Chapter 11

Mikalina

I'd gotten the call from Andrei just an hour before, Mini knocking on my front door and gesturing for me to follow her. There, she pointed to a yellow, ancient-looking corded phone attached to the wall, the receiver hanging against the wall, the coiled cord stretched taut.

Andrei hadn't been able to make it out of the city to see Mini and do her weekly shopping, so he asked me if I'd mind. He'd been so apologetic, as if asking had put this massive burden on me.

I assured him it wasn't, that I was actually glad to have a task to do. Although I didn't tell him it was to keep my mind off everything else.

It had only been twenty-four hours since the forest incident—which hadn't really been an incident at all, to be honest. Me freaking out over absolutely nothing didn't make a scene out of some horror movie.

So here I was, a few bills of cash Mini had given me tucked into my wallet, and a shopping list as long as my arm in my pocket. Andrei told me the large grocery shop was in the next town over—which he said the footpath was the fastest route, even if I'd taken a car. Which I didn't have, so this was my only option.

Back in the forest I went.

And as I stood by the entrance, hearing the birds overhead, feeling the breeze along my skin, smelling the wilderness and all the glorious scents of nature, I felt this strange eagerness consume me.

Taking a deep breath, then exhaling slowly, I just told myself to act like the adult I was and push whatever weird feelings I'd been having away.

The next town over was a good twenty-minute walk through the woods. The sun was high in the sky, and even with the thick canopy of trees overhead blocking out a lot of the light, there was enough illumination and breaks in the branches that there were no darkened corners to add to my already growing uneasiness.

I took the trail, keeping a steady pace, and the longer I went, the deeper I walked, the more I felt… at ease.

I occupied my mind by thinking about what I needed to get for Mini. Although the shopping list was in Romanian, Andrei told me all I had to do was give it to the grocery store clerk and they'd know what to do.

I tried to think about anything and everything, just enjoying the walk, but I felt that tickling on the back of my neck, that almost sixth sense, an awareness of everything around me.

A twig snapped in the distance, and I didn't let myself get tense about it.

A flock of birds took flight above me, shadows cast along the ground by their wingspans moving through the broken patches of the canopy. I wouldn't even contemplate if something frightened them. That's why birds scattered that way, right? A threat. A predator.

But the longer I walked, the more the seconds turned into minutes.

More twigs snapped behind me, to the left, then to the right. I moved away from them as I heard the noise, this feeling directing me to go this way, that way, keep focused and walking.

And after a while—time seeming to go so fast yet slow down all at the same time—I looked, realizing I had no idea where I was, that I wasn't on the path any longer.

The trail underneath me started to become less worn, as if it wasn't taken regularly. I stopped and glanced around, trying to decipher where I was.

Stay on the trail, a voice in my head spoke loudly, and I found myself moving again, staying on the trail that clearly wasn't worn, hoping it would open up and I'd find myself back in the village, or to my original destination in the next town over.

But the more I walked, the deeper I realized I was going into the forest, where the trees became thicker, the sunlight starting to not pierce through the branches as much. Once again, that flight or fight instinct grew in me fast and hard. My palms started to sweat, my hands shaking slightly. My movements weren't as sure, and I stumbled over twigs and rocks that I otherwise would have clearly missed.

I didn't know how long I'd been walking, well over half an hour, plenty of time for me to have reached town. But I was still stuck within the woods, the hardly taken trail still underneath me the only thing making that panic stay below the surface.

Clearly, this led somewhere. But where?

I walked for another five minutes and noticed the thinning of the trees. And then I saw something in the distance. I walked faster, my feet taking me over the terrain effortlessly now.

And as the trees thinned out and the massive stone structure came into view, I actually stumbled, reaching out and placing my hand on a tree trunk.

One thing came to mind.

That's a fucking castle.

I was mesmerized by the sheer size of it, the detailing, the stonework... everything.

I found myself moving toward it before I could stop myself or before I even realized what I was doing.