Chapter 4

The next morning, Croft's men came for me. They weren't gentle. They dragged me from the bed and threw me in the back of a truck. The so-called resort was a scar on the mountainside, a patch of raw, red earth dotted with heavy machinery.

"Get to work," Croft said, gesturing to the barren land.

I stood there, swaying on my feet, and refused.

His patience snapped. He didn't yell. He walked up to me and hit me, a clean, hard punch to the jaw that sent me sprawling in the dirt. My head hit the ground, and the world spun.

"I'm not asking," he said, standing over me. His expensive shoes were inches from my face.

He kicked me in the ribs. Pain exploded in my side, sharp and blinding. I gasped for breath, coughing up dust. His men watched, their faces blank. They kicked me again. And again. They beat me until my body was a single, throbbing mass of pain, and then they left me lying there under the hot sun.

Hours later, after they were gone, I dragged myself to my feet. Every movement was agony. My side felt like it was on fire, and my head throbbed with a nauseating rhythm. I didn't know where to go. Returning to Croft's house was unthinkable. The only other place I knew was Havenwood.

It was a long, slow journey. I walked for hours, my body screaming with every step. I must have been a pitiful sight, covered in dirt and blood, my clothes torn.

When I finally stumbled into the outskirts of Havenwood, the sun was setting. The first person to see me was Mrs. Finch. She was sweeping her porch. Her eyes widened, not with pity, but with fear and disgust. She dropped her broom and ran inside, slamming the door.

Soon, others appeared. They gathered in the street, keeping their distance. They stared at my battered body, and there was no sympathy in their eyes. There was only accusation.

Mr. Gable pushed his way to the front of the crowd.

"Look at him," he sneered. "He's come crawling back."

"What do you want?" another man shouted. "Haven't you done enough damage?"

"Damage?" I whispered, my throat raw. "I didn't do anything."

"The blight is worse than ever," Mr. Gable spat. "Since you left, it's spread to the corn. The whole harvest is ruined. This is your doing. You abandoned us, and now you've come back to watch us suffer."

The sheer injustice of it stole my breath. They had betrayed me, had me thrown in jail, and now they were blaming me for the consequences of their own greed. They had driven me out, and now they were angry that I was gone.

"This is what you wanted," I said, my voice shaking with a mixture of pain and disbelief. "You wanted me gone."

"We wanted the problem solved!" a woman cried. "But you took your gift and ran. You left us with the curse!"

"The curse," Mr. Gable said, his eyes glinting with a new, terrible idea. "He's right. The town is cursed because of him. He owes us."

He stepped closer, his face a mask of self-righteous fury.

"My a family's farm is going to go bankrupt. The Finches will lose their house. We have all suffered because of your selfishness. You need to pay for what you've done."

A murmur went through the crowd. They liked this idea. It gave their hatred a purpose.

"Pay?" I laughed, a broken, painful sound. "I have nothing."

"Oh, you have something," Mr. Gable said, a cruel smile spreading across his face. "We figure the damage you've caused, the lost crops, the suffering... it comes to about a million dollars."

A million dollars. The number was so absurd, so nonsensical, that I could only stare at him in stunned silence. He couldn't be serious.

But he was. The entire town was. They looked at me with hungry eyes, as if I could somehow pull a million dollars out of thin air just for them.

"You're insane," I breathed.

"No," Mr. Gable said, his voice cold and final. "We're just collecting what we're owed. You will pay us back, Ethan. One way or another."

I stood there, surrounded by the people I once called my neighbors, my friends. My body ached from a beating I received for refusing to be a tool, and now my spirit was being crushed by the insane demands of the people I had tried to save. The world had gone mad, and I was trapped in the middle of it.