Page 77 of The Chain

Kylie turns to face her. “Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“They explained to me that they couldn’t release me until you continued The Chain.”

Rachel looks at the floor.

“Mom?”

Rachel swallows hard. She can’t lie about this—it would make everything worse. “That’s right,” she says.

“So, wait, did you…have you…” Kylie asks, horrified.

“I’m sorry. I, I, I had to.”

“You kidnapped someone?”

“I had to.”

“You still have them?”

“Yes. I can’t release them until The Chain continues.”

“Oh my God!” Kylie says, her eyes wide. “Where?”

“We found a…I found an empty house on the other side of the basin. A house with a basement.”

“They’re over there right now? Alone?”

“That’s where Pete is.”

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“The less you know, the better.”

“I want to know!”

“A girl,” Rachel says, feeling great waves of shame course through her.

A great river of shame as brown as shit.

“Can’t you just let her go?”

Rachel fights her gag reflex and the flight response and forces herself to confront the present reality. She looks Kylie in the eye and shakes her head.

“C—can’t we go to the FBI and have them hide us and give us new identities or something like that?” Kylie asks.

“It’s not so simple. We’ve—I’ve—actually kidnapped someone. They’ll send me to jail. And you won’t be safe. I believe them when they say that The Chain has never been successfully broken. I think they’ll find us wherever we go. I can’t take that risk.”

“Can I see the girl? Can I talk to her?”

Rachel shudders at the thought of dragging Kylie deeper into this. “No, you go back to school. We’ll handle this. Me and Pete.”

“What’s her name?”

“It’s best that you don’t know.”

“Does she have Marshmallow?”