Escape from Eden by Elisa Nader Page B

girls in my cottage have been to Prayer Circle. Only Juanita and I haven’t gone.” And Lily, I couldn’t help but think.
    Over the past week, I’d thought a lot about Prayer Circle. Wondered why Thaddeus had emphasized the importance of it, why it was significant as a sacrament in the Reverend’s church. I needed to know why Prayer Circle mattered. The more I knew about Edenton, the easier it would be to plan an escape. I’d tried to talk to Aliyah about Circle but she avoided the topic with glazed smiles and inane questions about cooking. It infuriated me. Not because she wouldn’t tell me anything, but because she wasn’t altogether there anymore. In mid-conversation her focus would drift, or I would find her in the corner of the kitchen staring off into space.
    “Why are you suddenly so eager to go?” Mama asked, suspicion sharpening her voice. “Is it because of that boy?”
    My head shot up. “Gabriel?”
    She stood before the small mirror above a chest of drawers scraping her hair back away from her face with a small gray comb. She narrowed her eyes at my reflection. “Did anything happen with him, Mia? Other than a kiss?”
    “I told you, nothing happened. And if you don’t believe me, ask Doc Gladstone for the examination results.”
    “Things can happen that don’t show up on an exam.” With seething accuracy, she flipped her brown hair through an elastic and pulled it into a bun. “I can’t believe you even put yourself in a position to have to be given an examination like that!”
    “Me?” Rage clawed at my gut. I’d spent most of the week successfully avoiding her, and now she stood before me, my judge and jury, as if my morality was on trial. “What about you, Mama?”
    She spun around, anger flaring. “What about me?”
    I stepped back but my temper blazed, too, and I lifted my head. “Go for any midnight swims lately?”
    She blinked, wariness clouding her gaze. “What are you talking about?” She slowly sunk onto the edge of the bed.
    I didn’t answer. As much as I wanted to confront her, if I did, she’d figure out that I was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be that night—other than in the jungle kissing Gabriel.
    She rubbed her temples, and closed her eyes.
    “What’s wrong with your head?” I asked.
    “All the stress you’ve caused this week,” she said. “I’ve had headaches.”
    “Oh, so it’s my fault?”
    “Yes. It is.” She sighed and looked up at me. “Mia, please. If this is about leaving Edenton—”
    I glanced at the clock on the wall. “I have to go. I’m late for dinner service,” I said.
    I left Mama alone in her cottage, staring after me. She was a hypocrite. Warning me to stay away from Gabriel when she was with that man in that place.
    Stepping outside was a relief. The air was cool. It was early evening–later than I’d thought—and long, indigo shadows stretched across the paths lined with cottages and flowers. I hurried toward the kitchen to report for dinner prep.
    The kitchen was already buzzing with activity. Aliyah sliced bread and placed it into baskets. Juanita alternated stirring two large pots on the stove. Dina added chopped cucumbers to large salad bins on the buffet. Bridgette stood by the rice cookers, spoon in hand, glaring at me as I walked in.
    “Mia,” I heard and turned to see Agatha standing behind me with a clipboard. “You’re late.”
    “I’m sorry, Agatha. I was with my mother. She needed me for something.” I decided then not to tell anyone I’d gotten the call to Prayer Circle.
    “Well, we’re almost ready for dinner service, anyway. Why don’t you take the compost and recycling to the heap?”
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bridgette grin.
    Back to the heap, where I’d burned the rats and pretended to burn my sketchbook. The heap was a miserable place. Even the most devout of God’s creatures didn’t like the stench at the heap.
    I gathered up the waste bins beneath the work areas. None of my