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Folding the map and deciding to head toward the highest ridge, I say, “I appreciate the added info.”
I pick up my pack and look toward the sky. A storm is coming, and I don’t have a lot of time to find some sort of shelter. I have a sleeping bag that will keep me warm in subzero temperatures, but I don’t exactly want to test how efficient it is.
I’ve gone on many photo expeditions in my time. I’ve hiked the most grueling trails, put myself in extreme temperatures, and placed myself in the middle of dangerous situations. All for the perfect photos. And to be honest… I loved it.
But this is different. Hiking this mountain, with no camera in hand, in search of my wife who was taken from me, is anything but fun. I know I’m a skilled survivalist, if need be, but I really don’t want the need to be. Not to mention the last time I went out in the wild by myself, I got hit over the head by a madman, held captive in a cellar in a ghost town, and forced to marry a woman who was also kidnapped and held captive. You’d think I’d learn.
Miles and miles, I walk with no destination. I just go “up” and search for any sign of life. Tiny snowflakes begin to fall. They aren’t sticking yet, but I know it’s only a matter of time until they do. But I won’t give up until I find something… anything… Ember. I will find Ember.
9
Ember
I can feel eyes on me.
I’m not alone.
“Hello?” I call out. “Is someone out there?”
I’m on the top of a mountain with only the sisters inside as company, but I’m not alone.
I feel it in my bones.
Someone’s watching me as I collect firewood. Someone’s out there.
“Papa Rich?” I call out, wondering if he and Scarecrow never left.
Maybe this is a test. They tell us they are leaving to see what I’ll do. Will I escape? Will I take the sisters with me? Will I try to burn down the chapel like I burned down Hallelujah Junction?
Are they waiting in the woods, watching my every move?
They did leave easily enough. They didn’t even warn me or make threats. They simply left… or did they?
“What are you doing out here?” Holly asks. “It’s getting dark.”
“I think someone’s out there. Watching.”
She looks toward the woods. “What makes you think that?”
“I thought I heard something. And it’s just a feeling I get.”
She studies the dense trees for several moments, then reaches for the pile of wood in my arms and takes some. “We really need to get inside. It could be a mountain lion or a bear stalking us.”
As we head back to the chapel, I look over my shoulder and swear I see movement in the distance. “Do you think Papa Rich and Scarecrow really left?”
She pauses her steps for a moment but then continues on. “Why would you ask that?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I just get the feeling it was a person out there.”
“They left,” she states simply.
“I know it might sound crazy, but I really feel like there was a person out there.”
“Did you see a person?”
“No.”
“Well then….” She opens the door to the chapel and ends the discussion as we enter inside.
I spend the rest of the day uneasy. The incident in the woods didn’t sit well with me, and Holly and Violet’s reaction to my feeling as if someone is out there doesn’t sit right either. It’s almost as if they know someone is out there. That they are in on a secret that I don’t know.
Did Papa Rich and Scarecrow tell them they were going to test me?
Are they in on the plan to catch me trying to escape?
I’ve never been good at reading people. I never had practice. And by my most recent experience with Louisa Davenport, with Christopher’s good friend attacking, his ex-girlfriend, and the media circus… I don’t exactly trust anyone.
Although something inside me tells me I can trust the sisters, which makes their actions odd to me. What do they know that I don’t?
“So, what did Scarecrow tell you about me?” I ask, wondering if my voice sounds as suspicious as I feel.
Violet looks up from her masonry that she’s nearly completed. Her head tilts slightly as if she’s reading me, but no doubt she’s just as out of practice as I am due to her living situation. “He told us that you burned down your home with a man who was your husband. That you fled to live in the evil world. He said you were tempted by the devil and couldn’t resist.”
“Did they say anything to you when they left?” I question.
Violet shakes her head and returns her attention to her chimney. “Scarecrow doesn’t say much to me.”
