The sound of water dripping eventually wakes me. When I struggle to open my eyes, the first thing I see is a heavy, rusty pipe leaking from the ceiling. Barefoot, my feet feel icy, and I'm still wearing my pajamas for bed from before. I'm captured. A squeal escapes my throat as I absorb the situation. The cement, muscular walls around me are solid enough to be impassable. A blast from my fingers will indeed not send them crumbling down. I'm able to stand up, luckily not in chains or shackles.
The door outside my cell slams open and then closes with a louder thump. Boots pound against the cement floor and float in my direction. His shadow from the small candles enlarges when he approaches. It's a boy, pressing his face against the bars of the gate that separate us.
"I see you're awake." His age surprises me. I think he's only fourteen, although I shouldn't underestimate warriors who are children. Still, he has a perfect look for an innocent teenager: black hair, perfect teeth, stylish, and somehow charming with his villainous smile.
"Who are you?" I ask.
"Don't worry about me," the boy sneers. "The Covenant Leader is very interested in meeting you."
"Why would he want to meet me?"
"Don't be scared of him," the boy assures me. "If Kor wanted you dead, you wouldn't be alive right now. He wants to ask you a few questions about your father. Noah Devlin. He was the last one to see the Orichalcum. Care to explain where he is?"
The question sets me aback. Jace was correct this entire time. My dad's kidnappers are not the Cluster.
"You're not going to talk," he realizes. "That's okay. We were expecting this. I'll take you to see Kor in a few minutes." His back turns to face me as he proceeds to leave the dungeons. "Oh, one more thing," he adds as an afterthought. "Make sure you don't lie to him. He doesn't like that." The door slams shut behind him, and I'm left alone.
My haunting thoughts start wandering towards my dad's guilt of stealing the Orichalcum. I'm beginning to believe it now. There can be a million reasons why he did it, and none of them don't necessarily need to be taking over the universe. Still, that doesn't give others the right to kidnap, capture, and torture him for it. Regardless, I'm not involved.
I have an advantage here. As Palmer said, the Cluster isn't tuned in with A'Dimsyte's media. If they were, they would know I have no idea where my dad is. Although this creates another number of mysterious questions—like how they know about me— I quickly dismiss them. There must be a way out of here.
In the best-case scenario, they have no idea what my genetic abilities are. I did use them in front of one reptilian. The one who put the syringe in me. Maybe he's smart enough to tell the others what I'm capable of and makes sure everything in this room is immune to my powers. I don't know. I'm making too many assumptions here. I'm not carrying any weapons or gadgets. Only my molecular manipulation can get me out of this one. My freezing feet tiptoe to the cell door. I have a stupid moment trying to jerk it open. It's fragile, but the blast aftershock will be shrill enough to send every Cluster member coming my way. And the boy is going to come back any second. It's now or never.
I use two blasts to get the job done. The first blast is loud and snaps the locks off. I pause to make sure no one overhears. Cautiously but quickly, my hands gradually flick again. The explosion hurls the concrete, and rubble piles up in the cell. Through the dust, I see a gap large enough to escape through. I'm free.
I start moving. The dungeons are dark, with countless occupied cells. Everyone rushes to the bars and watches me closely. They're gasping, making a commotion while pointing fingers at me. Children included are poignant without a single hint of joy behind their eyes. Are these other prisoners? All sorts of species, some I don't recognize, fit the role of a hostage because they look starving. You can see it in their bones, the filth on their tattered clothes. Jesus Christ. Where am I? This place is terrible...
"He's trying to escape!" a prisoner thunders. "He's doing it!" There's disbelief in his tone, so I don't think he's trying to rat me out. Unfortunately, he does.
Three reptilians slither toward me and don't intimidate me in the slightest. Adrenaline is pumping, and all I can think about is survival. I successfully obliterate the first reptilian but then slammed into the ground by a second and third. They growl and screech at me, and I'm screaming back! One of my punches knocks the golden fangs out of the lizard's head. I kick the other with my barefoot, but he clutches onto my ankle. I scream and blast him with incredible energy. After he explodes and dies, I pick myself up, back to my feet, and gaze at the last remaining reptilian with bright dislike. He pulls out a homemade knife-like weapon. I blast it out of his claws, and the shiv slides across the floor. In the same breath, my fingers flick again, and the reptilian explodes into pathetic ashes.
I shouldn't have done that. The weapons belt obliterates with him. Even if it's only a tiny amount of extra protection, the only weapon I can use now is the shiv the reptilian used before. I grasp it and make a run for it.
"Everybody, get back!" I cry. Shiv in mouth, I—with deep knowledge knowing this will haunt me later— consecutively destroy the cell doors, two at a time, as I sprint by them. I can't live with myself, leaving the hostages behind. I don't look back to see if the prisoners make it out okay. Some are celebrating, while a vast majority are ready to riot. Whatever they're planning to do, I don't have time for. I have my own life to worry about.
To the east of me, there's a torture chamber where I thankfully don't hear anything gruesome. There's storage near the south and a mausoleum to the west—no sight of stairs to the next floor or any sign of freedom. In the end, the prisoners help me escape. A handful of them burst through a hidden, locked door with their combined strength. Stairs spiral upward on the other side. We run up them together.
"This way!" someone, leading the pack, cries. It's an innovative idea to follow them. The fortress is enormous. I've never seen so many rooms and doors that lead to countless passageways and other corridors. Being a captive here has its advantages. They know the outlines of their prison.
A swarm of zusks and reptilians flood the dungeons. One prisoner dies right before my eyes when his head rips off by one of the spiders. Unstartled, I lunge forward, explode the zusk, and marvelously perform a combo attack with my shiv, slicing open a reptilian's neck nearby and letting his black blood soak me. Wine barrels are busting open from all the madness. It's slippery, and I lose my footing sometimes. More prisoners die around me, yet I'm still breathing—the only one killing enemies. But I don't kill them fast enough before they brutally massacre my allies.
In fact, I'm just about to kill the last one when a comical "ahem!" catches my ear. For a second, I think it's a prisoner, but then I recognize the boy—the one who threatened me in my cell downstairs—somersaults in midair. When it's too late to dodge, he nails a front handspring, just landing a foot in front of me, and soccer punches me in the face. Just when I blast him, he launches up in the air, backward and over the dead bodies, landing poised on the wine barrels. But thanks to my overshot blast, the barrel explodes, and he falls. He gives a sharp growl as his hands curl into fists and conjure fire! Like a firebender, he manipulates the bright yellow flames, changing their shape, letting them grow into a horrible wildfire.
My feet instantly slip on the wine. I land headfirst as the fire lingers me. The flames are hesitant and not ready to kill me yet. No doubt the younger boy is a better fighter than me, but his fighting style is entirely different than mine. How wily is he to have such incredible flexibility and have the capability to perform everything Nightfire is trying to teach me at such a young age? The idea frustrates me.
Well, hurray for the fourteen-year-old for being talented. But what am I supposed to do now? I can't make a run for it without burning. As for trying to blast him, that's more laughable than ever.
"You know what we do with prisoners who try to escape?" the boy asks rhetorically, and the fire mercifully disappears.
Two more giant lizards enter the cellar. This time more prepared for me. One of them holds a pair of unique cuffs with plasma, spherical shields over the shackles.
"Prince Maxwell," the reptilian calls the boy. "Kor doesn't want us to kill him."
"I know that," he mutters disapprovingly.
"Then what shall we do with him?"
Maxwell thinks about it for a second. "Send him to the Russians," he commands. "I want him to wish he will be dead. I trust you'll handle him while I make arrangements with Kor."
After Maxwell dismisses himself, the reptilians restrain me, and it's immediately evident there's no way to blast out of these cuffs. Spheres made from plasma force my hands into fists, and I can't release them. Soon, it's not the two reptilians anymore carrying me through the halls. Several of them surround me. Mean and nasty. They are slithering behind me like they're ready to throw me into a pot for dinner. They haul me to a part of the castle where all the reptilians and zusks socialize, get drunk, and smash glass bottles. These monsters are too busy brawling with each other to pay any attention to me. I was expecting this place to be regal and formal based on the castle's architect. Someway the behavior completely offsets the environment, and I think some regions have gradually, over time, turned into indoor warzones.
It makes sense why it was easy to escape the cells. No one is stupid enough to break out and enter a more torturous area. The prisoners must have thought I was logical to hope. I would have been if it weren't for Maxwell. Nonetheless, these cowards aren't carrying outrageous weapons to protect themselves. Easy to fend off now that Maxwell's gone. I could kill them—every single one of them—if I had my hands free.
I think we have arrived at our destination. Dozens of Cluster members roar at our entrance in the next room. The entire setup is downright terrifying. A table sits in the center. Two chairs nailed into the floor sit on either side. I see chains and straps to prevent anyone from escaping. Two pistols mount and point at each other, and I immediately realize it's a game of Russian Roulette set up for two hostages. The game where you put one bullet in each gun chamber, spin the cylinder and then pull the trigger one at a time to see who will die.
"No, no, no!" I try to wiggle my way free, but the reptilians push me vigorously.
The crowd is drunk and careless. Someone pours beer on me and boos right in my ear. They sit me down in the chair and chain me. With this amount of buckles and locks, it would take an hour for one person to complete my confinement. But with five reptilians assisting, four arms each, they strap me in a matter of seconds.
They unshackle my right hand and force it into a rubber glove. One of the lizards takes a drill and screws a fat nail through my palm without flinching. I screech in agony. My hand becomes one with the mounted gun, one with the pipe, and the game of Russian Roulette becomes inescapable.
"All right then!" One of the reptilians shouts excitedly into a microphone, like a dinosaur full of energy, and the crowd roars. "Bring out our next contestant! Introducing a very rare inhuman, indeed! She's all the way from the A'Dimsyte galaxy. You only know her as Ryan Chandler's sister—"
I jerk upright and try to find her amongst the chaos. "Oh, my God!" Excruciating pain shoots through my right hand when I move. It's impossible to see her behind the crowd, but all attention is drawn to her.
"Give it up for Lily Chandler!" the host announces.
I witness someone pour beer on her. If I miraculously find a way out of this one, he's going to be the first one I savagely kill. He's the fattest one out of everyone. Huge, slimy, and gurgling. I take note of that.
The Cluster spread out to make a clear path. I see her clear as day now. Her head is bloody and unresponsive. Her eyes are closed, and they shake her around like a ragdoll. She's more defenseless than a baby caterpillar in a nest of hungry ants.
"LILY!" I scream at the top of my lungs, but the crowd overpowers me. "Nooo!"
Lily plumps into the chair, and I'm crying at her condition. Her lack of response is a struggle. It takes an anxious time for them to place her hand up the rubber glove.
"Lily! Lily!" I beg. "Open your eyes!"
The moment her hand is drilled onto the gun, the shock of pain wakes her momentarily. She lifts her head, falling in and out of consciousness. My vocal cords are tearing as I'm screaming my head off, not sure who I'm even pleading to.
Nobody responds to me. The host with the microphone wilds up the audience. "Everyone, place your bets! Come on! We have fresh meat here! I wanna see some roubles passed around!" Like tiny rocks, these gems appear more expensive than diamonds. They are green, blue, but most of them are red like rubies. One brags he has the biggest rouble out of everyone. "Bets are over!" the fat reptilian declares. I hear them shouting predictions. Someone cusses at me and promises I'm not going to shoot "the girl."
When I see the cylinder spin, putting the bullet in a random position, I take in a deep breath and prepare for the worst. I hear the gun cock a magnificent ticking noise. The host leans over the table. Some of the scales on his skin have black boils leaking out, and the smell is potent. "Now," the fat reptilian mutters to us. "On my count, I want each of you to pull the trigger. If you fail to pull the trigger on my count, I will add two more bullets to your gun. Thus, giving you a total of three bullets each." He laughs amusingly. "Do you see where I'm going with this?"
If Lily doesn't respond to her trauma, they might kill her. I can't let that happen!
"Looks like your little lady doesn't want to play," the host notices. "Maybe I should encourage her."
"Don't you touch her!" I wriggle in my seat as hard as I can, not caring how much my hand hurts.
"Wake up, sweetie!" the host says to her. A black, slimy tongue sticks out of his mouth and licks her across the cheek. It's wet, drooling, and makes me want to throw up. It's enough to send me over the edge, and I'm stunned our Russian Roulette game doesn't have a chance to start.
I've only been able to blast something without using my hands a few times before. The time when I broke the picture frame of Danny and me, then at Katherine's party, and of course, just last week, in the training room, when everyone was against me about Joffrey. Kendall says I can control this flawlessly one day if I keep practicing. But to see a disgusting creature purposely lick Lily like that, it's effortless to gather enough rage to blast the table in front of us. If I hadn't done it now, there was going to be no hope.
Everybody gasps in unison as the table busts into two. My right hand is free. The host stares at the incident incredulously and doesn't have enough time to pull out his pistol. His chubby face smashes into the ground with this excellent pipe I have nailed into my hand.
My focus turns to the chair I'm restrained in. A spontaneous blast happens. The ground erupts underneath my feet. The handcuffs, the legs of the chair—everything—break off, and the chains slide down my body. I'm completely free. Without hesitating, I snatch the pistol from the host's holster and shoot him in the head to make sure he's dead. In the same breath, I keep my promise and annihilate the same, big-boned reptilian who poured beer on Lily earlier.
This chain of events for freedom takes less time than it does for the crowd to draw out their weapons. One just tries to stop me with eight legs. I blow it up without mercy, and there's a comment about how it doesn't multiply. I order the Cluster to sit down and dash for Lily's rescue. Everybody staggers back, unsure how to size up the situation. It's mayhem! I'm a madman blasting her chair, blasting the pole nailed into her hand, and firing anyone else who tries to stop me.
"This guy is hardcore!" someone comments.
"Shut the hell up!" I snarl, threatening to shoot.
I free Lily, but she still has the pipe nailed into her hand. "I got you," I whisper to her. It's excruciating to pick her up from the ground and carry her. My hands are ringing with pain, but I'm capable of extending my arm over her to use my pistol. As light as she is, she's delicate as a sleeping baby, and I carry her to the exit.
"Somebody, stop him—" I shoot a bullet right through a reptilian's head, and those were his last words.
Unexpectedly, relief sweeps across the crowd. They all step away from me. As if they're relying on someone else to kill me. I'm uncertain what kind of presence enters the room, assuring their safety.
"Prince Maxwell!" someone cries.
Everyone kneels and makes a clear pathway for him. The fourteen-year-old boy strides across the room with an upright posture and neutral expression. I point my gun at him, not shooting because I'm not experienced enough to fight him. It's best to save my ammo, too. There's no time to check to see how many silver bullets are left. Maybe I have one shot—or none. The answer will come the moment it happens.
Maxwell doesn't put himself in a fighting stance or fazed at all by my gun. "Weakling, you better have a spacecraft. Because we're coming to get you." The threat is promising.
"Shove it!" I scream.
"Put," Maxwell says, "the girl down—"
"Shut up and let us go!" But nobody moves. "Get back!"
Maxwell shakes his head. "You can't kill us all."
"You'll still be dead."
Maxwell's laugh is more mocking than any bully I've ever encountered. "You and I both know you're not killing me tonight."
My poker face slips. Without a weapon, Maxwell is still the most powerful one in the room. I lower my gun, belatedly realizing another someone—a human—bursts into the room and starts shooting up the place with a machine gun. I look past Maxwell, jaw dropped. Maxwell dodges every single incoming bullet. He flips into the air and lands untouched at the other side of the room, unharmed.
I look at the intruder with wide eyes. "JT—"
"Get down!" JT orders.
I duck. A huge zusk behind me multiples into a dozen more. They race toward me. Brindled, massive, angry, and determined, with multiple black spots and hairy legs crawling in quick movements. Maxwell is nowhere in sight. I don't think he's in the room anymore.
While JT successfully fends off the Cluster—using telekinesis, his shotgun, and hand to hand combat—I carry Lily to safety. Her head rests peacefully on my shoulder, and I don't dare to drop her.
I throw myself against the door, grunting as my shoulder pounds through the metal, and find myself in a room with zero furniture. There's no cover. I'm going to have to find another place to evade. Actually, I find another corridor when a movement catches my eyes. Several hundred yards down. A woman leaves the room precisely when I enter, so I don't see her face. I make out she's middle-aged. Is it Kendall? One of Kor's daughters Palmer had mentioned? Maybe JT asked a partner to come along? Then I recognize her messy dark hair, familiar physique and realize it's none of the above. Isabelle! That's impossible. However, something that Kendall said about her working with the Cluster puts me under stress.
The arrival of another reptilian pushes the alarm out of my head. I almost drop Lily but then readjust myself to use my arm. She groans JT's name first and then mine. She's waking up! I fumble to set her down on the floor. She can stand, but she's on her knees for the moment. "Sag, they're coming!"
JT fights them off for me. He's not using firearms anymore, a sure sign he's out of ammo. He resorts to telekinesis, slicing up the reptilian's face with a floating dagger. Three more are already chasing toward us. JT's invisible force pushes back one. The others charge for the door, but JT swings it shut with a skillful arm movement. There's an explosive shriek of grinding rust and banging metal. Just as he locks the door with a flick of his wrist, two heavy bodies thud against it. We're safe, but not for long.
JT dashes into the dark space and shakes Lily by the shoulders. "You went on without me?" he cries. "What were you thinking?"
"I couldn't wait any longer!" Lily responds. "I didn't trust your pacing."
"You can't do this without me!"
"I don't care!" Lily protests and that's enough for JT to sigh with relief and hug her tightly.
I crane my neck to see if Lily's okay. A cut is on her head, but it heals promptly. Cells on her skin reform and work together to cover the wound, as if not injured at all. The nail in her hand is gone. This is the first time I have seen Lily's genetic abilities in action. To see a healer regenerate and reform back to her usual self. This makes me believe she could have done this alone.
"JT, help Sag's hand," Lily begs. "Please."
He uncheerfully examines it. If he hadn't been so tired, I think he would have argued with her. He takes my right wrist and tenses his face up. The nail, on its own like magic, punctures deeper into my hand and then out the other end unforgivably. I watch it fall to the ground.
The Cluster hurls themselves against the door repeatedly, muffled thuds, but it holds. Admittedly, I'm relying on JT to get us out of here, but he's the most terrified out of all of us, lost as can be.
"Even if we do reach a warp gate, the Cluster is still going to be all over us!" he says.
The odds of escaping this planet are slim to none. A warp gate doesn't travel far enough to reach other galaxies, and using a spacecraft is out of the question. Traditionally, the Cluster faces its victims on planets that aren't their stronghold. The times when warriors have brawled on the Cluster's home planet—this is how Jonathan died—are usually the showdowns that inevitably become their demise. It's a disadvantage to fight on the Cluster's territory, even though it's the only way to defeat them.
Somehow JT and Lily arrived undetected. I'm not sure what they went through to rescue me, but we can't go back to how they came. Even if we do somehow find a spacecraft or even a warp gate, there's no way to depart without detection.
Besides, I'm distracted by my latest interaction with Isabelle. My thoughts battle rapidly back and forth. I must remind myself she's working with the Exchurch and on A'Dimsyte's good side. Or is she? It takes me a second to understand something is amiss. Could she be living here and assisting Kor and Prince Maxwell? Frankie must know about this. He's way too bright not to recognize this kind of activity behind his back. It just makes sense. The idea frightens me. But there could be a hundred other explanations. She could be on a suicidal assignment or coerced into being here. I'm too lost in my thoughts to explain the situation to Lily and JT.
"Let's go, guys!" JT leads.
My proximity from Isabelle sharpens my senses, and I pick my way gingerly to the edge of the room. "Guys, wait. This way," I say.
"Sag, come on!" JT hollers. "We're not going that way."
I know it's dangerous to leave them behind momentarily, but I can't help myself. I'll catch up with them later. I don't see anyone but listen to the urgent whispers from the corridor, my fingers already prepared for a blast. She doesn't have to be in plain sight for me to recognize her voice. I peer down the hallway and see the candles illuminate their faces.
"I couldn't find him! There are too many places he can be!" It's Isabelle, strolling with a man whose sight makes me collapse. She's talking to Maxwell.
Thank goodness, I grab the wall for stability just in time, so my impact is noiseless. My feet desperately run in place as I try to regain my balance.
"I don't think he's here," she says to Maxwell. "It doesn't matter. We found a lead we've been looking for, and we're going to follow it!"
Somehow, I think the he they're referring to is me. I'm the one who just massacred over a dozen of their allies. I'm confirming what Kendall had already suspected. Frankie and Isabelle are working for the Cluster. Where is Frankie anyway? Is he doing a mission at the tournament and too busy to make an appearance? Whatever he's doing, he's not out of the loop.
What's more, Isabelle can disembark and escape this dangerous place without harm. She can't stay too long if she doesn't want everyone to know she's collaborating with the enemy. She must know this. And she might be our miraculous way of getting out of here. I better stay put and figure out what they're up to. They don't know I'm here. How can they? I'm hiding in the shadows, at least while the candles stay dim.
Maxwell and Isabelle's entire meeting is extremely villainous. Creepy that a fourteen-year-old can out intimidate a grown woman. I can tell by their comments the lead that they've found is the Orichalcum's location. That doesn't matter to me now. Still no mention of Isabelle's escape route. Then she frantically talks about how much time they have left before she needs to head back to the cryogenics chamber, and I'm about to leave hopelessly, thinking there's no way out until she mentions it.
The cryogenics chamber! Yes! That's our way out! I almost smack myself for not figuring that out before. It's how Abigail and the Seekers abducted me on Earth. The Cluster won't be able to follow us either. Once we close those coffin doors on ourselves, our bodies will evaporate inside and appear frozen in the coordinates we set. It's up to someone else on the other side to release us, or else we will be incased forever. It's not precarious if JT can convince someone to transfer us back to Seeker Headquarters safely. The method is risk-free because the coordinates aren't saved on the computer. It must be typed in manually, memorized, and Nightfire changes its code constantly.
"I must say. Planting that biochip on Devlin was highly creative of you," says the boy. "But it doesn't make up for your stupidity not planting one on Noah."
"I didn't plant it," says Isabelle. "Frankie did. I gave him an extra push. You would have never found Sag if it weren't for me. I already told you he didn't have a clue where his father was. You didn't listen and wasted your time. Your comrades have been slaughtered for nothing."
"Don't gloat," Maxwell says threateningly. "Besides, I wanted to see that wimp get slaughtered by Kor."
"Sag has been a wild cannon," agrees Isabelle. "He might be the real opponent here. I think it's best we kill him, too. We have no further use for him."
"I still have good reasons to doubt your loyalty to me," Maxwell reminds her. "Besides, if this lead turns out to be legitimate, we will also find Noah Devlin."
"I'll have Frankie hand the Orichalcum over to us, then," says Isabelle.
"Guess we better get going."
My bones and muscles seem to have transformed into fragile ice. If I dare to move, I'll shatter. Sweat is dripping down my face as I blackout against the wall. What does that mean that Frankie will hand the Orichalcum over? I can't avoid the inescapable truth as the dots connect automatically in my mind.
If finding the Orichalcum means finding my dad, then surely Frankie must know soon where my dad is. Dauntingly so, the Cluster used the biochip Frankie had planted in me to track me. That Jace's plan was a complete failure, and the ones who made contact were not my father's kidnappers. They were villains wanting his location, eager as I am. It also explains why the zusks attacked our Search and Destroy mission. They were after me. Isabelle and Frankie have wanted my exact location for varied reasons. Those terrifying reasons don't matter anymore. Now, as Isabelle previously said, I'm useless to them. They will officially kill me on sight.
My body comes to shatter after I turn in place and come face to face with JT. His presence, alone, blacks me out momentarily. He scared the living daylights out of me. I hadn't realized he'd been standing there, and I don't know for how long. Did he just witness what I did? I'm not sure, but he knows they're there. He puts a finger on his lips, forcing me to be soundless, and doesn't say a word.
As Maxwell and Isabelle leave the corridor, my heart pounds in my chest. We mean to sneak away inaudibly, but exhilaration causes our boots to squeal against the floors as JT and I make a mad dash toward the opposite direction. One of them must have heard us, but I don't sense anyone pursuing. Fortunately, Lily isn't extremely far. We're able to find her in a matter of minutes.
"Guys?" Lily screeches, and then she bursts with relief once I come running for her. "Sag! Where were you? We thought you were in trouble! Listen, we found a way out!"
I'm desperate to express everything on my mind as fast as I can. Lily tries to calm me down, but I can't help my adrenaline. "Isabelle!" I blurt out the name before I can stop myself. "She's here! I saw her talking to Maxwell! She's working with Frankie too!"
"I don't think Frankie is involved," says JT roughly, but the incredulous behind his eyes are ripping him apart. "This doesn't make any sense. Why would the Exchurch be working with the Cluster?"
"You saw the Exchurch?" Lily gasps, horrified.
"Isabelle Mauve. She's the president," JT corrects. "But we didn't see Frankie here. Besides, the Owens are not the kind of family to be teaming up with the enemy. I don't think he's involved with this."
"Listen to me!" I screech, and then I lose it. "Frankie knows where my dad is! They found a lead, and—" Sickened and terrified, I force myself to straighten up. I can't think straight. The image of Frankie working with the Cluster consumes me. I can hardly explain anything to JT and Lily after what I just witnessed. I must be strong. I owe it to my dad, who must be surviving on a thread. I owe it to the universe, too, who encourages by Nightfire's example and might be joining forces to take down the Cluster. We must find a way out of here. So I grit my teeth and will myself to explain the situation.
"I think they're heading towards the cryogenics," I say. "We can use them—"
I seem to have lost them after I mention the Orichalcum. I don't think there has ever been a lead finding it. Not since my dad has been around. They know I'm telling the truth, too. It wasn't something I mistakenly heard.
Isabelle's words, I'll have Frankie hand the Orichalcum over to us, echo in my head like a broken record player. I sob to Lily and demand an explanation, but she's just as perplexed as I am.
"We're taking the cryogenics home. Now!" JT promises, and somehow, I match his determination to return to Prescyla and tell everyone this breaking news. If we die at the Cluster's Stronghold tonight, the universe will unlikely be warned in time.
"There's cryogenics a few miles south from here," JT swears, and optimism glows behind his eyes. "All we have to do is find a warp gate, leave this place, and I can call one of the Seekers to transfer us. This can work! Come on!"
I receive a chill down my spine. JT seems to know this planet too well. Huh. Something about his battle plan—his knowledge holds reaching the Cluster Stronghold, where they annihilate any incoming trespassers over one-hundred million miles away, how he knows this castle inside and out as if he lived here at one point—it sounds like JT has baggage I don't know about yet. However, I confirm he was one of the two who has ever faced Kor and lived.
"Hurry! Through here!" JT kicks the door open, pushes us through, and, following, slams it shut.
We don't stop heading onward until we reach the warp gate. I collapse against the side of it with relief. The familiar sharp and calm wind fills the center of the warp gate, spiraling to take form. I've only stepped through a warp gate one time in my life, and that's when Abigail let me go. JT powers it on. A silvery cloud swallows him in, blurring the color of his bronze, gelled hair as he vanishes with a faint shimmer. I step in next, not used to this stomach-dropping feeling except when riding roller coasters. My eyes close in hopes the rushing will stop, and I open them again.
I can sense the emergence of danger someone traveling with me as I tumble through space. Fortunately, my pursuer doesn't land near us. We ground outside as the lightning strikes the sky, and I'm instantly soaked in the rain. My pristine environment is an abandoned construction site, where the platform for the warp gate floods. Tractors and fifty-foot-tall stacking planks tower over me. Before I stand to my feet, Maxwell screeches in my face, filling the stormy night with a predatory cry.
JT lurches forward, but he slams Maxwell into me, hurtling us both off the platform and into the slippery mud. My feet skid on the compost toward Maxwell, who yelps as he dives aside. I hear Lily shout something, but her words are torn away by the noise of fighting, rain, and wind. Maxwell pins JT into the mud. A Nightfire warrior evenly matches against this prince. He flips JT over like a pancake, and they make eye contact. "You!" Maxwell gasps.
"Missed me?" JT grabs free of his arm and punches upright underneath Maxwell's chin. A point scores for Nightfire. The fire Maxwell tries to conjure doesn't hold long in the rain. He's vulnerable, and JT finds time to mock his enemy by telling him he should know by now that water puts out a fire. This puts Maxwell in a rage, and his fighting becomes more aggressive. Where the hell is Lily?
On cue, a hovercar hovers our way, flying unsafe and out of control. The fragile side knocks into one of the towering cranes. Lily, the pilot, lowers rapidly but regains balance again. Finally, it's low enough for us to get in. I see a dead reptilian sprawled out with its neck sliced open. It's apparent she killed for this hovercar, catching someone off guard before takeoff.
The horn beeps, distracting JT from the fight. He's knocked down into the mud, and Maxwell punches him in the head repeatedly until his face breaks.
"Stop!" I flick my fingers, and Maxwell is quick enough to dodge my explosion.
JT shakes it off, wiping the blood off his face. Once he sees the hovercar, he sprints for it, grasping his backpack along the way. He's unbothered by the dead body in the front seat and yanks it out and fastens his seatbelt. And already, an argument between him and Lily breaks about leaving me behind.
I dart to the hovercar, knowing Maxwell is chasing after me. Once I throw myself into the backseat, it shoots off into the raining sky. I almost fall out but grab onto one of the seats for dear life. As we're rising, I'll never forget the look on Maxwell's face as he watches our escape. He's smiling.
If I'm infected with any kind of disease during that encounter, I don't feel sick. At least not yet. When zusks invaded the amphitheater, they put the entire facility under quarantine. When we get back, unharmed, I'm prepared for the worst and whatever they do to us.
The storm gives us turbulence. I can see out the window. The castle is like an oil factory where brown mist tickles the air gradually. When Lily steers the hovercar a hard left, JT whoops shrieks of relief. We survived the Cluster!
I press my head against the back of the passenger's seat and become suddenly exhausted. I stare at Lily, who shoots the hovercar forward, violently wobbling, jerking my head side to side with aggressive force. She's not a good driver. Still, seeing her flying the hovercar for safety makes me smile.
"What?" she breathes, sensing I'm staring at her.
"Nothing," I gasp. "You're just really cool."
JT turns his head back and glares at me. "Seriously, dude?" he says.
I can't say compliments to Lily without JT around. "How do you know this planet so well?" I ask him.
A look of shame dwindles behind JT's eyes. He turns back around and rummages through his backpack. Finally, after finding the pager he's going to use to alert the Seekers, he says to me after faltering silence, "None of your business."