Sam motioned with her head to Xander, who said, “It’s time to walk Thor, anyway. I’ll be back.”
When the door closed behind him, Kaylie visibly relaxed. “I had been injured, very badly. I was very small for my age, and the pod tore me apart. I thought they were done with me, and he must have, as well, because he came to the dark place I was left in and took me away. I don’t remember much. I was in a great deal of pain. I remember the pod coming, though. You’re a mother. You know how much that hurts, that huge thing forcing its way out from between your legs. You were a grown woman when it happened to you. I was still very small.”
These words were stated matter-of-factly, no hint of embarrassment. Sam swallowed and said, “I’ve heard. I’ve never experienced it, birth, that is. I had a cesarean. Twins. They were early, and the doctors wanted to be sure they would be okay, so they did the operation instead of letting me go into labor.”
“Twins! You are doubly blessed.”
She bowed her head, and Sam swallowed. “Yes, I was. Very blessed.”
“I wonder if I’d had twins if Curtis would have been happier with me. She seemed very disgusted that night. I never understood why.”
“How old were you when you had the baby?”
“Pod,” she said automatically. “Twelve, thirteen, I think. I’d been there for several years. It took twelve Reasonings to make a pod stay in me.”
“Reasonings?”
“The quarterly coupling. It was how the pods were made. The sacrosancts were much better at it than I was. They even claimed to enjoy it. I didn’t. At all. It was awful. Adrian was so huge, he’s a giant, and his... It was so big. I was never open enough for him. He didn’t care, just spread my legs and ripped me right apart. I was so glad it only happened four times a year. It took many weeks to heal.”
Sam wanted to kill this Adrian man who raped a young girl so many times she could discuss the awful reality of it almost nonchalantly. “And you and Doug?”
Kaylie jumped back on the couch. “Never! He wouldn’t ever do something like that to me. Force me. He was like a father to me, a real one, not a false God like Adrian or a weakling like the man who made me with my mother. She died when I was born, so there was something wrong with her, too. He couldn’t make anything with my stepmother, of course. She was so awful and mean I doubt he’d ever want to.”
“Were there other girls like you, Kaylie?” Sam asked, carefully.
“Like me? Not that I know of. But I was kept underground most of the time, in the dark, and only summoned for the Reasonings when it was the right time. I didn’t get to be with the other people of Eden except for on the special days. I was their special secret. Curtis educated me herself, in private.”
“So you don’t know if there were other girls that they kidnapped?”
Her eyes grew big and round. “Are there others? Others like me? I thought I heard something once, before I left. They were talking about Elsa, who was one of the older sacrosancts. She hadn’t given a pod in quite a while, and so they were going to bring someone new to the sacrosancts.”
You lose one, you replace one.
“May I ask, what happened to your...pod?”
Kaylie’s eyes grew distant again, her voice desolate. “She went away. Curtis told me she was taken for reincarnation right away because she was so perfect, and they buried the shell in the cornfield. I was too sick to find her then.”
Xander came back in the door, Thor moving quietly by his master’s side. He raised an eyebrow at Sam, and tapped his wrist. She took the hint.
“Kaylie, I know there is so much more to your story you need to share with me, but I think it’s time we call my friends at the FBI. They’re going to be very happy to hear you’re okay.”
“I can’t stay here?”
“No, honey, you can’t. There are too many people who need to talk to you. I have a very good friend who has been a part of your case since the beginning, and he’s going to be overjoyed to talk to you. So let’s give him a call, and they’ll get you hooked right up.”
She nodded, shrinking back into a ball in the corner of the sofa. “If you say it’s best, then okay. But I don’t want to see my parents. They can’t know I’m alive. It’s better that way.”
Sam wasn’t about to let that nasty old hag anywhere near Kaylie. She debated for a moment telling Kaylie about her father’s death, then decided to leave it alone. There was enough going on in the poor girl’s head without any additional horrors.
“Just my friend at the FBI,” Sam said. “We can deal with all that later. Drink your tea, I’ll be right back.”
“Doug was right about you.”
That stopped her. “What?”
“Doug said I could trust you to do the right thing. That you wouldn’t let me be victimized. You would know the people who could keep me safe.”