The Altar Girl: A Prequel

CHAPTER 29

Nadia enjoyed the trip to the Connecticut shore with her family. Her father was in a good mood. She and her brother dug up soda bottle caps from the sand and tried to get as many different brands as possible. Their mother had made capicola and ham grinders with provolone cheese. She served them with giant pickles the size of zucchinis and chilled cans of Fanta Root Beer. Everyone was happy. On the way home they stopped for hot dogs, french fries, and butter pecan ice cream cones for dinner.

They listened to the Red Sox in the car. It was a close game, tied 2–2 in the ninth inning when the lights went out in Fenway. Why did the lights go out in Fenway? And why was her hair wet? Most importantly, why was she upside down?

The next thing she knew she wasn’t at Fenway anymore. Wait, she thought. She hadn’t been at Fenway. She’d been listening to the game on the radio, hadn’t she? It was so confusing. All she knew now was that someone was carrying her through the forest and rain was pelting her face. She was slung over a man’s shoulder. A woman with the face of a wild boar and the shape of a mutant pear swung a lantern as she marched behind them, a massive knapsack resting on her hunched back. Nadia could hear the man’s lungs heave with each step.

A few steps later Nadia understood. She understood that she’d been dreaming. She hadn’t been to the beach with her family, and she hadn’t gone to a baseball game at Fenway or heard it on the radio. She was still near the Appalachian Trail in the middle of her final night of the godforsaken survival test.

And two strangers had taken her.