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With my arms and legs secured, Steve pushed me to the floor, grabbed me under my arms, and hauled me upstairs on my back, grumbling all the while about my weight. That was hardly fair. I hadn’t asked him to drag me up the stairs and besides, I wasn’t exactly well-built. Thankfully the stairs were carpeted but even so my hands scraped painfully against them with every step he took. Finally we reached the landing, where I lay gazing around helplessly while Isobel fetched an aluminium ladder and opened it into an inverted V shape. Steve positioned this carefully beneath a trapdoor in the ceiling, before dragging me towards it. I tried to protest, but from behind my gag it was impossible to make myself understood. It seemed unimaginable that he would be able to hoist me up the ladder singl
