Chapter 12
Grace
The mysterious man saunters smoothly along the side of the hallway in front of me, stopping occasionally to listen to the sounds of whispers and footsteps.
I watch him with confusion, wondering if he’s relying simply on sound because his eyes have no visible pupil, but I follow him in the hope that he’s not leading me to a potential sacrifice.
We approach a boarded-up tunnel, with no apparent entrance. I start to ask him why he led us to a dead end when he shifts his thumb into a hole and pushes the wood into the wall. I raise my eyes in surprise.
He whispers, “It’s just a unique door. No magic, but I’m sure you doubt that after your encounter with that ghost.”
My stomach twists at the mention of Milly. I rush up next to him as he bends through the small opening. He doesn’t look back or wait for me.
I quickly follow after him, tripping slightly over my feet. “How do you know about that?”
He waits for me to squeeze through the hole and pulls the wood panels shut.
He stares at me with no expression, minus a slight cock of his head.
The silence becomes uncomfortable as he observes me.
He says nothing in response before turning and continuing down the hallway, ignoring me. I bite my tongue and inwardly groan.
I open my mouth to ask another question, when I hear a loud voice at the opposite end of the tunnel we are wandering through. The man stops in front of me and whispers with alarm, “Shit.”
He turns back and abruptly leans over my body with both his arms surrounding my head. His form gently pushes me into the shadows of a doorway within the tunnel until my back hits a corner.
“Whatever you do, don’t let him see your face.” He raises my hood over my head, pulling it as far as possible over my eyes. “Keep your head down.”
The voice grows louder as I recognize it as Priest Warren’s. “We are quickly approaching the ritual. There are no excuses for not having the necessary materials for this. We cannot skip another.” He chokes on a merciless hacking cough for a moment in between his rants.
“But, sir, we’ve been doing exactly what God wants us to. The community has been pure. There hasn’t been any sin on this campus, and hardly any in the city. Everyone has been holy and following through with their cleanses and attending your sermons—”
“Enough!” he shouts.
The footsteps halt as the masked man in front of me tenses at the tone of Priest Warren’s voice. He leans into me a bit more.
“There is always going to be sin on this campus. We are creatures of sin, are we not? Those tainted souls are just getting better at hiding their sneaky, nasty temptations. We must be vigilant in our observations of each and every student. But do not fret. We have our sacrifice marked already.”
My skin crawls at the way he says the last sentence, envisioning his slimy smile at that remark.
“My apologies, sir. I only meant that your commandments have been effective through our community.”
The footsteps continue as the man pushes further into me, an attempt to hide us further in the shadows.
It’s becoming harder to breathe as the muscles of his torso constrict mine.
His eyes stare into mine with warning, while mine shake back and forth in fear.
He could turn me in right now, prevent any delay in ‘capturing’ me down the road.
This masked man doesn’t owe me anything, especially not loyalty.
I feel my body start to tremble as true fear seeps through me as Priest Brown’s proximity grows closer.
“I appreciate the compliment, but alas, we have a significant sin threatening to bleed amongst the peers. The new transfer, Grace Gates, is quite the problem. Her father has recently confided in me about his worries about her sexuality. It appears she has confessed to him as being a homosexual, an abomination to Christ. Professor Gates has hopes that being on the religious campus will enlighten her to the potential of damnation, but we cannot risk the corruption. She is our next target.”
They are mere feet away, and at this point, my lungs are starting to burn from how long I’ve been holding my breath. I peek a glance over the man’s shoulder right as they pass by us.
“Apologies, sir, but shouldn’t we give her a chance for redemption? She has only just started here. That’s the entire purpose, is it not, for Jesus Christ?”
I try to see who the man is that's defending me when the masked man pushes even harder against me. I exhale the last of the air in my lungs as I try to slowly inhale as much as possible through my nose.
Priest Warren chuckles as they pass by us. “No. We cannot allow that corrupt thinking to pollute the students. We will let God be in charge of her redemption. In the meantime, we are simply helping Him further along the rapture. Now stop asking me foolish questions, we are running behind.”
Their pace quickens as they pass us, moving toward the door we had entered through. We continue to stand still, only letting out soft breaths for a few minutes before the man takes a step back and exhales fully.
“Why does part of me wonder if you’re Grace and your father is Professor Gates?”
I scratch my head and smile pathetically at him before offering my hand for a handshake. “Hey, I’m Grace, and I appreciate you not ushering me into my evident damnation.”
The man glances at my hand before slowly offering his, and we shake briefly.
“Bones, you can call me Bones.”
I snort, and he whips his head back at me with that squinted glare that is becoming his permanent facial expression. I lift my hands in mock surrender. “What? Sorry, it’s just a little on the nose.” I gesture toward the garb on his face.
He turns on his heel with a scoff and continues down the dark tunnel.
I look around as I follow behind him in silence again, noticing old candles, small pieces of paper, and the shadows of rodents scuttling along the edges of the tunnel.
Part of me wants to bend down and grab some of the items, but I know we shouldn’t waste time in case Priest Warren and his companion decide to turn around.
“Why didn’t you push me out to him anyway? Are you a part of this underground religious cult, too?” I ask hesitantly.
He stays silent for a few moments, and I sigh, wondering if I’ll be left with just his name as we approach moonlight at the end of the tunnel.
Once we climb up and out, the dark forest stands dauntingly in front of us. He turns toward me and crosses his arms.
“You need to leave this campus, Grace. It’s not safe for you.
Priest Warren will sacrifice you if you remain.
It’s a baptism of brimstone and fire. It is far more sinister than you can imagine.
I can’t stop it. I’ve tried to stop him time and time again, leading him astray from other students, but he is desperate.
I’ve covered endless tracks of supposed sin, but your situation is far too clear for him not to act upon.
Leave this campus, Grace. You won’t survive it here.”
I step forward him in frustration. “Why? So I can leave knowing that there’s this sick and twisted evil priest sacrificing students for the sake of purity? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. At least here I have a purpose.”
He clenches his jaw and stalks toward me. “Mildred is not your purpose. You just met her. She is dead.” I flinch at his words, his intensity having me take a step back. “Saving other students is not your purpose. You will not survive, Grace. Leave, I will not be able to protect you again.”
He glances at his watch and runs his fingers through his black, tousled hair. “I have to go, they will wonder where I am. Head along the tree line for at least a mile, and you will see the campus come into view. Be quiet and careful, members still might be roaming around.”
And with that, he turns back toward the tunnel and enters, leaving me in the middle of the forest outside of the campus.
It takes everything within me not to shout at him for abandoning me in the woods, but it’s evident he’s a part of the twisted cult in some way. What doesn’t make sense is why he decided to save me. He didn’t explain a thing other than what I already knew. I groan and turn on my feet.
I make my way through the forest, walking along the edge where the trees break apart to an open field.
I stay under the branches, trying to hide amongst the darkness.
My feet crunch on leaves and twigs. I flinch in fear that I may encounter someone else, someone less kind than Bones.
His brand of kindness was questionable, but so was his loyalty to the priest.
How did he even know about Mildred and me? How does he even know who she is? We just hooked up, and she’s a ghost. I cannot be the stereotype of falling in love with her so quickly after a quick fingering. But it wasn’t just that. It’s more.
“No,” I whisper to myself, ignoring the feelings that threaten to consume me.
It’s not like I can allow myself to have hopes of being with her.
Right? I flush at the thought of how he might have heard my moans prior to our escape.
What if he encountered Milly as she went back to the veil?
I halt my steps—is he even alive? Was he an apparition himself?
I pinch my pointer finger and thumb across the bridge of my nose, feeling frustrated and confused about what is even real anymore.
Maybe I am dead, and this is damnation. I can’t help but smile to myself.
Perhaps it could be Heaven, to be graced by the presence of Milly…
her touch. I won’t have that much longer with her if I don’t make it these coming weeks.
I could do what Bones instructed. I could run away from this place and never look back. But all I can think about is the countless innocent lives that Priest Warren will take for the sake of his twisted sense of holiness.
Is my father secretly one of the members meeting in that basement?
Is he wishing for my death in spite of my mother's radical love for me before her own demise? I’d like to think he wasn’t, but who really knows anymore.
My heart twists at the thought, and I quickly release it.
I cannot allow myself to consider such heartbreak.
I have to stay here. I have to do something so no one else is forced to suffer as Milly does.
No one should be slaughtered because of their preferences, especially for something as beautiful as love.
Do all the people who were sacrificed still haunt this campus?
If so, why is Milly the only one I’ve seen?
Or are the countless faces I pass every day apparitions as well?
When did Priest Warren’s twisted family start this so-called religious awakening, and how is no one else seeing it?
It has only taken me a few days to uncover a whole multitude of wicked truths.
Is everyone else blinded by faith? Has their loyalty to the priest gone so far as to numb them to human suffering?
The questions spiral through my mind with no answers in sight.
My temples begin to throb at the weight of it all.
I press my fingers to my forehead to dull the ache that’s pulsing behind my eyes.
I need Milly to open up to me about the history of this campus.
If Milly wouldn’t, maybe Bones would. I grimace at the thought of him.
He might have the answers, but prying them from his boney maw would be no easy task.
I see the campus come into view, and I instantly exhale a slight breath of relief.
Tomorrow is a new day, and I only have a short amount of time to put an end to this sickness.
Priest Warren is the one contaminating the community.
He believes that I’m the plague? I’ll show him how deadly I can be.
I’ll pollute the community, alright, but with the truth.