The Guadeloupe Squadeloupe

Chapter XXXXIII: Perry

"I really feel the love," Janis agrees bitterly.

But no matter what lengths they took to get us here, it still wouldn't have happened without Ashton leaving those tickets for us.

"It isn't only HEXA that's responsible," I say, turning to my right where I know Ashton is sitting next to me. "Ashton, you lead us here."

An inhale as Ashton sucks in his breath. He sounds as though he's expected this. "They made me do it."

My sister's breath hitches.

"They forced me to get those papers for you, to arrange all those cars for you, to get the baseball tickets so you'd get here," he explains. Since I can't see his face, it's hard to tell if he's even telling the truth. But I tune my ears to his voice.

"How are we supposed to believe you?" defies Janis.

"Do you think I'd be here, bound up with you if I was lying?" demands Ashton furiously. "Do you think I'd have this scar on my face? I sacrificed absolutely everything to work with your father. Anything it took to keep my cover. I've spent years playing the sides. PHIE, your father, and I have saved countless lives in the ways we've delayed HEXA."

As he speaks his tirade, gears click in my head about something he said a minute or so ago.

"What do you mean they played you to get us here?" I ask.

Ashton's seething anger is directed at me now. "I told you, I was forced to do all those things once I blew my cover. I-"

"No no-" Ashton's much older than me, like 13 years, so in interrupting him I surprise myself:

"What do you mean they did all this to you to get us here?"

Although I can't see him, I can tell Ashton's confused. "Haven't you figured it out yet? Deglato's been baiting you back into the United States this whole time."

His next words strike me: "You haven't been escaping, he's been leading you by the hand."

Click!

A series of dim lights flick on and our holding is filled with what feels like endless light.

In reality, it's all very dim, but enough to reveal the faces of my friends and Ashton. We were right, to my dismay. Bob is gone.

The room is even larger than I thought. In fact, it seems dishonest to call it a room at all. Although I've never been, it reminds me of pictures I've seen of Grand Central Station. The ceiling boasts a startling height and the floor seems to spread on for ages.

The light allows me to see old car parts and ruined machines hastily shoved against the wall. It doesn't take me long to realize we're in a warehouse. It also doesn't take me long to realize this can't be a normal warehouse.

The light also allows me to see things that are much more important than the room I'm in, or the broken parts around it.

Less than 50 yards away stands Jose Delgato, several syringes poking out of a pocket in his lab coat. His hair is slicked back and his mustache trimmed to perfection. He is so easy to despise.

But even more important than him are the two chairs in front of him and the people they contain.

Bound just as we are: my mother and Angelina Fisher.

"Mom!" I scream on impulse. She blinks and yawns, as if just waking up. No wonder neither of them heard us talking before.

Next to Alice, at the end of our row, Diana just stares at them, as if not quite believing it. "Mom," she mutters. "Angelina."