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~

A shiver runs up my spine. I'm not sure if it's from fear or excitement.

The top of my dress brushes across the tips of overgrown weeds as Nick, Rene, and I creep along the wired fence behind the tool barn.

"Here," Nick holds up a part of the fence with a blanket wrapped around his hand to protect him from the sharp edges at the bottom of the wire. Rene ducks down underneath the opening and gets out on the other side.

I start to follow, but stop to look over my shoulder. My eyes rake over the plantation field as the wind lifts the damp hair off my cheeks. I haven't stepped foot off this soil in so many years. It's been a prison. It's a place where horrible things happened, where Mari died.

Mari.

A whistle startles me, pulling my back to the fence. Nick nods at me and waves his hand at the hole. "Let's go, kid."

"Hold on a second." I run to another section of the fence and reach over pushing my hand against a tree.

"Hey," he shouts. I ignore him, and pull the hardest part of the bark away from the tree, scratching my fingertips in the process. "What are you doing?" Nick asks, bewildered. "What is she doing?" That must have been posed to Rene.

I turn around in time to see her shrug while watching me curiously. "Lyric, are you okay?"

"Hey can I borrow that hunting knife?" I ask. I hold my hand out to Rene.

"I guess so?" She leans down at pulls the sharp knife out of her boot. As she hands it to me I wonder where she puts it so that it doesn't cut her skin.

Disregarding Nick's glare I move back over to the edge of the field. Gripping the piece of bark in my hand, I flick the edge of the knife against the top layer. Nothing happens. "Come on," I hiss. I rub the blade quicker across the surface of the dry bark.

"Kid, what's your problem?" Nick whisper yells. "Do you not understand the concept of not being captured and staying alive?"

"I knew this was a mistake," he mutters to Rene.

"Lyric, I don't know what you're doing," Rene says. "But we have to go. Like right now."

A spark flies from the combined edges of the blade and the wood and falls to the grass at my feet. My knees hit the ground as I lean forward enough that my face is close to the flint of fire dancing with a blade of grass. One hand goes around the area, protecting it from any ill-timed wind. I blow on the spark, spreading it with my breath. A bit of the fire breaks off and latches onto another piece of wheat nearby, and the process slowly begins to repeat itself.

This field isn't used often at this hour, it'll be a while before the smell of smoke travels on the wind to where the workers are. Too bad Harden decided this field would be a good place to store all outgoing shipments of wheat and tobacco. It's so dry and hot out here. Accidents happen.

My lip curls at the thought of that monster, I hope he doesn't think it's an accident. I hope that when he realizes he can't find my body in the burnt down barn that he thinks I did this. It may not be much in retribution for him taking Mari's life, but it sure makes me feel a heck of a lot better.

Nick and Rene are staring at me when I turn around.

"Are you crazy?" Nick hisses. "They'll definitely be after you if do that."

I shrug, feeling reckless as a weight lifts off my chest. "Let them. The bastards deserve worse."

"Yeah, but know you're with us now. You're already making us take you, don't add angry slave hunters to the list of why I already don't like you."

Slave hunters are something to think twice about. They're bounty hunters trained specifically to track runaway slaves. They're expensive to hire, so they do their job well. When a slave owner sends a group after a slave, he's furious enough to want his property back; dead or alive. But when the scent of smoke floats past my nose I don't care about that. All that matters is those monsters don't get away with everything they've done to me. There's some justice in the world. Even for slaves.

I walk up to the fence, stopping in front of Nick. "I thought you said we had to hurry." Ducking I scoot under the fence in his hands. One of my curls snags on the edge, wincing I snap it off, wishing I had copied Rene and tied it back.

"You have a death wish," Nick mutters. He joins Rene and I on the other side of the fence.

"I thought you said this field was crawling with slave masters," Nick says, eyeing me suspiciously.

"I never said that."

Nick shakes his head. "Whatever." He turns to Rene. "Stay close to me. Let's go." She nods and motions for me to follow.

We run down the incline away from the fence. Staying close to the back of the property we make our way to the line of trees.

"Wait, wait," Rene whispers. She grabs Nick's hand and pulls him to a stop.

I pause behind them. "What is it?"

"Someone's coming," she says. I don't hear anything, but Nick doesn't question if she's sure.

"Which direction?" he asks her.

"From the right." She points to a six-foot-high wall of hay feed, sitting off to the side next to an empty wheelbarrow. "Get behind that."

They jog off to hide behind the feed, I follow doubtfully. But a few seconds later a man holding a field reaper blade walks by, passing right in front of the hay.

My breath stills in my throat and my heartbeat accelerates. The man stops and bends on one knee to tie his boot. I will him to leave with my mind. He slowly stands, readjusting the reaper blade over his shoulder and finally meanders away.

"What's the way he came?" Rene asks, startling me when she speaks after the quiet.

"Uh, the stables," I answer.

"A lot of workers there this time of day?"

"Just a stable boy or two."

She nudges Nick. "It'll be more empty. Best bet."

Nick considers this, then nods. "Alright. Circle around the stable."

"But the entry to the woods are right in sight of an active field," I point out.

"If we're fast, we'll be fine," Rene assures me.

Before I can argue they dart away from the stack and down towards the stables. I push my sleeves up on my arms, then follow after them. A few minutes later we arrive at the side of the stable barn. A wooden fence separates us from the safety of the woods. Rene grabs the top of the wooden fence and pulls herself to the top. She jumps to the ground, bending her knees when she hits the dirt.

"Go to the forest. Stay out of sight, we'll be right behind you," Nick says.

She nods, her eyes darting to me for just a moment before she runs toward the line of trees, disappearing into a clump of bushes.

Nick puts his fingers together to help boost me to the top of the fence. I shake my head at his hands. "You go ahead, I don't need help."

He shrugs and climbs the fence in seconds, after hitting the ground, he runs off into the woods.

Planting my foot on the second wooden plank, I start pulling myself up.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

My spine freezes and I bang my knee against the wood. Still clutching the fence, I whirl around. Standing there is a white man that I vaguely recognize as a hired hand.

"Get away from that fence," he snarls. "You blackie dog."

Like heck I was going to listen. Almost skipping the second rung I practically throw myself to the top. I swing one leg over onto the other side when a hand grabs my other ankle.

"No!" I kick as hard as I can. The man's fingers tighten their hold and with a hard yank pulls me back on his side of the fence. A splinter wedges into my thigh as I fall off the wood and onto the dirt. The wind leaves my body and I lay stunned. The man moves in front of me, reaching for my hair, but I scramble out of his reach just in time. My hand scoops the dirt as I rise to my feet. When he rushes at me, I fling the fistful of dirt into his eyes. He cries out, his knuckles rubbing frantically at his dust covered eyelids.

I leap for the gate, my feet climbing as fast as possible and suddenly I'm again tumbling to the ground, but this time on the other side. I back away from the gate watching the screaming man, before I turn and bolt towards the woods.

~

A/N: So what did you think about this chapter? Liked it, hated it? Lemme know.

Obviously, I have no idea if dragging a knife against bark would start a fire, but I was like "hey sticks rubbing together is used all the time and that's fake so what the heck?"