Chapter Forty-Nine

Raven didn’t know how long she was out. When she was finally able to open her eyes, she was lying in a half-inch of water. The rain raged outside, the wind howled over the wetlands. Water streamed through the many holes on the lid covering the box. For a second Raven was relieved. Rotted wood signaled an easier escape. She pushed up on the lid with both hands. It stopped almost at once at the lock Stella must have put there.

“Be a good girl until I get back, my sweet behind,” Raven breathed.

She kicked at the lid with her boots, this time with all the strength in her body. It wasn’t enough. Whatever lock Stella had used – it held. Raven used both legs to push against the top of the box. With every movement her head exploded in protest. She hoped she wasn’t hurt so bad that she couldn’t go after Stella, who Raven was sure was now going after Noe. What’s worse, she felt foolish. Stella probably had nowhere to go that night. She probably suspected that Raven knew something. Raven had let that dyed red-haired hellion trick her.

Raven abandoned attempts to kick the lid open. She booted the short end of the box while bracing her hands against the opposite end. Her effort only sent another blast of pain through her head. The box held her fast.

She was going to die here, she was sure of it. That’s right, Birdy Girl, Floyd said. Come on and see me now. I got more for you down here than you will ever have up there. Everything dies anyway. It ain’t all your fault.

At his words, a rage that Raven hadn’t felt in a long time overtook her. It was a fire that started at her feet and flamed upward until it covered the top of her head. It wasn’t at the world, at herself, or anybody else that she might blame for her predicament. It was at Floyd.

“How could you be such a worthless father even when you’re dead? You give up. I’m not giving up crap.”

She reached up with her hands, trying to push the lid up using the strength in her triceps. Nothing. The water lapped around her as she moved. She ran her fingers along the edge closest to the top of her head. She felt empty places around some of the nails. Not huge spaces, but they were there.

With some effort, she contorted her body until she could remove her knife from its ankle holder. She jabbed the blade along the edge where she thought she felt the largest breaches. She hacked straight down, turned the tip of the blade to dig when she came upon a nail, apologizing with a ‘sorry, big fella’ to the knife along the way. It took a while but finally she was able to split the box along one edge. She set the knife down and pushed again. Both the front and right side of the box creaked open. She hit and kicked until she had a big enough hole to crawl through.

When she finally got out, she sprinted for the rental car.