Page 23

Shame burns in me. I shouldn’t be troubling strangers. At dawn, no less. Minister or not, they don’t deserve this.

My appearance is unacceptable. I’m filthy. My nightgown is a horror with Asher’s dried blood stiffening the fabric. I run my fingers over the rusted brown spots, tracing what remains of him, before footsteps return and I pull my hand back.

Calista reappears with a T-shirt covering her sports bra, and beside her is a woman wrapped in a vintage burgundy housecoat, her black hair pinned in curlers. She’s strikingly beautiful with the smoothest porcelain skin I’ve ever seen. Her brows pinch when she sees me, though no lines crease her face. She looks more like a sister to Calista than her mother.

“Oh my goodness.” She moves closer, sitting beside me. “You poor thing. What happened to you?”

A knot forms in my throat with too much to explain. It’s too dangerous to drag this innocent family into.

Tell no one else.

“I was taken,” I force out. “My brother saved me, but…”

Her chair scrapes against the floor, and she takes my hands in hers. Guilt hits me for dirtying her.

“Did they rape you?”

I suck in a sharp breath at the word. “No… no. I think they were going t—”

“Oh, honey.” She wraps her arms around me before I can finish, pulling my head to her chest to stroke my messy hair. My body stiffens. “Don’t you worry about a thing. We’re going to take care of you. Zaiya, is it?”

The tenderness nearly breaks me. Her touch is as soft as I imagine a mother’s should be. I nod because I’m afraid that if I speak, I’ll cry and never stop.

“I’m Evelyn Bolton.” She draws back and examines the scratches on my arms, her fingertips grazing each one. “Oh, Zaiya. Let me get you cleaned up.”

Calista moves from her place in the cramped doorway. “Where’s—”

“He had an emergency to attend to,” Evelyn cuts in before turning back to me. “My husband, Frank, is a minister. Always on call. He’ll be home later today.”

When she returns with supplies, she tends to my wounds with patience that feels undeserved. Most of them are shallow scrapes, despite all the blood. The concern eases once her white cloth turns ruddy.

“How did you find her?” she asks her daughter.

Calista shrugs with the confidence of someone accustomed to lying well. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went for an early run. Something pulled me towards the church.” Her voice softens. “It was like God called me there to find her.”

Evelyn presses a hand to her heart. “It was God’s will.” Then she takes my hand in both of hers and makes me meet her gaze. “He brought you into our lives for a reason.”

My eyes flick up to Calista, who shoots me a look of warning.

I nod and manage a faint smile, though I’m not sure God has ever noticed me at all.

“I’m lucky she was there.”

That part is true. If she hadn’t intervened, I might not be alive.

Evelyn brushes peroxide over my skin with a cotton ball, and I wince at the sting. She squeezes my hand until it passes. Her tenderness is so foreign, my instinct is to apologize for bothering her. I’ve done nothing to deserve her kindness.

“You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need.” Her voice is gentle, but something in it leaves no room to argue. “When Frank gets home, he’ll take you to the police station.”

I shrink in the chair. Asher said to find the Serpents.

Tell no one else.

“I…” My voice falters. I should refuse. I should tell her I can’t. But the strength to disagree is absent. “Okay.”

Evelyn’s expression doesn’t change, but her thumb strokes once over my knuckles. “Sweetheart, you’re in shock. We’ll get this settled properly after you’ve rested.”

I don’t know what else to do. I just know I can’t afford to do the wrong thing.