“Closer than you think.”
A horse screamed outside.
Hannah turned.
It was not Ghost.
Not Mercy.
Another horse.
One she had not heard since childhood.
A horse that had supposedly died the same night Samuel disappeared.
Cole looked terrified.
Hannah noticed.
“What is that horse?”
Cole did not answer.
“Cole.”
He swallowed.
“Your father's old mare.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“How can she be alive?”
“She wasn't supposed to be.”
The stranger laughed.
“You've spent your life believing the wrong people.”
Hannah looked at the registry.
Then at Cole.
Then at Eli.
Then at the stranger.
Too many secrets.
Too many lies.
Too many men deciding what she was allowed to know.
She raised her voice.
“I am done.”
The men outside shouted again.
The stranger smiled.
“With what?”
“Being protected.”
Silence.
“I want the truth.”
The stranger's smile disappeared.
“You may not like it.”
“I don't care.”
Hannah held the registry against her chest.
“I want it anyway.”
The Escape from Saint Agnes
The chapel erupted into gunfire.
Cole grabbed Hannah's arm.
“Down!”
Bullets tore through the wooden walls.
Eli fired toward the doorway.
Victor disappeared behind a stone pillar.
The stranger with Samuel's watch vanished into the smoke.
Hannah crawled toward the crypt.
She grabbed the registry.
Cole followed.
“There's another passage.”
“How do you know?”
“I built part of it.”
They pushed through a narrow tunnel.
Behind them, men shouted.
The tunnel opened into the forest.
Snow covered everything.
Mercy stood nearby.
Ghost was beside her.
Hannah stared.
“How did they get here?”
Cole shook his head.
“Later.”
They mounted.
They rode hard.
Bullets followed.
The forest swallowed them.
After an hour, they stopped.
Eli was wounded.
Victor was missing.
The stranger was gone.
The registry was safe.
Hannah looked at Cole.
“What happened to my mother?”
Cole looked away.
“You were twelve.”
“I wasn't.”
“What?”
“You said you were twelve.”
“Yes.”
“So you remember.”
Cole closed his eyes.
“I remember pieces.”
“What pieces?”
“Snow.”
“Go on.”
“A wagon.”
“Who was inside?”
“Elizabeth.”
Hannah's breath caught.
“You saw her?”
“Yes.”
“Was she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where was she going?”
Cole hesitated.
“South.”
“Who was with her?”
Cole looked at Eli.
Eli shook his head.
“Not here.”
Hannah raised her revolver.
“You don't get to say that anymore.”
Cole looked at her.
“She wasn't alone.”
“Who?”
Cole finally answered.
“Samuel.”
Hannah stared.
“You saw my father with my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did everyone say she disappeared?”
“Because she did.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Did they fight?”
Cole shook his head.
“No.”