Page 40 of Wild Devil

Wait… A cold jolt of panic shoots through me as I look back at Colton. If she’s here, my father can’t be far behind. The remaining girls will be killed just to punish me. I can’t let that happen. I can’t. A sharp pain across my palm draws my attention downward—I’m still holding the bloodied razor.

“Frances, look at me!”

Catherine pulls her hand back and strikes my cheek. I feel the pain like a delayed response to a hot stove. Nothing at first, then burning, molten heat all at once.

“Snap out of it and listen to me!” I have never heard Catherine raise her voice before, but now it echoes off the walls. “We don’t have much time,” she insists, darting her gaze to the closed door. “Michael has left with the others, but Colton was due to check in via telephone soon. I’m sure Michael would have had him killed anyway. But this is your only chance to run, do you hear me? Go now into the woods, and don’t look back!” She shrugs off her blue jacket and drapes it over my shoulders, revealing a simple gray dress underneath. I don’t remember seeing her at the wedding. Where was she?

Suddenly, English seems nearly impossible to understand. “Run?”

“Yes, run! I’ll handle things here. Just run and don’t look back!”

As she shoves me to the door, I feel as if I am wading through water. Suddenly, one clear thought penetrates the haze of my mind.

“The girls. There are two other women. I need to find them?—”

“Of course!” Catherine nods. “They’ll be in the stables, I think. Somewhere close by, but I’m not sure. I can’t guarantee their safety. I only care about you. You’re right. I failed Hale, but I won’t stand aside and do nothing anymore. Whatever you decide, I’ll try to buy you time. Just trust me, please.”

I don’t know whether or not I can. There is a possibility that she and my father are conspiring to ensnare me in an elaborate trap. The paranoia is unbearable, but I manage to snap out of it with a firm shake of my head.

“What about the guards?”

“They’re distracted,” she says with another frantic look at the door. “For now. I told them Colton demanded privacy. Go out through the back. By the time you make it outside, I’m sure you’ll be the last thing on their minds. Just trust me, please, and whatever you do... Know that I always cared about you and Hale. Truly, I did. I do.”

Something unspoken lurks within her words. A part of her plan that she intentionally isn’t telling me outright. No doubt, something dark and dangerous.

Still, I can’t deny the gratitude I feel for her, after everything. Reaching out, I take her hand. “Thank you.”

She inhales deeply as her eyes fly to our clasped hands. “I…” Suddenly, she cocks her head as a sound rumbles from below.

“Go!” She shoves me forward. “Go now!”

I scramble into the hall and follow her instructions, surprised to find the winding corridors empty. In her coat, I feel like a ghost, unnoticed by everyone, and yet the slightest noise might give me away. As I make my way outside, I can’t help but feel like it was all too easy. It was a trick. A trap. My father will be waiting for me in the courtyard, ready to snuff out another innocent life at my expense.

However, I see nothing but darkness as my vision adjusts, except for a faint orb of light denoting the stables. It only takes me a split second to make up my mind. Rather than escape toward the road, I head toward the set of buildings, unsure of what I’ll find.

Suddenly, shouts rise up from the house. Then, the crash of broken glass. Startled, I turn back and stare. On the second story, I recognize the window of the room Colton imprisoned me in. Only now, orange flames lick at the glass, glowing in the darkness.

Catherine. I start to return in the direction I came from, but then I stop mid-step as her plea echoes in my mind. Trust me.

With a heavy heart, I turn around and run blindly toward the stables. Despite my attire, two guards run right past me toward the house. In the stables, one remains, peering warily from the entrance, and behind him, I can see the place where the girls were kept, the door closed.

I look around and find a shovel. It’s heavy, but I use what strength I have left to heft it as high as I can. When I approach the guard, he doesn’t even have time to cry out. I watch his body fall, and a strange panic comes over me when all I feel is nothing.

It’s like I’m sleepwalking to the stall, fumbling with the lock.

“The keys,” someone cries out to me. “He has the keys.”

I turn back to the guard and shove my hands into his pockets. In one, I find a set of keys that gleam in the darkness. On unsteady feet, I race back to the stable and shove one of the keys into the lock. On the third try, I get the door open and discover two frightened figures huddled at the back of the enclosed space.

“We’re chained,” one of them says, pointing to her ankles.

The key for the door works, and once they’re freed, they scurry to the doorway. “We need to go now, because when they come back…” She breaks off abruptly, her gaze fixed on the house. As I follow in their wake, I realize why.

The entire house is on fire, a blazing inferno of orange flames that swallows the top of the structure. Suddenly, Catherine’s parting words to me make sense. This is what she meant by not looking back.

“We need to go.” I head toward the woods, unsure of where the hell I’m going or how. The guards will only be distracted for a few moments, if that. I can hear the girls in my wake as we stagger near the main road.

Only God knows what will happen next.

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