The sun was rising now, brushing the tops of the pines with gold as Ellie trudged along the shoulder of the road, the wheels of her duffel thumping against patches of gravel. Her legs ached, her stomach was hollow, but she didn't care. She didn't even know where she was walking anymore—only that it was forward.
That had to count for something.
A low rumble of tires broke the quiet. She turned instinctively, ready to keep her head down. Another neighbor? Someone from the Hall? Was her mom sending someone else after her?
But when the old forest-green Jeep pulled into view and slowed beside her, her heart lurched in a different way.
No.
Not him.
The passenger window rolled down with a reluctant groan, and there he was.
"Ellie?" Dylan leaned across the seat, his brown curls tangled from sleep and his gray hoodie crooked on his shoulder. "You good?"
For a second, she just stared at him, too stunned to speak. It felt like he'd been pulled from a dream. Or maybe she had stepped into one.
"I—" she started, then exhaled. "No. Not really."
Dylan reached across and pushed open the passenger door. "Get in."
She hesitated only a beat before climbing in and slamming the door shut behind her. The inside of the Jeep smelled like campfire smoke and peppermint gum, familiar and warm in a way that made her chest hurt.
They drove a few hundred yards in silence before he glanced over at her. "So… you wanna tell me why you're walking down Highway 31 with a military duffel like you're deserting an army?"
Ellie let out a hollow laugh. "That's kind of exactly what I'm doing."
"Okay. Well. I'm not saying I told you so, but…" Dylan grinned sideways. "I did say you'd snap eventually."
She smirked despite herself. "You also said you were gonna quit your job and live in a tent in Marquette, so let's not pretend you're psychic."
"Touché."
He turned off the main road onto a narrow back lane that snaked through the woods. The kind of road they always took when they needed to disappear.
She glanced at him, then down at her hands. "My mom caught me."
Dylan's smile faded. "Caught you what?"
"Leaving. She came and picked me up from the bus station. I told her I was done with the Hall. With all of it." She bit her lip. "She didn't even try to argue. Just let me go."
Silence filled the space between them.
"Shit," he said finally. "So this is real."
Ellie nodded. "I've got nowhere to go, and she won't take me back—not now that I said it out loud."
"You've got me," he said, so easily it broke something open in her.
She stared at him. "I know. That's the only thing that doesn't feel terrifying."
They ended up at the bluff overlooking the lake, a place they'd come to a dozen times in the past year—always under the excuse of "study partners" or "school project buddies." Dylan was one of the few people outside her congregation she'd been allowed to talk to, mainly because his aunt was "spiritually inactive but harmless" and he was polite to her mom.
That was the loophole. And they'd both learned how to walk in it carefully.
It started with study sessions. Turned into inside jokes. Then shared playlists. Then hidden notes. Then one night last fall, the Jeep parked under this very tree and the heat of his hand in hers.
No one knew. Not even her brother.
It wasn't that Dylan was worldly—he wasn't reckless or cruel. But he asked questions. He saw people. He looked at Ellie like she wasn't broken for wanting more than obedience and field service.
"I was gonna leave," she said now, sitting on the hood of the Jeep, her knees pulled up to her chest. "I had a plan. Sort of. And now I'm in limbo."
Dylan leaned against the bumper beside her. "Then let this be the start. Not the end."
She looked over at him, brushing a stray hair from her face. "What does that even mean?"
"It means," he said, "you get to figure it out now. For real. No script. Just… what you want. What you believe."
Ellie stared out at the lake. The water shimmered in the morning sun like a thousand unopened doors.
"I want to believe it won't all fall apart."
He bumped his shoulder into hers gently. "If it does, we'll fall together."
She turned to him, eyes searching his face. "We've been a secret so long. I don't even know what we are."
He looked back at her, steady. "We're whatever you need right now."
She reached for his hand. This time, she didn't have to hide it.
For the first time, their story wasn't secret anymore. It was hers.
And it was just beginning.