Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Awolf howled in the distance.
Eliana spun toward the sound, and her denim jacket slipped off one shoulder. She shrugged it back on, feeling the bumps of the embroidered flowers on the collar. The ones she had learned how to do herself, thanks to Grandma Amara helping her pick out colors at the craft store in Cheyenne.
It was way better to think about that than try and figure out which way to go.
Eliana turned around, looking for the trail. She didn’t hear the wolf again. All she could see were trees and grass. Which way was she supposed to go?
Cabot leaned against her leg. The old mutt followed her everywhere, even out here. Now she seemed wary. Ears pricked, listening.
Eliana reached down and ran her fingers over the dog’s head, feeling her wiry fur. Reassuring herself that she wasn’t alone.
She was supposed to be on an adventure, but now she was just cold and hungry. And lost. All that remained from the snacks she’d brought were empty wrappers in her backpack, and she’d finished her book half an hour ago, just before it got too dark to read.
“Hello, little girl.”
Eliana spun around. Cabot should have started barking, but she just stood there. Still looking at the woods, now behind them. “Cabbie.”
She’d called the dog that since she was little. She hadn’t been able to pronounce the dog’s name the correct—French—way. Now Eliana didn’t know what to say to get the dog’s attention. It was like she didn’t even know this woman was standing in front of Eliana.
Not close enough to touch.
Not even close enough for her to see the lady’s face.
Eliana tried to make out what she looked like, but with the dark and that hood over her head… “Who are you?”
“An old family friend,” the lady replied.
She sounded like the girls in Sunday School laughing at Eliana.
All because she didn’t go to their school, she went to school at home.
“What are you doing alone, all the way out here?” She wore a long coat with a tie around her waist that hung down on the sides.
Big buttons on the front, and that hood over her head.
Why couldn’t she push the hood back and show her face?
Eliana inched toward Cabot. “I’m not alone.” She ran her hand down the dog’s side, almost hugging her close. She could feel Cabot’s racing heartbeat under her warm fur. “If you were a family friend, I’d know who you are. I know all our friends.”
It wasn’t as if she was a na?ve little kid who didn’t know that she wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers. She was twelve now. Her birthday was last week, and everyone had been there. If this lady were a friend of the family, she’d have been at Eliana’s birthday party.
“I…I’m going to go now.” Eliana started to step back, but didn’t want to lose her hold on Cabot.
The lady grabbed her.
Eliana screamed, spinning around. She dragged her arms from the lady’s nasty fingers and yelled for Cabot, running as fast as she could through the woods.
All she could hear was that lady laughing at her.
She just kept running.
The room was as dark as it was behind closed eyelids. Eliana tried to breathe, to control the panic. If she gave in to it, she would have nothing left. No way to hold on.
“Carlos.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
Lights flipped on overhead; the long bar flashed and hummed, then stayed on, casting a yellowish glow on the room.
“You are awake.” Carlos stood by a door at the far end of the room.
“What are you doing?” She sat up and got distracted by the chair she was in. When she realized it was like a dentist’s chair—where surgeries could be performed—she hopped off it.
And nearly collapsed.
Eliana caught herself on the chair. “What is this place?”
Above the chair was a spotlight, currently dark. A seat beside hers. Long metal tables covered with science equipment she didn’t want to look too closely at.
Carlos made his way back to her, his footsteps unsteady. Occasionally holding on to a table for balance.
When he came near enough, she reached for him, just to reassure herself, I’m not alone.
Pain sparked in her elbow.
The lingering nightmare from her childhood left the same taste in her mouth. Unanswered questions on the tip of her tongue. Ones she didn’t know how to ask.
“Ouch.” She pulled off her zippered sweater and saw a red mark at the crease of her elbow. A needle prick. “I got stuck with something.”
“I don’t have one of those.” He looked around. “Whoever did this, they aren’t in here. You have your phone? Mine has no signal.”
“It’s in the car.” She patted her pockets and found the knife where she’d left it. “Do you have your gun?”
He showed her his holster, then checked his pockets. “All present and accounted for. So we aren’t captives.”
She took his hand, because she needed to, and started toward the door. “I like the idea of freedom. Let’s try and get out of here before someone comes.”
He walked slightly behind her, his fingers tight around hers. For all the ugly history between them, they were still family. “I didn’t hear anyone out in the hall. But who brought us down here?”
“Down here?” Eliana glanced back, still making a beeline to the door.
“No windows. I think we’re in a basement.”
“But are we even still at the Reverence Sisters community?” She stopped at the exit.
He shook his head. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Neither of them moved.
“Well…” She hesitated. “I’m not going first.”
Carlos huffed, almost a laugh, and pulled his weapon. “Once we get topside, I’ll call for backup.”
She didn’t want to know how long it would take the police to reach the compound. Assuming that’s where they were. It might even be the Illinois State Police who responded, and that could take even longer than city response times.
Still, she wanted to see the flashing lights and know there were cops with badges here to keep her safe. To find out what happened. All so she could be at peace that it would never happen to her again.
Sometimes fear felt like a king tide, trying to suck her under.
There was nothing to do but let it take her down.
Fighting only burned the energy she’d need to fight her way back to the surface.
Even that had a slim chance of working, so why not give the battle everything you’ve got?
But gut reaction wasn’t always the best idea.
Like when she ran in her dream, racing away from the threat, and tripped.
When Cabot ran too far ahead and Eliana lost sight of her.
Save some energy and come back swinging.
Eliana had so many Zeyla-isms in her vocabulary that she could publish a book of them. But no one wanted a collection of random things that popped into her aunt’s head, most of which were about fighting.
Carlos squeezed her hand. “Stay behind me?”
She nodded, and he stepped through the door. Gun first.
Eliana wanted to thank him for coming with her, but she was the one who’d come with him—and neither of them had expected this. After finding that room with the gowns, the goblets, and the blood, they’d been zapped. A stun gun, or stun doorway.
The long hall stretched in front of them, the lab door behind her. Yawning darkness ahead, and the only light at her back.
Cabot. She had Carlos, a trained police officer with a gun. Only in her dream did she draw strength from her favorite animal.
It wasn’t like that had happened in real life. The hooded lady and the dark woods—that was only a nightmare. A way for her mind to play tricks on her and keep her captive to fear.
Kind of like this dark hallway.
She held tight to the back of Carlos’s jacket as they ascended a small stairwell, each step barely wide enough for two people to pass each other.
Through the door at the top, the temperature dropped.
She shivered. “It’s colder up here.”
Carlos looked out. “It’s gone dark.”
She followed him through a small foyer, just a hall and the door to the stairs, and a mat by the door to wipe feet. Outside, into the night where shadows played between the buildings of the Reverence Sisters’ compound. “How long were we down there?”
“No clue,” he said. “At least we know we weren’t driven somewhere else.”
“At least we woke up at all.” Eliana wasn’t going to let go of his jacket. In fact, she moved closer to his back—after all, he was warm. “What happened to us?”
“I’m more interested in who did it, and where they are now.” He readied his gun with one hand and dialed on his phone with the other, identifying himself and asking for the police.
Eliana looked at the building where they’d found the abandoned belongings. She glanced over her shoulder at the foyer behind them, through the glass of the door.
Then she looked at the woods surrounding the community.
A wolf howled in the distance.