King Solomon's Wives: Hunted

Chapter 5: A Redemption

Dilara

My sisters worked. They gathered clothes and books and crammed them into bags. They hurried up and down stairs as if they weren’t sure what to do. They packed outfits as if we were going on vacation. But there wasn’t time for choosing favorite sweaters and collecting sentimental belongings. Hunters were coming.

I marched through. “Only essentials! Coats! Shoes! Layers of clothing!” I tried to help one sister at a time regain her focus. In the living room, Harika was going through DVDs. I slammed them out of her hands, surprising her. “We’re not going to a slumber party.” She was only wearing a T-shirt and jeans. “Get one sweater and your coat, then help with the babies.” She nodded bravely and ran off.

Pasha was collecting towels from the hall closet. I grabbed them from her hand, too. “We don’t need towels. Think, Pasha.”

She glared at me. She was still angry—and supposed to be in the upstairs room until someone retrieved her. Maybe she wanted an apology for my earlier strictness, but this was exactly the sort of situation that proved her actions irresponsible. “Go,” I commanded. “Just go.”

Ceydin carried bags of food from the kitchen. I took them, dropped them. “We don’t need food. We need weapons.” Ceydin nodded with confidence and hurried upstairs. Yasemin and Merym were gathering snacks. I told them to get upstairs and pack only necessities. They hadn’t even thought to put on shoes. They hadn’t even been to their rooms.

We needed weapons, of course, but also money. The safe was on the second floor, so I ran upstairs, too.

My girls hurried from room to room. I pushed them along and helped stuff things into backpacks. “Meet in the back. We’ll escape to the neighborhoods to the south. If you’ve got your things, head outside.”

The door to the prison room stood open. My first panicked reaction was that it shouldn’t be, but then I came to my senses. Merym stepped out, helping the prisoner walk. Little Esma looked pale and small, and she squinted against the light of the setting sun. She would struggle outside, but her sisters would help.

Across the hall, Sasha was going through a box in her closet. When she turned, I saw what was so important. She hunched over a stack of notebooks, no doubt the journals she and Pasha had told me they’d burned weeks ago. Now, they’d committed yet another violation. I grabbed Sasha up and reached into the pocket of her jean jacket. I assumed I’d find a lighter there, since she and Pasha had been smoking. Sure enough, I did. I threw the notebooks into the garbage pail, flicked on the lighter and set fire to them.

Sasha screamed.

“Stop it!” I grabbed her by her shoulders. Squeezed. “Stop carrying on. If Hunters get you today, it’ll be because of your disobedience.”

Horror crossed her face, but I didn’t give her sympathy. I guided her out of the room and ran to each of the second-floor bedrooms to see who was left. Some of my charges were still packing. “Outside, now!” I yelled. “Wait for weapons and instructions.” Ceydin had already handed out a few knives. I nodded to her. She was doing a good job.

I went to the safe and applied the combination with shaky hands. My first try failed, but it opened on the second. I grabbed all our money, which I figured was close to fifty thousand, and stuffed it into a shoulder bag. We could survive with this. We would be okay. We just needed to get out.

Some sisters still crowded the halls, wandering like they didn’t know what was going on. I stopped being gentle. I herded them toward the stairs, no matter whether they were ready. I explained the rules and procedures and about the rendezvous as we walked. We would split into groups of no more than three. We would go different directions. We would run. We would hide in stores, bars, and even garages. We would get on buses and go nowhere, then we would reunite at the place we’d met five years earlier for the winter ceremony.