didn’t answer. She barreled on anyway. “There’s no one here, Eli. I can feel it.”
“How so?”
“In the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping, or when they were gone for supplies and there were only a handful of us here, you could tell. There was life here. Now there’s nothing.” Her voice wobbled.
“You don’t sound completely convinced. What’s wrong?”
“I heard an animal outside, that’s all. It spooked me.”
With a frown, he studied her. “Noah wouldn’t be noisy, if that’s what you’re thinking. You just said we’re alone.”
She bit her lip at his comment. She wanted to leave and to have Eli leave with her. But she knew what she’d said would only cement Eli’s resolve to find out for himself. Not to prove her wrong, but to prove to himself that there was no one here, dead or alive.
He brushed off her comments. “We need to look for any clue to where they may have gone. Let’s try upstairs, then work our way down.”
She nodded, telling herself again that she was here for Eli. She’d agreed to get him into The Farm, to help him find Phoebe.
Eli swept past her and up the stairs. They all could be upstairs, but she doubted it. Even dead, she wagered that Noah and his cult would command a certain presence.
And there was nothing here. With a deep breath, she forced herself to remember that. And that Eli was here. She was safe. There was nothing in this house to hurt her.
The urge to run still burned in her. Swallowing it down, she climbed that first step with shaking legs. Then another step, each worn tread giving way to her. Without staring at Eli’s legs as they walked upstairs, she knew he was there, guiding her in a way he didn’t realize. “So who slept in what room?” he asked casually when he reached the top.
A moment of righteous anger surged through her. Didn’t he realize that this was one of the most difficult moments of her life, here and now? Couldn’t he show some compassion?
At the top, Eli turned, fully expecting an answer. She stepped on the upstairs hall floor before giving him one. “Um, Phoebe and Trisha and I had this one.” She pointed to her right. Each door of the five small bedrooms was closed. “The older women had the two end rooms and the kids slept there.” She pointed to middle room.
He flicked his eyes from door to door. “There are five rooms up here.” He looked at the one she hadn’t mentioned. “Who had this one?”
“The married couple.” She didn’t want to think of them. They’d been the hopeful pair to lead the way for all of them to start a new generation. Except their plans hadn’t turned out the way they wanted them to.
Eli shoved open the door of the room she’d shared. It was empty. Only then, did she realize she’d pulled in a breath and held it. Letting it out felt like a relief. She focused on her old room, noticing that all the furniture was still there.
It only added to the eerie atmosphere.
She found herself stepping into the bedroom. The bed was made, the threadbare bedclothes not quite as neatly made as she remembered. The cheap, thin pillows, three in a row on the double bed ahead of her, barely made a lump under the faded chenille bedspread. The whole room had a hasty-looking feel to it, not at all like Phoebe’s usual meticulous standards.
She walked over to the window and looked down at the front yard. The same view as she’d seen so many times before.
Movement to her left caught her attention. That animal? Could it still be there, not scared off by her sudden flight into the house? She must not have made enough noise.
Like the silent house around her.
Silent? She cocked her head, listening. Hadn’t Eli just opened a door? What was he doing?
“Eli?”
Nothing. She peeked one more time at the far view outside, but saw no movement or rustling in the woods that had closed in on the compound.
“Eli?” she called again.
Still nothing. Swallowing, she moved from the window, avoiding any accidental glance around the room as she slipped into the hall.
All the bedroom doors were open. “Where are you? Did you find anything?”
There was nothing but a chilling silence. She dared to peek into the next bedroom, then the far one and soon all of them. No one. Not even Eli.
She hadn’t heard him walk down the stairs. They were old, and creaked—especially on cold, windy nights when falling temperatures and harsh eastern winds shifted the house.
Where was he? What was he doing? Trying to teach her not to be afraid of ghostly memories? To trust in God when there was nothing left to trust in?
Anger bubbled in her, followed swiftly by fear.
Maybe he’d left her in this house and that movement by the fence was him leaving.
His way to teach her a lesson on trust?
Just like Noah. The thought spat into her head and close on the heels of that accusation was another.
He was Noah. Eli Nash didn’t exist. That was why Phoebe never mentioned him. He didn’t exist. For all she knew, Eli was Noah’s middle name and he was both left-handed and right-handed and had sought her out to avenge her desertion and fulfil his threats.
And Noah, now that he knew how she had escaped, was going to make sure she didn’t escape again.
Tears burned her eyes. Her throat hurt from the choke of falling totally apart.
She had to get out of there.
Whirling, she flew down the stairs, missing the last two treads in a blind panicking stumble.
Two arms caught her. Firm, well-muscled, they wrapped around her torso and stopped her from falling on her face.
Pinned by them, she let out a cry and threw them off. “No! Let me go! What kind of sick lesson are you trying to teach me, anyway? You’re insane!”
“It’s me, Eli!”
Total panic flooded into her and her eyes widened in horror. “No, no! You’re Noah! There’s no such person as Eli! You’re trying to trap me in here! To kill me like you threatened to do. I saw you!” She thrashed away from him, twisting until she was free.
“Kaylee! It’s okay!”
She heard him, but couldn’t control the fear racing through her. She flung herself at the front door, finding it closed. Then, firing it open, she fell over the threshold.
Eli shouted her name again. This time it registered, but she didn’t dare listen. Gulping in the fresh fall air, she raced across the front yard, not headed to the cut in the fence, but straight at the gate.
She tripped over something and fell ungracefully on the dry, dormant grass.
“Kaylee,
