James lifted his arms to the ceiling. “Brothers and Sisters, the afflicted rose up and took vengeance on their tormentors, throwing them into the cenote to drown.” I could barely hear his voice now over the erupting cheers. “The afflicted took control of the monastery. Forever more to be in control. They wore the garb of the monks and pretended to the outside world to be the same order of monks. And so we endured. And will continue to endure. The monks had no idea what they were fooling with when they built this monastery with all its mathematic precision. The order of Yeqon’s Saviours is a creation of the monastery itself. It brought us together and brought us into existence. The monastery became a beautiful mind, free of all pretence.”
I stared at James. All the pieces of my life, of James’s life, of Kara’s life, and the long history of this place and the Saviours were a jagged whirlwind inside my head.
73. I, Inside The Walls
I WATCHED MY MOTHER AND THE tall woman get taken to the remembrance hall. It will be the last place they go.
Wait, Santiago, we can’t follow her in there.
There are two things I must do now.
I stole along the passageways and into the control centre for the camera network of the monastery. It was the only place here that wasn’t watched by cameras, aside from the hidden passageways.
There are desks of computers here, too. Brother Harrington has one of the computers open, typing up replies to one of the prisoners’ profiles on a sex workers’ website. That was one of his jobs. To pretend to be the prisoner, as though she is free and happily living her life. When someone notices that she’s missing, the police find her profile and think she merely doesn’t want to be found.
I love red wine and red stilettos and Latin dancing, Brother Harrington wrote on a woman’s profile, all the while humming as if he were writing a letter to his grandma. Her name was Greta. She’s dead now. I saw her, during Challenge Two, desperately trying to signal us from the remembrance room. The Saviours thought they’d tortured her to death—they were about to dispose of her body in the cenote when she struggled and broke free.
But her freedom didn’t last long.
I hate it—the desperation in their eyes when they know they’re about to die.
But the numbers are clear.
The numbers led them all here, to the island.
While Brother Harrington wasn’t watching the cameras, I set the cellar surveillance footage onto loop.
74. Evie
A SAVIOUR CALLED MY NAME AND came rushing to me.
Kneeling before me.
How does he know my name? Why does he sound so anxious? So . . . human?
“You don’t know me, do you?” His voice soft now as he stared at me strangely. “What did they do to you?”
I let my eyes focus on the Saviour.
“Gray . . .” The word dropped from my tongue before I realised that I really did believe this person was my husband.
Gray, with suddenly dark hair and stubble. His familiar features forming an expression that I’d never seen them form before.
Gray, in Saviour’s clothing.
Here.
My mind searched for explanations but found none.
His arms were around my body, cradling me.
I touched the gown with stiff fingers.
“No, I’m not a Saviour,” he told me. “I’m with you now, Evie . . . I’m with you now.” He kissed my forehead.
A gasp tore through me. He wasn’t a trick of my mind.
Three men moved into position behind Gray. Two Saviours that I’d seen earlier—Lewis and Valdez—and another in handcuffs.
Valdez rubbed his scarred temple, a glint in his black eyes. “This is too perfect. This man has come in search of his wife, only for her to watch him die.”
I clung to Gray, burying my face, the scent I knew so well warm on his neck. He’d come in search of me? He shouldn’t be here. He couldn’t die. He was meant to be at home, safe with our daughters.
Tears wet my cheeks. “How did you get here? How?”
“Sage would want these two delivered to him,” said the one named Lewis.
“We’ll take one of them to Sage.” Valdez shrugged.
“Brother Sage shot Marko when he went after that Saul guy. Marko didn’t get any second chances,” said Lewis.
“Marko broke the rules,” Valdez retorted. “He set the guy free so that he could hunt him through the monastery. We’re not breaking rules. These two came to us.”
Now I knew what had really happened to Saul.
The man in handcuffs gazed down at Gray with soulful eyes. “This didn’t go well, my friend. We tried and we lost. I’m glad you found your wife.”