Page 75 of The Hunt

“Yes.” I swallowed and went on. “Us doing all this stuff… lying in the shrubs and running around the forest. It just reminded me of something. I honestly used to think it was all a bad dream.”

“Everly.Spill.”

“Jake’s family owns a huge manor called Wildercliff. It’s on an island off the coast of Massachusetts,” I said. “I visited once when I was a kid, because my dad worked for his dad. We weren’t allowed to go past the estate fence when we were outside, but we all sneaked out one night, and we saw…”

I trailed off, faltering as the awful images flashed in my mind.

“Saw what?” Nikki asked. Her eyes were like saucers now.

“There was a group of people in dark robes and skull masks. They were all standing in a clearing, and—” I stopped and frowned, straining to recall the next part of the foggy memory. “One of them said something about a test, I think. That bit is really fuzzy. But there was also an unmasked man there, tied tosomething. They let him go and told him to run, and then… they killed him. At least, that’s what it looked like.”

“Holy fuck. You saw all that when you were just akid?”

"Yeah. I think I was only eight or nine. I ended up having nightmares about it foryears. But then, after a while, I thought it was just a bad dream all along. That I imagined the whole thing. But now..." I trailed off as I looked around. “It wasn’t a dream. It really happened. Onthisisland. It has to be the same place.”

Nikki was silent for a moment, her eyes narrowing slightly as she took in what I’d said. Finally, she spoke again. "You said Jake’s family owns the island, right?”

“Yes.”

“And they’re involved in The Wild Hunt?”

“Well, I know for sure that Jake is, because he wears that ring and hangs out with the other Wilders on campus. But I bet his dad is too,” I said. “That’s why I think thishasto be the same place. It’s just too much of a coincidence. Even the name—Wildercliff. It all makes sense.”

“Shit. Yeah.” Nikki’s brows dipped in a contemplative frown. “If they own the island, then they’re probably really high up in the society, and that could explain how it was so easy for Jake to set you up like this, without you even applying for the game.”

I nodded grimly. “Exactly. But if I’m right, and itisthe same island, that could be useful to us, right?”

“For sure.” A glimmer of hope and enthusiasm had appeared in Nikki’s eyes. “If you know this place, then maybe you know a way to escape. So… just think. Try to remember as much as you can.”

“Well, we sneaked through a tunnel to get off the estate that night, and I think Jake said there was more than one of them,” I said, forehead creasing. “That could be how the hunters get around the island. But it could also be a way for us to escape.”

“Yeah, if we’re careful. Do you know where any of the tunnel entrances are?”

I shook my head. “No. The island ishuge.But if we find that same clearing, then I think we can probably find the tunnel I went through as a kid. It wasn’t too far away, and it goes to the manor.”

Nikki nodded slowly. “We could sneak into the manor somehow. Find a phone that actually works.”

“Yes. But it all depends.” I paused for a beat, gnawing at my bottom lip. “I mean, like I said, the island is huge, and most of it is forested. There’s probably tons of different clearings, so it’ll be hard to find the right one. Also, I doubt I can remember exactly what it looks like, and it’s been over a decade since I was there, so it could’ve changed a lot anyway.”

“But it’s the best chance we’ve got to get out of this hellhole, isn’t it?”

“I think so.”

“Then that’s our plan. We’ll try to find that tunnel. We might even get lucky and find another one,” she said. She paused and glanced up at the sky. “We should get moving again. We’ve been here for ages, and it’s going to start getting dark soon.”

I nodded, and we rose to our feet and slipped away into the trees.

We moved cautiously through the forest, every sound amplified in the tense silence. Nikki stayed just ahead of me, her movements deft and fluid. I tried to match her pace, but every time the shadows shifted, I found myself glancing over my shoulder.

Eventually, we reached the closest safe zone—a small, weathered cabin tucked deep in the woods. The area around it was delineated with a spraypainted blue circle. Nikki held up a hand for me to stop and then motioned for me to drop.

We crouched together behind a cluster of bushes, watching the cabin. It was eerily quiet, the distant chirp of insects the only sound breaking the stillness.

“Okay, it seems safe,” Nikki finally whispered. “I don’t see any traps.”

I nodded and rose to my feet, and we hurried toward the front door of the cabin. As I ran, I heard a twig snap behind me, and I turned to look over my shoulder again.

My heart skipped a beat at what I saw.

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