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She also found one in the kitchen, scanning across each wall on each return trip while Mòr and Kenna scrubbed dishes at the sink. Lila yanked the bug off the windowsill and quickly dropped it into a glass of wine.
Kenna snatched the glass off the counter and poured it down the drain, oblivious to what lurked beneath the auburn liquid.
Mòr picked up a towel and dried the plates and glasses in the drying rack near the sink. “You’re troubled. You believe the sojourn complicates things.”
“Forty people have joined the compound within the last three years, either living or visiting on a regular basis. Not to mention those who lived here before these messages began. Someone on the compound could have been bought.”
“That’s highly unlikely. Oracle children do not turn on oracle children.”
Lila opened a few cabinets until she found where the plates and glasses belonged. Dishes clinked against dishes as she put them away. “How do you screen those who wish to sojourn here from undesirables?”
“There are no undesirables, Lila. There are only good and bad situations. The same compound that I would flourish
in, Kenna might flounder. We don’t label people. We label the environment.”
Kenna dropped a dirty pan into the sink with a splash. “Everyone on their first sojourn sees Dr. Patterson. They have appointments every week for the first three months while they adjust to being away from home. They continue on an as-needed basis thereafter.”
“What happens when as-needed translates to a lot?”
Mòr took the scrubbed pan from Kenna and rinsed it under clean water. “If the compound doesn’t suit them, we send them to another they’d enjoy more. Forcing a person to fit a place, to fit a job, it’s cruel. It courts trouble.” She handed the pan to Lila to dry. “Maybe you should find a new place too, Lila, and have a sojourn of your own. You could begin here.”
Lila’s rag squeaked against the damp glass pan as she dried it. “That’s the third time you’ve said as much this evening.”
“Perhaps I like having you here. Besides, it would be a relief to have someone with your experience on the compound, especially with what is coming.”
“What is that?”
Mòr turned away and took another dish from her sister.
“I can’t help hearing my name as you thrash. You’re having visions of me. You called me god-chosen at dinner. Are you having them because I’m here?”
“I would have them whether you were here or not.”
“But you have more because I’m here?”
“No, but even if I did, I’d still want you here. Your father agreed to our surveillance proposal, a proposal we made before the session closed. Every oracle in the nation has the funds to upgrade their equipment now. Connell and I could use your assistance. My sisters throughout Saxony could use your help, too.”
“I’ll speak with Connell tonight. I already know of one hole.”
Kenna let out the water in the sink. The water made a sucking noise as it drained. After drying her hands on a towel, she took the dried pan from Lila’s grasp. “You’re not doing it while you’re looking for the damn mole. You’re far too tired. Did you even sleep last night?”
“I’ll rest when I’ve caught the mole. Your list is interesting, by the way, now that I’ve met some of the people on it.”
“Some of them were a surprise to Mòr too.”
“I bet they’d be a surprise to your daughter as well.”
“I suppose so.”
“Why Camille?”
Kenna put the pan away and leaned upon the counter. “I’ve known a lot of teenagers in my time, Lila, but I’ve never met one as perfect as Camille. Everyone’s crabby sometimes. Every teen rolls her eyes or forgets her manners, even at twenty. Every friend swipes at another in a moment of annoyance. Camille doesn’t. She’s never been cross with my daughter, not even when Cecily deserved it. And as much as I love my daughter, Cecily deserves it quite often.”
“That’s your reason?”
“It rubs at me. I love that girl for how well she treats my daughter, especially given everything going on lately, but something is not right.”
Lila nodded. Camille had a good reason for acting perfectly all the time.
