Childtime Institutions (continued)

- 5 -

Sarena followed the officer, remaining just out of his arm’s reach. He might surprise her with a sudden movement, but she was certain—well, pretty certain—that she could dodge out of his way he caught her. Her punishment for doing so, though, might be worse than whatever he might have originally intended to do to her. Men were like that. She had seen it.

The officer said nothing to her as they moved down the corridor. He glanced occasionally toward her to make certain that she was still there with him, but gave no other indication that she otherwise existed in his world. The hallway he took her down was long. Doors, all of them the same dull gray color, the color of freshly cured concrete, interrupted the walls at regular intervals. Sarena tried to read the numbers, but could not find them, and wondered how anyone knew which door led to which room.

They stopped at the end of the hallway at a different of doors. While still featureless gray, these looked more like polished pewter than the dull gray of the other doors that she had seen. The officer pressed his finger against something on his belt. A deep electronic chime sounded and the doors opened, revealing a brightly lit interior.

Her stomach tightened at the sight of the elevator. Once inside, she would be trapped. Panic rose in his chest. The officer gestured for her to enter, looking impatient. When Sarena hesitated, he looked ready to grab her arm and pull her forcibly inside. Fighting back the building wave of anxiety, Sarena moved past him and entered the elevator. He moved in after, blocking her exit as he tapped the control on his belt again. The doors slid closed and it was all that Sarena could do to prevent herself from trying to dash past him.

He stood almost at attention the entire time that the elevator car was in motion. He remained facing the door, not bothering to check to see where she was. His hand, she noticed, rested on the handle of his weapon. She waited silently, barely daring to breathe while the elevator car moved upward. For some reason, that made her feel better than if it were descending into the lower levels of the structure. Scenes of dungeons and interrogation rooms danced through her thoughts. She pushed them away, telling herself not to be foolish.

No one keeps their dungeon on the top floor of their castle.

She did not know about interrogation rooms, but she suspected that the police those were kept in the basement as well.

The elevator slowed. The officer’s hand tightened on his weapon, which Sarena thought as unusual. This time, he waited for the doors to open, not bothering to once again press the control at his waist. The doors slid open. The officer stepped out of the elevator and moved aside. Sarena walked to the doorway of the elevator and stopped, staring at what she saw beyond it.

The lighting was different here, muted and less harsh than she had experienced in the levels below. The floor was carpeting like a deep plush lawn, but colored a soft ivory instead of green. It was clearly some kind of living space, not like the starkly functional areas she had seen on the lower floors. The area, she sensed, was designed for comfort, not necessarily efficiency.

“Come on,” the officer said, finally speaking. “Get moving.”

Sarena glanced up at him and then down the thickly carpeted hallway. She felt hesitant, as she were intruding somewhere where she knew she should not be. But she was clearly meant to be here, she decided.

They wouldn’t have brought me all the way up here just to punish me.

Although that might ultimately be her fate, nothing in her surroundings radiated that kind of threat. Cautiously, she stepped forward, almost gasping in surprise as the deep carpeting gave beneath her feet. She did not quite stumble, but was afraid for a moment to move, unsure of her footing.