by Sharon Dunn
Elizabeth grabbed Lydia’s hands. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see Julia.” The girl shuddered and then swiped at her eyes. “I came for help.”
“How did you know where to find me?”
“I heard the men talking about how they knew where you were staying and how they were making plans to come over here.”
A sense of urgency Julia had never heard before permeated Gavin’s voice. “How did they find out she was here?”
Lydia opened her mouth to speak as shock spread across her face. “I…I don’t know.”
Gavin continued to stand in the doorway. “That means they know where we are. We have to get out of here.” He stepped toward Lydia and locked on to her with his eyes. “What is their plan? When are they coming for Julia?”
Julia straightened her spine. Gavin’s direct manner was making Lydia more flustered. Still, she needed to address some of his suspicions. “So why did you come here—to find me?”
“I wanted to warn you and I…” Lydia grabbed Julia’s sleeve. “Please, I need your help. They want me to marry Jerry Smith. He must be forty years old.”
Lydia’s story seemed believable. Elijah rarely picked the younger men for husbands for the teenage girls.
The girl continued. “When I said I didn’t want to marry someone that old, my father…my father…” She pulled her shirt away at the shoulder to reveal bruises.
Julia fixated on the purple and black marks. She took a step back as the room spun around her. Gavin was there, holding her, whispering in her ear. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
As Gavin led her out, she heard Elizabeth say, “I can deal with Lydia.”
Julia had no memory of how she had gotten down the stairs. Maybe Gavin had carried her. But she found herself sitting on the couch facing the outdoor pool. Gavin brought her a glass of water and sat down beside her.
She had calmed enough to sip the water, but her hands were still shaking. Gavin grabbed one of her hands and pressed it between his palms.
The warmth of his touch seeped into her skin. “I’m okay,” she said.
“No, you’re not; don’t lie to me.”
“You’re right.” Her throat tightened, and she closed her eyes to try to shut out the image of the bruises on Lydia’s slender shoulder.
“Did that happen to you?”
“Once, only once. You have to understand what Marlena did for me. How she protected me.” Julia shivered as images from the past threatened to consume her. “She took the blows for me. And I left her there.”
“You said yourself she was dead when you decided to run.” He pressed his palms tighter against her hand. “Your split-second decision probably saved your life.”
And there was nothing she could do to bring Marlena back. To give Marlena the chance she had deserved. But she could save Lydia.
Elizabeth came down the stairs and headed toward the kitchen. “She has calmed down a little bit. I’m going to get her some warm milk.” She disappeared into the dining hall.
“I have to help Lydia,” Julia said.
Gavin lifted his eyes toward the stairs. “We don’t have that kind of time. I need to get you out of here.” He spoke under his breath. “How do we know she’s not part of some plot?”
“She said she came to warn me.” She grabbed his shirt sleeve. “They wouldn’t send a girl. They want me dead. She had a perfect opportunity to kill me when we were alone in the bedroom and she didn’t. If she was part of a plot, they would have given her a weapon.”
Gavin stiffened. “I don’t know. Don’t you think it’s weird that a girl who looks a lot like you shows up?”
Gavin could be right. This might be Elijah’s way of messing with her head, but she just couldn’t see Lydia as the enemy. It didn’t make sense that the followers would give them time to escape by first sending Lydia in. “She’s barely a teenager and probably not strong enough to overpower me. I understand your suspicions, but we can’t turn her out in the cold. We could make some calls, find a safe place for her. She came all this way to me for help.”
“Elizabeth is going to have to do that. You and I have to go—tonight. We’ll have to move around until we can find a secure location.”
As afraid as she was of the cult getting hold of her, Julia hated the thought of leaving Lydia. Though all the cult members watched each other closely, Julia had been the only one under lock and key because Elijah feared she would be spotted by outsiders, and he would be turned in for kidnapping.
Even the adult members had the illusion of being able to come and go as they pleased. The chains that kept them tied to Elijah were inside their heads. Elijah had a way of making the outside world seem so scary that no cult member wanted to leave. Lydia had been raised in the cult. She knew no other life. Her escape showed incredible bravery and determination.
Elizabeth came through the swinging doors of the dining hall just as Lydia appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Would you like to come down, dear?” The older woman held up a glass of milk.
Lydia nodded. She moved cautiously down the stairs as though each step was a fearful choice she had to make.
She sat opposite Julia. Her eyes were red from crying. She folded her hands in her lap and sat up ramrod straight. She was dressed in the approved wardrobe for female cult members. A yellow, calico-print dress that looked as if it was something from the nineteenth century buttoned up to her neck. Her blond hair had been loosened from its tight braids.
Julia still felt as though she was looking in a time-travel mirror, seeing herself as she must have been nine years ago.
Elizabeth set the warm milk on the table in front of Lydia.
“How did you get here, Lydia?” Though suspicion was still evident in Gavin’s voice, he asked the question gently.
“I went into town with my mother to sell some wool we had spun into yarn. When she went to the grocery store, I ran away.” Lydia wrung her hands as she talked. “I caught rides from Thornburg to Silver Cliff, and then I walked out here.” She looked directly at Julia. “Please don’t send me back to them.”
While Julia understood that the questions had to be asked, Lydia’s vulnerability tugged at her heart. “Is there someone we can call for you? Somewhere you can go?”
Lydia smoothed her skirt. “My mom has a sister in California. I haven’t seen her since I was little, but maybe she would take me in.”
Elizabeth patted Lydia’s shoulder. “We’ll make some calls in the morning.” She pushed the milk closer to her.
“How did you get in?” Gavin’s unwavering gaze was making Lydia squirm.
Lydia hung her head as though she had just been scolded. “I pushed the screen out and crawled in through a basement window.”
Gavin let out an exasperated sigh. “One of the windows wasn’t latched.”
“It looked latched, but it was broken. An adult wouldn’t be able to fit through.” She picked up the milk and took a sip. “I’m small, so it was easy for me to fit. I know I should have knocked. I saw Julia in her room when I was running across the yard. That’s how I knew which room to go to. I thought I would find her in there and just talk to her…and then I heard voices and I got scared.”
She gave Gavin a wary glance. She was still afraid of him, which wasn’t surprising. Lydia probably thought all men were controlling and cruel, like the cult members.
Julia scooted forward on the couch and spoke gently. “Maybe you would be willing to press charges for what happened to you—for the bruises.”
Fear entered Lydia’s eyes as she pulled back. “Please, I just want to get away. I’m not brave like you.”
This wasn’t the time to push the frightened girl, but a desire for justice rose up in Julia. She could put Elijah away for murder and kidnapping, but would that be enough? What if the cult continued to exist after that? If only there was some way she could ensure that not one more young woman would have to endure what Lydia had.
/> Julia rose to her feet. “I understand why you feel that way. You’re really scared now. Elizabeth will find a safe place for you to stay.”
Lydia grabbed Julia’s hand from across the table. “I wish you could help me.”
Julia’s heart ached as Lydia clutched her hand with delicate, cold fingers. No matter how much she wanted to help this poor girl, she was not in a place where she could. Not tonight, anyway.
“In the morning, I’ll get in touch with your aunt.” Elizabeth rose to her feet and faced Gavin. “I guess this means you have to go.”
“You should go into town, too.” Gavin never took his eyes off Lydia. “Julia, get your things together. I’ll meet you at the front door in ten minutes. I’ll call your father to see if he can start setting up a new location.”
“I wish you didn’t have to go.” The look on Lydia’s face was one of desperation.
“Elizabeth will get you to your aunt.” Julia kneeled down so she was facing Lydia. She cupped Lydia’s face in her hands. “When this trial is over, I’ll do everything I can to help you start a new life.”
Julia rose to her feet. A wave of sadness hit her when she looked at the older woman. “I guess we better go.”
Elizabeth held her arms open for Julia. “I am so glad I got to know the daughter of my best friend. Next time you come back to the hot springs, it will be for a real vacation.”
She was going to miss Elizabeth. As she rested in the embrace, Julia felt as though her world were being ripped apart yet again.
“Lydia.” Gavin’s voice had an edge to it. “Did you hear the cult members say when they were coming here?”
Lydia stared at the floor. “I think they were waiting to hear from Elijah.”
Gavin squeezed Julia’s arm just above the elbow. “If that’s the case, it might buy us some time.” He spoke as though he didn’t totally believe Lydia. “All the same, we better hurry.”
Julia pulled free of Elizabeth’s hug. As she raced up the stairs, she heard Gavin tell Elizabeth he wanted to talk to her. Julia opened her door and stepped into her room. She hardly had anything to pack. She’d lost most of her belongings at the hotel. Panic whirled inside her as she grabbed her toothbrush, a book and a few clothes. She slipped into the winter coat Elizabeth had given her.
When she came down the stairs, Gavin was waiting by the door. Elizabeth came through the sliding glass doors wearing her winter coat and carrying an overnight bag.
Julia stuttered in her step. Lydia was no longer in the room. “What’s going on?”
Elizabeth rushed over to Julia. “Lydia is changing into some different clothes that I had on hand.”
“Just because we’re gone doesn’t mean the followers won’t show up. I don’t want Elizabeth to stay here, and I don’t want her to be alone with Lydia,” Gavin added. “She’s going to drive out ahead of us.”
“I will come outside as soon as Lydia is ready,” said Elizabeth. The older woman reached up and brushed her fingers over Julia’s cheek. “You take care.”
Julia offered Elizabeth a faint smile before Gavin ushered her through the door and out to the Mustang. The sky was black, and the air held a chill. Gavin opened his car door but then turned a half circle. His feet crunched on the gravel.
“What is it?” Her voice held a thin, high-pitched quality brought on by fear.
“Get in. Just get in.”
Julia slipped into the passenger seat. A moment later, Elizabeth and Lydia came out and got into Elizabeth’s car. The taillights glowed red as Elizabeth pulled out of the lot. Gavin started the engine of the Mustang.
He turned the car around and headed toward the road. She craned her neck for one more look at the hot springs as a wave of sadness hit her. Would the day ever come when she wasn’t running? She turned back around. Elizabeth’s taillights were still visible on the road ahead of them. “You still don’t trust Lydia, do you?”
“You’re right. It doesn’t make sense that they would send someone in to warn us. The whole thing about hitchhiking here seems a little crazy,” Gavin said. “I don’t know what to think.”
Julia lowered her voice. “I understand the kind of determination that would make you hitchhike that far.”
“I’m just taking precautions. Elizabeth will see to it that Lydia gets to a safe place. She’s going to let the police know that she fears she might have intruders. Maybe they can catch some more of these guys when they show up. Hopefully, we’ll be in another county by then, so the media coverage won’t hurt us.”
Elizabeth’s taillights faded out of view.
Already, that sense of being stirred into a frenzy had invaded her awareness. How much longer would they have to be on the run? “Did my father have any ideas about another secure location?”
Gavin let out a heavy sigh. “Our conversation didn’t go well. He said he would work with the police on his end to find a place, but I’m afraid the news about us being found has made him afraid…and irrational. He wants you to come home.”
“That would be the first place the followers would look.”
“Exactly. Your father wants to protect you, but we need a location that is not connected to you in any way.” He turned and offered her a smile that warmed her to the core. “We’ll get through this.”
Julia sat back in the seat. His reassurances calmed her.
Gavin accelerated. The car’s headlights illuminated a short section of road, and then a popping sound surrounded her. She had no time to process what the noise might be.
The car fishtailed. Broken glass sprayed down on her. Metal crunched. She was upside down, and then she lost all sense of where she was in space. Her world went blacker than the night sky.
FOURTEEN
When Julia opened her eyes, darkness enveloped her. It took her a moment to realize that she was hanging upside down by her seatbelt. The followers must have shot at the car, causing a rollover. She’d blacked out. She had no idea how much time had passed. If there had been time for them to come and pull her out, why hadn’t they? Maybe she had only been unconscious for a few minutes, and they were still running up the road looking for the wrecked car.
She stretched her hand toward the driver’s side. “Gavin?”
Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Gavin’s door had been pushed open. That didn’t make sense. Why would the followers take Gavin and not her?
The seatbelt dug into her torso. She fumbled for the clip and pressed down on it. She fell, putting her hand out just before she hit the crumpled roof of the Mustang. Her gloves protected her from the broken glass.
She felt around for the latch to open her door, but when she pressed down and pushed on it, it didn’t budge. The hood looked as though it had been crushed on her side. She’d have to get out through the driver’s side door. She twisted around in the confined space as the memory of other small dark spaces bombarded her, threatening to paralyze her. If only Gavin were here.
A long-buried Bible verse surfaced. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
She could do this alone if she had to. Broken glass dug into her knees and hands as she crawled toward the open door with the verse echoing in her head. She reached out. Her gloved hand touched the snow.
Once outside, Julia reached through the broken window on the passenger side, feeling around for her bag and cell phone, to no avail.
She stood up and placed her hands on her hips. Despair and panic warred inside her. “Gavin?” She waited in the silence. She had no idea where he was or what had happened to him. Had the cult members hurt him? The darkness surrounding the car didn’t allow her to search around the area.
She turned, debating her next move. Elizabeth’s taillights had faded out of view. If she had seen the accident, she would have come back. That left only two options—eihter she’d driven on into town, or she’d been shot at, too.
The lights from the lodge were still visible. There would be a phone there. Maybe she could crawl through the same wi
ndow Lydia had, or perhaps Elizabeth had left a door unlocked. Pushing down the fear that something had happened to Gavin and Elizabeth, she ran back toward the lodge.
Aware that the followers might check along the road when they didn’t find her in the car, she slipped into the shelter of the trees, keeping her eyes on the lights of the lodge as they bobbed in and out of view. Her feet pounded on the hard earth.
By the time she stepped out of the trees on to the gravel parking lot, her heart was racing. The outdoor lights were on, as well as the lights inside the lodge, but when she tried the door, it was locked.
Snow swirled around the lights and fell softly against Julia’s cheeks. The silence was eerie, foreboding.
She tried the kitchen door without success. This would be the one time Elizabeth actually remembered to lock all the doors. If Elizabeth did make it into town, would she call the cell and be alarmed when Gavin didn’t answer? She didn’t have much time before the followers widened their search to the lodge.
She couldn’t remember if there had been a phone in the hot-tub room or not, but it was worth a try. Her hands wrapped around the doorknob. She took in a breath and prayed.
Please God, let this one be open.
The knob turned and she stepped inside. She wandered the expanse of the room, looking for a phone. Elizabeth had gotten around to filling the hot tub they had cleaned. When she tilted her head, snow landed softly on the sky light.
A faint, indiscernible noise came from the library. Treading as softly as she could, she made her way toward the library and pushed the door open.
Gavin crashed through the forest, scanning the area in front of him for any sign of the cult members. His head throbbed from where he had been hit. How long had it been since he had left Julia in the car? Ten minutes, tops.
After the crash, he had had time to press his fingers against her neck, where her pulse pounded out a steady rhythm. She was alive. It had taken only seconds for the followers to get to the car. They pulled on Julia’s door, shaking the car, but they couldn’t open it.
He drew his gun as he crawled out the driver’s side door, only to be greeted with a kick to the head. Gavin scrambled to his feet to overtake his attacker. Another man jumped him from behind, hitting him with an object. He couldn’t tell what. A baseball bat? A crow bar? He didn’t know. His gun fell somewhere in the grass.
