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When at last she saw the building, she stopped dead, her entire body going rigid It see out an entire section of forest Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t a house

Violet stilled beneath the cover of the trees and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling for hi to locate Caine in the shadows around her

He was there Somewhere But not so close that she worried he would see her if she crept closer to investigate

She had no idea if she wasinto yet another of Caine’s traps--like the wire that had encoed to hin of civilization she’d seen since she’d left the house he’d been holding her in

But she was groeary Hunger and exertion were getting the best of her, and she had to take the chancehad to see if there ht be help nearby Maybe inside

She slipped free fro the stark white of her nightgown as she e Her feet were caked in ht

Her voice ached to be free, to call out for help, but she bit it back What if no one was around? What if no one but Caine could hear her? So she choked on it, letting it die in her throat

She reached the outer wall of the building andthe wooden structure as she searched, feeling her way, for an entrance--a doorway, a , a crack in the siding, any way to get inside For too long, she felt nothing, and when she glanced up, scanning the exterior, it see all the way to the sky

Whatever it was, it was enor and blood rushing noisily in her ears She stayed as close as she could to the wall She checked over her shoulder ti to find Caine there at any moment, ready to strike

But she kneasn’t She couldn’t sers fumbled over a variation in the wooden surface Aframe

It was above her head, and she balanced on her toes, trying to feel for a latch, but there was nothing At least not that she could reach

Her shoulders sagged defeatedly, but she kept goingsomewhere there had to be a door

She turned another corner and ca where the trees had been stripped away, creating a large clearing There was so that looked like fencing But it was leaning and gapped in places, as if it had succu itself, Violet realized, was a barn, and she looked up at the huge double doors

The closer she examined it, even in the dark, the more she realized how run-down it really was She hadn’t noticed the way the paint had flaked beneath her fingers and the way the boards were soft, like they were rotting She hadn’t seen the thick clu up fron

Violet scanned the shadows that stretched ahead of her, searching for another building, maybe a house But there were none that she could see Just a wilting old barn