“Please, call me Fiona or Fee.”
The girl nodded. “I’m Ellen. That’s Bryn. We’ve brought your breakfast. Once you’ve eaten, we’ll begin your fitting. Would it be an inconvenience if we stayed here while you ate?”
“No, of course not. I’m sure you brought plenty—I’m happy to share if you’re hungry.”
“That would not be acceptable.” Ellen dipped her head. “Though it was kind of you to offer.”
Bryn laid the white gown out on Fiona’s bed. It was just like the one she and her friend had seen the time they’d gotten the courage up to go into one of the bridal stores in Fort Collins. The dress had cost thousands of dollars, so Fiona had only admired it from a safe distance. If she still doubted her friend had been playing her, she didn’t any longer. That dress was one of a kind. Her friend had to be the one who told King’s people about it.
Fiona looked at the duo, wondering how deeply mired they were in this weird world here at King’s Warren. They’d come in from the same door that Kelan had been taken through.
“I didn’t notice a door in my closet,” Fiona said as she went in there. Looking around the room, she still couldn’t find an obvious door.
“We used the servants’ entrance,” Ellen said, following her into the room.
“How?”
“It’s best if you don’t know.”
“Was there anyone in there? Did you pass anyone when you came in?” Had they seen Kelan with the men who took him?
“Only servants use that entrance.”
“Did you see a few men in there?”
“No.”
Fiona’s lips thinned. She had no way of knowing if Ellen was telling the truth. “Can you show me where the latch is?”
“Please, Fiona. You cannot go in there. Mr. Edwards will know I showed you.”
“I won’t tell him. This suite makes me a little claustrophobic, having only one way in or out. If there’s a fire, I’d like to know how to get out when my hall door is locked.”
“Are you going to start a fire?”
“No. I just would like to know where the door is. Please.”
Ellen looked tense. She went over and showed Fiona an electrical outlet behind some hanging clothes. “It’s this. Press it.”
Fiona did, and the whole front of the jewelry cabinet popped open. “Whoa.”
“Don’t ever use it. Don’t ever go in there. Mr. Edwards will kill me or one of the others if he finds out.”
“I understand.”
They went back into the bedroom.
She sat at the table where her meal had been set out, and took a bite of the egg soufflé. Fiona wondered what the guy had meant when he said that he couldn’t save Fiona, that only Kelan could. Save her from what? What if she could save herself? Would these girls help her? Either way, she had to make a plan.
“Ellen, when is this wedding supposed to take place?”
“Tomorrow.”
Oh, God. That gave her very little time to get out. “No.” She shook her head. “That’s not happening tomorrow.”
Ellen shared a swift look with Bryn. “You don’t have a choice.”
“Of course I have a choice.”
Ellen took the seat next to her. “None of us has a choice in our lives anymore. Not here.”
Fiona studied Ellen. “They can’t think this marriage would stick.”
“In this world it will.” Ellen shook her head.
How could this world even exist today? How could it be so unknown that she—or anyone—could disappear into it? “I don’t live in this world. I’m going back to mine.”
“Can she do it?” Bryn asked, looking at Ellen. “Can she get out?”
Fiona sent them a curious glance. “Do you know the way out?”
Ellen reluctantly nodded.
“Then why don’t you leave?”
“Only one of us is allowed to go to the surface at a time, when some errand takes us there. If that person doesn’t return, one of us is killed.” Ellen took Bryn’s hand as she came to stand next to her. “Two of our friends have died that way. We don’t challenge that rule anymore.”
Fiona frowned. “How long have you been here?”
“I’ve been here four years. Bryn’s been here two.”
“Do your families know you’re here?”
The girls shook their heads. “We haven’t been able to communicate with them.”
“You couldn’t even sneak in a phone call?”
Ellen shook her head. “Our families don’t have phones. They expected us to be gone only a few months. Our community does tithes in the form of a service.”
Fiona frowned. “Ellen, are you guys from the Friendship Community?”
“You’ve heard of our village?”
She’d heard some of Greer and Remi’s long work there while Remi was quarantined. More terror unleashed by her father and his cohorts. “My father did a terrible thing to your people. He sent one of his associates to infect them with a disease called smallpox. Many died before it was contained.” She showed Ellen her inoculation site. “I got the vaccine, but those who didn’t in your village, or those where the disease was too far progressed for it to help, had terrible sores like this one was but all over their bodies.”
“Ellen,” Bryn said, “we have to get home to them.”
Ellen nodded. She got up and walked around.
“Have you not been out of King’s Warren in all the time you were here?”
“No,” Bryn said. “None of us have left.”
Ellen stopped pacing and looked at her. “You will be the first to leave. If we write letters to our families, you could take them with you and see they got delivered.”
“I’m not getting married.”
“The ceremony is going to happen.”
“Perhaps that’s your custom, but it isn’t mine.”
“Even to save your life?” Ellen asked.