Page 126 of Hide And Seek

I didn't argue. I also didn't bother to look at the bathroom window the way I might have twelve hours ago, because I wasn't willing to risk my friends’ lives for an escape attempt that would almost certainly fail.

I relieved myself, washed my face and hands, and came back out. My clothes were softer than I expected after a night of hand-washing, and getting back into something that was actually mine helped more than I wanted to admit.

I sat at the small table in the living area and pulled the food toward me. I didn't bother being subtle about how hungry I was. The sandwich went first, then the fruit, then the pudding cup scraped clean in about four spoonfuls. I drank half the water in one go, set the bottle down, and finally looked up at Rhys.

He was leaning against the wall near the door with his arms crossed, watching me with an expression that gave nothing away.

“Why are we up before it's even light out?” I asked.

“Because of Jasmine.”

“What?” I whirled around to look at the door. “She’s here?”

“No. But if you were telling the truth last night, and she thinks there’s a chance I might be innocent, then she might bring me some more food this morning,” he said. “So I need to hide you for a while.”

I rolled my eyes. “Where? Under the bed?”

He smiled thinly and gestured for me to stand up. I followed him across the cabin to the narrow door beside the bathroom that I’d noticed on my first visit but never thought much about. A storage closet, most likely.

He opened it, and I looked inside.

The floor was completely lined with folded blankets, stacked two or three deep, and the walls were padded with more of them, pinned up with what looked like thumbtacks. A pillow had been wedged into each corner.

“You built a nest,” I said flatly.

“So you can’t make noise,” he said. “If I didn’t put all that stuff there, you’d be thumping around in there all morning.”

“I wouldn’t thump around,” I muttered.

“Yes, you would,” he said. “In you go. On your back. Head facing the door.”

Every single part of me wanted to say no. The word was right there, locked and loaded, and I could feel it pressing against the back of my teeth. I looked at the closet, then at Rhys, then at the closet again.

I thought about Jasmine. About the others still asleep in the hall, who had no idea what was out here in the dark with them, and who would have considerably less chance of surviving if I spent the next ten minutes making a scene about a padded cupboard.

I got in.

The space felt smaller than it had looked from the outside, the padded walls pressing in softly on both sides. Rhys crouched in the doorway. The cord was already in his hand.

“Hands first,” he said.

I held them up and looked at the opposite wall while he worked. Wrists first, then down to my ankles. When he was done, he tested each knot with a brief, firm tug. Then he reached into his back pocket.

“Wait,” I said before he could gag me again. “What if she doesn’t come? Are you just going to leave me in here all day?”

“If she’s not here by twelve, I’ll assume she’s not coming, and I’ll let you out again.”

I blinked. “Twelve? That’s seven hours away!”

“Don’t worry.” The corner of his mouth curved. “I have a podcast I can play for you by the door. So you won’t be bored in there.”

I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I thought of that, and the gag went in. He tied it with the same quiet competence as the night before, smoothed a strand of hair back from my face in a gesture so casual it made me want to bite him, and sat back on his heels to look at me.

I glared at him with everything I had.

“I don’t think you’ll be here for long,” he said. “I think Jasmine will come soon.”

For her own sake, I hoped she didn’t, because I knew exactly what he intended to do with her.