Page 97 of Protecting Addison
Snorting at herself for such ridiculous thoughts, Ellory forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. Reaching into the box, she braced for whatever she might find.
To her surprise, whatever she touched was soft. Furry. It wasn’t alive—thank goodness—and it had both hard and soft parts. Moving her hand around cautiously, Ellory discovered there were a lot of whatever it was she was feeling. Frustrated at her lack of sight, Ellory turned her head to speak to her sister.
“Yana?”
“Ellory?” the little girl returned.
“I’m going to drop something down. I want you to move so your back is against the boxes. As far away from me as possible. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Do it now.”
Ellory’s limbs were shaking. She wasn’t used to such strenuous exertion. Holding herself up by balancing on the tiny ledges of stacked boxes wasn’t exactly something she did every day. If she made it out…no…whenshe made it out of there, she was going to ask Ricky if he’d help her get more in shape. She was skinny and short. Hopefully once she hit puberty that would change, but in the meantime, she wanted to be able to do physical stuff like this more easily in the future.
“I here,” Yana said.
Ellory was proud of the little girl. This situation was scary as hell. But she was handling herself pretty well, all things considered. Maybe it was because of where she’d come from. Of everything she and her brothers had to do to survive in their home country. And that made Ellory a little sad. Proud, but sad.
“Okay, I’m throwing down whatever this is. Stay where you are until I climb down. Understand?”
“Yes.”
Ellory shifted her balance on her toes and picked up whatever was in the box. She held it over the small space they’d been allotted and dropped it. There was a soft thud when it landed. “Okay?” she asked Yana.
“Okay!” the little girl said immediately.
Ellory picked up another one of whatever was in the box and dropped that too. Then did it one more time. She wasn’t sure when she’d have the strength to climb back up the towering boxes of doom, so if she’d found something they could use, she wanted to be able to have a couple of them…whatever it was.
“I’m coming down now. Stay where you are, Yana. You’re doing so good.”
“Ellory care.”
“I’m being careful,” she reassured the little girl. With her muscles shaking, Ellory carefully made her way back down the stack of boxes. When she reached the bottom, she couldn’t help but be pleased that she’d made it.
Feeling around, she found the items she’d thrown to the floor.
“Yana go you?”
“Yeah, it’s safe. Come here,” Ellory told her. Within seconds, she felt Yana’s outstretched hand, looking for where she was standing. Taking it, Ellory sat on the metal floor of the container with a small sigh. It felt good to sit. To rest her legs. Her thighs and calves were going to be very sore from balancing on the small lips of boxes she’d used as a ladder.
Yana settled into her lap as if she’d done it a thousand times. Ellory couldn’t help but be glad she was there, which immediately made her feel guilty as hell. She didn’t want her sister to be here, no way in hell, but having her there made everything feel a little less scary. She couldn’t break down. Had to stay in control to look after Yana. If she’d been by herself, she would probably be in a heap on the floor, sobbing. She wouldn’t have found the energy or bravery to climb up those boxes in the dark.
“Let’s see what we have here,” she said, as she reached for one of the objects. Ellory turned it over in her hands and tried to picture in her mind what she was holding. After a moment, she realized it was a stuffed animal of some kind. The hard spots were probably the plastic eyes and nose. There was something between the paws of the thing, but Ellory couldn’t figure out what it was. She turned it over and over, running her hands along every inch of the toy.
Just when disappointment was setting in that she’d found a box full of stuffed animals that would be absolutely no help whatsoever in getting them out of their prison, she touched what felt like a button hidden in a seam of the fur along the stuffed animal’s back.
Without thinking, she pressed it.
The thing came to life in her hands, scaring the crap out of Ellory and making her throw it across the small space. Yana jerked in fright and hit her head on Ellory’s chin in the process.
Blinking, Ellory couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The stuffed animal was a bear holding a present. It wore red and green overalls, and what scared her and Yana so badly was a string of tiny lights, flashing around the gift in the bear’s hands, and the song “Jingle Bells” that immediately started playing.
Ellory stared at it for a moment—then smiled. Huge.
She could see! The bear hadlights, and even though they were flashing, they were shockingly bright in the pitch-black space, lighting up their small prison as easily as if she’d flicked on the light to her room back home.
Ellory eagerly reached for one of the other bears she’d thrown out of the box and quickly found the button at the back, turning that one on too. It also flashed its colorful lights and began playing “Jingle Bells.” She did the same with the third.
