Which means Seth, Brady, Bea, Hector, and I stand at the edge of town nearest the cave, where our secret pools lie deep underground. Surveying the land under an almost-full moon, I breathe in the cool air. The desert is quiet tonight, with barely a breeze to call wind. A coyote howls in the distance. There’s no sign that anyone’s been out here to search yet.
The paths we use most are barely visible among the desert brush and pot holes left by Brady, but the faint footprints are enough. Surely any good tracker could find them, and the Army has to have brought at least one, if not many.
“Hector,” I say. “Take the southern path with Bea and cover up any tracks or worn parts in the trail. Make sure we haven’t left anything under the interstate bridge. Seth and I will take the path to the little waterfall, while Brady tears up everything between here and the cave to hide his pot holes.”
“Got it.” Hector holds up the shovel he brought. “C’mon, sis. Let’s get this done.”
“Hell yeah. And don’t worry, Fi, you’ll be able to hear my scream no matter how far away we get.” Bea smiles at me reassuringly. How she knows I’m nervous is beyond me.
“It’s not like I’ll miss anyone sneaking up on us,” Hector says.
“I know.” I gulp, almost considering calling off the whole thing. This is the exact opposite of what Major Norton told me to do, and if he finds out…I can’t even think about how The Phantom might react. This is definitely not “doing nothing.” “Just be careful. If there’s any sign of someone following you, get out.”
“Yup.” Hector heads south, Bea trailing right behind him.
“Better get to destroying stuff.” Brady smiles with a disturbing amount of excitement. “It’s not every day I’m allowed to do this, you know.”
“Try to be quiet?” I say.
He laughs. “Yeah, right.”
We head off down the biggest path, which is really just a thin snaking line. Right now it seems more dangerous than that, like a fuse leading to a bomb. I’ll sleep much better once I know the line has been cut.
After about five minutes’ running, we stop at a big cactus surrounded by bunches of dry brush. This is where we turn to the right when we run to the cave, and I figure it’s a good place to break the trail. “Brady, start here. Seth and I will head left towards the waterfall now.”
“Sounds good.” He motions for us to move away. “Watch out.”
Seth grabs my hand and we step back several yards. Brady’s pale skin practically glows in the moonlight where it’s not covered by dark fabric. His muscles flex, and then he slams his fist into the ground. The earth cracks and groans beneath his powerful arm, and the cactus threatens to fall over. The trail beneath Brady is gone. “That felt good. Meet you back at the house.”
He’s off with a big leap. When he lands, the ground cracks again. Sure hope there’s no one around to hear, because that’s so not quiet.
“Our turn.” Seth shuffles along the ground in the opposite direction of Brady, brushing the dirt to hide footprints and obscure the path. I can’t help but laugh because we must look ridiculous. “Shh, we’re supposed to be discreet,” he says.
“But you look like a penguin!” I snort at that, and then he’s laughing, too.
“Only you could laugh when we’re directly ignoring orders from a syndicate and the Army.”
“Hey, you all seemed plenty eager to make sure no one suspected us more.” I jump off the path when I spot a crinkled water bottle. Picking it up, I come back and stuff it in Seth’s backpack.
“You have a way of rallying people, Fi. You’re a natural leader.”
I stop, the idea more upsetting to me than anything. All the leaders I know are horrible people. I don’t want to be like that. “No, I just want to protect what I have here.”
“Lots of people don’t protect what they should, nor do they convince others to do the same.” He keeps sliding his feet along. “Let’s keep going—you’ll leave prints standing there like that.”
“Oh, right.” I follow right behind him and try to ignore the growing pit in my stomach. No more thinking of who I could become if I keep leading. “So am I the only one who’s noticed that none of my dad’s people are here?”
“I thought that was because of your deal,” Seth says.
I put my hands on my hips, still scooting forward and searching for evidence. There should be a lot more at the waterfall. “Maybe I’m not giving him enough credit, but I don’t think he’s the kind of person who’d honor a deal if it meant losing a chance to produce Radiasure.”
“Hmm…true.” Seth doesn’t say anything else for awhile, but then comes back with, “Maybe he’s waiting for other people to do the hard work, and he’ll steal it later?”
“I guess that’s possible.” But it still feels like I’m missing something. If Dad was the one who got the formula from China, I’d think he’d be willing to get his hands dirty out here, too.
The closer we get to the waterfall, the easier it is to hear the little creek that only runs in the winter according to Seth. That small trickle of water tumbles off a cliff, making a pond in the valley below. At least until summer comes and dries it all up. On the warmer winter days, we take food and go there with The Pack to mess around. Mostly it’s a game to see who will get caught off guard and pushed into the water first.
With our destination almost in reach, we become quiet. Maybe because we’re tired, or perhaps it feels like speaking is bad luck. The way Major Norton talked, I’d have thought we’d see at least some evidence of his team searching out here. There have been no lights, no digging sites, no tire tracks.
But as we approach the cliff that leads down to the base of the waterfall, it seems like it’s brighter than it should be in the small valley. I grab Seth’s arm. “I think someone’s down there.”
He squints at the nearby ledge, I think so he can look through it. “You’re right. The Army has something set up.”
“We could have just looked over the ledge.” I poke him. “Now you’ll get another horrible headache.”
“I only looked for a second.” He nods toward the path. “Let’s go. They beat us to it—if there was any evidence of us there they’ve already found it.”
“Wait.” Curiosity wells up inside of me to the point that I can’t contain it. “I should go down there to hear what they’re saying.”
Seth shakes his head. “No way. We’re not out here to spy—we’re trying to avoid trouble, remember?”
I sigh. He has a point, but there’s something about this that bothers me. “You don’t think it’s weird that they happen to be looking in the exact spot you and I mentioned to the Major when he questioned us? Shouldn’t they be up around the factory? That’s the most logical place.”
His face fills with suspicion, and I can tell he’s wavering. “You’re right. This spot seems like a weird place to search so early on. It’s nowhere near the factory.”
“What if…” A sinking feeling comes over me. “Maybe they weren’t trying to clear us for school, but were actually using that as an excuse to get local intel. If they used us, we deserve to know what they’re doing.”
“No. That can’t be it.” Seth purses his lips, fighting himself. “Okay, it could be.”
“See? I have to go down there.”
“I guess so.” A flicker of mischief crosses his face. “Does this mean you’re gonna take your clothes off in front of me?”
“No.” I smack his arm. “You wouldn’t be looking.”
He frowns, glancing back at the cliff. “I don’t like not seeing you for many reasons, but mostly because I won’t be able to make sure you’re okay. What if you get caught?”
“You’d only be more nervous if you could see what I was doing. Now turn off your ability so I can get invisible.”