Page 50 of Mountain Captive

It was another one of those things members of the Vine said, parroting their leader. Chris had said those things, too, when she was a child, trying to please the adults around her and not stand out from the group. She couldn’t say if she had actually believed those things, having become part of the group when she was five. But Serena had been taught these lessons since birth. That was the only reality she knew—a frightening thought itself.

“Come sit beside me,” she said, and patted the ground next to her.

Serena slid over, and Chris put an arm around her. “I lived with the Vine when I was your age,” she said. “My father died. They said it was from eating poisonous mushrooms. After that, my mother decided she and I should leave the group.”

She waited for Serena to express the usual horror that anyone would leave the Exalted and his teachings. How could someone give up the chance for new life on a higher plane? How could they sacrifice the opportunity for true enlightenment and rejoin an evil and dangerous world?

“I never knew anyone who left,” Serena said. She cuddled closer to Chris’s side. “I mean, I’ve heard people whisper about ones who left, but they were just...gone. No one ever heard from them again.”

“I never knew anyone who left either,” Chris admitted. She knew there were others who had escaped, and her mother remembered some of the names. But they never met any former members out in the “real” world. Had some of them, like her father, been eliminated at the Exalted’s orders? Was it possible she and her mother were the only ones who got away, and that was part of the reason for the Exalted’s dogged pursuit? “What happened to your parents?” she asked.

“Something was wrong with the heater in our trailer, and they went to sleep and never woke up,” Serena said.

“Do you mean carbon monoxide poisoning?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Where were you when this happened?”

“I was spending the night with Helen. I was eight, and it was supposed to be a special treat.”

So Helen was still with the group. “Is Helen your friend?” she asked.

“More of a teacher, I guess.”

“Had you spent the night with Helen before?” Chris asked.

“No. This was the first time. We made pizza and played Chinese checkers.”

A treat, or a means of getting the little girl out of the way while her parents were gotten rid of? “Where do you live now?”

“With Helen. We have our own trailer, next to the Exalted. I have my own room. Sometimes he comes to visit me. When I’m older, I’m going to marry him. But you’re going to marry him first.”

A shudder went through Chris. The life Serena was living would have been Chris’s life if she and her mother had stayed with the Vine. Chris squeezed the girl’s shoulders. She was furious but trying not to show it. Someone had to stop this man, who preyed on innocent children in the name of religion. “I’m not going to marry the Exalted,” she said. “I’m going to get away.”

“You can’t do that. You’ll suffer for all eternity.”

“Not as much as I’d suffer if I married the Exalted. I’m going to get away.”

Serena didn’t say anything for so long that Chris thought the child might have fallen asleep. Then she stretched up, her mouth very close to Chris’s ear. “When you go, will you take me with you?” she whispered.

Chapter Fifteen

Seven years ago

Chris sat at a coffee shop near the campus of the Rhode Island School of Design, her mocha latte growing cold as she struggled with a sketch of the older woman seated across the room. The deep lines and weathered skin of the woman fascinated Chris, but she was having a hard time conveying the depth and texture to the drawing on the page.

“Do you mind if I sit here? All the other tables are full.”

She looked up to see a smiling young man with a mop of sandy curls. She glanced around the room and saw that business had picked up since she had sat down an hour ago, and all the tables were occupied. “Uh, sure.” She moved a stack of books over to make more room.

“Thanks.” He sat and dropped his backpack on the floor beside his chair. “Are you a student at RIS-D?”

“Yes. Are you?”

He shook his head as he sipped his coffee. “I guess you could say I’m studying philosophy.”

“Where are you studying?”

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