By the time they reached the front doors of the church, everyone else had already gone inside. The girls sat on wooden benches to the right and the boys to the left. Every boy wore the same gray trousers and vests with white shirts. The mischievous gleam in their eyes as they sized up Samantha like a cat about to pounce on a mouse made her want to bolt for the exit. The girls whispered as she passed, some stifling a laugh by putting a hand to their mouths.
With nowhere else to sit, Prudence led Samantha to the front pew, occupied only by Miss Brigham. "Oh, you look lovely," Miss Brigham whispered.
"Thanks," Samantha said. With her feet still throbbing, she felt anything but lovely.
All whispering and giggling stopped the moment a side door opened. From what Prudence and Miss Brigham had said about the reverend, she expected a stern old man. Instead, Reverend Francis Crane's face had smooth, tanned skin and a thick head of sandy hair. Beneath his black suit she could tell he had a lean, firm body. She blushed at those thoughts and looked away as Reverend Crane ascended the steps to the podium.
"Blessed be thee, my children," the reverend began. "The Lord has brought us another beautiful morning to praise His name. We begin today by reciting the Lord's Prayer."
Samantha did her best to follow along, trying to mimic Prudence as she recited the prayer. The other kids spoke the words in a rote deadpan, as if they'd been saying them their whole lives. From what Prudence had said earlier, Samantha figured they must have been saying them their whole lives.
When the prayer finished, the reverend began his sermon. He leaned forward on the podium as he spoke, his eyes burning with passion. Prudence kept her eyes on the floor while Samantha met the reverend's gaze and thought she saw a hint of a smile pull at one corner of his mouth.
"My children, there are many temptations in this world. Many of them are not obvious to us. Satan couches his evil words in the sweet and loving voice of an angel to make sins seem harmless. He starts us down the dark path by suggesting we are only telling one small lie. When we give in to this temptation, he sends us farther down his dark road until at last we become lost from God's way."
"This is why we must at all times adhere to The Way for it alone will lead us to salvation." The reverend continued speaking about the importance of The Way, but Samantha could not pay attention. In the pew behind her, she heard a rustling and sensed trouble a moment before something dry and rough touched her neck.