A lost hiker.

A dangerous shifter.

A trap disguised as a choice.

I just did the one thing you should never do while hiking—let alone backpacking—solo:

I got lost.

Yes, I have my compass, and my map, but it was getting dark and I had to pee, and by the time I stepped back towards the trail...

I don't know. It was just gone.

What can I say, it's like a jungle out here in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

I have to find a place to sleep, before I get turned around anymore, so I wander just a little bit...and wouldn't you know it, but in the middle of nowhere, there's a huge estate parked in the center of the forest.

It's not on the map—I would know, I've been staring at it all evening. It's also dark. Like: places this big never, ever have all the lights off. But there's no security cameras or fences or...anything.

So you'd think no one would notice if someone just...I don't know, casually set up a tent right at the very edge, close enough to the forest to not technically be on the property.

But no. They do. And they're not happy about it. They're really not happy about me being here. So that's Not Good.

But they're not letting me go, either, which is its own level of Very Not good.

Now I need to know: what on earth have I just stumbled into? And now that I have: what will it take to get me back out of it?