'Anani,' Sarah took hold of the young boy's hand. 'Anani, follow me.' She led him through the dark night toward the edge of the wood. They were still very close to the guest home, and she could see clearly the South Camp just about hundred feet away. They were so close to the guest house that Edward Riske could easily light a kerosene lantern and see them with only having to walk fifty feet. But luckily for Sarah there was a fog that lay over the plantation that day, and no one could see anything except if it was close to them.

Dew laid down over the leaves and grass. Sarah squatted down in the wet grass to get a closer look. Sarah took Anani and put his hand on a few leaves that were gathered at the edge of the forest. Holding her lamp close to them, she begged him to touch them. 'Leaves…leaves…'

'Leaves…' he said not as confidently as she had hoped but still he had said it. As he touched them he quickly pulled back.

'Wet…'

'Wet…' he repeated.

'They are wet.'

'They are wet.' She was astonished at his rate of learning. She set the lantern down on the ground and put the leaves down as she did. She sat back a little as Anani did the same.

She pointed to herself. 'Me…' She then pointed to him. 'You…'

He pointed to himself. 'Me…' he said unsure. Then he pointed to Sarah. 'You…'

'Yes!' Sarah said gleefully.

'Yes!' Anani joined her cries.

She repeated it again. 'Me…You…'

He again followed her actions. 'Me…You…'

'Yes.' Sarah's face lit up with a smile.

Anani looked at her oddly and then smiled as well. 'Yes,' he said a little less excited then Sarah.

Sarah then continued. Pointing once again to herself, 'Sarah…' Pointing to him. 'Anani…'

'Anani…' he pointed to himself then to her. 'Sarah.'

'Say: "I'm Anani."'

'Say: I'm Anani.'

'Close. I'm Anani.'

'I'm Anani.'

'Yes.'

'Yes.'

She nodded her head. 'Yes.'

He nodded his head as well. 'Yes.'

'No,' her voice turned stern and she shook her head.

'No.' He shook his head as well.

She smiled and nodded her head. 'Yes.' Then turned stern and shook her head. 'No.'

He followed her and did the same.

'Good, Anani.'

'Good Anani,' he said proudly. Before morning she returned him to the house and left for home.

When she entered the small cabin Jesse stood before her. He looked very sternly at Sarah. 'Where you been, Tashie?'

'Nowhere.'

'You been at the son's house, haven't you?'

'No.'

'I know what he'd been doin' to you. I know you know better then that Tashie.'

'I do.'

'Get to bed, now. Else I'll have to take you over my knee.'

Tashie went to bed quickly, though she was filled with pride and joy for her accomplishment with Anani. She could not wait until she could get back to Edward's to help Anani the next day.

'Anani's vocabulary is growing greatly. So is Kali's. He's been doing very good.'

'It's good that you did not need to go to such extreme measures of bring them outside and risking exposure to my father and still are able to teach them.'

'Yes, I guess I just got lucky.' She lied once again to her master's son. Anani and Kali were the only ones that had gone out so far. Anani she had only taken out at night, though Kali she had taken out, dressed as a work man, to the stables. Kali was the only one that could out progress Anani. Even Stephen and Edward had been amazed at the words he could say. He was now starting to form sentences on his own. Stephen had taken to giving Kali lessons on speaking at night, since he knew that Sarah was helping the greatly but they needed more. Since Kali was always at more lessons at night, Sarah did only take him out during the day, and nearly always took him to the stables, as that was his favorite, except for the sheep and pigs which were easy to see as you could see many of them at once in one pen instead of having to look at them each separately.

Anani had not been going out at night any longer since Kali was taking lessons with Stephen in the parlor and Sarah had not been able to sneak him down at all so his lessons were forgone for a while.

Sarah was suspicious of Stephen and had been for a while. She suspected that he knew what she was doing with the slaves during the night and day. She had a feeling that he knew all about her taking them outside to see things and that was why they had made such progress. But he never talked to her about it. Stephen did know, but knew that Sarah and Edward were both his friends, and he was not going to tell Edward.

The days and months past slowly and many times Edward went into Charleston to see O'Riley again about Anna Sophia. And again and again O'Riley would ask Edward, 'When will I met the girl?' and Edward just had to answer, 'Soon enough.'

But finally after a long time Edward knew the time had come to tell Sarah about her past. He told O'Riley to come to his father's plantation and Edward would meet him there with Sarah. Edward saw Sarah was being taken by his father more and more, and the longer that she was away from Edward the longer it would take to teach the slaves. No one had found them out and Edward was not going to risk anymore time. There were already several slaves that knew a fare about of English, enough to go and get an apprenticeship but both Anani and Kali were still there.

Everyday Sarah would come back later and later and leave earlier and earlier. And Jesse would always note the time when he saw her enter and leave. Still a dress was left on her door everyday and finally Jesse told her to return them all to Edward, since she did not need them, and Tashie followed Jesse's orders.

Edward was a bit taken back when Sarah finally brought the dresses to him, as he only wanted Sarah to have them, and had no use for them other wise. But he put them away to give to her before she left for England.

By the end of August Sarah was sending almost no time at Edward's and instead was spending much of the time both in the warming kitchen and cleaning in the house. Hardly anytime was spent at Edward's at all and the small time that she had away from her work was the only time when she could rest. She would always wake up in the morning, go to the warming kitchen to help with the meals for the day, then go and feed the animals, then return to the master's house and serve them breakfast. Then spend the rest of the morning and afternoon cleaning their home.

Nathanial Riske had found out about Edward's dealings though and that was the only reason why he wanted Sarah to clean in his home. He did not want his son to disobey him so he figured the only way that Edward was able to teach them was because of Sarah. So he would just remove Sarah from that. But when Nathanial finally realized that it was not working just removing Sarah from Edward's grasp, he had to do more.

It was on the fifth of September when Edward called upon Mr. O'Riley to come to the plantation to meet Sarah, and then take her back to Charleston then to London. But when Nathanial Riske heard of his son's sending for O'Riley he had to act quickly. He wrote to one of his friends in New England that wanted another slave, and Nathanial knew that the only way for Edward to stop his dealings with the slaves, was to send Sarah away. It was hard to do, but Nathanial knew that she was a playing piece between him and his son.

If Sarah went away Nathanial would kill the plans to educate the slaves that his son bought, and then would take them into his care and get forty new slaves, and giving up Sarah was a small price to pay. But on the other hand, if Sarah did not go away, Nathanial would make his son expose the slaves, and would secretly capture his son and make him a slave with the rest of them. Either would be a terrible price for Edward to have to pay, and neither one of them would he like to pay, but he had to choose.

Edward was called to his father's office on the fifth as was Sarah. John O'Riley had arrived to the master house just before Edward had entered and was sitting in the hall that led to his father's office. As Edward rushed past O'Riley to see his father, John stood up to try to intercept Edward to talk to him. O'Riley held out his hand. 'Edward, my boy, nice to see you again,' O'Riley greeted.

'In a moment sir,' Edward staid stiffly.

It had started raining out side and the thunder shook the house. Everywhere kerosene lanterns were thrown about and it lit up the house with the small amount of light was given by them. Edward rushed into his father's office, not knowing what was to be found.

He saw first a man standing in front of his father's desk and then his father. 'Father, you sent for me?' Edward asked.

The man in front of the desk quickly stepped to the side and left Mr. Riske with a solemn expression behind him. Although Nathanial Riske was solemn, he was inside filling with joy with the thought of the torment that he was going to be causing his son. 'Yes, Edward. You remember Mr. John Bishop from Connecticut?' He motioned to the man.

'Yes, nice to see you once again, Mr. Bishop.'

'You've grown Edward.'

'Yes, now father what did you want to see me about?'

'Do you know the slave "Sarah" in Emma House?'

'Yes, sir.'

'I'm selling her.'

Edward went pale with dread. 'What?'

'I'm selling her to Mr. Bishop. Unless you can give me a good reason not to.'

'Father, I…'

'Yes?'

'I…You can't sell her.'

'Why?'

'Because…' Now was the time that Nathanial Riske had been waiting for. 'She is not…'

'I know that's not your reason, Edward.'

'Because…'

'I was going to keep this a secret Edward, but I know about everything that you're doing. I've known for some time now.'

'How?'

'Sarah's own father told me. Jesse. He's quite a good man.'

'Father, you cannot sell her.'

'I know your first reason why I cannot, but yet I know there's a second reason that I don't.'

'I…I…I can't sir.'

'Tell me!' Nathanial said harshly. 'Or you'll become one of them.'

'What?'

'If you are not going to tell me Edward, I have made other arrangements; you will be sold into slavery. You will be my own personal slave. How do you like that my son? But if you do not, Sarah will be sold. Otherwise you can stay here with Sarah, although I will make sure that has very little work to do. If that makes the choice easier. Give your freedom for hers, or her freedom for yours.'

A knock came to the door. 'Mr. Riske?' Sarah called.

'Come in Sarah,' Nathanial called.

Edward had chosen before she came to the door, but with Sarah there it made it harder. She would not know what was at stake, and therefore his sacrifice would only be minimal to her. She entered through the door and Edward felt his heart fall. 'We were just talking about you Sarah, actually Edward has something to say to you.'

Sarah turned to Edward and Edward did his best to not break. 'I…' he started then fumbled.

'Yes?' Sarah begged he continue.

'I…' he again trembled.

'Go, on,' Sarah told him.

'Yes, Edward go on. Tell Sarah…tell me…' Nathanial threatened.

Edward clenched his hands into fists and prayed for strength. He swallowed his tears and closed his eyes then opened them with renewed strength. 'I love you.'

Sarah went deft to everything around her except for the fire crackling along the way. Finally Nathanial stood up from his chair and looked defiantly at his son. 'Kelsey and Jacob!' he called to the slaves that were standing outside the door.

Both entered and went to Edward and took hold of his arms. Sarah was taken back by this sudden flood of people that came in to take away Edward. And she started to fall back toward the door in shock. 'Sir!' she called to Edward. 'Sir!'

'Go Sarah! Leave!' Sarah walked out toward the door quickly. 'Don't walk Sarah! Run!' She took off and started running. Out the front door and down the deck until finally she reached the rode. The rain was coming down hard and she could already see men coming from the master's home. She could not run much farther with her clothes dirty and all wet. She started out once again but soon faltered and tripped. The two figures from the house were soon down upon her and took her back to the main house.

She was still a slave, and Nathanial had backed out on his promise to his son, but no one would ever listen to a slave, even if he was a white slave.