Lucky disappeared through the wall, and Roan turned to me. “I hope he wasn’t a doctor in life. Not much of a bedside manner.”
I elbowed his ribs. “You’re one to talk. You pushed him, insulting him.”
“I didn’t insult him.” Roan scoffed. “I was worried about you. There’s a difference. Do you not want me to be worried about you? To care what happens to you?”
I sighed and flung my arms around his neck. “Of course I want you to be worried about me. It’s so charming and cute.”
“Okay, ‘charming’ is not the word I was going for.”
“Cute?” I teased.
“Not that, either.”
“Well, whatever it is, let’s finish up searching here and get back downstairs.”
Roan flashed his light around the room. “I get the feeling that wherever the box is, it’s not up here.”
“Let’s do one last sweep to make sure.”
We picked our way through the storage boxes and furniture, searching for an electronic device. I pulled up sheet after sheet, sneezing and coughing into my elbow from all the dust hovering in the air.
“Well,” Roan said, “I think we’ve—”
The sound of creaking hinges alerted me that something was wrong. As I moved to the ladder that would get us out of here, it snapped up, closing us off from the rest of the house.
“What the—” Roan said. “Watch out, Blissful. Move back.” He pressed down on the ladder, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s stuck. Hello,” he yelled. “We’re up here! Let us out!”
Though panic should have been scrambling up my throat, I was simply annoyed. Now why in the world would someone go and trap us in the attic unless they didn’t want us around?
I really, and I meanreally, did not like any of the people downstairs. Every one of them knew where we were, which meant that one of those jerks had decided it would be fun to lock us up.
This was not cool. I banged on the ladder. “Let us out!”
Roan stood. Fury burned from every muscle in his body. It was so bright I swore he just about glowed. “It’s no use. Somebody doesn’t want us downstairs tonight.”
“They all know we’re up here.”
He scrubbed a hand over his cheek. “Luis left us here.”
“He could have come back.”
“Or one of the others could have sneaked out.”
“True.” I jumped on the ladder, but it wouldn’t budge.
Roan’s arm slithered around my waist, and he tugged me off. “Hey, you’re not getting hurt on my watch.”
“Sorry, I’m just really ticked off.”
“Let’s take a minute and think.”
An idea came to me. I clicked my tongue. “I’ve got better than that. Let’s do some calling.”
He scowled. “To who?”
“To Lucky. He can’t be far away.”
I’d only said his name the one time when his ghostly voice flitted over my shoulder. “You called?”
