I heard them whispering but their voices carried despite their low tones.

What were they doing out there in the middle of the night anyway?

I wasn’t mean to hear what they were saying but how could I not? My instinct told me something was different. I had felt “it” coming for days after all.

What “it” was, I couldn’t say for certain.

“It” had existed somewhere in the back of my mind for as long as I could remember, knowing the day was coming but not understanding what it meant.

But how did I know it was here?

Perhaps it was the way my mother smiled at me almost placatingly or the way Sir eyed me with special interest.

Maybe it was Lucy being extra bitter toward me or the panic in Jillian’s eyes.

Whatever the reason, I knew the change was coming and it filled me with dread.

“What are you doing here, Eloise?”

I jumped at the sound of Randolph’s voice at my back and I whirled to smile at him weakly, skirts swirling at my calves.

“I thought I heard something,” I fibbed, darting my dark eyes downward so he wouldn’t read the lie in them. “I just came to investigate.”

“It was probably a coyote,” he told me, grabbing my arm and spinning me away from the tree line. “You shouldn’t be out here alone at night. We’ve already lost three sheep in two weeks.”

But it wasn’t the coyotes which concerned me.

Coyotes were natural creatures which behaved in predictable ways. They did not instill fear in me the way some of my human counterparts did.

Reluctantly, I allowed Randolph to lead me back toward the house but I couldn’t resist glancing over my shoulder as if I would catch one more word.

It wasn’t as if I understood what was being said anyway but maybe if I could hear one more thing…

“The temperature is dropping,” Randolph told me, releasing my arm abruptly, no doubt worried that someone would see him touching me. “And you aren’t even wearing a coat.”

“I did not intend to stay out long,” I replied quickly, wondering if he suspected that I had been trying to listen.

I hoped not; he was apt to run back to Sir and tell him what I had been up to and a flogging would be inevitable.

There was nothing I could do about it now.

I hadn’t been careful enough. I was growing reckless in my mounting unrest.

We continued the rest of the short trek in silence, Randolph leaving me at the door and turning to leave before anyone saw him.

For as much as he prided himself on being the keeper of order, he knew that if Sir caught him on the women’s property, he would be severely punished.

No man was allowed there.

No man except Sir, of course.

Without a word, Randolph disappeared into the darkness, not even the bright light of the half-moon making his lanky form visible.

There was not a cloud in the sky on that cold October night, making the atmosphere seem even more frigid somehow.

Or maybe that was just my heart running on ice.

I stood on the unstable porch, not wanting to create a creak with my feet lest I arouse the attention of the others.

As Randolph had said, the air had turned and I could see my breath coming out in short puffs of steam as I tried to make sense of what I had heard in the woods moments earlier.

Perhaps I had misunderstood.

“Eloise! What on God’s earth are you doing out here?”

I cringed inwardly and turned to face Lucy.

Was everyone meant to see me that night?

“I am just taking some air,” I replied but she didn’t seem to accept that as an excuse.

“You shouldn’t be out here. Come inside before you catch a chill. We can’t afford for you to get sick, not now.”

The hairs on my arms rose at the words and I wondered what that meant.

Why not now? What is so different than any other time?

But as I followed Lucy back inside, grateful that the days of her cupping my ear were long over.

The words I heard in the woods came flittering back into my mind.

I forced myself not to think about it, even though I had been so eager to hear earlier.

“Off to bed. It’s late and you need to be well-rested,” Lucy instructed.

Swallowing the half dozen questions which sprung to my mind, I lowered my blonde head and hurried past her to climb the stairs to my room in the attic.

“Eloise,” Lucy called and I paused, my heart rate escalating slightly as I turned to look at her.

“When you rise, you are to bathe immediately. Margaret will dress you.”

My honey colored eyebrows knit together as I stared at her with perplexed coffee eyes.

It was not bath day and even if it was, never would I bathe in the morning.

Alarms seemed to be sounding in my mind as I debated whether to ask the question aloud.

“Is tomorrow different than any other day?” I asked timidly. It was not in my nature to ask questions of my elders, especially not Lucy whose tongue was sharper than the wood-splitting ax.

“Do as you’re told, girl!” she snapped. “And do not let me catch you outside again in the middle of the night. The coyotes are on the prowl.”

She spun toward her own room on the main floor near the kitchen, leaving me to stare after her, gulping back the lump in my throat.

My instincts had been right.

Something was happening, something I didn’t understand.

I slowly took the steps up to the third floor, my mind racing as I wondered about the next day.

“It is time.”

That was what Sir had said in the woods and the words had filled me with dread for some inexplicable reason.

Time for what? What does it mean?

I would find out the next day but sleep would not come easily for me that night.

And coyotes or not, I had the insurmountable desire to flee into the mountains.

But why? What could I possibly be so scared of?

I had no idea.