THE SHADOWED ONYX: A DIAMOND ESTATES NOVEL (29 page)

Silas inched closer. She felt his body pressed against her leg. Looked like if she stayed true to him, he’d stay true to her. If she were happy, he’d be happy. As long as she didn’t turn her thoughts or—heaven forbid—prayers toward God, Silas was fine. She could live with that. At least until she figured out what was going on.

A
fter breakfast, do you mind coming to my office? I’d like to talk with you, get to know you a bit. I’ve already told Ginny.” Ben spun around and speed-walked away.

Well, he’d
phrased
it as a question. Funny, Joy didn’t feel like she had a choice. That Ben Bradley had approached her like a stealth bomber. An impeccably dressed stealth bomber.

So was Joy in trouble for not actually praying that morning? But how could he know? She hoped these people didn’t think they could even begin to legislate thought.

Ginny waved from the usual table.

Joy walked over to her, ignoring the rumbling in her belly, being careful not to cry out in pain as her body reminded her of the war she’d been in the middle of the night before.

“So how’s your day going?” Ginny looked her over.

Joy shrugged. “Well, it’s hardly begun, but so far so good, I guess.”

“I’m really sorry about your … um … face. Mark is bringing a night-light up from town today. We’ll make sure that won’t happen again.”

If only a little bulb was all it would take to stop the powers of good and evil. Something told her it would take more than a tiny little glow. It didn’t seem like Ginny suspected the real source of Joy’s injuries, but there was no way to know. She’d never let on unless she wanted Joy to know. Besides, if she did know the truth, she’d have to deal with it. And how would someone deal with this? They’d be facing an impossibility. Just like Joy was.

“You hungry?” Ginny tipped her head toward the breakfast line.

“I’m desperate for coffee.” Joy clasped her hands together. “Please tell me there’s coffee.”

Ginny laughed. “Yes, trust me, we wouldn’t get very far in this house without coffee.” She leaned in close and whispered. “In fact, I’m always worried somebody’s going to talk to Ben about the addictive nature and the notion that caffeine to you girls might be counterproductive, because he’d remove it, and then what would we do?”

Joy laughed. Hmm. That was pretty cool. Joy wouldn’t have expected that from Ginny. Definitely way cooler than Ben, so far anyway. “Speaking of Ben, he wants to see me in his office after breakfast. Any idea what that’s about?”

“Oh, I doubt it’s anything to worry about. I’m sure he just wants to get to know you. He does that with everyone within their first week sometime.”

Joy raised her eyebrows.
Ow!
She needed to pretend her face was full of Botox and not move a muscle.

Ginny gave a dismissive wave. “Trust me. You’re going to love him. Ben’s got a heart like no other. He works like a maniac and pours himself into this place … into the girls. He’s an amazing guy.” Ginny’s eyes grew misty. “When I think of what he did for my Olivia … and for me …”

Funny, that wasn’t really the impression of Ben Joy had, but she’d stay open-minded.

“Now. You go get some breakfast before you run out of time.”

Joy moved through the breakfast line, chattering girls all around her. Odd to be in such a packed room, yet feel all alone.

A few feet ahead, Paige stepped out of her place in line and moved back by Joy. “Mind if I join you?”

“Course not.” But did Paige really want to, or had someone given her the challenge of befriending the new girl? Either way, the end result was that Joy got to hang out with Paige McNichols. Life had a funny way of throwing a curve ball at the weirdest times. Maybe she and Paige would be BFFs before the whole thing ended.

Melanie would have loved that story.

Paige inched ahead as the line moved forward. Joy followed at her heels. “So what are our choices?” She read the menu board. Cereal. Scrambled eggs. Biscuits and gravy. Bagels … Ooh. A bagel. That’s what Joy wanted. She moved to the toaster section and slipped a blueberry one into the slots and pressed the lever down. She opened the little door to the refrigerated case where the single-serving cream cheeses were lined up. Strawberry. Perfect.

She grabbed a knife and added it to her plate.

The bagel bounced when it popped up, and Joy pinched it with the tongs then dropped it onto her plate. Now where had Paige gone? Oh. She was waiting for gravy. Paige shrugged and mouthed an apology.

“I’ll save you a seat.” Joy turned around to the juice machine and filled a cup with crushed ice and cranberry juice cocktail. Then she arrived at Nirvana. The coffee machine. She placed a coffee cup under the nozzle for french vanilla cappuccino, filled it halfway, then poured dark roast plain coffee to top it off. That way it wouldn’t be quite so sweet.

“What do you think you’re doing?”
a voice whispered into her ear.

The coffee sloshed over the sides of Joy’s cup as she flipped around. No one was there.

She stood like a marble statue and searched the people near her. No one was close enough to have spoken and gotten away fast enough that she wouldn’t have seen anything. So it wasn’t Paige. Or Ginny. Or Savvy. Or any of the other girls in that place. Then who had spoken to Joy?

What did she think she was doing?
About breakfast? Or about life?

Joy flinched. Would she be hearing voices on a regular basis now? She would wind up in a mental hospital before the month was out.

Paige joined her. “Everything okay?” She looked out at the crowd, too.

Joy shrugged. “I don’t know. I just zoned out for a sec. No biggie.” She followed Paige to the table Ginny had saved. No one said a word for a few minutes as they set their breakfast trays down. Joy had better get a grip, or they’d start asking questions. She forced a smile and set about spreading cream cheese on her bagel.

“That’s it. Act like nothing’s wrong.”
The Voice.

Joy searched for Silas. He was right by her side, wagging his tail.

Okay. She needed to ignore The Voice. Paying attention to it would do nothing but encourage it.

Savvy approached. “Mind if I sit down?” Her eyes lowered and her mouth in a frown, she looked like she’d rather be anywhere else but had to sit somewhere.

Paige gestured to an empty seat. “Of course.”

Savvy slid into it.

Joy smirked. Quite the unlikely trio they made. The silent, brooding, tattooed girl; the drug addict movie star; and the girl who heard voices and talked to dead people.

The door was open, but the office was empty. Joy would leave and come back later. Gladly. She turned to walk away when she heard a thump.

“Joy? Is that you?” A voice with no body. But it sounded like Ben … not The Voice.

“Ben? Are you there?” She searched the room for a closet door or somewhere he could be hiding. But
why
would he be hiding?

Another thump and some rustling then the desk chair slid back. Ben crawled out from under the desk, held up a pen, and grinned, flashing his white teeth. “Found it.”

Okay. That dude was weird.

He ran his fingers through the pepper part of his salt-and-pepper hair and scrambled to his feet. He smoothed down his flat-front khakis and adjusted his sweater. They had names for guys like him at school. But she wouldn’t go there.

“Have a seat.”

Joy perched in the red guest chair, ready to bolt the moment the opportunity presented itself.

Ben hurried around his desk and claimed his chair from where it had rolled. He sat down and slid into position behind his desk. He clasped his hands on the wooden surface and leaned forward. “Joy. It’s truly wonderful to have you here. You know, Mark Stapleton came home from the meeting he had with you and your family a week ago and told us all about you. Since then, we as a staff—me and my wife, Alicia; Mark and Ginny Stapleton; the two other counselors you haven’t met yet; and even Marilyn, the cook—have been praying for you.”

Uh … what did he want her to say? “Thanks.” How weird to hear strangers across the country had been saying her name and talking about her deepest problems.

“I don’t believe in coincidence, so I feel safe in believing our prayers have been answered by you being here with us.”

Joy nodded. “I don’t know about answered prayers, but I am here.” She shrugged.

“Now, I know your story. I know what you’ve been going through and what you’ve been involved in. And if it’s all right with you, I’d like to start off by talking to you a little bit about the foundation for what we believe regarding all the spiritual things you’ve been dabbling in. Sound okay?”

Dabbling? Right. Pretty mild word for what she had been into lately. Her swollen eye twitched. “Sure. Go for it.” Not that it could help. Whether or not she understood why they believed what they did, it wouldn’t change her thoughts at all.

“We’re talking about the occult, which is everything that relates to satanic spiritual things like contacting the dead or praying to or sacrificing to Satan or demons. All of those things fall under the umbrella of the occult, and when we’re talking about that, we have to look to the apostle Paul who tells us about idolatry and witchcraft.”

When he put it like that, it sounded so sinister and evil. There was no way that was what she was involved in. There’d been no talk of Satan or secret demons.

“When people try to become a part of the spiritual world outside of what God has authorized us to do, they’re opening themselves to demonic oppression. Does that make sense?”

Joy couldn’t battle him the whole time or he’d wonder if she was a hopeless case. Maybe she was, but that was something she’d have to figure out for herself. “Yeah. I mean that’s pretty much what happened with me, I guess.”

“Yes, absolutely. We see this spelled out for us in First Corinthians where it says that the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. That’s talking about when people bring a sacrifice to an altar to earn favor with Satan. When people try to tap into the spiritual world in an unauthorized manner, then they are opening themselves to demons.”

“You said idolatry earlier. What does that have to do with all of this?”

“Good question. All the way back in the Old Testament, the occult started with idolatry. Building towers to worship other gods, making statues, often golden … those can all be idols. Idols can also be found in your heart, but for this biblical reference, they’re symbolic things that are worshipped.”

Wow. Did he ever give a simple answer? Joy might be more confused now than she was before.

“Sometimes, back then, and now, people would burn down the gold or another substance and form it into something that would represent and receive the worship. That’s all occultic. That’s what idol worship is.”

Ben waited. He watched for a response from Joy. What could she give him? Another question would probably thrill him right out of his pristine but off-brand shoes. “You made it sound like Paul had several places he addressed this. Are there others?”

Ben flipped forward in his chair, the back legs lifting. He yanked his Bible across the desk.

Simmer down. Don’t want to fall now.

“Yes. In the book of Acts there was record of a slave girl who got paid a lot of money by a fortune-teller. She chased after the followers of Christ and shouted things at them. Her spirits of evil could not coexist nearby their spirits of good. Eventually it bummed Paul so much, he stood up in front of all those people and demanded that the evil spirit flee in the name of Jesus.”

So where could she find this Paul guy … or at least someone like him who could do that for her? Then again, did she really want that? The thought of being all alone again … not a great alternative. “So what happened?”

“As soon as he told the spirit to leave in the name of Jesus, it left her.” He held up his finger. “But it wasn’t over yet.”

That was supposed to shock Joy? Of course it wasn’t over yet.

“Because of that demon this girl had the ability to foretell the future. Her masters made lots of money off her skills, and they weren’t too happy. So Paul and Silas got arrested ‘cause they ruined this slave girl’s ability to make money for her master.”

“Wait a second. What did you just say? Paul and who?”

“Paul and Silas. Silas was his companion on his missionary journeys. They basically served God together. Paul mentored him, and Silas was his companion, like his best friend.”

Joy sat speechless. She looked at the floor by her feet where Silas sat watching her. His tail lay limp and motionless. He didn’t look angry though. More like neutral—like he was just watching, waiting for her reaction.

“What if it hadn’t worked?”

Ben rubbed his chin. “What if what hadn’t worked?”

“Well, what if Paul had said what he did about the demon leaving the girl in the name of Jesus, but then it didn’t leave. What if it turned on her?” Joy looked away to avoid eye contact. She didn’t want to give too much away. “Don’t evil spirits get angry at being sent away?”

“Well sure. They want to test the power behind the order, like if you tell somebody to leave your presence and they don’t want to, they’re going to battle back until they see how strong you are. It’s just natural. The only way to combat that is through complete faith that the name of Jesus is more powerful than any demonic being whatsoever … even Satan himself.”