope. I did the kidnapping.”
“What?” I choked on my whiskey and started hitting my chest as I coughed.
“I kidnapped a monk.”
“Why?”
There was a loaded pause before she said, “Someone has to put an end to all of this.”
“You mean the rapes?”
She nodded, her eyes welling with tears. “I’m tired of it.”
“I’m sorry.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You grew up with our mother?”
“Unfortunately.” She glanced away briefly. “You and Stella got the best deal out of this. Stella especially, with her fancy car and doting father.”
“Even Stella has issues.”
“Bullshit issues.” Wendy scowled. “You too. You were so hell-bent on defying Karen that you didn’t even realize how good you have it.”
“So she’s bad? Our birth mother?”
“Not bad, but she kept me here. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it before the monks got here.” She started making circles with her pointer around the rim of her glass. “For a while anyway. Then I started seeing the parties The Swords get to throw. Sometimes I’d see them in the pool, drinking their beers, making out with girls, and I thought, why can’t I have a life like that? I didn’t choose this for myself. I haven’t chosen anything for myself.”
“Why didn’t you come to me before? Why’d you wait until tonight?”
“Because. You’ve been so busy with Adam. Besides, the final sacrifice is tomorrow night.”
“What does that mean?” I blinked, my eyes feeling a little heavy.
“It means it’s my turn to kidnap you.”
“What?” I tried to widen my eyes, tried to bat her away, but my limbs felt tired.
“Don’t worry, sis. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. It’s just part of the game.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Adam
I’d let her sleep long enough. I continued saying that as I paced back and forth in front of her door with the information I’d been given by the PI I hired. The key to her room burned in my palm, waiting to be used. I stopped pacing and sat down on the floor of the hall, my back against her door. According to my PI, St. Nicolas’ was shut down for wrongdoings and giving out wrong information. Eva’s mother had birthed her and her sisters here and according to the file, not in jail, but a regular hospital, and put two of them up for adoption. After doing more digging, the PI found that The Institute had been adopting multiples from St. Nicolas’ Orphanage for years. From the time Debbie Maslow’s grandfather and great-grandfather were alive. The study began as a way to examine Nature vs Nurture.