Thin Lines (The Child Thief #3)(112)

But this was an entire town. And that made it a lot scarier.

“Who evacuates a whole town?” Jace replied in a low, equally disturbed tone. A deep line creased the skin between his eyebrows. “Why would they do that? Where are the people?” His gaze moved from one end of the town to the other, searching for any sign of life, and then he looked up at me. “Is the Authority… collecting people?”

“Why would they do that?” I asked, mystified.

When we passed over another such town, this one even more obviously deserted by the lack of light in the dusk, we asked each other the same questions—and gave each other the same answers.

Where had the people gone? And why?

And who was responsible for it? In this country, nothing happened without government approval, which led to the obvious conclusion that this was some sort of government action. But what would prompt them to evacuate entire towns? And where had they sent the people who’d once lived there?

On the floor of the ship, Ant continued to hold Jackie, ignoring the rest of us as he spoke softly to her. I could hear her responding every so often, her voice nothing more than a croak. She was getting paler, and when I dropped down next to them, I could see that her eyes were also growing dull.

“Jackie?” I asked softly. “How you holding up?”

“How would you be?” she asked with a trace of her old snark. “I feel like I’m dying, and you guys keep insisting on moving me in the most dramatic fashion possible!”

I let out a hoarse sob at that and put my hand on her arm.

“We’re going to be there soon,” I murmured. “I promise. And then we won’t move you again until you’re good and ready. It’s a problem, you know. Without you awake and bossing us around, we don’t know what to do. We’re just running around like chickens with their heads cut off.”

That earned a slight smile from the girl, and I felt a thrill of victory shoot through me. Surely if she was still able to be sassy with me, it meant there was hope.

I just prayed we’d get to the convent before it was too late for her.

“How much longer?” I shouted toward the front of the ship.

We’d been in the air for over an hour now, including the time we’d taken to get rid of the drone and then up into the cloud cover. We had to be getting close. I could see the mountains rearing up all around us, and I knew for a fact that the convent was nestled among the foothills of those mountains.

“I can actually see it!” Nelson called back. “It’s just in front of us!”

I immediately left Jackie with Ant and darted to the front of the ship, my eyes hungry for the sight of the convent. The last time I’d been there, we’d been on personal business and I hadn’t really had time to look around. But now that it meant safety, I was anxious for a better view of the place.

What I saw shocked me.

I remembered the convent being busy, with nuns roaming about everywhere, children being housed in one entire section and schooled in another. And then of course there was the church, the gardens and kitchens, and the blocks where the nuns themselves had slept. There had been so many people that it had seemed like a small village unto itself, and I’d adored it.

Now it looked totally empty. The light was fading, but I could still see the entire place laid out before me. No matter which courtyard or walkway I turned my eyes to… I saw nothing. There were still birds and what looked like cats and dogs roaming around in the open spaces, but there was a distinct lack of two-legged inhabitants.

That was… odd. And worrisome. This place had been harboring fugitives, and the Mother Superior herself had indicated that they were both actively and passively fighting the government. They’d been willing to help Nathan with his goals, and they’d had several of his people already there, in hiding or helping.

This had also been the place where we’d thought we were assured safety. Where were they? Had the Authority already been here?

Oh God, were we too late?

My stomach plummeted into my feet as I suddenly had visions of all those nuns—and the children—dead or in cells somewhere. I felt like I was going to be sick.

“Jace?” I managed, motioning for him to come forward.

He hurried back to my side and gazed out into the stillness.

“Have you ever seen it this quiet?” I asked, a nameless fear gnawing at my heart. What was going on here?

Jace’s face paled, and he shook his head, but then Nelson started lowering the ship, killing our ability to see over the convent’s walls.

“I… I don’t know. But I know we’ve got to get out of the sky, and this is the only safe place,” he said, injecting confidence into his tone that I sensed he didn’t possess. He strode back toward one of the doors in the side of the ship. “I want to get out of here and find someone. Find my sister.”

“It’s only safe if the Authority hasn’t found it,” I muttered to myself, giving voice to the worry growing in my stomach as I followed him. In my shock at seeing the place empty, I hadn’t even considered Rhea in my breakdown of the people we might have lost, and the idea that she could have been taken prisoner as well made me absolutely furious.

And that anger was a welcome change from the fear I’d been feeling only moments before.

The ship bumped as we touched the ground, and a moment later Nelson killed the engine.