“Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll never let that happen. But this is where you have to trust me with all your heart and mind.”
“I do. I will.”
Shiloh stood and walked to the counter, reaching into a drawer. When she returned to the table, she held an envelope that she smoothed with careful hands.
“I've made plans,” Shiloh explained. “Ever since Edward died, I've been preparing for us to leave. This community is no longer safe. Isaiah has turned it into something terrible, and we need to escape.”
Rachel's eyes widened. “Escape?”
“We can't stay here. What if I told you it could be an adventure? A whole new life?”
Despite the fear thrumming through her veins, Rachel felt a spark of something else. Hope. “Like the ones in the books you let me read?”
Shiloh smiled, the first real smile Rachel had seen in weeks. “Exactly like that.” She opened the envelope and pulled out a letter. The print at the top read the Sea Glass Inn, and underneath was a name: Tori Evans. Virginia.
“I found this place in a magazine,” Shiloh explained. “I've been writing to the owner for months, with Mr. Kendall's help.”
The Kendalls worked a farm near the community but weren’t part of the establishment. She knew Shiloh had been visiting the Kendalls more recently, but now started to understand the true reason for those visits.
Shiloh continued, “The owner of the inn needs a housekeeper, and there's a room for us. You could go to school. Real school, Rachel. With other kids your age. We could work and build a new life.”
Rachel's hands trembled as understanding dawned. School. Friends. Freedom from Isaiah's oppressive rules and watchful eyes. A chance to be something more than afraid.
“When?” Her voice came out as a whisper.
“Tonight. We pack what we can carry and walk to Mr. Kendall's place. He'll take us to the bus station.”
Rachel began to shake, her whole body vibrating with a mixture of terror and excitement. “School. A job. Maybe friends. Oh, Aunt Shiloh, we get a new life.”
“Yes. But be prepared because we'll have to leave this place behind. Remember, though, no one can take our memories away from us.”
Rachel threw her arms around Shiloh, hugging her fiercely, then raced upstairs to pack. Her hands moved quickly, pulling clothes from drawers, books from secret hiding places under the floorboards where Uncle Edward had stashed them. She packed the photographs Shiloh had saved of her parents, grandparents, and the life they had before everything changed.
Hours later, under the cover of darkness, Rachel followed Shiloh down the moonlit lane. They each carried everything they could in old satchels and cloth bags stuffed to overflowing. The trees on either side of the road cast dark shadows that moved with the breeze, and Rachel's heart pounded with every rustle.
Someone could be following them. Isaiah could discover them gone. They could be dragged back.
But with each step away from the only home she'd ever known, Rachel felt the weight on her chest lighten. Fear mixed with exhilaration as they walked the five miles to the Kendalls' farm.
The next two days passed in a blur of new experiences. The bus traveled through mountains and towns and cities, all the way to the ocean. Tori Evans met them at the bus station in Virginia Beach. She was beautiful and kind with red hair and an easy smile. Her casual clothes reminded Rachel of her mother’s and Shiloh’s wardrobe before Isaiah’s takeover.
She drove them over a long bridge with tunnels under the water. While Tori explained the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Rachel kept her face to the window, unable to believe the water could stretch so far. And when they went through the tunnels, she held her breath until the sunlight shone on her once again.
Still marveling at all the new wonders she had witnessed on the journey, it was when Tori pointed out coffee shops, the library, and restaurants in the little bayside town that Rachel truly felt as though she had landed in an enchanted place. A place where people gathered freely, without fear, without someone watching and controlling every moment.
And then they arrived at the Sea Glass Inn.
Rachel gasped when she saw it. The three-story brick building with its wraparound porch looked like something from the storybooks Shiloh had secretly shared with her. Inside, Oriental rugs covered gleaming wood floors. A grand staircase led to the upper levels.
Tori showed them to the large attic room that would be theirs. A queen bed and a twin. White furniture. Lace curtains that let in the sunlight. And French doors that opened onto a balcony overlooking the bay.
That night, after Shiloh fell asleep, Rachel crept onto the balcony. The moon reflected off the water, and she could hear the gentle lap of waves against the shore. The air smelled different here. Saltier. Free.
She thought about everything they'd left behind. The community. The farm. The graves of her family. The familiar mountains and rivers of Pennsylvania.
But she also thought about what waited ahead. School. Friends. A life where she could make choices instead of following orders. Where she could wear pants and ponytails if she wanted. Where no one would tell her what to think or how to feel or who she had to become.
Rachel wrapped her arms around herself and looked up at the stars. The same stars that had shone over Pennsylvania now shone over Virginia. Some things stayed constant even when everything else changed.
