CHAPTER 28
Rory bounded up the stairs when she heard Longinus crying out.
“Longinus!” she pounded at his door. “You alright?”
Silence.
She pressed her ear to the door. After a while, she heard a faint whimpering sound and she listened harder.
“Longinus?” she repeated, lower this time.
“Don’t cut me! Please don’t cut me,” came Longinus’ voice.
The tall man — he had to have broken in somehow. Rory went to open the door, but it was locked. Cursing, she pulled out her picks. Longinus whined and whimpered, and she dropped one. She picked it up, but her normally nimble fingers had turned clumsy from the panic — she was all left thumbs.
At last, the lock gave and she burst into the room. The noise woke Longinus, and he started up from his desk, against which his head had been resting. A s
