Chapter 54
A miya was worried.
She never should have consented to Nick wandering off, alone, to single-handedly confront the Overseer.
She’d been overcome by a temporary stroke of madness to agree to such a thing.
Nick had sounded confident, full of profound insights that he had gained over his time there, but he was nevertheless alone.
After all the trials they had endured just to find each other again, it seemed ridiculous that she hadn’t gone with him.
She had decided to go look for him. Their new friends, Raven and Ossie, came with her.
Walking shoulder to shoulder, they traveled on the dirt path that wound about the plantation property. Lanterns lit their way, the flames casting circles of orange-golden light. The air was cool and crisp against her skin.
It would have been a relaxing stroll through the night if not for the dread that lay like a stone against her heart.
The teenage girl, Raven, had offered to give the rifle back to Amiya. Amiya told her to keep it. Raven had smiled with gratitude.
Amiya didn’t need another gun. She still had the revolver she had taken from Westbrook, but after her violent confrontations with him and Miss Lula, Amiya didn’t want any more blood on her hands. If Nick knew what he was doing, none of them would have to fight again.
But instinct, which had kept her alive this long, warned her that more trouble lay ahead.
None of them spoke as they advanced along the road, their shoes kicking up little puffs of dust and stones. All of them were wired with tension, for their own reasons.
“What’s the first thing you plan to do when you get out of here?” Amiya asked. She put the question to them to try to ease everyone’s minds—including her own.
“I want a shower,” Raven said. “And I want to put on some fresh clothes.” She gestured at the dress she wore, which had been restored to a state of newness like everything else. “This feels like a prison uniform to me.”
“I feel you,” Ossie said. He pulled at the lapel of his tuxedo. “I can hardly wait to get out of this and put on some regular gear. But I want to see my family most of all.”
“Your mother?” Amiya asked.
Ossie nodded, swallowed. “She was sick when I got here. Cancer. I hope she’s still . . .”
“She’ll be okay,” Raven said. “God isn’t that cruel.”
“Yeah,” Ossie said, bobbing his head in agreement. “I gotta believe that.”
It amazed Amiya that despite the awful things these people had witnessed, they could still express hope.
She hadn’t had the opportunity to assemble her thoughts on how the things she had seen fit into her personal worldview.
But the resiliency of these people, who had endured far more at Westbrook than she had, lifted her spirits.
She was about to share with them her first intent upon getting out of here, when a sudden noise derailed her thoughts.
“What’s that sound?” she asked. “It sounds like a horse galloping, maybe?”
Raven stopped as if she had run into a wall. Terror flashed in her eyes.
“It’s him ,” she said.
Ossie seized Amiya’s arm and pulled her off the road. She was so surprised by the fear that had come over both of them that she didn’t resist. All three of them scrambled into the forest that bordered the path, plunging into veils of concealing darkness.
From what they hoped was a safe distance, they crouched in the undergrowth, and watched the road.
“I don’t understand,” Amiya said in a whisper. “Nick said he was going to stop the Overseer.”
“He couldn’t do it,” Ossie said. “Nobody can.”
“Be quiet,” Raven said in a tight voice. “He’s close.”
The sound of hooves striking dirt grew louder. Through the trees, Amiya saw the animal and its rider draw into view. The figure wore a wide-brimmed hat that kept his facial features hidden in shadow, but he carried something that glowed bright orange with latent heat.
Branding iron , Amiya realized, fear clamping over her gut like a vise.
The Overseer brought his horse to a halt in the section of the road that Amiya and her group had just vacated. His head swiveled back and forth slowly.
He knows we’re here , Amiya thought.
Beside her, Raven whimpered.
In one smooth motion, the Overseer dismounted. In one hand, he carried the glowing iron. In the other, he unfurled what looked like a whip.
He strode to the edge of the forest.
Raven screamed, and fled. Ossie shot to his feet. He tugged Amiya’s arm.
“We gotta go!” he said.
Amiya was terrified, but intuition had frozen her in place. There was something frighteningly familiar about the Overseer, how he carried himself. She knew this man, as unlikely as it seemed, and she knew him intimately.
Alerted by Raven’s scream, the Overseer had spun in their direction.
He snapped the whip, and it was as if he were a mythical god wielding a jagged bolt of blue lightning.
Sizzling, the whip crackled against a tree.
The tree snapped in half as if formed of balsa wood, and the woods suddenly seethed with acrid smoke.
“Come on!” Ossie shouted.
Amiya tore her gaze away from the Overseer and took off running.