Page 2 of Hunting for her Heart
“Are you running from someone?” she asks gently.
I nod as I tell her, “My f-father.”
Her eyebrows rise in surprise. “Is he the one who did that to you?”
Nodding, I tell her, “Some of it. H-he’s crazy. He said he’s going to k-kill me.”
“Kill you?” she asks, looking stunned. “Why?”
My body starts to shake the second I think of him, and I rub my arms as I explain. “He’s the leader of a cult. He was trying to get me to marry his second-in-command. But P-Paul is even older than my father, and crueler.” I swallow thelump in my throat before continuing. “He’s kept me locked up all my life. He said it was to protect my innocence. Now he says I must give my purity to Paul, or I’ll be offered up as a sacrifice."
“What kind of cult actually sacrifices virgins?” she asks, sounding horrified. “I thought that was a myth.”
“I-I’ve never seen it done before, so maybe he was lying? But I’d rather die than lie with Paul. He’s vile.” I have to work to keep myself from throwing up as I remember Paul’s hands on me, telling me I was going to be his.
“Willow, I think we should call the police,” she says tentatively.
Fear fills me, and I shake my head quickly. “You can’t! He has friends on the force. They’ll say I made it all up!”
“Okay,” she says slowly. “You can stay with me—” she cuts herself off, tilting her head as she frowns at me. “Wait, how did you end up in my bookstore anyway?”
A strange laugh bubbles out of me, and I shake my head. “I’m not sure. I found a chance to get away, and I just started running. It’s probably been a few hours. I didn’t know where I was going, but my body seemed to know. As soon as I got outside your door, I just stopped running. My chest was pulling me in here.”
Even to me, it sounds crazy, but her question gives me pause.
“Your chest? Not your head?” she asks.
I nod. “I can’t explain it, but I felt like I had to come in here.”
It’s true. When I ran from the compound, I had no idea where to go, but it was like something inside me knew where I was going, leading me right to this store. As if I somehow knew Aribella would be the one to save me.
“Hmm,” she hums, glancing at a door at the side of the room.
I start to wonder where it leads when she stands up and moves over to it, placing her palm in the center.
“W-what are you doing?” I ask nervously.
“I have a theory. If I’m right, I’ll be able to send you somewhere far away from here. Somewhere safe, where your father will never find you.”
I frown as I start to ask, “What do—Oh my!” I exclaim as light spreads from her hand, engulfing the entire door. The glow fades, leaving a soft shimmer around the edges.
She grabs the handle and takes a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”
I stand, nervousness filling me as she pulls it open. My eyes widen at what’s revealed on the other side.
I expect another room, maybe a washroom, but instead, it’s the inside of a large medieval-style tent, filled with brightly colored fabrics and blankets.
Something goes flying across the tent, and I take a nervous step back, unsure what I’m looking at.
“Ah! It’s not fair! I just want—” A frustrated woman stands, and when she notices Aribella, her eyes widen in shock as mine do the same. “What on earth…” she whispers, mimicking my own thoughts as she turns to fully face us.
She looks exactly like me. That is, if I’d been better fed and never been beaten. However, she’s dressed like Aribella, with a yellow-colored medieval dress on.
Her gaze moves over Aribella’s shoulder and lands on me. She gasps.
“You want to get out of there?” Aribella asks her, surprising me as she steps aside and gestures into the room.
What the heck is going on here?
