The Pyramid Chronicles: Tyche Point (#1)

Chapter Thirty-Five: Last Chance

The combination of mask, hoodie, and sunglasses was unpleasant in the afternoon sun. Raveena did her best to ignore the heat, along with the branches poking her. Maybe she wasn't a fighter, but she'd learned valuable information the night before.

There were still things they didn't know, like how exactly Scorpion planned to get the fragment when it was allegedly stuck in the ground. Raveena hoped she could figure it out before they began their attack.

Which, apparently, was happening now.

Raveena had originally been planning to sneak back into the vents she'd used last night, but as she'd passed by Star City, the side door opened. In a panic, she'd jumped into the closest hiding spot she could find: a bush.

One by one, kids in Scorpion jackets filed out of the arcade, followed by soldiers. Raveena's heart sank. Ten altered, five soldiers. She recognized most of the kids, though some of their names had slipped her mind.

And, of course, there was Ash. Leading the way. "Come on!" he shouted. "Cars are waiting for us in the lot at the end of the street!"

Raveena dug her nails into the dirt beneath her.

Why had Scorpion decided to attack so much sooner? She had no way of warning the others. She could only hope they'd left with enough of a head start to get to the fragment before Scorpion arrived.

Even after the voices of Scorpion's altered had faded, it took a few minutes for Raveena to dare to slip out of her hiding spot. She brushed stray leaves off her clothes as she straightened up. What was the most useful thing she could do right now?

There was a good chance that Claudia and the Director were still down under the arcade. Maybe she could get more information. Scorpion would still need to go down after all this, and if they were evacuating, she and the others were losing what could have been their best opportunity to attack.

Raveena returned to the entrance she'd used the night before and made her way back into the vents. This time, when she reached the room Claudia had been in, all that waited for her was dust. Everything had been cleared out.

They weren't planning on coming back.

Raveena slammed a fist against the grate. It shuddered, and a loose screw fell to the ground below. One more hit knocked it loose. It clattered against the concrete floor, and the sound echoed around the room.

She held her breath and waited, frozen, for a few long minutes. No one came to investigate. She dropped into the room, crossed to the door, and quietly entered a hallway. No guards. No altered. Was she wrong? Had Claudia and the Director left, too?

Raveena wandered the halls, flinching at every creak and groan. After a dozen twists and turns, and accidentally going in circles a couple of times, she found a door with a soft glow pouring out from under it. She pressed an ear to the door. No sound from the other side. Her hand drifted to the handle, and she slowly turned it. The door eased open.

A staircase waited on the other side. There was another sublevel? Raveena crept down the stairs and picked up the sound of Claudia's voice, coming from behind another door at the bottom. This door was slightly ajar. Raveena dropped into a crouch and pressed herself up against the wall so that she could peer through the opening.

The room on the other side was big enough to hold the twenty soldiers that stood motionless in two perfect rows. Claudia stood in front of them, giving orders. "—and once you reach the fragment, help the first team guard it until the Director arrives."

A door at the other end of the room opened, and a girl stormed in. Raveena recognized her instantly: Wren Cartwright.

"Why does the Director need so many blood samples from me?" Wren demanded. "I'm sick of it."