“Leland—Winthrop, son…” Briard placed a calming hand on each of their backs. “Surely we can talk through this—away from the crowds?” His eyes drifted across the green. Most of the town watched on with horrified fascination, the moment of united peace gone.
“Sometimes words aren’t enough!” Winthrop snarled, and his fist flew through the air and caught the side of Leland’s jaw with a meaty smack.
Matthias was across the yard in a flash, pulling the boy off the other Elder. He caught a wayward elbow to the stomach in the process and threw Winthrop to the ground.
“Gentlemen—gentlemen!” The parson struggled to grab at Leland but was decked himself as Matthias’s punch missed its mark. Briard grabbed at his eye and whirled back, searching for something to stop the madness. “Thaddeus McComb—play something. Play anything. For God’s sake, just play!”
The farmer immediately launched into a song, though most of the crowd lingered at the edge of the fight, enraptured.
“Dance, please,” the parson instructed, holding Winthrop back from the melee. “We’ll handle this and—Dodson!” he snapped as Leland charged at them. Matthias grabbed the other Elder. They all but dragged Winthrop and Leland down the hill toward the church.
“They’re here. They have to be,” Ephraim said, suddenly at my side, scanning the crowd. “They’d never miss something like this.”
I glanced around the gathering. “I don’t see her. I don’t see anything that looks like those drawings.”
“They won’t always appear like that,” Ephraim muttered, his dark gaze flickering across the crowd. “Look around, Ellerie. Look hard. Who’s here who shouldn’t be? Someone new. Someone unknown. Someone—”
“Whitaker,” I said, catching him wandering through the square. When he spotted me, his eyes brightened. “I told him not to come. Let me…I’ll be right back, I promise.”
“Keep your wits about you,” he warned. “This town is primed like a powder keg. It won’t take much to set it off.”
“Did I miss the picnic?” Whitaker asked as I joined him.
“What are you doing here?”
“I know you said I shouldn’t come. I know. But…I was down at the creek’s edge and I heard the music starting, and…I just really hoped you’d forgiven me enough by now.”
“Enough? Enough for what?”
“A dance?” he asked earnestly. He held out his hand, hope written across his face.
“I…” I glanced back to where Ephraim had been, but he was gone.
Thaddeus McComb began a new song, a sweeping and sad ballad that pulled every strain of angst from his fiddle. Without the spectacle to watch, couples came together now, eager for the intimacy of the forlorn waltz.
After a moment of hesitation, I took his hand and our fingers laced together. Whitaker’s other hand rested at the small of my back as we began to sway to the song’s tempo.
“That dress truly is the perfect shade on you,” he said, gently turning me out into a spin. “I’ve never seen you look lovelier.”
“It nearly got me in trouble.” His eyebrows rose. “The parson’s wife accused me of stealing the fabric off her clothesline last summer.”
His smile froze. “Oh?”
“Right here, in the middle of the social. Can you believe it?”
“How strange.”
“It’s become increasingly strange around here since you left.”
“Really?”
“Things haven’t been right, and…”
I caught sight of Ephraim once more. He’d made his way over to Thomas and was listening to something his son said, eyebrows furrowed into a thick line. Merry joined them, shaking her head, her eyes wild and cheeks bright.
I stopped dancing.
Something was wrong.
Something was terribly wrong.
“What is it?” Whitaker asked, turning to see what I stared at.
“I need to—”
Before I could offer an excuse, Merry burst into tears.
I was at my sister’s side before I even realized I’d left Whitaker behind.
“What is it? What is it, Merry?” I asked, grabbing hold of her shoulders. A bolt of fear stabbed at my chest, cracking it open wide.
Merry broke into fresh sobs, horrible and keening. “She’s gone, Ellerie. Sadie is gone!”
Merry’s cries grew louder, drawing a gathering around us and even stopping Thaddeus McComb’s song.
“What is it now?” Matthias asked, struggling to run back up the hill from the church. His shirt was soaked in sweat, the rolled cuffs and collar yellow. The afternoon sun baked down in an unrelenting layer of heat.
“The little girl, she’s gone missing,” Ephraim explained, changing his voice to sound like Ezra’s once more.
“Sadie Downing?” the Elder guessed, staring down at me as I held Merry.
Her fingers sank painfully into my arms as she rocked back and forth in her grief.
“Why such hysterics? She probably wandered home or down to the general store.” Matthias scanned the group for other young girls. “Trinity, Pardon—do you know where Sadie Downing has gone?”
“Last time I saw her, she was over there,” Trinity said, pointing to the pines.
Merry doubled over in a fresh set of tears. “Those things got her. I know they did. The creatures!”
Matthias knelt beside us, awkwardly patting at my sister’s shoulder. Matthias wasn’t known for compassionate comforting. “I’m sure those wolves are long gone, Merry Downing. When did you notice her missing? She can’t have gotten far.”
“It hasn’t been long,” I said, grabbing on to that sliver of comfort.
“Not the wolves. The other—” Merry started, but a swift shake of the head from Ephraim silenced her.
Matthias stood, raising his hands to quiet the group. “We need to assemble search parties for Sadie Downing. Trinity Brewster says she was last near the pines, but she could have also wandered into town. We need to divide up and look for her.”
“Thomas and I will take the woods around the square,” Ephraim volunteered quickly, stepping forward before anyone else could.
“Surely you don’t believe she’d go into the forest.” Matthias chuckled as if to lighten the situation. No one joined him. “I know grown men who won’t wander into the pines. A little girl would never—”