Quadruple Duty

Kara remembered bracing herself against the glass walls, then just as quickly yanking her hands away. She imagined deep slashes across her wrists and fingers as the entire car shattered into a million glittering pieces.

Then, suddenly, darkness. She was enveloped in something hard yet soft. The car bumped hard against the floor, slowed only by the screech of metal on metal, and then everything was still again. She opened her eyes.

She was in Logan’s arms.

Sometime during the fall, he’d wrapped his whole body around her. Kara sniffed, inhaling the smell of leather and oil and steel. It was a familiar smell. One that her nineteen-year old self had always thought was—

“Are you alright?”

The elevator was on a slight angle now, and Kara pushed herself to an upright position. Logan’s arms were even stronger than she remembered them. She twisted away from the security of his leather jacket and brushed herself off.

“I think so.”

“Good.”

His body had protected her, but Logan himself had taken the brunt of the impact. A small trickle of blood streamed down from above his left eye.

“You’re bleeding.”

Kara reached out and brushed the hair back from his forehead. It was a small cut. Small enough that she regretted the movement.

“It’s nothing,” said Logan.

One after another, they stepped out of the ruined elevator. The frame was intact, but two of the glass panes were now spider-webbed with a series of oddly beautiful cracks.

“OH MY GOD!”

The voice belonged to Mr. Radcliffe, who’d come rushing up from out of nowhere. He looked a lot more awake now than he did just minutes ago.

“What happened?”

“Your elevator tried to kill us?” Kara remarked snidely.

“That’s not our elevator!” Radcliffe declared. He pointed to a small alcove on the other side of the lobby. “That’s the elevator! This thing hasn’t work since… since…”

“The 1980’s?” Logan smirked.

The owner’s eyes went wide. “Something like that, yeah!”

“Ready for this idea?” said Kara. “Put up a sign! OUT OF ORDER. Something like that, no?”

Mr. Radcliffe looked absolutely stunned. “I— I just thought it went without saying.” He backpedaled quickly as he noticed Logan holding one hand to his forehead. “I mean, a couple of kids have been caught playing on it from time to time. But no one’s ever tried to—”

“Save it for the morning.”

Kara was tired, her body stiff from the long ride. If she didn’t get some sleep soon, there wouldn’t be any. Without looking back, she stormed off in the direction of the modern elevator. Almost immediately she could hear Logan falling in behind her.

Great, she thought to herself.

Six

The room was extremely small.

That part Kara could live with. Small was something to be expected from a hotel built in the late 1890’s. What she couldn’t live with however, was the fact that the room had only a single bed.

“Looks like you’re on the couch,” she told Logan.

Her companion frowned down at the tiny piece of furniture. “That’s not a couch. That’s a loveseat.”