The Gift

Chapter 61

Whit

I GRAB THE HANDLE away from Byron and press down on the thumb latch. We're greeted with another click, and then I slowly push open the creaky door.

Unlike the rest of this forsaken pit, the corridor ahead isn't even dimly lit. It's pitch-black.

"Can you see anything?" Wisty asks from behind me.

"Let your eyes adjust," Byron suggests. He's hanging back a little, clearly not thrilled that he suggested this little plan but complicit now. "You'll see. I think."

After a pause, my heart stops for a beat. There's definitely something moving in the darkness ahead of us.

"Mom? Dad?" I call out tentatively.

Wisty takes my words to mean I think I've seen them, and she bolts out from behind me.

"Mom! Dad!" she cries.

I feel her flying by me in the dark. "Stay back!" I shout, and with a lucky reach, I catch her by the sleeve of her jumpsuit. Just in the nick of time, too.

Because right then I hear the loudest, most terrifying growl.

Wisty's breathless. "S'okay, Whit," she whispers. "I'm good with dogs."

"It's not a dog." Byron's voice drifts in. "Trust me on that one."

It's the next voice I hear that sends my heart racing. Or skydiving.

"Whit? Wisty? Did I hear your voices?"

It's our mother!

"Yes, Mom!" Wisty calls into the dark. "We're here! Are you and Dad okay?" Wisty is struggling to get free of me, but I won't let her go yet. This can't be safe. Something's very wrong.

Then our mother says, "Don't come near us! Get away!"

I can feel it now. Something really bad's going to happen.

Our mother and father don't want us here.