Page 123 of He Who Sleeps

"Yes, hi, we'd like to speak to the matron or whoever is in charge," Carter said politely.

At the word matron she stiffened and then looked to Petra. “Ms. Franklin?” she said and smiled.

“I don’t know you,” Petra said.

“Oh no, I was brought on two years ago,” she said. “I’m Matron Elise.”

“What happened to Matron Verna?”

“I am sorry to say she passed away, a few months after I was brought in to succeed her.”

"Perhaps we could talk somewhere more private?" Carter suggested. "We have questions that might be better suited to a less public discussion."

“No one is here. The matrons took what’s left of our girls to the movies today,” she said and motioned down the hall. “Coffee? Tea?” she asked as the followed her. “I didn’t think you would be back here, Ms. Franklin, and in the company of an Order male,” she offered as they made it into the kitchen she remembered so fondly. “So, you have probably come for answers then? Though I am intrigued... How did you find him...or did he find you, and are you safe?” She looked to Carter. “Is she safe?”

"She's safe. The previous regime has been eliminated and we're in charge now," Carter said. "We'd burn the world down to keep her safe."

The woman smiled at him. “That so? Well then...” She went and started making coffee. “So what are your questions, because if you are here, Mr...” She looked to Carter.

"Just call me Carter," he said respectfully. "And mostly we want to know about how this orphanage came to be and how Petra ended up here. If you know anything about the recent history of The Order, you'll know that our knowledge of the feminine side of it is sorely lacking."

“That’s an understatement.” She snorted. “Let me get her files,” she said and walked out of the room. Petra’s stomach was clenching. This entire thing was giving her severe anxiety. But the scents.... The scents of the house were a comfort. Camphor and sage, and rose and lavender...the happiest times of her childhood were spent in this room, with those scents.

“Here we are,” Elise said as she walked back in with several files in her hand. She set them on the table. “Have a look. I can tell you what I know, but...” Walking over to the coffee maker, she set another pod to brew.

“And what do you know?” Petra said as she opened the top file seeing her photo, a recent one.

“I know that you, like all the other girls that are here, were brought here after He contacted a matron and gave order to leave, to bring the girls here, away from the compounds and away from The Order.”

"Wait, the God contacted a matron directly?" Carter stared at her. "Was this around the time several of the women's compounds went dark?"

“He contacts us all the time,” Elise said.

“How?”

Through dreams, subconscious whispers.” She smiled. “Unlike the masculine, the feminine of his Order has always been directly attached to him...well, some of us. Some can’t hear him at all, though we had ideas about that as well.”

Petra looked at the file, scanning over the information there. “I was originally in...Maine?” she said, looking up. “And she brought me here.”

“On his orders.” Elise said. “If you read her account, she says what he said.”

Petra sifted through the pages and found one written by hand, and began to read. “On April seventeenth, He visited me. Told me I was to bring three of our girls west, to the black house in the woods, where they would be safe. He said they were special, and they would be needed, to ensure love ruled.”

She looked to Carter. “This is dated four months before the compounds started to go dark. It also says the matron in Maine told her to go when she told her she had dreamed him. She brought me, Clary, and Muriel with her. Left the rest there.” She looked up and then back down. “Muriel had a sister they left. Why would she do that?”

“Because He willed it,” Elise said. “They knew what was coming. This house was a safehouse only few that were close to Him knew about.”

"What about your other friends?" Carter asked. "Is there any mention of them in the file?"

“All their files are here,” she said and started opening them. “Vic from San Fran, Carlee, Baton Rouge, and Fiona from Montana. All of us brought in the same week, along with several other girls of varying ages.” She looked to Elise. “They did it to keep us safe?”

“On His orders. I was brought in once Verna started getting sick, from the Idaho compound. It’s still there, hasn’t been found by The Order. Or didn’t get raided. I don’t know why some did and some didn’t. And I don’t know what happened to the girls that were taken. They all weren’t, some made their way to Idaho, and some south to Mexico and farther to Peru.”

"Do you have contact details for them?" Carter asked. "Now that The Order is back on track with input from the Temple, we'd really like to put everything right...back the way it used to be."

“The way it used to be.” She sighed and smiled. “Before those assholes started fucking with the natural order.” She brought them both coffee. “You know not one of the matrons alive have been to our original temple because of those assholes? Our girls are largely out in the world, without their counterparts, without Him.” She shook her head. “They don’t know what it feels like to have the love of one such as He, to feel his influence.” She looked to Petra. “But you do.” She took her hand. “Touched, faintly, but it was enough to find him.”

“Findthem, my Seven.”

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