oh God, one of the teachers burned in the fire I think. She had these shears. This is her blood on my shirt, not mine. Sister Madge knows about Millie. I discovered something very important. I have to tell you everything. Everything.”
“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Scarlett, it’s okay. I’m here. We’ll go through all of that later. Right now, we need to find Haddie and Millie.”
She bobbed her head again. “Haddie and Millie are fine. They’re back there. We heard someone coming. We didn’t know who it was. I came to see. Thank God, it’s you. Thank God, Cam.”
Haddie and Millie are fine. Relief all but punched him in the gut. “I wish you’d led with that,” he said, taking a moment to pull her—gently—into his arms again, holding her for only a moment before letting go. “Mason said something took them,” he said. “An animal or—"
“No, no, no. That wasn’t right. There’s something I have to show you. Cam. You have to prepare yourself.”
She held out her hand and he took it, unease causing goosebumps to form as he followed her through the woods. But he took comfort that her distress was not apparently caused by whatever she led him toward. She was afraid of what was currently outside these woods. The threat didn’t come from within. Although the sky had deepened further, the moon was peeking through the gaps in the trees, shining down and outlining the forest in muted golden light.
With trust, Camden followed Scarlett to a more open area, a large rock between two trees. “It’s Camden,” she called and a moment later Millie and Haddie rushed out. He went down on his haunches, opening his arms and pulling them both into his grasp. They squeezed him back and, for a moment, the world was right. They all were safe. Safe and—mostly—unharmed and he was with them.
A horned creature stepped out from behind the rock and Camden released the girls, coming to his feet and drawing his weapon. Scarlett stepped forward. “No!” she cried as the thing slunk back, presenting his shoulder as he dropped his head in submission. Camden lowered his weapon. “No, Cam,” Scarlett said. “He’s a man. He’s . . . he’s your brother, Camden.” Camden stepped back. His brother? What? “I think he found those horns and that fur in the cave. I think it belonged to the indigenous man, Taluta’s husband. It’s old, Cam, old and falling apart.” Camden’s head swam. She was saying words but none of them made sense.
The man raised his head, shuffling forward. He looked shyly up at Camden, a smile blossoming across his face. Camden stumbled back, a sound of shock and disbelief coming up his throat. “Bemme,” the man said, looking around and then pointing at Cam. “Bemme. Bemme. Bemme.” He looked happy, exceedingly so. Camden blinked, moving closer. “Bemme hep bobby.”
“He’s your twin, Cam.”
“How?” he whispered. “I don’t understand.” But he could see that Scarlett was right. He had a twin. A brother.
Before she could answer though, the truth hit Camden in the gut. He almost doubled over under the blow. “They left you out here,” he said. “They left you and they kept me.”
“It had to be that woman,” Scarlett said. “Narcisa. They left her baby out here to die, and then they did the same to him.” She glanced at his brother. “She couldn’t save her own baby, but she saved this one.” She paused, her gaze moving between them. “He’s probably been out here alone since she died.”
The man approached him tentatively, reaching up and placing his fingers on his arm, pulling gently and then dropping his hand, looking away fearfully as though he had just behaved badly and waited for the repercussion.
“He wants to give you something,” Haddie said. He looked at the little girl, something dawning. No wonder she’d reacted to Camden the way she had when she first saw him. She’d seen this man first. She must have been scared and confused about why Camden had his face.
Her statement repeated in his muddled mind. He wants to give you something. “What?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s important.” The man let out a burst of garbled words and Haddie’s face scrunched up as she regarded him intently. “Something hidden that he found.”
Hidden. By Kandace? Camden let out a shaky breath. The proof she’d collected? God he hoped so.
He heard the shouts of men in the distance and a light swept through the sky, something large that would illuminate