Filed to story: Kissed by Claw and Fang
In fact, what it looks like is a prison. Or at least the holding area of a jail. There are several cells lining the wall in front of us, each one equipped with a bed-and, more importantly, two sets of shackles. Castle or not, Alaska or not, I am not okay with what I’m seeing. At all.
“I think we should go back,” I tell him, pulling at the door handle, to no avail. “How do I get this door open?” There’s no keypad on this side, nothing I can see that will get us out of here.
“You have to open it from the other side of this room,” Sebastian tells me, looking amused. “Don’t worry. We’ll be through here in a second.”
“I thought we were going to the tunnels. I’ve got to get to art, Sebastian.”
“This is the way to the tunnels. Chill, Ivy.”
“What tunnels? This is a dungeon!” Alarm is racing through me at this point, my brain warning me that I don’t know this guy that well. That anything could happen down here. That- I take a deep breath, try to shut down the panic tearing through me.
“Trust me.” He puts a hand on my lower back, starts guiding me forward. I don’t want to go, but at this point, it’s not exactly like I’ve got a dozen alternatives. I can pound on the door, hoping that someone hears me, or I can trust Sebastian to do what he says and get me to the tunnel I need. Considering he’s been nothing but kind to me since I got here, I let him propel me forward and pray I’m not making a mistake.
We walk all the way to the end of the room, past four separate cells, and I don’t say a word of complaint. But when Sebastian stops in front of the fifth cell and tries to get me to go in, my trust and patience come to an abrupt end.
“What are you doing?” I demand. Or screech, depending on your point of view. “I’m not going in there.”
He looks at me like I’m being completely irrational. “It’s where the entrance to the tunnels is.”
“I don’t see an entrance,” I snap at him. “All I see are bars. And shackles.”
“It’s not what it looks like, I swear. These are secret tunnels, and when they built the castle a hundred years ago, they did a really good job of disguising the entrance.”
“A little too good a job, in my opinion. I want to go back up, Sebastian. I’ll make up some excuse for my art teacher for being late, but I-“
“It’s okay.” For the first time, he looks concerned. “We use these tunnels all the time. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Yeah, but-” I break off as the door at the other end of the room opens. And in walks Lia.
“Hey, hold the door!” I call to her, slipping out of Sebastian’s loose hold and making a mad dash back toward the only obvious exit point in this hellhole of a room.
But she obviously doesn’t hear me. The door slams shut behind her. Damn it.
“Ivy!” She looks surprised to see me as she fishes a pair of earbuds out of her ears. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m taking her to the tunnels.” Sebastian shoots me an exasperated look as he catches up to me. “She’s got art.”
“Oh yeah? With Kaufman?” Lia looks interested.
“Yeah.”
“Cool. Me too.” She gives Sebastian a cool glance. “I’ll take it from here.”
“No need for that,” he answers. “I’m going that way, too.”
“You don’t have to bother.”
“No bother. Right, Ivy?” He grins at me, but this time he sure seems to be showing a lot of teeth.
Then again, who can blame him? He was trying to help me, and I freaked out on him for no reason. “If you’re sure.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” He loops an arm through mine. “I would love to escort you ladies to class.”
“Lucky us.” Lia’s own smile is saccharin sweet as she takes hold of my other arm and starts to walk us back toward the end of the room. As we move-both of them holding on to me-I can’t help but feel a little like a ping-pong ball caught between them.
Lia doesn’t let go until we reach the final cell. She marches inside and grabs hold of one of the arm shackles-exactly as Sebastian was aiming to do when I freaked out-and then pulls, hard.
The portion of the stone wall the shackles are attached to opens wide. She glances back at us, eyebrows raised. “Ready?”
Sebastian looks at me, tilts his head questioningly.
I feel myself blushing yet again, this time out of shame. “Sorry. I freaked out when I shouldn’t have.”
He shrugs. “No worries. I guess I come down here so often, I forget how creepy it looks.”
“So creepy,” I tell him as we move into the cell. “And when you reached for that shackle-“
He laughs. “You didn’t really think I was going to chain you up down here, did you?”
“Of course she did,” Lia tells him as we walk through the trick door and she pulls it closed behind us. “I wouldn’t trust you, either. You look like exactly the kind of pervert she should never be alone with.”
“And what kind of pervert is that exactly?” he demands, glancing between the two of us.
Suddenly, I remember what Macy said about Zane when she was trying to warn me off him, and I can’t resist. “You know, the kind who starves a girl so he can make a dress out of her skin.”
They both stare at me like I’ve lost my mind completely. Lia looks taken aback but amused, and Sebastian…Sebastian looks more offended than anyone ever. It’s totally inappropriate, but I can’t help laughing. Because, come on. Who hasn’t seen that movie-or at least heard of it?
“Excuse me?” he says after a second, more ice in those words than in the entire school grounds outside.
“From
Silence of the Lambs? That’s what the serial killer Jodie Stone is trying to catch does to his victims. It’s why she needs Hannibal Lecter.”