“Like how it was before the fire,” he said. “According to my grandfather.”
He saw her shadowed shape offer an indifferent shrug.
“I’m used to it,” she said. “When I was living in that house, it became a regular thing. It’s easy to forget how something makes no sense when it’s your everyday reality.”
“People can adapt to anything,” Nick said. “Including what should be impossible.”
“Yeah.” Her face was a dark oval. “Now that we’ve got your firecrackers, what do you want to do?”
“Let’s get closer to the house and we’ll figure out something,” he said.
They advanced through the woods, the lights of the estate serving as a beacon in the darkness. Nick was equally awareof the need to look out for another light: the soft orange glow marking the Overseer’s branding iron. He didn’t see any evidence of the man, and assumed that he had drifted away to search another region of the property.
Soon, he would have to stop hiding from the Overseer and seek him out. The thought of that imminent confrontation literally gave him a physical sense of dread; a tight coiling of his abdomen muscles that made breathing difficult.
It’s going to be the only way out, Nick thought.When the time comes, I’ll have to push through everything I’m feeling and look that man in the face.
As the surrounding tree cover thinned, Nick slowed. Wrought-iron lanterns, equipped with flickering candles, had been posted at various spots along the path leading to the mansion. Those lights stood at numerous locations throughout the property, too.
Nick saw at least two people wandering the yard, crossing between patches of candlelight and shadow. They had the look of guards. Given all the trouble that Nick and Raven had given them today, they would be on high alert.
“We can try going around the back,” Raven said. “There’s a few small buildings close to the house, around a courtyard.”
“Okay, I remember we saw those earlier.”
Keeping to the trees, Raven made a beeline to their left, circling around the perimeter of the plantation complex. Although they were couched in darkness, they were close enough to the residence for Nick to pick up some of the noises issuing from within that carried on the cool night air: laughter, the clatter of dishes, soft piano notes.
“It sounds like they’re having a party,” Nick said.
“They are.” Raven crept through weeds without turning. “Everyone looks forward to the night. I used to, like the rest of the house staff.”
“What about the field hands?” Nick asked.
“They have time off in their quarters. They have parties, too. Some of them brew their own stuff to drink, I guess.”
“Moonshine,” Nick said.
“Yeah, that’s what they call it. It was gross but they liked to drink it.”
“With people outside partying in their slave quarters, someone had to get pregnant,” Nick said. “Are there any babies here?”
“The Overseer takes them,” Raven said, matter-of-factly. “I never saw it but I heard about it. A field hand had a baby at night and the Overseer went right into the cabin and took it as soon as it was born.”
Nick’s mind reeled. “He took the baby? What did he do with it?”
“I don’t know, but we never saw it again,” she said. She threw a look back at him, her eyes gleaming. “People try not to have babies. I heard Miss Lula will use a coat hanger if any woman in the house gets pregnant.”
Nick felt ill, the watery weakness spreading to his knees. He had to rest against a tree for a moment, slowing drawing deep breaths.
“You okay?” Raven asked.
He wanted to scream at her.Am I okay? You’ve shared with me that on my family’s land, babies are stolen from mothers and the house manager is performing abortions with coat hangers? Sure, it’s all good, girl. No worries.
But he didn’t yell at her. Raven had been steeped in Westbrook’s bizarre subculture for many years, and had been desensitized to the horror that would have outraged anyone outside of the property’s barbed wire fence.
He desperately needed to get her out of this place. He needed to get all of them out of this place.
Once he did, he might burn it all to the ground, destroying it by fire once more, and forever.
