Chapter 10
“Not from where I was standing.”
Despite everything, a rough breath escaped me.
Not quite laughter.
Cora looked at me.
Then something moved outside.
We both froze.
A faint scrape.
From the back wall.
I lifted the Winchester.
Cora extinguished the last red glow from the stove by closing the vent.
Darkness became complete.
Another scrape.
Then a smell reached me.
Smoke.
Not chimney smoke.
Something sharper.
Burning pitch.
My stomach dropped.
“He’s setting the shed on fire,” I whispered.
The tool shed stood twelve feet from the cabin.
Close enough that wind could carry sparks to the roof.
I moved toward the door.
Cora grabbed me.
“That’s what he wants.”
“If the roof catches, we die inside.”
The orange glow appeared through the side window.
Flames climbed the shed wall.
Vane had stopped asking.
Now he was forcing us out.
I handed Cora the Winchester.
She looked startled.
“You know how to use it?”
“Yes.”
“Cover the door.”
“What are you doing?”
I dropped to one knee near the woodpile.
Then I pulled away two split logs and lifted a narrow plank hidden beneath them.
Cold air poured upward.
Cora stared at the opening.
“What is that?”
“My way outside.”
“You said there wasn’t another door.”
“There isn’t.”
I lowered myself painfully toward the crawlspace.
“Wyatt.”
I looked up.
For once, Cora seemed to have no argument ready.
“If I do not come back in five minutes, use the crawlspace and head east. The creek bends toward town.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
Her face hardened.
“You are unbearable.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“By whom?”
“No one stayed long enough.”
That almost made her smile.
Almost.
Then the roof above us crackled as sparks landed.
I crawled beneath my cabin with a hunting knife in my teeth and snow blowing through the foundation gaps.
My leg screamed with every movement.
But pain had taught me something the previous winter.
It could shout.
It could threaten.
It could make promises.
It did not have to be obeyed.
I emerged behind the woodpile on the far side of the cabin.
The shed burned bright.
Snow hissed around it.
I saw no one.
Then a shadow moved near the pines.
A man.
Tall.
Dark coat.
Hat low.
Watching the front door.
Elias Vane.
He was waiting for me to run toward the fire.
Instead, I circled behind him.
My bad leg nearly betrayed me twice.