The man grabbed the bottle of water. “You will drink this, or you will pay the price.”
“Dad?” It was a girl’s voice. I could just make out a figure in the dark by the trees. They looked about my age. Had she been taken, too?
“Get back to your room, Everly. This isn’t your concern.”
She didn’t move.
I pleaded with my eyes. Then, I let the words fly. Maybe she would hear my truth. Maybe she would see. “Please, let me go home. Please.” I didn’t want to be here. Didn’t want this man’s crazed world to be real. I just wanted my mom and my dad and my room. I wanted to go where nothing could hurt me.
“Everly, go back to the house.Now,” the man barked.
The girl still didn’t move. “She didn’t do anything wrong. I can take her back to town and—”
“Ian!” the man bellowed.
“Yeah?”
I jolted at the new voice. It was younger than the man’s—much younger. A figure stepped into the light on the outside of the shed. He was older than me but still a boy. Maybe my brother Hayes’ age.
His face wasn’t twisted in rage the way his father’s was. It was almost…gentle. But something about it made my insides feel funny, a little sick. Like I might throw up. But there was nothing in there to empty.
“Take Everly to her room and make sure she stays there.”
The boy nodded and stalked towards the girl. She stiffened, but when he got close, she turned and ran for the house. The man watched as they went, so focused that I knew it was my only chance.
I launched myself from the mattress and ran for the door. Even though I was tall for my age, I was slender. I just needed to duck under his side. I tasted the fresh air and the scent of pine. A hand fisted in my t-shirt, yanking me back. Hard.
I slammed into the mattress as hands tightened around my throat. The man shook me, his face a mottled red. “I’m trying to save you! You will obey!”
Spittle landed on my face as my vision went dark around the edges. He shook me harder, and all I could think was that this was the end. There were so many things I wanted to do, and now, I wouldn’t get to do a single one. But most of all, I wanted to tell my family that I loved them. To make sure they knew.
Just as the darkness was about to claim me, the man released his hold on my throat. “I won’t let the evil take hold.” He stormed out, the door slamming in his wake. Even through the howling wind, I heard the lock clicking into place. Then, I was alone.
I shook violently against the flimsy, stained mattress. Every part of me trembled so viciously it rattled my bones. I was going to die here. And no one would ever know.
I shook harder as the rain started to fall. The roof of the shed was cracked in places. A spiderweb that I could see flashes of lightning through. Splashes of wetness hit my skin.
My teeth chattered violently, but I wasn’t any colder than I had been moments ago. Raindrops hit my lips. Water. I forced my mouth open, taking in all the liquid I could—water that couldn’t be poisoned because it came from the Heavens above.
I stared up at that fractured sky, my only salvation. The faintest glimmer of hope took root in my chest. I opened my mouth wider and prayed for home.
1
Shiloh
SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER
The sun litthe fields in a way that said it was showing off. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, just that dazzling sun. I pulled my flat-brim hat lower to shade my eyes as I scanned the pasture, looking for a telltale speckled coat.
There were a number of horses that I rode on my family’s ranch, nestled in the mountains of eastern Oregon. Far more that I trained myself. I tried to give them all love and attention—long rides as often as possible and plenty of treats. But only one was trulymine.
She was the first horse I’d bought with the money I’d made working the ranch. It was a little piece of independence when every sliver was hard-won. I didn’t take any for granted: each first and bit of freedom. Paycheck. Bank account. Post office box. My apartment over the barn.
They wouldn’t seem like much to most people, butmost peopledidn’t have a family who had been through what mine had. It was impossible not to hold on too tightly when you almost lost someone. So, I’d had to fight for each little freedom. And every one represented a carefully fought battle.
I unlatched the gate to the pasture, my gaze moving across the dips and rolls of the field. It caught on that familiar coat. The mare’s markings had called me to her ten years ago. She’d been just two years old, and I knew it was meant to be.
Most of her coloring was that of dark bay, but the pattern across her hind end revealed her true heritage: Appaloosa, through and through. That white with dark spots had been a sucker punch to the gut. A reminder of the darkest moments of my life. But more than that, a remembrance of the one piece of hope I’d had.