Page 154 of Kings & Corruption

I put my phone in the bag and stored it with my heels in the ceiling. Then I slipped the map and gun into my jacket pocket and hoisted myself up to the window.

Chapter69

Willa

The bathroom window was harder to get through than I’d expected, mostly because it was smaller than it looked. I had one moment of sheer panic when I thought I might be stuck, but a little wiggling shook me loose, and I dropped to the ground with a thud and started running before Oscar could come looking for me.

There was no trail on this side of the building. The tree line was so dense I wasn’t sure where to step through to find the path that was allegedly still marked on the trees leading to the cabin.

But the clock was ticking, so I looked at the map and took my best guess, then started tramping through thick stands of trees and the dry leaves that blanketed the ground.

It was so dark I could only see a couple feet in front of me. It was weird not having my phone, but I was relieved to have the tiny flashlight. Without it, I wouldn't have stood a chance in hell of finding my way to the cabin.

I was starting to get nervous that I'd made a mistake, that I’d stepped into the woods in the wrong place. Despite carefully watching the trees, I hadn't seen anything resembling a marker, and I was debating whether to change course when my flashlight landed on something out of the ordinary on one of the tree trunks up ahead.

I was grateful for my boots as I stepped through the leaves to get a better look.

And yep, there it was. Up close with a flashlight, I could barely make out a faded smear of orange paint on the white trunk of a birch tree. I felt a surge of triumph, then realized it could be a marker for anything.

Still, I badly needed the win, and I kept going, holding my breath until I spotted another marker about five minutes later.

After that the markers came regularly, painted on oaks, maples, and birch trees along the trail depicted on the map in my hands.

I wondered about the Kings, who were probably going batshit right about now. It wouldn't have taken long for Oscar to realize I'd snuck out of the bathroom. After that, he would have texted Neo and Rock.

I could only hope they wouldn't think to follow me into the woods right away. Maybe they would check the rest of the admin building first, or even drive back to the house in case I’d decided to leave without them for some reason.

I couldn't be sure what they would do, but I didn't hear them in the woods behind me.

Not yet anyway.

Other than the occasional weird sound coming from the darkness of the woods, it was terrifyingly quiet. I’d never been so utterly alone.

It was easy to lose track of time without my phone. My hands and face were cold, and I cursed myself for not thinking to bring gloves. Eventually I came to a small fork. Not a path exactly — the woods were too dense for that — but the smaller bushes and trees had been pushed down in two directions, like someone had stepped on them or crashed through them.

I tried not to think about that last possibility, about Emma or someone like her running through the trees just like I had when I’d been chased at the quarry party.

I consulted the map and looked at the arrow that had been drawn just before the little square representing the cabin. It was the only thing on the map besides the winding trail of ink that represented the barely marked trail and the cabin at the end of it.

And the arrow pointed right.

Was this what it meant? I held the flashlight between my teeth and rubbed my hands together to keep them warm while I considered my options. It didn’t take long because I didn’t have many of them: turn back, go left, or go right in the direction of the arrow.

I stepped to the right and continued through the trees.

On the plus side, I was almost there, and I slowed down a little, keeping my eyes peeled for the cabin. I’d already decided I would wait in the trees when I found it. I had no way of knowing whether the person who’d given me the note would already be inside or if they would arrive after me, but I preferred to get a look at them before I was trapped with them in a cabin in the middle of the woods.

I stuck my hand in my jacket pocket, the cold steel of the gun a reassuring talisman.

A glimpse of light through the trees halted my forward motion, and I stood still, blinking to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.

But no, it was there, a faint gold light up ahead. A fire maybe, or one of those camping lanterns.

Another minute and it came into view, a tiny wooden cabin with a hole in the roof and a partially caved-in porch. The glow came from one of two broken windows that flanked a rough-hewn door hanging askew on its hinges.

The whole thing gave me the heebie-jeebies. It looked like it had been there for two hundred years and had been unoccupied just as long.

I shivered, looking around for a tree big enough to hide behind. I’d taken two more careful steps toward a giant oak with a trunk twice as wide as my body when I heard the snap of a branch to my left.

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