Nothing she’d done had worked. The slaves hadn’t been found. They remained lost out in the fields. She knew she’d never find them, even if she were to go back again, if she were to try again. Darkness eclipsed the sky. She lifted her head, searching for the light of the moon or the glimmer of stars, but when she looked she saw only blackness. Because of this, Mira didn’t see the woman at first. She was so far in the distance. Dressed in all white, she looked like a faint apparition hovering in the night. Her arms flailed above her, waving, waving for Mira to come toward her.

Mira knew her. It was the woman from the night before. The woman was heading in the direction of the cottages. She was leading her away from the fields and through the grounds. Mira got up, brushed her hands across her jeans, and began to follow.

After a few steps she stopped, doubting herself and what she saw. She’d been wrong before, misjudged what she’d been so sure of. What proof was there that this too wasn’t just her mind playing tricks on her?

“Hello!” Mira called. She raised her hand and waved in response. The woman waved back, this time with a stronger sense of urgency, and began moving again. “Wait, no. Who are you? Where are you going?” Mira yelled.

The woman kept walking. Mira picked up her pace to catch up to her but she couldn’t seem to get close. “Wait,” Mira said, hurrying, but her feet were sore, her arches ached, and as hard as she tried, the woman kept moving farther and farther toward the darkness.

Mira was determined to reach the cottages and find Jesse. He had to have gotten here by now. She’d gather her things and together with Jesse would leave this place, neither of them ever returning.

Mira stopped to catch her breath. She choked in the stagnant air, suffered it down, and then tugged on the hem of her shirt, pulling it up to wipe the sweat from her face.

The grounds were silent and still. Champagne flutes and beer cans littered the ground. Everything was empty. Everyone was gone.

Mira saw the Woodsman house up along the path. A single bedroom light was on, a beacon amidst the surrounding darkness. The only sign she wasn’t alone was this light from the window urging her.

Mira wasn’t sure how she ended up over on this side of the grounds, how she had managed to bypass all the other structures on the property. She must have gone all along the circumference until she ended up at the front entrance of the house instead of making a direct route through the grounds. In any event, she had made it, and that was all that mattered.