Deceptions Read Online Free Page A

down the street.
    'We've got to hide!' Stephanie said wildly. 'They mustn't find usi'
    'Where can we go?* Sabrina asked the boy urgently. 'Please, we shouldn't be here. You could be in trouble if they find us. Is there another room?'
    He hesitated, then pointed under the cot. They pushed it aside with the little girls still on it and saw a trapdoor in the floor. The boy put his fingers in a notch on one side and pulled it up. Taking a deep breath, Sabrina slid through the opening, holding out a hand for Stephanie to follow. The door slammed in place above them and they heard the cot scrape the floor as the boy pushed it back.
    It was so dark they could not see each other or what was around them. The air was damp, with a cloying odor. A cellar, Sabrina thought, but the ceiling was too low; they banged their heads when they tried to stand up. There was knocking on the door of the room above and they stayed still, crouching in the damp blackness. Stephanie's fingernails dug into Sabrina's hand. With her free hand Sabrina swept back and forth in the darkness for a place to sit. She felt the hard-packed dirt of the floor and then something hke burlap. Burlap with lumps. A sack of potatoes. That was the rotting smell: they were in a vegetable cellar.
    They sat together, arms around each other, heads touching. A few inches above them boots clumped back and forth, and rough voices asked rapid questions. Sabrina heard the word "guns" and the boy's "No." But then she heard drawers being pulled out and crashing to the floor.
    Shudders ran through Stephanie's body as she gasped for breath. Sabrina tightened her arm around her shoulders. 'Wait,' she breathed close to her ear. They'll be gone soon. Hold on to me.' She closed her eyes; it was less scary than not being able to see anything.
    'My stomach hurts,' Stephanie whispered. Sabrina nodded. So did hers. The smell of rotting vegetables stuck inside

    her nose and she could taste it aeep in her throat. It made her gag. She buried her nose against her jacket and took a deep breath. That helped. Above them the men were arguing. The baby began to ay. And in the blackness Sabrina felt something crawling up her leg.
    She jerked back just as Stephanie felt it, too, and gave a little scream, trying to stand up. Sabrina pulled her down. 'Don't,* she whispered. She thought the baby's crying had covered Stephanie's scream but she couldn't be sure. She brushed Stephanie's legs and her own. Spiders. One clung to her fingers and she crushed it against the dirt floor.
    She was shaking all over. She'd tried so hard to be brave, but Stephanie's fear had seeped into her. Now with each footstep above them she felt herself being dragged into the open. They'd be raped. They'd be killed or held for ransom. TTiey'd be cut up in little pieces and sent back to their parents one piece at a time and Mother would ciy. They had never seen their mother ciy, and thinking about it made Sabrina start crying, as if the full terror of the afternoon only became real when she thought of her mother crying over them.
    Then suddenly it was over. The boy said loudly, 'My father.' A man asked, 'Where?' and the boy answered, 'On Cyprus.' The men's voices changed; one of them laughed and said, 'A patriot.' The footsteps moved out the door and up the steps to the street. The door closed. Only the thin wailing of the baby could be heard.
    Sabrina was steadily brushing her legs and Stephanie's, holding Stephanie tightly with her other arm and breathing into her jacket. In the sudden silence she had a new fear: What if the boy kept them there? He probably hated them for hiding while he faced the men alone. What if he put something heavy on the door so they couldn't get out? She sprang up, hitting her head so hard it made her dizzy, but she pushed at the ceiling, trying to find the trapdoor. 'Where are you?' Stephanie whispered fi-antically, but Sabrina was desperately moving her hands back and forth on the ceiling. Something sharp