Chapter 13 - Two Knocks Means Run
The light changed first. I saw it from below through the crack as he started to lift.
We had counted it down. Mia was supposed to stand by the wall mirror where she could see the stairs and the front hall at once. If anyone came, she would cough. Once if it was the man from the staircase. Twice in a row if it was Nathan. Then she was supposed to step back onto the rug and keep her hands still.
I heard his shoes shift on the marble. The suited man breathed out slow through his nose and got his fingers under the edge of the hatch. The wood was heavier than it looked. It made that low scrape I knew.
He'd only raised it four inches when Mia coughed.
One short cough. Then another, hard, right after.
My stomach dropped. The light above me narrowed instantly as he froze. I could see the underside of his cuff, the dark hair swept back from his forehead as he bent lower.
"Mia," he said, very quiet. "Back up for me."
She moved. I heard her bare feet on marble, quick and light. Then the front door clicked. Not the big slam. The smaller interior door by the stairs.
Footsteps. Steady. Unhurried. I knew that walk.
"Well," Nathan said. His voice carried easily in that hall. "This is cozy."
Dust settled on my face. I pressed my cheek to the stone and tried not to breathe loud. The rope bit into my wrists where I'd twisted them behind me. I fixed them the way we'd agreed, tucked low so if the hatch opened fast they wouldn't show right away.
Above me, the suited man didn't stand all the way up. He kept one knee down. Good. Standing would have looked guilty.
"She dropped her bracelet," he said. "By the vent."
A pause. I pictured Nathan stopping near the staircase, looking at Mia, then at him.
"On the floor?" Nathan said. "In the middle of the hall?"
"She was pulling my hand. I told her we'd check."
The hatch was still up that four inches. I could see a blade of white light across the stone. If Nathan took two more steps he would see the dark line in the floor. He would see the recessed handle.
I heard him move. One step. The marble rang under his shoes.
Mia coughed again, this time a fake little kid cough. "My throat hurts," she said.
"Come here," Nathan said. Not unkind. That was worse. "You've been crying again."
"She's tired," the suited man said. His voice stayed even, but I heard the restraint in it. "Three days without sleep does that."
"Three days," Nathan repeated. "You've heard the story then."
"I heard a little girl say she heard knocking."
Another step. The light above me wavered as the suited man's hand adjusted on the wood. He was going to have to lower it, and lowering it made noise. He knew it. I knew it.
I curled my fingers against the stone wall and waited for his signal. We'd agreed: he would tap twice on the wood before he closed it, so I wouldn't reach up at the wrong second.
Tap. Tap. Faint, through the panel.
I pulled my hands back to my chest.
He lowered the hatch inch by inch, controlling the weight with his forearm. The scrape was soft, but in that hall everything echoed. I held my breath until the panel settled. The dark closed over me completely. Warm and damp and familiar.
Silence for one second. Then Nathan's voice, closer now.
"You spend a lot of time on the floor."
"I spend time where she asks me to look," the suited man said. "She said downstairs."
My heart hammered so loud I was sure it would travel up through the wood. Mia hadn't moved to the rug. I could still hear her breathing, too fast. She was going to cry out. I could feel it coming.
I pressed my bound knuckles twice against the underside of the hatch. Soft. Deliberate.
Knock. Knock.
It was our code. Two knocks means I'm here. I'm hidden. Don't open.
Above, everything stopped. I imagined Mia hearing it and understanding. She'd practiced it with her palm on the kitchen table that morning while the suited man watched the mirror. Two knocks means run back to your spot and stay quiet.
Her feet moved. Just a shuffle back onto the rug. Then stillness.
Nathan laughed once, short. "You hear that? Old pipes. This place knocks all day."
The suited man didn't answer right away. When he did, his voice was lower. "I'll take her to get some water."
"Good idea," Nathan said. "She shouldn't be down here alone."
May you like
They walked away. Mia's bare feet, his dress shoes, Nathan's steps following a beat behind. The marble cooled above me as the light left.
I stayed curled under the closed hatch in the dark, my wrists throbbing, and listened until I couldn't hear them anymore.
