His face was pale now, the features carved in ice."The whole world can fall into ruin, for all I care."
And then, with the suddenness that characterizedallhis movements, he leaned forward and kissedher.
A nice kiss, on the cheek. She felt his warm, quick breath there, then his lips pressing lightly, and then a sudden quivering in them, asif he wereovercome by some strong emotion. Passion, maybe, or excruciating sadness.
"I love you," he whispered, his breath stirring thehair by her ear. "I did love you. Always remember that."
Maggie was dizzy with confusion. She didn't understand anything, and she should push this stranger away. But she didn't want to. Howeverfrightened she was, it wasn't of him. In fact, shehad an irresistible feeling of peace and security inhis arms. A feeling of belonging.
"Who are you?" she whispered.
But beforehecould answer,everythingchanged again.
The mist came back. Not slowly, but like fog rolling in, quick and silent, muffling everything. Thewarm, solid body against Maggie's suddenlyseemed insubstantial, as if it were made of fogitself.
"Wait a minute-" She could hear her voice rising in panic, but deadened by the pearly cocoonaround her.
And then...lie was gone. Her arms were holding only emptiness. And all she could see was white.
Chapter 5
Maggie woke slowly.
And painfully.
I must be sick, she thought. It was the only explanation for the way she felt. Her bodywas heavy and achy, her head was throbbing, and her sinuseswere completely stuffed up. She was breathing through her mouth, which was so dry and glueythat her tongue stuck to the roof of it.
I was having a dream, she thought. But even asshe grasped at bits of it,, it dissolved. Somethingabout ... fog? And a boy.
It seemed vaguely important for her to remember, but even the importance was hard to keep holdof. Besides, another, more practical considerationwas overriding it. Thirst. She was dying of thirst.
I need a glass of water....
It took a tremendous effort to lift her head and open her eyes. But when she did, her brain cleared fast. She wasn't in her bedroom. She was in asmall, dark, smelly room; a room that was moving jerkily, bouncing her painfully up and down andfrom side to side. There was a rhythmic noise com ing from just outside that she felt she should be able to recognize.
Below her cheek and under her fingers was theroughness of unpainted wood. The ceiling andwalls were made of the same silvery, weatheredboards.
What kind of room is small and made of woodand...
Not a room, she thought suddenly. A vehicle. Some kind of wooden cart.
As soon as she realized it, she knew what therhythmic sound was.
Horses' hoofs.
No, it can't be, she thought. It's too bizarre. I am sick; I'm probably hallucinating.
But it felt incredibly real for a hallucination. Itfelt exactlyasif she were in a wooden cart beingdrawn by horses. Over rough ground. Which ex plained all the jostling.
So what was going on?What was she doinghere?
Where did I go to sleep?
All at once adrenaline surged through her-andwith it a flash of memory. Sylvia. The incense... Miles.
Miles is dead... no. He's not. Sylvia said thatbut she was lying. And then she said I'd never findout what happened to him. And then she druggedme with that smoke.
It gave Maggie a faint feeling of satisfaction tohave put this much together. Even if everythingelse was completely confusing, she had a solidmemory to hang on to.
"You woke up," a voice said. "Finally. This kidsays you've been asleep for a day and a half."
Maggie pushed herself up by stages until shecould see the speaker. It was a girl with untidy red hair, an angular, intense face, and flat, hard eyes.She seemed to be about Maggie's age. Beside her was a younger girl, maybe nine or ten. She was very pretty, slight, with short blond hair under ared plaid baseball cap. She looked frightened.
"Who are you?" Maggie said indistinctly. Hertongue was thick-she was so thirsty."Where amI? What's going on?"
"Huh. You'll find out," the redhaired girl said.
Maggie looked around. There was a fourth girl inthe cart, curled up in the corner with her eyes shut.
Maggie felt stupid and slow, but she tried togather herself.
"What do you mean I've been asleep for a day and a half?"
The redhaired girl shrugged. "That's what shesaid. I wouldn't know. They just picked me up afew hours ago. I almost made it out of this place, but they caughtme."'
Maggie stared at her. There was a fresh bruiseon one of the girl's angular cheekbones and her lipwas swollen.
"Whatplace?" she said slowly. When nobodyanswered, she went on, `Look. I'm Maggie Neely. I don't know where this is or what I'm doing here,but the last thing I remember is a girl named Sylviaknocking me out. Sylvia Weald. Do you guysknow her?"
The redhead just stared back with narrowedgreen eyes. The girl lying down didn't stir, and theblond kid in the plaid cap cringed.
"Come on, somebody talk to me!"
"You really doe t know what's going on?" the redhaired girl said.
"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking over and over!"
The girl eyed her a moment, then spoke with akind of malicious pleasure. "You've been sold into slavery. You re a slave now."
Maggie laughed.
It was a short involuntary sound, and it hurt heraching head. The blond kid flinched again. Something in her expression made Maggie's grin fadeaway. .
She felt a cold ripple up her spine.
"Come on," she said. "Give me a break. Therearen't slaves anymore!"
"There are here." The redhead smiledagain,nastily. "But I bet you don't know whereyouare, either."
"In Washington State-" Even as she said it,Maggie felt her stomach tighten.
"Wrong. Or right, but it doesn't matter. Technically we may be in Washington, but where we really are is hell."
Maggie was losing her self control. "What are you talkingabout?"
"Take a look through that crack."
There were lots of cracks in the cart; the palelight that filtered through them was the only illumi nation. Maggie knelt up and put her eye to a big one, blinking and squinting.
At first she couldn't see much. The cart wasbouncing and it was hard to determine what shewas looking at. All she knew was that there seemedto be no color. Everything was either phosphorescent white or dead black.