Steve Shell

As she spoke the words, her voice took on a steady rhythm and cadence born of long practice, and her body began to rock along with it.

Her voice rose, and the words drowned out everything else.

Her nerves thrummed, and her mind opened, and the darkness poured inside.

And suddenly, she was someplace else.

Polly called into the darkness, and her father answered.

Polly had established the ability to speak with her daddy from outside the walls of Bear House early in life.

and it was, as she understood it, not a talent either of her brothers shared.

Polly and E.P.

could even communicate privately while in the same room with Conrad and Benuel, and it was in this way that the Barrow patriarch had directed her to make contact with him for further instructions once she arrived in West Virginia.

He asked after her first.

Had she made it safely to West Virginia?

Was everything at the cabin in order?

Did she have questions about her mission?

He seemed unusually curious about her reaction to the assignment at hand.

Polly didn't question her daddy.

She was his most faithful disciple, his most dutiful soldier, his steadfast ally in all things.

And Polly did as she was told.

And she reaped the rewards of that loyalty.

She had designer dresses and glittering rings to adorn her fingers.

She had beautiful combs for her hair, carved from the bones of those her family had conquered and painted with gold.