Savannah Burning

Chapter Fifteen

The word echoed in my head.

Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom. It was the word Savanna couldn’t bear to say. It was the name she called her kidnapper for twelve years.

“Mommy?” Savanna whimpered and the woman, Savanna’s kidnapper, smiled.

She opened her arms and Savanna took a step forward but I yanked her back towards me. The woman’s ecstatic expression slipped from her face, replaced by a look of surprise and hurt.

“Savanna,” I warned, “I don’t like this.”

“It’s fine,” she whispered back. Then, to the woman, “it’s fine. Right?”

“Baby,” the woman – Jenny, I recalled the news report calling her – cooed. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t come earlier.”

“I miss you,” Savanna blurted. She shifted her weight forward and my hand on her shoulder tightened.

“I miss you too,” the woman said, taking a step towards us. I pulled Savanna closer to my chest, away from this woman.

“How did you . . . how did you know –“

“How to find you?” Jenny laughed. “I’ve been here for weeks. I saw you at the mall. I saw the flyer. I knew you’d come. I know how much you love Halloween.” She beamed at Savanna and I was floored, once again, at how normal Jenny Miller looked. At how motherly she was.

“What do you mean you’ve been here for weeks?” Savanna asked, her voice strangled with emotions. “You shouldn’t be here. They’re looking for you. If they find you . . . if they find out . . .”

“I know, I know,” Jenny said, closing the gap between her and Savanna, knocking my hand off her shoulder and replacing it with her own, pulling Savanna into a hug. “I needed to see you, baby.”

“They know you’ll come find me,” Savanna said, resting her cheek against Jenny’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around her.

“But what they don’t know is that I’ve already found you,” Jenny said warmly. A chill washed over me and I shivered. I did not like this. Not one bit. I watched in horror and heartbreak as tears began to fall down Savanna’s face, muddying her makeup. Her hands gripped Jenny’s shoulders, hanging on to her as if she were about to be ripped away from her at any given moment which, I suppose, she was because I found myself moving towards her, pulling her away from this woman, pulling her away from the woman who stole Savanna and changed the course of history for all of us.

“That’s enough,” I said, my body shaking with anger. Savanna turned away, towards me, wiping away her tears. I stepped around her, putting myself between her and her kidnapper. “I know who you are,” I said quietly, “and I need you to leave. Now.”

“Don’t give up hope, sweetie,” Jenny called to Savanna over my shoulder. “You’ll be hearing from me soon.”

“No,” Savanna insisted and, for a moment, I thought that she was coming to her senses. I thought that, maybe, she was finally realizing who and what this woman was. And I knew Jenny thought the same – a flicker of fear flashed across her face before Savanna reached forward and collected Jenny’s hands in her own. “You need to go. You need to run. Get as far away from here as possible. They’ll find you. I can’t have them finding you. You need to be careful.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw a boy dressed as a cowboy give Savanna a double glance, stopping in his tracks.

“Promise me you’ll be careful,” Savanna was saying.

“I promise,” Jenny said.

The cowboy stepped closer to us. “Hey,” he said quizzically. “Aren’t you Savanna Skye?” The three of us all collectively drew in a deep breath. You are Savanna Skye!” The boy yelled, drawing attention from other people. “I’d recognize those freckles anywhere!”

“Savanna Skye?” Her name echoed through the crowd.

“Oh, my God. The girl that got kidnapped is here!” A girl dressed like a luau dancer yelled.

Savanna turned to Jenny. “Go.” She didn’t need to be told twice. The woman took a step backwards, blowing a kiss, and disappeared into the crowd that was beginning to press around Savanna and myself. I grabbed Savanna’s hand and began to pull her through the crowd, trying to ignore the yells and the flashes of cameras that followed us. Up ahead I saw Daisy sprinting towards us.

“Robbie’s getting the car,” she panted, grabbing my free hand and yanking me in a different direction. “Gotta hurry. Don’t want him to crash it!”

She flashed a dimpled smile at Savanna whose expression never broke; her face had paled, her freckles standing out dark against her stark skin and those technicolor eyes. Up ahead the vampire who had let us in was waving us over, holding open a metal gate hidden behind a fortuneteller’s booth.

“I knew I recognized you,” he said, shaking his head as we sprinted through it. “Good luck!” We pushed through the crowd waiting outside the gates, Savanna’s name bouncing from lips to lips all around us, flashes of people’s phones going off in our faces, all desperate to snap a picture of The Girl Who Got Kidnapped.

The passenger door swung open and Savanna threw herself head-first into it. A second later the back door opened and I pushed Daisy in ahead of me before sliding in myself.

“Go, go, go!” I yelled.

“I’M TRYING!” Robbie yelled.

The car revved, stuttered, and then revved again, bucking forward. The Millennial Falcon peeled out, squealing and groaning from the effort. I leaned forward in my seat, tapping Savanna on her shoulder. She turned around, wide-eyed and pale.

“Okay?” I asked her and she gave me a slight nod before turning back around. I sat back, frowning and nudged Daisy. “How did you know something was wrong?” I whispered to her.

“That chick from the mall? The one I wasn’t sure was following us? Same woman as the sock-hop lady.” It took a minute for this to sink in, an icy chill creeping down my spine.

“You know who she is, right?” I whispered back.

“At this point,” Daisy answered, “I have a pretty good idea.” I sat back in my seat, staring out the window, Jenny’s promise echoing in my head.