Page 44 of Psyop Kings

When we’re out of here, I could jump out at a stoplight and flag down another car. I’m going to escape, that much I do know.

Bright white assaults my vision and for a moment, I wonder if another car is driving toward us. I squint against it and try to see. It doesn’t take long for me to realize it’s not headlights.

It’s snow.

A lot of it.

Now the strange tires make sense. They’re some sort of snow tires.

Where the hell am I?

Caius is relaxed as he drives—one hand on the wheel and the other resting on the center console. While he maneuvers expertly through the snowy terrain, I strain my eyes, trying to make sense of my surroundings.

There’s snow everywhere.

Snow and trees and mountains.

I twist around to see what I’m leaving behind. It’s a massive building but not a hotel. I’m guessing it’s a ski lodge—or at least used to be one. Now it’s where they torture their victims.

I’m unable to guess the size of the lodge and don’t care to. I turn back around to see where he’s taking us. All thoughts of running away have been extinguished. I’m not going anywhere barefoot and in nothing but a robe.

A shiver runs through me that has nothing to do with the snow outside. The inside of the Mercedes is toasty. No, the cold chill settling in my bones is because I realize I’m still a captive. The scenery has changed, but my predicament remains the same.

As Caius winds through the trees, we pass a small, typical-looking log cabin. Two deer just beyond the cabin stare at us as we pass.

“Is that Gareth’s house?”

“Recognizing things again?” he tosses back, not answering my question.

We bump along the snow-covered road, which eventually sends the deer running for safety in the thick woods behind the cabin. As we drive, we seem to be climbing higher in elevation.

It’s obvious we’re not going to the city or where people who can save me are.

We’re just going farther and farther away.

He drives through a tree-lined area of the road and when it opens back up, a large, snow-covered home stares us down. It’s enormous and beautiful.

“What is this place?” I ask as we drive toward it.

“Chalet de la Nuit,” he says in an emotionless tone. “Our home.”

Dread pools in my stomach. Nothing about this is familiar. This is not my home. I’m a college student at… My brain blanks out for half a second, sending spasms of panic through me.

I’m a student.

I’m a student at…

I’m a student at USC.

Relief floods through me at remembering. My brain is short-circuiting, and I don’t know why. Perhaps I’m in shock and am having trouble making any of this make sense in my head.

The beautiful home is partially on stilts and the other part of it appears to be built into the mountain. Beneath the home between the stilts is a charcoal-colored Range Rover. Caius pulls the Mercedes into the area next to the other vehicle and shuts it off.

He opens his car door and an icy wind blows inside, making me squeal. After he shuts it, he takes off toward a door that must lead inside the house.

I can’t believe he left me here.

Alone.

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