I breathed a sigh of relief and pushed through the door. I’d expected to enter another garage like the one I’d first been taken to, but instead I found myself in some sort of residential building. The empty hallways turned this way and that, and I felt disoriented. Everyone was at the free-for-all in the arena. I passed makeshift bedrooms, filled with cots and partially unpacked suitcases and backpacks. When I noticed what looked like an office, I hesitated in the doorway. Papers covered large foldout tables inside, and I wondered if any contained useful information about the Warriors.

I wanted so badly to go in and investigate. These Warriors were a mystery to the Alchemists. Who knew what intel these papers contained? What if there was information that could protect the Moroi? I hesitated for the space of a few heartbeats then reluctantly kept going. The guardians were using tranquilizers, but the Warriors had real guns—guns they wouldn’t be afraid to use on me. Better to get out of here with the information I already had than not get out alive.

I reached the far side of the building at last and peered out a bedroom window. It was so dark outside now that I could hardly see anything. I didn’t have the benefit of torches anymore. The only thing I could tell for sure was that I was no longer adjacent to the arena. That was good enough for me, though it would’ve been better if there was a door leading outside. I’d have to make my own. Grabbing a chair, I swung it into the window and was completely astonished when the glass broke easily. A few shards hit me, but nothing large enough to cause injury. Standing on the chair, I managed to climb out the window without injuring my hands.

I was met by a warm, dark night. No electric lights were visible ahead, just open black land. I took this to mean I was on the opposite side of the compound where Trey had brought me. There were no roads, no sound from the highway we had traveled. There was also no sign of life anywhere, which I took as a good sign. Hopefully all the Warrior guards who normally paroled the grounds were off fighting guardians. If Sonya was out now, my hope was that the guardians would begin retreating—and grab me along the way. Even if they didn’t, I wasn’t above walking back to I-10 and hitchhiking.

The compound was sprawling and confusing, and as I walked around it and still saw no sign of the highway, I began to grow uneasy. How turned around had I gotten? I only had a limited amount of time to get off Warrior property. They could be hunting me right now. There was also the disconcerting problem that once I made it to the periphery, I’d have to deal with the electric fence. Still, it might be best to forget looking for the freeway and simply make for the edge of the Warriors’ camp so that I could—