Page 265 of Lethal King

“Took you long enough.”

It’s Tytus.

My vision is still spotty as I draw my gun and lash around.

“Don’t fucking move!” I order, blinking away the flashing white light.

“You may be wondering what this is,” he continues, undeterred by my threats.

Slowly, my vision refocuses.

Sure enough, I see Tytus. He’s standing right where I just was, in front of the log.

But something is off. His image seems to flicker.

I rub my eyes. But it doesn’t take long to realize what’s happening.

“A hologram,” I curse.

“Well, let me explain…” Tytus’ bright silver-blue eyes glow in his unsteady projection. His image flashes and pauses, but the audio remains surprisingly clear. “I thought this might be our safe place,” he says. “Our hidden little secret away from prying eyes. I engraved those coordinates on the back of your phone in case I ever wanted to get a message to you. I figured no one would ever show up here, not voluntarily—least of all Roz. But you would. Anything to solve the mystery of my disappearance. Anything to protect your empire… and your girl.”

Tucking away my gun, I begin to circle the hologram. It quickly becomes apparent that it’s a recording. Tytus must have left this somewhere in the ruins of Roz’s old village.

The cats probably dragged it back to their nest.

“I’m not as tech-savvy as Roz,” Tytus keeps talking. “I won’t be able to hack into your systems. But I do still have access to some of her devices. And I plan to make full use of them. If you ever need to talk to me, just come back here. If you ever think I need to explain myself, come back here. Leave your own message. I’ll return the favor. But I must warn you, don’t you ever try to catch me. Don’t set up an ambush. Don’t bring anyone else. This is a sacred place. A cursed place, sure, but sacred nonetheless. I may not be as tech-savvy as my sister, but I have my own specialties. I can make you pay for breaking the rules. All I ask is that you treat this place with as much respect as it deserves. This is the birthplace of the woman you love, after all.”

With a mischievous wink, the hologram disappears.

I’m immediately back on my knees, reaching into the hollowed-out trunk, looking for more wires.

It sounds like Tytus would have returned to the village and left more messages. How many has he left over the last five months?

In the span of a few minutes, I pull out four more black boxes. I find the freshest looking one and press down on its button.

A new hologram flickers up into the clearing.

Tytus looks a hell of a lot more pissed than he did in his first message.

“I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but this is the last message I’m going to leave. If you’re trying to play games with me, stop. It won’t end well. I don’t want to hurt you. Not physically, at least. So, here’s the deal, I’m going to—"

Suddenly, the image disappears. The recording stops, and I’m engulfed by a near deafening silence.

A cat meows. And then, the hologram flickers back to life.

I can immediately tell this isn’t another recording. Tytus is wearing a different outfit.

He’s live.

“You,” I growl, hackles rising.

Tytus furrows his brows as he tries to make sense of what he’s seeing.

“Hello there,” he smiles, when the lightbulb goes off. “I guess I was wrong to accuse you of stealing my devices. It looks like some animal was dragging them into the woods.”

“How observant of you,” I sneer.

All I can think of was the last line I heard before that last recording went dead.