"Oh my God! How did you do that?"
Seraphina was a professional cheerleader herself, and she was already more flexible than most people, yet she still couldn't understand how Lia had managed it.
Was that even humanly possible?!
She hadn't even dislocated her joints!
The rope around her wrists was tight, secured with a dead knot. Lia had loosened it bit by bit with her teeth, barely creating enough room to move.
Seraphina had no idea what Lia had done, but the joints in her hands seemed to contract on their own. Her hands visibly narrowed, and she finally slipped free of her bonds.
Only then did Lia give her a sheepish smile.
"I'm nowhere near as athletic as you. Over the years, the only exercise I've kept up with is yoga."
Lia untied the rest of her bonds as quickly as she could, then immediately went to help Seraphina with hers.
It took some effort, but both girls could finally move freely.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Seraphina rubbed the red marks on her wrists. When her fingers touched the conch-shell bracelet hidden beneath her sleeve, she paused involuntarily.
Lia noticed the movement and naturally spotted the conch-shell bracelet too. She sounded a little surprised. "Is that the one Miaomiao made? You're actually wearing it."
"I'm just being polite."
Seraphina stubbornly refused to admit anything more.
Perhaps because her sleeve had concealed it, or perhaps because it simply didn't look like valuable jewelry, the kidnappers hadn't taken the bracelet. Lia's shell bracelet was still safely on her wrist too.
Clearly, though, this wasn't a good time to discuss bracelets.
As they spoke, Seraphina had already scanned the entire warehouse.
It was a small storage warehouse, with rusty shelving clustered along one side. Some shelves still held dust-covered ingredients for