I follow Jacques back through the entrance hall, up the grand staircase and down a couple of hallways with framed pieces of art hanging up on the walls.

Jacques enters a mysterious room, pulling my little cousin inside with him, and I follow, expecting some sort of torture chamber but no - it's just a bedroom. A very nice bedroom.

I stand in the doorway, momentarily frozen.

A warm mustard yellow colours the walls and an Aubusson carpet covers the floor with pretty and intricate patterns.

There are two floor-to-ceiling windows, a massive king size bed with a canopy overhead which dominates the left side of the room and across from it on the room's right side is a vintage-looking fireplace.

"This is one of the guest rooms." Jacques' voice pulls me from my observations. "We have four more like this if either of you would prefer your own room."

It strikes me as funny that he would offer us a choice of rooms as if we were guests instead of hostages.

"We want to stay together," I answer without hesitation.

"Suit yourself," he replies, moving past me towards the door. "You two must both stay in this room until further notice. Not under any circumstances are you allowed to leave unless you are told to. And don't bother trying to sneak out," he adds. "My friends are still downstairs."

"What?" I ask, my voice strained with anxiety. "You're keeping us here?"

"Until we come up with another solution," he says. "Yes."

My stomach does a somersault and I whisper, "A solution for what?"

Jacques looks at me with an apathetic expression, completely devoid of emotion, and says, "You."

Swiftly turning around, he walks out of the room and shuts the door behind him.

I listen to the sound of his footsteps fading down the hall.

"Emmy..?" Sofie's quiet voice comes from behind me.

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared," she says, causing me to turn around and look at her.

Her eyes are filled with fresh tears and her cheeks are blotchy and red. She sniffs and blinks, causing the tears to fall.

"Oh, Sofie." Rushing over, I envelop her in a tight hug. "No, don't cry."

"Are they going to kill us?" she mumbles into my shoulder.

I swallow back my own fear.

"I won't let anything bad happen to us," I promise, sounding a lot more confident than I feel. "We'll find a way out of here. I just need you to stay calm for me, okay?"

"But how are we going to get out?" she asks. "Those men are downstairs."

I'm silent for a moment, thinking, as she sniffs back tears and then-

"The windows."

"Huh?" Sofie pulls away to look at me with confusion.

"The windows," I repeat, letting go of her and rushing over to them, praying to the cosmic universe that they are not locked.

The first one is but the second one isn't. Yes!

Opening it eagerly, I look over the pretend balcony railing and my hopeful heart drops.

It's a long way down. Twenty feet at the least.

"But, Emmy, how are we going to climb down?" Sofie voices my thoughts as I rake my mind for ideas.

Come on, think!

Gasping, I whirl around and point at the bed.

"Help me take those sheets off."

"Why?" she asks.

"I've got a plan," I explain.

"Will it work?"

"It better," I reply. "because it's the only one I've got."

Sofie helps me remove the silky covers from the quilt and then the soft sheet from the mattress before we begin to knot the ends together.

I search in the wardrobe and drawers for anything else we can use to make our handmade rope longer but they are all empty.

Maybe we can use the curtains.

Standing awkwardly on top of the drawers, I unhook the heavy yellow curtains from their poles and let them fall to the floor.

Once tying the curtains to the quilt and sheets, I yank hard on the knots to make sure they are secure. I then tie one end of it to the window railing and toss the other end out, watching it softly tumble down to the ground like Rapunzel's hair.

"Okay, Sofie..." I take a deep breath. "I'll go first."

"No." She grabs my arm. "Don't leave me alone up here."

"It will only take a few minutes for me to climb down," I assure her. "And then you can follow."

"But what if it breaks?" she says.

"That's why I'm going first," I explain. "If it holds my weight then it will definitely hold yours."

"What if I fall?"

"Then I'll be there to catch you," I tell her.

"But what if you fall?" she asks me, worried. "Who's going to catch you?"

"I won't fall," I answer, hoping it's true before beginning to climb over the railing.

"Emmy, no-" Sofie starts.

"Shh!" I say. "Keep quiet. I don't want them to hear us. Just keep an eye on that knot. If you see it slipping, grab it and I'll be fine."

"But-"

"It's risky," I admit. "But this is our only way out. We have no other choice, Sofie."

Her eyes flicker frantically between me and the railing before saying, "Just...hold on tightly. And don't look down."

Taking a deep breath, I try to remember what the abseiling instructor taught me when I went on a school camping trip at the age of twelve.

When my arms start to ache from supporting my weight and the material rubs painfully against my palms, I no longer feel afraid. I feel angry.

This is not how I was supposed to spend the night.

"Lying next to dead bodies," I mutter under my breath. "Climbing out of strangers' windows in France. This is bullshit."

The rope comes to an end about five feet from the ground, leaving my legs dangling for a few seconds before I'm brave enough to let go and drop to the gravel below.

I glance up to see Sofie looking down at me from over the railing and signal for her to follow.

She hesitates for a second before cautiously easing herself out of the window and I watch anxiously as she grabs the rope with both her hands and feet like a little monkey and slowly climbs down until she is standing in front of me, looking traumatised but alive.

"Are you ready to get out of this place and go home?" I ask.

She nods her head eagerly and, holding hands, we run.