Sacrifice (Ritual Sins #2)

6. Sebastian

6

Sebastian

The night air was crisp, filled with the scent of damp earth and pine. Each step I took felt heavier than the last, and strange shivers kept running down my spine. Not from the cold, but from the anticipation. Somewhere in this vast, dark expanse of wilderness lay the cave I’d been searching for, its hidden secrets beckoning me closer with each step.

The moonlight barely pierced the dense canopy of trees above our heads as Rose and I trudged through the wilderness, and the towering tree branches seemed to close in over our heads, giving me the eerie impression we were getting caught in a trap.

It wouldn’t be the first time I got stuck in a trap while searching for the forbidden cave, but I trusted Rose now. I knew she wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.

I glanced over at her. Her tense expression held a mix of grit and determination, mirroring my own resolve. A hint of anxiety flickered there too.

“Hey,” I said softly, grabbing her hand. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “It just feels strange being out here like this,” she said. “For so long, I truly believed a dark spirit would snatch me up if I even thought about venturing along this path.”

I stopped in my tracks, making her stop with me. “If you don’t want to go all the way, I understand.” I cupped her shadowed face in one hand as I spoke, lips lingering above hers. “I can go alone. I just need you to mark the location on a map for me.”

She shook her head, eyes alight with determination. “No. I’ll be fine. I want to go with you.”

“You’re sure?”

Another nod. Then she turned and trudged along the track again, shoes crunching over dead leaves. “Five minutes and we’ll be there,” she called over her shoulder.

I set my jaw and followed, occasionally casting my gaze behind us to ensure no one had followed us out here to the woods. It was unlikely. Most of Alderwood had been blind drunk from the festivities before midnight, and at least half of them had retired to their homes within that hour. The other half had lingered for longer, dancing and laughing and fucking beneath the starlight, but by one o’clock, most of them had returned to their homes too, leaving the streets empty and silent. The only ones left were several couples who’d gone through the fertility rituals, most of whom had passed out in each other’s arms on the cool grass after they were done.

Even by Covenant standards, the fertility rituals were weird as fuck.

Every couple who wanted a chance to conceive would walk arm-in-arm to a smaller clearing not far from the main one. A wooden ritual hut stood in the center of that clearing. They entered this hut, one couple at a time. No one was allowed to observe what went on after that. Not just me as an outsider— no one, except for the couples themselves and the healer in charge of the ceremony.

Rose filled me in on what happened in there, based on everything she’d heard from married couples. First, the couple would pray together, and then the woman would drink something that supposedly increased fertility. After that, the healer would ‘perform magic’ of some kind, and then the couple would emerge from the hut and have sex in front of everyone.

As it all unfolded before my eyes earlier, I’d watched it with a strange feeling gnawing at the edges of my mind, but I couldn’t figure out why it was bothering me. It reminded me of… something.

But what?

I had no idea.

“Sebastian?”

I jerked my eyes up from the leaf-strewn track. “What?”

Rose tilted her head. “I asked what you think the cave holds.”

“Oh. Sorry. I was lost in my own world for a minute,” I said. I cleared my throat and went on. “I’m really not sure what’s in the cave. It could be anything. I have a theory, though.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “What is it?”

“Remember what I told you earlier?” I replied. “About the mushrooms?”

“Yes. You think the founders ate some from the cave and hallucinated.”

“Yeah. I’m wondering if that’s the big secret—a cave full of magic mushrooms. Drugs are a big industry in the outside world. So maybe the elders, healers, and so-called alchemists are pretending to be in there doing rituals all day, when really they’re just cultivating, harvesting, and packing shrooms to sell to outsiders.”

Rose stopped in her tracks and stared at me, eyes saucer-wide now. “You really think the Covenant could be involved with drugs ?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a theory.” I hesitated, rubbing my jaw. “But it would explain why all your alchemists have pharmacology degrees.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “What is pharmacology, exactly? No one ever told me.”

“It’s the study of drugs and their effect on the body, usually in regard to medicine. But the illicit drug trade requires skilled people too. People who know how to make certain substances.”

“Oh. I see.”

I raised my brows and went on. “If I’m right about this, it would also explain all the money the Covenant has to pay for the men’s college educations, new buildings, and farming equipment, among other things.”

Rose’s lips tightened. “We make money from the farmstead. Local businesses all around the area buy our berry wines. They like our cheeses too.”

I gave her a faint smile. “I know. But one thing you’re going to realize when you’re in the outside world is how much everything costs,” I said. “Believe me, a few cases of berry wine won’t pay for medical school or law school, let alone anything else.”

“Oh.” Her face fell. “There’s so much I don’t know about your world. Sometimes it feels overwhelming.”

“You’ll learn everything fast.” I took her hand and squeezed it in mine, thumb rubbing her palm in slow circles. “You’re smart as hell, baby girl.”

“Thank you.” She went quiet for a moment, gazing at the ground. An owl hooted distantly, breaking the silence, and her pretty eyes shot back up to meet mine. “So… do you think my father killed your mother because she saw the secret in the cave? A secret that’s drug-related?”

“I’m not sure,” I said gruffly. “But I think it’s possible. I mean, he probably wouldn’t want that kind of secret to come out, would he? After all, most of his own people don’t know about it. If it’s true, anyway.”

She swallowed audibly and nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”

I cupped her chin again, thumb tenderly stroking the soft skin along her jaw. “I know it’s hard to imagine that your father could’ve done something so terrible.”

“Yes, it is,” she said, voice hitching slightly. “For so long, I wished he was innocent. Even though I always knew the Covenant was involved in what happened to Miranda, I still hoped…”

She trailed off, and I pulled her closer to me. “I get it. It’s really hard to picture someone you love doing something so fucking horrible.”

“I just can’t see it, no matter how much I try,” she said, voice muffled by my chest.

“I know.”

She let me hold her for a moment. Then she sucked in a deep breath and pulled back. “We should keep going. We’re very close now.”

We arrived in a small clearing a couple of minutes later. Moonlight bathed the area in a silvery glow, revealing the forbidden cave’s entrance nestled between ancient trees. Its dark, yawning mouth stood in contrast to the serene forest around us, foreboding and inviting at the same time.

“There it is,” Rose said breathlessly, clutching my arm.

“It’s a lot smaller than I thought,” I said, tipping my head slightly to one side. “I guess it opens up more on the inside.”

Rose didn’t reply. She was staring at the cave entrance, eyes wide and lips parted. She looked utterly terrified.

“Baby.” I squeezed her hand again. “You really don’t have to go in if you don’t want to.”

“I know. It’s just…” She cut herself off and took a shaky step forward. “I can hear it. The power within. Can’t you?”

I frowned and strained to listen, wondering what she was talking about. Then I heard it too—a faint humming sound, emanating from deep inside the cave.

“You’re right,” I said, eyes narrowing. “It’s power. But not the kind of power you meant.”

She cocked her head, frowning at me. “What?”

“It’s electricity,” I said. “That’s what’s making that low humming sound.”

Confusion briefly wrinkled Rose’s forehead. Then her brows shot up. “Oh! It’s like the boundary fence.”

“Exactly. It’s not the Darkness lurking inside. It’s just manmade shit.”

The tension drained from her shoulders, and she inhaled deeply. “Let’s go,” she said. “Right now, before I lose my nerve.”

We approached the mouth of the cave and slowly stepped inside, using my phone to light up the dark, damp interior. The rough, natural walls loomed around us, except for one section at the back left where a wooden door hung. The wood was so dark that it blended almost seamlessly with the cave walls, making it invisible from the outside. It was barely even discernible to us right now, and we were only three feet away.

Rose spotted it too, lifting a trembling hand. “It’s a door.”

“Let’s hope it isn’t locked,” I said, heart hammering in my chest as I stepped toward it.

It was. Of fucking course it was. A keypad below the handle prompted me for a six-digit code. “Shit. We can’t get in unless we know the code.”

“There’s no other way?” Rose asked, staring at the keypad.

“Nope. Unless you can guess it, I doubt we’re getting in there anytime soon.”

“This is probably too obvious, but maybe try my father’s birthday? 120469.”

“Worth a shot.” I tapped in the numbers. The light flashed red, and I grunted. “Dammit.”

“What about my birthday? 051299.”

I keyed in the numbers, and the light flashed green. “Holy shit. It actually worked,” I said, eyes widening as the door opened with a soft hiss.

It creaked as I pushed on it, slowly swinging open, and suddenly everything was flooded with bright light. For a moment, it almost felt like a religious experience, but then I realized the light was fluorescent and set up on an automated motion-detector system.

“What is this place?” Rose asked, wide eyes scanning the large room we’d found ourselves in.

The natural cave walls had been meticulously smoothed and reinforced, the stone now blending with metal and glass. Sleek laboratory tables lined the room, cluttered with an array of scientific instruments, empty beakers and tubes, and complex machinery. The air was cool and sterile, a stark contrast to the wilderness outside.

“It’s a lab,” I said, looking over at Rose.

“A lab?”

“It’s short for laboratory. A place where scientists do research through tests and experiments. This must be where the alchemists work all day.”

Her brows knitted, and she stepped toward a shelf neatly stacked with liquid-filled vials and containers. “What do you think this is?” she asked, pointing to one of the vials.

“It could be drugs, like I guessed before. But I’m not sure.” When she lifted a hand to grab the vial, I snapped a finger. “Wait! Don’t touch anything yet.”

She snatched a hand back, eyebrows rising. “Why?”

“We don’t know if it’s safe,” I said. “It could be drugs, but it could also be something else. A virus, maybe. We shouldn’t touch anything until we’re sure.”

“Good point,” she murmured. Her apprehensive eyes shot across the room, where a set of steel doors stood. “Should we check through there too?”

“Definitely.” I strode toward the door, pulse still pounding with anticipation. There was another electronic lock on it, but it accepted the same code as the front door. 051299 .

Beyond the steel door, a narrow, dimly lit passage stretched out before us. The air grew warmer as we moved down it, and small lights in sconces switched on, automated to detect motion just like the laboratory lights.

“It’s getting quite humid,” Rose said, echoing my thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m almost sweating,” I muttered, frowning as we headed deeper into the passage.

We finally arrived in what appeared to be an enormous grow room, its interior bathed in a soft, artificial light. Inside, rows of neatly arranged trays were stacked with cultivated mushrooms, their delicate caps shimmering under the glow of specialized heat lamps. Everything was meticulously organized, with various stages of mushroom growth visible, from young sprouts to fully matured fungi.

“I fucking knew it,” I muttered.

Rose sighed, head slowly shaking. “You were right,” she said. “This cave is filled with mushrooms. Not dark spirits.”

“Yeah. Mushrooms that the Covenant has decided to grow on an industrial scale,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “But… they don’t look right.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a lot of different fungus species that you can get psilocybin from,” I said. “That’s the stuff that makes you high. But none of them look anything like this. At least not from what I’ve seen.”

“What are they meant to look like?”

“I think most of them are white, brown, or yellow. But these are—”

“Red.” Rose cut me off, staring at the crimson mushroom caps. “They’re all red.”

“Yup. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She turned her head and gestured to the passage on the edge of the room. “There’s more down there. Should we see what it is?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” I turned away from the trays and followed her further down the passage. At the end lay another door. It was reinforced with metal, its edges sealed tightly, suggesting it led to an important storage area. A faint whirring sound could be heard from the other side, and the intense chill radiating from it was palpable, a sharp contrast to the heat of the mushroom cultivation area.

Rose tried the handle, but it didn’t budge. “Oh,” she muttered. “This one needs a code too.”

She tapped in her birthday, but it didn’t work. She tried her father’s birthday again, but that didn’t work either.

“Careful,” I said. “If we type in the wrong password too many times, an alarm might get triggered. Then the elders will know we sneaked in here.”

“Oh.” She yanked her hand away like the keypad was on fire. “What do you think is in there?”

“Just storage, I’m guessing. The door is cold, so there must be a huge fridge or freezer behind it.”

She tilted her head. “Are mushrooms meant to be stored in the cold?”

“That’s a good point,” I muttered, frowning. “I’m pretty sure they’re meant to be dried and kept in a warm area. Not frozen.”

“So there’s probably something else in there,” she said, eyes filling with trepidation as she stared at the locked door. “Something that needs to be kept cold.”

My jaw tightened. “Yup.”

She swiveled her head back around to look at me. “What do you think it is?”

“I’m not sure, baby girl,” I said, scratching the back of my neck. “It could be anything.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “There’s something on your mind, Sebastian. I can tell from the look in your eyes. What is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tell me. I can handle it,” she said. “I can handle anything. I think I proved that when I went through the Confession.”

I exhaled deeply and rubbed my jaw. She had a good point. “All right,” I said in a low voice. “I didn’t want to say it, because it’s probably not right, but my first thought was… there could be bodies in there.”

Rose’s eyes widened. “ Bodies ?”

“I don’t know.” I lifted my palms. “I could be wrong. In fact, I probably am wrong. The Covenant men might be growing and selling shrooms, but I doubt they’re serial killers too.”

“They killed your mother,” she said woodenly. “So why not kill others too?”

“Rose, as much as I despise your father and the elders, I don’t think they’re out there murdering people on the regular. When my mother was killed, her body was left out on display in the woods, on an elaborate altar. Not secretly hidden away in a freezer at the back of a cave. They wanted people to know she was dead.”

“That’s true.”

“Whatever’s in there, it’s probably drug-related. Just like the rest of the stuff in this cave.”

She sucked her teeth, eyes narrowed on the door. Then she sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face. “I can’t do this anymore.”

“Can’t do what?” I asked, brows knitting with concern.

“Question everything and constantly wonder. I need to know what’s happening here.” She lifted her chin and looked right into my eyes. “It’s time, Sebastian. We have to confront my father.”