Free Cogling by Jordan Elizabeth Page A

swam with liquid, the white marred with veins.
    “I don’t like this village,” Ike whispered.
    Edna shivered. “Annie’s help’s a miracle.”
    Down the street, a bell clanged
    “I have a feeling the sooner we’re out of here, the better for everything.”
    She lowered her voice. “Do you still want to go with Annie’s family? They do treat Jimmy awful.”
    “That doesn’t say too much. He’s a tomtar—their slave.”
    She gnawed her lip. “If you think we should leave, do we go? You got us this far, even if it has been rock-strewn.”
    Annie bounded from the store, swinging her arms. “This is Father.”
    A tall man followed with his hands in the pockets of his denim overalls. A straw hat hung over his face, whiskers poking from his chin. “My daughter said you need a ride to Strathmore.” His gaze brushed over them. “You’re willing to work?”
    “Yes, sir.” Ike nodded. “What kind of work d’you have in mind?”
    “Just a bit of carrying. Follow me out back.” The man headed around the store. Annie grinned before following him. Edna glanced at Ike, smiling when he grabbed her arm. They
would
reach Harrison. Ike’s feeling must’ve passed after he met the man.
    As they ventured around the shop, the air adopted a fish odor.
    “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a fish market back here,” Edna muttered. “It reeks.”
    Ike chuckled. “We’re near the river.”
    That shouldn’t make such a difference. As she turned toward him, he grunted.
    “Ike?” Something clamped around her throat, sending up a barrier between her and breath, and unconsciousness crept over her.



Here you are so here I be.
    dna’s nose tickled and she opened her eyes. “Ike, what happened?” A hard floor pressed into the back of her head. The veins in her temple throbbed. Edna rolled onto her front and propped herself up to relieve the pressure building in her skull. Firelight from wall sconces illuminated the room, where clothes in a multitude of colors hung from metal hooks on the peeling walls; the only furniture a table near the door.
    She’d never seen this room before. Could she be hallucinating? Edna rubbed her forehead.
I was in the alley. Shouldn’t be here.
“Ike?”
    Edna pushed onto her knees and grabbed the table to pull herself up. She wobbled as the room spun. Squeezing her eyes shut, she counted to ten before drawing a deep breath that rattled in her lungs. The air stank of cheap perfume and mold. The four walls closed in to suffocate her; a tomb, a cell.
    Staggering to the door, she tried the knob; locked. She fell against it with her fists, banging as she screamed. “Help! Somebody, lemme out!”
    The rough wood sawed her hands and caught in her lace gloves, but she ignored the pain. The gloves could be fixed later, but escaping couldn’t wait. No time could be wasted when Harrison needed her.
    The darkness exploded in her fast; if she let it, it would take control. “Stop it, stay down.” Edna pictured her brother, his smile when his front tooth had been missing and he would stick his tongue through the gap. Despite her racing heartbeat, the evil receded back toward her core.
    A key ground in the lock before the door opened outward, and she stumbled against a plump bosom. Hands grabbed her shoulders to push her backwards and she stared into the white-painted face of a broad woman wearing a black dress with skinny straps. Her beige corset laced over a maroon apron. Edna opened her mouth to ask who she was, but the words caught in her throat and she licked her lips to wet them.
    “The boy woke up ages ago,” the woman said. “Thought maybe they choked you a bit too much.”
    Edna tugged on her brown curls. “What?” The words didn’t process. She hadn’t choked.
    In the alley, that thing around her neck. She’d blacked out.
    “I’ll have one of the girls bring a bath in for you.”
    Edna shook her head, mouthing
no
. “I don’t need that.” Edna lifted a trembling hand to her