The girls nodded.
“What are your names?” Evie whispered moving closer.
“I’m Molly, and this is Hannah and Rachel.”
“Well, Molly, Hannah, and Rachel, I was being held against my will too, in the room next door. Now let’s get your hands untied so we can escape.
“How?” one girl asked.
“I don’t know, but we have to try. I, for one, refuse to simply sit about awaiting my fate.” She went to the one called Molly andworked on the ropes around her wrists. Then between them they got the other two free.
“Come along. We must make haste now.” Evie used her no-nonsense voice that rarely worked on Prue but that her father usually took note of.
“Are any of you hurt?” Evie asked as they got to their feet.
Molly shook her head. “They bring us food, but that’s it. I don’t know how many days I’ve been here,” she said.
“They’re planning something soon with us, but we don’t know what,” Hannah added. “We’ve heard chanting and other voices nearby. It’s right scary.”
“It matters not. We are leaving,” Evie said.
“You’re bleeding, miss,” Molly said. “Let me bind it.”
It was probably better not to leave a trail of blood, so she allowed Molly to tear strips off the hem of her undergarments and bind the cuts on her wrist. It took precious minutes, and Evie’s fear climbed. They had to leave before someone realized what she had done.
“Hurry,” she said, heading to the door when Molly had finished. “Follow me and walk as lightly as you can.”
“I can’t,” Rachel whispered. “What if—”
“Do you have family, Rachel?” She nodded tearfully. “And do you wish to see them again?” Evie asked.
“Y-yes.”
“Then you must be brave, because if you truly wish that, then we have to escape now.”
“She’s right,” Molly agreed.
Evie opened the door and walked left once more, hoping all three of the girls were following.Please, let this be the way out.
At the end of the hallway, there was another door. Evie tried several keys, each one making a noise that seemed loud in the enclosed space, until finally locating the right one.
“Brace yourselves to fight if need be.” Evie looked at the girls, and each nodded. “With everything you have,” she added. “Nails, feet, teeth, whatever you need, use it.” They nodded again, wide-eyed now. “We must escape, and this is our chance.”
Opening the door, she entered a large chamber. Holding up a hand, Evie searched and found no one in there, so she waved the girls inside, and locked the door behind them.
At one end of the room there was an altar. Before that was a table with white candles on the floor ringing it. She heard the girls gasp at the same time Evie realized this was some kind of place that people came to worship, and something was likely sacrificed on that table, because leather straps hung on either side.
“D-do you think this is where they would have brought us?” Molly whispered.
Evie did indeed think that, and the thought sent a chill down her spine. They would have suffered in many ways here, she realized.
“It’s evil I feel,” Hannah whispered.
“Come along.” Evie walked across the room to some steps. “We are leaving at once.” The staircase veered left and at the top she came to a narrow door. Searching again through the keys, she found the one that fit in the lock.
“Are you ready?” she whispered, and the girls all replied yes. Turning the key, she pushed the door open.
“I hear someone coming,” one of the girls whispered.
