Once we passed the gate, our fae dragon carefully put the chain back on with slow movements so as to not make any noise and hoping the guards wouldn’t pay attention to details like missing padlocks. We glided down the stone steps leading underground. The farther we went, the colder I felt. The temperature had dropped significantly by the time we reached the deep basement level. We were still for a long moment, submerged in the semi-darkness.
Torches burned on the corridor’s stone walls ahead. There were no other guards in sight, but Thayen picked up some suspicious sounds. “I’m hearing Field and Aida,” he whispered, his vampire hearing yielding more than my ears ever would. “Their clones, that is.”
The main corridor wasn’t our only way through. This whole place was a maze. It was merely a question of turning left or right at the correct intersection, and we’d reach the cells. Moving quickly and quietly, we followed Thayen through a multitude of narrow hallways, since he knew this place best—assuming its layout was identical to the original island’s cells, of course. It was a dizzying journey as we turned corners and constantly looked over our shoulders, trying to keep our wits about us as murmurs emerged nearby.
“Okay, you’re all fed now,” Aida’s clone said, her voice echoing toward us.
I pressed my lips into a tight line, knowing we’d see her just beyond the next corner to our right. Thayen gave me a brief glance over his shoulder as he kneeled behind it, then craned his neck slowly to look down that hallway. He motioned for me to join him, while Dafne, Jericho, and Soph kept watch behind us.
Crouching beside Thayen, I peered around the stone corner and froze. Aida and Field’s clones were standing in front of a cell block. I counted five prisoners visible between the thick iron bars: Isabelle in a muddied white nightgown; Richard in his GASP uniform, parts of it slashed and scratched off as if he’d been in a fight with a wolverine; Voss in jeans and a black shirt, cuts still healing on his arms; Chantal, also in a GASP uniform, though she looked a lot better than Richard; and my mom. She was alive. I had felt that she was alive, but it was good to see it with my own eyes.
“What else did HQ say to do, besides feeding them?” Field’s clone asked Aida’s.
She checked a tablet, then slipped it into her back pocket. “They want the Daughter up to HQ. Time for some tests, apparently.” Aida’s doppelganger seemed bored and not at all comfortable with being there. “Come on, let’s grab the bitch and get out. This place gives me the creeps.”
“Coward,” Field’s double said, chuckling. There was no love lost between them, which was an odd sight. Then again, they were only meant to look like our people. They weren’t supposed to have actual feelings for one another, and since this was their home, they had no reason to pretend, either. “Open her cell, then.”
Aida’s clone rolled her eyes and pressed her thumb against the padlock on Mom’s cell.
“What are you doing?” Mom gasped, vanishing somewhere to the back where I couldn’t see her anymore. My blood boiled, and I wanted to intervene, but Thayen’s hand caught mine, holding me back.
“Wait,” he whispered. “We need to see where they’re going. There must be another exit on that other side, because these two didn’t come in the way we did.”
“What about the others?” Jericho hissed.
“You, Dafne, and Soph get them out. Jimmy the locks, override the fingerprint readers, whatever it takes. Then follow us,” he replied.
Obviously, they would also give Voss, Richard, Isabelle, and Chantal invisibility pills and any garnet lenses they could spare, while Thayen and I would stay close to Aida and Field’s clones to find out more about what they planned to do with my mother as we followed them out.
It made me uneasy, but Thayen was right. We needed the truth, and killing these two fakes now wouldn’t help us with that. Carefully, we got up and inched closer to the cells, while Aida’s clone dragged Mom from the cell. I almost cried when I saw her again, her pink hair a knotted mess, her face covered in dirt and soot. Only her eyes were unchanged, a vibrant and angry purple as she glared at her captors.
“I don’t understand what you people are trying to accomplish,” she told them.
Field’s clone backhanded her so hard she nearly fell over. Again, I felt Thayen’s grip tightening on my wrist, his way of telling me to hold back. We could take them if we wanted to, but they seemed to be headed in a different direction now, dragging my mother along with them. The exit was far behind us, yet the doppelgangers were going out via another passage. I gave Thayen a nod, understanding why he’d wanted us to wait before intervening.
Considering how complicated this underground maze was, we needed a second exit for our escape, anyway. We’d deal with Field and Aida’s doubles then.
“Come on,” Field’s clone muttered as he led Mom and his companion down the narrow hallway. A blue light flickered ahead, and they stopped. Behind us, Dafne, Soph and Jericho were cautiously approaching the other cells, ready to get our friends out. “Ugh, what now?” the double said.
“A Berserker,” Aida’s copy grumbled, crossing her arms as she leaned against the food cart she’d brought with her for the prisoners.
Ahead, a figure emerged through the blue light. His eyes were oddly familiar, as was his broad-shouldered frame. My heart stopped as I recognized Brandon beneath the fading darkness he’d surrounded himself with. “I’m here for Pink Lady,” he said.
I gave Thayen a confused look. He looked as stunned as I felt.
“HQ sent you?” Field’s clone replied, his tone implying absolute boredom.
“Of course,” Brandon said. “They want you to clean out ten more cells. Haldor’s transporting new prisoners from the Vale.”
“I thought we weren’t opening new portals,” Aida’s double protested.
Brandon smirked. “Change of plans. Now hand Pink Lady over.”
My stomach churned as I noticed the runes that had been mercilessly carved into my mother’s arms. Deep cuts that had turned dark red, foreign magic that likely stopped her from using her Daughter powers. She fought against Brandon’s hold when Field’s clone handed her over, but there was no resisting the Berserker. The sight before me didn’t make sense. I’d thought of him as an ally.
He’d led us here. We were supposed to get our prisoners out, thanks to him. What was he doing with my mother?
“Thank you,” Brandon said to the clones. “Now, do yourselves a favor and put on your red lenses. There are five originals trying to set the others free while you’re busy grumbling and protesting your current working position.”
“What?!” Field’s double croaked, already fumbling through his pockets for the glasses.
Aida’s clone was quick to put them on.
“Well, you keep complaining about how you should be handling the offensive, but you screwed up your first three operations. You’re lucky they didn’t throw you in the furnace instead,” Brandon added, looking directly at me, or so I thought.
“Can he see us?” I whispered.
“Oh, I can,” Aida’s clone retorted, sneering in our direction.
Anger and disappointment were tangled up in my throat, and I scrambled to figure out our next steps. Aida’s clone slapped her hand against a small plastic box on the wall. It triggered an alarm, which began blaring through the entire underground, making my skin crawl. Field’s clone finally found his glasses and grinned when he saw us.