Page 71 of Three to Fall

“Sometimes she had to ice them. They got so bad at one point Dad asked Josiah if he could get in a wrist brace for her.”

“Did he?”

Kyle’s face clouded over. “No. He told my father a woman’s pain was necessary to bring new life into the world or some rubbish like that.”

Hayden squinted. “Was she giving birth at the time as well? For fuck’s sake. I can’t even think about that prick without wanting to stab something.”

Something clicked in my head. “Kyle, what did you just say about a women’s center?”

He frowned, his brown eyebrows pinching together. “You know, the big building where all the women who don’t have young kids go.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know anything about that.”

Kyle’s frown deepened. “I guess because you only ever came out of your house for church. But it’s the big building they erected a year or two ago at the back of the property so Josiah would have an office.”

Something wasn’t making sense. I knew Josiah had an office because it had been a blissful relief to have him out of the house. But him allocating a whole building to women, who were the lowest rungs on the totem pole at Ethereal Eden, didn’t compute in my head. “What do the women do in there?”

He shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. I assumed they were knitting or playing cards or something—”

That didn’t fit at all. “Josiah isn’t that generous. He wouldn’t give women a place of their own just to congregate and socialize. He believes a woman’s place is in her house, ready to serve her husband at any time.”

Kyle paused. “What are they doing in there then? My mom goes there every day.”

I didn’t want to guess in front of him for fear his mother’s job at the commune was similar to the service I’d seen Shari performing the night we’d left. She’d taken men into the woods so they could use her body however they saw fit. A command from Josiah who was recruiting new members by showing them what they could have if they joined him.

But Kyle must have seen the expression on my face. “You think Josiah is having them do something bad in there?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I hope not.”

Kyle pushed to his feet, pacing the room, his face twisted in agitation. “She never wanted to join the stupid cult. It was my dad who dragged us there. That’s why she let me keep my phone and snuck me recharge cards whenever she went into town to sell vegetables at the market.”

“You need to call your parents,” Grayson said softly, coming out of Hayley Jade’s room. He glanced at me. “She’s watching something on her iPad.”

I nodded, but my head was too full of questions to be too concerned about the amount of screen time Hayley Jade was having right before bed.

She was safe. That was more than I could perhaps say for the women at Ethereal Eden.

Kyle paused in his pacing, leaning against the wall and considering Grayson’s words. “I haven’t spoken to them since I left.”

Hayden shifted his weight, his mouth pressed into a concentrated line. “You think they won’t take your call?”

Kyle shook his head. “No. They will. I deliberately didn’t call them because I didn’t want them to have to lie for me if the police questioned them about where I was. But if she’s being forced to do…something…against her will…” He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and dug the heels of his hands in on top. “I feel sick.”

I picked up the phone and went to him, pressing it into his fingers. “Stop. None of this is your fault. We don’t even know if anything has happened just yet. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s just call her and see if we can get some more information from her.”

He bobbed his head in agreement, taking the phone. “What do I do if my dad answers? It’s his phone.”

Men were the only ones allowed any sort of technology in Ethereal Eden, and even then, it was strictly limited to men higher up in the ranks.

“Just tell him whatever you think he needs to hear.” Grayson perched himself on the armchair. “Just get him to let you talk to your mom.”

Kyle’s face was still a mess of doubt, but he pressed his thumb against the screen a few times, and then the ringing tone came through the speaker for all of us to hear.

“Hello? Who’s calling, please?” It was a man’s voice, deep and rumbly.

I didn’t recognize it, but then I’d barely spoken to Kyle’s dad. How could I when I was locked in my house most of the time? I was beginning to realize I knew very little about what had been going on around me.

We all turned to Kyle as he sucked in a breath. “Dad? It’s me. Kyle.”

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