I stood as quickly as I could and went to the window. It was far too small to fit through. It was up way too high for me to reach. Even if I wasn’t so short, there was nothing to stand on.
Waving my arms, desperately getting my hopes up that the blob of a figure out there was my only chance of an ally, I jumped and shouted.
“Thomas? Thomas!”
The blur of a figure didn’t leave the other side of the frosted glass. Creaking sounds accompanied the slight wiggling and rocking motion of the pane. Then with a harder thump of striking the frame on the outside, the glass tilted in.
“Sofia?” the young teen asked with fear.
“Thomas!” I almost cried in relief.
“Oh, fuck. I can’t believe it.” He leaned down, slanting to peer in the window. The pane wouldn’t part all the way. It wasn’t intended to ever be used as a means to escape. In the winter, they left it open to further chill the occupants. All I saw was his eye and the hint of his curly black hair that fell like a mop over his brow.
“I saw the drivers come back and I didn’t want to be nosy and get in trouble. But me and Jerome were thinking that it looked likeyouwhen they pulled someone outta the trunk and I was worried and wondering. Holy,fuck, Sofia. What’s going on?” He shook his head and looked away, as if checking that no one was watching him. “I’m so confused. And like, freaking out. As soonas I got a chance and your uncle left for the gambling hall, I tried to look in all the dungeon windows.”
“Did you see Esmeralda?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Course, I did. I already knew which room was hers.”
“She’s… alive?”
He nodded again. “Yeah. I mean, well, yeah. She’s coughing more and more. But she’s alive. I can’t wait to tell her that you are too.”
I shook my head. “No. Don’t tell her that I’m here.”
He squinted at me.
“I don’t want her to know. I don’t want to worry her. Besides, she’s getting out of here.”
It wasn’t easy to see, but I watched his eyebrow pop up. “Outta here? But how?”
“With your help,” I said sternly.
“Course. Course. I’ll help. But how?”
He was the only one I could count on not telling my uncle or any guards that I wasn’t behaving. He was trapped here too, because his father was a driver and he had no other life or home to belong to. Even though he was just a teen, and was often taken advantage of in the garage, like I was in this house, he was more than willing to befriend me and collaborate with me when we could.
I explained how he’d need to get Esmeralda out of her room. My plan was to have my uncle go to check on a fire at one of hiswarehouses. I’d already arranged for an alert to be sent to him via a messaging app that couldn’t be tracked. With him out of the house, Thomas would need to get my cousin toward the garage. That was where the EMTs would pick her up, and with luck, she’d be on her way to the hospice facility. Out of here.
“When, though?” he asked after I explained.
“Tomorrow morning,” I replied.
“But what if your uncle don’t go? What if he’s here and what if too many guards are around?”
I shook my head. “They shouldn’t be. It’s a diversion, and something that will alert them. It should work.”
He winced. “What if it don’t?”
“Then I’ll have to think of something else,” I replied simply.
And I would. Because Anya knew about that hospice arrangement, someone would need to follow up. I hadn’t made it into the building to sign the documents, but I was banking on their accepting Esmeralda anyway. Perhaps Anya or Claire could sign for her. And then once I escaped and found a safe new start somewhere far away, I could pay them back.
“But what about you?” he asked after once more looking away to check that no one was coming.
“I’ll figure that out too.” I frowned up at him. “Will you, then? Will you help get her out of here?”
“Course. Course, I will, Sofia.”
