Chapter 60
T he entire estate was on fire.
Amiya at his side, Nick leaned against Grandpa Lee’s truck a safe distance away from the flames and watched Westbrook burn. Raven and Ossie were nearby, as were many others—the captives who had wanted to escape. Not all of them had taken the opportunity to leave.
Like his granddad, some had willfully remained inside.
“I don’t understand what happened.” Amiya sniffled, wiped tears from her face with the heel of her hand. “For a while, you were him , that terrible man, and at the end it was your grandfather. How?”
Shaking his head, Nick pulled in a ragged breath. “I barely remember any of it. It’s like a dream that you mostly forget when you wake up. You can recall only fragments of it. All I can clearly remember is . . . I wanted to help my granddad.”
“And he wanted to help you,” Amiya said softly. She squeezed his hand as if sensing he needed reassurance. “He wanted to help all of us.”
The burn above Nick’s kidney would be a permanent reminder of his grandfather’s sacrifice. The pain was severe and would require medical treatment, but he was in no hurry to leave.
He needed to mind the fire.
The flames had spread to the plantation’s supporting structures: the barn, warehouse, and other buildings. All of it needed to burn, Nick had realized. Grandpa Lee, in his wisdom, had known that the only way to start anew was to destroy it all.
Soon, Raven and Ossie wandered over. Both of them wore tentative smiles, and appeared hesitant to speak, as though they feared the answers to their questions.
Maybe they’re afraid of me , Nick thought. They must have seen what he had become, though as he had told Amiya, he recalled only bits and pieces of the experience.
“Will we be able to leave now?” Raven asked. “People are getting restless. They want to try to go home.”
“Your mark is gone,” Amiya said. She touched Raven’s face, brushed back strands of her hair. “Not just faded. Completely gone.”
“Really?” Tears shone in Raven’s eyes. She looked at Nick for confirmation. “You think I could cross over the bridge?”
“Why don’t we give it a try?” Nick said. “This fire will be burning all night. I’ve got to tend to it for a while, but you all don’t need to stay here in the meantime. You can go home. Someone needs to tell the field hands, too. Everyone needs to go.”
“Let’s be sure we can get out first,” Ossie said.
Nick got behind the wheel of his granddad’s pickup truck. Amiya squeezed in beside him. Raven, Ossie, and several of the others either packed into the cabin or climbed into the truck’s empty flatbed.
The key wasn’t in the ignition. Nick remembered that his granddad usually kept one tucked underneath the sun visor. He flipped down the weathered flap.
He discovered two items: a set of keys and a business-size manila envelope with his name on the front, inscribed in his grandfather’s careful handwriting.
People were packed in the truck, hot, sweaty, and eager to go, but Nick couldn’t delay. He tore open the envelope.
“What is it?” Amiya peered over his shoulder.
“My grandfather’s will.” Nick skimmed the legalese in the vehicle’s dim interior light. His heart pounded. “All of the property, everything, he left to me.”
“I’m sorry, Nick,” Amiya said.
“Yeah, me, too.” Nick blinked away a tear. He started the truck’s engine. “Let’s get all of you folks on your way. I think you’ve waited long enough to go home.”
They crossed over the bridge together.