Chapter 1: Back to Normal?
At noon, Emma trudged off to lunch, an uncharacteristic scowl on her face. School had not gone well—not at all. The comfortable rhythm she, Chloe, and Joshua enjoyed had evaporated with the addition of Lane and Kayla. It was sure to get worse when her remaining eight disciples joined them later in the week.
School had taken longer than usual, and Emma had to rush through her assignments to finish by lunch.
Was adding my friends a bad idea? How can I fix this?
Shuffling along with her was Chloe on her right and Joshua on her left. Lane and Kayla held back, likely sensing they were the reason school had gone so poorly.
Already holding her boyfriend’s hand, Emma reached out to clasp Chloe’s. “Sovereign Lord,” she prayed, “please show us how to move forward with school. Fill us with your peace and give me insight in all I do this afternoon. I ask this for your honor and your kingdom.”
Her friends agreed in unison. “Amen.” The three of them walked in silence the rest of the way to the cafeteria.
Mechanically, Emma piled food on her tray in the food line and joined her team for their regular working lunch. They were all waiting. Emma tried to shove aside her frustration over the morning to embrace the potential of the afternoon.
She sat down but didn’t eat. Instead, she made eye contact with each person. She needed to get their attention before she shared from her heart.
“I so value each one of you and all you do to serve the Sovereign and help me. I don’t thank you often enough. Sorry.”
“Emma,” her dad said, “you do a great job at communicating your appreciation.” He paused and looked intently into her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“School was a bit frustrating this morning.” Emma blinked back tears. “I’m trying to push that behind me to focus on you and our work here.” She took in a slow breath as she reoriented herself. “I’ve not heard any updates for a few days. Let’s do a lightning round. Who wants to go first?”
With hesitation, her dad raised his hand a few inches. It looked funny, but she suppressed her laughter. Instead, she nodded.
“Everything at the health clinic is exceeding my expectations. We’ve addressed the backlog of staff healthcare concerns and now have extra time. I suggest expanding the clinic to include the priests too.”
Fred, her executive administrator, chimed in. “The healthcare coverage the priests have is the best money can buy. We can slash costs in half if we move them to a more typical coverage. The clinic can address what the new plan doesn’t cover.”
“I’ve run the numbers,” Topher added, “and we’ll save enough on the priests’ insurance to add coverage for all the staff.”
“Everyone agree?” Emma scanned her team. “Let’s do it. How long will it take?”
Fred glanced at Emma’s father.
“We’re ready anytime,” her dad confirmed.
“The smoothest transition,” Fred said, “will be to start the beginning of next month. I’ll make it happen.”
Emma glanced at Christopher, who oversaw human resources. “I’ve completed doing the competitive wage analysis,” he said, “and recommend moving forward with phase one of staff raises. It will mean moving everyone from minimum wage to a higher base. Then, in phase two, we can begin moving individual staff to their competitive level.”
Emma’s eyes darted to their accountant. “I ran the numbers on that too,” Topher said. “I agree we can move forward on phase one with no problem. It will be sustainable.”
Emma nodded. “Let’s do it,” she said to Christopher.
Topher continued his update. “A massive flood of donations came in over the weekend while you were securing the release of the prisoners. It’s a record by far and nearly overwhelmed our servers. Anyway, we should be able to move forward with your plans to renovate the old dorm rooms and reopen the Temple school. I recommend we allocate those funds toward that purpose. I’ll work on getting repair estimates.”
That’s when Mark interjected. “Another area needing capital improvements is the ancient Temple. Ezra is working on some exciting ideas.”
Emma sighed. “And I was hoping to renovate the old auditorium.”
“Toward what end?” Fred asked.
Emma shrugged. “Not sure. But the Sovereign told me to get it ready to put back into service—soon.”
“It would be unwise to pursue all three projects at once,” Fred said. “Let’s contemplate this and revisit it tomorrow.”
Everyone agreed, and all but Emma left to return to work.
Emma remained seated. She pushed her tray of untouched food aside and lowered her forehead to rest on the table. She knew she should be happy—overjoyed, actually—for all the forward progress on the Temple reforms she was spearheading, but she wasn’t. At this moment, it all overwhelmed her. She tried to pray but couldn’t even focus enough to do that.
That’s when Barney cleared his throat. During the whole lunch, her aide had stood in the periphery, available if she needed him to do anything. His emotional support dog, Montgomery, snuggled around his shoe.
Emma sat up with a start.
“Mr. Hernandez approaches, High Priestess. I suspect he has an update.”
Emma stood to welcome Hernandez but almost toppled.
“Perhaps you should eat something,” Barney advised.
She sat and chomped into a roll as she motioned for Hernandez to join her.
But before he did, he looked at Barney. “I have a personal update for Emma,” he said. “Will you please give us privacy?”
Barney scowled but said nothing. With a huff, he turned and marched away, parking himself at the far end of the cafeteria where he could watch Emma.
Hernandez sat across from her. He leaned forward. “You’ll never believe what I found on my jacket when we got back on Sunday,” he whispered. He pulled a small vial from his pocket, sheltered in his hands so only Emma could see.
A small device lay on the bottom of the container.
“What is it?”
“It’s an electronic listening device. Someone was eavesdropping on everything I said the entire trip.”
Emma gasped. “Who’d do such a thing?”
