The shape moved, growing bigger and taller. The mattress rippled under them. There was a rapping noise and a squeak, and sunlight poured into the room through a slit.

‘Rachel!’

‘Good to see you too, hun. My, you look terrible.’

A Rachel dressed in a rumpled cocktail frock, barefoot, and with no make up was something Erin had never seen before. Aside from that and the crazily tangled hair, she appeared to be more or less all right.

Rachel knelt and hugged Erin. There was a window right behind the headboard, half covered by it, with a small separate panel at the top which was ajar. Rachel had stood on the mattress in order to open up the reachable slates from the shutter outside, so now they could see where they were: a cluttered room with a queen sized bed on...

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