And see, that’s why at the end of the day I’d done the girl a huge favor. Her life had already been dwindling to an end ever since getting caught up with Dion at a house party a few years ago. He’d involved her in something meant to be kept secret from the average, moral minded person.

  In that respect I’d done them both a huge favor. If he stuck around long enough, he would need to give me a huge IOU.

  “We still on for the pigs?” Brody asked.

  “Yeah. Take the route we already mapped out.”

  “We’re going into a fairytale,” Kyrous said quietly.

  Pulling my mask down, I settled against the seat and watched the city pass us by.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The second I was outside I followed Ciaran’s instruction and immediately went to the right. The path took me directly behind the tent. If anyone noticed my exit, they didn’t make a skeptical of it. I moved as fast as I could without drawing extra attention to myself.

  I had a knife now thanks to Ciaran, but that wasn’t going to do much good if I wound up surrounded. Behind the tent was a maze of empty crates and carnival gear. I carefully made my way through it, watching where I stepped. A flash of movement up ahead had me immediately ducking down.

  I swallowed and counted to three before slowly peeking over the top of the crates. I spotted one masked figure a few feet away, their back towards me. In front of them, a little off to the left were two carts like the kind you’d find at a circus to contain wildlife. Inside them were all the people that had made it through Kink’s house. Mel and Grace were amongst them but there was no sign of Dion.

  He couldn’t have died in there, right? I couldn’t entertain the idea that he made it this far just to perish inside a fucking clown house. I ducked back down and strengthened my grip on the knife.

  These carts were more than likely locked, which meant either this person or someone else had the keys. It wasn’t like I could go around asking for them, so I would have to try my luck with this person. I began to edge my way around the crates, keeping myself low to the ground.

  As I came around the row of solid containers, someone in the first cart noticed me. I was still blocked from view by the crates, but so was the person I needed to sneak up on.

  I looked towards the cart again and brought a finger to my masked lips, signaling them to keep quiet. They glanced in the direction of their guard, then subtly made a come-hither motion. I took this as a sign it was safe to proceed. My plan was to attack quick, not giving this person any time to react or potentially signal someone else.

  Taking a quick breath, I darted forward light on my feet and took the next corner at full speed, rising to my full height. Now I had the full attention of everyone locked inside the carts. I sprinted past them, reaching the masked man just as he began to turn.

  It took all my upper strength for me to take him down.

  Wrapping a forearm across his chest, I stabbed into the side of his neck and pulled his body towards mine, easing him down to the ground. Whatever he’d been holding in his hands and so enamored with fell to the ground.

  His blood coated my fingers, continuing to spurt out the side of his neck as if it were water coming from a drinking fountain. I slipped my free hand beneath his mask and covered his mouth to muffle his gasping, choking sounds, twisting the knife around until the side of my knuckles were pressing against his sticky flesh.

  “Keys are in his pocket,” Melantha divulged in a hushed tone.

  I dropped the man’s body and stood over top of him, leaning down to search his pockets. I used his shirt to wipe some of the blood from my hands in the process. This guy was well built.

  The definition of his abs and muscles were easily felt through his clothing.

  Finding the keys deep down in his right pocket, I tugged them free and retrieved my knife before focusing on the carts. I freed Mel first, moving onto the next as they climbed out.

  As I helped Gracelyn hop down, I realized two things. She was covered in more blood than everyone else, as if she’d gone on a total massacre, and all but two people had taken off. Their masks were abandoned on the ground. We all still had ours on. The guy had some Legion thing going on with his mask while the girls beside him resembled a bloodied half white rabbit, covering everything but her mouth and a portion of her cheeks.

  “Idiots,” the man grunted, watching as some of the escapees foolishly ran back through the maze of crates, I’d just made my way through to rescue them.

  All the others went the opposite direction. That meant in a matter of seconds it would be discovered someone had set these people free. We needed to get out of here, but now there was someone missing.

  A-fucking-gin.

  I was seriously going to chain all of us together.

  “What happened to Dion?” I asked.

  “We got separated after the first tunnel,” Mel answered. “I thought he might have wound up with you two. When I tell you he literally was there one second and not the next, I mean it. He didn’t yell or anything, he simply vanished.”

  I wanted to ask if he was alive, but I wasn’t willing to believe otherwise. I wanted to go back and look for him but that would be both reckless and suicidal. It sounded more like someone took him and that didn’t surprise me. After all, Dion was tied into all this somehow just like we were.

  “Follow me,” Legion (as I dubbed him) abruptly stated, his deep voice brooking no room for argument. He and the girl at his side turned and headed straight towards a long stretch of fencing.

  I wasn’t sure what their plan was until I saw Legion lift a section of the dark green tarp and usher the girl through a gate.

  He stepped through after her, waving at us to follow before disappearing from view. As with the two guys from the sanitorium, I wondered how they could have possibly known this exit was there. Of all the directions we could go, though, just like back then, this one seemed to be the safest bet.

  “We should follow them,” Grace suggested.

  “And fast. We won’t do Dion or Selena any good if we got caught again,” Mel stated.

  I knew she was right. I didn’t like it, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

  The three of us made our way through the gate, me going last this time. I stopped long enough to make sure it shut and latched, and then started running.

  On the other side was a flat stretch of dirt and weeds situated between the tarped fence and a large building. We ran through it, seeing the two people we were following abruptly cut to the left, passing through an open door.

  Straight ahead was entirely fenced off with no way of getting through, leaving us no choice but to continue to do the same.

  The knife whizzed through the air as I ran, moving in sync with my arms. I didn’t know what to expect when going inside this place, here anything seemed to be possible.

  At first, nothing really jumped out at me other than the three identical utility trucks parked side by side. As we passed by them the building widened into a more open space.

  It was impossible to miss the trailers loaded with dead bodies in various stages of rigor mortis. I counted four in total, full of discarded corpses piled up like trash. The smell was indescribable, not one that could be easily forgotten but something I could always distinguish. If Dion were here, he’d have learned what death truly smelled like.

  At the far end of the warehouse was a metal staircase and just beyond it two massive garage doors. We were halfway to them when loud voices carried from behind us. I knew the gig was up, we’d been found out.

  An alarm began to blast through the air, causing both doors to rapidly lower. I added a burst of speed, pushing myself to the absolute limit.

  “Get ready to roll!” Legion warned.

  I nodded more to myself than anyone else, preparing to do just that.

  We split apart, half going through the left door and half going through the right.

  I tightened my grip on the knife and dropped my shoulders down, throwing myself forward, hissing through my teeth as grainy concrete tore skin away from my elbow and the side of my knee. I was going to be completely black and blue by time this was all over.

  Grace and Mel helped me stand while the couple that led us here waited a few feet away. Once I was steady on my feet I turned and surveyed the area. We’d emerged on an empty side road, but I knew it wouldn’t be that way for long. We needed to get away from this place pronto.

  The alarm had stopped, but that didn’t mean anything. There were cameras all over this city and people eager to kill popping out of the woodwork. We had the option of going left, right, or straight, which led directly into a thick line of trees.

  There was not a map anywhere that I could see to tell us which one of these ways was correct.

  “You need to come with us,” the girl insisted as if she’d read my mind. Her tone was gentle, but firm.

  “Why do we need to go with you?” Mel demanded to know.

  “Because we know where you need to go next,” Legion answered matter-of-factly.

  I gave him and the girl a quick once over and belatedly came to realize they weren’t dressed like we were. Their outfits were more like Ciaran’s and his friends.

  I hadn’t been paying enough attention it seemed because I couldn’t remember if this had been the case with everyone in here. That would’ve made it so much easier to tell who was going to attempt to kill us and who was more than likely put in the playground against their will. Seeing this was enough to convince me we should follow them, though.

  “I believe him,” I said to the girls.

  “Me too,” Gracelynn remarked, “And I don’t think we should be out on the streets.”

  Mel gave me an inquisitive look but didn’t argue against my decision. There was no doubt in my mind that I’d be spilling all my updates once we had a moment to linger and speak openly.

  “Let’s move then,” Legion said, making his way into the trees with his partner.

  We began following them, pushing our way through overgrowth and skinny branches. “Do either of you have any better idea of how to find people in here?”

  “We should concentrate on our safety first,” Mel grumbled, pulling herself forward.

  “You’ll have all the help you need soon enough,” the girl ahead of us replied.

  She didn’t sound like that was meant to be malicious, confirming she and this Legion guy were here because of Ciaran.

  “Can you tell us if any of them are still alive?” Gracelynn asked, swatting a branch out of her path.

  “Them?” Legion questioned.

  “Dion, Morrigan, Selena?” Grace ticked off.

  It may have been my imagination, but I swear the girl faltered just the slightest bit at Grace’s question. I hadn’t thought much about Morrigan or Selena until now. I saw Ciaran physically lift Morrigan and hand her off to one of his partners, so I at least had some idea where she was. Selena, however, there’d been no sign of the pretty redhead anywhere. Her name was up on the map and Grace said they’d been separated, so she was definitely here in the city somewhere.

  The ground abruptly began to slant, taking us downhill. I had to wedge the knife handle in one my shorts belt loops so I could use both hands to keep myself stable.

  “What are your names?” Grace asked curiously.

  “We go by Junie and Tre,” the girl replied.

  Junie and Tre? Those names didn’t fit them at all. She probably just gave us their aliases. Whatever, I didn’t really need to know their government identities for anything.

  Through a gap in the trees ahead I could make out what looked like part of a trail and even more trees.

  “Where are we going?” Mel was the first to finally ask.

  “At the bottom of this hill is going to be the next task,” Legion, or Tre, answered.

  “That doesn’t sound like it’s going to help us,” I said.

  “It’s not supposed to. Where it takes you is.”

  I withheld an irritable sigh. Why couldn’t anyone be straightforward and direct? Nothing was ever simple.

  Nothing.

  “Do any of you speak like normal humans?”

  “Are any of us considered normal?” he retorted playfully.

  I shook my head and looked around.

  We’d finally reached the bottom of the rugged hill where the terrain flattened into a smooth, clear-cut dirt path. A low mid-grade fence lined it to keep people from veering off into the other parts of the woods. It didn’t matter which way I looked the path extended in both directions and there was no sign of where it ended.

  “Where are we supposed to go?” Grace asked the couple.

  “This way,” Junie answered, already walking away with Legion.

  The three of us shared a look before following them. We didn’t have to go far for the task Legion had mentioned to present itself. Walking around a sharp bend, I spotted something sticking out of the ground up ahead. I couldn’t make out what it was right away, but I could tell there were three separate paths divided behind it.

  “What is that?” Mel pondered aloud.

  We got a bit closer, and an invisible string of overhead lights clicked on.

  “Pigs,” I responded rhetorically now that the area was illuminated.

  Three dead pig heads had been strung upside down by their hind legs from tall wooden posts sticking out of the ground. Their eyes were still wide open, snouts extending with slightly gaping mouths. Blood was matted on their dry skin.

  “What the hell…?” Grace mumbled.

  Their lifeless bodies looked as if they were pointing to a stone podium with a bronze plaque on top of it.

  It had been positioned right beneath them. Behind this thing were individual clusters of trees separating the three paths I’d seen as we approached.

  “This is the task?” Mel asked.

  “Yeah,” Tre replied cheerfully. “And this is where we leave you.”

  “Leave us?” she echoed.

  “Where are you going?” I inquired.

  “We’ve got something else to handle,” Juno answered softly. “I’m sure we’ll see you again.”

  With that, the two of them began walking back down the path they’d just led us up. I didn’t make a move to object or stop them. We tended to do a better as a trio than with a group and I didn’t trust either of these people to begin with.

  I walked up to the podium so that I could get a good look at the plaque. There wasn’t anything on it. Well, there was nothing on it that I could read.

  “What is this supposed to be?” I asked no one in particular.

  “They look like symbols or something,” Grace said.

  I tilted my head to the side and tried to see them from a different angle. There were three engraved images going in a horizontal row. One looked like a pile of sticks, the second I had no idea what it was, and the third looked like stacked rows of gold. If they were symbols, I still couldn’t read them.

  “There’s three paths and three images,” I pointed out.

  “Let’s just pick one?” Mel poised the suggestion as a question.

  “Okay, which one do you want to try first?”

  “The one that isn’t going to get us killed,” Grace replied sarcastically.

  I stepped back and studied the center path, it started off like the other two and then wound its way into total darkness. I didn’t particularly care to go wandering down any of them.

  “We have to be missing something. There’s always a riddle or a puzzle that must be solved. We need to put our heads together. Think. What do three dead pigs represent that could align with these weird symbols?” Mel asked.

  Something about what she said had my mind flashing back to the sanitorium. The feces covered wall had what looked like Piggy, piggy written on it. So, even then this was always some place we were meant to be. It wasn’t random. We were still playing the game, which meant Mel was right. We were overlooking something.

  Pigs—three of them. Three symbols. A taunt. Three paths. How the fuck did all of this go together?

  I looked from the symbols to the dead pigs and a lightbulb clicked on in my head. The answer to this puzzle was so simple I felt like an idiot for not having figured this out right away.

  “It’s the three little pigs,” I announced confidently.

  Mel and Grace both looked at the plaque and then the pigs, laughing lightly at our temporary lapse in brain power.

  “Then these cubes have to be bricks,” Grace tapped a finger on what I had considered to be bricks of gold.

  “So, we need to go that way…” I trailed off, staring down the third path. It didn’t look any different from the center one, but I guess that was a risk we would have to take.

  “I’m going first,” Grace asserted firmly.

  “Then take this.” I pulled the knife’s handle free from my belt loop and handed it to her.

  She accepted it without any objection, but I could feel her questioning stare from beneath her bubblegum pink mask. If she wanted to start asking questions that was fine with me, but we’d be going tit for tat. There were a few things she had yet to tell me.

  As if coming to the same conclusion, without saying a word, she lowered the knife to her side and turned away.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  If there had been any sign at all, a premonition of some kind as to what was going to happen to us once we went down that path, I would have taken my chances out on the streets. In hindsight, there were multiple reasons to turn back.

  I couldn’t shake this sudden, growing sense of foreboding. I didn’t feel like we were alone. Mel and Grace hadn’t said anything, though, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

  At the end of our trail was a small brick house with all its lights on. Off to the side of it a small fire was burning in a round stone pit. A few wooden lawn chairs surrounded it in a semi-circle. The flames cast a soft glow onto the house’s dark red bricks. Whoever had lit this was nowhere in sight. In fact, it was abnormally silent again.

  The three of us stepped into the clearing and looked around. Behind the house was a thick wall of darkness. I couldn’t see a damn thing back there, not even the lawn. Seeing into the house wasn’t possible, either. There were curtains covering the front facing windows.