Free Finders Keepers by Annalisa Gulbrandsen

she stood she could see the cave floor several stories beneath her.   Her head spun and she swayed on her feet.   Gibbs pulled her back just before she pitched over.       
     
                “Hey, easy there.   You’re not afraid of heights are you?”   He laughed.   Ellie cringed.   She approached the top step again this time avoiding looking at anything other than the rock directly beneath her feet.   It didn’t matter that her rational mind was telling her to put one foot in front of the other, when it came right down to it, her legs refused to descend.   Her thoughts drifted to the door.   If she couldn’t go down, then her only other option was escape.  
     
                As if sensing her change in attention he said, “You can fight me every step of the way and you will still end up right here.   But if you come with me willingly, I promise I will make sure that your parents stay safe where they are at.”
     
                “What is safe?   I don’t even know what condition they are in.   They could be dead, then what good would your protection be?”
     
                “Your mom has a few lacerations and maybe a cracked pinkie finger.   Your father is practically unscathed.   They were barely going 35 miles per hour when they swerved off the road.   Your dad’s Subaru has a dented bumper.”
     
                “That’s impossible.   They wouldn’t be flown to St. Louis if they weren’t seriously injured.”
     
                The boy cocked his head to one side and grinned.   “Ellie?   This is your Aunt Laura.   Your parents have been in a car accident.   They are being life- flighted to St. Louis.   I’m driving up from Little Rock and will be there in about five hours.   Possibly six.   And, would you like fries with your order?”  
     
                Her mouth hung open.   It was her aunt in a boy’s body.   He’d done a perfect imitation of her.  
     
                “They’re fine, for now,” he said in his normal voice.   “You decide if you want them to stay that way.”
     
                She wrestled with the decision.   Sixteen years of nature and nurture seemed to, at last, agree and shout in favor of resistance as her best means of survival.   But what about her parents?
     
                The bits of broken stone dug into the cut on the bottom of her bare foot.   Her toes were stiff and numb.   “What do you want with me?”
     
                “With you?   Nothing.   Simply put, princess, I just don’t want you to get in the way.   You have become an unforeseen distraction.”   Something about the way he looked at her made her feel as if he wasn’t just referring to her relationship with the crow.
     
                He moved toward her, and with the drop behind her, she didn’t dare budge.   “I don’t want you to kiss me again,” she said.   “Ever.”
     
                He held her gaze.   She held her breath.   He reached up and traced a finger across her cheek and down her jaw.   Then he shrugged his shoulders as if to say “your loss” and turned to climb down the steps.
     
                She knew he could have dragged her all the way down, or worse, made her go first and pushed her from behind like he had threatened to do, but when he realized that every time she got close to the stairs her whole body balked, he lost his patience and offered to carry her instead.   Had she been able to properly control her movements below her knees, she never would have sunk to that sort of humiliation.   Ellie buried her face into his t-shirt and never looked down.
     
                A little path led from the bottom of the stairs into the city.   The boy took her hand, lacing her fingers in his and pulled her along it.   She favored her left foot, but managed to keep up by a combination