Hearts Under Ice - CS Patra Page 0,69

Olivia put them on. Gemma handed her some boots and gloves that matched the scarf. “But why are we dressing up like this if the inn is next door?”

“We’re not stopping there right now,” Alice explained. “We can’t waste any time while your boyfriend is trapped in here. Something tells me that he’s not in a good situation right now. We will move as fast as we can while the sun is still out. The faster we move, the quicker we’ll reach him.”

Olivia nodded. She was thinking the same thing, but had said nothing about it. Her mind was on Donnie and where he could be. He wasn’t running around in this world for no reason. He wouldn’t just get up, leave, and not tell anyone about it. This Brotherhood of Iced Blood had taken him, and she had a strong feeling they weren’t exactly hospitable people. As the other ladies moved on out, her mind was on Donnie. She had gotten that message, loud and clear. She had heard him when no one else did. She knew he wasn’t in the best of places, and he wanted her. He needed her.

Hang in there, Donnie, she thought. I’m coming for you. One way or another, I will bring you home.

Chapter Eighteen

As soon as the group headed out, darkness began to fall. They all learned quickly that this world was not like home. Towns were few and far between. The four of them had been walking for ten minutes, yet it felt like they had only gone about a foot into the woods. Olivia began to see why everyone kept warning her to not go after dark. Once it went pitch black, she wouldn’t be able to see anything. Swallowing hard, she held Ms. Howard’s hand and followed the three older women. At the moment, she had to trust them. She was in a new world, one that she didn’t know was real until now. This was not her dream anymore. If she died tonight, that would be it for her.

“How far is the castle?” she asked.

“If we keep going straight, we should get there eventually,” Gemma said. “Of course, I did ask around. Some people said it would take three hours. Others said it would take three days.”

“We don’t really have three days to waste here.”

“You think I don’t know that? I want to get your boyfriend out of there as fast as possible. Whoever took him didn’t do it for a good reason.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Well, whoever he is, he’s clearly in danger. You said that he couldn’t make it here on his own. Someone must have dragged him here.”

Olivia listened to the hooting of owls and looked back at where they’d started. “You know, I’m starting to think that we should have stayed at that inn. It really is dark out. How far do you think the next village is?”

“According to this map,” Alice looked down at the map that they had purchased, “the next village is fifteen miles away.”

“Fantastic. You don’t suppose there would be an inn out here, huh?”

“Probably not, so stay alert.” Ms. Howard turned her head to the left. “I think I heard something from there. It sounded like someone was chopping something.”

Olivia gulped and stuck close to the other three. “Let’s go back to where we were. If there’s some serial killer on the loose here, I don’t want to stick around to find out.”

They ignored Olivia and kept walking into the woods, where the strange sounds started to get louder. The sun had gone down completely, and only a little bit of daylight remained. Even the light from their lanterns wasn’t enough to guide them through it. The woods themselves were too dark to go deeper into, and Olivia hoped someone would change her mind and turn around. She didn’t want to sleep here for the night. The ground was wet with the snow, and those scary sounds coming from beyond the group were not much help to ease her fears. She saw a small cabin to the side with the lights on and wondered if they could spend the night there. Tugging on Ms. Howard’s arm, she nodded towards it.

“I think we should stop now. There’s no more daylight,” she pointed out. “We can ask whoever lives there for some shelter.”

Gemma shook her head. “I don’t know about that. We’re pressed for time. It doesn’t seem like anyone lives there, anyway.”

“What are you talking about? The lights are on!” Olivia exclaimed.