There have been a few points in my life where I’ve felt like a kicked dog. Recently, it seemed like Sarah was leading me down that path once again. I’d given my all, and all I had to show for it was playing warden to a prisoner she didn’t even feel was entitled to actual magical protection.

At the end of each of these times, a miracle arrived just in time to show me which door was the way out. This time it was a literal door that Sarah’s pet had just blown wide open. The half breed looked so happy to see her father sitting in the room. She almost didn’t notice me, but those few seconds were short lived.

“I guess the newbs outside were just for show,” she said staring daggers at me.

This was it. My time to show my worth and rise to Sarah’s right hand womman. All I had to do was subdue this girl to prove we couldn’t trust her. The only problem was I didn’t want to. I had always listened to my gut. Until recently, it told me everything I was doing for Sarah was worth it. After I enchanted those vampires, though, she seemed more worried about them than us. Then, I watched as girls I had known for years ignited and burned away into nothing more than ash. That was it. All of their lives were worth nothing more than how they served Sarah and her purpose.

“Trembley, wait,” Aaron said blocking me from his daughter. The girl looked confused at his action, which was understandable. I don’t think we became best friends at our last interaction.

I stood up and pushed Aaron aside. “No, it’s ok, but we should go, though. I doubt Sarah is unaware of her break-in.”

“I don’t know what this, but I’m not going to lead you to them.”

“I don’t need you to lead me to the vampires. Sarah already has her plans. I just no longer want to be a part of them.”

Trembley walked further into the room, keeping her eyes on me the entire time. When she got to Aaron she grabbed his arm and tugged on him.

“Dad, come on, let’s go,” she pleaded with him. “We’ve only got a few minutes to get out of here.”

He sincerely looked back at her and surprised me when he said, “I believe her. We’ve spent a lot of time together, and I don’t think she’s playing us. One, because I don’t think she’s capable of that kind of manipulation. Not because she’s a particularly good person, but she’s just incapable of that skill. She’d rather tell you bluntly that she was going to murder you then come right at your face with a knife.”

“Oh goody,” Trembley responded, “an honest psycho.”

“We’re wasting time,” I said to the both of them.

“She’s right. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we don’t have time for this right now. We get out of here, and then we’ll figure out what to do.” Then she looked back at me. “If you try anything that could get us caught, I won’t hesitate to put you down, and I’ll be a lot more lethal about it than I was with your friends outside.”

“Yes, yes, you’re scary. Let’s go. Now.”

Getting out of the Hangman’s Tree was a breeze, but escaping Neverland would be more problematic. The compound housed at least 75 women, factoring in the recent events. Most of these witches-in-training weren’t anything to worry about. They could hardly light a candle without a match, but there were a handful of them who could cause us serious harm if we ran into them. I could take down one or two on my own, and maybe more if the two vampires created a distraction. The most serious complication would be avoiding Sarah or preventing one of her lackeys from notifying her.

“Do we go on by foot,” Aaron asked when we were standing outside the massive tree prison.

“No, that would be suicide. Even if we got away from the witches, there are hundreds of miles of harsh, desolate terrain. We’d most likely die of exposure, especially with the nights getting colder, before we found our way out.”

“So, we need a ride.” Trembley stated. “Where can we get one of those?”

“Follow me.”

I led them toward the treeline. We needed to go back to the main compound. There was a garage with a multiude of vehicles for transporting a large number of women. We drove to the closest city once or twice a month to stock up on supplies. Sometimes Sarah liked us to make trips further out to avoid creating any kind of local suspicion. The fewer people who knew about our existence out here the safer we’d be, or at least, that’s what she always said. I don’t know what to believe anymore. Maybe it was just a ploy to seclude a bunch of desperate women and turn them into obedient slaves.

It only took us a few minutes to get back to the main compound. Amazingly, we didn’t run into anyone, which really helped us move faster. Still we stayed in the tree line as we made our way to the garage. When we were in short running distance to the door, Trembley made a good point.

“Is it just me or is this place eerily dead?” She wasn’t wrong. We hadn’t seen or heard a sole. The compound was large, but it was hard to avoid running into at least one person whenever you went anywhere.

“Maybe they are sleeping?” Aaron pondered. “It is late.”

“No, she’s right. If the guards were alerting Sarah, the entire place should be in high alert right now. This is strange.”

“Do we risk it?” Trembley asked me.

“What else should we do? The only cars are in there. No one is coming to rescue us. Sarah has ensured so no one knows we are here, except the vampires apparently.”

Trembley began pacing in a small circle. “Ok, let’s think. Sarah obviously knows we are here. Either she’s letting us go, or going in there is a trap.”

“Sarah doesn’t let anyone go. You should know that better than most. She’s on a four-hundred-year-old revenge mission. She had plenty of opportunities to walk away and lead a happy life. She keeps a tally, and she offers payback to anyone who crosses her. You sneaking us out of here, could put you on that list. We are leaving, but do you want to take that risk?” Aaron looked tired and his quiet, patient manner seemed to be waning, but he wasn’t wrong. Leaving here would be crossing a very powerful woman.

“We can’t stay here. Norman and Harding will figure out what happened to me. If they come here, this war is going to get a whole lot messier. I don’t want to be here when it happens. We aren’t prepared to be in the middle of this.”

“All right, I guess we are doing this. Make a run for it on three. One, two, three.” We were off and headed for the door. The vampires were ahead of me, and already inside the garage before I was within 100 yards of the door. At least if it was a trap, they’d get the brunt of the attack.

When I made it inside the garage, I found Aaron and the halfling looting the key box. They were pressing the buttons on each set to determine which vehicle would unlock.

“No one’s here,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, thanks, we were able to decipher that for ourselves.” Trembley sarcastically exclaimed without missing a step in her key checking.

“I think the van will be fine. Do you know if they gas them up, Rebecca?” Aaron was walking toward the vehicle in question.

“There is a pump right outside, but doesn’t this seem strange to you?” I needed them focused. “No one is here. They’ve had plenty of time to find us. It’s like the whole compound is just letting us walk out.”

Trembley came up to me. “Hey, yeah, it’s weird. This whole damn situation is weird, but you know, why look a gift horse in the mouth. We’ll worry about it more when we’re far away from here, so if you’re coming, help.”

She was right. We didn’t have time to question the current circumstances. I went to the closet near the key box and pulled out a couple of gas cans.

“I’ll go fill these up. We should avoid starting the van until we absolutely have to.” I crept back outside to the gas pump around the side from the door. The area was still clear of any other people. The eeriness of that was creeping down my spine, but again, lack of time didn’t allow me to focus on it for too long. That was my mistake. In the middle of filling up the first or four five gallon gas cans, she made her presence known behind me.

“I was wondering how easy you’d break,” Sarah said. “If you were wondering that’s why you were never going to be my number two. I knew you were weak.”

I turned to face her. If I was going to die, I would face it right as it happened.

“I’m not weak.”

“No, you’re selfish, which is worse. If you’d listened to me, trusted me, things could have been different.”

“You don’t want me to trust you, Sarah. You just want mindless atomotons to do your bidding.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she calmly stated while keeping a neutral composure. “There are rules I put in place to protect everyone here. Once you’ve proven you can follow then you get to lead. You never mastered the first step. Even so, today’s your lucky day. I’m letting you go. No one will stop you. But Rebecca I’m giving you one final warning. If you get in the way of my plans one more time, our next meeting won’t be so amicable.”

She turned to leave, and I was a little taken aback. I expected her to kill me for my disloyalty. Goddess, I hope I wasn’t making the wrong decision. But she said so herself, I would never make it further here.

“Goodbye, Sarah.”

This chapter wasn't very long, but I hope you enjoyed. That Rebecca is a shifty one. As this is the first draft, I don't believe she is fully fleshed out yet. I have some ideas for the next draft that might give her an extra chapter or two. Maybe Trembley won't kill her during their escape.

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