Chapter 36. Lights in the Field

Josie's POV

"Go," Weston said to my mother. "Now."

She didn't move. She was still kneeling at the mouth of the hollow with the empty threads in her hand, staring at me as if I'd died in front of her.

The flashlights were coming across the field fast, bobbing, five of them now, six. Men's voices. The jingle of a Guard harness, which is a sound you never forget once you've heard it come down a creek at night.

"Opal." Walt had her by the arm. "Ma'am. You have to go."

"She's not coming up," my mother said. "Walt. She's not—"

"I heard. Go anyway."

I got myself out of that hollow somehow. My legs were water. I grabbed her hands, threads and all, and held on.

"Mama. Listen to me. If they