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I stood there, pulse thudding in my ears, staring at the now open window was trying to rationalize how this happened when I caught movement from below, someone disappearing into our neighbor’s backyard.

“Nope. Fuck this.” I slammed the window shut and locked it—for sure, snagging my phone off the bed before I zipped into the hallway, calling for the girls.

Roxxi and Ari came spilling up the stairs, their voices overlapping. Cloe burst from her bedroom and demanded to know what was wrong.

“My window wasn’t locked.”

They stared at me, not fully understanding. I rubbed my brow, then turned my phone so they could see the screen. “Look. The number I blocked texted me again.”

They crowded around as I opened the message.

“It’s the same thread as before,” Roxxi commented, eyes scanning the texts. “You’re sure you blocked them?”

“I wouldn’t mistake doing something like that.”

“And the window, you’re positive it was locked?”

“Yes. The last time I had it open, I was working on a lit assignment, and it started to rain. I haven’t touched it since.”

Roxxi crossed her arms. “So, either someone got really fucking lucky with a guess, you’ve had a stalker since before the Hunt, or—”

“Someone was in our house,” Ari finished quietly.

I stepped back, my stomach twisting. “How about none of the above, because what the fuck, you guys?”

Roxxi frowned. “How would they even get in?”

“You never lock the doors.”

“That’s only when we’re home,” she retorted sheepishly.

“Aren’t we overlooking something?” Cloe asked calmly.

“What?”

“Layla,” she replied.

“Even if it was her, how would someone know my window specifically wasn’t locked, unless she told whoever is texting me?”

“I wasn’t referring to the window.” She spun on her heel and gestured for us to follow. Roxxi shot me a look, then trailed after her. Ari slipped her fingers through mine, her hand small but steady, and we followed Cloe down the stairs.

She marched straight past our sectional and yanked open the sliding glass door that led to the patio. “See?”

I turned to Roxxi.

“Don’t look at me. We made sure that the door was locked last night, remember?”

Cloe slid the door shut again. “It was locked. I’m the one who opened it this morning to deal with the dead bird. I relocked it when I was done. There’s only one person who would have left this open.”

“Layla uses this door?”

Roxxi gave me a look of confusion. “She has no house key. How do you think she’s been coming and going?”

“If she isn’t here with you guys, then she’s always had access to my key. There’s no reason for her to ever use this door. If I had known about this, I would’ve brought it up ages ago. I’m always nagging you guys to keep the doors locked. She doesn’t get an exception.”

Cloe looked visibly annoyed, and for her, that said a lot. “I’m sorry, Sanj, but I can’t give the girl the benefit of the doubt anymore. She was there when we found out we were Marked. I would think she’d have enough sense to go out a door she could lock.”

“She has weaponized incompetence.” Roxxi’s brown eyes met mine. “Inflated balloon, remember?”

Cloe folded her arms. “Huntsmen are watching us, right? We have no idea how long it has been going on or if they saw Layla open the window herself and not lock it back. Nothing is missing from the house, but that doesn’t mean no one came inside. At this point, all we can do is speculate.”

I blew out a breath in frustration. I looked at the door, skin crawling. “That text made it sound like the window’s been unlocked this whole time.”

“They’re messing with you, Sanj,” Cloe replied, her tone softer now. “With all of us.”

“Have any of you gotten texts like that?”

Roxxi shook her head. “Not yet. That doesn’t mean we won’t. I have a feeling that when we do, they’ll be just as personalized as yours. They’re playing the long game.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be glad they weren’t getting them or worried that only I was. “Cici, have you talked to someone about the upstairs window? Or cameras? I might as well mention now that I saw a person moving around out there.”

Cloe’s expression shifted. “My dad’s supposed to call me after five.” She paused. “I’m sorry, did you just say you saw someone?”

Ari cut in with a gentle reminder. “We have to keep in mind that this is just the beginning, and not officially. We’ll need to try and get used to the fact that we will be seeing people like you did this morning, Sanj. It’s going to be our new normal until this is all over.”

She was right, and once Monday came along, things would only kick up a notch.

It didn’t make accepting the fact that some random person was going to be hanging around outside our house any easier to swallow.

I exhaled, raking a hand through my hair.

“Ashton’s Marked, by the way. Just tossing that out there as well. ”

“That isn’t surprising to me,” Roxxi replied.

“How did he tell you? Did he send a screenshot or describe it?” Cloe asked, ever the analyst.

“He read the note out loud. It was… vague. Something about his sins will be catching up to him.”

Roxxi tilted her head. “And what sins would those be? Unseasoned foreplay and emotional whiplash?”

I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to laugh. That would be wildly inappropriate. Ari did the same, suddenly fascinated by a spot on the sectional.

Cloe sighed. “If Ashton’s in, it’s only a matter of time before he starts acting like a martyr about it.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not if you like being guilt-tripped into comforting a grown man through his 'poor me' era,” Roxxi muttered.

Cloe shrugged. “It’s not always a bad thing, but with Ashton? It could go either way.”

“I didn’t think he’d be in this. I never thought to ask,” I admitted.

“None of us thought we’d be in this, Sanj,” Ari said gently.

“Yeah, you’re right. What do we do about it?”

“We remember who the fuck we are,” Roxxi stated.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t freaked out.

I hate the idea of some rando even thinking about being near our house where we lay our heads at night.

I’m just gonna picture our Huntsmen as emotionally stunted, and pitiful college dudes with musty dicks.

I guarantee at least one Huntsman fits that description. ”

Cloe crossed her arms. “We don’t know that they’re all guys. One or more of the Huntsmen could be women.”

Roxxi shrugged. “That’s fine. They probably have pH issues then.”

Ari’s nose wrinkled. “I think I’ll picture them like the men in my books.”

“That’s one way to pop your Hunt cherry,” Roxxi joked.

“Guys, please? This thing doesn’t start for a few more days, and I’m already about to lose my mind.”

“They can’t hurt us, Sanj,” Cloe reminded me comfortingly.

“That’s only somewhat true,” Ari corrected, a bit hesitant.

“Don’t say that kind of ominous shit and not explain,” Roxxi warned.

“It isn’t anything new, though. You guys don’t remember hearing about some of this last year?” Ari asked.

“I barely made it through last year, period. All my focus was on cheer and keeping my GPA alive.”

“Right. So, I was reading earlier and remembered this story about a guy who dropped out after The Hunt. Did some digging, and apparently, he got dragged outside of town in a trunk . Then they made him get out and run half-naked through the woods… while wearing a sheep mask.”

Roxxi’s brows rose. “And the school just let that slide?”

Ari gave a shrug that essentially said, yeah, pretty much. “The Hunt’s supposed to be a test of mental fortitude and fun . ”

“Fun for who?” I asked flatly.

“Some of the Marked and then the Huntsmen, of course. Think of it as a hazing of sorts.”

“It’s a lot like hazing,” I said slowly, realization sinking in.

“That implies we’re trying to join something,” Roxxi argued. “Last I checked, we didn’t ask to play.”

“We agreed to participate when we signed our acceptance forms for Crowsfell. I’ve been looking into it,” Cloe divulged. “Either way, our names will end up on a shiny plaque.”

“That’s fucked ,” Roxxi stressed, going to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. “If someone tries to drag me out to the middle of nowhere and strip me down for a twisted-ass campus tradition, I swear to God I’ll go to jail.”

Cloe straightened, brushing an invisible piece of lint from her top. “Look, we’ll get cameras and a full security setup as soon as I talk to my dad. Until then, we are going to check every door and window before we leave and each time we come back. No exceptions.”

Roxxi capped her water. “Adding to that, when the Hunt officially starts, we don’t go anywhere alone. Period. As for Layla? She doesn’t get to come and go anymore.” She motioned to the sliding glass door. “That’s done.”

Ari nodded slowly in agreement. “Once we talk to the guys about all of this, I think we’ll feel better, but I like that we’re doing this on our own first. We’re not being damsels.”

“That word could never apply to us,” Cloe stated as if the very idea was insulting.

I sighed. “Let’s just get started.”

We began checking every entry and exit door, then each window in the house, including the ones in the basement that didn’t open. Even then, it didn’t erase the feeling that someone was watching.

Because someone was.