It occurred to him to wonder where the others were and if they’d been drugged.
“Zaara? Lyle?” He edged back to the wall. The floor might be stable, but he still preferred it there. “Anyone? Zaara?”
“Justin?” Her voice floated from his left. “Did you just wake up, too? Where are we?”
“Uh…are you afraid of heights?”
“Not really,” she said promptly.
“Good. Because we’re way the hell up in a tower.” He pressed his back as far as it would go against the wall. What was the expression he’d once heard? A fear of heights is illogical. A fear of falling from heights, on the other hand, is prudent.
“That explains why they haven’t bothered to keep us somewhere with walls.” She sighed. “Not to mention that I woke up when I almost fell through the floor.”
His shoulders hunched around his ears. “Oh, God.” Like he wasn’t already feeling the sensation of falling, he now had to worry about the next time he fell asleep. What if he rolled? What if part of the floor collapsed and he couldn’t wake up in time to grab onto something?
“I’d only have fallen one floor,” Zaara told him, “but still.” She sounded more grumpy than anything. “Where’s Lyle?”
“I don’t know, I can’t hear him. Maybe he’s on your other side.”
“One moment. Lyle? Lyle?” A creaking sound suggested she was walking. “Lyle!” More creaking followed. “He’s not over here—or he hasn’t woken up yet. Given how well he can sleep ale off, though, I’d say he probably woke up before we did.”
“Fair point.” Justin considered this but not for long. “Okay, we need to find out where he is and if he’s okay, but I don’t think that’s priority one. What we need to do first is find out why we’re here. Or…maybe escape.”
“I vote escape,” Zaara said. “If they only wanted to do some friendly bargaining, there wouldn’t have been any need for battle-axes. That was a good dodge, by the way. I don’t think even your armor would have stopped that.”
He shuddered. “I think you’re right. Hmmm. You said there’s a hole in the floor?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, maybe the door in the chamber below you isn’t locked,” he pointed out.
“Oh. Good point. Give me a moment.” Scuffling sounds followed and he imagined her hanging upside down out of a hole in the ceiling. “I think you’re right,” she said, her voice muffled. “Okay, so I drop down, get out, and come get you.”
“No, there might be patrols. Let’s have you drop down and then help me down as well.” Although the thought of jumping so close to the edge was terrifying, the floor of the chamber below did extend somewhat farther.
“If you say so.” She sounded dubious. “Okay, one sec—”
“Shhh!” he hissed suddenly. He could hear voices in the corridor outside and the dull thud of footsteps. A few seconds later, a key scraped in the lock and his door creaked open to admit the bandit leader. He stepped in and the door was closed and locked behind him.
“You’re awfully confident,” he observed and studied his captor. “I could tackle you off the edge.”
His visitor only raised his eyebrows. Justin thought he saw something glimmering but the flicker of it was gone in the next moment.
“Why did you come to the ruins?” he asked.
“There was a job posting in East Newbrook,” he said wearily. “Not even a job posting, really, merely someone saying there might be good loot in the ruins.”
“Oh? And who was this someone?”
“I don’t know. It was one of the pieces of paper the town crier put up.” He threw his hands up. “Does it matter?”
“Given that this only turned into ruins two months ago and no one offered a reward? Yeah, it does.” The bandit crouched to look him in the eyes.
“Wait, two months ago all of this was…fine?” He couldn’t keep the incredulity out of his voice.
“Good acting,” the bandit said derisively. He stood and wandered a few feet away. “Try again,” he called over his shoulder. “And make it more believable this time.”
He was distracted from his anger by the glimmer he saw again at the man’s waist. Curious, he tried to picture a box lid opening as the witch had suggested, but nothing happened. Then, in a strange wash of inspiration, he remembered a summer day at the beach when a wave ebbed to show the stones and shells in its wake. As the water receded, the shoreline was revealed.
A chain of magic at the bandit’s waist became instantly visible.