The Cult (Cult 1)

I didn’t even bother refuting her insanity anymore. This woman was more than brainwashed. It was as if she’d had a brain transplant.

She walked to the bookcase and pulled out a book before handing it to me.

I didn’t take it.

Her eyes turned steely at my disobedience before she set the book on the bedspread beside me. “You will practice the harp every night and prepare for Forneus.”

“Prepare what for Forneus? And what is his real name?”

“Music.” She never answered the second question.

I glanced at the harp before I looked at her again. “I have no idea how to play the harp—”

“Then learn.” She stepped back and approached the door. “I’m here to guide you to worship.” She raised her hand and gestured to the door, moving with forced elegance that was just ominous.

“I don’t worship Satan.”

“Nor do we.”

I hadn’t left my room since my interaction with Forneus. All we’d had was a conversation, but it disturbed me so greatly that I didn’t want to leave my quarters. The door to Beatrice’s room had stayed locked, so I hadn’t seen her. I shuffled between two different feelings—fear and bravery. Sometimes I found the strength to speak my mind, but at other times, I was too scared to move an inch. I knew this place wasn’t really hell, but sometimes my mind actually believed it was because it was so traumatic.

“Allow me to guide you to worship.”

I didn’t want to go anywhere with this bitch. “I’m good.”

“You need to pray with the other angels.”

Other angels? All I’d seen was Beatrice and Claire. There were others? “Women like me?”

“Yes. Angels.”

That was tempting. “Alright.” I set the book aside and moved to the door.

She didn’t move. “Your wings.”

I stilled and stared her down.

“You can’t enter the church without your wings.”

I was eager to see the others, so I didn’t make a fuss. I put them on and followed her at a distance. It was daylight now, but that didn’t make the place any less menacing. Now I could see the thick trees all around us, hear the silence of isolation. There were statues everywhere, torches that burned even in the daylight. I looked through the trees to see the distant landscape, the flatness that continued on forever, the far-off view of the mountains hundreds of miles away. The Malevolent were there, posted in the same places as that night. They watched me, slowly turning their heads the farther I went, so fucking ghoulish I couldn’t even describe it.

We moved down the cobblestone path and between the different cabins that showed no occupants inside. There were sculptures and statues along the way, crosses made of wood and leaves posted outside the buildings. Now that it was midday, I could make out the area better. It was expansive, and the farther we moved into the tree line, the more it rose slightly, leading us to a higher elevation. I could see the church where Forneus met me nights ago, a building with no windows.

Rebecca turned down a different path and took me closer to the graveyard.

There was a white building there, this one with windows, a cross mounted at the top.

As we came closer, I looked at the headstones that had nothing etched into the surface, but the rise in the earth told me there were bodies buried there. “Who’s…in the graves?”

Rebecca stopped several feet away from the main entrance and turned to face me. “Angels are the only ones permitted inside this church. It’s the place of worship and prayer. It’s the place where angels can ask the Lord for forgiveness for your demon.”

Forgiveness…ha. I’d get right on that. “Forneus can’t come in here?”

“No.”

“You can’t come in here?”

Subtle irritation moved into her gaze. “No.”

The first sign of good news. “Not the Malevolent?”

This time, she ignored the question and walked away, moving past me and back down the cobblestone pathway to the main part of the camp.

After I watched her go, I turned back to the door.

Then I jumped several feet into the air because the Malevolent appeared. They hadn’t been there a moment ago, but now they stood a few feet away from the building, wearing their cattle skulls. My eyes shifted as I looked at each one of them, and they looked back at me, watching me from a distance of twenty feet, reminding me that they were always there…even if I couldn’t see them. One of them could have been responsible for taking me from Paris…or maybe all of them. “Fucking freaks.” I flipped them the bird before I opened the door and stepped inside, feeling brave since they couldn’t follow me in there.

I stepped inside the church, which reminded me of my bedroom because the rows of seats were white and made of birchwood. The chandeliers were elegant and ornate, lit by electricity rather than candles. The windows allowed the natural light to come inside and brighten the room, making it feel like a haven compared to the rest of the place.