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onto the narrow step-up bar. The slippery underside of her
heels slipped on the metal surface and she felt a horrible sinking
feeling in her stomach, knowing she was going to fall.
    “You sure about
that?” Eric asked, grabbing her and hauling her against his
chest. He held her there, her feet dangling just a few inches above
the ground.
    “You can put me
down now,” she said, her voice breathless and she knew it was
from more than the fear of falling.
    “Sure, I could,”
he said, but didn’t.
    “And you aren’t
because…”
    “Because I don’t
want to,” he said simply, smiling down at her for a second
before finally putting her back down on the ground.
    “Right,” she
said, smoothing her hands down her shirt. “well… thank
you for the ride,” she said, moving onto the sidewalk, feeling
awkward.
    “Anytime,” he
said, his eyes suddenly far away. “Well baby, go catch up on
work. I’ll see you around.”
    And then he was gone,
taking off on foot back toward his shop. She looked at his truck for
a moment, before shaking her head and going toward the front door.
    She needed to get some
kind of information to send back to EM.

Five

    She ran up to her room,
slipping into a pair of flats, before making her way back down to
look around a bit. She still hadn’t seen Emily; the young man
was at the front desk, his fingers flying over the keypad of his
phone.
    Walking past him, she
made her way down the hall. Past the dining room which was empty
except a server sitting at a table carefully counting out his tips.
    Lena reached the door to
the staff quarters, trying the doorknob and finding it unlocked. She
felt her heartbeat whooshing in her ears, loud and disconcerting. She
wasn’t the kind of person meant to be sneaking around. The
thick threat of nausea settled in her throat, hard to swallow
through.
    She stepped down the
hallway, finding a small closet full of cleaning supplies. There was
only two other doors on either side of a window.
    “Can I help you?”
Emily’s voice broke in, sharp, irritated.
    “Oh,” Lena
said, jumping before turning to her with a clumsy smile. “Emily.
I was looking for you. Sorry. I didn’t know where I could find
you…” Emily had her arms crossed over her chest, an
eyebrow raised as if suspicious. “I haven’t seen you all
day. I was… excited about the tour of the grounds,” she
said, hoping her voice was steady enough to be believable.
    Emily eyed her
suspiciously for an agonizing moment before releasing her hands to
her side, and forcing a smile. “Of course. We can go do that
right now,” she said, leading her back into the hallway. “Devon
here,” she said, waving a hand at the young man at the desk.
“is really just decoration.”
    “Yes,” he
said, finally looking up from his phone and smiling charmingly. “I
just brighten up the room, don’t you think?”
    Emily smiled at him,
opening the front door and Lena fell into step beside her. “I
don’t know why he insists on working here,” she said,
filling the awkward silence. “he’s actually from one of
the richest families in town. I guess it gets him out of the house.”
    Lena looked back over her
shoulder at him and he winked. She turned back to Emily, laughing.
“How old is he?”
    “Oh, he’s a
baby,” she said, affectionately. It occurred to her then that
everyone in this town knew each other. Probably right from the
cradle. Like a big family. “I think he’s about twenty
now. He’s working on some kind of art project. Hence the phone
all the time. If you ever need anything, don’t feel bad
interrupting him. He’s just lost in his own world. He’s
actually happy to help.”
    “I’ll keep
that in mind,” Lena said, silently wondering what it must be
like to be lost in a world that wasn’t dictated by outside
forces. Her whole life was controlled by the company she worked for.
    “If you follow the
white ribbons,” Emily said, pointing to trees wrapped with
ribbons. “they will