Page 57

We enter the mountain through a heavy metal door. Electric lights hang along the tunnel walls, exposing old rails and discarded mining carts. The air smells of stone, rust, and oil.

We pass two armed guards before reaching a row of reinforced rooms built into the rock.

One man unlocks the third door.

He cuts the restraint around my ankles, shoves me inside, and slams the door behind me.

The lock turns.

For a moment, I see nothing.

Then a small voice comes from the darkness.

“Who are you?”

I force myself to sit.

Five girls are huddled against the far wall.

The youngest can’t be more than thirteen.

My heart shatters.

“My name is Hayley.”

“Are you here to take us somewhere?”

“No.”

“Are you with them?”

“Never.”

A girl with dark braids moves into the weak light coming through the window in the door. Her lower lip is split.

“They said we’re leaving tonight.”

“I heard.”

“Where are they taking us?”

“I don’t know.”

She looks at my bound wrists. “Then you can’t help us.”

“Yes, I can.”

“How?”

“Because people are coming for me.”

I pray I’m telling them the truth.

I pray Sean saw the message on my laptop.

I pray he doesn’t believe eighteen years is too long to keep loving someone.

The youngest girl crawls toward me.