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Back When the Reckoning Comes Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. They are coming.
  5. I.
  6. II.
  7. III.
  8. Once, they stole away.
  9. IV.
  10. V.
  11. VI.
  12. VII.
  13. VIII.
  14. IX.
  15. X.
  16. XI.
  17. XII.
  18. Those who stayed behind found their own ways to resist.
  19. XIII.
  20. XIV.
  21. They remembered the feeling of their beloveds sold,
  22. XV.
  23. XVI.
  24. XVII.
  25. XVIII.
  26. XIX.
  27. XX.
  28. It took the babies drowning for the rest to say, Enough.
  29. XXI.
  30. XXII.
  31. XXIII.
  32. Tools meant for work became seen as weapons.
  33. XXIV.
  34. XXV.
  35. XXVI.
  36. XXVII.
  37. XXVIII.
  38. When they were caught, punishment was swift and severe in its execution.
  39. XXIX.
  40. Soon it would be morning, and those left behind would prepare for another day.
  41. Acknowledgments
  42. About the Author
  43. Also by LaTanya McQueen
  44. About the Publisher

A CHILD’S LAUGHTER CAUGHT Mira’s attention next. A little girl appeared before Mira, or maybe she had been there all along. She wore a plain dress, the fabric faded and worn. Someone had attempted to fix her matted hair but had done so poorly. A loose ribbon held a puff of her hair at the end. She had an amused expression on her face. The corners of her mouth were slightly upturned and her round eyes stared intently at Mira.

“Did you lose your parents?” Mira asked, looking down at the girl. She crouched so as to meet her face at eye level. “Do you need help finding them?”

The girl nodded and Mira held out her hand but the girl shook her head in response.

“I don’t understand. Don’t you want to go?” Mira held out her hand again but this time the girl made a screeching sort of sound and pulled the dress she wore over her head. The sound continued, growing louder, and Mira looked around for someone to help her, but she was alone. “It’s okay. It’s all right,” she said, in as calm a voice as she could muster. “Shhh, shhh, it’s all right.”

The girl quieted, much to Mira’s relief, and pulled her dress back down. “See?” Mira said. “Everything is fine. You’re okay.”

They were in a part of the house that was unfamiliar to her. She worried that walking in the wrong direction would lead them back to the men from the ballroom, and what if they saw her with this child? What would they do to her?

“I need to get you out of this place,” Mira whispered. She glanced down one end of the hall and then back toward the other, not sure which direction was the right one. The girl, however, decided for her, retreating down the hall away from Mira. Nervous that the girl would get away and fearing what could happen to her, Mira followed. “We have to go. Please, take my hand, and we’ll go,” she said, moving toward her, but the girl picked up on Mira’s urgency. She sprang away, and Mira, not wanting to lose her, ran after her. The house was a maze, far larger than she remembered it being, and the girl was fast.

“Wait,” Mira called, hoping for her to stop while praying others in the house wouldn’t hear. “Don’t go. I can get you out. Come back!”

The girl didn’t look back. Mira followed her as she ran up a staircase. Mira began to go up, but the stairs creaked with her weight and she stopped. Carefully, but as swiftly as she was able, she went up the steps. When she reached the top, she was faced with another long corridor with a series of rooms. The girl must have slipped inside one of them.