Chapter 9 Whispers in the Dark (cont'd)
I leave the maintenance shed and walk casually toward the tree line, the backpack rolled up small under my jacket. Once I'm deep enough that no one from the castle can see me, I start looking for the right spot.
It takes me twenty minutes of searching before I find it—a massive oak tree with roots that create a small hollow space at its base. The hollow is protected from rain by the tree's wide trunk and hidden behind a curtain of low-hanging branches. Perfect.
I wrap the backpack in an old plastic tarp I found in the maintenance shed—protection against moisture—and tuck it carefully into the hollow. Then I cover it with dead leaves and broken branches until it's completely invisible unless you know exactly where to look.
Forty-seven steps from the castle's back door to this tree. I count them twice to be sure. Forty\-seven steps to my future. Forty\-seven steps to freedom.
My hand moves to my stomach as I stand there in the forest, breathing in the scent of pine and earth. "We're going to make it," I tell my baby. "I'm going to get us out of here. I promise."
The walk back to the castle feels different. Lighter somehow, even though nothing has really changed. I still have no idea where I'll go or how I'll survive once I leave. I still have almost no money and only the beginning of a supply stash.
But I have a plan now. I have hope.
That night, I lie in bed and let myself imagine it for the first time. A life somewhere far from here. A small apartment maybe, or a tiny house on the edge of a human town where pack politics don't matter. Me and my baby, safe and warm and free from Stella's cruelty.
The fantasy is so vivid I can almost taste it.
Over the next three days, I establish a routine. Every time I'm sent to the storage shed—which Mrs. Chen seems to request with increasing frequency—I slip one or two cans into my pockets. Nothing obvious. Nothing that would be missed during weekly inventory. Just enough to slowly build up supplies.
After each kitchen shift, I take a "walk" to clear my head. Forty\-seven steps to the oak tree. Add the cans to my hidden backpack. Cover everything carefully and return to the castle like nothing happened.
By the fourth day, I have twelve cans of food packed away. It's not much, but it's progress.
I also start hoarding other small items. An extra pair of socks from my drawer. A warm sweater that's seen better days. A water bottle I found in the lost and found. Travel-size toiletries I palm from the castle's guest bathrooms. Each item is small, forgettable, and completely necessary.
My allowance comes again—another twenty dollars. I hide it with the rest, watching my tiny nest egg grow. One hundred and eighty dollars now. Still not enough, but getting closer.
"You're being so careful," Luna observes as I lie in bed counting my money for the third time. "So patient."
"I have to be," I respond. "One mistake and everything falls apart."
She's quiet for a moment, then asks the question I've been avoiding. "When will we leave?"
"I don't know yet. Soon. When I have enough supplies. When I have a better plan for where to go."
"What about Mason? What if he finds out about the baby before we can get away?"
The thought sends ice through my veins. "He won't. I'm barely eight weeks along. I'm not showing yet. By the time anyone notices, we'll be long gone."
It's a hope more than a certainty. But it's all I have.
On the fifth day, everything changes.
I'm in the storage shed, carefully selecting two cans of soup to add to my stash, when I hear voices approaching. Male voices. One of them is Mason.
Panic floods through me. I shove the cans back onto the shelf and look around frantically for somewhere to hide. There's a gap between two tall shelving units—barely wide enough for my body but it will have to do.
I squeeze into the space just as the door opens.
"—don't understand why we need to inventory this shed personally," Mason is saying, irritation clear in his voice. "We have people who handle this."
"Because those 'people' reported discrepancies in the weekly count." That's Beta James, Mason's second-in-command. "Three weeks in a row now, small amounts of canned goods missing. Probably nothing, but the Alpha wants us to check it out."
My heart stops. They know. Somehow they know supplies are going missing.
I press myself further into the shadows, trying to make myself invisible, trying to slow my breathing so they won't hear.
"It's probably just counting errors," Mason says, and I can hear him moving around the shed, his footsteps heavy on the wooden floor. "Sarah's been training that new girl—what's her name? Emma? Maybe she's not recording things properly."
"Maybe." James doesn't sound convinced. "Or maybe someone's stealing. Wouldn't be the first time a pack member fell on hard times and needed help."
They're standing so close now. Just a few feet away from my hiding spot. If either of them looks in this direction, if they notice the gap between the shelves, I'm caught.
My hand instinctively moves to my stomach, protective even in my terror.
"Well, let's make this quick," Mason says. "I have a meeting with Stella in twenty minutes and she gets annoyed when I'm late."
Of course he does. Of course Stella's schedule is more important than pack business.
I listen to them count cans for what feels like hours but is probably only ten minutes. Every second is agony. Every breath I take feels too loud. Luna is absolutely silent inside me, both of us frozen in fear.
"I'm showing we're short four cans of green beans and three of soup," James finally says. "Not a huge amount, but consistent with the previous discrepancies."
"Could be rats," Mason suggests. "Or that family of raccoons that got into the main storage last month."
"Rats don't open cans and carefully reseal shelves, Alpha."
There's a long pause. I can feel Mason thinking, can almost see the expression on his face even though I can't see him from my hiding spot.
"Set up a camera," he finally says. "One of the motion-activated ones. If someone's stealing, we'll catch them in the act."
No. No, no, no.
"Good idea," James agrees. "I'll have it installed by tomorrow."
They leave shortly after, their voices fading as they walk back toward the castle. But I stay frozen in my hiding spot for another five minutes, my whole body shaking.
A camera. They're going to put up a camera.