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The way he squeezes my knee makes me flush, a warm feeling blooming in my blood, racing across my skin.
The elevator starts to slow down, the scent of gasoline instantly strong as pieces click into place and we halt with a suddenness that makes my heart try to escape my body out of my ear.
“Jesus,” he mutters.
A shaft of light cuts the darkness on the other side of the windshield and the door splits in two, revealing a parking garage.
“I am guessing you don’t need to search long for a spot.”
“We’re it, Paigelynn. Just us,” he says as he drives the car forward, pulling into one of about twelve parking spots. The rest are empty.
Overhead lights, surprisingly warm, don’t look like the ones I’ve seen in parking garages before. These remind me more of sunlight, and I stare as he urges me to climb out of the car, my legs a bit numb from the ride. Winnie happily scampers off, away from us, where she finds a corner and promptly pees on the concrete.
I should care, but I don’t.
“Why does it feel like we’re in sunlight?” I ask him, looking up at the concrete ceiling.
“Lighting. Everything here is carefully calibrated to simulate sunlight.”
“It’s surreal.”
“When you get used to it, it’s not.”
“Who lives here long enough to get used to it?”
“You’d be surprised.”
“People really do live here? Right now?”
“Not now. It’s just us. This is an emergency bunker, designed for serious weather events or nuclear war.”
“Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“No, Princess, we’re not hiding out because of a nuclear attack. We’re here because too many people want you or me dead.”
The casual way he says that fills me with a bleakness that makes it hard to breathe.
“Why do they want me dead? Because of the prophecy?”
He puts his hands on my shoulders, kind eyes looking down at me as I raise my chin to meet his gaze.
“People want you dead for reasons of their own. It has nothing to do with you. I don’t understand it either, but I won’t let you feel shame for something that’s out of your control.”
“I don’t feel shame. Bewilderment. Confusion. Horror. But not shame.”
“Good.” Seconds tick by and he smiles down at me, our look deepening, my breath coming in slower and slower, body calming.
A clicking sound behind me makes me look.
A red button next to a large door begins to blink. Cam lets go of my shoulders and pulls out his phone, then laughs.
“Useless brick.”
As if he’s been here before, he strides to the door, pressing the pad of his finger against a small spot next to the blinking red light. The door opens, and I smell…
Coconut?
Winnie wiggles in my arms, but we’re in a hallway now, one that turns to carpet after a handful of steps. A breeze surprises me, the walls blank but warm, the ceiling turned to wood the color of honey.
