He began to drag her toward the truck and she suddenly understood what he planned to do.

He’s going to kill me, too. He never intended to let either of us go.

But why had he driven them all the way here? Wherever here was. The sign said Redding Bus Terminal. She knew what a bus was, but despite being able to read the other two words, she didn’t understand them.

They’d driven for hours. Why come all this way only to kill us both? He could have stopped at any time and killed them on the side of the road.

He was toying with us, she realized. Making her mother believe that Mercy would be free. Her mother had been so hopeful . . . Now she was dead.

Mercy squinted when bright lights abruptly blinded her. A car. Another car had appeared and was pointing its lights at them.

“Fuck!” Brother DJ cursed again. He lifted his gun, pointing it at the bright lights. He fired once, then dropped her arm when blue lights began flashing above the bright white lights. “Cops.”

He ran to the truck, firing at Mercy again. Every nerve ending in her leg sparked, the shot hitting her midcalf. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound would come.

Brother DJ got in his truck and sped away, firing a final time, but the bullet missed her, hitting the asphalt near her head. Shards of stone exploded from the road, and little pricks of pain licked at the side of her face.

And then it was quiet, the only sound the soft motor of the car that had spurred Brother DJ to run.

Cops. That meant police officers.

Who were bad. They’d hurt her. Beat her. Take her to prison. Make sure she never saw daylight again. If they ever catch you, say nothing. Admit nothing. Never tell about the community. Never say “Eden.”

The threats she’d heard a thousand times from her teachers in the community spun in her mind like a tornado, giving her a rush of energy. Get away. She had to get away.

She pushed herself to her hands and knees and began to crawl away from the lights. Toward the grass. Toward the lockets Brother DJ had buried.

She hated her locket. But she needed it. Felt . . . wrong without it. She hated that she needed it.

Mama. Her mother’s locket was there, too.

Her mother, who was dead. Whose body was in the back of Brother DJ’s truck.

Her mother, who’d tried to save her.

The car behind her never moved. No people emerged. No one shouted a threat. No one tried to stop her. So she kept crawling.

Finally her knees touched grass and she wanted to cry. She hurt. So bad. The world began to spin, but she kept pushing her body forward.

Just a little more. A little farther. And then she saw it. The patch of earth Brother DJ had disturbed when he’d buried the lockets. She collapsed next to it and clawed at the dirt until her hand closed around the chain that Ephraim had used as a weapon against her so many times.