“Let me out of this chair, and I’ll do my damned best.” Seth wiggled in the chair, trying to loosen his hands. Abbadelli nodded at Jason and lowered his shotgun. He leaned heavily against the frame of the doorway.

Jason attacked the knots while Seth tried to hold still. After an eternity, the rope fell away and spikes jammed their way up Seth’s nerve pathways in his arms. He leaped out of the chair, rubbing at his hands. Jason offered him the gun. He shook his head; his fingers couldn’t aim the small gun. “I’ll shoot myself.”

Abbadelli held out the shotgun, his eyes downcast. That size weapon he might be able to handle. Point in the general direction and pull trigger. Seth clumsily tucked it under his arm, clasping it to his side, still working the circulation back into his hands. He stood for a second, studying the old man, who seemed to fold in on himself. “Victoria really made something of herself,” Abbadelli said quietly. “I don’t know what happened with Leo.”

His words spun in Seth’s head. Why would Abbadelli care about Victoria?

Jason tugged on his arm. “Let’s go. Hurry up. We’ve got to stop him.”

Seth jogged down the porch steps after the teen, and followed him into the dark. He glanced back at the porch and saw Abbadelli lift the flask from the porch railing to his lips.

Seth didn’t stop.

From far off, he heard a siren.

Victoria stood in front of Trinity, blocking Leo’s lecherous gaze as the teen changed into the dress. The dresses weren’t dresses. They were shapeless shifts sewn from white sheets. And there were at least a half dozen in the box. Victoria didn’t want to know how many there’d originally been. Trinity had turned her back and slipped the shift over her head, pulling her jeans and shirt off underneath. Victoria did the same and then followed Leo’s directions to help with Trinity’s hair.

Leo didn’t seem too upset by Jason’s absence. Victoria prayed he’d gone for help, but Leo blew it off, saying the boy had gone to hide under his bed.

Isabel had awoken two more times. Mumbling incoherently both times. Victoria worried for her. Her doubt about Isabel’s identity as her mother was nearly gone. She’d known in her gut the moment she’d seen her step into the street that she was looking at herself in thirty years. Minus the cigarettes.

She’d much rather claim the bond with Isabel than with Leo.

Or the bond to the Santa Claus with the shotgun who was her father.

It hadn’t sunk in. She remembered bits and pieces about Cesare Abbadelli from her childhood. He’d always had a pat on the head and a kind word for her. And then her family had left. Had her parents known she was Cesare’s daughter?

She doubted it. Her caring parents would never have removed her from his immediate circle if they’d known she was his daughter. She wondered if he’d fought their move to Portland.

One-handed, she tried to evenly move the black dye through Trinity’s hair. The chemical stench filled the cabin. There was no water to rinse it off with. Nothing to wash the dye from their hands. They weren’t imitating the ethereal girls from last week. This looked like they’d played in ink. Sloppy. The mess made Leo angry.

“Dad?”

Leo’s face brightened at the sound of Jason’s voice outside. “Damn you, Jason! I need a bucket of water,” he yelled back through the closed door.

“Okay,” the boy called back.

Seth heard the sirens more consistently as Jason filled a big bucket of water outside the shed. Hose in his hand, the teen glanced anxiously at him. “What’s going to happen?”

“I need a distraction. The sirens are getting closer and Leo’s going to hear them soon. It’s going to be a fire truck responding to Victoria’s call about Trinity’s car, but maybe there’ll be some police too. We need to hold Leo for them.”

“What about locking him in the cabin? Can you get the women out?” Jason asked.

Seth thought for a second then shook his head.

“Jason!” Leo yelled from inside the shed.

“Coming, Dad!” he hollered back. Jason turned off the hose and threw it aside.

Seth grabbed his arm. “Listen. I want you to throw the water at him and then hit the ground no matter what. If I have to, I’ll shoot him in the leg to slow him down.”

Wide eyes met Seth’s, but the teen nodded.

They had one chance.

What would he see when Jason opened the door?

Seth moved back into the darkness as Jason stepped up to the shed door and rapped with his knuckles. “It’s me, Dad.”

There was a pause and the door opened inward, spilling a weak light out into the wet night. Seth couldn’t see inside the shed. He took three steps to his right, crouching and straining to get a glimpse of Tori. Jason stepped up the single big step inside, the bucket sloshing in one hand, his pistol in the other. Shadows moved inside.

Where was Tori?

Seth crept closer, his hands tight on the shotgun. He could feel all his fingers now and had faith in his ability to pull the trigger. But could he do it if he was pointing the weapon at a human?

To save a life he could.

He could see Leo, his back against a side wall, his shotgun pointed at his own son as he moved forward with the water. Jason would have to get closer to surprise his father with the water. Tori and Trinity were at the back of the cabin, covered in white gowns and… black paint?

“Set it down,” Leo ordered. “And give me your gun.”