Page 83 of Forged in Deception

The rain was beginning to fall now, quickly dampening the sand and dirt beneath her shoes. It took most of her concentration just to keep walking without slipping.

Lily had gone quiet again, more interested in jabbing her with the gun and snapping at her to keep moving than in explaining herself further.

At last, after several more minutes walking in silence, debating what to say, Karlin finally realized where she was.

Up just ahead was the downward slope that led toward the old cabin where she had met with Axel.

“Careful on the rocks,” Lily said, breaking the long silence. It was everything Karlin could do not to laugh as she navigated down the steep, wet slope. The rain was picking up by the minute, and the trail was becoming downright treacherous, butif Lily was so concerned about her safety, why did she have a gun pointed firmly at her back?

Any hope that the woman might be somehow on her side was dashed as they reached the door of the old building.

“Get inside,” Lily said flatly as she opened the door.

Karlin shook her head, but the woman only jabbed her harder with the gun until she stepped over the threshold.

“You can’t leave me here,” Karlin protested. The dark interior looked suddenly frightening. Sure, it would be mostly dry, and warmer than outside, but as far as she knew, no one but herself and Axel–and apparently Lily–knew the cabin was here. Who knew how long it would be until someone came to look for her, even assuming Axel was still safe?

Even assuming he was still alive.

She swallowed hard, not wanting to even entertain that thought for a second. Whatever was going on, she was sure he’d be okay. He had to be.

“I told you, I need you out of my way,” Lily said, raising the gun again as she reached for the handle of the door.

She looked so different now from the sweet hippie grandmother she’d once appeared to be. Her long gray hair hung loose, and thanks to the rain and rising wind, it now looked as wild as her eyes.

Karlin knew those eyes.

And had she been looking closely, she would have recognized them a long time ago.

“Dana, please don’t do this,” she pleaded. “You can just let me go. I just want to get away from here, I promise.”

She’d been expecting some kind of surprise to show on the woman’s face, but instead, she could see only contempt.

“Are you planning to start calling Axel by his real name, too?”

Before Karlin could think of a response, Lily had shoved her backwards. She stumbled on the leg of a chair, crashing to the ground just in time for the door of the cabin to slam shut.

She got to her feet immediately and rushed back through the darkness, but it was too late. No matter how much she shook the door and yanked on its handle, she couldn’t open it. She shouted after Lily until her voice felt hoarse, knowing all the while that it was pointless.

She was alone.

Leaning back against the door, she pressed her eyes firmly shut, trying to adjust to the dark as much as she possibly could and forcing herself to breathe deeply.

She was scared, but she knew this cabin.

She knew there were candles and matches here somewhere. In a cabinet near the far side of the room, if she remembered right.

After a few moments of fumbling, she took hold of the box of matches, drew one out, and struck it. The light was blinding as she hurriedly lit a jar candle she found sitting on the table, filling the cabin with a scent that she assumed had once resembled vanilla.

She could see for certain now that the few windows were too small to provide an escape route.

Outside, the sound of wind battering the cabin walls had joined the pounding of the rain. If she was going to break a window and try to call for help, she was going to have to wait until morning at the very earliest. There was zero chance she’d be heard now.

There was a little firewood beside the stove, some canned food in the cabinets, and a case of water bottles still stuffed in the corner of the room like they’d been last time.

This was the good news.

She wasn’t going to die of thirst or starve. If Lily had wanted to kill her, she would have done it with the gun–unless she’d just assumed it would be empty in here. But she didn’t want to think about that option.

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