Chapter 10 #2
“She’ll stay here, frozen,” Annabel said. “You have my word.”
I tucked my chin down in a nod.
“It’s time to go. They’ll be coming this way in the next thirty minutes,” Luke said, walking into the kitchen. He’d spent all morning creating a diversion, something I hadn’t been privy to.
I almost fell backward as Emily ran into me, squeezing my chest in a tight hug. She’d helped nurse me back to health. She was sweet and innocent. I hoped she stayed that way. I squeezed her back, careful not to get the dirt her mother had smeared on my skin onto her.
“I’ll see you soon,” I lied. It felt like the right thing to say, even though I knew it was probably untrue.
“Go, go.” Annabel shooed Luke and me out of the trailer.
I left just as I had arrived, with nothing.
I turned around to see Annabel standing in the doorway of the trailer, Emily, standing next to her, watching me go.
“Oh, come here!” Annabel fluttered down the steps, coming toward me with her arms open wide. We embraced tightly; my face pressed into her chest. I breathed in deep committing her scent to memory. The trailer had become my home. All the meals shared, dishes washed, vegetables picked…
“Go, now!” Annabel said as she released me.
I looked back at Emily and the trailer, trying to commit that to memory too.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to turn around, to face my future before I got caught up in the past.
I followed Luke as he jogged away from the trailer and into the woods. My previous time in these woods crept up on me, all those days walking without food, keeping my mother frozen in the pail. The memories sent shivers down my spine.
The woods were quiet, almost eerily so. There wasn’t even a breeze. I looked above me, only seeing the green of the leaves and the brown of the branches. The trees had all twisted together, creating a complete canopy, void of any blue of the sky. I was thankful for the shade as we jogged.
The path Luke led me down was a narrow footpath full of branches that snagged my dress and rocks that I’d have a hard time maneuvering over if I were barefoot.
Sweat had already stained my underarms when we broke through the brush and into a small clearing. Luke took my forearm, pulling me across the clearing into the brush on the other side.
“Now we wait,” he said. His breathing was calm, unlike my own ragged breaths.
We crouched in the brush facing the clearing that I now realized was a road. Narrow like the footpath we’d just taken, the road could fit a single car, like the one Elise and Everett and I had driven in.
Luke pointed to the road, slightly past where we currently crouched.
A tree lay across the road, its trunk chopped cleanly by something sharp.
“When the truck stops and the men get out to clear the tree, we move,” he said.
“I’ll help you in the back with the other witches.
” He glanced up the road, looking for the truck.
“Grab hold of the closest one and push her off the truck. Don’t be afraid to push hard—you might only get one chance. ”
I nodded.
“You won’t see me, but I’ll grab her once the truck is gone. The other witches can’t catch sight of me,” he said. “They could see me around the Academy and then might start asking questions.”
I nodded again, unable to form words. My mouth was dry.
The rumbling of an engine met my ears at the same time it met Luke’s. I could tell by the way his body stiffened that he heard it coming. His hand met my cheek, turning my face toward his. “You can do this, Dafni. Help me. Help my family. Help yourself.”
He let go of my face, not giving me anytime to reply before he turned toward the road as a white truck barreled down the road, its wheels bouncing along the rocks and gravel.
Luke grabbed my upper arm, his leg poised one in front of the other, ready to run.
I mimicked his position, digging my shoes into the dirt below me.
The tree Luke had brought down was big, but nothing that couldn’t be moved by two strong men.
We had limited time and too many unknown variables to account for.
What if there were more than two men? Maybe they’d taken two trucks.
Maybe the witch I pushed would fight me, maybe she’d scream and garner attention.
Negative thoughts abandoned, both of us faced the road, the engine noise growing louder as it got closer. There was no point in thinking of the what-ifs. We’d made the choice. We were here—I was ready to go. Beams of light hit the surrounding trees, illuminating the canopy of leaves we were under.
“Wait,” Luke commanded.
My muscles twitched under his grasp, ready to contract at a moment’s notice.
The screech of the brakes squeezing the tires met my ears as the white truck barreled past us.
Red lights met my eyes before the truck stopped just shy of the fallen tree.
Expletives met my ears next. One word after another that I’d only heard come from my mother’s mouth directed at my grandmother over my lack of “witchy-ness.”
“Fucking tree in the fucking woods.”
“Listening to those brats bitch for the last hour was enough; now this? I thought those injections were supposed to knock ’em out or at least subdue them… How much are we getting paid?”
“Not enough. Matilda better tip us extra this time.”
“She booked us a year out. She likes us. She’ll tip.” The men left the truck, sliding out of their seats and walking toward the tree that had blocked their path.
Luke’s grasp on my upper arm tightened. Our noses almost touched as we looked at one another.
He tilted his chin in a nod before pushing off his legs, dragging me along behind him.
The vehicle was a small cargo truck with a roll-up back door.
Luke was right—the drivers were idiots and hadn’t locked it.
He easily squeezed the handle and pulled, the door rising as he slowly lifted it up.
The back of the truck was dark, and it took a second for me to see the women huddled in the back.
They trembled as a unit, contracting and expanding together in fear.
Luke looked over his shoulder at me. Our eyes met as they had many times before. This time his green eyes were wide with fright, different from the steady green ones I was used to.
“Push one out quick. I’ll be there to make sure she’s okay,” he whispered before he gripped my waist, hoisting me into the truck.
I crouched, my feet meeting the bouncy floor beneath me.
I had to be fast; the men would soon be done moving the log, and I didn’t want to push someone out of a moving vehicle.
The witch closest to the door was small, sitting with her arms wrapped around her bent legs.
Taking Annabel’s advice, I didn’t give myself time to overthink.
I grabbed hold of her upper arms, using the element of surprise and the extra strength provided by the adrenaline flowing through my body to gently push her out the back of the truck.
She dropped feet first, and that, I hoped, would cause her to land on her feet.
“I’m sorry…” I whispered after her. She probably didn’t hear me, but I hoped the sentiment reached her.
Against all my instincts, I didn’t look out the back of the truck to see if she was okay. I had to trust that Luke would take care of her.
Reaching up, I pulled down the door, the woods slowly disappearing inch by inch until there was nothing left but a slice of daylight. A click of the handle let me know the door was closed.
The life I knew was over. I slowly turned and faced my future.
I couldn’t see the girls—the human-born witches—but I could hear trembling before me.
Their gulps for air and shudders against the metal frame of the truck made my insides quiver.
The muscles in my legs gave out slowly, causing me to sink into the unsound wood flooring beneath me.
I was in the dark. Alone. Well, not alone.
I was with several other witches who breathed shallow and sharp enough that I could hear their gasps for air.
The truck rocked back and forth before the engine rumbled beneath my knees.
They must’ve already cleared the tree. I hoped that Luke had grabbed the girl and was hidden deep within the brush by now.
He’d return to Annabel and Emily and let them know that I’d made it, that I was on my way to the Academy.
They’d help the girl reunite with her family.
The truck lurched forward, my body tumbling toward the group of witches along the back of the cargo box. One of them grabbed onto me, pulling me close, my body flush with theirs.
“What happened to that girl by the door?” A quiet wobbling voice met my ears. “I couldn’t see.”
A tremor ran through my body as my mind raced to think of an answer. “She panicked and fell,” I lied.
“I wish I’d fallen out,” the voice said, her body trembling against me.
I trembled along with her, my body acclimating to the rhythm of her fear.