When You Were Young

She waited for them to pass as she had with Pryde, and then leapt from the top of the coils. She knocked Reverend Crane to the ground, his dagger skittering away into the water. Before he could react, she punched him in the face. Then she pulled out her pistol and cocked it. "It's time for you to go back to Hell," she said.

"What are you doing?" Miss Brigham asked.

"What has to be done."

"This savage is going to kill me," Reverend Crane said. "Molly, you can't let this happen. My blood will be on your hands. You will never wash away such sin."

"Don't listen to him, Molly. He killed your child, remember? He's enslaved you and the other children for hundreds of years. He deserves this."

"Molly, I love you. I've always loved you. What happened to our baby is terrible. It's a stain on my soul I will have to beg His forgiveness for forever. I panicked and I did something terrible." Reverend Crane started to cry. He held out his arms towards Molly. "You must forgive me. I love you. We'll have another baby. As many as you want."

"You're not going to worm out of this," Samantha said.

"No!" Miss Brigham screamed. Before Samantha could pull the trigger, Miss Brigham crashed into her. The shot went high, disappearing into the fog.

Samantha threw Molly off and lined up another shot just as the vial of glowing liquid shattered across her face. The pistol dropped from her grasp as she threw both hands to her face, wiping away the glass shards and liquid. No, not again!

When her vision cleared, Reverend Crane stood over her. She knelt there on the dock in her loose-fitting clothes, once more a ten-year-old girl. "Molly, give me the gun," Reverend Crane said.

"Molly, no!" Samantha squealed.

"Are you going to kill her?" Miss Brigham asked.

"No, of course not."

"Don't listen to him. He'll kill both of us."

Miss Brigham pressed the gun into Reverend Crane's hands. "You see, my child, she still loves me. Did you really think you could turn her against me after all these years?" He kissed a sobbing Miss Brigham on the forehead. "Go attend to Mr. Pryde my dear while I deal with her."

"Please, don't hurt her," Miss Brigham said.

"I'm sorry, my dear, but she knows too much," Reverend Crane said, turning on her. This gave Samantha the opportunity she needed to leap up and kick the gun away with one of her oversized shoes. The pistol dropped into the water.

Before Samantha could spin around to kick the reverend in the midsection, he grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. She tried to scramble to her feet, but her body wouldn't respond. "Spare the rod, spoil the child," he growled, hitting her over the head with a board.