I led Talin into a thicket of trees as we approached the house. The sun was up. There would be no using the cover of night.
“Dad, wake up,” I said gently as I straightened my back to force him awake.
He sat up.
I slid off Talin and tied her loosely to a tree. I petted her nose and leaned my forehead against hers.
“Pray for me,” I whispered to her.
My dad got down. He stretched his back.
“What’s going on?” he asked. The little food and brief rest had made him more alert.
“I don’t know. They’ve been afraid a neighbor, Mick Jacobson, would attack, and I think he has,” I said, angling closer to the house, my dad following in my tracks.
“Mick? That kid is bad news,” he said as we reached the edge of the tree line. We couldn’t risk going any closer without being seen.
“He’s not a kid an
