Megan's POV

I should have known it was a trap and a setup right away. She ought to have left for home days, or even weeks, ago. She seemed calm instead of scared like a guardian of children ought to. Her peculiar conduct ought to have served as a warning to me as well, but I ignored it since at the time, all I could think about was the children who were in danger. All of those errors caused me to fear and begin to sink.

As we cleared one of the mountain ranges, the ground began to slope eastward as we traveled. I was perplexed by the absence of...