Total pages in book: 238
Estimated words: 231781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1159(@200wpm)___ 927(@250wpm)___ 773(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1159(@200wpm)___ 927(@250wpm)___ 773(@300wpm)
She let me go and shot ahead, dipping down and diving through the tarp covering the crawl space underneath the warehouse. “Through here!” she called.
We hesitated only a moment before following, Michael ushering us in her wake and then following us.
We crawled, digging in our hands and knees, the cold earth seeping through my jeans as the kid led the way under the floor, all of us glancing over our shoulders to see who was following us.
“You sure you know where you’re going?” Michael asked.
“I own this town,” she fired back.
He chuckled despite the rush we were in, but I had no time to wonder where the hell this kid came from, or if she was really leading us to safety.
Right now, we had no choice.
Stopping, she rose up and popped up a floorboard, all of us crawling up into the warehouse, and right into the Mad Scientist’s wing again.
As soon as we were all inside and we knew where we were at, Michael picked up the kid, threw her over his shoulder, and ran, all of us following him.
“Oh, my God, I can walk.” She raised up and held out her hands. “Dude!”
But he wouldn’t stop as we raced into the lab, no one following us as we swung open the door and dived inside the room. Michael carried the kid down into the tunnel, followed by Rika and Alex, but I paused, sensing something.
Looking back over my shoulder, through the doorway and into the chem lab, I locked eyes on a group of figures draped in white in the other room. They stood like statues, black holes for the eyes and all of them looking like they were watching me.
Something crawled on my skin, fear snaking its way through me as my feet sprouted roots and dug into the ground.
Frozen, I stared at their faces, knowing.
I just knew.
And then…one turned his head, and my heart leapt into my throat. I screamed, knowing it might not be one of them, but it could be. Shit.
I slipped into the tunnel, closed the door, and raced after the others, tripping over a rock as I kept looking over my shoulder.
I stumbled, catching myself, and rushed up to the tracks.
Micah, Rory, and Lev were in the car ahead, already strapped in, and I barely had time to catch my breath before they sped off, their rail car zooming down the track.
There were only two cars left, so hopefully that meant that everyone else had already gotten out.
They got strapped in, Michael started the car, and I looked back, hearing the door creak open back down the tunnel.
Will…
But someone grabbed me and pushed me into the seat.
“Will!” I cried, feeling the seatbelt strap onto me. “Michael, no!”
“Hurry,” Rika yelled to him, the girl in her lap. “Go!”
The car shot off, my neck jerking back, and I twisted in my seat, seeing the lights behind grow smaller and smaller.
“No!” I cried.
There was only one car left. If someone saw where we went—if that ghost wasn’t an actor and he saw where I was going—Will wouldn’t get to the Cove.
I covered my face with my hands as the wind whipped across my body.
We shouldn’t have split up.
Tears filled my eyes.
We coasted around a bend, and we must’ve gone under the river, because droplets of water hit me from above as we raced back up again, lights periodically marking our way.
Michael slowed, and I held on, seeing us approach a platform, and then he screeched to a stop, everyone ripping off their seatbelts.
“Will,” I called to them, unbuckling myself. “We left Will! Aydin was back there!”
I knew it was him in the lab.
I followed them, climbing out of the car and onto the platform.
“What if Will can’t get past him?” I asked. “We have to go back.”
Michael pulled Rika and the girl up. “Will wanted you out of there. We stick together.”
“No!”
“He won’t fail,” Rika told me, looking at me dead-on. “He won’t fail, Em. He’ll be here.”
I stilled, holding her eyes. I couldn’t not go back for him.
I couldn’t…
But the kid pulled my hand. “Come on!” she cried.
I dug in my heels, but before I could argue, Michael grabbed her and twisted her around by the shoulders. “Not so fast,” he said. “Who are you? Tell me now and hurry.”
She straightened, clamping her mouth shut.
“And why are you living here at the Cove?” he pressed.
She jerked, trying to run, but he caught her and held her tight.
I glanced down the tunnel, but I still didn’t hear any other rail cars approaching.
I’d never seen her before, but it seemed like they had.
“Athos,” she finally answered. “My name is Athos.”
Like the musketeer?
“And your last name?” Michael demanded.
“I don’t have one.”
He frowned. “You have one. You weren’t born here, kid.”
“Maybe I was beamed down to study your species.”
Alex snorted, and we watched as the little girl took Rika’s hand and backed up, hovering close to the woman and away from Michael with a scowl on her face.