In the mountain cave, Sarah slowly healed. Bram and Kojo treated her injuries and gave her water, herbs, and warmth. When she was strong enough to sit by the fire, Bram finally told her the truth.
“Mr. Okafor is no ordinary trader,” he said. “He does not take brides to fine houses. He buys girls and sells them into the northern salt mines. Once they enter his carriage, they are never seen again.”
Sarah froze.
Agnes had not only tried to kill her. She had unknowingly sent her own daughter into slavery.
“I have to go back,” Sarah said at once. “I must stop them.”
“You are too weak,” Kojo protested.
“Then teach me the hidden paths,” Sarah said. “I will not let another girl disappear because of a lie.”
Bram studied the fire in her eyes and nodded.
When Sarah was finally strong enough to descend, she returned to Omio wearing a leopard skin, her arm in a splint, her face marked by scratches and pain.
At sunset she stepped into her father’s compound.
The villagers stared in horror. They thought she was a ghost.
John fell backward in terror.
“Sarah… is it your spirit?”
“I am no spirit, Father,” she said.
Agnes screamed.
“You are dead! I saw you fall!”
The villagers gasped. Agnes had confessed before them all.
Sarah stepped into the firelight.
“The mountain did not kill me,” she said. “But it revealed the truth. Where is Isidora?”
“She has gone to the city!” Agnes cried. “She is a rich wife now!”
“No,” Sarah said, her voice filled with sorrow. “She is not a wife. Mr. Okafor is a trafficker. He buys girls and sends them to the salt mines. By now the carriage is near the Crossroads of Shadows. If we do not move now, she will be lost forever.”
Agnes’s face went white.
John’s shame finally rose higher than his fear.
He picked up his machete. The village men grabbed spears. Bram and Kojo stepped forward from the shadows.
That night, Sarah led them into the dark.
At the Crossroads of Shadows, Mr. Okafor’s carriage had stopped to rest. Inside, Isidora sat trembling, her bridal veil thrown aside, her face streaked with tears. She had already seen the iron shackles hidden beneath the seat. She now understood too late what kind of man she had married.
When the hunters’ whistle split the night, panic broke out.
John charged first, shouting. Kojo seized the lead horse. Bram and the hunters overpowered Okafor’s guards before they could react.
Sarah rushed to the carriage and yanked open the door.
Isidora shrank back, horrified.
“The ghost! The ghost has come for me!”
“It is no ghost,” Sarah said, extending her good hand. “It is your sister. Come. We are going home.”
Isidora stared at Sarah’s bruised face and splinted arm. Then she broke down sobbing and collapsed into her arms.
For the first time in their lives, they held each other without hatred.
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