Page 119 of Resolve
“We’re here.”
Wait. Already? I look at him in surprise, and he smirks at me. Did he...? Was he just trying to rile me up to keep my mind off the dark?
“One tunnel down, one more to go,” he says, leaving my side to unlock the next door.
That bastard. He did.
Dane laughs beside me. “Even I could tell he was just saying shit. You were so tense, though, and it seemed to be working, so I didn’t say anything.”
Damn.
Assholes.
I forgot how many damn stairs were in the tunnel between the bunker and the Tower. As much as I hate them and I’m gasping by the time we reach the wall leading to the final room, I’m grateful they were enough of a pain in the ass to keep my mind occupied. We’ve had to stay silent for the last twenty-minute stretch to make sure none of the wandering patrols could somehow hear us.
Kellan stops at the ladder, turning to wait for Aiden with the final key. Sam is fast asleep on his back, likely lulled to sleep by the constant steps up, up, up.
Dane tugs my hand, drawing my attention to Aiden gathering everyone around him.
“Partner up,” he orders.
He’d already assigned who was with whom, so I move to Kellan’s side and lightly shake Sam’s arm. “Sam. Sam,” I urge in a whisper. We have Alice and four of her siblings to help us sneak in and out undetected. Thankfully, Alice was the only one who hadn’t known how to make other people invisible, so there was no training required.
I rub his back and then pat it a little harder. “Sam. Wake up.” He drags his eyelids open, looking like I’d pulled him from a deep sleep. “Hey. Can you stand? It’s time to move.”
Sam starts to nod and gets caught in a yawn.
Kellan’s already crouched because of the low ceiling, so it’s easy for Sam to climb off when he’s ready. I help make sure he’s balancedbefore letting go. Aside from Kellan and his invisible partner, we’re the only ones left. They vanish almost as soon as Sam is on his feet.
“Are you ready?” I hold my elbow out to Sam.
He takes it, his hold soft and light.
“You can hold on tighter,” I tell him, worried his hand will slip if I move faster than him.
His grip tightens—barely—but I leave it alone. I shouldn’t be racing around if we're invisible anyway. The rest of the group slowly comes into view, a thin, translucent veil shimmering over them, telling me they’re invisible and I am too.
Aiden leads the way, climbing the ladder and unlocking the door. He pushes it aside, then climbs out with his invisible partner latched to his leg. The rest of us follow a pair at a time. Sam switches hands to my lower leg as we ascend the ladder, then back to my arm again when we’re out.
We’re in one of the kitchen storage rooms on the Guild Hall floor. The lights in the ceiling are dim like nightlights. It’s enough for us to see each other since our eyes are already adjusted to the dark. I scrunch my nose at the foul smell. The food inside is spoiled.
We move in a line through the kitchen and bar to the open Guild Hall before the teams separate. There are five devices we need to acquire; one for each of us. Dane and Alice are picking up the controller device that he’ll use to deactivate the rest before they can move them. They move in the direction of the infirmary while Kellan, Aiden, and Jack’s team take the stairwell to the other floors.
Sam and I walk through the Guild Hall to the far end corner. There’s enough moonlight pouring through the glass wall and half-dome ceiling that we can see fairly well. Tucked in the dirt of a potted plant is a black box the size of my hand with wires and thingssticking out of it haphazardly like it was just thrown together. A green light blinks at us.
“Who’s there?”
A light sweeps over us, and I freeze. Sam looks over his shoulder, then squeezes my arm. I turn, and the security guard is walking straight toward us.
Fuck.
Are we not invisible?
I look at my hands, but they still have that weird shine to them that says I am.
The guard gets closer, his flashlight moving back and forth over the area we’re in as if he’s searching for something here.
Did we mess up?
