The ghosts must have lured her into the woods, wanting to show her the horrors of their lives. Come and see, they’d whispered, wanting to show her the knitted scars, their bruises and cuts. They held up their hands and showed the empty spaces where fingers used to be. They told her to come, following deeper, showing her where they were captured and slaughtered. Come and see. Their heads on pikes, the skin of the chin sagging, the hollow caverns where the eyes were gouged out, mouths open but nothing inside, tongue cut, teeth stolen, every part taken except the shell of a face. Come and see, come and see, come and see.

Had she seen? She must not have, refused to see what they’d tried to show her, and they killed her for it. If they had come for Celine, then they were coming for them all.

“Don’t you worry,” Mr. Tatum said, putting a hand on Phillip’s shoulder. “We’re going to get him.”

Him. This got Mira’s attention. “Get who?”

“Your boy. Jesse. Where is he? You got to know where he is. Y’all like to stick together.”

“Who are you talking about?” Mira was confused. Whatever they thought was wrong. It was the ghosts. They needed to go out to where Celine was, see whatever it was the ghosts had been trying to show her. “No, you’re all wrong. We need to get Celine. Phillip, is Celine still out there?” Mira asked, but he wouldn’t answer, continuing to look blankly ahead. “Phillip, do you think you could find her?”

“I don’t know,” Phillip said, but his tone changed. He stepped away from Mira, as if he was afraid of her, of what she was asking of him.

In the background, Mira saw the golden-green leaves of the tobacco fields and she knew Celine had gone in the same direction Mira had, because just beyond their reach were the graves. That had to have been it. The ghosts had lured her there to show her the graves. To unearth the bodies of those unknown men and women. To make known what had been done. This had to be what all this was about and Mira needed to finish it—find the graves, their bodies, and maybe they would be saved.

“They’re coming,” Mira almost screamed. She’d tried to control herself, to keep her voice calm, but calmness was not going to work with these men and they were running out of time. She had to convince them to follow her. They had to see.

“Don’t you understand? They did this to Celine and we need to find them or it won’t stop.”

“Who?” Phillip asked her.

“What we need to do is find that black boy,” Mr. Tatum boomed. “Where is he? Anyone seen him? He’s done this before. He killed that man years ago.”