"I'm tied to the stairs, should be straight across from you." Edward whispered across to her. He didn't know where Victoria was, but they had to hurry and be quiet. He wasn't sure if she was really just going to leave them to 'rot', or if she would be back to expedite the process. He didn't want to find out either. He saw Bella start to move, and it killed him. She was so broken, so bloody, he didn't know how she was still staying conscious, and now he was asking her to help him. At this moment he just wanted to get out of there, and reciprocate to Victoria everything she had done to Bella. He didn't think he had ever hated anyone in his entire life as much as he hated her now. He watched Bella slide across the floor, toward him, and it looked like she was only using one arm, he assumed the other was broken, along with her legs. After what seemed like an eternity, she grabbed onto his leg, pulling herself toward him. He could now see that one, and maybe even both of her eyes, were swollen shut.

"My hands are tied behind the banister." She felt up to where his arm was, and followed it down to his wrists where the rope was. He felt her start fumbling and then her breathing start to get erratic. Of course. She couldn't see, this was nearly impossible for her to do.

"Wait a minute, didn't Victoria have a knife down here?" Edward felt Bella tense behind him, and he hated to bring it up, but he figured it was the only way she could get the rope off of his wrists.

"Yes." Bella whispered so quietly he barely heard. She slowly moved away from him, crawling back to where she had been sitting before. He heard her moving around, sliding across the floor, when he heard the sound of the metal slide against the concrete floor. He listened to her crawl back toward him, hearing the blade drag against the floor slowly as she went. She finally made it back to him and started moving it against the rope. He could tell she was trying to remain calm, but the longer it took, the more shallow her breathe got. He was worried she was going to break down, when finally he felt it cut through, and the rope loosened around his wrists. She started pulling desperately at the rope, letting her calm dissipate, and minutes later his wrists were free. He reached down to his ankles, making quick work of that knot, before pulling Bella to him and hugging her as she sobbed against his chest. Even though they were still trapped, the fact that he finally had her was already such a relief. It felt like they were halfway there, halfway out of there. They could find a way out of here, and as long as Victoria kept her promise of letting them 'rot', then they could get out, no problem. He remembered a window he had walled up a couple years ago, but he hadn't exactly been a master craftsman, so certainly he could break through it to get through to the window. He was just about to tell Bella, when he heard Tanya walking around upstairs. He hugged her closer by instinct, and held his breath waiting. It sounded like she was walking around in circles, starting in the living room, walking around a few times, then she faded as she went down the hall. A few minutes later he heard her come back, walking around the dining room, and then into the kitchen, and it sounded like she was pouring water out onto the floor. And that's when he smelled it. Gasoline. She was going to burn the place down.

"Bella," Edward pulled her away from him to look at her, "we need to get out of here fast." He didn't want to alarm her, he knew it wouldn't take much to push her over the edge. She nodded her head quickly and shuddered, and took a deep breath, wincing as she did. He slowly and carefully helped her up, and over to the wall. "There is a window behind this wall, we need to get through it to get out."

"But she will hear us when we.." Bella didn't get to finish her sentence before a whoosing sound, followed by sound of shattering glass above them interrupted. He could feel heat starting to emanate from the floor above them. Victoria had already started the fire. Edward didn't wait any longer, and immediately started kicking and punching holes in the wall, knowing they had little time before the fire spread down to them. He realized he wasn't getting through as fast as he wanted, when suddenly at head level, a large blade stabbed into the wall. Bella had gotten the knife that was still coated in her own dried blood, and was doing her best to saw through the wall. Edward grabbed it and worked it through, cutting a slice all the way down. After that, he was much more successful in breaking through, and actually smiled when he saw the light from the front porch reflecting down through the window. Only, the window was a lot smaller than he remembered. It might be large enough for Bella, but definitely not for him. He froze for a moment, thinking about what this meant, when the sound of something crashing to the floor upstairs brought him back to reality.