by Penelope Sky
“How are we going to survive out there? How will we know where we’re going?”
“I’ll take care of all that, alright?”
She scooped the snow then started to carry it.
I joined her, and we moved to the tree line.
Her voice came out as a whisper. “Raven, I’m scared…”
“I know. But we have to be brave.”
“If we get caught, they’ll hang us. And watching you go through it once…”
I couldn’t promise her we would get away. “I know. But we have to try. Because if we don’t try, we’ll be hanged at some point anyway.”
“What if we wait until spring? When the snow is gone?”
“It’ll just make it easier for them to find us. If we leave in a storm, it’ll be a lot more difficult.”
She nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“I’ll let you know when I’m ready. And on the first night of a storm…we’ll go.”
I snuck out that night.
It was dark like last time, the camp barely visible.
One of the things I needed most was a flashlight, preferably two. If it was dark here with a couple lights, then it would be pitch dark out there. I needed weapons, survival gear, and most of all, a map.
A horse would be essential too, but I couldn’t steal that now.
I left later in the evening this time, hoping that everyone in the camp was asleep. I found the same cabin where Magnus had been playing poker with the other guards. There was no light from the windows.
Either no one was in there, or they were asleep inside.
It was a bigger cabin, but I found it unlikely that the guards all bunked in there. It was hard to believe that the guards all slept together anyway, because they probably wanted their privacy.
I took the stairs to the porch then stepped in front of the window. My eyes narrowed as I looked inside, making out the circular table that had been there last time. There was no movement inside. It was too dark to make anything out, so I wasn’t sure if there were beds somewhere farther in.
I wouldn’t know until I went inside.
I moved to the front door and pulled out the rod of my pen and the metal shaft. Gently, I inserted both into the door and tried to trip the lock. It took me a long time because I was still terrible at this, only had my own door for experience. My eyes glanced over my shoulder to make sure there was no one moving through the compound that might spot me.
Then it clicked.
Fuck yes.
I returned the tools to my pocket then gently turned the doorknob, moving as quietly as possible, not making a single sound. Then I stepped inside and shut the door behind me.
Jesus Christ, I did it.
I wanted to turn on a light so I could see better, but that was too risky, especially since the windows didn’t have shades. I moved farther inside, past the table, and then listened.
I didn’t hear anything.
There was a fridge next to the table, a counter with a microwave, as if this was a break room. I crept through the doorway to the rest of the cabin, and there were windows on the back wall, showing some illumination from the back porch light.
It was a living room, a couple couches angled toward the TV on the wall.
I saw another doorway, so I crept through and found a bathroom and another room. It seemed like no one was in the cabin, so I was a little braver. My feet moved a little quicker, and I didn’t hold my breath so much.
The door was closed, so I had to turn the knob and crack it open.
Bingo.
It was a supply room. Bows and arrows were on the wall, along with other supplies, like first aid kits and medicine.
I was so grateful these windows had been lit up that night. It would have taken me forever to figure out which cabin to investigate without knowing where the guards were in the first place.
There was no window in this room, and that was probably by design. I shut the door behind myself and flicked on the light.
Yes, yes, yes.
I opened drawers and looked through everything, finding matches and flashlights. I pocketed both, getting a flashlight for both Melanie and me. The matches would come in handy if we needed to make a fire, something I didn’t know how to do with just sticks. I wanted to grab extra things, like the medicine, but if I took too much, it would be obvious.
There were no guns…unfortunately.
Those must be under lock and key.
I stuffed my pockets with a couple bottles of water and bags of nuts. When I couldn’t carry any more, I looked up the wall to where the bows and quiver of arrows were mounted. There were only four, so if I took two, it might be really obvious.
If I took one, it would be less obvious.
I didn’t know how to use a bow and arrow, but I could practice in the forest with a flashlight. That way, we could hunt in the forest—even though I didn’t know how to do that either. Or at least have a weapon if they hunted us down.
I took the bow and quiver of arrows, and since there was no way to stuff those into my pockets, I just slung them over my back.
If I got caught, I was dead anyway.
I turned off the light and left.
Before I walked out the front door, I locked it from inside and then took the stairs back to the ground. The walk back was uneventful because everyone seemed to be asleep. I made it the rest of the way, anxious and excited, eager to get back to my cabin so I could finally rejoice.
There was no map, but that was okay.
We’d figure it out.
I got back into my cabin, locked myself inside so even Magnus wouldn’t know what I did, and then I finally released the breath I’d been holding. “Holy shit…I fucking did it.” I emptied my pockets and put everything on the bed, including the bow and arrows.
But then I realized I had a problem.
Where was I going to hide everything?
I had no furniture. My mattress just sat on the floor. I had a nightstand, but that wouldn’t hold everything.
I could hide it somewhere outside, but what if I couldn’t find it again?
That only gave me one choice.
The bathtub.
There was no shower rod, but no one ever came to clean my cabin, so no one ever looked. Magnus never peeked. It was my only option because there was literally nowhere else.
So that was where I put it.
I turned off the light and got into bed, unable to believe my luck.
I had nearly everything I needed to escape. I just needed to pick the lock to the stables and grab a horse.
And then we’d be on our way.
The days passed even slower than before.
Because now I was actually anxious for the future.
I ignored the next Red Snow as best I could, but it traumatized me even more than usual, because I remembered exactly how it felt to have that rope around my neck. Listening to her screams made me stop breathing because it felt as if the noose were around my own throat, choking me.
Hopefully that was the last Red Snow I’d have to listen to.
I just needed that storm to come.
Another drop came, and we grabbed everything that fell from the sky and put it on the wagon.
There was no bell.
We returned to camp, unloaded everything, and then had a full day of work.
The sky was clear, so a storm didn’t seem to be in the forecast.
At the end of the workday, we weren’t dismissed as usual.
Instead, the executioner came out.
The torches weren’t lit, and it’d only been days since the last Red Snow.
So, something different was happening.
He looked at all of us, as if searching for something.
I turned to Bethany, who was standing beside me. “Do you know what’s happening?”
She shook her head.
The executioner started to speak. “One of you has stolen from us.”
Instantly, I was sick, so fuck
ing sick that I wanted to vomit right onto my boots. Blood pounded in my ears, and all the excitement I felt at my success was quickly taken away. My eyes darted to Melanie.
Her eyes were already on me.
The executioner scanned all of us, searching for a reaction.
I forced myself to keep a blank face, to hide just how fucking terrified I was.
“If anyone knows anything about this, come forward. You’ll be rewarded.”
Melanie was the only one who knew, so I was safe.
“Every cabin will be searched.”
Shit.
“When we find what belongs to us, you’ll hang.” The executioner turned away, ending the announcement.
Fuck, what was I going to do? When I got back to the cabin, I would have to leave again, carry everything into the woods. But it was still light out, the sun setting, so someone would see me. Guards would be everywhere.
They must have noticed the bow and arrows were missing that morning before we collected the drop. They probably tried to find the missing set all afternoon, and when they couldn’t, they realized someone had taken it, along with other items.
Why hadn’t that storm come?
I hadn’t anticipated this because the drops were unpredictable. Sometimes they came often, and sometimes they didn’t come at all.
Fuck, I was so screwed.
The women rose from the tables and headed back to their cabins, immediately whispering to one another about the revelation. Before I turned away, I looked at Melanie again.
She looked at me—like she knew.
Magnus grabbed me by the arm and yanked me away. He was harsh, when he normally didn’t touch me at all. “Come on.” He marched me back along the route we took in the morning, keeping me ahead of him so he could walk behind me.
The blood was pounding so loudly in my ears that I couldn’t hear my own boots against the snow. I felt neither cold nor warm, just alarmed, just full of anxiety for the mess I’d caused myself.
I was so lost in my head that the journey to my cabin took only a few seconds. I didn’t even realize we were there until Magnus moved in front of me and entered the cabin.
I followed behind him.
He shut the door behind me and rounded on me so fast. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” He yanked his hood down, showing his red face, the vein pulsing in the center of his forehead. “How stupid are you? You really thought they wouldn’t notice? Do you even know how to use a bow and arrow?”
I stepped back, breathing hard because I was scared of what would happen when they came to my cabin.
“I told you that you can’t escape, but you pull this stunt?”
“You told me you’d still run for it.”
“So I can die on my own terms. Not because there’s any chance that I could make it a mile before they hunted me down.” His hands moved to both sides of his head, and he dug his fingers into his hair, gripped his skull like he was furious. “You said you were sick of cleaning up your sister’s messes? Well, I’m fucking sick of cleaning up yours.” He took a knee on my floor and pulled out tools from his pockets.
“What…what are you doing?”
“Get the shit you stole.” He pulled out a crowbar and stuck it between the boards, yanking it back so the wood would come free. “Come on. Quickly. We don’t have time.”
I grabbed the bow and arrow from the tub and then gathered everything else. “What if you just put it in the woods—”
“I can’t walk out of here with all this shit. Dead fucking giveaway.” He got on his stomach and started to tuck everything underneath the cabin, digging up the soil with his bare hands and placing everything underneath it until he smoothed it over with the dirt, hiding it from view. Then he returned the plank to the floor, putting a dab of glue between the boards so it wouldn’t be obvious that one was loose.
The fact that he had all those things on him meant he already knew I was the culprit before the executioner had announced anything. He knew it was me without asking, and he knew he had to come prepared. Otherwise, I would be caught.
He saved my ass…again.
He got to his feet and dusted off his hands before he pulled his gloves back on.
Footsteps sounded outside.
He turned at the sound then quickly pulled up his hood to hide his face. “Sit. Now.”
I did as I was told and sat at the edge of the bed.
The front door flew open, and the executioner came in with two guards.
Magnus did a remarkable job of looking innocent. “I checked the lock on her door, and it hasn’t been tampered with. I checked her room but haven’t moved the mattress.”
They didn’t seem suspicious of Magnus at all. One guard moved to look in the tub, while the other opened the drawers in my nightstand and searched there. The executioner came to me. “Move.”
I got off the bed right away.
Magnus silently excused himself.
The men looked through everything in my room, upending the mattress, even moving the nightstand to make sure there was nothing behind it. They looked underneath the tub then undid the piping of my sink, as if I’d shoved some things there. They came up empty-handed.
The guards left without putting my stuff back where it was.
The executioner didn’t walk out. Instead, he came up to me, looking down at me with those furious eyes. He stared for a long time, a minute straight, his look so intense that it terrified me.
I couldn’t be as brave as I was last time. At that moment, I had accepted my death.
But right now, I had no idea what would happen.
Finally, he spoke. “He can’t protect you forever. Next time he’s gone, so are you.”
15
The Storm
Life went on.
There were no other announcements about the stolen items.
The girls knew the stuff hadn’t been recovered because no one had been killed.
It seemed as if the executioner suspected me, but without proof, there was nothing he could do.
But I definitely had to make a run for it before Magnus left again, because once he was gone…I was done for. Every day was sunny and cold, and there was barely a breeze on the wind. We worked day after day, time blending together.
God, I needed that storm.
Melanie was surprised I hadn’t been caught based on her shocked expression, but once the immediate threat passed, she didn’t look so terrified. She actually looked a little hopeful, like we had a chance.
My dinner was delivered that night. It was placed on my bed, a pile of food on the plate, like the girls in the kitchen always made sure to give me extra after I’d been starved last week. There was a mug of hot cocoa too.
Magnus was my guardian angel.
We hadn’t talked about what happened because he’d left my cabin the instant the food was delivered every night. It seemed like he wanted nothing to do with me.
But tonight, he stayed.
He shut the door behind himself, dropped his hood, and then pulled up his chair so he could face me, the way that asshole guard used to. His black gloves were removed, and he started to curl his fingers into his palm, as if working out the aches caused by the cold. “A storm is coming tonight. It’ll be here around three a.m.” He lifted his gaze and looked at me, staring at me with those brown eyes that were uniformly dark but somehow beautiful. He regarded me with suppressed concern, with a hint of annoyance. “If you leave before it hits, you’ll get a lead on them.”
I ignored my food, despite the fact that I was starving. The only thing that mattered was the words he spoke.
“When the winds hit, it’ll cover your tracks.”
My hands started to shake because the moment had arrived. This was really happening.
“But you won’t make it, Raven.”
It was the first time he’d said my name. I liked the way it sounded.
He shook his head slightly. “If you’re lucky enough to evade capture, you’ll get lost
and die anyway.”
“Unless you tell me the way.”
He held my gaze, unblinking. “You know I can’t do that.”
“Please…”
“Even if I did, you aren’t going to make it.”
“Stop saying that. It’s not true.”
“Have you ever been out in the wilderness in your entire life?” His voice started to rise, his anger getting to him. “Let alone, in winter? You think those two flashlights are going to be enough to navigate in the pitch-blackness? In a storm? You’re going to get yourselves killed.”
“We’re just going to ride straight through.”
“Ride?” he asked incredulously. “Ride what?”
“A horse.”
“And how do you plan on getting a horse?”
“The same way I got the other stuff.”
He shook his head. “You can’t pick the lock on the stables. They’re bolted. That’s not an option.”
My heart did a somersault.
“You’ll have to go on foot. And you definitely won’t make it.”
“Do you think you could get me—”
“Did you really just ask me that?” He raised his voice again. “After everything I’ve done for you? You have the audacity to ask me for anything?”
I bowed my head in shame.
“I’m tired of saving your ass. If I really thought you had a chance out there, I would tell you that. But you don’t. You have no idea what you’re up against. And here I am, yet again, trying to save you.”
“I’d rather die out there than work for these monsters a day longer. My sister is gorgeous, and once the boss is done with her, it’ll just be another guy… They’ll force her until her beauty fades. She’d rather die out there too…with me.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is with her.”
“What are you talking about? She’s beautiful.”
“On the outside. But she’s weak on the inside.”
I lifted my head and looked at him again.
His eyes were on me with the same intensity as before. “And I’ve seen better.”
I was paralyzed by his words. All I could do was look at the brown eyes staring at me, look into the face of the man who held my life in his hands. My makeup had washed away shortly after I arrived here, and I hadn’t even combed my hair since. There was no mirror, so I had no idea what I looked like, but even on my best day, I was nothing compared to Melanie. So, there was no way he was referring to me specifically…right?