Prologue
Rhiannon
Rhiannon walked over to the window and looked out. The house next door hadn’t changed much over the last ten years. She wondered if Jimmy’s parents still lived there. If they did and she saw them outside, maybe she could get them to help her. Rhi was looking for any type of movement outside when her bedroom door opened. Her captor had a plateful of pizza in one hand and a grape soda in the other, and he placed them on the dresser.
“Just in case you get hungry.” He didn’t say anything else before leaving her alone again.
She was hungry, but did she trust him not to poison her? He said he was protecting her, so that had to count for something. But it didn’t mean he wouldn’t drug her. He’d already proven that when he knocked her out. Rhi had already decided to bide her time, so if he did drug her and she passed out, that would make her time there in her old home go by quicker without her having to interact with him. Rhi picked up a slice of pizza and sniffed it. It didn’t smell funny, and there didn’t appear to be any type of powder sprinkled on it. She shrugged, then took a bite. Rhi moaned around a mouthful of extra cheese. God, how she’d missed pizza. She devoured the three slices and downed the soda. Never again would she take greasy food for granted. She wiped her hands on the paper towel he had brought, then resumed staring out the window.
Movement next door on the second floor caught her eye. Was that… Jimmy? It looked like him, but she couldn’t be sure. Rhi reached for the lock on the window when she felt her body getting numb. “Son of a bitch.”
“Momma, what’s wrong with the bunny?”
“It looks like a larger animal attacked it. That’s a hard lesson nature teaches us. There are always bigger, stronger of our kind we have to watch out for.”
“But I want to help it.”
“You can’t help it, Baby.”
“But I can. Momma, please. I have to try.”
Momma sighed, smiling. “Okay. And when it dies, I’ll help you bury it.”
Rhi sat down on the ground next to the bunny and cried for the tiny creature. She didn’t understand how something could attack such an adorable animal. A breeze blew through the trees, whipping Rhi’s hair around her head. Rhi concentrated on the rabbit. She closed her eyes and prayed to the goddess, the way her momma taught her. She had no idea how long she sat outside with the animal, gently rubbing it’s back where it wasn’t harmed. When her mother returned to take her inside for the night, she gasped.
The bunny, which had been happy in Rhi’s arms, startled at the presence of someone else and wiggled until Rhi set it down. It hopped away, stopping next to a larger rabbit.
“Rhi… Honey, what did you do?”
“I fixed it.”
“But how?”
“The way the goddess told me to.”
“Oh, Rhi. I knew you were special, but that…” Momma sat down next to Rhi and grabbed her hands, looking at Rhi’s palms. “Rhiannon, you have a gift, but it’s yours and yours alone. You can never tell anyone what happened. Not even your daddy. Okay?”
“But why, Momma?”
“Because it’s too special to share with anyone. Promise me you’ll never tell anyone how you helped the bunny.”
“I promise.”
Rhiannon’s back ached. When she opened her eyes, she realized why. She had fallen asleep on the floor. No, she had passed out from being drugged. Again. Stretching her legs, she noticed something strapped around her ankle. It was a piece of black plastic attached to a band. She pulled on it, but it wasn’t coming off. What have you done to me now?
Chapter One
Rhiannon
Rhiannon ignored the preacher as he droned on about the same things he had for the last ten years. One would think the man would find something different to talk about. There were sixty-six books in the Bible, but he only taught from those in the Old Testament. Rhi had been raised pagan, so she tried to tune out what he yelled about. Fist pounding, spit flying. Why he felt he had to yell to get the message across was beyond her. Ever since she and her father had come to live in their new community, Rhi had been the outcast. Whenever she found herself in trouble, she had to read the Bible as penance. What she found was Jesus of the New Testament was a kind man. One who loved everybody, much like her goddess. When she brought that up – not about the goddess, but that Jesus was kind – her preacher yelled at her for insolence.
Her father had left the punishment up to the preacher since the man was the shepherd of their little town. Rhi hated them both. Hated her father for taking her away from their home after her mother died. Hated him for allowing his mother to tell him how to raise Rhi. Hated the preacher for keeping Rhi from having friends. For keeping her away from the plants. Away from anything resembling normalcy. Rhi had gone from a loving home where she and her mom tended the gardens daily, laughing and enjoying life to the fullest, to one where she wasn’t allowed to speak to anyone other than the other girls who lived in the small community. Instead of going to public school with hundreds of kids her age, Rhi sat in a classroom with forty kids of varying ages.
“Ow,” Rhi hissed to herself when the older woman standing next to her pinched her arm. Rhi glared daggers at her father’s new wife. Well, she wasn’t new; they’d been married for years.
Marion wasn’t supposed to be there. This morning’s sermon was for the single women. Single men had already heard their daily lesson, and couples would hear their lecture next.
“Anna, you need to pay attention,” Marion scolded, using the name the preacher insisted upon because it sounded more biblical and less worldly. Rhiannon loved her name. She’d been given it by her mom who loved old rock ’n’ roll music. Another thing they had shared a love for. While kids her age listened to the newest hits, Rhi had loved singing along with her mother to the older stuff.
Rhi looked around. The other single women had already left the church, which explained why Marion was there. Rhi had been lost in her head again. Without a word to her father’s wife, Rhi stood and strode out of the building and over to the dining hall. Her stomach rumbled, but she wouldn’t get to eat for a while. Not until the others had been fed. She hated her job of washing dishes. Another punishment for being different. For being difficult, as the preacher put it. She hated her life. Nothing about it was hers.
Martha scowled at Rhi as she did every time Rhi was even a minute late. Rhi ignored the older woman and got busy cleaning the dishes from the couples’ meal. Every day was the same. Get up. Shower. Head to the dining hall for breakfast, then clean the dishes. Go to church. Go back to the dining hall. Clean more dishes. Eat quickly so she could clean even more dirty plates and utensils. Rhi’s hands had long ago gone from smooth to a wrinkled mess. Hands that were no longer allowed to feel the softness of flower petals or the silkiness of leaves or the soothing richness of soil as she tended to the plants that had once filled her life with happiness.
Normally, Rhiannon rushed through her job so she could get back to the quiet of her little cabin. Once she finished with the noon meal, she had a couple hours’ free time where she enjoyed her solitude. The two women who shared the cabin had jobs that kept them away all day, and for that, Rhi was thankful. Today, though, she had been summoned to the preacher’s home. She spent her two hours of solitude dreading the upcoming session. Couples who came to the town already married were allowed to live together. Single men and women weren’t permitted to be together without a chaperone, and that happened to be the preacher. Rhi had caught the eye of a man named James. An older man whom Rhi had no interest in. But that didn’t matter. Women in their community had no say in anything. Everything was dictated by the men, overseen by the preacher. Another reason she hated him.