Page 21 of Sacrifice

She tapped in her birthday, but it didn’t work. She tried her father’s birthday again, but that didn’t work either.

“Careful,” I said. “If we type in the wrong password too many times, an alarm might get triggered. Then the elders will know we sneaked in here.”

“Oh.” She yanked her hand away like the keypad was on fire. “What do you think is in there?”

“Just storage, I’m guessing. The door is cold, so there must be a huge fridge or freezer behind it.”

She tilted her head. “Are mushrooms meant to be stored in the cold?”

“That’s a good point,” I muttered, frowning. “I’m pretty sure they’re meant to be dried and kept in a warm area. Not frozen.”

“So there’s probably something else in there,” she said, eyes filling with trepidation as she stared at the locked door. “Something that needs to be kept cold.”

My jaw tightened. “Yup.”

She swiveled her head back around to look at me. “What do you think it is?”

“I’m not sure, baby girl,” I said, scratching the back of my neck. “It could be anything.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “There’s something on your mind, Sebastian. I can tell from the look in your eyes. What is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tell me. I can handle it,” she said. “I can handleanything.I think I proved that when I went through the Confession.”

I exhaled deeply and rubbed my jaw. She had a good point. “All right,” I said in a low voice. “I didn’t want to say it, because it’s probably not right, but my first thought was… there could be bodies in there.”

Rose’s eyes widened. “Bodies?”

“I don’t know.” I lifted my palms. “I could be wrong. In fact, I probablyamwrong. The Covenant men might be growing and selling shrooms, but I doubt they’re serial killers too.”

“They killed your mother,” she said woodenly. “So why not kill others too?”

“Rose, as much as I despise your father and the elders, I don’t think they’re out there murdering people on the regular. When my mother was killed, her body was left out on display in the woods, on an elaborate altar. Not secretly hidden away in afreezer at the back of a cave. Theywantedpeople to know she was dead.”

“That’s true.”

“Whatever’s in there, it’s probably drug-related. Just like the rest of the stuff in this cave.”

She sucked her teeth, eyes narrowed on the door. Then she sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face. “I can’t do this anymore.”

“Can’t do what?” I asked, brows knitting with concern.

“Question everything and constantly wonder. I need to know what’s happening here.” She lifted her chin and looked right into my eyes. “It’s time, Sebastian. We have to confront my father.”

7

Rose

“Rose, wait!”

Sebastian hurried after me, but I kept going down the moonlit track, teeth gritted with determination. He caught up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Rose.Stop.”

The commanding note in his voice finally halted me, and I swung around to face him. “Sebastian, I have to do this.”

“No. You don’t.” He stared down at me, forehead etched with concern. “I know you want answers. I want them too. But more than that… you want freedom. Right?”

“I do want to leave, yes.”

---