Read Angel Arias for Free Online Page B

gasped.
    Naif hung helplessly as the two of them struggled to pull her upward.
    Below her, the door was nearly open wide enough for Rajka to get through. She could see his arm and foot. If he caught her hanging there, he could reach her with his axe.
    The idea of it sent more fear pumping through her. She climbed the sheet towards her friends.
    Markes bit his lip with the strain and moaned as he wrenched with all his strength. Their hands touched and slipped. Touched again. And locked.
    She struggled through the ceiling hatch as the door below thrust open far enough for a body to fit through. She glimpsed Rajka’s head and the knife in his hand. Then Markes slid the hatch back into place.
    ‘Give me the sheet,’ said Charlonge.
    Naif could barely see her or Markes in the dark. She began to move but Markes barked at her.
    ‘Stay on the beam!’
    She felt the width of the wood beneath her and steadied herself before she untied the sheet.
    ‘What do you want me to do with it?’
    ‘Fix it over the hatch. There are nails all through the ceiling. Hook it around some of them, so they can’t open it. Pass me the other end, I’ll do the same on this side.’
    Naif reached out in the dark for the sheet and her hand glanced against Markes’s shoulder.
    He gave a cry.
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘M-my shoulder. I think I dislocated it,’ he gasped.
    Naif moved her hand carefully to one side to avoid touching him.
    Charlonge took the sheet from her and began to scrabble in the dust of the ceiling.
    Naif copied her until she found some nails jutting from the side of the beam. She forced the cloth onto them.
    ‘Done,’ she whispered.
    ‘Now we find Mesree,’ said Charlonge. ‘I’ll go first. Markes, can you crawl?’
    Naif was relieved to hear her voice sound steady, as though some of her fear and shock had abated.
    Next to her, Markes sucked in a deep breath. ‘I think so. But I won’t be able to climb.’
    ‘You got us up here,’ Charlonge said to him quietly. ‘We’ll get you down.’

 
    T hey moved painstakingly along the thickest beam. Charlonge, in the lead, counted off the rooms using the crossbeams as her guide. Muffled cries and the sound of slamming doors below dogged their progress. Rajka was searching for them. Naif could hear his angry shouts to his friends.
    ‘It should be near here,’ Charlonge said.
    Naif’s knees were scraped raw but she was more worried about Markes. Every movement caused him to shudder or give an involuntary cry. ‘Where’s the hatch?’ she asked, desperate to get him out of the filthy, dark ceiling space.
    Charlonge felt around carefully. ‘Ugh. What’s this?’
    She held up an object that Naif couldn’t see properly.
    ‘It’s a dead rat,’ rasped Markes.
    Charlonge bit off a scream and Naif heard a clunk as the rat hit a joist.
    ‘Let me look,’ she said. ‘Maybe it’s on the other side.’
    After long moments of running her fingers through the layers of dirt, she touched a seam. She traced the outline and found it to be reasonably square. ‘This is it.’ Leaning sideways, she grasped the edges with her fingertips. It came loose with a begrudging crack, and light flooded into their crawl space.
    Naif peered down. ‘It’s Mesree and Long-Li’s room. I can see her apron on the bed. She’s not there, though.’
    ‘Probably gone to see what the noise was,’ said Charlonge.
    Getting down was easier than climbing up, though Charlonge twisted her ankle as she dropped the distance to the floor. Wincing slightly, she got up and helped Naif push the bed directly underneath.
    As Markes lowered himself, holding on only with his good arm, the door was flung open and Mesree stormed in brandishing a huge carving knife. ‘What in the frossin’ sea eels –’
    Naif and Charlonge froze but Markes’s arm gave way and he crashed heavily onto the bed. He gave a loud cry and then went silent.
    ‘Mesree,’ said Naif, spilling the words out quickly. ‘Rajka came for us with