Cole’s insides fluttered with nervous anticipation as he watched the numbers on the doors. Was he really about to finally find his friend? He had always meant to succeed, but he now realized how much he had also doubted.
They reached number twenty-three. Skye motioned for Cole to knock. He did. They waited. He knocked again, louder. They heard a lock disengage, and the door opened to reveal Dalton standing there with bleary eyes and messy hair.
The last time Cole had seen Dalton, his friend had looked like a dusty, sad clown. Now his friend wore gray robes, but otherwise looked normal.
Dalton’s gaze first went up to Skye. Then his stare dropped to Cole. His eyes widened, and his hands covered his mouth. “No way,” he whispered. “Is that really you?”
Cole relished the stunned expression on that familiar face. For a moment, he couldn’t speak. What was there to say? How could he possibly sum up all he felt?
“Surprise,” Cole managed. “Can we come in?”
Dalton’s eyes darted back up to Leona.
“It’s not really her,” Cole confided.
Eyes shimmering with tears, Dalton backed away. “Come on in.”
CHAPTER
19
DALTON
Cole paused in the doorway. Everything in his life had been ripped away from him—his home, his family, his school, his neighborhood, and his friends. He’d even lost the other unlucky kids who had come here with him from Arizona. The Outskirts was a huge place. He might never have found anyone from his former life.
But here was Dalton! An honest-to-goodness piece of home! Seeing his best friend forced Cole to recognize how truly isolated he had felt. He was a stranger in a foreign land, but the sight of Dalton made much of that recede into the background.
Cole stepped into the room. Skye followed, as did Jace, who closed the door.
Dalton tried to say something, stopped, then tried again. “It’s really you?” He glanced at Skye. “It’s not a trick?”
Skye dropped her disguise, looking like herself rather than Leona. “No trick,” she promised.
Dalton’s smile radiated joy. “I knew it!” he exclaimed, pumping his fist. “I knew you’d come, and I can’t believe it! It didn’t seem possible, but I kept hoping.” He ran to Cole and hugged him.
Cole hugged his friend back, relief washing over him. Whatever else happened, at least he had found Dalton. In many ways, it was more than he truly expected to accomplish.
Cole ended the embrace first. He realized he hadn’t ever hugged his friend before, but it hadn’t felt weird. So far from home, Dalton seemed more like a lost brother than a buddy. He felt like family.
“I worried you were dead,” Dalton admitted. “You went to the Sky Raiders. Everyone said it was incredibly dangerous.”
“It was,” Cole said. “But I got free. Now I’m part of the resistance. We’re going to get you out of here.”
“How’d you guys get in here?” Dalton asked. “The security is amazing.”
“Skye has connections,” Cole said.
“Must be good connections,” Dalton said. He centered his gaze on Cole. “You actually came for me. I knew you would try.”
“You have to decide quickly if you’re coming with us,” Cole said. “We left the real Leona unconscious.”
Dalton sucked in a terrified breath. “Really? Oh, man, she is going to be mad.”
“Lots of people are going to be mad,” Cole said. “We have to hurry. Now or never. You’re coming, right?”
Dalton hesitated. “This is really sudden.”
“I know,” Cole said. What if Dalton was like Jill? What if he wanted to stay where he was? Cole tried not to panic. That wouldn’t happen. This was Dalton. “You’re probably comfortable here. But you’re working for the bad guys.”
“I get it,” Dalton said. “It’s just that the bad guys run everything. If you’re on their side, they treat you all right. I’m a slave, Cole. I’m marked.”
“So was I,” Cole said, holding out his arm with the freemark.
“How’d you do that?” Dalton exclaimed. “Seemings won’t hold over slavemarks. At least not the way they reinforce them in Elloweer.”
“The resistance is stronger than you know,” Cole said. “There’s a lot going on. I’ll fill you in. But we have to go now.”
Dalton took a steadying breath. He looked to Jace. “I’m Dalton.”
“I’m Jace. We’re wasting time.”
“Dalton,” Skye said. “I’m a member of a secret resistance organization. We’ve helped hundreds of slaves find freedom. We can help you.”
“You’re one of the Unseen?” Dalton asked.
“Yes,” Skye said.
“All right, Cole,” Dalton said. “I’m with you. What’s the plan?”
Cole grinned, then looked to Skye.
“Can you make yourself look like me?” she asked.
“With a little time,” Dalton said. “Pretty much all I do around here is make people look different all day. I get lots of practice.”
She pointed at him, and suddenly Dalton could have been her twin. He went and looked in the mirror on the wall. “That was fast,” he said. It was weird to hear his voice coming from Skye’s form. “Awesome work. You’re good.”
“Can you replicate it?” Skye asked. “Do you see how I did it?”
“I think I can copy it,” Dalton said.
Skye waved a hand, and he looked like himself again. Dalton closed one eye and scrunched his face. Within a few seconds, he looked like Skye.
“Whoa!” Cole exclaimed. “You did that?”
“Not bad,” Skye said. “Can you do it faster?”
“Maybe two seconds,” Dalton said. Though he looked like Skye, he still had his own voice. “You want me to bring it back up after every scrubber?”
“That’s the idea,” Skye said.
“How are we getting out?” Dalton asked.
“The only way I know,” Skye said. “The same way we came in.”
“Not through the tunnel by the flamingos,” Dalton said.
“Why not?” Skye replied.
Dalton gave a nervous laugh and shook his head. “The security is unbeatable there. A whole section of that hall works like one big scrubber. Plus, the alley is a nightmare. We’d get caught for sure.”
“Do you know another way?” Skye asked.
“There are lots of ways in and out of the Silver Lining,” Dalton said. “The head people don’t want to come and go through all the security. There was a really good way open until last week, when they caught some slaves using it and shut it down. I know one other way some of the guys use to sneak out sometimes.”
“Have you used it?” Skye asked.
“No,” Dalton said. “A few slaves I know like to sneak into town. I didn’t think it was worth the risk just to goof around.”
“It’s unguarded?” Skye asked.
“Just one guard station,” Dalton said. “Somebody sabotaged the scrubber. It works, but they weakened it. If you concentrate hard enough, you can hold your seeming together. You just have to look like somebody with access, and you’re through.”
“Can we get there?” Skye asked. “Are there many scrubbers along the way?”
“Not many,” Dalton said. “We’ll get scrubbed when we leave this building and when we enter the museum. Then we just have to make it through the damaged scrubber by the guard.”
“Who would have access?” Skye asked.
“Leona, for one,” Dalton said. “I can show you which people the other slaves use.” Dalton changed from Skye to a middle-aged man with a receding hairline. Then he became a woman with bluish skin and goat horns. And finally an older woman with curly hair.
“Okay,” Skye said. “I can do those. Can you speak like any of them?”
&nb
sp; “I’m no good with voices yet,” Dalton said.
“Do you have a preference?” Skye asked.
“I’ll be the guy,” Dalton said.
“That makes you two the women,” Skye said to Cole and Jace. “I have Leona’s voice down, so I’ll be her. Leave the talking to me. Let’s go.”
Dalton darted around the room, stuffing items into a knapsack. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll show you the best way out.”
Without any seemings, they avoided heading back toward the common room. After passing around a corner, they exited the building. Once outside, Skye became Leona, Dalton became the guy with thinning hair, Jace became the old lady with curly hair, and Cole assumed he was the horned woman.
“Good job,” Skye said to Dalton in Leona’s voice. “You can take care of yourself?”
“I think so,” Dalton said. “That leaves you with three seemings to replace and maintain. Can you make it through the guarded scrubber?”
“If it’s weak enough for most enchanters to hold a seeming together, I can manage three.”
“This way,” Dalton said.
Several heads turned their way as the group walked across an open area. One man in gray robes waved. Cole gave a little wave back. Their seemings were obviously recognizable people.
“Walk purposefully,” Skye muttered.
Cole felt excruciatingly vulnerable. He could see the illusions covering the others, but he wished he could see his own seeming. What if somebody wanted to talk to one of them besides Skye? What if they ran into one of the people they were impersonating? If anybody caught on, it was all over.
Dalton led them onto a winding gravel path beneath some trees. Soon there were no other people in view.
“The museum isn’t used much,” Dalton said. “Mostly just VIP tours now and then. Shouldn’t be crowded. There’s a guard near the front doors. I don’t know another way in.”
“Scrubber at the doors?” Skye asked.
“Right,” Dalton said.
“You open the doors,” Skye said. “Then follow me through. Get your seeming back up as fast as you can.”
The museum came into view up ahead. It looked like a squat, simplified castle, with crenellated battlements and two modest turrets. The extra-large front doors were composed of dark wood studded with iron. Nobody was coming in or out of the building, and the surrounding trees helped seclude it from other structures.
Anxiety gnawed at Cole as the doors drew near. What would they do if an alarm was raised? He supposed they would have to take out the guard before he could give them away. That must be why Skye wanted to go first.
Dalton rushed ahead, put a hand on the door, then paused. “It opens inward,” he said.
Skye gave a nod. “All of you follow me.” She pushed open the door and slipped inside. Simultaneously, from deeper in the building, Cole heard a low rumble. He made it through the door in time to see a blazing ball of fire the size of a tumbleweed bouncing from wall to wall down one of the hallways, shedding dark billows of smoke.
Skye’s seeming went down for less than a second, then came back up. Jace’s was restored quickly as well, so Cole assumed the same was true for himself. As soon as Dalton had his seeming back in place, the fireball vanished, leaving behind no smoke or damage.
In her Leona persona, Skye briskly walked toward the guard. “Why were your eyes down that hall?”
Flustered, he started to stammer. “Yes, well, there was a noise, and, um—”
“That was an illusion I made from the doorway,” Skye said. “What if we were enemies trying to distract you? You would have an arrow in you by now.”
“I’m sorry, Leona,” he said.
“Sorry enough to protect this museum more effectively?” Skye asked. “Every guard is posted on these grounds for a reason.”
“Lesson learned,” the guard said. “I’ll take greater care. Again, I apologize.”
“Very well,” Skye said. “I’ll keep this between us for now. Don’t be surprised if I test you again.”
“Understood.” The guard looked sheepishly at Cole and the others.
Dalton led the way forward. When they entered the next room, various suits of armor began fighting each other. At first Cole froze, then he realized it was part of the exhibit.
Dalton continued across the room, then through an art gallery with moving paintings and writhing sculptures. They turned down a hall, and Dalton stepped through a large painting of an island lagoon with a ship in the background.
When Cole followed him through, he found himself at the top of a musty, cramped stairway. They descended to a gloomy hall lined with doors. Dalton walked through one of the last doors on the left, then waited for the others to catch up.
They stood together in a small, cluttered office. “Okay,” Dalton said. “Through here we’ll come to a normal door. That’s the one with the weak scrubber. Just past it is a metal door with a guard, then another metal door. After a long walk, we’ll come out of a crypt in the Merriston Cemetery. The crypt door opens from the inside, but it’s always locked from the outside. The guys prop it open for the return trip.”
“Not necessary,” Skye said. “We won’t be returning.”
Dalton slid a desk aside and crouched down to pass through the wall behind it. Using his hands to probe the dimensions of the opening, Cole found that the concealed gap was low and narrow. He ducked through.
Single candles spaced along the walls lit the grimy passage. Dalton led them forward. There was only room to walk single file. Cole noticed that none of the candles dripped any wax. They were all the exact same length. They had to be seemings.
Dalton reached a wooden door and paused, looking back at Skye. “Don’t you want to go first?” he whispered.
“That’s right,” Skye said. “I should be in front to talk to the guard.”
Dalton leaned against the wall, and Skye squeezed by him. She opened the door and stepped through. Beyond the doorway, Cole saw a guard watching from behind a door made of iron bars. Skye’s seeming didn’t flicker. When Dalton stepped through, he grunted softly, but his fake persona held as well. Cole went next, followed by Jace, who closed the door.
“Leona?” the guard asked.
“We’re heading out,” Skye said.
From above and behind, bells started wildly clanging. The flames of the candles on the wall turned red. Cole tried not to react, but he knew the ruckus must be for them. Leona had awakened or had been found.
“Uh-oh,” the guard said from beyond the door of bars. “That’s the general alarm. Nobody in or out until we get the all clear.”
“But we have to go out,” Skye said calmly. “We’re searching for an escaped slave. He may have sensitive information.”
“That could be,” the guard said. “But my orders come from the top. A lockdown is the surest way to keep anybody from escaping. I need an all clear before anyone passes.”
The wooden door behind them opened, and Cole’s heart leaped when Gustus came through. The chameleon-eyed man looked taken aback. “What is this? Leona, I sent you ahead!”
“General alarm, sir,” the guard said. “This passage is closed. Nobody has come through here in the last couple of hours.”
“Well done,” Gustus said. “But we need to quietly make an exception. We have strong reason to believe an escaped slave is already outside our perimeter. We’re going out to bring him in. There isn’t time to wait. Every moment counts. Open the way on my authority.”
“You’re in charge, sir,” the guard said, opening the door. Skye moved ahead, and the guard walked with her to a solid iron door, which he opened with a key. Cole passed the guard in silence.
Behind Cole, Gustus paused beside the guard. “Though necessary on occasion, bending protocol like this sets a bad precedent,” Gustus said. “Don’t speak of it to anyone.”
/> “Understood, sir.”
“And don’t let anyone else through. As far as I’m concerned, this never happened. I’ll never admit to it.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Excellent. Keep a sharp watch.”
They continued down the hall with Gustus at the rear. After finally turning a corner, Skye collapsed against a wall, panting. Her seeming vanished, as did Jace’s. Gustus disappeared. Skye was bathed in sweat.
“You improvised that?” Dalton asked in astonishment. “You held together an unanchored seeming through a scrubber?”
“That was heavy lifting,” Skye said, her eyes closed. “I almost lost my hold on everything at the end there.”
“I don’t know if any of the enchanters here could have done that,” Dalton said. “Maybe the head enchanter on a good day. You even made it look like the door opened.”
“The guard needed to see Gustus come through the scrubber,” Skye said. “It put his authenticity beyond question.”
“I can’t believe we made it,” Dalton said.
“We’re not in the clear yet,” Skye said, pushing away from the wall. “They’ve raised the alarm. They won’t want us to get away.” She started walking. “Come on!”
CHAPTER
20
HIDEOUT
They exited the crypt without difficulty. Full of weathered tombs and diverse monuments, the cemetery looked more like a forgotten statue garden than a graveyard. With the bells of the Silver Lining still clamoring in the distance, Skye cloaked them in seemings, this time grubby people in worn clothing.
“I can do myself,” Dalton offered.
“I’ve got it,” Skye said. “Without the scrubbers to interfere, I’d like to think I could handle four temporary seemings from my deathbed.”
“Where to now?” Cole asked.
“I did some scouting this morning,” Skye said. “One of my old hideouts was untouched. Nobody has used it in years. We’ll go there. Until we arrive, let’s spread out. They’ll be looking for a group.”
Jace hung back, and Cole strolled off to one side. Dalton stayed near Skye, and Cole resisted the temptation to join them. He could wait a little longer to hear everything that had happened to his friend since they last saw each other. The first priority was to avoid getting caught.