Page 52 of Sacrifice

However, there were no notes on the forbidden cave—aside from the very brief mention of it on Day 48—or the psychedelicmushroom crop within it. There was no mention of the IVF embryo scheme, either.

I sighed and leaned back. “I don’t get it,” I said, shaking my head. “There’s nothing in here that incriminates my father. Or anyone else in the Thorne family, for that matter. My mom didn’t seem to know about their connection to the Covenant.”

“What about that?” Rose asked, pointing to the top of the screen. “Could there be something in there?”

I looked at where she was pointing. At the very top of the document was a tab that said ‘Personal Notes’.

“Huh. I didn’t even see that. Good catch,” I said, clicking on the tab.

The field notes were instantly replaced by a far more casually worded set of entries.

“This looks like a diary,” Rose said, eyes widening.

“Certainly does,” I muttered, scanning the first entry.

I don’t even knowhow to begin this. Maybe by admitting what I’ve done—what we’ve done. It feels like a confession, but there’s no one here to forgive me, only this empty page.

I didn’t come here for this. I came to study, to observe. To remain professional and objective. But every time I’m near him—Augustus—I forget who I’m supposed to be. He’s not just the leader of this community. There’s something magnetic about him. Something that pulls me in despite everything I know.

It started innocently enough. Conversations at the edge of ceremonies, lingering a bit too long. His words are so measured, so calm, and yet beneath them, I always sense something more. In those private moments, he looks at me in a way that makes me feel seen, like he knows something about me that I can’t explain myself.

But now, after what we’ve been doing, and how far we’ve taken it… I can barely look at myself in the mirror. The first time it happened, I told myself it was a mistake, that it would never happen again. I was weak. Vulnerable. Angry at Adam, too. But then it happened again, and again, and again…

And truth be told—I want more. I know I shouldn’t. I’m supposed to be impartial, a researcher. Yet here I am betraying my principles, my ethics, and worst of all, my marriage.

Augustus is the leader of this community, and I’m an outsider. But when I’m near him, I can’t help myself. I feel something I haven’t felt in years—a real affection, a connection that defies reason. Something I haven’t felt with Adam in years.

I find myself waiting for those moments when we’re alone, when the rest of the world fades away, and it’s just us two. It scares me how much I crave that feeling. I know it’s wrong. I know better. This is not fate. This is a weakness I have to confront before it consumes me. But despite all this guilt and shame… I don’t know if I really want to stop.

What does that say about me?

“There it is,” Rose murmured. “Evidence of the affair. I’m sure the police will be very interested in that.”

I nodded and went to the next entry.

Today,I convinced little Rosie to take me to the forbidden cave. She is so young, not even five yet. Very bright for her age, well beyond her years, but still, so very young. I felt awful for tricking her, but it was the only way I could come up with to get to the cave. I’ve sensed since my first day here that there’s something hidden up there. Some reason why 99% of the villagers are too afraid to go there or even speak about it.

Anyway, I told Rosie that Augustus wanted her to show it to me. She was frightened, because she’s previously been told that she isn’t supposed to go there, but she still led me to it.

In the end, my nagging suspicions about that place were right. I KNEW there was something in there, and I suspected it was connected to the Covenant’s origin story (the founders were clearly under some sort of psychedelic influence). I never anticipated what this community is actually hiding, though. I am still shaken beyond belief.

They have a laboratory set up in the cave, along with a large grow room for mushrooms, so I now believe they are running some sort of drug trafficking operation out of the cave. The mushrooms must be some variant of psilocybin aka ‘magic mushrooms’.

But that’s not all. I found a freezer containing the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. EMBRYOS.

Human embryos!

I don’t know what to think right now. I don’t want to confront Augustus about it. I worry how he’ll react, because despite his willingness to share so much with me, it was always made very clear that I cannot enter the forbidden cave.

There’s something else, too…

There were several boxes in the freezer that said: ‘Metropolitan Mercy Hospital’ on the side. That’s Adam’s hospital! I saw others too, with the names of his brother’s hospitals.

It’s all started to make a sick, twisted kind of sense now. Adam told me he knew Augustus from a young age, but he always made it sound like it was because they attended college and law school together. But now I realize the relationship runs deeper than that.

How could I not see it before? The Thornes have been in this area for generations. I don’t know exactly what’s going on yet,but it seems clear that they’re involved in whatever scheme the Covenant is secretly running out of that cave. They obviously all know each other, and they’re helping each other with… something.

I can’t quite put my finger on it just yet. I’ll have to sleep on it, I suppose.

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