Chapter 9 - The Midnight Flight
Waking the boys was the hardest part.
They were deep in the heavy,
uncomplicated sleep of childhood,
their limbs tangled in blankets,
their dreams far away from the nightmare unfolding in the hallway.
"Leo,
honey,
wake up,"
I whispered,
shaking his shoulder gently.
He blinked,
squinting at the dim light.
"Mom?
Is it morning?"
"No,
sweetie,
but we're going on an adventure,"
I said,
trying to keep my voice steady.
"A camping trip?"
he asked,
his eyes brightening even through the haze of sleep.
"Something like that,"
I said.
"I need you to be a big boy and help Sam and Toby."
"Don't turn on the lights,
okay?"
"We have to be very quiet."
Leo,
ever the observant one,
sensed the tension in my voice.
"Is someone coming,
Mom?"
he asked,
his voice dropping to a whisper.
"We just need to go,
Leo."
"Trust me."
I watched him scramble out of bed and head toward his brothers' room.
I then turned to the nursery,
where Maya was still blissfully asleep.
I packed her diaper bag with a frantic,
mechanical speed.
Formula.
Diapers.
The pink blanket Martha had brought.
The letter from Elena.
I felt like I was packing for a war.
Downstairs,
I could hear James moving through the kitchen,
grabbing what food he could.
Every creak of the floorboards sounded like a gunshot.
Every rustle of a plastic bag felt like it would alert the world to our escape.
I grabbed my purse and my laptop,
the only things I had left of my own life.
We met in the foyer,
the four children looking confused and frightened in the moonlight.
"Is everyone ready?"
James asked,
his voice strained.
He was carrying two large duffel bags and the car seat.
I nodded,
holding Toby’s hand tightly.
We slipped out the back door,
avoiding the motion-sensor lights in the driveway.
The air was crisp and biting,
the smell of damp earth and late autumn filling my lungs.
We piled into the SUV,
the boys huddled in the back seat,
their faces pressed against the glass.
"Why aren't we taking the other car?"
Sam asked.
"Because this one is bigger,"
James lied.
The truth was that the other car had a GPS tracker that Julian Vane probably already had the login for.
James started the engine,
the low rumble feeling loud enough to wake the entire neighborhood.
He didn't turn on the headlights until we were three blocks away.
I looked back at our house,
the place where I had spent the last decade building a life.
It looked so peaceful,
sitting there under the streetlamps,
unaware that its owners were fleeing in the middle of the night.
"Are you okay?"
James asked,
reaching out to touch my hand on the center console.
I didn't move my hand,
but I didn't hold his either.
"Just drive,
James,"
I said.
"We have four hours before the sun comes up."
The drive was a silent vigil.
The boys eventually fell back into a fitful sleep,
their heads lolling against the windows.
Maya stirred once,
letting out a soft whimper,
but I quickly fed her a bottle in the dark,
soothing her back to sleep.
I watched the highway signs flash by—mile markers of a life we were leaving behind.
I thought about Julian Vane.
What kind of man could inspire such terror in a woman that she would fake her own death?
What kind of man could make a husband lie to his wife for years?
I felt a surge of protectiveness for Maya that surprised me.
She was the daughter of a monster and a ghost,
but she was here,
in my arms,
and I would die before I let him take her.
"We're almost there,"
James said as we turned onto a gravel road that wound deep into the forest.
The trees closed in around us,
their branches clawing at the roof of the car.
The cabin was a small,
weathered structure at the edge of a dark lake.
It was cold,
isolated,
and perfect.
James killed the engine,
and for a moment,
we just sat there,
listening to the sounds of the woods.
The hoot of an owl.
The rustle of the wind in the pines.
The silence of a place where no one knew our names.
"We're safe for now,"
James whispered.
I looked at him,
his face pale in the moonlight.
"For now,"
I agreed.
"But we can't stay here forever."
"Eventually,
we have to face him."
"I know,"
James said.
"And when that time comes,
I'll be the one to do it."
"No,"
I said,
looking him dead in the eye.
"We do it together."
"Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last forty-eight hours,
it’s that secrets are what get people killed."
"From now on,
no more lies."
"Not a single one."
James nodded,
a look of profound relief crossing his face.
May you like
We began the slow process of unloading the car,
carrying our children and our broken lives into the safety of the dark.
