Sisters of Sorrow by Axel Blackwell Read Free Book Online Page A

was a trowel,” Anna said. “I only meant to say that I would like to swim in the ocean someday.”
    Cheryl, a redheaded head girl with more pimples than Jane, and fewer teeth, choked on her fish stew. “Anna! That’s horrible! Every child that ever died here has been dumped out there.”
    “Yeah,” added Jane, “and all the sisters, too.”
    “Never mind,” Anna mumbled. She spooned chunks of fish out of the thin broth.
    “Just think of all those bodies bobbing around down there,” Cheryl said.
    “Cheryl, please!” Lyla said, her eyes glistening with moisture. “When they go into the water, the Lord takes them,” Lyla insisted.
    “My parents were buried at sea,” Ester, the oldest of the head girls, said, “and the Lord took them. And that is all we will hear of that.”
    The girls fell silent. Anna wondered if the Lord had taken her baby brother when he went into the water. She thought it was probably different with bathtubs. Would the Lord have taken Sister Elizabeth if Anna had flushed her down the drainage pipe? Would He have taken Anna? She felt the key pressing against the bottom of her foot and decided that didn’t matter anymore.
     
    The following morning at breakfast, the new sister was among the nuns serving the meal. Anna startled, suddenly remembering Sister Dolores, the spy. So much had happened down in the cisterns, Anna had completely forgotten the conversation she had overheard. The conversation that almost killed me , she thought. The conversation that almost made me a killer . But, here was Sister Dolores now, who was not what she claimed or appeared to be.
    Sister Dolores had the look of a dog who had been beaten its whole life, yet still yearned to please its master. She hopped eagerly to the demands or requests of the other sisters and forced a smile in reply to every comment. As Anna watched her, however, Sister Dolores looked up from the cauldron of porridge she was stirring and locked eyes with Anna. A true smile spread easily and warmly across the sister’s narrow lips. Anna felt a sudden embarrassment for staring, as well as some deeper uneasiness.
    Sister Dolores straightened her back, still smiling at Anna. She reached into her habit and very deliberately fingered her crucifix. Anna copied her gesture, coming up with her mummified pinky rather than a silver cross. Sister Dolores’s smile twisted just a little, taking on a knowing, satisfied appearance. She casually looked away from Anna, back to the cauldron, reacquiring her subservient posture.
    She is a spy! What did they think was her purpose here? Did they know? Anna couldn’t remember, except that she may have come to rescue someone. Obviously, Sister Dolores knew something about Anna. Is she here to rescue me? How would she even know me? Anna couldn’t begin to imagine.
    “Anna!” Jane snapped.
    Anna looked up to see all five of the other head girls staring at her. She glanced around, confused.
    “Put that thing away,” Jane said. “What has gotten into you?”
    Anna was still holding her finger. She stuffed it back into her dress, then bent over her porridge and did not look up again. She spooned the sludge into her mouth and thought about Sister Dolores, the spy.
    I have to warn her .
    No, stay out of it .
    If she is here to rescue me, and they catch her…
    You don’t need her help, you have the key.
    That’s right, I am leaving tonight, I can risk warning her. Abbess McCain won’t find out until after I am gone.
    If you warn her, she will want to know how you found out. If you tell her, she might turn you in.
    But if I don’t warn her… What if she was the one who left the key?
    How could she have done that?
    How could anybody? But if she is the one helping me escape, and she gets caught…
    The whistle blew, signaling the end of breakfast. Anna surveyed the hall. Hundreds of children shuffled into rows. The racket and clatter of feet and benches and tin utensils filled the vaulted chamber. Most of the