“I think around an hour from here.”
I’m aware that her timing might not be accurate. She’s not the one who has been driving, and I don’t think she even has a watch. The sun is low in the sky now, and dusk isn’t far away. I hope we find the commune before dark or this shit is going to get a whole lot harder. As soon as we find it, we’ll need to figure out a place to pitch up for the night.
“I want to talk with Felix,” I announce.
Mal nods and turns back onto the main highway.
Meeting back up with the RV, Mal pulls in behind them, and I get out. I jog up to the cab at the front, and Felix slides the window down.
“We think this is the place, which means the commune isn’t far from here. Daisy says about an hour away. I’m going to have her direct us to the outskirts of their land. Once we’re that close, we can find a place to pitch up, and two or three of us can go and recon the commune and the land.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
I head back to the car, and Mal follows Daisy’s directions.
The roads grow narrow, until they become little more than unpaved tracks. The woods around us are closing in. I’m starting to worry about how the RV will fare. I imagine the tree branches are already scraping on the roof.
I check with Daisy. “Is it much farther?”
She twists in her seat, her expression pale. “I’m sorry. I think we took a wrong turn.”
“Fuck.” I smack my fist against the side of the door.
Her eyes fill with tears. “It all looks the same.”
Ophelia jumps in, always quick to defend her. “Cut her some slack. I wouldn’t know the way either.”
I contact Felix, telling him we’re going to need to turn around. It’s easier for us to do in the truck than the RV, but they find a spot, and after a million point-turns, we retrace our route.
I’m worried it’s going to be pitch black before we find it.
We try a different route, but that also leads to a dead end. Daisy’s confidence is fading, and, as much as I hate to admit it, I want her to regain it. We’re relying on her too much for this to go wrong. If we can’t find the commune, this whole thing is over before it gets started. If Daisy is right about the Prophet’s plans, a whole heap of people are about to be manipulated into taking their own lives, and we won’t be able to do anything about it.
I signal to pull over, and Felix does the same. I twist in my seat to face the seventeen-year-old girl sitting behind me.
“Daisy, I need you to stop and take a couple of slow breaths and focus on what we’re doing.”
Her hands are trembling. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want you to be sorry. I just want you to find this place before it gets completely dark.”
“I know.” She closes her eyes and blows out a breath before opening them again. “I’m sure it’s down this road, and then we should meet a junction where we need to turn east.”
She’s been certain before, and led us literally down the wrong path, but we have no choice but to trust her.
To my surprise, we hit the junction she’d described.
“This is it,” she says, leaning forward in her seat, animated again. “The commune isn’t too much farther now.”
Ophelia also leans in. “I recognize it, too. We’re definitely on the right track. We should probably get off this road soon,though, because if we meet a vehicle coming the other way, we’re going to get noticed.”
“If we head into the woods, will we be able to access the commune from a different direction?” I ask the question of Daisy.
I don’t want us to get lost again, but we can’t just drive straight into the place.
She bites her cheek. Is she thinking of a lie, or simply stressed out as usual? It’s an annoying habit she has, but it’s also a tell. I just don’t know her well enough to understand what it means.
“Yes, there should be a smaller track coming up which will lead us into the woods, and from there we can reach the town on foot.”
