Keeper of the Lost Cities: The Second Moonlark (a KOTLC/MLB crossover)

Chapter Thirty-Two: Marinette

"Quiet," Linh whispered. "They might hear us."

"Gee, this reminds me of the Nightfall Keefe's mom made," Biana whispered. "It's all dark, abandoned, and creepy."

"At least we're not dealing with gorgodons or having to wear Everblaze ash," Sophie said. "That stuff was disgusting."

"You can say that again," Marella agreed.

But Marinette couldn't help but gasp as she peered around a corner, noticing the glass wall.

It wasn't pretty.

Alya was bound to a chair, gagged and blindfolded, her glasses having been struck against a wall and broken into several pieces. Her phone had been confiscated, and Lady Gisela was going through it. Fintan and some other Neverseen member were trying to keep down the thrashing Alya, and Marinette could see burns on Alya's forehead and arms. Her clothes were torn, her hair was ragged...

And Hawkmoth was holding a familiar orange necklace.

"We'll save it for the time being," he said, dropping it into a small crystal chest.

Marinette took every ounce of energy to keep from screaming, but she felt her legs go weak as she fell to the ground.

"Oh darn," Fitz said. "How can she help us if she can't even watch?"

Sophie gave Fitz a hard and long glare before leaning down towards the trembling bluenette.

"I... I c-ca-can't d-d-d-do-d-do t-th-th-t-this..." Marinette stammered. "She-sh-she-she's in tr-tr-tr-tou-b-b-le a...a-a-a-and–"

"And we're going to get her away from the Neverseen," Sophie reassured. "I mean, Dex and I might have problems considering post-traumatic stress disorder attacks and all that but... you get it; we're gonna save Alya, we're gonna get her Miraculous back, and we're going to make sure that the Neverseen don't attack Paris ever again."

"But... but..."

But Marinette couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

Adrien looked pretty pale as well, his cat ears having stuck up the moment he looked through the glass.

"Hawkmoth's working with them," he said, shaking a little in his hands. "He... he's gonna do something for them... I can feel it."

Marinette wasn't sure why, but she suddenly felt scared for Sophie and Adrien.

She knew those two, being the moonlarks, would end up suffering some terrible fate if the Neverseen got a hold of them.

"Hey, breathe," Keefe said, sitting down next to her as well. "You're freezing the floor again."

Marinette peeked her large eyes from her knees to see a small layer of ice snaking to the glass wall.

"Hey, I think I've got an idea," she said, feeling her fingers tingle a little. "If I could just freeze the floor in there, maybe I could distract them. Then we can break in and then get Alya and the Miraculous."

"Sounds like an idea," Keefe said. "We just need to find an opening."

Slowly, Marinette and Keefe crawled to the bottom corner of the glass, noticing Fintan pressing his hands against Alya's arms, the gag having been taken off.

"For the last time, you're going to tell me all you know about the Black Swan," he said.

"I'm telling you," Alya gasped. "I... I don't know anything!"

"Liar," Fintan hissed, pressing his hand against Alya's cheek.

"No!" she cried. "Please... stop!"