Page 87 of Atlas
“That’s what I thought. Jeremy at school says that when adults sex each other, they don’t have pants on, and I could see your pants, Atlas.”
“So here’s a tip for you, Saffron, always keep your pants on.” Lumi raised her glass of orange juice in a salute to her little sister.
Charles came over and steered Saffron back to the kitchen, giving us an apologetic smile. “Let’s leave Atlas and Jolene alone now.”
“I’m going to take a shower.” I moved to the edge of the seat and was folding the blanket when I felt Atlas put a hand on my back.
“Jolene,”
“Mmhh?” Turning my head, I looked at him. The situation of waking up with an audience had been awkward. At least now they had gone back to eating their breakfast around the kitchen counter and were no longer looking at us.
Atlas pushed a lock of my hair behind my ear and smiled at me. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For everything.”
I smiled back at him. He was saying something without words. It was right there in his eyes. Lifting his hand, he placed a finger under my chin, and then he kissed me. It wasn’t a long or deep kiss, but he did it here, in the living room with his family close by, as if he wanted the world to see what I meant to him. It released a massive swarm of butterflies in my stomach.
“We have a lot more talking to do,” Atlas whispered in my ear.
“Okay.” My legs were shaking a little when I got up and moved to the staircase with the feeling that I might be floating an inch or two above the ground.
“Jolene,” Lumi called out to me as I was half-way up the stairs. “If you want to do that interview with me, it has to be soon. I’m leaving in a few hours.”
“All right. I need to shower first, and then maybe we can go for a walk on the beach. I could use some fresh air.”
An hour later, Lumi and I had walked two miles and were sitting on a bench overlooking the ocean.
“So, you never thought of the Red Manor Group as a cult?”
“Never.” Her long black hair was blowing in the wind, and she pushed it behind her ears. “But I remember that we used to joke and call our group cultivated, which I still think we were. There was a focus on meditation, personal enlightenment, and spiritual growth. And despite my hatred for Conor, I can’t deny that the quality of my academic education was outstanding.”
“Why do you think it was so easy for Conor to attract people to his group?”
Lumi tied her hair in a knot and let her dark eyes take in the water with a thoughtful expression. “The egalitarian message of love is attractive to lots of people. He sold himself as someone helping children in the world and educating people to influence the future in a better direction. Of course, people were drawn to that vision.”
I leaned back and crossed my arms. “Lumi, what was your impression of Conor?”
“He was a puppetmaster.”
“Yes, but there’s something I’ve been wondering ever since I learned about the way he drugged the members and convinced them to kill themselves. How did he do it? What did he tell them to make them think shooting themselves was a good idea? It makes no sense.”
Lumi’s eyebrows narrowed. “My mother didn’t kill herself. He shot her.”
“I’m sorry.”
She drew in a sigh and leaned back. “Conor had preached about our group being a gathering of old souls who had lived many lives before. Reincarnation was an accepted truth in our group, and that night he hyped people up and convinced them that they should all go to the next life together. It wasn’t about dying; it was about moving on to something better.”
“Ah, I see.” I let it sink in before asking my next question.
“Do you think Conor believed that he was taking people to a better place, or was he aware that he was committing mass murder?”
Lumi shrugged. “Who knows? My answer would be a guess at best.”
“Then guess.”
“Yes. I think Conor convinced himself that he would come out the winner and escape with his group of followers. If not, I think he would have used them as human shields before letting the police take him.”
