Page 11

Why, recently I'd been assigned to my first baking duty. Before, I'd merely assisted the older Sisters, so it hadn't been too hard. This time, however, I'd been the only one in charge of making the Sunday pie, and by mistake I'd added salt instead of sugar.

How is it my fault when they looked the same? Even the containers were the same color.

But that small mistake had gotten me in a lot of trouble. No one could eat the pie, and so Mother Superior had taken it upon herself to make sure I learned which is sugar and which is salt—by cleaning and organizing the entire kitchen. Part of my punishment had also been that I'd been prohibited from eatinganythinguntil the kitchen was sparkly clean.

I was lucky Lina had sneaked me some food, since that kitchen is enormous. I would have died of starvation before I was done cleaning it.

"You're good to me," she giggles, leaving my arms to go pick some more flowers.

I shift position, folding my legs under me, and I turn my attention back to my current punishment, picking up the hefty book and opening it on my lap.

This one isn't as bad as the kitchen one, but I still have to choose a passage from the Old Testament and write an entire essay on it. I guess that's what I get for accidentally falling asleep in class.

But really, how am I supposed to pay attention when everything is just so… uninteresting? I've been hearing the same stories of God creating the world, or Jesus sacrificing himself for our sakes, since I was a little girl. I probably know some passages by heart if I concentrate hard enough. It's always the same discussion about the same texts. Why would I be intrigued by that?

I know there's more to learn than the same old tales. One time, I even managed to sneak into the library and I'd seen so many interesting texts… Still on the subject of God and religion, but they were exquisitely different from anything I'd read or heard before.

I'd managed to steal a copy of the Confessions of St Augustine, and I stashed that in my hiding place at the mausoleum. I've been reading it every chance I got, and while the moral of the story is that a religious life is better than a sinful one, I'd been able to read between the lines.

Life outside.

Sinful, immoral, seductive. It showed hownotto behave, yet it only made me want to experience it even more. He'd even talked about carnal relations…

A blush envelops my entire face as I remember eating those words straight off the page, my curiosity about such an act only increasing the more secretive St Augustine was in his narration.

Why mention it at all if you're going to mince your words? For all his descriptions of his immoral existence before the church, I still don't know exactly what the act entails.

I sigh, the direction of my thoughts taking me further and further away from my assignment. Considering I have to turn it in tomorrow, I need to get my head in the game.

Hands to my temples, I give them a quick rub, squeezing my eyes shut and willing myself to focus.

"Claudia, don't go too far!" I call out to her when I see her running in the opposite direction.

Her shoulders slump when she hears my voice, and dejected, she comes back.

"You know your mother counts on me to make sure you're safe," I add as I pat her small back.

She gives me a tremulous smile and nods, taking a seat next to me and focusing on the flowers she'd already picked. She starts playing with them, trying to build another garland.

By chance, as she shifts positions and tries to get more comfortable, I get a closer look at her bare legs.

I frown as I survey a mass of brown and yellow bruises stretching from her shin to her knee.

"Claudia," I turn to her, "what happened?" I point to her bruises and her eyes widen. She folds her uniform over her legs, obstructing my view.

"Nothing," she mutters under her breath. "I fell."

"You fell? When? Does your mother know?" The words tumble out of my mouth, even though I can bet Lina doesn't know. She's so protective of Claudia that if she were aware of those bruises on her daughter's skin, she would have never let her hear the end of it—likely she wouldn't be allowed to play anymore either.

Lina is a little too much sometimes when it comes to Claudia's safety, but I can understand and appreciate her attention.

How I wish someone cared for me like that too…

"No," she lowers her face slightly, before coming closer to me. "Please don't tell her. You know how she's going to react," she says as she pleads with me with her big eyes.

I'm torn. On the one hand, I owe it to Lina to tell her, on the other, I don't want Claudia to lose her trust in me.

"Tell me what happened," I urge her, and she starts recounting how she'd tripped and fallen on the hard floor of the classroom. It had been only an accident, and she doesn't want Lina to make a big deal out of it.