I started to sing to her. No song in particular, because I didn’t know any, just words I could remember from hearing the Mummies sing to each other. Esther must’ve minded something I sang, because she started then, too.

The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want. He makes me down to lie.

She couldn’t mind much more of the words, so she hummed them instead. I could feel her voice, my chest agin her back. Like it was my voice too, and we lay there a long time until we both fell asleep.

Her crying out woke me up. She had tried to sit up, and the pain must have grabbed her awful hard, the way she was trying to claw at her back. I helped her get upright and she rested herself agin the wall. I went to my own bed and watched her, her face all twisted, breathing through her teeth. After a time, she got loose of the pain, and she looked back at me.

Says she, How long have you been here?

Always, says I.

Were you born here?

I think so, says I.

Where’s your mummy?

I pointed up the stairs.

Says she, Which one?

I shook my head.

You don’t know?

No, says I. I think maybe Mummy Joy, but I don’t know. Not for sure.

I have to get out of here, says she.

You can’t, says I.

Says she, Why not? There has to be a way.

They’ll kill us, says I.

She went quiet, then, staring at me. After a time, she says, There has to be a way. I’ll get out and I’ll get the police and they’ll take you away from those men. You and the others.

Says I, I saw a policeman one time. He came to the house. We had to be quiet till he went away.

Says she, Why was he here?

I don’t know, says I, he talked to Daddy Ivan for a minute then he went away. He had a big car. I liked the noise it made.

She said it again. There has to be a way. And again, and again, she said it over and over like it would come true if she said it enough times.

And here till I tell you, it did come true. I wish it hadn’t, but it did.

13: Sara

13: Sara

Sara felt her phone vibrate in her hip pocket. She shifted in the van’s passenger seat and reached behind to retrieve it. Checking the display, she saw it was Damien calling. Who else would it be? Past six o’clock, he’d be home by now, wondering where she’d gone. Even though she knew she would regret it, she refused the call.

“When we get back,” she said, “I’ll get out on the lane. No need to come all the way in.”