“A Mass is a Mass.” I shrugged a shoulder.
“There’s a reason we can’t go.”
“Because they don’t let you, but Marie invited me to Mass. She said it’s a special service. And she even said I could take a job there cleaning.”
“A job?” Will scoffed. “Have you checked your bank account lately?”
I pulled out my phone and checked my account. I’d checked it last week and had one thousand and twenty-seven dollars in there, but that was before I paid my rent two days ago. I hadn’t bothered checking since, knowing I was uncomfortably close to the red. I’d adopted an out of sight, out of mind motto when it came to debt. Looking at my account now, I gasped. $50,382.72.
“Told you. You don’t need a job. The Swords is your job.”
“I’ll be back soon.” I put my phone away and turned to the endless yard, my eyes set on the woods beyond it. As I started walking, I heard Will stand and curse. He was beside me quickly. “What are you doing?”
“Going with you. Obviously.”
“You weren’t kidding when you said your mother raised you right.”
“She sure did, though in situations like these I feel like even she’d question my sanity.”
“We’re going to Sunday Mass, in the woods, in broad daylight. How bad can it be?” I glanced over. “What? What’s that face?”
“I’m trying not to point out any statistics.”
“God, you’re morbid.” I felt my chest tighten. He wasn’t wrong though. How many people had died while they were simply praying? I looked ahead. We still had a couple of minutes to go before we arrived. “Where did you grow up?”
“San Diego.”
“Long way from home.”
“I’ll be back there soon enough.”
“You’re pre-med?”
“Following my father’s footsteps.” He grinned. “He’s a podiatrist.”
“Ah.” I smiled. “Is that your go-to podiatrist joke?”
“Pretty bad, huh?” He chuckled.
“Was your father a Sword?”
“Nah. He was here at the same time your . . . well, not your dad, but Dr. Thompson was. They were friends and neither one of them could get in even though all their white friends were invited. I’m sure you’ve heard about the racial inequalities happening then.”
“Then?” I raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize they ever stopped happening.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Will sighed.
“Is it the same for your sister you think?”
“Not really. It pains her to see it though. I mean, imagine being a black man’s white twin.”
“I honestly can’t imagine.” I smiled. “But you’ve made it this far.”
“And I’ll make it further.” He smiled. “I have to say, as far as academia goes, things have gotten better than when my dad attended. I’m not the only black guy in my classes.”
“And here?” I pointed back to The Manor.
“There will be more of us. And now we have you.”
“You mean a woman?”
“A Hispanic woman who doesn’t come from a rich, privileged family. That’s gotta count for something.”
“Except I’m the only woman here.”
“You know you were the one I was supposed to hunt?”
“Hunting?”
“Try to recruit.”
“Oh. How’d you figure it out?”
“There was an email I was included in. I wasn’t supposed to be, but it was between the Chancellor and someone else. They never signed their name and the email didn’t have one either.” Will shook his head. “The email had your name, Eva Guerra, and a picture.”
“Can you show me the picture?”
“Let me check.” His brows pulled in as he reached for his phone in his pocket and scrolled through it. We stopped walking just on the other side of the black ropes on the grass, where the caskets were buried. Finally, Will handed me his phone. “Grainy.”
I looked at the photograph in question and felt the color drain from my face. It was a picture of me, with my long hair, before I’d cut it to my shoulders to look more like Stella Thompson. I was wearing a white Stones T-shirt and ripped shorts. Both things which I no longer had and hadn’t since two summers ago when I donated them to the church, which meant the photograph must have been taken before I was even attending Ellis.
“You’re shaking,” Will said.
“Can I screenshot this and text it to myself?”
“Sure.”
I did, sending it to myself and Adam with the message, “wtf?”
“What’s wrong?” Will took his phone back.
“This confirms that I didn’t get a fluke invitation.”
“Even if you did, they deposited the money into your account, right? Not Stella’s?”
“Good point.” I nodded.
The church bells rang out making us both jump a little. The bells rang again. We looked at each other and walked faster. Will hurried as well. We slowed down as we reached the doors. There was a woman there, a nun who seemed to be watching the monks and nuns as they walked in. At the sight of us, she frowned.
“May I help you?”
“Marie invited me to Mass.”
The nun looked at me, looked at Will and back at me. “You’re not dressed for Mass.”