She sat next to him as he flipped to the first book in the New Testament and began scouring the pages until he found the 22nd chapter. She didn't miss the slight fingershake as he located the 14th verse.
"Matthew 22:14," he read aloud, "For many are...
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"So we are dead," Taylor said miserably. "I knew it."
"He didn't say that," Star countered.
"He didn't not say that either," Jack put in.
"So it's possible." Taylor huddled next to the well and buried her head in her knees. "There's no point to anything."
I'll admit, I'd considered that.
"But I feel so alive, ya know?" Jack said.
I'd also considered that.
"Why did he only talk to you?" Star wondered aloud.
The six of us were basically gathered around the well. Adniel had successfully let us know nothing, so that was great. Reed had gone back to reading through the New Testament, looking for a scripture that fit the numbers. Star had the Old Testament cracked open but was looking at me. Taylor had given up, again. Grey stood silently, staring down into the well. Jack couldn't seem to keep still and was pacing, little puffs of dust surrounded his sneakers with every step.
I settled on shrugging. "Honestly, it only confused me more."
"Some of what he said was scripture."
"How do you know that?" I asked Reed, surprised.
He just shrugged and continued reading. I guess that would have to be enough of an answer. Out of all of us, he did seem to cover the most ground when it came to flipping through the pages of the Bible.
Star began reading again, so I decided now was as good a time as any to check out the nearest house.
Like the one that had been connected to the tunnels, this house was very bare. They were almost carbon copies, actually. There was the small wooden table and matching chairs off to the side. No bag, though. A few empty clay pots and what not were strewn around. Other than the giant holes that served as windows, it was the same. A little darker, but that might have been because the sun was slowly going down and my eyes were already adjusted to the light.
I wasn't eager to see this place at night. Especially since we'd lost the majority of our lamps in the first part of the Trial. I took another quick look around and decided to head out and check out another one. And then something weird caught my eye. Something was sticking out of a crack in the wall by the doorframe.
I got closer, and also tried not to get closer all at the same time. If that thing was alive, I was going to freak out.
Please don't be a spider. Please don't be a spider. Please don't be a spider.
It definitely was not a spider, but a camel statue. I plucked it out of the crack and took it with me. Algernon had included a camel slightly larger than this one in that bag we'd found...and up until now I hadn't thought much of it. Come to think of it, Jack had mentioned finding another camel right before Adniel had shown up. Was it a clue? Something to do with the numbers? Were there 24 hidden camels somewhere around the courtyard?
