28. Res
28
Res
T he rites that everyone has made a big deal of since I got here don’t live up to their hype. It’s little more than taking me to a private altar room set up almost exactly like the one that Jaxson uses when he wants people to atone. I kneel down in front of the High Priestess, who is standing in front of a large cross and behind a rectangular concrete slab of stone. I wear garbs of borrowed white muslin and recite some Sovereignty “history” and then make a vow to serve the Supreme Force, first and foremost, its Oracle—who, by serving, is serving the Supreme Force—and the Sovereignty. I then make a statement of general atonement for all my past sins and all my future sins.
Lastly I sign my name in an ancient-looking tome with a long list of signatures before me, a clear veil is thrown over my head, symbolically representing coming under the power, protection, and guidance of the Supreme Force, and its Oracle, and then it’s done. I’m a full-fledged and active member of the Sovereignty.
I can’t help but feel a little let down. I’m not even stripped naked and searched like the Mormons are when they take their temple vows. I could have snuck my phone in to record the entire thing after all. I should have asked Magdalene. She might have helped me.
I put on a show of happiness, excitement, and gratitude regardless, even if I don’t think my rites are anything to write home about, except to maybe complain to Jaxson. He refused to tell me exactly what taking my rites entailed, saying he wanted to know my blind reaction to it all, inadvertently making me think it would be something completely wild or ridiculous, only to be let down. Then again, maybe that was the point. Maybe that’s the reaction he’s looking for me to have. It would certainly be something he’s amused by.
More interesting and exciting to me than my rites is the air of tension in the room I’m led to after my rites, where other Sovereigns from the Chicago altar are waiting to welcome us. They’re good at pretending nothing’s wrong as they excitedly greet me. As I receive a hug from Lilah and she holds me in her arms and cries like she didn’t do the exact same thing before I left this morning. As Landon pulls me into a side hug that Magdalene immediately chides him for, saying it’s inappropriate. As countless other women whom I’ve never met hug me and welcome me, and men shake my hand and greet me.
I imagine the tension is because of the clip of today’s episode of High Demand that dropped on social media. A short sixty-second clip in which the person I interviewed talks about the Supreme Force and how there are writings going back hundreds of years and lectures from Zachariah and even Jaxson’s father himself that no one is incorruptible. That the anti-force can corrupt anyone and make them an enemy of the Sovereignty, and that’s what he believes happened to Jaxson’s father, and now the Supreme Force is using my podcast to help them reveal it.
I’m proven right when I’m standing with a group of Sovereign women around my age, with their customary coffee in their hands since it’s not dinner time yet.
“What are you looking at?” asks a short, stout one with long, curly dark blonde and light brown hair in beach waves.
“The comments on a video,” the taller girl with her own mousy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail says.
“What video?” the short girl asks, standing on her toes and leaning over to look at the girl’s phone. She frowns. “Why are you looking at that mess, Darla?”
Darla shrugs. “To stay informed, I guess.”
“Informed of what? It’s all a bunch of lies to discredit the Oracle. You know that.”
“What’s a bunch of lies?” I ask, innocently enough, I hope.
Darla and the short girl exchange a look before the short girl shakes her head and says with a roll of her eyes, “Nothing. Just some mess.”
“Mess?” I ask.
“Don’t worry about it,” the girl assures. “You’re new. You don’t need your mind poisoned with this kind of trash about the Sovereignty.”
“She’s going to eventually be exposed to it anyway,” another girl with dark hair that’s still not as dark as mine says. “I don’t see why we need to hide it. ”
Darla opens her mouth to speak again, but before they can argue in circles again, I say, “Are you talking about that podcast? High Demand?”
They all rush to hush me, and Darla says, “We’re not supposed to be talking about it.”
“We’re not supposed to be talking about it with anyone outside the Sovereignty,” the dark-haired girl says.
“Shut up, Julia,” Darla snaps. Then she looks at me and asks, “How do you know about that?”
“I have the internet,” I say slowly in answer.
“See,” Julia says pointedly to Darla. Then she looks at me. “Anyway, they dropped a couple of sneak peeks of their next episode today online, and they’re getting around is all.”
“None of this is anything new,” Darla insists. “People have been accusing the Oracle of murdering Raphael Holione for years because there are a few disgruntled people who couldn’t see past their own disappointment to see what the Supreme Force’s true plans were.”
“Yeah, but they didn’t have a shit ton of evidence and eyewitness statements talking about it online,” the tall one points out.
“It’s probably doctored,” Darla insists. “If any of it were true, you know the FBI would have been knocking on the Oracle’s door to arrest him. But they can’t, because it’s not true.”
“Well,” Julia says with her arms crossed, “if I weren’t in the Sovereignty and didn’t know the complete other side of the story, it would be convincing to me. And if I were a federal agent, it would make me look at it again. ”
That’s pretty much a dog whistle for saying that she finds it convincing.
Darla shrugs and says, “The Supreme Force will reveal the truth to the world. Just watch.”
The conversation moves on, and though there was no consensus, the fact that it’s being talked about and there are different opinions proves that there’s polarization in the Sovereignty about it. That not everyone is swallowing the side of the story that their current Oracle has told about the events over the years.
I can’t help but be a little pleased with myself over it. I combed over lectures and sermons given by Jaxson’s father over the decade where he talks about the conflict between him and the last Oracle’s son. I cataloged every version, every inconsistency, and the omissions between the versions. Then I framed my interviews in such a way that a Sovereign could listen to the interviews, recognize that it was the same story told to them over the decades but with a detail or two added that made them look at the big picture differently.
Because bringing a story or evidence or logic that’s outside the scope or approval of a cult’s doctrine will almost never work in taking a cult leader down or getting people to leave said cult. But turning the same logic and doctrine of said cult against the cult leader can.
Being a cult leader is a precarious game of exercising as much control and power over the people you want controlled while also making them think they aren’t being controlled and brainwashed. And because, on some instinctive level, human beings seem to understand that totalitarian rule is bad, cult leaders often play a manipulative game of showing how even they aren’t infallible to outside sources that seek to corrupt them. They tell tales about how they too, in the past, fell off the correct path but that their supreme entity allowed it so that they could use themselves as an example to guide others. They never will be corrupted again, of course. But it’s often a thought exercise that makes the group continue to exercise control over itself and is rarely turned back against them.
The last several weeks have been carefully setting the Sovereignty, particularly those with power in it, for the possibility that Jaxson’s father lied about what happened between him and Raphael. From there, it’s not that big of a leap to make that maybe Jaxson’s father shouldn’t be the Oracle based on the very doctrine they’ve been force-fed over decades. And from there, it’s not a leap that someone else should be the Oracle, and thus, I’ve been carefully releasing footage of Jaxson to plant in their brains.
Calling Jaxson someone with a reserved personality is the understatement of the century. That said, he doesn’t come off that way in recordings of him. In fact, if I didn’t know him personally, if I didn’t know the tricks of a man trying to manipulate his audience, I might think he was a cool guy. For all that he says he makes sure to carefully toe the line of what’s proper in the Sovereignty, there are too many instances of his actual personality shining through. Making some snide, off-color comment that goes over most people’s heads when he’s on panels. Him just rolling his eyes when he thinks the camera isn’t look. A disgruntled and displeased glare in the direction of someone when they say something he thinks is stupid. And one time, him closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose as though staving off a headache.
The Sovereignty may say they don’t care about the approval and love of those outside them, but one thing that is common about cults all over is that they’re desperate to be liked. Hence having a charismatic, likeable leader. And if the world thinks Jaxson is a more charismatic and likeable leader than their current leader, they’ll thunderously applaud as their old leader is ousted and their new one is crowned.
Theoretically and historically, anyway.
There’s still no guarantee that this will work. And if it doesn’t…
I don’t think about it. It will work. It has to work.
Eventually, everyone clears out of the Altar, and I go home with Landon, Caleb, Lilah, and Adah rather than Ruth taking me.
As we walk into the house, we’re making plans to celebrate. Adah and Lilah want to eat and then go dancing. Adah knows the owner of some exclusive and secure club in the city and is texting said owner to see if they can get us a VIP area last minute.
“Okay, guys,” she says as we’re walking into the public sitting area of the house. “He said—”
She closes her mouth upon seeing that Jaxson’s father is sitting in the room with Madison and Mason next to him, and one of his cooks is serving them.
All the excitement is sucked out of the room at once as everyone goes silent.
I haven’t seen Jaxson’s father since he forced me to Chicago a little over two months ago, and Mason in just as long. Madison, I haven’t seen in even longer. They’ve been in Colorado with Jaxson’s father’s actual legal wife, Bathsheba. Apparently, he always goes there and spends time with her and their children this time of year.
“Oracle,” Lilah manages to choke out. She clears her throat and says, “What a pleasant surprise.”
She’s lying, even though if I asked her, she’d never admit to it. Any pleasantness was practically vaporized from the room as soon as we all laid eyes on him.
“We were just going to celebrate me taking my rites,” I say, stepping forward. “But what better way for me to celebrate than having the honor of being in your presence?”
“No,” the Oracle says with a smile and a shake of his head. “Truly. The honor is mine. I’m pleased at your progress. Magdalene has only told me good things.” He gestures with his hand to all of us, “Come. Sit.”
I try to sit as far from Jaxson’s father as I can, but he encourages me to sit in the seat nearest to him without sitting next to him.
“Now that you’ve taken your rites, we can start planning the bonding ceremony,” Madison says with a clap of her hands. “I’m so excited. We haven’t had one since Lilah.”
“What exactly does it all entail?” I ask.
It’s one of the few things in the Sovereignty that I have no clue how exactly works. What actually happens is a closely guarded secret. The only ones who know are those that witness it. And the only ones that witness it are the Oracle, his wife, and the current conduits, all of whom are sworn to secrecy .
“Lilah and I will take you aside to discuss that,” Adah says, uncharacteristically vocal.
I look at her and Lilah, but before I can press the matter, Jaxson’s father says, “I’d like to have it before Vindication Day.”
“Vindication Day,” I repeat.
Lilah mistakes my repetition as a question of askance and jumps in to say, “It’s our holy day. To commemorate Oracle Joseph Wallace, who fled the persecution of the British monarchy to come to America on September 7th, 1781, and reestablished the Sovereignty. But of course, you would have learned about him in processing.”
She’s right. I did.
Lilah continues, “We have a yearly conference here in Chicago every first week of September. Everyone comes from all over the country. We have workshops, social events, concerts. You’re going to love it.”
September. We have to get rid of Jaxson’s father and instate him as the Oracle by September. That’s four and a half months from now. That’s both longer than I thought we’d have but also less. But it’s doable. It’s…
“We’ll have the ceremony in the first week of August.”
Three and a half months. It seems like that extra month wouldn’t make much of a difference, but it does.
“So I take it she’ll be joining you on your spiritual retreat this week?” Mason asks.
“Spiritual retreat?” I repeat, this time having no clue what Mason is talking about .
“I go out to spend time on my farm every fourth Thursday of the month to commune with the Supreme Force. We’ll commune together for three days in preparation for our bonding for three consecutive months,” Jaxson’s father explains. “And then we’ll have the bonding ceremony the first week of August.”
I don’t look forward to spending three consecutive days with Jaxson’s father, but rather than saying that, I say, “I look forward to it.”
He nods and then announces that he’s retreating to his room for the evening and that he’ll ask his cooks to prepare a celebratory meal for Sunday dinner. I’m not much in the mood to celebrate anymore. I’ve got a bunch of things to do, including calling Jaxson and Abigail. But before I find some excuse to get away and call Ruth to come get me and take me to the store, Lilah speaks.
“Come on, Lauressa. Adah and I have been derelict in our duties with you. But we didn’t want you to worry about anything except taking your rites,” Lilah says as she grabs my hand and physically pulls me toward the hall and up the stairs.
Rather than going in the direction of my suite, she takes me in the opposite direction to what I assume is her own suite.
It’s a stark contrast to mine. My room has clothes everywhere because I haven’t put them up and won’t let one of the staff come in to organize it. Because even though it’s a mess, I know where everything is and can put my hands on it. Lilah’s room, on the other hand, is neat, with everything organized and put away in a way that makes me jealous and wish my brain could operate that way. Because every now and then, the clutter becomes even too much for my brain to handle, and I have to clean it up some.
We all sit on the bed in a circle like teenagers as Lilah begins to ramble and giggle about how she can’t wait to have a younger sister conduit to mentor now.
“You’re nervous,” Adah says, cutting through Lilah’s excited rambling.
“No,” I say honestly. “Not really.”
“You’re either nervous, or you’re lying,” Adah says.
I’m really not nervous. At least not about the bonding ceremony. I’m concerned about High Demand and all the things I have to do and set into place before the ceremony can happen. But I can’t tell them the truth. And the best way to deflect from the truth is to go with what other people are convinced is the truth even when you know it’s a lie.
“I guess I’m just… wondering what this all entails,” I decide to settle on because I am at least curious about that.
“Well, when you go with the Oracle to his retreats, you’ll do exactly what he says. Communing with the Supreme Force,” Lilah says. “It involves a lot of walking and hikes because the Oracle feels closest to the Supreme Force when he’s in nature. And of course, you’ll take your coffee together in the morning and dinners… And don’t worry. The Oracle is an honorable man. He won’t touch you until it’s time to consummate the bonding during the ritual.”
I frown. “During the ritual?”
Lilah gasps. “Oh. You didn’t hear that.”
I narrow my eyes and look at Adah, who sighs and says, “Better you know upfront, I suppose.”
“No, Adah. I’ve already said too much. It’s tradition not to—”
“Bullshit,” Adah says. “If it hadn’t been for Nancy watching my every move the entire time, I would have told you before your bonding. And since she’s not here, I’m going to tell her now. I won’t let her go into it blind like we did.”
“Go into what blind exactly?”
“The bonding ceremony. The Oracle’s S-Team will come get us and take us to the Altar, and we’ll escort you to a sacred prayer room that’s only ever used for the conduit bonding ceremonies. We’ll dress you in sacred robes, and you’ll stand with the Oracle in front of the altar in that room before the Supreme Force while Lilah and I stand—”
“And Bathsheba will be there too. She wouldn’t miss this. For it to be valid, she has to give her blessing as the wife,” Lilah interrupts.
“Right,” Adah says. “She’s so rarely in Chicago I forget she exists sometimes. Anyway, Lilah, Bathsheba, and I will stand witness to the ceremony and the consummation right after.”
I blink, trying to make sure I understood her explanation and that I haven’t misunderstood what she’s trying to say.
“You three are going to stand witness?” I ask.
“Yes,” Adah answers.
“To the bonding?”
“Yes,” Adah nods again.
“ And the consummation. Right then and there? Under the altar.”
“It’s the way things are done,” Lilah says.
“Just to be clear,” I begin, “we do have the same definition of consummation? Right?”
Adah sighs and says, “The Oracle is going to fuck you while we watch, yes.”
“Adah,” Lilah says, scandalized.
“How else was I supposed to say it?”
While the two of them bicker, I try to sort my thoughts out. It’s absurd. But also, not incredibly surprising. There’s always some weird sex shit involved in cults. But so far, the Oracle has acted all conservative and proper, so I hadn’t considered that the bonding ceremony might be the thing where the scandalous sex shit came into play. The Children of God was a cult based on sex. Warren Jeffs and his child brides. Of course, I would uncover it somewhere in the Sovereignty. And now, I’m apparently going to be involved in it.
Somehow, this feels like karma for being underwhelmed and disappointed by how mundane my rites were. I’d take mundane over freaky cult public sex ritual with an old man any day.