Read Online Captive Travelers by Candace Smith - Free Book Online

but she was fairly certain they were not airlifted anywhere. Maybe there was a quicker way to reach the mound than the one the Indian woman had mapped out for Kayla. Aubrey was not nearly as convinced that Hehewuti was not responsible. Goosebumps raised on her skin when she remembered joking with Cici about the old woman saying that she worked with destiny and spirits.
    They continued towards the little house. “Remember, let me do the talking,” Kayla reminded them.
    They walked a little closer to the cabin. “Kayla, they don’t have a phone.”
    “What, Cici?”
    “No phone lines, and I don’t see a car either. There isn’t even any kind of driveway,” Cici observed.
    Aubrey began to notice other things were missing. “There’s no dish on the roof for television, and I don’t see a power pole. Maybe whoever lives here is a survivalist, or one of those strict religious groups.”
    “Or maybe it’s Indians, Aubrey,” Kayla reminded them. “Some of them try to keep to the old ways. I think they’d still have to have a horse and cart or some way to get to town. We’ll find a phone there.” Kayla was beginning to get nervous now, too. Something felt wrong, but she could not figure it out.
    They finally walked up to the door, and Kayla turned to whisper to let her do the talking again. She knocked, and a few seconds later a woman opened the door. She was dressed in a long blue dress with a white apron, and her hair was pinned up. She had no makeup on, and her brown eyes widened with as much surprise as was on the three faces on the young women on the porch. She was definitely not an Indian. “Oh god, Henry. Travelers,” Clara gasped.
    Her reaction seemed awfully extreme to the girls. “Um… um… we’re kinda’ lost,” Kayla said. She glanced around the barren yard. No doubt, they don’t get many visitors out here.
    “Get them inside.” The man had an edge of panic in his voice. “Do you see anyone, Clara? Anyone in the field?”
    “No, Henry.” She reached out and grabbed Kayla’s arm. “Get in here, quickly.”
    “What the hell?” Kayla was dragged inside, and Cici and Aubrey followed her.
    The man had bolted up from the table and he was running to the windows. “Did anyone see you?”
    “What?” Aubrey was becoming frightened by the man’s panic.
    “God, Clara, their clothes. Get them something.” Clara continued to stare at the women. “Now, Clara,” the man demanded.
    “Let me see what I can find.” The woman sounded as terrified.
    “I don’t see anyone,” Henry called to back to her. She was across the single room, digging through a chest. The man looked over at the girls. Three of them. How the hell can I hide three of them? “Where did you wake up?”
    “What? In our tent,” Kayla answered.
    “No, I know damn well you went to sleep on one of the mounds. Where did you wake up?” he demanded.
    Cici began crying. Aubrey whispered, “In the field. What’s going on?”
    “This will work for you two, but I’ll have to figure something out for her.” Clara thrust an armful of clothes in Aubrey and Kayla’s arms. “Pull that curtain and you can change behind there.”
    “Lady, I’m not changing anything until someone tells us what the hell is going on,” Kayla replied. Aubrey could hear the fear quivering in her voice. She was damn close to the edge herself, from the building panic surrounding her.
    “You’re travelers, just like we are. Which mound did you sleep on?” Henry rifled his fingers through his hair. “Shit, it doesn’t matter. They’ve got the damn things hidden all over the place.”
    “Calm down, Henry. Remember what it was like for us,” Clara said.
    “That was over a decade ago,” Henry reminded her.
    “Yes, but remember what it was like when we got here?”
    “Where the hell is here ?” Kayla demanded. A voice in her head whispered, Don’t go there. You don’t want to know.
    “We’re where you would think the Dakota’s would be.