Chapter 19
19
Sonny
T here is no one guarding our exit.
The ballroom is completely empty and void of any lights when we slip through the door that’s been camouflaged into the wall. It looks so different from when I was here for the Falconry ball. So empty and plain. All the mystical allure has been stripped away, just like everything else at this place now that I know the bloody history behind Ravenshurst.
The four of us move within the shadows. We hug the walls until we reach the opposite end of the ballroom, where there’s a door that I’m almost certain leads to the back hallways of the castle. It’s the same one Hayes took me through to get to Raze’s office that night.
I don’t trust myself to remember the back way James took to bring me in here, so that’s the best option.
It takes us five whole minutes to muster up enough courage to open the door and check the hallway. Eventually, we force Jonah to do it and take a collective sigh of relief when he confirms that it’s empty.
“Finals must have passed,” Ava guesses, and I don’t miss the way her brows pinch together in worry over missing hers. It has to be hard, knowing this is her last year here and she’s being forced to give it all up.
Better to lose her degree than her life, though.
“I think there’s an exit to the back of the castle through here,” Beatrix guesses, pointing in the same direction as Raze’s office and the counseling offices.
“Are you sure there’s not another way? What if we run into someone?” Ava gestures toward her soiled clothing and messy hair. “We look like we’ve just clawed our way out of our graves.”
“We have,” Jonah mutters.
“She’s right,” I tell them. “There’s no way of knowing who is on the Syndicate’s side. They could march us right back down those steps, and then we’re really not getting out.”
Beatrix gnaws on her raw bottom lip as she considers us for a moment. “I just don’t want to take the risk of wandering around and being wrong.”
“There’s no telling how much time we have before they realize we’re gone,” Jonah agrees.
“Then we’ll take the guaranteed route,” I offer, glancing between the three of them for confirmation. Once they’ve all nodded, we don’t waste any more time.
It feels so odd, walking around the campus we considered home with nothing but fear now. This is the same hallway I walked so many times to work for Raze without a second thought. The people who made us feel safe are now nothing more than a threat to our lives. Every doorway we pass feels like it’ll be the one that gets us dragged back underground.
Most offices are closed, proving Ava to be correct. Winter break must have begun and most people have returned home for the holidays. By the grace of some invisible force, we make it to the end of the hallway and up to the door without running into a single soul.
Until we hear a voice calling out my name right as Beatrix is twisting the lock and pushing the door open to the crisp, winter air.
I look over my shoulder to find Abigail Mercer standing in the doorway of her office, about twenty feet away.
The four of us freeze in our tracks. If we ignore her, she could report us to the dean. Or worse, she could try to follow us. If we stay back to talk, we risk being seen by someone else, too. Someone connected to the Midnight Syndicate.
In fact, she could be connected to the Midnight Syndicate.
We glance at each other and nod knowingly, as if we’ve all reached the same conclusion: We can’t stop.
Beatrix is the first to take off, with Jonah following right on her heels. Ava raises her brows at me, then grabs my hand and follows them, tugging me along with her. Abigail yells after us, and I look over my shoulder to see the confused expression on her face.
I don’t watch long enough to know what she does next. Instead, I turn forward and focus every ounce of energy I have on putting as much distance between myself and that hellish university as possible.
We break through the tree line within minutes, but none of us stops running there. We leap over fallen logs and push through overgrown foliage for another five minutes. We ignore the scrapes and cuts on our arms and legs as branches and twigs snag our threadbare clothing. I assume Beatrix is heading North East, the way Raze told us to go, but I don’t have my bearings enough to know for sure. If not, and we continue running aimlessly into the woods, we’re going to have a hell of a time finding our way out.
“I need to stop,” Jonah wheezes, bending over to rest his hands on his knees and catch his breath.
Me and Ava pause beside him before Beatrix jogs back, then doubles over beside him and starts to dry heave.
“Do you think the cabin is close?” Ava asks, turning in a circle.
“I hope so,” Jonah pants. “It’s fucking freezing out here.”
As soon as he says the words, a wave of chills rolls through me. The adrenaline of nearly being caught and high from the run kept me from noticing before, but he’s right. It can’t be more than twenty degrees out and the sun hasn’t set yet. If we don’t find shelter soon, we’re going to freeze to death.
Beatrix stands up straight, swiping her sleeve across her face to wipe the bile and spit off her pale lips. “He better not be fucking with us or I’m going to kill him with my bare hands.”
“Are we heading in the right direction?” I ask, looking around for any indication that a cabin may be near.
“I’m pretty sure. Let’s keep going this way for a bit and see if we find anything. We’ve got to be at least a half mile into the woods,” Beatrix suggests with a shrug. None of us have any reason to disagree.
We move a lot slower this time, careful not to overexert ourselves. Each passing minute that we don’t find the cabin is like another step closer to our deaths. The numbness in my fingers and toes has spread into my arms and legs, making it difficult to walk in a straight line without grasping trees for help. I can’t remember the last time we were brought a meal, but my stomach is gurgling and my throat is bone dry. That run out here took more out of me than I could handle.
We’re so desperate for water, we each pause a few times to scoop some snow up into our palms and shove it into our mouths.
The urge to stop and give up weighs heavily on my shoulders, but I refuse to be the one to hold us back. I refuse to be the reason they all die.
“What if this is like a social experiment? They gave us hope by letting us find the key. Now, they’re going to crush us with the disappointment of never finding the safety of the cabin,” Jonah randomly muses.
“God, I hope not,” I sigh.
We took a blind leap of faith, trusting Raze. I have to believe he wouldn’t allow us to get this far only to leave us hanging. How anticlimactic would that be? To be misled by a serial killer, only to die in the woods of starvation or freezing or bears.
I shake my head to push the thought away.
No. Something about the way he spoke to me in that interrogation room felt too genuine for this to be a set up.
Besides, if he wanted us to die, he could have left us in our cells.
“What’s that?” Beatrix calls out, jabbing her finger to our left.
Our heads simultaneously snap in the direction she’s pointing. I have to squint to see it, but it’s there: a large, sloping roof with green vines and thick branches camouflaging it. We take off in a run, refusing to waste another second out here. A giddy laugh bubbles out of me as the end of this miserable suffering dangles before us like a carrot on a stick.
Our plan was to hang back and make sure this isn’t a trap set by the Midnight Syndicate, but it seems that we’ve decided to throw that out the window sometime during our trek through the freezing cold. The prospect of warmth and shelter has overruled everything else.
The cabin has been built into a small clearing of trees, though it’s small enough that the canopies overhead probably provide cover for it to anyone searching overhead. I wonder if the Syndicate—or anyone besides Raze, for that matter—even knows it exists. Knowing him, the chances are slim. Still, we stop at the tree line, hiding behind the thickest trunks to look around the area for anything out of place.
Crows caw overhead and something scurries high up the tree Ava is standing behind, but nothing else seems to move. It’s like the entire forest has gone still just to prove to us that we’re safe.
“Do you think he left it unlocked?” Beatrix whispers, nodding toward the wooden door of the small building.
I hadn’t considered that. What if it’s locked? Does he expect us to wait for him to show up, or do we break in?
“The only way to know is to try,” Jonah says, stepping out from behind his tree to walk toward the cabin.
Me, Ava, and Beatrix share a worried look, our eyes wide. We silently agree not to leave the safety of our trees as Jonah steps up to the door and tries to turn the knob. When it doesn’t move, he looks back at us and shrugs.
“What are the chances he left a key beneath a rock?” he calls out, then kicks his feet around in the dirt.
We search every inch around the cabin, turning over any rock or out of place object we can find, but come up short. My hands are numb, my feet are frozen and stiff, and I think my face is stuck in the scowl I’ve been donning for the past hour.
The asshole forgot to leave a key for us to get in.
“Let’s break through the window,” Beatrix suggests once we’re positive we’ve checked every possible nook and cranny three times over. She bends over to pick up a medium-sized rock, then practices a few swings as she marches up to the small window beside the door.
“We can’t break the window,” Ava sighs, falling to her knees before the doorknob to get a closer look at the lock. “Sonny, do you think you could do a repeat performance on this lock?”
“I could try,” Jonah offers, stepping toward Ava.
I’m stuck in my spot, sitting uselessly on top of a tree stump as my body freezes from the dropping temperature. Physical movement would likely help me stay warmer, but I hardly have the energy to breathe, let alone jog in place or something equally stupid. I honestly don’t think I could get lucky a second time, but I’m willing to try if Jonah can’t do it.
Beatrix backs away from the window, but doesn’t immediately drop the rock back onto the ground.
Something rustles in the foliage behind me, though I don’t bother to check what it could be this time. Birds and small animals have been skittering around us all evening, likely uncomfortable with the presence of humans in their safe space. The sun has nearly set and the canopy of the trees provides enough shadows that it’s already too dark to see very far in front of our faces. There’s always the possibility of a bear or mountain lion deciding to make us its next meal, but we’ve talked it over and decided there’s no use in getting scared about it. If an animal that fast decides it wants to eat us, we don’t have a snowflake’s chance in hell of getting away.
Besides, all of us are so malnourished, the bear would probably sense how useless it would be to try, and move on.
“If you break my lock,” a masculine voice echoes off the trees behind me, startling all four of us. “You’re going to have to replace it.”
I twist in my spot, half relieved, half ready to pummel the face that’s slowly breaking through the foliage.
Raze walks over every stick and rogue tree root like they’re nothing to him, his breathing even and face relaxed. “Sorry I’m late,” he greets, then dares to smile.
He fucking smiles .
None of us respond, too scared that if we react, he’ll end up disappearing and the hallucination will go away. Perhaps this is what happens right before you die.
If so, then I should get a few hits in while I can.
My fist tightens at my side as he strolls closer and I can finally see some evidence of a struggle. His hair is in complete disarray and his jacket has some small tears where I assume some small branches snagged it on his way out here.
“Let’s get out of this cold so we can talk.”