“I know it’s a lot to take in, and I don’t really know how to help you with that.” I could only imagine how much worse the shock and betrayal must feel for someone who’d unknowingly committed his life—not to mention his soul—to a Church run by monsters. “What I can tell you is that if they find out what you know, they’ll kill you. Or possess you. Your best bet is to pretend you don’t know anything about the consecrated or about what happened here. And put off your own consecration as long as you can.” I shrugged, already heading toward the hallway on the opposite side of the room. “If that doesn’t work…run. At least in the badlands you know who the monsters are.” Because they were rotting, drooling savages.

I turned back to Flores. “Let’s go.”

As he led me down deserted, labyrinthine halls, seemingly designed to confuse and disorient, Officer Flores pelted me with whispered questions about the secret demon occupation, and I answered as best I could.

“No, we don’t think it’s limited to New Temperance.”

“Yes, we think they’ve been here all along.”

“Yes, if you stay here, you will eventually be possessed. That’s the only reason they’ve kept us alive this long.”

When I got tired of answering and afraid of being caught, I grabbed his arm and pulled him to a halt. “The more you understand, the more danger you’re in.” I stared right into his eyes, letting him see the grave warning in mine. “You need to focus on feigning ignorance, or they will light you on fire on live television, just like they did to Adam Yung.”

“He was innocent,” Flores whispered, his voice half choked with horror.

I could only nod, my jaw clenched in some toxic combination of grief and rage. Then I waved toward the hallway, urging him on. “Do you have a car?”

He dug in an inner pocket of his cassock without slowing, then handed me a set of keys. “East parking lot, third row. I’ll tell them you stole the keys.” He stopped in front of an unmarked metal door and pulled another set of keys from another pocket. “Your sister’s in here, but she has a visitor. Someone they brought in to get her to talk. They’ve had her on her knees for days, but she hasn’t told them anything. She’s in rough shape. Strong kid, though.”

My heart ached. Mellie shouldn’t need to be that strong.

Flores unlocked the door, then opened it, but he didn’t put away his keys. The room beyond was actually two rows of steel-barred cells divided by a wide aisle. All the cells were empty except the one at the end on the left, outside of which stood a woman in a pale blue cassock and a cop frantically sorting through the keys on his metal ring.

“Anabelle!” I whispered, and she and the cop both turned. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I recognized Officer Jennings, and the fact that he hadn’t pulled his gun told me Finn was still in residence.