Page 31

30

Havenwood

Thalia was going to die.

Calliope and her followers had built this prison, practically a pit in the ground, after Thalia left. By the waste and the blood, she knew others had been kept here. How many people had to be broken before the rest saw the truth?

Everything her parents built had been destroyed.

Thalia desperately wanted to fix what had gone wrong with Havenwood. She’d been so close...and then her mother had died.

She had never wanted to leave the sanctuary she’d called home since she was born. Thalia was her mother’s daughter—she loved nature, art, the beauty of the world around her. Her mother had a hard life, and Havenwood was her chance to be reborn. She had a framed picture she’d brought from the outside world that hung in her house Thalia’s entire life. It was a picture of a sun-drenched forest with a quote by Frank Lloyd Wright: “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” For years they lived by that quote, and Havenwood was truly paradise. People joined them, contributed to the community in a variety of ways, wherever their talents took them. They built homes, a greenhouse, endured harsh winters like their ancestors hundreds of years before. But they were joyful and spiritual. They weren’t the Amish, but they lived life as simply as they could, focused on nature and community, love and acceptance.

Thalia was much younger than Calliope, and she had once loved her sister.

Until she saw firsthand the darkness in Calliope’s soul.

All utopias failed, that was human nature. Thalia had never believed in evil—until Calliope. Had her soul always been damaged, or did losing Glen and her baby break her? Thalia didn’t know. But there had been signs over the years, signs Thalia was too young to understand until it was too late.

She shifted and cried out in pain. She had broken ribs, bruises, a sprained ankle, more. She was angry with herself and so very depressed. Her own arrogance and selfishness had resulted in her captivity.

She’d trusted the wrong person. After Riley left, she should have stopped trying to help. Her niece was much better at picking who would survive on the Outside than she was.

Now Calliope was killing everyone who mattered to her. For the first time, Thalia was glad their mother was dead and couldn’t witness what her own daughter had become.

She jumped when she heard a key in the lock above, feared the end was near. She would be dead, and Calliope would hunt down the rest who had left and kill them like she had the others. Would Calliope kill her face-to-face? Or would she send someone else, like Anton?

The footfalls on the wooden stairs were light, barely there. Neither Anton, who was a large man, nor Calliope, who strode purposefully wherever she went.

In the dim light from the two wall sconces on either side of the staircase, Thalia saw Abby.

The girl who betrayed her.

“I’m sorry,” Abby said. “I didn’t want this to happen.”

Thalia mustered all her strength to speak. “What did you think would happen when you came back?”

Her bottom lip trembled. “I couldn’t live out there. It’s awful. I didn’t realize—Havenwood is so much better.”

“I gave you a house. A job. Support. If it was hard, why didn’t you reach out? I would have been there for you!”

She coughed, her chest battered and bruised, her body cold and sick from being in this basement for too long. The small stove in the corner took the icy chill off the windowless room, but it wasn’t warm.

She might die before Calliope killed her.

“Havenwood is my home, and Calliope accepted me back.”

“She killed Jesse and Chris, the two people who gave you freedom, real choices.”

“I don’t want choices. It’s hard, Thalia. And Calliope told me that she gave everyone the choice to return, all forgiven. They chose death. I don’t know why they would choose dying over Havenwood.”

Thalia didn’t believe it, but she’d never be able to convince Abby of it. Abby didn’t realize that she had killed just as certainly as if she held the knife herself.

“I just wanted you to understand, Thalia,” Abby said.

“I don’t understand. My mother wouldn’t understand.”

“I miss Athena,” Abby said suddenly.

“Calliope killed her,” Thalia said, even knowing the girl wouldn’t believe it.

Abby sighed, shook her head. “I wish things were different, I really do. I wish you would have come back like I did, accepted that Calliope has led Havenwood with vision and purpose. We’re stronger, better than ever.”

“It’s a prison.”

“No, that was a lie you told me, and I believed it. You took advantage of my grief. I’d lost my baby, didn’t know how I could live here with her memory everywhere. I’m better now, and I’m never going to leave again. You out of all people should understand. That you lie about Calliope is so sad. But what I can’t forgive is that you took her daughter from her. Calliope told me that Riley is alive , that you staged her death. I lost my baby girl, I know how it feels. You ripped Riley from the only world she ever knew.”

Abby turned and walked back up the stairs. Thalia saved her breath. Abby would never see the truth.

She’d thought Abby was ready to leave. She was wrong.

After Riley left, Thalia had to change her approach to rescuing people. She lived in the mountain above the valley. She knew this land better than anyone, even better than Calliope. Her sister only knew what was within the boundaries and focused on the one road that led to the valley. But there were other ways to get to Havenwood.

Thalia watched people. Approached them when she felt it was right. The year after Riley left, Thalia had rescued a couple who Riley had already identified as being the most likely to go. It had been a success, so she was emboldened. When she learned from the couple that Abby had just lost her two-year-old daughter in a tragic accident, Thalia approached her.

Thalia had convinced Abby that a hospital was only forty minutes away, that the child could have been saved. But Calliope wouldn’t allow it, lied about nearby services. A toddler with her hand nearly cut off would certainly prompt questions. Strangers would come to Havenwood. The authorities.

That couldn’t happen.

But Thalia should have seen Abby’s deep sorrow and deeper insecurities. She hadn’t been able to make it on her own. Even with everything Thalia had given her, Abby was lost, and Havenwood beckoned.

Calliope took her back only because Abby told her everything she knew about Thalia’s network.

Thalia wanted to die, before she saw another photograph go up on the wall.