"That's not good," Juniper said. Her voice sounded a bit shaky, but I couldn't see her.
"It's fine," I said, trying to be reassuring. "I'll just text my parents to have them tell the desk."
When I checked my phone, however, there was no service. I asked Juniper if she did, but she also didn't have any bars. I pressed the call button, but didn't hear anything.
I supposed that meant we were stuck until someone found us. In the dim light of our phones I caught a glimpse of her and realized something was wrong.
Juniper
There were veryfew things I hated in this world. Artichokes, loud chewing, and tight spaces. It wasn't awful. I could manage short rides in elevators and things of that nature, but beingtrappedin a small space was my nightmare.
Being trapped with my fake boyfriend somehow made it worse.
My hands began to shake and my breaths turned shallow. I knew, logically, that we were fine. Call buttons usually worked even when the elevator was off, and someone outside would likely call it and it wouldn't come, which would tip off someone. It wouldn't take us long to get found.
However, logic didn't matter to my brain that believed we were going to run out of oxygen or the cable snapping and dropping us into a pancake.
"June, are you okay?" Ellery asked.
I nodded, then responded when I realized he couldn't see me. "I-I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'm just not a fan of small spaces."
He was silent, which was fine. Who wanted to be trapped in an elevator with someone who was freaking out? I wouldn't want to be. I wished I wasn't here with myself either.
"We're going to be okay," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "There's only the one elevator on this side, so I'm sure someone's tried it by now and realized it's stuck."
"You're right," I said. And he was. I knew that. That didn't stop the cold dread from crawling up my spine, threatening to take over all my rational thoughts.
I tried to do the recommended breathing exercises. Breathe in through the nose, hold for four, out, then hold for four again. It was meant to reset the system, but in this moment, all I could think about was the oxygen I was currently using up to do this.
It felt like the walls were closing in and would soon crush us under their weight. I needed something grounding, a way to steady myself.
As I tried to figure out what that could be, a hand touched mine, making me jump.
Ellery squeezed my hand slightly. Though it didn't make my anxiety go away, it was comforting. We'd been in the dark long enough my eyes had adjusted. I couldn't fully make him out, but I could see the gloss of his eyes and the set of his jaw.
"I'm here," he said easily. "We're going to be okay."
I squeezed his hand slightly, releasing some of the tension in my body. "You're right. We're going to be okay."
We stood there like that for a few moments. The only sound was our breathing.
I wished I could just magic us out of here. If it was possible, I would do it in a moment, unconcerned about what Ellery would think. However, that wasn’t how it worked. All magic users had what my grandmother always described as a magic well. If the well was allowed to overflow, the magic would be wild and uncontrollable. On the other side, if the well was empty, the usercompletely drained, they would have to wait for it to recharge. And with my biological father not having a drop of magic, my well was much smaller than even my mothers. It’s why I almost exclusively used it for practical things. I was sure there was some kind of teleportation magic out there, but something like that would require more than just me alone, and I was sure Ellery couldn’t do magic.
"If we did die in this elevator, it really would sell our ruse.”
I snorted. "Not funny."
"You laughed, though.”
The silence was suddenly deafening. I couldn't continue like this. "Talk to me," I said.
"What? Talk about what?"
"I don't care," I said. "I just can't do the silence right now."
