The Hunt

30. Everly

30

Everly

The soft glow of morning filtered through the curtains, and I stirred, feeling the solid weight of an arm draped around my waist, along with the heat of a body pressed against my back. For a moment, I didn’t move, letting the steady rise and fall of Rhett’s breathing lull me into a fragile sense of peace.

For that brief sliver of time, it was easy to pretend. Easy to imagine we were just a normal couple waking up together, tangled in each other’s warmth, with nothing waiting for us except breakfast in bed and passionate kisses.

Rhett’s arm shifted slightly, tightening around me, and I smiled faintly, my eyes still closed.

Then, reality finally came crashing down.

My stomach twisted as memories from yesterday slammed into me like a wrecking ball. Rhett’s heartbreaking story about his childhood. My father’s broken sobs on the phone. The revelations about The Wild Hunt, the lies, the corruption. It all settled heavily on my chest, making my breath catch in my throat, sharp and painful.

“Morning, princess,” Rhett murmured, pulling me against his chest. “How did you sleep?”

“Surprisingly well, considering… everything.”

“Me too. Must be because I’m with you.” He slowly sat up, blinking away the sleep. Then he glanced at his phone. “I should go and grab us some breakfast. You must be starving.”

My stomach churned at the thought of being alone in the room. I couldn’t leave with him and risk being seen, though. I was lucky I even made it onto the estate grounds in the first place.

My worry must’ve been written all over my face, because Rhett grabbed my hand and pulled me close again, murmuring in my ear. “I don’t want to leave you. Not for a second,” he said, voice low and urgent. “If taking you with me didn’t put your life in so much danger, I’d do it. But I can’t risk losing you. Even thinking about it hurts.”

“I know,” I whispered. “I understand. You have to go alone.”

He tilted my chin up and kissed me, long and deep, setting butterflies loose in my stomach. Then he finally pulled back, brows dipping in a small frown of contemplation. “There’s a kitchen in this wing,” he said. “But with no guests here right now, I’m not sure if it’s stocked with anything. I’ll probably have to go to one of the other wings to get us food.”

“How long do you think you’ll take?” I asked.

“Not long. Twenty minutes, maybe.”

He pulled away and left the bed to look through his backpack. When he returned to my side, he was holding a large hunting knife. “I doubt any of the maids will come back here today—or anyone else—and even if they do, the door will be locked, so I doubt anything will happen. But you should hold onto this just in case.”

“Thanks.” I swallowed hard as I accepted the knife. “I’ll make sure to lock the door the second you leave.”

Rhett leaned in and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be back soon, okay?”

True to his word, he returned after what felt like fifteen minutes or so, gently rapping on the door. “It’s just me,” he murmured from the other side. “I come bearing supplies.”

I unlocked the door, and he entered the room with a grin. “I think you’ll be happy with everything I got,” he said. “And don’t worry—I remembered you don’t eat meat.”

He unzipped his bag and unpacked several containers on the end of the bed, narrating the process as he went. “We have two giant breakfast burritos, a goat’s cheese and pumpkin omelet, and a fruit salad. Coffee and juice, too,” he said. “I also got you some sandwiches and salad for lunch later, and some bags of chocolate and nuts for snacks.”

My stomach grumbled loudly as I stared at the spread. After surviving on rations for the last two days, it looked like a king’s feast. “This is amazing. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome,” Rhett said, kissing the top of my head again. “Dig in. I’ll tell you my plan while you eat.”

I unwrapped one of the breakfast burritos and took a big bite. “Did you figure out how to get us away from here?” I asked through my mouthful.

“Not yet. I just need to go back out to the hunting grounds for a while,” he replied. “But I think I can get everything done and get back here in three hours or so.”

“What do you need to do out there?” I asked, tilting my head.

“Firstly, I want to make sure no one will find JJ’s body anytime soon. I know we covered it with that tarp before we left, but the storm could’ve blown it off last night. So I’ll make sure it’s covered properly and weigh it down with rocks this time. Then I’ll cover that with leaves and branches. If anyone happens to walk behind the cabin, they won’t look at the pile and instantly assume there’s a body under it. They’ll probably think it’s nothing and ignore it.”

I nodded slowly. “The longer it takes for him to be found, the better, right?”

“Yes. Right now, no one knows anything’s amiss. But the second he’s found dead, and obviously murdered… this place will be in an uproar,” Rhett said. “The other thing I need to do this morning—I’ve gotta go back to your wristband and move it somewhere else.”

“Why?”

“I think it’s a good idea to move it twice a day,” he replied. “The hunters never have access to the GPS data—it’s cheating—but I think the tech guys would make a report to the Patriarchs if they noticed a player in the exact same spot for more than a day.”

“Ah. Then they’d probably go out there to see what’s going on, find the wristband, and realize someone took it off me,” I said, nodding again.

“Yup. That’s what I’m worried about.”

“You’re right.” I smiled faintly at him. “It needs to be moved.”

“Yeah. That way it looks like you’re still roaming around, and no one will be suspicious.”

“I guess it’s also a good idea for you to be out there for a while, just so no one gets suspicious of you ,” I said. “Because they’ll probably think it’s weird if the best hunter is suddenly nowhere to be seen on the hunting grounds.”

“Exactly.” Rhett’s eyes flashed, and he rubbed his jaw. “Also, if I run into any other hunters while I’m out there and see them getting close to a player, I can sabotage them. I don’t want any more innocent people to die.”

“Me neither,” I murmured, feeling a pang of guilt gnawing at my guts. Here I was, feasting on delicious food in a warm bedroom while the other remaining players were still out in the cold, terrified and starving. It wasn’t fair.

“Like I said, I think I can get the stuff done in three hours,” he said. “I move a lot faster when I’m on my own, and JJ’s body isn’t that far away.”

“While you’re out, you could also go to the northern wing of the manor and see if you can get into Peter’s office,” I suggested. “I’m sure it’s probably locked most of the time, but my dad made it sound like there’s a ton of evidence in there. Stuff that could possibly be used to take the society down. So it’s worth checking out, right?”

Rhett nodded. “Good idea. I’ll see if I can get in,” he said. He leaned down to kiss me again. Then he rose to his full height, eyes flashing with determination. “I’ll be back for you, princess. I promise.”

“I know,” I murmured, offering him another faint smile.

Once he was gone again, I finished eating and searched through the bedroom furniture, hoping to find some paper and a pen. If I could write down everything I knew about Wildercliff and The Wild Hunt, organizing my scattered thoughts, it might help me start forming ideas for an escape plan.

I finally found a notepad and pencil tucked away at the back of one of the drawers. With a small, triumphant smile, I sat down and started writing. It was hard to know how long it took, because there was no clock in the room, but I ended up with five pages of notes after what felt like an hour or so.

Finally, I was all tapped out. Every last piece of information I knew about the island, the society, and the Hunt was written down on the notepad. Unfortunately, I was no closer to coming up with a plan.

Frowning, I thought back to what my father told me last night, regarding the lockdown and the heart attack. It gave me the vaguest of ideas. Perhaps Rhett and I could cause some sort of emergency situation, forcing the Patriarchs to open up travel from the island. That was where the idea ended, though. I had no idea what sort of situation we could manufacture that would cause enough chaos to end the lockdown.

A fire in the manor, perhaps?

My frown deepened as I tapped my pencil against the page, the sound too loud in the silence. A fire could work, but it would have to be big enough to threaten the entire estate, and that would be hard to start. Especially with the cold, rainy weather. There was also the matter of getting all the other players off the island safely. Not just myself. If only we could—

My thoughts skidded to a halt as the sound of footsteps echoed in the hall. Surely Rhett couldn’t be back just yet. He’d told me he’d take three hours, and he’d only been gone for one, maybe one and a half.

Perhaps it was the maid from last night, returning for more dusting.

Shit.

I crept over to the door, holding the knife, and carefully pressed my ear to it so I could hear everything out in the hall. The footsteps kept coming, slow and leisurely, and then I heard a voice. It was a woman, and she seemed to be talking on the phone, her words punctuated by pauses with no other voice filling the silence.

“Thanks for organizing this so quickly, sir,” she said. “Yes, that’s right. I turned the tap on, and it just exploded . The whole bathroom flooded in five minutes.”

There was a pause, and then she spoke up again, footsteps drawing closer with every word.

“I thought the same thing—that I could just go to another room. But the staff quarters are totally full right now, because of the game, so there was nothing else available,” she said. Another pause. “Uh-huh. Yes, that’s right. Someone told me that a few of the bathrooms in this wing were redone a few years ago, so I’m sure I’ll be fine here. It’s the teensiest bit creepy, because it’s so empty and quiet, but it’s stunning. The architecture is just so ornate. JJ told me it still has some original fixtures. Pre-Civil War, I think he said?”

There was another short pause.

“No, sir. I haven’t heard from him since yesterday morning. He must’ve decided to sleep out in the hunting grounds,” the woman went on. Her voice and footsteps were so loud now that I was sure she was only a few feet away from the door.

My heart pounded as I silently prayed for her to continue on her way, past the room, but her footsteps stopped right outside. Then the doorknob rattled.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat. No. Please, no!

“Hmm, that’s weird. The door’s locked,” the woman said. Now that she was so close, I realized her voice sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. “No, it’s okay. They gave me the key just in case.”

Shit, shit, shit…

I crept over to the bed as quietly as I could and crawled under it, hoping the dust ruffles would conceal me. As I settled on the floor, my grip tightened around the knife in my right hand, sweat slicking my palm.

I held my breath as I heard the key turn in the lock. The door creaked open, and then the woman entered the room. All I could see from my hiding spot was a pair of feet clad in pink and black sneakers, and the bottom of some black leggings hugging slim legs.

“Uh-huh,” the woman was saying now. “Yes, I’m sure he’s fine. But I’ll let you know if I hear from him. And thanks again for sorting out the room switch for me, sir. I know how busy you are right now, so I really appreciate it.”

There was a faint tap as the woman ended the call, followed by a heavy sigh. “Fucking asshole,” she muttered. “You and your piece of shit son.”

Something about her voice made my stomach drop. It wasn’t just familiar—it was impossible .

I kept staring at the woman’s shoes, my mind scrambling to process the information buzzing in my brain. No, it couldn’t be...

Not her. No way.

My pulse roared in my ears as her voice came again. “Why is it so dark in this goddamned place?” she muttered.

That voice, the cadence, the way she spat out her words… it was Nikki.

Nikki, who I thought was dead .

My breath hitched, and I pressed a hand over my mouth to keep silent. The knife trembled in my grip, but my mind was reeling too fast to care. How could it be her ? How was she still alive?

I bit down hard on my lip, trying to steady myself as her footsteps moved to the other side of the room. A rustling sound let me know she was opening the curtains, which meant she was facing the window.

I took the opportunity to slide out from the other side of the bed, brandishing the knife as I moved to block the door with my back. “Put your hands in the air or I’ll kill you, Nikki,” I said, trying my best to keep my voice steady. “If that’s even your real name.”

She whirled around. “Oh my god. Everly!” she said, eyes bulging. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“What the hell are you doing here?” I shot back. She took a slight step forward, and I waved the knife in her direction. “Stay the fuck back! I really will kill you, you lying bitch!”

She lifted her palms, eyes flickering between the knife and my face. “Everly… please. I don’t want to hurt you. Let’s just talk, okay?”

Emotion welled in my throat, thickening my voice. “I really thought you were dead. I even cried for you,” I bit out. “But this whole time, you were one of them. ”

“I’m not one of them.” Nikki kept her hands up. Her whole body was trembling. Even her bottom lip was wobbling, like she was about to cry. “I swear… I’m not.”

“Bullshit!” I waved the knife again. “You were the mole, weren’t you? You lied to everyone from the very start!”

A tear rolled down her cheek, but she didn’t wipe it away. Just kept her hands in the air. “Please listen to me. I promise I don’t want to hurt you,” she said in a ragged voice. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“It’s a little late for me to believe that now,” I snarled.

“I know what it looks like, but I’m really not one of them . I swear.”

“Then why the hell are you here?” I asked, eyes narrowing. “Why are you still alive? And why were you just on the phone to Peter Jennings, calling him ‘sir’ like he’s your boss? That is who you were talking to, isn’t it?”

She gulped. “It’s because I was in the Hunt.”

“I know you were in the fucking Hunt!” I hissed. “I was in it too, in case you forgot! I still am!”

“No, I mean…” Nikki trailed off, swallowing thickly. “I was in it before.”

I blinked, mind whirling. “What?”

“I was in the Hunt before,” she said, finally taking one step forward. “I’m last year’s winner.”