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Miracolina takes off her earphones "What’s going on? What’s wrong?"

"Stay here," orders Chauffeur-Claus, no longer jolly, and he jumps out of the van

Ti out "This can’t be good"

"No," agrees Miracolina "It can’t"

Just off the road in a ditch is another Wood Hollow Harvest Camp van, but this one is overturned, wheels to the sky There’s no telling how long it has been there

"He , and skidded off the road," says Timothy But none of the tires look blown

"We should call for help," says Miracolina--but no one brings a phone to harvest camp, so neither she nor Timothy has one

Just then there’s a commotion outside Half a dozen people dressed in black with faces hidden by skiout of the woods from all directions The chauffeur is hit with a tranq bullet to the neck and goes down like an overstuffed rag doll

"Lock the door!" shouts Miracolina, and doesn’t wait She pushes Tiet to the driver’s unlocked door--but she’s not fast enough Just as she reaches for the lock, the door is pulled open, and the assailant hits the button that pops all the locks All the van’s doors are pulled open at once by the masked attackers Clearly these attackers have done this before and have gotten good at it Ti hile free, but it’s useless If his fear is a web, then the spiders have got hiures reach for Miracolina, and she drops to the floor, kicking at them

"Don’t you touch me! Don’t you touch me!"

Her fear, which had been so well under control, explodes froreater unknown than harvest cae, but it’s no use--because in the end, she hears the telltale pffft of a tranq gun firing She feels the sharp jab of the tranq bullet as it eoes dark as she spirals helplessly into that tio

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Waking up after being tranq’d is not a pleasant experience With consciousness co headache, a terrible taste in one’shas been stolen from you

Miracolina awakes to the sound of sonizes the voice as Timothy’s He’s definitely not the kind of boy built to handle soh, because her eyes are covered by a thick blindfold

"It’s all right, Ti to be okay" Hearing her voice makes his pleas and sobs settle into whimpers

Miracolina shifts to feel the position of her body She’s sitting upright, and her neck aches fro while she slept Her hands are behind her back, tied together Her legs are tied to the chair she sits in Not painfully, but tight enough to ensure she won’t break free

"Okay," says the voice of a boy in front of them "You can take off their blindfolds"

Her blindfold is pulled off, and although the light around her is not bright, it’s still painful to keep her eyes open She squints, slowly letting her eyes adjust and focus

They’re in soed ballroom Crystal chandeliers, artwork on the walls--it looks like the kind of place where French royalty would have entertained high society before getting the apart There are holes in the ceiling through which pigeons freely fly in and out of the daylight The paintings are peeling eather dae, and the rank s how far they’ve been taken from their destination

"I’ in front of them says He’s not dressed like any sort of royalty Even ht blue T-shirt His hair is pale brown, al--like he hasn’t had a haircut in recent e, but the tired look around his eyes s than anyone ought to see at their age He also seems a little bit frail in so hurt, or figuring out where ere taking you It was the only way to safely rescue you"

"Rescue us?" says Miracolina, speaking up for the first tiht not feel that way at the moment, but yes, that’s exactly e’ve done"

And all at once, Miracolina knoho this is A wave of rage and nausea courses through her Of all the unfair things to happen to her, why did she have to face this? Why did she have to be captured by hier, the kind of hatred she knows is not good for her soul, especially this close to her tithing--but try as she e herself of the bitterness

Then Tio wide

"You’re him!" he says with the kind of enthusiasm boys like Timothy usually save for encounters with sports stars "You’re that tithe who became a clapper! You’re Levi Calder!"