Thin Lines (The Child Thief #3)(32)

“We’re walking into what could be a trap,” Jace replied. “Based on some of the experiences we had while you were in prison, it’s better to do it on foot rather than via noisy scooters. At least that way we have a prayer of going undetected if there are Authority soldiers in there.”

Kory’s eyes grew wider, but he nodded. “Makes sense,” he said.

Jace hopped off the scooter, then gathered the backpack and duffel bags he’d had attached to the back of the vehicle. He tossed one of the bags to Kory, and one to Ant, and motioned for us to roll the scooters into the forest.

“We’ve got to at least get them off the road,” he said.

I nodded, grabbed the handlebars of our scooter, and strode into the trees, leading the others. I got about ten feet off the path before I found a spot where the underbrush grew heavier.

“Perfect,” I murmured, shoving the scooter into the middle of a bush. I took a moment to arrange the branches around the back of it, wishing like crazy that we’d chosen any color other than red, and finally stood back to let the others do the same.

A moment later we were back on the road and walking toward my house.

I followed, along with Ant, Jackie, Kory, and Abe, and we crept down the road, everyone doing their best not to make too much noise.

The forest around us was ringing with bird cries and the chirping of insects, and I breathed out, trying to take comfort in that. If there were dangerous characters or guns in the forest, surely the birds wouldn’t have been singing as loudly and cheerfully as they were. Still, we walked as slowly as possible, each of us casting our gaze around as far as it could go in search of blue jumpsuits or the flash of sunlight off a gun or sunglasses.

Before long we were at the edge of the copse of trees I recognized as standing directly in front of the cabin, and I whispered for Jace to stop.

We stood there for a long moment, listening carefully. I didn’t hear anything that sounded like it was manmade, just the continued chirping of birds, the buzz of insects, and far away, the howl of a wolf. Odd for them to be out during the day, I thought, but maybe they’d somehow sensed that I’d come home…

“I think it’s safe,” I whispered softly in Jace’s direction, and he nodded.

“I think you’re right,” he replied. “I don’t feel anything but nature here.”

Given that he’d grown up in the wild, his affirmation was enough for me. “Then let’s go,” I whispered.

If my cabin was still standing, we needed to get there sooner rather than later, so we could gather supplies and get out of there. I had no idea where we were going to go after this, or whether any place would even be safe, but I knew we couldn’t stay. Not when the Authority might have the address and was searching for us.

We stepped into the trees and strode forward, Jace’s head swiveling as he looked left and right for any sign of soldiers. My head turned too, my gaze darting through the woods that surrounded my home, my heart racing along with it.

If there were soldiers, I figured this was where they would be—here in the woods, watching the front door of the house. Just waiting for me to be stupid enough to come home.

If they had that list of five hundred addresses. If they’d gotten to this part of it yet. And especially if they’d done their research and used facial recognition software to connect a name to my face. It would have been short work to figure out which address on the list belonged to that name.

There was no one in the trees, however, and a second later we’d come within ten feet of the clearing that surrounded my little house.

I looked up, terrified of what I might see.

And then exhaled in relief.

The house was still standing there, the way it always had. Completely whole, and devoid of soldiers.

I suddenly relaxed, abruptly letting go of the idea that we were going to arrive here only to be caught.

Home was still home, and it still meant safety, at least for the moment. After what we’d been through, that thought was a bright, shining beacon of hope—although, I wasn’t stupid enough to think it would last.





13





I stared at the house for several seconds, trying to collect my thoughts and figure out my next move.

Then I gave in to instinct and started running toward it. Home. It represented so many things that I hadn’t truly realized I’d been missing until that moment. My own things. My clothes, my journals, my computer, and everything I had of my history. I’d been living in someone else’s world for the last week, facing things I didn’t know how to deal with or didn’t even truly understand, but here, right in front of me, was the world I knew.

Before I’d gone five steps, however, a hand grasped me around the upper arm and yanked me back.

“Are you crazy?” Jace hissed in my ear. “For all we know there are soldiers inside that place, just waiting for you to barge in!”

I grimaced. He had a point. I’d just been too excited to see my house to think about it.

“What do you suggest we do?” I murmured, looking up at him. I hadn’t come this far just to stand here staring at my house. I wanted to be inside it, wanted to touch my own things so badly that my fingertips were itching.

Jace stared at the cabin for a moment, and then glanced behind us at the others. “Everyone else is going to stay right here,” he finally said. “Jack and I will get to the cabin and check inside and around it to make sure it’s safe.”