Page 45 of Female Fantasy
I pound my bound feet against the pavement to get his attention.
“Listen to me very carefully. We arenotdead. These guys? They’re clearly amateurs. Pretty terrible bad guys, in my opinion. They may have taken our cell phones, but they placed us next to each other. Rookie mistake.Andthey didn’t bother to tape our mouths. That’s, like, kidnapping 101. This is a totally workable situation.”
Nico stares at me, unblinking.
“Who are you, and what have you done with Joonie?”
I grin. “Now, do exactly as I say. Okay?”
“Yes, boss.”
My cheeks flare with heat. “Pull your hands in close to your chest. Splay your elbows out wide, creating space between your wrists. Good. Now, I want you to start stretching the rope by twisting your wrists.”
Nico starts frantically contorting his wrists. I watch as his forehead beads with sweat.
“Like this?”
“Yes, but easy. It’s a dance, not a fight. Now, bring your elbows back together. See that slack? Take it in your teeth and work one of the loops over your hands. Then get back to wriggling. And repeat.”
We both work in silence, twisting our wrists to loosen our ropes’ grip. Over and over again, until our skin is red and sore.
After what feels like years of trying, we finally break free.
I let out a silent cheer before getting to work on the knots around my ankles.
When I look up, Nico is gaping at me as if he’s never really seen me before. “How on earth did you know how to do that? Are you secretly a spy or something?”
I waggle my eyebrows. “You don’t think the only thing I learned fromA Tale of Salt Water and Secretsis what I deserve out of a romantic relationship, do you?”
Nico’s mouth widens another degree.
“You learned how to escape from restraints by reading afantasy romance series?”
I free my ankles and fight back a grin, satisfied by the flabbergasted expression on his face. “I learned how to be strong and independent from reading my silly little fantasy series. Physically agile and mentally tough. I’ve trained. Practiced. Just like Merriah. And I’m saving your ass, so I better not hear any more complaining about thefairy-tale worldI live in. Now, hurry up and untie your feet,kid. We need to keep moving.”
I run over to the gardening tools, grabbing a shovel and a rake. When I hand the latter to a newly liberated Nico, he looks at me quizzically.
“We’ll need weapons,” I explain. “Do you know any hand-to-hand combat?”
“Doyou?” he asks, shaking his head.
“Not much. Just some judo. And I have a black belt in tae kwon do.”
“I’m a crisis insurer, not the Karate Kid.”
I stifle a laugh, then look around the mostly empty garage. “So, here’s where I’m stuck. Even if we can open the garage door, that loud beeping sound will give us away—although I’m sure off-brand Mr. and Mrs. Smith will black out pretty soon from whatever cheap booze they’ve been drinking. They reek. Breaking a window will set off the alarm, too.”
Nico follows my gaze, both of us sweeping every inch of the room for an escape route. Finally, he points at a small hatch at the bottom of the right-hand wall, by the stacked boxes.
A doggy door.
“You think you can fit through there?” I ask.
“Not really,” he says. “But I can try.”
We don’t waste time.
I go first, dropping to the floor. First I push my shovel through the tiny door. Then I silently roll onto my stomach and slither my way through. I pull myself onto the gravel on the other side of the wall with a grunt.
