The Hunt

Prologue

Everly—Aged 9

June 28th, 2013

10:38 pm

It was Rhett’s idea that caused all the trouble.

All seven of us—the kids who’d been brought to Wildercliff Manor for the first week of summer vacation—were sprawled on the rug on his bedroom floor, the glow of a single bedside lamp casting long shadows that danced with every movement. A pile of pillows and blankets created a makeshift fort against the darkness, and in front of us lay a mountain of snacks that the boys had stolen from the kitchen earlier in the night.

“So, this one’s like… a ghost that can make you hear all these crazy whispers,” Jake said, frowning deeply in an attempt to seem spooky. His face made me giggle instead. I’d known him since last summer, and he was too nice to be scary, no matter how hard he tried.

Samantha rolled her eyes, a chocolate chip cookie crumbling in her hand. “Ugh, that’s so lame,” she said.

“Yeah,” Rhett said stiffly. “I’m sick of ghost stories.”

“Me too,” Ari added, leaning forward to grab a candy bar from the haul in the middle of the rug.

“Well, what else can we do?” Benji chimed in, stretching his skinny legs out in front of him as he leaned back against the pillows. “It’s soooo boring here at night.”

“Honestly, it gets pretty boring during the day too,” Merritt said, raising a brow. At eleven and a half, she was the oldest here, so I always listened to everything she said. She was really cool, too. Not a snob like Samantha. “The internet doesn't work, so I can’t watch anything on my iPad or play any games. And we already watched all the good movies here.”

“I know.” Samantha sighed. “Why do our parents make us do this every year?”

“It’s not that bad,” Jake said. He sounded annoyed. “It’s only for a week, and then we always go somewhere else really cool. Like the Bahamas last year.”

“But why can’t we just go straight to the cool place?” Samantha said, voice turning even shriller and whinier. “Why do we always have to come here first?”

“Wildercliff is cool!” Jake insisted, glancing at me. I could tell from his expression that he wanted me to back him up.

I hesitated, not quite knowing what to say. I wasn’t from the same group as these kids—I was only here because my father worked for Jake’s father—so I wasn’t used to flying all over the world and visiting exotic places like the rest of them. I definitely wouldn’t see a visit to this gigantic mansion as a boring, annoying thing that I desperately wanted to get over and done with, either. It was one of the coolest things I’d ever experienced, and it was also the first time in my life that I’d visited the East Coast.

Actually… it was the first time I’d visited any coast.

I didn’t want to say any of that, though. The other kids would probably all think I was the biggest loser on the planet.

I shrugged in what I hoped looked like a casual way. “I guess the beach is pretty nice,” I said lightly, as if I didn’t really care all that much.

Samantha smiled sweetly at me, but there was something sharp behind it. “You live in St. Louis, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You’re so lucky,” she said. “There’s no real beach there, so it probably feels so cool for you to visit one. Not boring like it is for us. I mean, back at home we have our own private beach, and it just gets so old , you know?”

Benji nodded. “Yeah. It’s like, when you see something all the time, you just get used to it, I guess.”

I swallowed hard, knowing exactly what Samantha meant when she said I was ‘lucky’. It was code for ‘poor’, given all the other stuff she’d said over the last few days.

I didn’t like how she looked down on me that way, because I knew from school how people liked to pick on kids with less stuff, and I could always tell how horrible those kids felt about it.

It was stupid, anyway. My family wasn’t even poor. My dad was the head engineer at his own company, and my mother used to be a doctor before she got sick last year. We had a big two-story house on a big block of land. We even had a swimming pool, and at my school, I was considered to be one of the ‘rich’ ones.

But compared to the kids around me now, my life back home felt small and inadequate. They all lived in mansions on huge estates with their own staff. One of the boys—Rhett—even had a private jet. His family could take it wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted.

As for Jake… this enormous, sprawling mansion was just a vacation home for him. That was probably why he got so defensive over it—because his family owned it. He didn’t need to, though. Anyone with eyes, apart from Samantha, would be envious of such a big, beautiful house.

“Maybe you can swap lives with Everly, then,” Rhett piped up, dark eyes narrowed on Samantha. “Seeing as you’re so jealous of her living in Missouri. I’ll even lend you the jet to take you there.”

The rest of the boys snorted with laughter, and Merritt giggled. Samantha pouted, but she didn’t say anything.

Up until this exact moment, I’d never liked Rhett very much. The other kids had mostly been nice to me this week, apart from the occasional ignorant comments from Samantha, but Rhett wasn’t nice to anyone. He always seemed angry, even when he was quiet. Boys like that scared me, so I usually tried to avoid attracting his attention.

I was glad that he’d stuck up for me against Samantha’s comment, but I was also surprised it had happened. It wasn’t like him to defend someone. Then again, he might’ve only done it so he could have an excuse to be mean to Samantha.

He seemed to enjoy that—being mean. Even though he’d never actually said or done anything cruel to me, I’d seen him do it to the other kids a lot this week, so I always felt on edge around him, like I was just waiting for it to happen.

He turned his gaze to me and cocked his head. “Why are you here again? I forgot.”

For a stomach-twisting second, I thought he was asking me the question in a hostile way, like ‘ Why are you even here? You aren’t one of us.’ But then he added another question, and I realized he was genuinely curious.

“Wasn’t it something about your mom being sick?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yes. She can’t take care of me right now, but my dad had to come here for work,” I said. “So Jake’s dad said it was okay for him to bring me here while they do… whatever they’re doing.”

“What’s wrong with your mom?”

I swallowed hard. I didn’t like to talk about this much. “Um… I was going to have a baby brother, but then she got sick.”

Rhett’s dark brows rose. “Oh, she’s pregnant?”

“No. She was. But something happened and she’s been sick ever since then,” I mumbled.

None of the other kids responded to that. They just stared at me with looks ranging from confusion to pity.

Finally, Merritt broke the awkward silence. “Okay, guys, no more whining about being bored. We have to cheer up Everly about her mom by doing something really cool. Right?”

The others nodded enthusiastically.

“More ghost stories?” Jake suggested.

Merritt rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, no. No more stupid ghosts!”

“I know what we can do.” Rhett abruptly stood, casting a commanding look over the rest of us. “We’ll sneak out.”

“Where? Down to the beach?” Ari asked.

“No.” Rhett sighed impatiently. “I mean out out . Like past the fence.”

“Our parents said we aren’t allowed to go past the fence when we’re at Wildercliff. Ever. It’s too dangerous,” Benji said, eyes wide.

“But there’s so much to explore out there. You can see it all when you fly in,” Merritt chimed in, folding her arms. “There’s a forest and mountains. More beaches, too.”

Samantha frowned. “How would we even get out? The gate’s locked, and the fences are too high for us to climb. Also, they’re all spiky at the top.”

“I might have an idea,” Jake said. He paused, waiting for every pair of eyes to shoot to him. “There’s old tunnels here. My dad told me about them last summer.”

“ What ?” Samantha’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Yup.”

“Why didn’t you tell us there were tunnels?” Rhett asked, eyes flickering with annoyance. “We could’ve spent the whole week exploring out there.”

“Well… Dad told me they’re dangerous. I’m not supposed to go in them.”

“Why did he tell you about them, then?” Merritt asked, tilting her head to one side. “It kind of seems like he secretly wants you to explore them, right?”

“No.” Jake shook his head. “He only told me because he was worried I’d find one of the entrances by myself when I was playing outside. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d probably go in.”

“Do you really think it’s dangerous?” Ari asked.

Jake shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe. But I guess he just doesn’t want us to wander too far away from the estate, because we could get lost.”

“Okay, it’s settled,” Merritt replied, lifting her chin. “You’ll show us one of these tunnels, and we’ll go exploring.”

“Uh… one problem.” Benji waggled a finger. “Our parents might still be awake. They’ll totally see us when we go downstairs.”

Merritt nodded slowly. “Good point. We need to send a spy to check first.” Her brows knitted in a small frown as she hesitated. Then she turned to me. “Everly… it has to be you.”

My eyes widened. “Why?” I asked, voice coming out in a squeak.

“Because you’re only nine. You’re still so small and cute. If the adults see you, you can easily convince them you were just going downstairs for a drink. They’ll probably believe anything you say.”

“Also, you have all that long blonde hair,” Samantha added. “It makes you look like an angel. Totally innocent.”

“Um…” I bit my bottom lip, cheeks flushing hot as I felt the weight of everyone’s expectation pressing down on me. “Okay. I’ll go now.”

Heart beating fast, I opened the bedroom door and peered outside. The hall was dark and empty. I gave one last look to the others, and they all waved or gave me a thumbs-up.

Spurred on by my desire to impress them, I stepped into the hall and began to make my way toward the main staircase.

I pressed myself against the wood-paneled walls, fingers trailing along the grooves, as I tiptoed down the long hallway. Every creak of the floorboards beneath my feet made my heart leap, but no adults emerged from any rooms, demanding to know what I was doing.

At the top of the staircase, I hesitated. The wide spiral of the banister curled down to the ground level, which would be dark if all the adults were in bed, but I could see a faint warm glow down there. I knew some people forgot to turn lights off before they went to bed, though, so I decided to go down and check if the coast was clear anyway. If I didn’t, the others would think I was a total scaredy-cat. Totally uncool.

I swallowed, forcing my trembling hand to grip the polished wood, and took my first step. As I slowly descended, I strained to hear over the thudding in my chest—no movement, no voices. That was a good sign.

Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when I reached the three-quarter point. I could see the ground floor now, and my father and Jake’s father were visible to my left, sitting at a coffee table with their heads bent over a bunch of paperwork.

“I think we can make these additions and adjustments easily enough,” my father said, moving one piece of paper to look at another. “Especially if we get the team working on it as soon as possible. That won’t be a problem, will it?”

Jake’s father shook his head. “Not at all. We’ve got a solid team of workers. All of them have signed iron-clad NDAs, too, so there’s no concerns there.”

“All right. I think we could safely assume a finish date of mid-October. How does that sound?”

“Perfect. This year’s game is starting on October 31 st .”

Dad chuckled, but it sounded a bit forced and awkward. “You don’t think that’s a little on-the-nose?”

“On-the-nose and dramatic is exactly what our audience expects.” Jake’s dad grinned as he spoke. “That makes Halloween the perfect start date. The only reason it was a little later last year was because of some complications with the applicants.”

“Ah. I see.”

I let out a tiny sigh as the conversation went on, figuring they weren’t going to bed anytime soon. I’d have to let the others know we weren’t safe to sneak downstairs. At least not yet.

I turned and took a step upward. The stairs groaned under my feet, and I winced. Why did floorboards always have to creak at the worst moments?

I quickly turned my head over my shoulder to see if I’d been caught. Dad and Jake’s father were looking around and upward. “Ev, is that you?” Dad asked, frowning as he caught sight of me. “What are you doing out of bed?”

“Um… I woke up and felt thirsty. Can I please have some water?”

“Of course. Come down here, honey. I’ll grab it for you.” Dad turned back to the table. “Sorry, I’ll just be a minute.”

Jake’s father smiled and rose to his feet. “No, it’s all right,” he said. “I just realized how late it is. I actually have a meeting to go to now.”

A meeting at night? I thought to myself as I descended. That seemed weird. I didn’t like to question adults, though, so I said nothing.

“All right.” My dad nodded and gestured to the paperwork. “We’ll finish this up tomorrow.”

“Yes, we will.” Jake’s father smiled at me. “For now… goodnight and sweet dreams, Everly.”

“Goodnight,” I said timidly. As much as I liked Jake, his father had always frightened me. He was just so tall and intimidating.

Once I’d gulped down my water, I fled back to Merritt’s room and burst in, heart racing. “Sorry I took so long,” I said as the others stared at me with wide eyes. “I got caught.”

“So we can’t go?” Jake asked. He looked slightly relieved.

“We can. We just have to wait a few minutes,” I said. “My dad and your dad were downstairs, but they’ve finished talking now, because your dad has to go somewhere else. I didn’t see any of the other adults, so they must be asleep already.”

“What about your dad?” Merritt asked.

“He said he’s going to bed soon, so we just have to wait a few minutes. Then we can go outside without anyone seeing us.”

“He wasn’t suspicious at all?”

I shook my head. “I did what you said and told him I just wanted a drink. I even faked a yawn so it looked like I just woke up.”

“Awesome!” She smiled at me. “I can’t wait! This is going to be so much fun.”

“Thanks for taking one for the team, Everly,” Ari said, snatching up a cookie. “My dad totally would’ve known I was lying.”

The other kids looked and sounded giddy with excitement. Even the always-grumpy Rhett had cracked a tiny smile.

I was excited too. Not just for sneaking out, but for gaining everyone else’s approval by being the spy, even if I technically got caught.

Once we’d successfully sneaked downstairs and outside, we followed Jake to the farthest part of the estate grounds. The moonlight bathed everything in an eerie silver glow, and the cool night air made goosebumps rise on my skin.

I glanced nervously at Jake as we made our way across the shadowed lawn. “Who built the tunnels?” I asked. “And why?”

“Good point,” Merritt said. “It’s kinda weird, right?”

“Dad said it was something to do with bootleggers,” Jake replied.

“What’s a bootlegger?” Samantha asked. “Something to do with pirates?”

Another shrug from Jake. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Rhett snorted but didn’t add anything to the conversation.

When we reached the hedge-lined fence near the forest, Jake slowed his pace, eyes scanning the dark. “This is the closest tunnel,” he said. “There’s actually three of them.”

At first, I couldn’t see anything. But when I squinted and lowered my gaze, I spotted a dark hole in the bottom of the hedge. I crept closer and saw a stone archway lying just behind the opening, nearly swallowed by the creeping plants and moss that clung to its surface. Beyond the archway, I could see nothing but yawning blackness stretching downward.

“It looks so small,” Merritt said, wrinkling her nose.

“My dad said it’s big once you’re inside. These are just the steps leading down to it,” Jake replied. “But… I don’t think we should go in this one. There might be people in it.”

“Huh?” Ari said, frowning. “Why would there be anyone inside it? Especially in the middle of the night.”

“I don’t know,” Jake said. “Dad just told me that people still use it sometimes. So I think we should go to one of the others.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Samantha rolled her eyes. “Just hurry up. I’m getting kind of cold.”

Jake led us to another overgrown archway about a hundred yards away. Then he crouched, pushing aside the surrounding branches and thorns with his hands. “This is it.”

Rhett went first, followed by Merritt. I dropped to my knees and went after her, and the others followed suit.

Brambles and sharp branches scraped against my skin as we all crawled through the entryway and slowly made our way down the stone steps beyond. The tunnel finally loomed ahead, dark and foreboding.

“This is so cool,” Benji whispered as we trudged through the darkness. “It’s like a movie.”

“Yeah, a horror movie. Boo, ” Merritt said right next to him, making him startle.

When we finally reached the end of the tunnel, we stepped out and found ourselves in the forest that lay beyond the Wildercliff estate. The air was thick with the scent of pine and a hint of woodsmoke.

Merritt tilted her head upward, frowning as she sniffed the air. “Do you guys smell smoke?”

“Yup. It’s gross.” Samantha grimaced. “Where’s it coming from?”

“That way, I think. Let’s check it out,” Rhett said, pointing to the right.

The forest was alive with the sounds of rustling leaves and distant night animals, and as we drew closer to the source of the smoke, faint voices began to drift through the air too.

“What’s going on?” Samantha asked in a low whisper. “Are there, like, witches out here?”

“Of course not,” Jake said. “It’s probably a party.”

“In the woods?”

“My older brother goes to bonfire parties in the woods all the time,” Merritt said. “It’s not that weird.”

“We should stay quiet,” Ari said. “If these people catch us, they’ll probably call our parents, and then we’ll get in trouble.”

We slowed our paces and stopped all conversation as we crept closer and closer to the noise and smoke. Every snap of a twig underfoot made me wince, and my heart was racing so fast it felt like it might explode.

“I can see a light,” Samantha whispered a moment later, lifting a shaky hand. Through the dense trees, I could see it too—a faint orange glow.

We kept going until we saw exactly where the light was coming from. Ahead, there was an enormous clearing in the woods with flaming torches planted in the ground along the edges.

Rhett suddenly dropped to his knees, pulling me down with him behind a thicket of bushes. The others did the same.

“Oh my god. What is that?” Merritt whispered breathlessly.

I peeked through the leaves. A large group of people were gathered in a circle in the clearing. They were all wearing black robes, and their faces were covered with silver and black skull masks. The hollowed-out eyes of the masks gave them a cold, menacing stare, making them look like Death itself.

In the center of the circle, a pale man was tied to a rough wooden stake. There was a defeated slouch in his shoulders and his eyes looked hollow and desperate. He stared out at the people before him with an unwavering gaze, his mouth pressed shut with a black gag.

“If this is a party, it’s the weirdest one I ever saw,” Ari muttered.

“Maybe they’re playing dress-ups,” Samantha whispered back to him. “Like, for some sort of game.”

“Oh, yeah. That must be it.”

“Adults don’t play dress-ups,” Merritt said.

“Or games,” Jake added.

“They totally do. My aunt does cosplay, and my dad plays Minecraft,” Benji replied.

Merritt let out a light snort. “Does this look like Minecraft to you?”

“It’s not that sort of game. But it’s definitely a game,” Ari insisted. “It has to be.”

Rhett remained silent next to me, face unreadable.

One of the masked people moved to the center of the clearing, his voice cutting through the night air with an authoritative tone as he gestured toward the tied-up man.

“Thank you for being here, everyone,” he said, turning in a slow circle to address everyone in the clearing. “This is the final test for our latest batch of recruits before this year’s game begins. The culmination of their dedication and training.”

Excited whispers stirred within the circle as several masked people stepped forward and formed a line in front of the others. I swallowed hard as I watched, my instincts screaming that we were witnessing something we were never meant to see.

“Are you all willing to do what it takes?” the man continued, cocking his masked head. “I suppose we shall see…”

He paused and took a step back, hands clasped behind his back. “Each of you must contribute to this man’s demise after his capture, as witnessed by your peers. Whichever one of you lands the killing blow will receive a thirty-minute head start in October’s game. It may not seem like much, but trust me… those thirty minutes could make all the difference in the end. Especially when you’re up against seasoned players like the rest of us.”

A low, collective chuckle filled the clearing. I wasn’t sure why the people were laughing. This was the strangest and scariest thing I’d ever seen, even if it was all part of a game.

The leader lifted a hand, and a deep horn sounded from somewhere behind him. The other masked people moved quickly, and the ropes that bound the gagged man were loosened.

“Go!” the leader cried out, staring at the man. “Save yourself!”

The man shakily dashed forward, trying to flee the clearing, but he only made it ten steps away from the stake before he was surrounded by the people in the skull masks.

One of them lunged at him, sending him tumbling to the ground. A strangled gasp escaped his lips, echoing in the clearing as the other masked figures closed in like a pack of ravenous wolves.

The man kept fighting, trying to claw his way to freedom, but his attempts were met with a series of thumping blows. Each strike was punctuated by a strange cracking sound, followed by a sickly gurgling noise.

“Guys… I don’t think this is a game,” Merritt said in a strangled whisper.

“It has to be,” Ari insisted. “Or maybe they’re making a movie. There’s no way this is real.”

Someone hit the man again, and I felt something wet splatter my face. I touched a hand to my forehead, then looked at my index finger. It was red and sticky with an unmistakable metallic scent.

My mouth dropped open, and Rhett’s hand instantly clamped down on my lips before the scream could burst out.

“Run,” he said to the others. “ Now .”

With that, he hoisted me over his shoulder and carried me away, hurrying through the forest. I clung to him like a barnacle, letting out a petrified sob with each jolting step.

As we plunged deeper into the shadows, Rhett began to rub my back, muttering next to my ear as he hurried along. “It’s okay, Everly,” he said. “It was just a movie, like Ari said. It’s not real. Okay? Not real.”

“I… I…” I couldn’t get any other words out. I felt dizzy from the panic surging through me, and my heart felt like it was about to explode right out of my chest. All I wanted was to go home.

“It’s not real,” Rhett repeated. “This is all just a dream. Got it?”

“Okay,” I finally managed to whisper.

His hand continued to rub my back. “Close your eyes and breathe. We’re going back to the tunnel, back to the house, and then we’re going to bed. None of this ever really happened.”

I latched onto his words like a lifeline before letting my head loll and my eyes close, suddenly exhausted. Rhett was right. He had to be.

It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real…