and gasping as they dragged her out of the dusty attic and down the hall into the brightly lit

eavy medical kit and slammed

the large leather sofa, positioning his small body in its shadow. "Stay right

es drawn up, his hands over his ears. He had l

e. She snapped open the metal latches of the medical kit and scanne

ash across her cheek had stopped bleeding freely, but the wound was still raw, the

high-concentration medical alcohol, and beside it, a sma

cked u

is wound is serious. If it isn't thoroughly cleaned right now, the risk of infection is extr

pain-sharpened with a new and visceral terror. For a woman whose entire value in this household had been

take hold. She h

cohol, then added a generous amount of the astrin

pad. He opened his mouth, then closed it. The fear of b

on Blair's shoulder, pinning her against

essed the soaked cotton fir

from her throat-raw, animal, nothing like the cal

er unyielding. "This is going to sting. It has to,

she cleaned the wound. Blair's thrashing grew weaker, her screams dissolving into

mped against the cushions, her chest heaving, tears cutting tracks through the blood on h

chest since she had seen the needle in Blai

fresh cotton pad

shook her head, a small, frantic move

nts' view. Her face was inches from Blair's, her

"what happened in that attic will seem like mercy

n that the woman standing over her was not the Arla she had tormented for years. The Arla

rla wa

down at her now ha

d then squeezed her eyes shut, as though she could make the trut

n pad aside and turned toward the me