Chapter 18
The trees sounded so loud in the wind. Talking to her.
Telling her to be afraid, to be very, very afraid.
No need to tell her that, she thought, because she was petrified.
The night had closed in on her too quickly.
He’d told her he had to make her safe, but the place he’d brought her to was damp and mouldy and smelly.
He’d said he didn’t want her to come to harm like her friend Freya had.
She hadn’t understood what he meant, but then he told her Freya was dead and he was there to save her. She had questioned him, but he refused to tell her anything else unless she left with him. Big mistake.
They had walked for a while before he carried her to a car. She didn’t like the feel of his arms around her legs. She was too big to be carried, but she was tired. Sleepy.
Then she woke up here. Terrified. Hungry and sick.
‘Where am I?’
No one answered.
A sliver of light glinted through a crack somewhere. Otherwise it was dark. In the thin fragment of light, she noticed he’d left her a small bottle of water. But maybe he had put poison in it? Should she drink it? No, she’d wait until she had no choice.
Lily was a clever girl, and she had to be ultra clever to get out of this mess. She knew that feeling sorry for herself would hinder any attempt to escape her predicament.
As these thoughts percolated around her brain, the door opened and light flooded the room, throwing her captor into shadow.
She waited. Listened.
And then she did something she hadn’t done in a long time.
She prayed.