Static crackles over the comm unit at Major Norton’s side. “Sir, we have intruders at the factory. Awaiting your orders.”
I cover my mouth to stifle a gasp, knowing exactly who’s there.
Major Norton grabs the unit and puts it to his mouth. “Do you have a visual?”
“No, sir. An alarm was tripped on the east side.”
The Major swears. “Scour the area. Detain anyone you find. We’re on our way.” He turns to the scientist. “I’m sorry, but our work here will have to be cut short.”
She nods. “It’s a wash, anyway.”
Major Norton yells commands like a veteran, his voice so loud I’m sure Seth can hear it up on the cliff. The soldiers gather around the large Army vehicles parked on the other side of the pond, while the scientist works to clean up her stuff. I chew my lip as I stare between her and the formula pages.
One elbow to her head…
No. I take a few steps back, horrified with my own thoughts. Since we left Dad, I’ve told myself over and over that I never would have done what I did on my own, and yet here I am on the verge of attacking someone. And I still kind of want to, because I need that formula. I have to know if the pools really are what they want. If not, then we wouldn’t have to worry anymore.
The scientist slips the formula into a folder, and my heart sinks. Chances are getting slimmer. My ideas to stop her increase in violence.
A soldier comes up to her. His knuckles are sharp bone, and spikes jut out from his forearms almost like depictions of dinosaurs. “Ma’am?”
“Yes?” She turns, and I know this is the only moment I’ll get. So I slip my fingers into the folder, hoping the spiked soldier doesn’t notice. I get the papers out and drop under the table. My heart pounds as I wait to discover if they caught me or not.
“I’ll be your personal guard on the way back,” the soldier says.
“Okay. Just one moment. Let me clean this up.” The scientist stands inches away from me as I try to fold the papers as quietly as possible. I have to get it small enough to stuff in my mouth, which isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. The stack of pages grows thicker at every fold, but it’s still too long to cover. “Are we leaving the table?”
“No, let me fold it up,” the soldier replies.
I cram the paper in my mouth. It stretches out my cheeks, and I have to pinch my lips closed. The table flies up—I curl into a ball and pray they don’t walk into me. There’s no way they wouldn’t put me in prison if I got caught.
Their footsteps scrape at the ground as they walk by me. Once they’re a few yards off, I risk craning my neck to watch them leave. I don’t dare get up—there’s no telling how much dirt is now sticking to my butt. As the trucks drive off, I stand and brush off as much as I can.
Something rustles the bushes near the waterfall, and I whirl around in a panic. Did they leave guards? There’s a figure barely lit in the moonlight, and when I recognize the broad shoulders and thin build I wish it were a soldier.
I duck behind the nearest bush, mortified, and spit out the paper. It’s now semi-transparent thanks to my mutant spit. “Seth! What the hell are you doing?”
“That guy started yelling—I thought you were in trouble!” He tosses something at me, and it lands in the bush. My shirt. Then come my sweater and pants and shoes. “So sue me for wanting to come to the rescue.”
“You looked?” I scramble for my clothes.
He sighs. “Is it really so bad for me to see you naked? It’s not like we got together yesterday.”
And there it is. I’ve wanted to pretend he’s okay with us not going further, but he isn’t. I wish I could tell him how weird it is for me, except that would probably make him feel even worse. Besides, now is not the time. “They left because of intruders at the factory, so we better hurry and make sure everyone’s okay.”
He cusses. “We need to find Brady. He’ll get us there fast.”
“Yeah.” Now dressed, I grab the crumpled formula papers and stand. As I head toward Seth and the path up the cliff, I carefully pull open the sheets and hope my spit didn’t mess them up too badly.
“What’s that?” Seth says when I get to him.
We waste no time, climbing the slope as we talk. “Remember how Graham asked if we might have come across what they’re looking for? Well, I think we have.”
“What?”
“Their scientist girl said the element is a liquid, and it’s supposed to glow or something. She was doing a test to see if the waterfall contained any of it, but it was negative.”
“Shit.” Seth doesn’t need to say more for me to know he gets exactly what I’m trying to say.
I hold out the papers. “This is the formula, so we can test the cave water ourselves. Then we’ll know just how much trouble we’re in.”
“Whoa.” He stops just shy of the top. “You stole that from the Army?”
The way he says it makes me feel an inch tall, but I’m already mad at him for looking at me when he promised not to. “Yes. I stole it, just like they stole our knowledge of this place through an unnecessary interrogation. Do you have a problem with that?”
“Of course I do!” he says as we run for the booming sounds to the west. Brady must be that way. “They’re gonna notice, Fi. And who do you think they’ll suspect when they do?”
I don’t answer for a moment, because he has a point. “They could think it slipped out of the folder when they were rushing to pack everything up.”
It may be dark, but I can feel his eye roll. “Or they’ll realize you’re the only one who could steal that with no one noticing.”
“Well it’s done, so we’ll just have to deal with it.” I squint into the night, hoping to see Brady or some clear sign of him. There’s a dark spot on the horizon that seems to change shape like dust. “You think Brady’s making that cloud?”
“Probably.” Seth pulls a laser pointer from his pocket and turns it on and off. In the darkness it should stand out well enough to catch Brady’s eye. “So how much trouble are they in at the factory? Are we gonna have to break them out?”
“I don’t know. All I heard was that an alarm was tripped, and they didn’t have a visual.” My heart pounds from both the running and the fear of what could happen to Miles, Carlos, and Graham. If any of them are caught, they’d be tied to us in a heartbeat.
Maybe all of this was a horrible idea.
The ground starts to shake beneath my feet, and we both stop running. It’s impossible to run when Brady gets too close. He skids to a stop, showering us with dust. “Done already? I didn’t quite get to the cave yet.”
Seth shakes his head. “We have a problem—the Army was at the waterfall. We gotta get to the factory fast. I’ll explain on the way.”
“Start talking.” Brady holds out his arms, and Seth and I take a seat on his biceps. He has no problem lifting us into the air. “Hold on to my forearms if you think you might fall.”
He takes off, and I have to cling to his arm as he bounds through the desert. I’ve never been with Brady while he runs faster than any normal human, and it’s both thrilling and horrifying how amazing he is. I’m not sure he’s using his full force, but it feels like we’re covering miles in just a few minutes.
Seth seems much more comfortable with Brady’s speed than I do. He talks into Brady’s ear—I assume to explain what I did at the waterfall—and seems to trust that his brother won’t drop him. Brady slows the closer we get to the factory. By the time we reach the broken down strip mall, we’re all walking again. Or rather creeping and hiding behind anything we can, just in case.