The Forsaken (The Chosen Series Book 2), Patricia Bell [e textbook reader .txt] 📗

a vehicle sounded in the distance. “I must go now. I will come back when I can.” Malachi got up to leave.

“Malachi?” she called out.

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“You are to be my wife. Are you not?” He gave her a goofy grin through the vent. It warmed her heart to hear him speak with a gentleness in his voice.

“I am.”

“I will return. Do not go anywhere.” He winked at her.

Even with her current predicament, Abigail felt a lightness swell inside of her. God had sent His messenger to her. She refused to believe otherwise. How could it be a coincidence that the messenger told her she would live when she felt she would die at any moment, and then not seconds later, Malachi arrived with food and water?

Abigail moved to the corner and sat. The room was completely empty except for the pole and the chain that was wrapped around her ankle. Where would she hide her bread? As she stared down at her feet, an idea came to her. Her dress. So thankful, Mamma Sarah had to hem the hand-me-down that had been much too long for her she reached down to the hem. With her finger, she snapped open a stitch and shoved the bread through the hole.

Footsteps sounded in the distance. Abigail laid down in the fetal position and feigned sleep.

Chapter 27 ― Luna

As Luna sat at the table, eating an apple, she couldn’t think about anything but the vague warning Naaman had tried to give them. Right before he went flipping over that vehicle and crashing to his death.

The two of you are in grave

Danger. He had meant to say danger. That was the only word that fit.

As soon as Jonathan arrived, they were going to look at a car in Mesa. She’d found it on Craigslist for a good price. They couldn’t keep using her mother’s car, and the money was given to them, so they would use that combined with Jonathan’s first check to purchase the vehicle. Besides, if they were going to go see Malachi on the fifteenth, she didn’t want her mother’s car involved. She had no idea where they would find him, what they would do, or if he could shed light on the grave danger they were in.

The nightmares were still coming. Abigail stuck in a dark, damp, dungeon. One pole in the center of the room and a shackle that was clamped to her right leg. She was dirty, and her face swollen and bruised. She was dying. The dreams were so strong and so real that she just couldn’t believe they were anything but a warning.

As the garage door opened, Luna slipped on her shoes. She waited at the table while Jonathan and her mother made it through the door leading from the garage to the house.

Her mother came in and sat down. Jonathan sat down next to her.

“I want to talk to you.” Her mother looked serious.

What now?

“Jonathan says you are spending that money. Do you think that is a good idea?”

Luna gave Jonathan a sideways look, and he held up his hands. “How was I supposed to know you didn’t want her to know?”

“Yes,” her mother said. “How was he supposed to know? I thought we agreed to set the money aside for a bit.”

“Who agreed to that?” Luna looked at Jonathan.

He shrugged.

“Well, I thought you were going to hold on to it. At least until you came back from your trip to Phoenix. You know, the one I forbade you to go on.”

“And how do you expect us to get to the place you forbade us to go without a car? Shall I steal yours?”

“Fine, Luna. But I don’t think this is a good idea. You have no clue where that money came from.”

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think God can give a person dreams? Like a sign or something?”

Her mother thought for a moment before answering. “It’s Biblical. Mostly Old Testament, but it’s possible. God can do anything. Why? Are you having dreams about Naaman again?”

“No. It’s Abigail. The girl who was left behind. She’s locked in this small, dark room.” Luna continued to tell her mother about it.

“You think this dream is from God?”

“It’s not just once. I have had it several times.” She remembered the conversation she’d had with her father. “I even told Blake about it.”

“Is this why you are so set on meeting that boy?”

Luna nodded.

Her mother sighed and got up. “I want you to know that I am not happy about this. The money, the strangers, girls locked in dark rooms. I don’t know what you have got yourself into, but it’s scaring me.”

“I know, Mom. We’ll be careful. I promise.”

As her mother walked away, she looked at Jonathan. “Come on. Let’s go take a look at that car.”

AS LUNA DROVE HER MOTHER’S car, Jonathan followed behind her in their new vehicle. They had played Rock Paper Scissors to decide who would get to drive it home. That was, after she taught him how to play. Obviously, he’d won.

On the I60 somewhere between Mesa and Canyon Rock she looked back and Jonathan was no longer behind her. She signaled and moved over into the slow lane.

The car behind her, a dark sedan, did the same. The goosebumps on her arms warned her that something was not right about the situation. She sped up and moved back into the second lane. The dark sedan, staying in the slow lane, picked up his speed to match hers. Soon they were neck and neck only she couldn’t see through the dark tinted windows. Not until the window rolled down. The man gave her a weighty stare and then sped off.

What is going on?

She looked back in the mirror, and Jonathan was coming up behind her.

Naaman’s words came back to her. You are in grave –

Shaking, she pulled off at the next exit. Jonathan followed. She pulled into a fast-food parking lot and parked. By the time she got out, Jonathan