Bent spoke quietly to Erna. As Sarah approached, Erna made a slight bow and walked back towards the kitchen. Bent spun around to face Sarah. “Erna said the storm might wipe out the power soon. In that case, we better not take the elevators. I don’t want to take any chances even with a backup generator.”Sarah raised her eyebrows fearfully.Bent snorted. “Oh, wow, sorry. I was sort of messing with you. Man, you’re really afraid of bad weather.”Sarah sighed. “I prefer sunnier days obviously.”He pushed his bare chest up against her back, winding his strong arms around her waist. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” he whispered soothingly into her ear. Sarah couldn’t help relaxing against him. He felt so solid and secure. She wouldn’t wish to be anywhere else in a storm like this. “If it’s all the same to you,” he said, nuzzling the side of her face against his, “I’d like to take a short cut to get upstairs.”Sarah was finding it very hard to concentrate with his fingers sliding under the sweatshirt to caress her sensitive stomach. His warm breath tickled the side of her neck as his lips barely grazed her skin. “S-sure. T-that’s fine,” she managed to choke out. She hoped he couldn’t feel how much she was starting to tremble. All he had to do was lightly touch her and her body would turn to silly putty. “Good,” he said. He stepped away from her and walked over to the fireplace. It was a huge stone structure that stretched from one end of the wall to the other.He ran his hand back and forth over the top of the mantle, as if searching for something. Once he found what he was looking for, he stepped back.Sarah heard a faint rumbling sound. Bent spun around. He held out his hand. “Follow me,” he said, his eyes twinkling. Sarah took his hand, her heart dancing at how soft his palm felt against hers.He stepped into the center of the fireplace and kept on walking.Sarah paused, unsure.Bent yanked her hand, pulling her forward. “Don’t be so nervous,” he snickered.She ducked her head, expecting the passage they entered to be low and narrow.Instead, the tunnel on the other side of the fireplace was somewhat high and wide. Dimly lit lights illuminated the long tunnel. Every few feet there would be a spiral stone staircase that curled up and away, disappearing to an unknown floor.”Where do all of these staircases go?” she asked aloud, traipsing somewhat awkwardly behind him as he hastened along the tunnel. It seemed using secret passageways inside his house was super commonplace for him.”Pretty much everywhere,” he said vaguely.Sarah glanced quickly up one spiral staircase that looked longer than the rest.”That one leads up to the roof,” he called back to her. “How do you not get lost in here? None of these staircases are even labeled!” Sarah said.She shivered at the thought of being trapped forever in what seemed like a never-ending corridor of staircases.Bent was laughing hysterically. Everything she was saying at the moment seemed to amuse him. “There’s no way to get lost in here,” he said. “All you do is follow one of the staircases and it will take you right back into the main house.”Sarah gulped. “You’re saying…your entire house is filled with these…various secret passageways?”Bent glanced back at her. “Sure, why not? Trying to walk from one end of this huge place to the other can get pretty tiring. The passageways are, like I said, simply shortcuts.”He suddenly veered to the right and took a staircase that curled up and away at a sharp diagonal.At the top of the stairs was a stone platform. A small lever resembling a handle stuck out from the wall.”We’re here,” he said. He had a massive, bright-white grin spread across his face. He pulled the lever.A section of the stone wall slid sideways.He picked up her bags, including his own duffle bag, and tossed them through the opening.Sarah felt his hands encircle her waist. She let out a slight scream of surprise as he flipped her up into the air, and caught her easily in his arms. Pressing her body firmly against his, he sprinted with her towards the opening in the wall and leaped out into open air. “COWABUNGA!” he hollered.