Chandler jumpedup and followed Griffin to the garage while Ellion came to sit beside me at thetable.
“He fills up a room, doesn’t he?” Ellion watched the doorway Griffin had walked through. “Other people kind of disappear when he’saround.”
Ellion’s face was the definition offorlorn.
“You take a backseat to him a lot, don’t you?” Iasked.
He jumped. “No, not at all. He’s a wonderful friend. I’m not the type to want to be in the limelight, so I’m usually content to let him and Chandler take thelead.”
“Would you rather be hidden away in your computer lab?” I was mixed. Some days, hiding away sounded awesome, but others I wanted to be the center ofattention.
He laughed and took my hand. “Come on, I’ll get you some towels and stuff. I bet you’d like a bubble bath after that longnight.”
My eyes filled with tears as I stared at our joined hands. “That sounds amazing. One of my favorite things ever, especially in the winter, is to read in the bathtub.” What a sweet man he was to think of something likethat.
I grabbed my new book, and he led the way to the bathroom across from Chandler’s room and opened a tiny closet door beside it I hadn’t even noticed. It was filled with towels, shampoos, andsoaps.
“Bubble bath?” he asked, pointing at the cherry-scentedgel.
“Mmmm, yes,” I exclaimed. Fruits were my favorite smell. He handed me two towels, a washcloth, some shower gel, and the bubble bath. By the time I walked into the bathroom, my arms were overflowing with stuff to make me relaxed and happy, including candles and an mp3 player with built-inspeakers.
I was bath-time ready. Undressing slowly, I took stock of my various bruises. I had a big one across my chest, from the seatbelt. I unwrapped the ace bandage around my ribs and prodded them gently. They were bruised, too. I flexed the muscles in my abdomen one by one. I was fairly certain that I hadn’t broken or cracked any ribs, just bruised the hell out ofthem.
I turned the temperature of the water to something below molten lava, so that when I stepped in, I had to sit gingerly. Once I finally settled into the blistering water and lifted my feet out to set them on the side of the tub, they were bright red.Perfection.
I laid my head back and enjoyed the fragrance and sounds around me as I pondered which of them liked to take cherry-scented bubble baths. I opted not to light the candles since there was no point in having one lit with the lights on and I needed them on to read mybook.
The book soon sucked me in, and time passed quickly. Before I knew it, I was getting cold, so I emptied the tub and filled it back up with fresh hot water. I finally showered and got out when the water cooledagain.
When I went into the hall, wrapped in a towel, the house was silent. I had no idea where everyone was hanging out, but I was glad to be able to tiptoe over to my room without anaudience.
I didn’t have anything clean to change into, so I prowled in the dresser drawers. They were full of women’s clothes. Most were too small, but in the bottom I found pajamas. They were loose enough to work, but I definitely had more junk in my trunk than the previous owner of the purple and brown plaidpajamas.
I hoped they hadn’t belonged to Amanda, but I had a feeling they had. Who else? Griffin had said something about putting me in that particular room. I groaned. I hoped he didn’t freak out when he sawme.
I put my shoes and coat back on and went to the living room. Nobodyaround.
They had a small whiteboard on the refrigerator. I grabbed it and wrote:Going to clean up my mess in the barn, back soon.I left the whiteboard on the couch so it wouldn’t be missed and headed for thelibrary.
The door creaked as I opened it. Peeking into the marvelous room, I promised myself one day I’d have a home with alibrary.
I tiptoed across the room to the door to the barn, but it wasn’t there. The back wall, where we’d emerged from the tunnel, was full of bookshelves. Nodoor.
“What the hell?” I asked myself, turning in a circle. “I didn’t dreamthis.”
I walked backward toward the bookshelves and tried to place myself in exactly the same area that we’d exited the tunnel. Once I was pretty sure I was standing in the precise spot the door should be in, I started pulling books off the shelves. None of the books looked fake, so I had to try themall.
The tenth book from the left on the shelf right in front of my nose wouldn’t budge. “Okay, so do you push, pull, or what?” I asked the book as I wiggled it to and fro trying to flip the switch for thedoor.
I was about to give up when I noticed a tiny ridge in the spine. I got up close to the book and realized there was a button built around the title. I pressed it, and the title sank into the bookeasily.
With an almost inaudible click, the bookshelf slid behind the shelves beside it. I twisted the handle on the door, and it openedeasily.
Since I had no idea how to get the bookshelves closed again, I left them as they were and headed down the creepypassageway.
The barn was as cold as before, but I wasn’t frozen to the bone from being out in the blizzard, so it was manageable. I strode forward, ready to clean up my mess. The only thing I wouldn’t be doing was taking that freaking heater back upstairs. Nothappening.
I went straight to the area I’d moved all the totes to in a sad attempt to create a place for heat to gather. The totes scraped across the floor as I dragged them by the stack so I wouldn’t have to cart them one at a time. Work smarter, not harder. I tried to put them exactly where I’d foundthem.
