I stared for a while, waiting to see someone walk past the windows.
Nothing happened.
I wanted to walk away and explore the rest of the camp, but I knew that building was the most likely location of the things I needed. Even if I could just get my hand on a gun and ammunition, that would really level the playing field.
I moved toward the bigger cabin and hit something.
My knee banged into the wooden rail that outlined the steps.
I shut my mouth and suppressed my groan, keeping silent even though that was so hard to do. Once I breathed through the pain, I made my way up, gripping the rail and keeping my footfalls silent. I reached the top and flattened against the wall, doing my best to listen.
Voices were audible, but I couldn’t make out any words.
I slid closer to the window, standing right outside it, trying to hear exactly what they were saying. They could share information that would help me figure out where I was, if anyone passed through the area, if there was an obvious escape route that we weren’t aware of.
But the windows were too insulated, and I couldn’t translate anything. I heard several different voices, like there were quite a few guards together. What were they doing at this hour? Whatever hour it was…
I slowly moved closer and closer, facing the window, letting one eye move over the glass so I could see inside. I needed to know what was inside, to find out if the contents were worth breaking in at a later time.
Five guards were gathered around a round table. A lamp hung directly down from the ceiling, showing the cards on the table, the poker chips, the pile of euros in the center. They were in their long-sleeved black coats, but their cloaks were gone.
I saw their faces.
One guy had a thick, black beard. He was muscular and large, and I was pretty certain he was the guard who’d punched me in the face on my first day in the camp. Another guy was bald with a mustache. Every single one of them was muscular, not a scrawny guy in the mix. They couldn’t be weak to do a job like this, physically or mentally. The guy directly facing me stared at the cards in his hand, his eyes down, his look impassive because he had a good poker face.
He had brown eyes, warm like the hot cocoa I’d had in my cabin, and he had fair skin with a hint of an olive tone, like he was French but also Italian. His broad shoulders stretched the fabric of his uniform, and while he was tall like the other men, he wasn’t bulky. He was still for another moment before he laid his cards on the table.
“Motherfucker.” The bald guy threw his cards down and took a drink from his beer.
The rest of the guys growled in protest and threw down their cards too.
The corner of his mouth rose in a slight smile, and then he pulled all the chips toward him, smug but also humble, because he didn’t say a single word about his victory. He grabbed his beer, and when he lifted it to take a drink, his eyes moved to mine.
“Shit…” I ducked down instantly. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I started to shiver in fear, because there was no doubt that he saw me. He paused his movements because he saw something in the frosty glass.
I was so scared that I couldn’t move.
But I didn’t hear any movement inside the cabin, footsteps heading to the door, loud conversations that led to shouts.
I didn’t stick around to find out what happened.
I crawled under the windows and moved around the patio, careful over the floorboards, and maneuvered toward the back of the building, which was close to the forest. I could hide out there until they stopped searching for me. They probably didn’t get a good enough look at my face to identify me. I just had to get to my cabin before they did.
I rounded the corner and made my way to the stairs in the rear. With my hand on the rail, I slowly crept to the bottom, my feet hitting the little mounds of snow that hadn’t melted yet.
A hand grabbed me.
I was yanked up against the rise of the platform, my back hitting the wooden material that obscured me from view of the patio. It was dark so I couldn’t see his face in the commotion, but now the light from the cabin above struck him perfectly, highlighting his face enough to make out his features.
It was the guard who’d spotted me.
He got out here fast—without making a sound.
I breathed hard in his face, paralyzed by my capture, so terrified that I couldn’t move. But I found my strength and yanked my arm back to punch him in the face, to break free so I could run into the woods.
He overpowered me easily, like I was a child. His hands locked my arms in place, keeping me pressed down so tightly the only movement I could make was the steady rise and fall of my chest through my breathing. “What the fuck are you doing?” His deep voice was hushed in a whisper, but his anger was so potent that it felt like he was yelling, screaming at the top of his lungs. “Do you know what they’ll do to you if they find you out here? You’ll be the next victim of the Red Snow. Do you understand me?” He squeezed my arms hard, gripping me so tightly there would be two bruises there tomorrow. He pulled me then pushed me back into the wood, trying to strike some sense into me.
The threat instantly passed at the revelation. “Magnus?”
His nostrils made a steady line of vapor because
