Page 51 of Take the Sub and Run

Sofie didn’t care. The fear that had retreated only moments ago returned like a high tide, washing away everything else. Those men might still be in her house. Waiting. For one wild moment, she considered simply jumping. Maybe the tree and bushes would break her fall. Maybe she’d break her legs. But she wouldn’t be trapped in her house with men who swore the next time they’d take her away from the place she should have been safe, but now knew she wasn’t.

“Do. Not. Jump.”

She froze at the command.

“You're going to reach out with your left hand and grab this branch.” Andrei jiggled a thick branch, the end of which was just within reach.

“Then you're going to put your foot on this one.” He indicated a second branch.

Sofie nodded, watching his face, shadowed by the tree and the night itself.

“Keep your weight on the windowsill until you have a good grip with your hand and firm placement with your foot. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Once you do, you’re going to move fast. You’re going to push off the wall, get both feet on the branch, but don’t stand there, keep moving. Come toward me.” Andrei held out his hand.

Sofie glanced from his hand to his face. “I don’t want to fall.”

“Why don’t you climb back in, and use the front door.”

Fear gripped her, and Sofie couldn’t stop the whimper that rose up her throat.

“Okay, okay. No door. Climb out the window into a tree in the middle of the night.”

His exasperated tone made her laugh. The laugh shifted this from terrifying escape to wonderful adventure.

Ignoring the fact that it was a request for adventure and excitement that had gotten her in this very situation, Sofie followed Andrei’s instructions, getting one hand and one foot firmly in place on the branches.

“Ready, Rapunzel?”

“Rapunzel? She was locked in a tower and…” Now that she said it out loud, that comparison was perhaps a little too apt. “I could make a rope out of sheets.”

“You could use the door,” Andrei grumbled.

No, because if she used the door, there would be no reason for Andrei to take her hand.

Shaking with a different kind of fear, Sofie swung her other leg out but balanced on the windowsill, one hand gripping the frame.

“Sofie, look at me.”

She'd been looking down, but at the command, her gaze met Andrei’s.

“Come to me, Angel.”

Sofie pushed off. For one terrifying moment, all her weight was on the too-thin branch below her. She felt it start to bend under her weight.

“Sofie,” Andrei barked.

Holding her breath, Sofie took three desperate, quick steps along the branch, hands moving one over the other on the branch above her. Then Andrei was there, and because she was too scared to let go and take his hand, he leaned out, wrapping an arm around her middle and hauling her into his arms.

Sofie curled into him, gasping as adrenaline once more pumped through her body.

“I did it.”

“You did.”

“That was fun.”

---