Locked Inside by Nancy Werlin

Author:Nancy Werlin [Werlin, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781101576960
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2009-02-19T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

21

“Well,” the Elf began, “you’d said you’d be online at midnight Monday. And of course you weren’t. I e-mailed you twice, and then I checked Paliopolis in case I’d misunderstood and we were supposed to meet there.” As he talked, he grimaced slightly and began rubbing at the T-shirt strip that Marnie had bound around his leg, and Marnie’s worry about their lack of antiseptic resurfaced. But his expression was far away, in his story, and the rubbing appeared to be an unconscious reflex, so she decided not to ask if it was hurting. Besides, she knew the answer. How could it not hurt?

“I even looked in on the Rubble-Eater, just in case you’d set a trap there or something,” the Elf had continued. He grinned at Marnie, and she found herself smiling a little, shaking her head ruefully. It was the kind of thing that she—the Sorceress—might have done.

All at once it was astonishing how comfortable Marnie felt, sitting with the Elf, listening to him. Something in her, that was nearly always tense in the company of other people, seemed to dissolve. Unconsciously, Marnie curled her legs beneath her and leaned infinitesimally closer. The Elf had that inward look on his face that people get sometimes when they tell stories, so she even found it okay to watch his face, the play of expression, as he spoke.

He said, “It took a day or so, actually, before I started feeling antsy about not hearing from you. At first I thought you’d just gotten caught up in something or other. It happens. So I e’d you again Wednesday afternoon. And then I thought maybe I’d pissed you off in some way. I, uh, I tend to piss people off a lot.”

“You do?” Marnie was surprised, then intrigued. “How?” Involuntarily, her eyes slid to his bare scalp, and he noticed. He turned away a little, and Marnie remembered that when they’d touched on his appearance earlier, he’d sounded kind of defensive, and he—

“I assume you want only relevant facts?” said the Elf.

—was still defensive. Okay, fine. “Right,” said Marnie. “So you e’d me on Wednesday afternoon.” She frowned. “Actually, why’d you do that? You knew I wasn’t responding to e-mail. If I was going to e you back, I would have already.”

“Yeah. I don’t know! I just e’d you, okay?” He looked down. “Well, you’ll find out anyway, if we get out of here. Which I believe we will. I, uh—the fact is, I e’d you a lot on Wednesday.”

Marnie was fascinated. “Define ‘a lot.’”

Silence. Then: “Fifteen times. Not that I was counting.”

Marnie felt her jaw drop. She stared.

After a few seconds, the Elf began to babble. “Well, the first time was just to ask you to e me back. Then, well, I sent you something. Then I figured you were offended, so I apologized.” He scowled. “You try writing an apology when you’re not sure what you did wrong! And then I got a little worried, so I e’d about that, just to tell you to say you were alive, if nothing else.

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