Chapters (39)
- Cover
- Title
- Author’s Note
- Glossary
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Acknowledgments
He ignored her. “And you know what the most pathetic thing is? You don’t have the guts to say anything. You’ll never say a word against me. You don’t have it in you.”
Fury flowed through her like a fire fanned free.
With the smooth, sandy path becoming increasingly rocky and twisty, Faye slowed down and began the steep descent towards the stream. As the single track followed the curve of the hill, she noticed a dim light in the distance. She held still, trying to place it. The river was below, the bridge slightly to the right and Heuningbos a few hundred metres behind on the other hillside. The light appeared to come from the hut. Her heart skipped. Had the rangers managed to get there after all? Her friends? Surely they would’ve come looking for her if that was the case? Or had they just got there? And if it wasn’t the rangers or her friends, who could it be?
“I am not a fearful woman. I can be alone and do things. I am capable and I am brave,” she whispered again as, choosing not use the torch to light the way, she carefully made her way down the hill.
But the calm Faye felt earlier had vanished. Even as she tried to convince herself that there was no reason to believe that anyone would want to harm her, she stepped slowly over the bridge, placing her boots on the wood as lightly as possible. As she crept low towards the cabin, she saw that the door was closed and that the light was shining from the small front window. She slipped her backpack from her shoulders and laid it on the path before stealing across the lawn to the lapa.
The room was a cavernous, black space. Faye planned to grab the iron fire prodder but, as she slunk up the stairs, she saw that she would be unable to locate the prodder in the dark. She peered towards the cabin. Once she was behind the walls of the lapa, she’d be able to switch on her torch undetected.
Two steps in, she pushed the button. As the bright light lit the stone walls, there was a loud flapping from above. Faye gasped and ducked as a bevy of bats flew from the room. She waited a moment, shaking with fear. After the noise died down and when there were no other sounds, she crept towards the wall where the prodder stood.
Grasping the metal rod at her side in her cold, clammy hands, she paused at the top of the stairs after she’d switched off the torch, and let her eyes adjust to the dark. She took a deep breath, descended the stairs and tiptoed towards the cabin. She inched along the wall towards the window and peeped in.