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The clouds overhead shifted, uncovering the moon long enough for its light to spill over the forest floor in dappled patches. A trail. There was a trail back here. A narrow channel of red dirt that carved through the forest in an almost straight line.
A large shape far to my right had me pausing, panting, lifting a blade to throw, but the clouds shifted again and my heart sputtered. The large boulder squatted amid its wooden cousins, and it wasn’t the first time it’d tricked me into thinking it was something other than a harmless chunk of rock.
And suddenly, I knew where I was going.
Where he was taking me.
I raced for the rock, grimacing as I scratched a giant X into its face, blunting the edge.
Please find me.
I set my sights on the trail, finding fresh tracks in the dirt.
Got you.
I caught my breath before pushing myself onward, following Carson’s trail, marking several more trees with vicious slashes of my blades. Breadcrumbs for the Crows.
Until suddenly, there it was.
I skidded to a stop, falling onto my side in the dirt before managing to scrape back to my feet, huffs of moisture clouding in front of my face even though I wasfarfrom feeling cold. I was far from feelinganythingexcept this burning desire to hunt. To kill.
The cellar door hung open in the middle of the small clearing, welcoming me into its dark depths with open arms. Smears of soot coated the wooden panels and filled the cracks and grooves in the cement steps.
My throat ached with dryness as I panted quietly, seemingly unable to make my feet move any closer to the door. The fire leaching from my arms, making my fingers stiff from an all-consuming cold.
I peered over my shoulder as if I could will my Crows into appearing, soaring through the trees to my side. The only sound was the whisper of the wind . the redwoods, and I gulped, knowing that the longer I gave Carson to prepare for attack down there, the worse my chances would be.
My grip tightened on my blades, and I pushed through the ice, letting my darkness melt it all away. One step. Another.
I dipped a toe into the inky dark on the other side of the cellar doors and then kept going, letting it swallow me whole. I felt along the wall as I went, remembering the exact reverse of this moment. When I’d climbed, burned and broken up these same steps and found my freedom.
Found my wayhome.
I’d find my way home again. But this time, I wouldn’t go empty handed.
Careful not to make a sound, I descended to the very bottom of the stairs and reached for the door handle, seeing a trace of light through the soot covered window down the long corridor. The acrid smell of burned things stung in my nose, making it wrinkle.
I lifted a blade to eye level and released the handle, deciding to slip through the slim crack in the door instead of opening it wider, not trusting the hinges.
My tits pressed into the doorframe, and I sucked my ass in tight, just fitting.
I buried myself in the shadows of the corner next to the door, peering up where there was a camera. It was still there, but it was covered in gray ash like much of the floor, and the red light was dead.
Hopefully that meant it was, too.
No risk, no reward.
I crept along the wall, wiping the back of my hand over my eyes to get rid of the ash clinging to my lashes.
The light was coming from the very end of the hall, where a steel door hung open.
I wasn’t falling for another fucking trick.
I took my time, inspecting every room on my way down the corridor. Some of the doors were still shut tight, locked, dark around their edges. But others… they were filled with evidence of his abuse. Chains bolted to the floors and walls. Crimson stains on concrete floors. Fingernails embedded in concrete walls.
My stomach turned at those, and I moved slower, checking each space as thoroughly as I could. Giving my guys more time to find me.
A sinking dread grew in my belly the longer it took them.
