by Mia Sheridan
Cast them off? He recalled the whisperings he’d heard of a scattering of animal attacks on infants. But that had been while he was gone, and nothing of the sort had happened since. There was no evidence to substantiate those rumors, and nothing at all in the sheriff’s database. Now he knew why. And in that moment, he realized the truth that had only skated around the periphery of his mind, too terrible to comprehend. Camden swallowed, horror filling his veins, horror and rage. They’d tortured young girls for their own pleasure, they’d murdered, they’d left babies to die in the woods and they believed their sin was unearned? And that the punishment was delivered by some horned devil, emboldened by their failures, and out to exact his long-awaited justice?
Perhaps he—it?—deserved the vengeance he sought.
But he wasn’t the only one.
“Only ten families now,” the sheriff went on. “My own wife barren. We needed you. Farrow needed you. We thought you were lost to the outside world, but then you came back of your own will and hope was renewed. You were to replenish, not to replete!”
Like hell.
The anger flaring inside fueled him, primed his muscles. The sheriff must have noticed the hot burn of fury in his eyes because he removed his weapon and reached for his phone. Camden didn’t waste a moment. He leaped forward, smashing the gun into the sheriff’s cheekbone with all his might. The sheriff howled, blood spurting as he whirled sideways and gripped his desk. Camden raced past him.
The sheriff lunged for him but missed, and a loud boom filled the hallway, a gunshot smashing into the door at the end of the hall, wood splintering. Camden swore, ducking as he rounded the corner, another gunshot ricocheting off the wall next to him.
“There’s no way to get out of town, Camden!” the sheriff shouted. “We won’t let you leave Farrow. Come back and admit your crime. Accept your punishment. You killed that girl, didn’t you? Camden!”
Shara peeked her head up from behind the desk as Camden raced by, her eyes wide with fear. He flew out the front door, jumping into his truck and peeling out of the lot just as the sheriff appeared in the doorway, taking aim once again. The shot went wide, the sheriff bringing his phone to his ear as Camden turned out of the lot, speeding toward the road that led to town.
He beat on the steering wheel, swearing savagely. He was a liability now. The coverup they’d planned on wouldn’t work without his cooperation. So now they’d try to pin it on him somehow. Goddammit! The entire guild was going to be after him, rifles at the ready, prepared to shoot him down and blame him for Kandace’s murder. And they’d come for Georgia. For Mason.
“Fuck!” Mason was at Lilith House. With Scarlett. Scarlett and Haddie and Millie too. Georgia would be at work right now.
The split in the road approached. Drive to town to warn Georgia, or drive to Lilith House where the rest of them were, completely unaware of what he’d just set into motion?
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. He didn’t know what to do. There was no good answer. At the last minute, he yanked the wheel, heading toward Lilith House.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Scarlett ran/limped through the woods, her head whipping back and forth as she called Haddie’s and Millie’s names. Her breath came in quickened bursts of panic. Something had her baby, something dangerous and unnamed. An animal, or even a demon. She could believe that now, after being attacked by the thing that must have once been a woman and now lay dead in a heap of bones in an old nun’s bedroom.
She stopped, taking a moment to catch her breath and listen to the sounds surrounding her. The trill of a bird. Leaves and foliage rustling in the cooling breeze as evening began to descend. The scampering of something close by. But nothing that told her where Haddie and Millie might be. Not the crunch of bones, or the tearing of flesh. She let out a terrified whimper as she raised her uninjured arm and clamped a fist over her ear, pounding once, as though she might beat out the visions her thoughts brought forth. A small sob escaped her throat but Scarlett drew her unharmed shoulder back, moving forward.
She was not going to fall apart. Not when her child needed her. Not when Millie, Kandi’s child, needed her.
Scarlett followed the path Haddie had led them on to find Kandi’s bones, cradling her useless arm to her chest. She had no other idea, no other way to go that would be based on anything except panicked wandering.
The pain of her injuries made her feel woozy, but her fear was bigger, and far more pressing.
She didn’t know whether it was wise to continue to call Haddie’s and Millie’s names, so she stopped. What if it only alerted the thing that had taken the girls as to Scarlett’s whereabouts? What if it helped the thing avoid her?
She ran on, weaving through the trees, and stepping over fallen branches as the day fell to dusk, washing the woods in an ethereal pale peach glow. The rustling noises picked up, the bird calls increasing in their noise level and enthusiasm, and a little girl in a pale pink dress with a green satin sash stepped from behind a tree. Scarlett gasped, a small cry emerging as her heart jumped and she raced forward, toward her daughter.
With another cry, she went down on her knees in front of her, bringing one shaking hand to her shoulder and then pulling her forward breathlessly, wrapping her arm around her. “Haddie, Haddie, oh my God, Haddie. Are you okay? Baby, are you okay?” She pulled back, her head whipping around. “Where’s Millie? Haddie, we have to—”
“Mommy. You’re hurt.”
Scarlett bobbed her head. “Yes. But I’ll be okay. I have to get us all out of here. Now.”
Scarlett stood, leaning down to pick Haddie up, to run, to find Millie, to escape whatever had taken them deep into these darkening woods.
“Mommy,” Haddie said more forcefully. “Come with me.”
“Come where? Baby, we have to find Millie. You can tell me later—”
“Millie’s that way,” she said, pointing her finger in the direction from which she’d come.
Scarlett nodded, her breath coming just a little easier. “Is she hurt?”
“No, Mommy. She’s with him.”
Her blood chilled. “Him? Who’s him?”
“Him. He’s light, Mommy. Very, very light. So light I couldn’t feel him at first. But I can now. I learned. Please, Mommy. Come see.”
Scarlett blinked down at her daughter, taking in her pristine dress, her hair still in the same mint-green barrettes she’d clipped in that morning, white sandals slightly scuffed but otherwise undamaged. It appeared her daughter was not only completely fine, but might have been carried gently through the forest. But how is that possible? She held out her hand. “Take me to Millie,” she said.
Haddie smiled, grasping her hand, and pulling her along. They only walked about three hundred feet through the carpet of pine needles, rounding a bend and coming upon a large rock between two massive trees. “You can come out,” Haddie called. “I found her. I found my mommy.”
All of Scarlett’s organs felt as though they’d turned to stone as she stood, clutching her daughter’s hand, waiting with bated breath for what was about to appear with Millie, but trusting, trusting Haddie because she was obviously not afraid.
Millie stepped out first and Scarlett sucked in air, lifting her injured arm as much as she could and holding out her other hand to the girl. Millie smiled, rushing forward. “I was scared at first too,” she whispered.
Scarlett looked up, stilling, staring, squeezing both Haddie’s and Millie’s hands tightly as . . . something else emerged. At the sight of it, she drew back, pulling the girls, a cry of fear on her lips. He had horns only . . . no, they were perched on a small cap of what had once been the animal skull, fashioned into a type of hat. He was draped in leather and fur, and fabric pants that were far too short. He had an ancient-looking drum strapped around his neck, and despite its obvious age, the bleached leather was still stretched taut. Her eyes darted from one thing to the next, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
He was
a man . . . just a man. Not an animal or a demon. As he moved forward, his shoulders were curled inward, head angled downward and to the side as though he was the one fearful of her.
“It’s okay,” Haddie said softly. The man slunk closer, finally lifting wide, scared eyes to her, peeking up from under his shaggy dark hair and offering her the shy smile of a small child. Scarlett made a tiny sound of shock and confusion, stumbling backward a step. She let go of the girls and clapped a hand to her mouth momentarily, breathing as she attempted to get her bearings.
Scarlett dropped her hand. “How?” she asked. “How?”
“I don’t know, Mommy,” Haddie said. “But he’s light.” Haddie signaled him to come forward.
The man let out a soft, snorty giggle, lowering his head again bashfully and moving closer.
Scarlett couldn’t stop staring at him.
What in the world is your sign of sin?
I don’t know. I never knew what mine was. I worried. I wondered if it was something they knew that they never told me, some illness I couldn’t see or feel but that might one day show itself. I don’t know.
It was Camden, but not. It was his brother, his twin. He had to be. But how? Why??
“Oh my God,” she murmured aloud, the story she’d read in Narcisa’s own pen forcing itself to the forefront of her mind, the way they’d left her baby in the woods to die because of a disability. Had they done the same with Camden’s brother? If yes, why one but not the other? Her thoughts spun crazily. This man was obviously mentally impaired. Had there been some sort of trauma at birth? Had one twin been deprived of oxygen, while the other’s condition remained unknown? Had this boy been deemed completely worthless like Narcisa’s baby, while his brother was shoved in the basement of Lilith House, believed to be sinful, but ultimately useful, just as Narcisa and some of the other natives had been? The ones they’d used as their whores and their slaves.
Valueless. But exploitable.
A moan of pain and fury emerged. Oh the evil. She couldn’t bear it. It kept coming. It kept blindsiding her.
“What’s your name?” she murmured.
He smiled shyly, but turned his head. “He doesn’t talk in words,” Haddie explained. “Not many anyway. But he can talk,” she insisted.
Scarlett shook her head. “How, Haddie?”
She seemed to think about it for a minute. She glanced at Millie momentarily and then back at Scarlett. “Some people . . . are on different channels.”
Scarlett frowned, glancing at the childlike man. “Tell me.”
Haddie wrinkled her nose. “Like how Sofia the First is on Disney channel, and Word Girl is on PBS. You have to switch back and forth. If you’re only on Disney, you can’t watch Word Girl. It’s not even there. It’s like it doesn’t exist, but it does. It is there, it’s just on another channel.”
Scarlett glanced at the man, at Millie, and then back at Haddie, giving herself a minute to digest what Haddie was saying. The moment in the church daycare came back to her. You’re nothing. Nothing at all. That’s what Haddie had said about the boy with the leg braces. She shivered, goosebumps causing her skin to prickle. Was it possible that since that moment Haddie had learned to . . . somehow communicate with people who otherwise couldn’t? Who operated on a different sort of . . . channel?
“Did you say something to the boy who lives near Millie that let him know you understood him?”
She bobbed her head. “Yes, Mommy. I wanted him to know I was on his channel.”
Scarlett struggled to understand but she knew one thing: This, this was the inner world she’d been wanting to share in. She could not mess this up. She had to be the mother Haddie needed. She had to try to understand, to believe in her even if it didn’t make sense. Cam’s reaction to the possibility of Haddie having a mental illness handed down by her father suddenly flashed in her mind.
“Does it matter?”
“What? Whether or not he has a mental illness?”
“No, whether Haddie has a predisposition. What will you do?”
“I would know better how to treat her.”
“It seems like you’re doing just fine, Scarlett.”
He’d been right. Haddie didn’t need treatment. She needed understanding and love. Acceptance and . . . awe. She’s so incredibly precious. And she’s spreading that gift . . . that light . . . everywhere she goes.
Even in a forest with a man who’d been left to die. Scarlett’s heart overflowed with love.
She nodded over to the man. “Did he tell you why he took you?” she asked Haddie.
“He didn’t take us,” she said. “I called for him and he came.”
“Why?”
“That nun came to Lilith House,” Haddie said, her expression going somber, eyes dull. She blinked and her eyes cleared. “She was heavy, Mommy. So heavy I couldn’t move. I made myself move though. I did it.”
Tears gathered in Scarlett’s eyes even while dread trickled down her spine. Sister Madge had told her she’d visited. She’d told her she’d dropped by to offer condolences. However, she’d gone to take, not give. “That’s good, baby,” she choked out.
Haddie nodded. “She left, but I think she’s coming back, Mommy. I think she’s bringing others. They want to hurt you, and me, and Millie too. They want to hurt us bad.” She looked over at the man, blinking his forest-green eyes at them, his lashes long and lush. “He knows this place. He’s going to help us,” she whispered.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Camden didn’t bother knocking. He threw the door to Lilith House open, rushing inside. Mason came bounding down the stairs. “Cam! I’ve been calling you.”
“Where are they?”
Mason reached the foyer. “Jesus, Cam, it took them. It had horns. Scarlett, she—”
“Mason. Calm down. Tell me where they are,” he gritted, his heart constricting so tightly he could hardly breathe.
“They’re in the woods. The thing, it took Haddie and Millie. Scarlett got home and went after them. Someone hurt her, Cam. She was real banged up.”
The thing? “When?” His voice sounded like it was coming from very far away, panic dripping through his veins. It had them? It? And Scarlett was hurt?
“Just ten minutes ago. If you run—”
He grasped Mason’s upper arm with one hand, holding the box in his other. He’d need to hide it quickly. “We have to call Georgia, and tell her to hide.” He’d prayed the entire way there—all twenty-four minutes of his far-too-speedy drive—that the guild was busy gathering, organizing, rather than going directly after Georgia. He prayed he was their priority. They’d figure out where he’d gone quickly enough and then they’d come after him. Here, to Lilith House. “Then you come with me. We’ll go after them together.” He pulled his phone out, but Mason held up his hand.
“I already called her, Cam. I told her something bad was happening. I told her to come here.”
Fuck! “Call her back. The guild is after me. They’re on the way. Here.” He didn’t have time to tell Mason anything other than that.
Mason swallowed, pulling his phone from his pocket and dialing Georgia’s number. After a few seconds, he hung up. “Not answering.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “Goddammit!”
“I thought it was best, Cam, that we gather here, start searching for Scarlett. I didn’t know any—"
“It’s okay.” Georgia had answered. She was all right. She knew there was a situation. He just hoped to God she was ahead of the others. “Wait for her, Mason. Then you hide too. Both of you. You know this house. There are a million places to choose. We’ll come back for you. Just stay hidden.” He thrust the box at Mason and Mason took it. “Use this if you need to. There are two bullets in the gun. You know they won’t let any of us leave town.” The weapon was evidence—all they had—but Mason’s and Georgia’s lives were more important.
Mason nodded solemnly. “I know. I’ll wait for her. We’ll be here waiting.”
Camden nodded once and then he ran for the woods, drawing his firearm as he ducked into the trees.
Where are you, Scarlett? God, please let them all be okay.
The sky had been a vivid peach as he’d made the windy drive to Lilith House, but now had faded to a pale pink streaked in yellow. It made the woods feel peaceful and for a moment Camden almost believed nothing bad could happen here. He stopped, listening, but when he didn’t hear anything he continued forward, not attempting to be quiet. If he was going to make up the time between when Scarlett had gone into these woods, and when he followed, he was going to have to run. Scarlett was hurt, and she didn’t know this land, not like he did. He could only hope that she’d traveled cautiously and he could catch up with her. Then they’d both search for Haddie and Millie together and whatever might have taken them.
He couldn’t consider what it was. Not now, not when he was helpless to do anything about it. Old fears surfaced, stories of horned demons, Satan’s creatures roaming this forest, and he forced himself to push those terrors aside. His girls needed him. His. His girls. The thought bolstered him, dissipating the fear with something stronger. Love. Scarlett had calmed that restlessness he’d lived with all his life. Given him a purpose greater than spite. And he had to find them. He had to find them.
The forest dimmed another shade, drifting from pink to purple, and behind him, he heard the distant roar of trucks. The forces had arrived and he only had a twenty-minute lead. Please let Georgia have made it to the house before them. Please let both she and Mason be secreted away in one of the many hiding places they knew well.
The guild would see their cars, but they’d see his and Scarlett’s too. There was nothing he could do about that.
He began to turn toward the stream where he’d first kissed Scarlett. She knew that route, she’d take it, wouldn’t she? A fox darted out in front of him very suddenly, causing him to emit a short yell as he stumbled to a stop. The fox stared at him, wide-eyed and then darted in the other direction, stopping, looking back once, and then disappearing into the darkening forest. Camden paused for a moment and then, for reasons he couldn’t quite articulate to himself, he followed it, moving in the opposite direction from which he’d been going. Toward the canyon where the bones had been found.