16
The rainfall had stopped, but the storm clouds remained behind, cloaking the day in a gloom that had penetrated the very core of Nick’s spirit. Not long ago, he’d been optimistic that they would find their way back, that Grandpa Lee would have returned to his house, and they would drive him to the nearest hospital for medical attention, and everything would work out fine.
But all of those plans had collapsed, and they were lost, in every sense of the word.
Runaway children being kept prisoner on the property? Some guy who called himself the Overseer branding kids with a “W” and keeping them too terrified to escape, and employing a team of minions to assist his endeavors? A plantation being utilized for unknown purposes?
Worst of all, they still had no indication of what had happened to Grandpa Lee.
When the nameless girl had spoken of the plantation, Nick recalled that she had looked over her shoulder, as if the dreaded place were located somewhere behind her. He and Amiya took that as a clue for where to begin their search. The narrow dirttrack continued on in that direction, too, winding through the thicket.
As they advanced along the muddy path, Nick glanced at Amiya and said, “We shouldn’t have come here, Amiya. All of this that’s going on, it’s my fault.”
Amiya sighed. “Whether we had come here today or not, Nick, there would still be a runaway child out here who needs help.”
“But Grandpa Lee wouldn’t be missing. That’s on me. I . . . I pushed him too hard with that shit about selling the land.”
“Not your finest moment, I agree.”
“The timing was wrong. My approach was wrong. But I thought being direct was the best way to do it.”
Amiya only shook her head. “You still don’t get it.”
“I have my reasons for wanting to sell. To be honest, after what we saw back there with the kid, I’m more motivated than ever to convince my granddad to sell this land. He doesn’t even know what’s going on out here, I’m convinced. But he could be held liable.”
“We need to get the facts,” she said. “At this point, we know so little we can’t draw any conclusions, but we know there’s a child here who needs our help, and your granddad does, too.”
They pressed on. Although they couldn’t get a signal on their phones, Nick was able to use his iPhone to check the time. It was almost noon. How many hours were there until sunset? Eight or so?
The Overseer comes looking at night.
The kid had freaked him out a little. He wanted to believe she was psychologically unstable and was either imagining or exaggerating some of the things she’d said. But this was his granddad’s property—hisfamily’sland—and he had a rifle and was fully capable of using it to enforce his rights. If anyone wasinvolved in some sort of criminal enterprise here, he was going to put a stop to it.
Although the rainfall had ceased, the humidity seemed to have increased, and the woods were beginning to feel as if they were steaming. Sweat saturated the back of Nick’s neck and dripped down the channel of his spine. Beside him, Amiya pulled up her hair and knotted it in a quick ponytail.
“A cold shower would be nice, huh?” Nick said.
“Tell me about it. A big meal, a cold shower, and a long nap, in that exact order.”
Nick was about to respond when he thought he heard something. He stopped in mid-step.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Running water,” he said. “Hear it?”
“I think so.” She cocked her head, listening. “Back in the day, plantations were often built near waterways. It could mean we’re heading in the right direction.”
They followed the trail around a bend, and soon discovered the source of the sound: a creek about twenty feet wide, full of fast-moving silver water and rocks. A felled elm tree spanned the width of the creek, and could serve as a crude bridge.
A gaggle of geese wandered along the edge of the muddy bank. They ratcheted their heads around at Nick and Amiya’s approach, and squawked.
“Feels like we interrupted a private party,” Nick said.
“The water is flowing from that direction.” Amiya pointed to their left. Nick noticed that she had taken out her iPhone again and had accessed a compass app.
“You are quite the Girl Scout, babe,” Nick said.
“I remember a few things from my troop days.” Amiya smiled briefly, pointed to the left again. “That’s north, the direction from which the water is flowing.”
