“Okay, um, you should still probably stay low key. Just in case.” Orchid knew she was close. How close was the question. A small doorway was to her right. A possibility.
“I can’t do anything in here anyway. I can’t see, it’s…
The lock popped open. Thankfully, Damon had taught her something. The doorway was dark and cautiously she walked inside. “I’m inside. There are stairs. Do you hear anyone other than me?”
She listened hard, so hard her head ached. Or was that an ache from something else, dehydration, hunger, drugs? She didn’t know. “I can hardly hear you now. Muffled. But no one else.”
“Okay, um, you should still probably stay low key. Just in case.” Orchid knew she was close. How close was the question. A small doorway was to her right. A possibility.
“I can’t do anything in here anyway. I can’t see, it’s dark and small and smells funny and I think there might be rats or mice or something.” Her voice was starting to spiral up into fear, and no matter how hard she tried to control herself it didn’t seem to work.
She tried the door. Locked, of course. Orchid tried to calm her nerves as she pulled a knife from her pocket. “I found a door and I can pick locks. I’m going to try it. Who are you? How long have you been stuck here?”
“I don’t know. I think I’ve lost track of time. I can’t see any light, I don’t know how many days have passed.” Perversely, hope made the fear worse as well.
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t…
“Okay, um, you should still probably stay low key. Just in case.” Orchid knew she was close. How close was the question. A small doorway was to her right. A possibility.
“I can’t do anything in here anyway. I can’t see, it’s dark and small and smells funny and I think there might be rats or mice or something.” Her voice was starting to spiral up into fear, and no matter how hard she tried to control herself it didn’t seem to work.
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t faint, but she wasn’t…
She puzzled the situation. Her dad and Damon were the geniuses, not her. But this girl needed help and Orchid wasn’t about to abandon her. “I’ll find you. Somehow.” There had to be some entrance somewhere. Something that led down.
No one had come to tell her to shut up for a long time. In the dark, she didn’t know how much time had passed or even what day it was — had she lost time somewhere? “I don’t hear them any more.”
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t faint, but she wasn’t sure it was directed at…
Orchid followed the voice. “Keep talking so I can find you, okay?”
A sound from elsewhere caught her ears, and she shrank back in the cage. If she kept talking, who else might hear? It took a long moment before she scraped up enough courage to respond again. “I think someone else is here.”
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t faint, but she wasn’t sure it was directed at her. She wasn’t even sure she was still calling out. Maybe she was imagining it. Her own voice, or the other. “Help me, please.”
“Okay, where are you?” She definitely heard the girl this time. Instinct kicked in. If she had learned anything for stories about John Watson, it was to act quickly.
That was definitely a reply to her. “I don’t know. It’s dark. There are bars … I’m in a cage.”
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t faint, but she wasn’t sure it was directed at her. She wasn’t even sure she was still calling out. Maybe she was imagining it. Her own voice, or the other. “Help me, please.”
Charlette leaned up against the counter of the cafe, glancing at a nearby customer before asking, “They have any good tea here?”
Summer shook her head, contemplating the menu as well. “I don’t know. I don’t drink tea. The pastries are amazing, though. That’s why I can’t decide.”
Charlette nodded in thanks, turning her menu absently to look at the pastries. There were some delicious looking cinnamon rolls, the problem was deciding on which of the variety to get. “Hmm, I see your problem,” she agreed, scrunching her nose up in amusement, “It all looks good.”
“Ugh, what am I even in the mood for?” The redhead shook the menu like that was going to give her an answer. “The problem is, I can’t remember what I had last time, so I can’t even just get the next thing on the list.” She threw a wry smile at the other girl, then scrunched her eyes closed and stabbed a finger at the menu. “This one.”
