AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I cleared the way for you,” she says. “It should be safe.”
I exhale sharply, only realizing now that I still doubted her. I draw closer and my heart aches as she holds the door open. She’s clearly been crying; her eyes are rimmed with red, and her lip has been chewed raw.
“Will you come back to see me?” she asks, her voice quiet.
I wrap my arms around her and hug her again, dreading the fact that I’ll have to part with her soon. “Of course,” I say. “But for now…I have to go. Patrick won’t ever let me free if I stay.”
“I know,” she says. “Be safe, Tilda.”
“I will,” I promise. “Love you.”
She smiles. “Love you, too.”
We go completely silent as we sneak together down the hall of the jail, past the front desk. It’s vacant, the door ajar. “What did you do?” I ask.
“Just stirred up the cattle out on the north side of town,” she says. “They’re all kicking up a ruckus and they needed all the help they could get. I ran in and asked the warden for help.”
“Clever,” I grin. “And the path to the fence?”
“Should be all clear,” she says. “But hurry—we only have so much time.”
I pause at the door, biting my lip.
There are a million things I want to say to my little sister, to convince her to come with me…but she’s right. We’re running short on time.
“Enid,” I say. “I’m going to leave you here so you don’t get in trouble if I get caught. But I really want you to consider coming to live with me in Austin. It isn’t safe here, and you shouldn’t have to give anything up for medicine.”
Her eyes sparkle. I wonder if I should leave now; I don’t want to make her start crying again. “I don’t…I can’t go now,” she says. “But if I decide to leave, how will I get that far? I sold my horse.”
I swallow hard. “In a few weeks—the night of the new moon—I’ll ride Annie out to that tree where we buried mom’s ring. Meet me there? Then you can decide.”
She nods. “Okay.”
Her voice is hoarse; I can tell she’s ready to sob.
“Be brave, Enid,” I whisper, giving her one last hug. “I’ll see you soon.”
She reluctantly separates from me, and I don’t look back at her as I make my way toward the fence. True to what she said, I can hear the cattle braying north of me. I keep to the shadows anyway. I don’t know who might be lurking, looking for an opportunity to hurt me.
It seems that Enid did the trick, though. I don’t run into a single person. There’s just the one guy up in the watchtower, paying attention only to the gate. Theyreallyneed to get that hole in the fence patched up if they want to improve security around here. I duck my head as I catch sight of the brush covering the hole, eagerly shuffling toward it.
A gun cocks behind me.
I close my eyes and raise my hands, standing straight up. My senses are in overdrive, my nails already growing into claws, my teeth getting longer and sharper.
I wonder if Patrick will notice.
“Easy does it,” he says, his voice gruff. “Turn around.”
I do as he says, lifting my chin in a show of dignity. I won’t let him beat me down—not after everything I’ve been through, and all the things I’ve done for Homestead. He draws closer, a smirk on his face.
“The priest’s whore,” he says. “Should’ve known you’d find some way to crawl out of that hole I threw you in.”
“Why?” I ask. “Because you know I’m smarter and stronger than you?”
He narrows his eyes. “You shouldn’t pick fights when you’re not the one holding the gun.”
I bark out a laugh, shaking my head. “You’re a bully, Patrick,” I say. “You’re going to drive this town into the ground. You’re already doing it with your stupid decisions.”
