Stop. This isn’t you. I just know it isn’t.”
“You don’t know me either.” She looks me dead in the eyes. “This is what I need.”
“You can’t be serious,” I say. “Look at me. You don’t deserve any of this. You did nothing wrong, you hear me? Those men are monsters, and they are using you for their own pleasure.”
“But … Tobias is trying to fix me,” she says, licking her lips as she looks away. “He told me this is what needed to be done.”
“They’re making you believe what they want you to believe. You have to trust me,” I say.
“I have to listen,” she says as a tear rolls down her cheeks. “You don’t know what I’ve done …”
“It doesn’t matter, okay?” I say, forcing her to look at me by matching her movements so our eyes connect. “Whatever you did, it’s in the past. You’ve been punished enough.”
She shivers. “I don’t know …”
“I do,” I reiterate. “You deserve to be home with your family. Remember your boyfriend?”
Her eyes light up. “My boyfriend?”
“Yeah, he’s waiting for you,” I say. “He wants you back home.”
“But he—”
“C’mon,” I say, and I grab her hand again and pull her up from the bed.
“Wait,” she says as I drag her to the door. “What about my things?”
“Leave them. None of it is yours. It’s theirs. Now, c’mon.” I drag her through the door before she can say anything else to delay us.
I check the clock hanging from the wall. The guard’s almost on his way back. There’s not much time left. Certainly not enough to open the rest of the doors and free the other girls. I spent too much time talking Anna into it. Damn.
I sigh to myself and close my eyes for a second to refocus. No time to dwell on my decisions. This is what I chose, so now I have to see it through.
“Follow me,” I say, looking at her over my shoulder. “And stay close.”
We walk toward the staircases, but I make sure not to take the main ones. We wait until the guard has his back turned to it before swiftly passing it. There is an elevator in a room just beyond the hallway to the right. A tiny one that ends up in a storage room next to the kitchen, which they use to get carts with food up and down.
I know because when I was allowed to roam the House a little, I made sure to check for alternate exits. Eli really should have known that letting me drift around freely would come back to bite him in the ass.
I may not be strong, and I may be a mousy type of girl, but I am resourceful. And there is nothing I won’t do to get my way.
So I string Anna along for the ride and press the buttons to go down. Sweat drips down my back as we wait for the elevator to arrive on the ground floor. Anna squeezes my hand tight, and we look at each other. I fish my shard of glass from my pocket and hold it up.
The doors open.
I’m ready to fight, but luckily, we’re alone.
I breathe a sigh of relief and step out with Anna following suit.
It’s only a small room with one exit. Not at all a safe space to be for two wanted girls on the run, but it’ll have to do. I wasn’t ever going to go down those main stairs with all the guards lined up, ready to jump us. This was the only other option. That, or somehow finding a way to destroy the bars on the windows and making a grand escape there. Not the greatest idea.
“Wait here,” I whisper to Anna. “If they come … hide in the elevator and go back to your room.”
She swallows and nods. “I just hope this will work. I don’t want to anger Tobias.”
I pray the same, as I definitely don’t want to get on their bad sides. We just have to get far enough away from them so they can’t catch us anymore when they find out we’re gone.
My hand pushes against the door, opening it just a tiny bit. I peek through and spot two cooks stationed at the far end of the room chopping vegetables for a soup.
It’s now or never.
I glance back at Anna and beckon her to come.
With one big push, the door opens wide right as Anna grabs ahold of my hand.
We run across the room to the other