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Maggie woke slowly

And painfully

I ht It was the only explanation for the way she felt Her bodywas heavy and achy, her head was throbbing, and her sinuseswere coh her ue stuck to the roof of it

I was having a drearasped at bits of it,, it dissolved Souely important for her to remember, but even the importance was hard to keep holdof Besides, another,it Thirst She was dying of thirst

I need a glass of water

It took a tremendous effort to lift her head and open her eyes But when she did, her brain cleared fast She wasn’t in her bedroom She was in as jerkily, bouncing her painfully up and down andfro fronize

Below her cheek and under her fingers was theroughness of unpainted wood The ceiling andwalls were made of the same silvery, weatheredboards

What kind of room is sht suddenly A vehicle Some kind of wooden cart

As soon as she realized it, she knehat therhythmic sound was

Horses’ hoofs

No, it can’t be, she thought It’s too bizarre I a

But it felt incredibly real for a hallucination Itfelt exactlyasif she were in a wooden cart beingdrawn by horses Over rough ground Which ex plained all the jostling

So as going on?What was she doinghere?

Where did I go to sleep?

All at once adrenaline surged through her-andwith it a flash of memory Sylvia The incense Miles

Miles is dead no He’s not Sylvia said thatbut she was lying And then she said I’d never findout what happened to hiave Maggie a faint feeling of satisfaction tohave put this , she had a solid on to

"You woke up," a voice said "Finally This kidsays you’ve been asleep for a day and a half"

Maggie pushed herself up by stages until shecould see the speaker It was a girl with untidy red hair, an angular, intense face, and flat, hard eyesShe seeirl, ht, with short blond hair under ared plaid baseball cap She looked frightened

"Who are you?" Maggie said indistinctly Hertongue was thick-she was so thirsty"Where a on?"

"Huh You’ll find out," the redhaired girl said

Maggie looked around There was a fourth girl inthe cart, curled up in the corner with her eyes shut

Maggie felt stupid and slow, but she tried togather herself

"What do you mean I’ve been asleep for a day and a half?"

The redhaired girl shrugged "That’s what shesaid I wouldn’t know They just picked o I alhtie stared at her There was a fresh bruiseon one of the girl’s angular cheekbones and her lipollen

"Whatplace?" she said slowly When nobodyanswered, she went on, `Look I’ie Neely I don’t knohere this is or what I’irl nauysknow her?"

The redhead just stared back with narrowedgreen eyes The girl lying down didn’t stir, and theblond kid in the plaid cap cringed

"Come on, somebody talk toon?" the redhaired girl said

"If I kneouldn’t be asking over and over!"

The girl eyed her a moment, then spoke with akind of malicious pleasure "You’ve been sold into slavery You re a slave now"

Maggie laughed

It was a short involuntary sound, and it hurt heraching head The blond kid flinched again Sorin fadeaway

She felt a cold ripple up her spine

"Come on," she said "Give me a break Therearen’t slaves anyain,nastily "But I bet you don’t knohereyouare, either"

"In Washington State-" Even as she said it,Maggie felt her stoht, but it doesn’t ton, but where we really are is hell"

Maggie was losing her self control "What are you talkingabout?"

"Take a look through that crack"

There were lots of cracks in the cart; the palelight that filtered through theie knelt up and put her eye to a big one, blinking and squinting

At first she couldn’t seeand it was hard to deter at All she kneas that there see was either phosphorescent white or dead black

Gradually she realized that the white was an overcast sky, and the black was a ainst It reared up haughtily against the sky, its lowerreaches covered with trees that see with mist Its top wascoh it was

And beside it was another et a wider view Therewereher

They were scary

Maggie knew mountains, and loved them, butthese were different from any she’d ever seen So cold, and with that haunted hosts,with an almostaudible wail

It was like another world

Maggie sat down hard, then slowly turned backto look at the redheaded girl

"Where is this?" she said, and her voice was alirl didn’t laugh ain Instead she looked aith eyes thatseemed to focus on some distant and terrible memory, and she spoke in almost a whisper herself "It’s the ie felt as if the mist outside had reached down the back of her pajaht World It’s like an organization For all of theie just looked at her, she went on, "Them The ones that aren’t hu in her stomach, and she honestly didn’t know if it was because she was locked up in here with a loony, or if so Either way, she was scared sick, and she couldn’t say anything

The girl with red hair flicked a glance at her, and the malicious pleasure came back "The vampires," she said distinctly, "and the shapeshifters and the witches - "

Oh, God, Maggie thought SylviaSylvia is a witch

She didn’t kno she knew and probably part of her didn’t believe it anyway, but the as thundering around inside her like an avalanche, gathering evidence as it fell The incense, those strange purple eyes, the way Miles fell for her so fast and hardly ever called the faed his whole personality, just as if he’d been under a spell, bewitched and helpless, and, oh, Miles, why didn’t I guess

I’e of character How could I screhen it counted?

"They don’t norirl was going on; and the ere soie’s earsdespite the chaos going on inside her "Mostly theyjust live in ourcities, pretending to be like us Butthis valley is special; it’s been here in the Cascades for centuries and humans have never found it It’s all surrounded by spells and fogand those h forcarts, but only the Night People can see it It’scalled the Dark Kingdoht nuely suited to what she’d seen outside Yellow sunlight was aline in this place Those fil silvery-white spell

"And you’re trying to say that we’re all slaves now? But how did you guys get here?"

When the redhead didn’t answer, she looked atthe little blond girl

The girl shifted her slight body, gulped Finallyshe spoke in a husky little voice

"I’m PJ Penobscot I was-it happened to " She looked down at herself and Maggie realized she earing a tan cable-knit sweater and a vest "I was agolfer And I was only supposed to go onbad But myfriend Aaron and I went across the street and thiscar stopped in front ofie reached over and squeezed her hand "I bet you were a great golfer"

PJ smiled wanly "Thanks" Then her sot away, but this olf club, but he took it away He lookedat "

"He was a professional slave trader," the redhaired girl said "Both the guys I’ve seen are prosThat’s why they looked at her face-they takepretty slaves when they can get theie stared at her, then turned to PJ "Andthen what?"

"They put so and everything-and then Iwent to sleep for a while I woke up in this warehouse place" She breathed once and looked at herthin wrists "I was chained to a bed and I was allalone I was alone for a while And then, ht in her"She noddedat the girl sleeping in the corner

Maggie looked at the still form It didn’t ht?"

"She’s sick They left her there for a long time, maybe four days, but she never really woke up Ithink she’s getting worse" PJ’s voice was quiet and detached "They caive us food, but that was all And then yesterday they brought you in