That was why my head hurt.
The bat cracking off my skull.
So if I was nauseated, I was probably dealing with a concussion.
Great.
That was great.
I didn't even know what to do about that. Not that I could do anything since I was clearly under Anton's thumb.
And so was Joss.
My eyes snapped open, and the pain was too intense for a long moment to see anything. But once the pain eased back a bit, I still couldn't see much.
Wherever I was—we were—it was dark.
"Joss?" I croaked, slow-blinking into the inky blackness, trying to force my eyes to adjust, but they didn't want to cooperate.
"You'll be able to see in a little bit," Joss assured me.
"Where are we?" I asked as I planted my palms on the floor, feeling something smooth, but rough at the same time. Like concrete. When I sat fully up, the wall I leaned against felt like cinderblock, but that was as far as the thought process got as the bile rose up my throat, making me sure I was going to be sick all over myself.
"I don't know. Sounds big, though. Empty too. Maybe a warehouse or abandoned store or something."
"Is Betty here?" I asked, taking slow, deep breaths, feeling it chase away some of the nausea and pain.
"No. At least, I don't think so."
"Is he?"
"He walked out after he dumped you down."
"Are you chained?" I asked, shaking my legs, feeling nothing binding me.
"Yes."
"Why aren't I?"
"He got a call and rushed out," Joss told me.
"How are you chained?" I asked, crawling over toward where his voice was coming from.
"Not chains," he said, and I caught the shadows as he lifted his linked hands. "Zip ties."
"Oh, oh I know this one," I declared, trying to force my brain to focus.
I'd seen Seeley showing Belle how to get out of zip ties.
"Just your wrists, or your ankles too?" I asked, finally kneeling beside him.
"Ankles too."
"Do you have shoes with laces?" I asked, reaching down to feel for myself.
"Yeah."
"Okay. I, ah, I think I'm supposed to use the laces to sort of saw the ones on your ankles," I told him, undoing them with shaky fingers.
"And what about my wrists?" Joss asked.
"That part looks fun."
"Looks? You haven't tried it?"
"No, but I saw my sister get out of them. We're similar size-wise. If she could do it, so could you."
"Okay," he agreed as I got his laces undone, then tightened the zip ties. "Ouch."
"I think the tightness helps," I explained. "Okay. Here goes," I told him, starting to saw with the laces.
It was a long, frustrating few moments where it seemed like all I was doing was getting a sort of burn on my fingers from the friction of the laces.
But then, without warning, there was a snap.
A snap that I wasn't prepared for, so the released pressure made me actually punch myself in the face.
"Ow ow ow," I whimpered rubbing my nose.
"Can't believe that worked," Joss said, shaking his legs. "What about my wrists?"
"We have to get you up," I said "Hold on, I'll help you," I told him, moving to stand, having to slap a hand against the wall as the room swam violently, making my stomach slosh around again.
"You okay?"
"Dizzy," I told him.
"You have a concussion," he concluded. "I got one when I played football in high school. Felt like that for a week or two."
"Don't say that," I grumbled, closing my eyes tight as I took slow, deep breaths.
"It won't be as bad after a couple days, though," he told me, trying to comfort me.
"I know you're lying. And I appreciate it," I told him, feeling a little better. Reaching down, I grabbed Joss's elbow, helping him get to his feet. "Okay. You need to bend forward and raise your arms over your head. Then you are going to bring your arms down really fast while spreading your elbows wide out to the sides. The plastic should snap."
"If you say so," Joss said, dubious, but he got into position. "Here goes nothing," he added as he put his arms over his head.
I half expected it not to work, despite having watched Belle do it twice in a row with no problem at all. But the plastic snapped as he brought his elbows out.
"I'll be damned," he said, sounding as surprised as I felt.
"Now what?" I asked, mostly to myself. "Did you hear anyone else?"
"I think maybe one or two other voices? It's hard to tell, though. It could have even been outside. I was a little out of it when I was waking up."
"Okay. Let's try to explore," I suggested. "Carefully. If we accidentally kick anything, they might come running. Do you still have your phone?"
"No," Joss said. "That was knocked out of my hand before he hit me with the bat. You?"
"It's on the nightstand at the penthouse. Why didn't you just tell Eddie?" I asked, realizing how ill-equipped the two of us were for getting ourselves out of this sort of situation. I mean, there were at least two of us. But everything I knew was stuff I'd watched Belle learn while training with Seeley or watching TV shows. I had no training myself. And Joss was barely more than a kid himself. I doubted working at a liquor store prepared him for freeing himself from kidnapping.
At least he had that ex-footballer build.
It was the one thing we had going for us.
"He told me to come alone. I panicked. I didn't want to take any chances."
"Did you hear Betty on the phone?"
There was a long pause before he admitted, "No."
"I'm not blaming you," I told him, touching his arm. "If it was Belle, I might have done the same. But what if you didn't hear from Betty because the guys already got to her?"
"If they got her, why is Anton still alive?" Joss reasoned.
"I don't know," I admitted.
Any number of things could have gone wrong.
"But why would they take us?" I wondered out loud. "That makes no sense."
"Unless they did get inside and get Betty out, if maybe Anton just got away. Maybe he took us because he thinks we have a connection to the club?" Joss suggested.
"Maybe," I agreed, feeling around with the tip of my toes before moving forward a step, not wanting to step on anything that might make noise. "Was he out front when he called?" I asked.
"No. I, ah, I gave him the address."
"Joss!" I hissed. "There are children in that penthouse," I added.
"I know. I know. I wasn't thinking."
"So, he called, threatened Betty, and asked you where you were?" I asked, wanting to get everything straight in my head, sure that there might be something to work with if we analyzed everything.
"He said he knew I hadn't killed any of the Henchmen yet, and that he was going to kill Betty if I didn't meet him."
"That's it? Nothing else? How did he sound?"
"He asked for the address. He must have been close because by the time I got downstairs, he was pulling up. And, I don't know. He sounded pissed."