Often, she wondered if his wife was aware of his oldest daughter. Did his two young girls and son know they had a sister? She pushed the thought away. She’d made that promise long ago and was determined to hold to it, but at the moment, she was desperate.
Forget it, he’s a lawyer, not a private investigator.
Unless her daughter was holed up in a jail somewhere, there wasn’t much he could do to help her anyway. Still, something nagged at her to reach out to him. She pulled her phone out of her purse and stared at it.
Did she have the nerve to do it?
Chapter 5 - Jacob
“This cannot be happening,” Jacob mumbled as he skirted his way through the dark desert that separated his home from Rachel’s.
Confusion and frustration tossed inside of him like a tumbleweed in monsoon season. Pregnant? How could that be?
He had to admit, he’d had no idea how a woman got pregnant. Now that he understood his circumstances, it made so much sense. Of course, something as intimate as what they'd shared would lead to pregnancy. How could he have been so stupid? So ignorant? His father would kill him.
As he passed the old Saguaro that loomed high above the tumbleweed and barrel cacti, his body trembled. Too afraid to go home, yet too ashamed to go back to Rachel, he stared up at the tall desert plant.
God, what have I done?
The evening heat bore down upon him, beckoning beads of perspiration to the surface of his face and neck. Although the sun had already drifted off to sleep, the heat had only decreased a degree or two. He swiped at his brow. He must go home. There was no other option. He couldn’t stay out in the hundred-degree heat forever.
There was no place to run to even if he wanted. The twenty-four-hour guards at the front gate stood as vigilant watchmen. And the fifteen-foot electric fence that ran from a generator at the back of the community would scorch him from the inside out if he tried to scale it. No one had ever touched it, but they’d all been trained from younglings of how dangerous electricity was.
It was for their protection. That’s what he’d been told since he was a young boy. It was true, there were wild coyotes and rattlesnakes in the desert along with the occasional mountain lion. But as for other humans, The Chosen were so far away from civilization that it was rare to see a vehicle of any kind pass by on the dirt road that surrounded their community. If he hadn’t been to town a few times himself, he’d have thought they were the only ones on the face of the earth.
As a youngling, that was precisely what he’d thought. It was only the year prior that he’d been out of the community for the first time. And at fifteen, he had been in awe at the strange people that walked the streets. They looked just like them, only different. And they came in all different colors. But besides the stares, everyone had been friendly. Nothing at all like the demons the elders had warned about.
Until that very moment, Jacob never questioned what exactly they were being protected from. Not once. Now, as he stared out into the darkness, he wondered ― the guards, the fence ― were they to keep dangers out . . . or them in?
It didn’t much matter. Jacob was in a world of trouble and whether he was on the inside or the outside of that barrier made no difference. He’d be lucky to get out alive from the situation he’d created for himself.
And Rachel, she didn’t deserve the punishment she would meet. He’d pressured her, pushed her. His wanton spirit had begged her to succumb to him. She hadn’t wanted to. Not really. It had been him and him alone. When he was with her, his brain just got overwhelmed with emotions he could not explain.
And one time, it had only been that once that he’d lost control. Hardly knowing what they were doing, they had stumbled and tumbled together in the hay of her father’s barn. Exploring each other as they learned together the expression of passion. An all-consuming emotion that never should have been expressed outside the confines of marriage. And then, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they realized their nakedness, their sin. Together they scurried to clothe themselves and rid the barn of the evidence of their transgression.
After that, he’d avoided Rachel like the Ten Plagues of Egypt. He’d lied when he told her that his father was suspicious. His father hadn’t a clue. No one did. He’d just been so overrun with a mix of desire and shame. He shouldn’t have lain with her. It had made him want her all the more. Night and day, he dreamed about their passion, their sin. He hated himself for not exhibiting more self-control. So, he avoided her at all costs. It was the only way to ensure that what had happened that day would never happen again. But it didn’t matter.
For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest. Neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. Luke 8:17. A verse that had been etched into his very soul. One which had held very little meaning until the moment he realized the magnitude of what he had done.
Never in the history of The Chosen, had someone sinned against God on the level he had. There was no sense in apologizing now. They were headed for the burning fires of hell.
A hot breeze picked up, urging Jacob to go home. He did. There was nothing more he could do on that night or any other. Soon enough, the elders would decide what action would be taken against them, and it would be swift and harsh.
As he kicked his way through the sparse desert, a voice came to him. Not an audible one, but one in his head.
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
He glanced around, knowing very well that the voice had come from within. But what did it mean? He’d heard it before. In a sermon. One of the elders had given a message on it, but Jacob hadn’t listened. As usual, his brain was somewhere off in his own little world.
Jogging the rest of the way to his house, he brushed off the voice as nothing more than a remembrance of something someone had said.
Chapter 6 - Luna
A thud of heavy work boots drew closer, and Luna’s nerves swarmed like a colony of bees, searching for their missing queen. What punishment would the man mete out to her this time?
I don’t care.
He could hurt her body, but he would not break her. She would never conform. Not even if he made her his wife.
Abruptly the footfalls came to a halt. Luna swallowed the lump lodged in her throat as a dark shadow lingered over her. Although her insides shook in terror, she refused to acknowledge the man’s presence.
Instead, she stared out the window at a Cactus Wren that flitted through the Mesquite trees.
Me and that bird. We’re just alike.
Both were unwilling to allow anyone to hold them down. Not even a bully like Naaman.
“You will show me proper respect, Rebecca,” the burly man growled as he entered the room, invading the only personal space Luna had.
He towered over her, with his weather-worn hands placed firmly on his hips. Luna clenched her fists and jerked her head up to her accuser.
“My. Name. Is. Luna,” she said through gritted teeth.
Her eyes refused to leave his heavily bearded face.
And for the first time since the day she’d met him, the man smiled. One that reached all the way up to his sparkly blue eyes, making him look like the grumpy second cousin to Santa Claus. It caught her so much by surprise that she wasn’t sure what to do. How to react. She watched him warily, refusing to let her guard down.
“Luna it is, then.” He sat on the bed next to her and placed a sun-weathered hand on her shoulder. “But only while we are alone.”
She struggled to keep from brushing his hand away. He seemed to be extending somewhat of an olive branch, and it just might be her only chance to plead her case. If she trod carefully, maybe he would allow her to leave.
“Father Naaman, please. I just want to go home. Back to my mother.”
“Reb— uh, Luna, we have discussed this before. This is your home now.” His eyes narrowed, and he let out a breath as if trying to keep his patience in check. “Do you remember the conversation we had that very first day? I c
learly advised you then that if you came with me, you would be required to stay. You agreed, did you not?”
“Yes. I did. But my mother. She must be so worried about me,” she tried, knowing after what she’d put her mother through, the woman was probably happy to be rid of her.
“No, Luna, I am sorry,” he answered in an overly kind tone. “She is not concerned for you.”
Luna stared at him as the truth slapped her across the face. Still, it wasn’t his place to say such a thing.
“Your mother is gone,” he said, interrupting her unspoken accusation. “She has passed away. Word came in last week, but I did not tell you because I did not want to upset you.”
“What? Gone? She can’t be! What happened to her?” Luna stared at him blankly.
It can’t be true.
“She was killed. Murdered. Out in that sinful world you came from. It is not so hard to believe, is it?” He placed a hand over hers. “Luna, you are safe here with us. We care for you.”
“But— Murdered? How?”
“I have not been informed of the complete details, but she is gone all the same.”
Naaman reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a neatly folded, white piece of paper and handed it to her. Luna accepted it and stared as if it were a sacred scroll she dared not open. Did she want to know what was inside? She glanced back up at him.
He nodded toward the paper. “Open it. It was not easy to acquire such a worldly item.”
With trembling hands, Luna opened the neatly folded page. On the inside, it was completely empty. All except for a small square at the center of the page that looked like a copy of a newspaper article. An obituary.
Linda Ferris, 35 of Canyon Rock, Arizona passed away on Saturday at 9 pm.
She skimmed through the rest of it. A car accident. Hit by a drunk driver. No known surviving family members.
Wait! What about me? Did the world just forget about my existence? Luna closed her eyes as tears stung the corners of her eyelids. If I did manage to escape this . . . this . . . place, where would I go?
She opened her eyes back up and stared at those five, now blurry, words again.
No known surviving family members.
She was doomed to be the fourth wife of a forty-five-year-old, overbearing, bearded man.
Numbly, she folded up the paper.
My mom is dead.
She blinked, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Not just for her mom, but selfishly, she cried for the fact that she was trapped. She had nowhere to go. She was condemned to a life with The Chosen.
“You may retain that if you wish,” he said as he pointed to the paper that hung loosely in her hand, “but you must hide it away. Do not show it to anyone. You know the rules.”
Yes, she knew the rules. Girls were prohibited from having anything written. They did not attend school, and they were forbidden to learn any basic skills unless it pertained to cooking and cleaning, the making of cotton goods . . . or having babies.
“Thank you, Father Naaman,” Luna whispered in defeat.
He’d made a considerable concession by allowing her to keep the only thing she had left of her mother.
“This issue shall not be spoken of again.” He backed away as if to give her a moment to pull herself together, but instead, she fell apart.
Her body trembled as she sobbed uncontrollably. Naaman pulled her into his arms and hugged her gently. “You shall be well. We are your family now.”
As he released her, she balled up her fists, wanting to beat on his chest and scream at him that he would never be her family. That she would never conform to his way of life, but she couldn’t. She was destined to be a wife at seventeen and would shortly after that be required to have children.
His children.
The thought of having a sexual relationship with the man made her stomach churn. She pulled away from him and turned as tears bit once again at her lids.
God, if you are there, please help me.
She sent up the request but was sure it had fallen on deaf ears. If there was a God, He didn’t care about Luna Ferris.
I’ve known and cared for you before you were formed in your mother’s womb.
“What?” she turned back to Naaman. “What did you say?”
“I said we are your family now.”
No, not that.
Before she could respond, a realization hit her. Those words had not come from Naaman. They had not been spoken aloud.
Oh great. Now I’m hallucinating.
“Now. You will pull yourself together, and you shall never speak of your mother again. Do you understand me, Rebecca?”
His demeanor switched back into the gruff old man she’d come to know. The kindness he’d shown only moments before was tucked neatly beneath his rough exterior.
“Yes, Father Naaman,’’ she whispered, compliant and defeated.
As he arose to leave, an idea occurred to her. She had nothing to lose, so she went for it.
“Father Naaman?” she called out before he could exit the room.
He turned to her with a gruff stare and nodded for her to continue.
“If you would grant me one request, I would like an extra month to grieve the death of my mother before the ceremony.” She held her breath, hoping beyond hope that he would show her a bit of compassion.
He stared at her for a moment, fixedly, without an answer. Finally, he spoke. “No, you may not. This is out of my hands.” He held them up as if to prove there was nothing he could do. “The High Prophet has ordained it, and therefore, God has ordained it.”
Her head dropped. All hope was lost. In less than a month, she would be married.
Naaman stared at her a moment longer. Although his mouth was still gripped into a tight frown, Luna saw something in his eyes. A look of regret? A glimmer of sadness?
He turned to walk away, and Luna’s heart shattered into a thousand pieces. She abhorred the man. She hated everything about him. His wives. His children. Even his cows. She hated his cows.
“Blessed evening, Rebecca.” He walked away, and she slammed herself onto her bed and screamed into her pillow. It only proved to confirm her conviction.
There is no God!
Chapter 7 - Chief Collins
Erika was at a loss for words as Linda Ferris walked away. There was nothing she could say to make the woman feel better. Nothing she could do. The heart-wrenching feeling of watching a teenager on a rollercoaster ride to destruction was not for the faint of heart. She thanked God every night that her daughter had somehow managed to turn her life around.
It didn’t always work out that way, though, and Luna Ferris was living proof.
After combing the area, speaking to all of Luna’s friends and neighbors, Erika had come to the conclusion that the girl had left of her own free will. This wasn’t the average kidnapping case. Luna was almost eighteen. She’d gotten into a fight with her mother and left as she’d done so many times before. Only this time, she didn’t return.
Where could the girl be?
No bodies had turned up in the state matching the girl’s description. She’d checked the surrounding states as well. She was pretty sure Luna was alive. Most likely she’d hitched her way to Vegas or some other glamorous town where she could try her wiles at being an adult.
Erika stared out the window as Linda got into her car and sped off. It was never a good feeling to have to turn a person away without some kind of reassurance, but Erika had none. Not a one.
“Tanner!” she called.
“Yeah, boss?” He peeked his head in the doorway.
“When’s the last time you ran a check on the morgue?”
“Last night, boss. Nothing’s come up recently.”
“And no leads whatsoever on the Ferris girl?”
“Nothing.” He frowned. “Sorry, chief.”
She nodded. She hated to admit it, but it was out of her hands.
ERIKA WAS PACKING UP for an early lunch when her phone rang.
It was her husband. Most likely, he was already on his way to do the same thing.
“Hey, honey. I was just leaving. What’s up?” she answered.
“I’m heading out, too. I thought maybe we could meet up at the diner for a quick lunch.”
“Sure, why not?” She sighed. “There’s nothing—"
“Chief.” Tanner clamored into the office, half out of breath. “We got a lead.”
Her head jerked up. “What is it, Tanner?” By the look on his face, whatever he had to say was important. At least it had better be. Into the phone she said, “Rick, I’ve got to go and see what Tanner has for me. I’ll meet you at the diner as soon as I can.”
“Okay, darling. Good luck. Let me know if there’s anything I can help with.”
Erika hung up the phone and looked up at her officer.
“You won’t believe this,” he breathed heavily as he spoke.
“Out with it, Tanner.”
“Well, I was going over some reports from the day Luna disappeared. Just like the last time, there was nothing there.”
“Okay?” She’d not yet learned patience for Tanner’s long-winded stories.
“Well, then Hannah called, and the two of us got to talking.” He came all the way into the room, sat down in the chair across from her desk, placed a leg over his knee, and leaned back satisfactorily.
“Tanner! Get on with it.” She wasn’t interested in hearing about the conversation Tanner had with his wife unless it somehow pertained to the case.
Tanner’s foot fell to the ground as he leaned forward. “No, really. She got me thinking. What if Luna didn’t disappear on the same day she ran away?”
“Didn’t we look into that? There were no reports made that week.” Erika leaned forward. “Right?”
“Well, yeah. Not from Canyon Rock. But I widened my search range to two weeks and then the area to the entire state.”
It was feasible that a teenage girl could find a ride even out of the state if she were so inclined. But they would have no way of knowing that unless she was in some kind of altercation. Still, she humored him.
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