Page 60 of Daring in a Blue Dress
“Well, it’s still very pretty,” Lisa said, gazing out along the front expanse of the house. “You must have a party here someday, you really must.”
Alden drifted down a couple of windows just in case she had ideas about latching on to his arm again. He glanced around the gallery, wondering what he could tell Lisa about it, when he noticed that one of the faded and threadbare rugs that dotted the floor was slightly rumpled at a corner. “I’ve thought of renting out the space to wedding parties and the like, which is something my brother does with great success, but obviously, I’ll need to get the work done first.” He headed for the rumpled carpet, intent on smoothing it out so no one would stumble over it in the dark, but as soon as his foot hit the carpet, the world slipped and went askew.
His feet seemed to fail just at the moment he realized that the floor had given away from underneath him, his entire body plummeting forward. A hoarse cry eruptedfrom him as he flailed arms and legs, managing to catch the edge of the dangling rug with one hand.
For two seconds, he hung in midair, tied by one hand around a century-old rug from who-knew-where, his heart pounding as he looked up from the dark abyss into which he’d fallen. He had a moment to wonder at the way the golden early-evening light streamed into the window before the rug started moving toward him, sliding with him into whatever pit he’d fallen into.
With a loud slithering sound, the rug tumbled in after him. Pain burst hot and bright in his head and shoulder, and the last thing he heard before he was consumed by darkness was his name on Lisa’s lips.
Slowly, an awareness returned to him. He had an idea that time had passed, but he wasn’t sure how long it had been since... since what? He frowned, and opened his eyes, remembering with a sudden jolt the fall he’d taken.
“Bloody floor giving way underneath me,” he croaked, his voice as dry and dusty as he felt. “You really don’t have to try to kill me, you damned house. I just want to make things nice again.”
He coughed a couple of times, and pushed himself upward, taking stock of his limbs as he did so. His legs felt fine, but there was a slight pain in his right shoulder, as well as a dull throb above his right ear. He touched it with tentative fingers, and found the lump he expected.
“Hello?” he called, looking upward. He’d been with Lisa; that much he remembered. But where was she? “Lisa? Hello? Anyone?”
There was no answer.
“Bloody, bloody hell,” he groaned as he got to hisfeet, squinting in the light that drifted downward from the gallery. All he could see was broken wood, bits of plaster, and large, head-sized pieces of what looked like mortared brick and stone.
Dammit, there wasn’t enough light to see the dimensions of the space he was in. He shuffled forward, hands outstretched, moving aside bits of wood and stone for three steps until he felt the rough surface of a wall. “There’s one.” He turned his back to it, and repeated the process, this time taking five steps before he reached the second wall. He glanced upward at the hole, noting the jagged edges of wood that stabbed across the hole like accusing fingers. “Anyone there?” he called, although he hadn’t heard any sounds of people.
Five minutes passed while he located a third wall, this one made of rough stone, fist-sized chunks of which were missing at various spots. But when he tried to find the fourth wall, he nearly came to grief, the boards under his feet cracking and popping ominously a few feet past where he’d fallen. Hastily, he scrambled backward, not wanting to fall through yet more rotten floorboards.
Distantly, he heard the sound of footsteps, and hurried back to stand under the hole that was located about six feet over his head. “Hello?” he called again. “I’m here, if anyone is looking for me.”
“Alden? Sugar, are you all right? Merciful heavens, I just aboutdiedwhen you went through the floor like that.” Lisa’s voice drifted down to him. “I swear to you, I just aboutdied!”
“Don’t get too close,” he warned. “The floor is weak.”
“It’s all right, I brought you a rope. I just need to tie it to something.... Oh, this’ll do nicely. Alden, I’mthrowing you the rope. Now, you climb it carefully, you hear?”
“Stay well back from the hole,” he called, ducking when a rough bit of rope spilled over the edge onto his head.
“I’m being careful, but you do the same,” she answered.
He took a firm grip on the rope, and tugged. It seemed sturdy enough. He started to climb, Lisa’s continued admonitions to be careful and not hurt himself following his painful progress upward, inch by inch, as he awkwardly hoisted himself up the rope.
He was a few feet from the hole, when he heard a commotion from above, resolving itself into Mercy’s voice demanding to know what was going on.
“It’s Alden. He’s fallen into the floor below. I thought I would die when he disappeared like that, I can tell you.”
“Alden? Are you OK?” Mercy’s voice came clearly down to him. He gritted his teeth against the pain in his hands, and inched upward again.
“I’m fine,” he grunted.
He heard Fenice asking what was going on, and Lisa repeating how she could have died, she really could have died, when he’d disappeared from sight.
“You’re not hurt? Are you—holy shit! What did you do? Alden! Let go of the rope! Let go right now!”
“No, he’ll fall and hurt himself,” Lisa answered, her voice losing some of its sweetness in her annoyance with Mercy.
“Let go, Alden!” Mercy demanded. He saw a shadow flicker near the edge of the hole, and, gritting his teeth, reached upward to catch the edge of the floor above him.
“I’m almost... there... ,” he said in between pants.
“Let gonow!” Mercy all but screamed, and with a swift glance downward, he hesitated.
