Page 5 of Enter if you Dare: Part One

Then she walks away, leaving me alone with the girl, who doesn’t yet know she is mine. There is one thing I do not have from her yet, but I will gain it over time. Trust.

Valli

Once Kayla leaves, I’m left alone with the scarecrow, who is possibly a little psychotic. Honestly, who dresses as a scarecrow in the first place and takes it so seriously? He stares at me but says nothing, though Kayla warned that he only speaks in riddles.

He sits down, and I pull my knees up tighter. The man who hurt me could still be out there in the darkness, and my instincts are telling me to stay, since these people have not tried to hurt me.

I repeat his riddle from before in my head, trying to make sense of it. If this is how he communicates, maybe I need to answer it.

“Your riddle,” I say. “I don’t know the answer. I’m not even sure who I am on a good day, and today has been . . .” I stop and press two fingers to my cheekbone where the pain is the worst and breathe through it. “Today has been a lot.”

He doesn’t move or speak, his amber eyes focused on mine. He is an enormous man, yet I don’t think he seems to understand how big and scary he really is to others.

“Kayla said you’re the Scarecrow, like it’s your job.” He tilts his head and nods. “Is your name really Cave?”

He nods again.

“Okay, well, I’m Valli. Thank you for saving me.”

The cornfield surrounding us is tall enough that I can’t see over the stalks. It spreads out in every direction, and weirdly, being right in the center feels comforting. I can see why he enjoys being here.

I contemplate going home since I have a shift tomorrow, but I don’t know where my phone ended up. It could be in the trunk of the car or in a ditch, for all I know.

“I need to go home—I have work tomorrow. I don’t have my phone, and I have no idea where I am,” I murmur.

Cave looks down at his hands, intentionally inhales, then looks at me and opens his mouth, but he quickly closes it. He opens his mouth a second time. “Morning.”

I blink. Kayla said he doesn’t really talk. “You want me to wait until morning? That’s probably smart since I have no idea where I am.”

He pats the pile of straw at the bottom of the post, reaches over to pull the blanket Kayla brought over me, and even fluffs the pillow. The air is cold, and the pain in my face is a dull ache. My ankle feels tender, but hopefully it’s just a sprain. I have endured a lot worse than this, thanks to Rowan and his never-ending debts. If he isn’t around when they come to collect, they have no issues making me pay as a warning, not that Rowan ever cares. He is too far gone for that.

“Okay, I think I would like that.”

I lie down, and Cave reclines against his post. As I close my eyes and listen to the corn rustle, I can feel him watching me, yet it doesn’t feel icky. Instead, I stupidly feel protected, and that should tell me more about who I am as a person—that I feel safe under the watch of a man dressed as a scarecrow.

When I open my eyes, my face pounds in time with my pulse. My jaw and cheekbone mostly, but my eye only opens about three-quarters of the way. Great, I don’t think I will win any beauty pageants anytime soon.

Cave is standing several feet away with his back to me, surveying the edge of the corn. I sit up and he turns around.

“Morning,” I say roughly, my voice a wreck from all the screaming.

He attempts a smile at me; it’s not a full one, but his lips definitely curve at the corners.

I get to my feet slowly, my ankle stiff but feeling okay. After folding the blanket, I place it on top of the pillow. “I need a phone and maybe a map of how I get off the island. Is there someone who can help me with that?”

He holds out his hand, and I reach for it, hoping this is what he wants. Once my fingers link with his, he starts to walk.

The sight of the field in daylight is such a vast difference to the darkness. He leads us through the stalks off the main path, and we come out the other side. My eyes widen; this place is a lot to take in. In one direction, graves are visible over a small fence. In the other is a tent top that reminds me of the circus, with signs I can’t read from this distance.

Cave keeps walking, seemingly in the opposite direction to the exit. I don’t say anything because if he wanted to kill me, it would have happened while I slept. The further we walk, the denser the trees get, and smoke from a fire fills the air. A man crosses the path ahead of us. He looks our way but keeps walking, like a giant scarecrow walking with a battered woman is normal and no cause for concern.

“Do many people end up here by accident?” I ask, and Cave glances at me. “Or on purpose?”

He looks ahead again. “Both,” he says, his voice deep and raspy, like he hasn’t used it in a while. From what I’ve been told, I’m guessing he probably doesn’t.

A shed comes into view in the trees, and as we get closer, I can hear a radio crackle. The doors are open, and as Cave slows down at the entrance, he lets my hand go, and we walk in.

It’s warm inside. There is a workbench running the length of the wall, and tools hanging from the wall above it. A man sits on an upturned crate with a radio and screwdriver in his hands, and he glances up as we enter. He has dark eyes, and his jacket is covered in little trinkets, but I can’t make out what exactly they are at this distance. His eyes scan over me, lingering on my face, and I can see the questions forming. He then looks past me at Cave, and a silent conversation passes between them. Then the man looks back at me.