God hated her.
It was the only explanation that made sense.
Lili folded her arms against her chest as tight as she could, her tunic and jeggings no match for this weather. She kept her steps fast but light so her Docs didn’t make too much noise. It had to be coming up on midnight, and the only people out were ones she didn’t want to meet.
Yellow light spilled from behind. A car turned onto the street. Lili dove behind a large bush in the yard of a two-story home. If someone saw her, they might wonder at a young girl alone at night and stop. If they did, she would run.
But she didn’t have the energy to run anymore.
She curled into a ball, a blade of grass tickling her nostril. Silent tears watered the sweet-scented bush as she waited for the car to pass.
What did I do to make You so mad at me, God?
So maybe she shouldn’t have run away. That didn’t explain why her parents stopped caring, why Miss Kent got pregnant. What had she done to start this whole chain of events?
The car whooshed past, and she pushed herself into a sitting position. Cold from the ground seeped into her bones. Like the despair in her soul.
She was lost. No one to come find her. And disoriented in the middle of suburbia, she had no way to call for help.
Would she be left out in the cold forever?
“God, if You care, please let Jem show up right now.” She squeezed her eyes tight and clasped her hands in a way she hadn’t prayed since she begged for a Rapunzel Barbie. She peeked one eye open. Nothing.
Something brushed her back.
Lili shot to her feet. As she twisted to race back out to the street, a glimpse of dark fur trotted past.
She paused. Was that . . . the same cat?
When the cat headed down the street, she shrugged and followed it. No better plans had presented themselves.
The cat traveled on silent paws, hooked a left, and kept going another two blocks. Lili power-walked to keep up with it, a layer of sweat breaking over her goose-bumped skin.
Three blocks past I-can’t-believe-I-can-barely-keep-up-with-a-cat, the animal padded into the front yard of a large brick structure. A wooden sign stood out front. Lili peered at it. A church.
The main sanctuary stood before her, majestic even in the dark. A low wrought-iron fence ran around the church.
She eyed the building. She’d have to break in. But it looked safer than a bush. And an old church could mean old locks.
She scanned the street for onlookers. Nothing but the streetlights standing guard. She crept closer, clambered over the fence, and raced to the back of the building.
A board creaked under her foot as she mounted the bowed back porch. A window stood at waist height. She cupped her hands against the ice-cold glass and peered in. An office, strewn with papers, and a pile of books stacked on the desk like a Jenga tower. The next window revealed a room with four filing cabinets and boxes of devotionals.
Lili checked every window on ground level, then returned to the back entrance. A wooden door stood in front of her, its frame warped. Her tentative fingers reached for the handle, turned it. Locked. She pulled her student ID from her backpack. She’d overheard Uncle Jem mention his breaking-and-entering skills to Natalie once.
She slid the card between the door and the jamb, but nothing gave. Wriggling it higher up, she tried again. No luck.
At least no one seemed to have seen or heard her. Courage building, she rattled the door. It shifted in its misshapen frame. Up. The trick was to move it up.
Setting her shoulder against the rough wood, she yanked the door up by its handle and threw her weight against it.
It popped open and banged against the internal wall. Momentum threw her inside. Off balance, she dropped to her knees. Held her breath. Listened.
All clear.
Movements slow, she rose and reached for the door. The cat ducked inside before she closed it.
Not brave enough to turn on any lights, Lili pulled her shoes off and slipped through the building on silent feet, guided only by the streetlight glow. The corridor on her right led to the filing-cabinet room.
She’d wake early tomorrow, but just in case, this looked like the most boring room in the place. No one was likely to come here in a hurry. And it was close to the back door for a fast escape.
The box of devotional books sat inside the room, beneath a built-in desk jutting from the wall. She crawled under it, between the heavy book box and the wall, and lay on her side with her face to the door. The cat slid in beside her, curling up against her chest.
Burying her fingers in its fur, Lili closed her eyes and prayed for morning.