The Chateau (Chateau 1)

It would finally give me an opportunity to talk to Melanie.

But I also dreaded that conversation.

He nodded to the shovels and walked away.

A sense of emptiness always fell into my stomach when he walked away, like he was the jacket keeping me warm, and the second he was gone, I was exposed to the elements in just my skin.

I grabbed a shovel and searched for my sister until I found her.

She was shoveling snow the way I taught her, protecting her back and using her foot to generate the force instead of her arms. She scooped it up and carried it to the tree line.

I waited for her to return, pretending to struggle with the snow. That way, she and I could be on the same timing.

When she came back to me, she wasn’t relieved to see me like last time. She had been dreading this moment, like she’d been thinking about this conversation for a long time.

I didn’t have it in me to ask for details, to even address it.

It was just too fucking hard.

Maybe that made me a coward, but I didn’t know how to be brave. “Where’s your cabin?” I dug into the snow and scooped up the fresh powder.

She stilled at the question, surprised I’d skipped over the conversation neither one of us wanted to have. “Why?” She dug her shovel into the snow then carried it with her to the tree line, walking at my side.

“Because I’m going to get us out of here.” I tossed the snow onto the pile.

She did the same. “I’m the last cabin in the northeast part of the camp.”

That meant she was farther back, closer to the areas the guards used.

“Everyone is talking about how your guard helped you.”

I walked back to the pile of snow we were working on. She moved beside me, keeping some distance so it wasn’t so obvious we were conversing. “I’m not sleeping with him.”

“Nobody would care if you were.”

“I know. That’s how you know I’m not lying.” I dug my shovel into the snow.

“Do you think he’ll help us escape?”

“No. I already asked.”

We got more snow then walked back to dump it.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “Your throat looks better.”

“I’m fine.” She didn’t need to worry about me, not when she was the one in distress. “I’m going to sneak out and collect supplies. When I’ve got enough stuff, I’ll get you in the middle of the night, and we’ll run for it.”

She pushed her shovel into the snow but didn’t lift it again. She just turned to look at me. “What do you mean, sneak out?”

“I found some tools to pick the lock. I’ve done it before.”

“And you didn’t get caught?”

Technically, yes. “No.”

Her eyes were wide. “Oh my god…”

“Once I have everything, I’ll let you know.”

“How?”

“I’ll have to wait until the next storm when we’re shoveling snow. Then we’ll go that night.”

“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.