I step further into the room, taking it all in. Could this be where she was? Could my child have been here, so close, and yet ripped away from me again? There’s a unicorn plush on the bed. I used to have one like this as a child, too. I pick it up and bring it to my face, inhaling the scent. It smells of lavender and vanilla.
“You okay?” Josh’s voice startles me.
I quickly dab at my face with my sleeve. “Yeah, yep. Fine.”
“Why would Pierce bring a child here? What kind of monster are we dealing with?” The venom in Josh’s voice almost makes me smile. He never seemed very paternal, but here he is, surprising me again.
I turn back toward the tent’s opening and stop in place. There’s a note taped to the wall of the tent just above the opening, a note with my name on it. I quickly avoid eye contact with the wall behind Josh. I don’t want him to turn and see it before I can read it in private.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. There’s nothing we can use,” I say, following Josh out. “Oh, shoot. I should put this back in case the little girl comes looking for it.” I jiggle the unicorn in my hand, inciting a chuckle from Josh.
“I have to take a piss anyway,” he tells me. “I’ll meet you by the firepit in a minute.”
I give him a mock salute, sort of wishing I had hit him harder with that bucket for the bullshit game he’s been playing with both Teagan and Lexi, but he’s my only ally right now.
I wait until he disappears into the tree-line before darting back into the tent. I wrap the unicorn in the blanket and stash it back into my bag, then rip the note off the wall. I’m expecting another sinister note from Pierce, but instead I find a poorly hand-drawn map.
There are six triangles—those must be the tents.
Windermere is labeled, sitting to the east.
It looks like some type of lighthouse just south.
Cliffs lie to the west, and a giant B is written in a circle close to them.
Then there’s a small house nestled right in the middle of all of them with a giant X with small handwriting smudged underneath it.
I bring the map to my face, squinting as I try to read the scribbled note.
You’ll find her here.
Hurry before he finds her first.
-Rebecca
Who is the “he” this note is referring to? And how do I get to this X if I don’t know which way North is? And what does this Rebecca person have to do with any of this? I want to scream in frustration, but I’ll have to settle for pinching the bridge of my nose and squeezing my fist.
I wish Lee were here. He would know what to do. He’s so calm in a crisis, and right now, I’m definitely falling into crisis mode.
“Capri?” Josh’s voice hits me like a shot to the heart. How do I save my child and keep her safe if I don’t know who to trust?
All I know is I can’t let Josh see this map. Not until I know who the “he” is.
I fold the map up and shove it into my pants, my hand skimming against the cool metal of the compact. It feels like all my secrets are seconds away from burning a hole in my pocket, exposing me from the inside out.
Josh is standing by the fire pit when I finally exit the tent. “Which way do you think the castle is?” he asks, shuffling his bucket from one armto the other. It looks like it’s filled with black bedding, just like my own bag.
I shrug, breathing in the thick scent of the forest surrounding us. “Do you happen to have a compass? Because if not, then I have no idea.”
Josh lets out a frustrated sigh. “Fresh out of compasses, I’m afraid.”
I knew that, but the disappointment I feel is still heavy.
“Let’s just head that way until we run into something, or someone,” Josh suggests, pointing down one of the several paths surrounding the campsite. “I wouldn’t want the Ghillieman to come back and break our necks because we took too long to leave this stupid place.”
We start down the path closest to us. We’ve barely crossed the threshold into the tree-line when a gunshot rings through the air. The bullet hits a tree next to Josh’s head, wood exploding loudly.
“Run!” he yells, grabbing my hand and pulling me back toward a different path.
