Chapter 59

Time seemed to slow and for a second, the room seemed to tilt a bit. Sam clutched for the wall next to her and Reece reached out to steady her. She gasped and drew back.

“Don’t.”

“Samantha,” he said and reached for her again. “Don’t be that way. I’d never hurt you. You know that.”

She shook her head and moved away from him. “No. I don’t know that. I know nothing about you. Not really. We’ve talked but you’ve lied to me all along.”

“That’s not true. I never told you anything at all.”

“You didn’t tell me you were a smuggler.”

He dropped his hand and straightened. His expression smoothed out, revealing nothing. “I’m providing a service for people in need. Something your Council of Nine has never done, by the way. They’d sooner see these people starve and live in squalor.”

“We provide for everyone equally.” She looked at him, defiance in every line of her body

“Do you?”

“We’ve been over this. Those sent into the Outland are criminals. Out there, beyond the mist, how are they treated?”

“In the current time, they’re treated like human beings. They are fed, clothed, given medical care, and even educated. It was not always so. At one time they were thrown into dark dungeons and starved.”

Frustration gnawed at her. It was true Outlanders were treated horribly, more than she’d realized. The Outland was not a dungeon but there was little else to recommend it. The close, smothering sensation of the trees closing in on her as she came through was unnerving.  She hated the feeling of someone watching from the forest and the fear that permeated it all. It was a horrible place.

But, there was also the feeling that she had at the ancient temple site. The visions she’d had experienced both times were confusing and frightening...and exciting. She wanted to know more about it, more about her family, and why she had the visions.

She looked up at him, pouring all her anger into one look. “You’re not from here, are you, Reece?”

He shook his head. “Well, is anyone?”

When she just continued to glare at him, he continued. “Not in the sense you mean. I came ashore one night five years ago, on a small vessel with about a dozen people. Some of us jumped ship before we reached port. You see, one of those had seen something that disturbed them half an hour before we entered the...portal. So, we slipped overboard and swam ashore. We hid out in the woods and stole food, watching until we could figure out what was going on.”

“How did you come here? To the Outland?”

He smiled and shrugged and leaned one shoulder against the rock wall of the tunnel. “Outlaws always find outlaws. Isn’t that your philosophy?” The smiled faded. “We found a cave we could camp in and spent months getting acquainted with the area and even some of the people. We found a boat that allowed us to explore the coastline and that’s how we found this cave.”

Straightening up, he rolled his shoulders and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Look, Sam, I don’t have time to give you all the details. I have to get this shipment out now, before dawn. You can come with us or go home in the morning.”

With an overwhelming sense of dread, Sam started to turn away. She had to get away.  If she made it back to the house she could get her horse and ride home tonight and report what was happening. Spinning on one foot, she whirled around to run back along the tunnel but came to an abrupt halt. Alaina appeared around the bend in the tunnel followed by two burly men.

Although dressed in riding boots, dark trousers, and shirt, with her hair caught up in a smooth bun, she still exuded the air of a queen but the petulant expression on her face as she strode toward them revealed the spoiled daughter of the house.

“What do you think you’re doing, Reece?” She stopped before them, her hands on her hips and her feet planted.

“Why did you let her out?”

“She’s your cousin, Alaina. And she’s done nothing wrong.”

Alaina sneered. “Nothing but interfere. I’m tired of having to deal with her.” Scathing eyes raked Sam. “She’s a nuisance. And a risk.”

The air thickened around her and Sam went still. Her ears started to ring and like a slow, rising tide, the sounds in the cave muted. She looked first at Reece but he still stood and watched her. Turning she looked at Alaina and felt her eyes go wide in shock. “It’s you. You’re their—”

She threw back her head and laughed and the sound didn’t echo in the cave. “Yes, of course, you ninny. I don’t know why you’re surprised. You already know the power I possess. Our distant grandmother was very generous in her gifts to me.” She gave Sam a measuring look and a smile that turned her blood to ice water. “And you. It seems we’re the last two Sounders in the family. But not for long.”

Sam immediately thought of Lily and fear wormed its way into her gut. “Sounders?”

“Never mind. Come with me.”

With a pleading look, she turned. “Reece?”

He took a deep breath and shook his head. “She’ll lock you in the cell until we've finished. We’ll send someone to let you out in the morning.”

Alaina laughed. “We will not. I’m not having her run back to the province and bring the Council down on us. I’ll deal with her. You get down to the shore.” She snapped her fingers at one of the men behind her.  “Take her.”

“I’d like to know one thing, please.”

She held up her hand to hold back her thugs. “What?”

“Mrs. Parker. Why kill her?” She swallowed the lump in her throat.

For a moment, Alaina just stared at her through narrowed eyes, as if she were trying to see the point of the question. “It wasn’t intentional. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone there at that time of night. She fell and hit her head. The men responsible would not have hurt her but she collapsed and hit her head on the corner of a crate.”

Sam remembered the fainting spells.

"She was dead almost immediately. There was nothing they could do."

“You were there?” Sam stared at her.

“No. The men came back and told us what happened.”

“And you believed them?”

She lifted her chin. “Yes. They have no reason to lie. They’re already branded criminals.”

“Oh my God.”

At that moment, Sam whirled on her heel and darted past Reece, heading toward the stairs to the cavern. She clambered down, clutching the railing lightly to steady herself but never slowing. Behind her, she heard the sound of running feet. They’d have to slow because there were so many of them and that would work to her advantage.

When she reached the bottom she wasted no time but darted back, past the stairs and into the storage area. She remembered the layout and she knew if she weren’t careful she’d be trapped. Instead of making a straight run for the tunnel, she wove in and out of aisles between the tall storage shelving. One more turn and she’d be exactly where the tunnel opened, near the front of the cavern.

To her right, a sound warned her of a runner. She turned and slipped behind the storage shelving and the wall. Squatting down, she went still and opened her mouth to breath. It was a trick she’d learned as a child hiding from her brothers. Mouth breathing was quieter.

The runner rounded the end of the aisle but these shelves were jam-packed and the space between their ends was barely large enough for her to slip behind. He passed without noticing her.

From the back, she heard someone running back up the stairs. “I’m watching from the platform, Bob. Flush her out and I’ll be able to see her.”

It was Alaina. Sam’s heart sank. She remembered looking down into the room earlier when the men were working down here. The stairwell platform was twice as high as the shelves and looked down on the whole room. She might be able to leave her spot if they were all down here but not if with her watching from above.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on sounds. Everything was muffled, wrapped in cotton wool. She could hear them talking and walking around but there were no echoes of steps or talking. The portal, as Reece had called it, was open. They had a limited time to get through before it closed. The next opening might not be for a week or even months.

“Everyone but Bob and Stuart, get back to the shipment. We’ll take care of her.” Alaina’s voice fell on her from above.

With that, Sam felt her heart sink. She was going to get no quarter from her.

“Alaina, let her go." Reece's voice sounded from somewhere ahead of her. She thought it was near the tunnel opening. "She can’t get out while we’re working and by then it will be too late to do anything.”

“You fool! She will bring the whole operation down on us. The Council will march in here and take it all. We’ll be banished to the mist. I’m not dying in a rowboat just because you find my cousin charming.”

There was silence for several minutes and Sam began to think they’d left. Then she heard her again. “Get out and get to the shore. Now.”