practically ashes. “You’re not worried about losing all of this?” I ask.
“No,” Jennifer tells me. “We can rebuild it in a day or so, and we have a ready-made station set up somewhere else. If it were to get in the hands of one of our governments, it would be far more dangerous. Danger trumps inconvenience every time.”
“Got it.”
Once we’re done, they gather their things, while my siblings and I gather ours. Well, all except Abigail, of course. She’s been screeching and threatening us all the whole time. I don’t know what her cell is made of, but whatever it is, it’s somehow managed to still hold her after her assault on it.
Lauren hands out bags that almost look like backpacks, but are made of wet suit material. “Put your things in here.”
I do as I’m told, and am not totally shocked when it shrinks to the exact size of my pack, and seems to vacuum seal itself. At this point, I don’t think anything could surprise me.
“Where are you going? You can’t leave me,” Abigail yells as we prepare to do just that.
“You’ll be fine. Or you won’t. Not my problem,” Levi tells her.
Instead of leading us out the door we came in from, he leads us through another hidden door in the rocks. This one leads to a cave with a giant tide pool in it. The pool is swirling hard, but it’s the walls of the cave that have me and my siblings intrigued. There are amazingly detailed drawings that looks to be hundreds of years old.
“Those were made by the Aborigines,” Levi says, moving to stand next to Sabrina. If our lives weren’t at stake, I’d be giving them both crap about that, but I also think it’s kind of nice as well.
“We have to go,” Alejandra says suddenly.
“Yes,” Sabrina agrees. “I feel them coming.”
“I know this is going to sound crazy, but put your packs on and jump into the tide,” Jennifer tells us.
“What?” Not much scares me, but that swirling pool is a little terrifying.
“You’ll be fine,” Levi says as Lauren goes first, followed by Jennifer.
Hinton shrugs, and cannonballs, while Michaela simply jumps. Sabrina nods at me, and I jump next. I’m not sure who goes after me, because I’m concentrating on how fast I’m spinning around, and trying not to be sick. I close my eyes, and just go with it. I can breathe, and right now that’s all that matters.
I twirl around for what feels like hours, but is probably only minutes. When I’m finally free of the whirlpool, I float in the water for another few minutes trying to get my equilibrium back with my eyes still closed. I feel a tug on my hand, and open my eyes to find Alejandra pulling me down into the sand, which apparently hides an underwater door.
There’s a drain in the bottom of the room she takes me into, and high powered fans that dry us off. If anything could still surprise me right now, it would be this under ocean hideout.
“It’s crazy, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“You get used to it after a few months.”
“What if Clayton told Abigail about this place?”
“He’s never been here—we always knew he’d be the one to turn on us; we just didn’t know when.”
What? “If you knew, why didn’t you just kill him?”
“There’s always a small chance the ‘double’ will feel something other than hate for our kind. We had to give him that chance.”
“How can he hate us, when he’s one of us?”
“Levi will explain all to everyone. It’s better if you all hear it at once. I’m dry enough, are you?”
“Yeah.” I’m mostly dry, and I don’t want to wait to hear the rest of what’s going on. “Let’s go.”
She pushes a button, turning off the fans, which causes another door to open. We walk through, and I see this room is an almost exact replica of the room above ground that I helped destroy. I already knew they were serious, but seeing this is intense. I know I’m going to probably get even angrier about our situation after hearing the rest, but
“No,” Jennifer tells me. “We can rebuild it in a day or so, and we have a ready-made station set up somewhere else. If it were to get in the hands of one of our governments, it would be far more dangerous. Danger trumps inconvenience every time.”
“Got it.”
Once we’re done, they gather their things, while my siblings and I gather ours. Well, all except Abigail, of course. She’s been screeching and threatening us all the whole time. I don’t know what her cell is made of, but whatever it is, it’s somehow managed to still hold her after her assault on it.
Lauren hands out bags that almost look like backpacks, but are made of wet suit material. “Put your things in here.”
I do as I’m told, and am not totally shocked when it shrinks to the exact size of my pack, and seems to vacuum seal itself. At this point, I don’t think anything could surprise me.
“Where are you going? You can’t leave me,” Abigail yells as we prepare to do just that.
“You’ll be fine. Or you won’t. Not my problem,” Levi tells her.
Instead of leading us out the door we came in from, he leads us through another hidden door in the rocks. This one leads to a cave with a giant tide pool in it. The pool is swirling hard, but it’s the walls of the cave that have me and my siblings intrigued. There are amazingly detailed drawings that looks to be hundreds of years old.
“Those were made by the Aborigines,” Levi says, moving to stand next to Sabrina. If our lives weren’t at stake, I’d be giving them both crap about that, but I also think it’s kind of nice as well.
“We have to go,” Alejandra says suddenly.
“Yes,” Sabrina agrees. “I feel them coming.”
“I know this is going to sound crazy, but put your packs on and jump into the tide,” Jennifer tells us.
“What?” Not much scares me, but that swirling pool is a little terrifying.
“You’ll be fine,” Levi says as Lauren goes first, followed by Jennifer.
Hinton shrugs, and cannonballs, while Michaela simply jumps. Sabrina nods at me, and I jump next. I’m not sure who goes after me, because I’m concentrating on how fast I’m spinning around, and trying not to be sick. I close my eyes, and just go with it. I can breathe, and right now that’s all that matters.
I twirl around for what feels like hours, but is probably only minutes. When I’m finally free of the whirlpool, I float in the water for another few minutes trying to get my equilibrium back with my eyes still closed. I feel a tug on my hand, and open my eyes to find Alejandra pulling me down into the sand, which apparently hides an underwater door.
There’s a drain in the bottom of the room she takes me into, and high powered fans that dry us off. If anything could still surprise me right now, it would be this under ocean hideout.
“It’s crazy, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“You get used to it after a few months.”
“What if Clayton told Abigail about this place?”
“He’s never been here—we always knew he’d be the one to turn on us; we just didn’t know when.”
What? “If you knew, why didn’t you just kill him?”
“There’s always a small chance the ‘double’ will feel something other than hate for our kind. We had to give him that chance.”
“How can he hate us, when he’s one of us?”
“Levi will explain all to everyone. It’s better if you all hear it at once. I’m dry enough, are you?”
“Yeah.” I’m mostly dry, and I don’t want to wait to hear the rest of what’s going on. “Let’s go.”
She pushes a button, turning off the fans, which causes another door to open. We walk through, and I see this room is an almost exact replica of the room above ground that I helped destroy. I already knew they were serious, but seeing this is intense. I know I’m going to probably get even angrier about our situation after hearing the rest, but
Similar Books
