I stared at the doctor. My heart thundered in my chest, so loudly I was sure it would give me away. Dust was creeping into my nose, tickling the edges of my nostrils, making my eyes water. Even so, I couldn’t look away.

Doctor Ulani closed the mysterious main door and began to explore Jareth’s alchemy lab. Judging by his hurried movements, he was clearly searching for something in particular. He wore a look of grim determination, his gaze darting from cabinet to cupboard, and down to the storage boxes tucked beneath Jareth’s workbenches.

I had to bite my tongue to keep a gasp from hissing out of my mouth as Doctor Ulani suddenly flopped to the floor, staring up. If he looked off to his side, he would see me looking back at him. After rummaging in his pockets, Doctor Ulani produced a strange, thin, rectangular device that shimmered with electricity. It looked like a handheld screen of some kind, but it didn’t look like any comm device I’d seen before.

He moved toward the utensil tray, peering through the device, which had a steady light flashing on the screen, but he didn’t seem to find anything interesting. A moment later, as his slithering took him to the far side of the room, he snatched a hidden device from the underside of Jareth’s desk, then rose to his feet. I guessed that whatever the device with the flashing light was, it located certain types of devices—and he’d found what he was looking for.

He moved over to one of the workbenches and set the device down. It looked very similar to the black box that Navan and Ianthan used, but it was larger and made from silvery chrome. Why had Jareth hidden it, in an already-secret room? Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to take any chances.

The doctor flipped up the monitor of the silver box device. The screen was blinking with a dialogue box similar to the one that had stumped me, on the black box. It didn’t seem to faze the good doctor, however, as he pressed a different button on the strange device he’d produced from his pockets and placed it against the screen. Crackling white lines bristled across the dialogue box, presumably scrambling the code that was needed to get in, unlocking it.

I frowned at him, trying to get a closer look at what he was doing, but he kept moving, blocking what I could see. I didn’t know whether he’d managed to hack into the silver box or not, but his body language showed confidence. There was only one explanation: this guy was a spy. Whether he was spying for Queen Brisha, Orion, or even Queen Gianne, I couldn’t be sure.

Still, if he was a spy, I couldn’t let him leave the lab. The last thing we needed was another one running around, sharing any potential progress on the elixir with more coldblood factions. What if Jareth’s information led one of them to crack the immortality code?

Glancing across the workbenches, I caught sight of another tray of laboratory tools sitting by a sink. Among the items was a paring knife, the blade glinting in the low lights, having been freshly washed and left out to dry. It almost seemed a shame to have to get it dirty again, but perhaps it wouldn’t have to come to that. Maybe I’d be able to frighten the doctor before he could glean anything useful.

With the doctor’s back turned, I slid along the ground toward the workbench where the tools lay, careful to keep as low as possible. As I approached, the thought of causing someone harm brought with it an onslaught of flashbacks, the memory of Pandora’s death skittering into my mind. Right now, I was certain of only one thing: I had to find out what the doctor knew and see if he was a liability. Only then would I be able to make a judgment call about sparing his life.

Reaching the workbench, I grasped the hilt of the paring knife. The doctor still hadn’t noticed me. Spurred on, I rose onto my haunches and crept across the lab, sneaking up behind the doctor without making a sound.

Wracking my brains for an appropriate Aksavdo move, I settled on a control grip around the neck. My arm slid across his throat before he even realized I was there. The blade, pointing at his windpipe, served to back up just how serious I was, while my other hand settled on his spine, two fingers resting against one vertebra. A swift jab, and he would be rendered immobile. From the shiver of his body, I could sense he knew that.

No matter what he did, or how he moved, he couldn’t get away unharmed.

“Who are you working for?” I whispered in his ear.

“Loosen your grip, and you’ll find out,” the doctor replied, his tone taking me by surprise. The formality he’d shown in Lorela’s room had evaporated, replaced with a wry quality.

I jolted his neck backward, letting the knife bite deeper. “Who are you working for?”

“Let go of me, and let me see who I’m talking to,” he grumbled.

I pressed the knife harder into his neck, my fingers digging into his spine. “I won’t ask again.”

“Okay, okay! We’ll do it your way, kiddo,” he purred, his body relaxing against me. “I’m not at liberty to tell you who I’m working for, so back off, or you’ll end up regretting this little show of power. You’ve got no idea who you’re messing with, princess.”

“Is it Queen Brisha?” I pressed, though his voice made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

No response.

“Queen Gianne?”

Silence.

“Orion?”

The doctor laughed. “I worked for one of them once, but I’ve long since given up bowing and scraping to undeserving bosses. Now, I’m more of a mercenary, gathering juicy morsels of information to give away to the highest bidder—that could be you, if you play your cards right.”

“Why?”

He let out another bitter laugh. “So I can get myself a fancy ship, and get as far from this steaming pile of throat-tearer dung as possible, before everything really goes to crap. Why else?”

“I don’t understand. How did you find your way in here? Nobody knows about this place.”

“Nobody?” He snorted. “You really are precious, princess. You think nobody guessed big bad Jareth Idrax was hiding the truth from everyone?”

“What truth?”

“You really think he’s not doing exactly what I’m doing? You really think he isn’t scrambling to find a way to buy his family out of this place, for when these two bitches destroy each other, and everyone on this stupid planet?” he snarled.

I was just about to answer when he jumped up and pushed back as hard as he could, using his feet as leverage against the workbench. I flew to the ground, smacking my head against the lab floor, the doctor splayed on top of me. He writhed and thrashed, breaking free of my grip, then kicked my hand hard, making me drop the knife.

He was up on his feet in seconds, hurtling for the door. I was up a moment later, sprinting after him, barely missing a beat as I stooped to pick up the blade. He turned the handle as I barreled into him, tackling him to the ground. Doctor Ulani tried to fight back, but he wasn’t as strong as I’d expected him to be, his hands flailing helplessly as I forced my knees against his upper arms, pinning him there and sitting down on his chest.

“You!” He sneered, looking up at me from the floor.

I frowned. Until he came into Lorela’s room, I’d never seen this guy before in my life. “I don’t know you, Doctor. You and me—we’ve never met,” I said, confused.

“Ah, of course you don’t remember me. You torture so many poor souls—I imagine they all start to blend together, after a while?” he replied bitterly. He tried to wriggle free of my weight, but there was nothing he could do to move me.

My Aksavdo skills were good, but I’d expected more of a fight from this guy. To my human strength, even ordinary coldbloods were a challenge, and Doctor Ulani was a fairly large specimen.

I wrenched his arm upward to stop him flailing, when it suddenly reshaped itself. I felt the cold, almost-damp texture of his skin as it slithered away from my grasp.

“You’re a shifter!” I gasped.

“You don’t say.” He glared up at me through huge, red-veined eyes. The rest of his body morphed into its normal form. His pale, wrinkled skin pooled at the knees and elbows, making him look like a giant newborn bird. The shifter flashed a gaping mouth full of shark-like teeth. I’d forgotten just how ugly these things were, and though it was hard to tell them apart, I had a feeling I knew exactly who this one was. His voice brought back memories of hot noodle soup and a wintry tundra.

“I do know you,” I said.

“Where’s your bloodsucker boyfriend? I knew it wouldn’t be long before he lost interest. These grayskins are all the same. They treat their lovers like planets—they invade, take what they want, and move on!”

The puzzle pieces were slotting into place. This was the shifter that Navan and I had captured, back on Earth—the one we’d forced to lead us into the rebel base.

“How can you be here?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“What, you think you’re the only one who can fly to the opposite side of the universe and come up with some half-assed ruse to get into this place?” He snorted. “You’re as cocky as that ugly coldblood of yours. Probably a good thing he left you when he did; otherwise, you’d end up with a brain as warped as his.”

I shook my head. “He hasn’t left me.”

“Well, I don’t see him anywhere. Did he turn ‘invisible’ since the last time I saw you?” he said mockingly.

“He’s just not here right now, that’s all.”

The shifter nodded. “Right, right, I see. He’s just ‘not here’ right now. As in, old grayskin is never coming back! I told you, these creatures change lovers as often as I change skins.”

“Look, let’s keep it strictly business, shall we?” I suggested tersely.

“Ooh, let’s.”

I rolled my eyes at him, struggling to keep my voice down. “I get how you got here, but why are you here?”

“Weren’t you listening, sweet cheeks?” He chuckled, pulling a toothy grimace that was meant to be a smile.

“What, you’re really a mercenary?”

“Don’t act so surprised.” He pouted. “You and your coldblood stooge might’ve passed me off as nothing more than an unwilling tour guide, but I’ve got a whole host of skills that you couldn’t even dream of, sunshine! I’m not saying this wouldn’t be a good way to go, with you sitting on my chest, but do you think you could let me up before you suffocate me with your thighs?”

I jumped up and staggered back, my cheeks flushing. I was so appalled by him that I forgot to look where I was going, stepping back too far. My hip crashed into the cart of alchemy tools, the metal rattling loudly.

“Keep it down, princess! Do you want the cavalry to come running?” the shifter hissed, as I struggled to still the juddering cart. “Honestly, if I get caught because of you, I’ll be really pissed.”

The two of us paused, frozen in a silent face-off. I kept an ear out for any approaching footsteps, either from the passageway below the lab, or the main door. Satisfied that nobody was coming, I stepped closer to the shifter, squaring off against him. I still didn’t know what he knew, and, until I could be sure, he wasn’t getting out of here alive.

“Where does that door lead?” I asked.

“A spiral staircase, which leads down from the attic,” he replied casually.

It wasn’t the exciting mystery I’d hoped it would be, but at least now I knew. “How did you find your way to the staircase?”

“I have this device,” he explained, gesturing to the strange object. “It traces the past movements of certain people using residual scent signatures. I just put a trace on Jareth Idrax’s particular signature, and it led me straight to the staircase.” There was something oddly disgusting about the way the scent trail worked, but if it had helped the shifter find the lab, I knew it couldn’t be all bad.

“You know I can’t let you leave this room, don’t you?” I said, a hint of apology in my voice.

“Then why did you let me up? Why not stick me like a hog while you had the chance?”

“Look, tell me what you know, and we’ll see if we can come to an arrangement,” I said.

He grimaced licentiously. “Now you’re talking my language.”

“Keep it clean, shifter, or I’ll change my mind.”

“Fine, be a killjoy.” He waved a rubbery limb. “A deal sounds right up my alley. I live, you don’t have to worry, and we both get what we want. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

I shuddered at the mental image it conjured up, imagining my nails getting lost in the folds of his pooling flesh. I could tell he knew what I was thinking, as an irreverent glitter rippled across his huge, red-veined eyes, which were more iris than anything else.

“Sounds good,” I said at last.

He stuck out his hand, the flesh hanging from his elbow like a skin-hammock. “The name’s Mort. I’d tell you what it’s short for, but you wouldn’t be able to pronounce it.” I took the proffered hand and shook it as quickly as possible.

“Riley. But you already knew that.”

“I enjoy the way it rolls around on the tongue—Riley, Riley, Riley,” he purred, pleased with himself. “Anyway, I defected from Orion not long after my little adventure with you and the bloodsucker. Orion decided it wasn’t enough to have us as cannon fodder and cheap labor, and decided he’d add ‘lab rat’ to our list of expendable qualities. He experimented with that elixir on a friend of mine, and my friend died horribly… I can still see the way her skin sloughed off her body and hear the screams as she melted in front of my eyes. He threw her out like she was trash, leaving her to wander the forest, alone.”

“I’m sorry… That’s awful.”

“It was worse to live through,” he replied sadly.

“Why are they testing on your kind?”

“Orion wants to use us as test subjects before using the elixir batches on coldbloods. I guess we are easier to replace.”

It was such a Vysanthean thing to do that I couldn’t believe Brisha and Gianne hadn’t thought of it yet. Maybe, just maybe, there was a sliver more humanity in them than there was in Orion.

“He doesn’t even bother disposing of the bodies. He just piles them in an open, mass grave, only covering it with dirt when the stench and the flies get to be too much,” Mort continued solemnly. “Shifters have to be buried in a very particular way that allows their dead bodies to become one with the soil, but he ignored our pleas to give the proper funeral rites to our dead. We are things to him, not people. Now, I want revenge.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Well, I might have a few ideas,” I said. “How about we take this somewhere less dangerous?”

I put the paring knife back in its place before putting the rest of the lab back in order. As soon as I was satisfied that the room looked undisturbed, I walked over to the trapdoor and opened the hidden panel. Meanwhile, Mort resumed the form of Doctor Ulani, morphing seamlessly from shifter to coldblood. He walked over to the workbench, where he’d left the silver box and his strange screen-covering device, and pocketed both.

“You should put that back where you found it,” I insisted. I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to take something from Jareth’s lab that actually belonged to him, where he was bound to notice something missing. I mean, I’d come to steal the black box back, but that wasn’t his to keep.

“Don’t you want to see what’s on it?”

“Can’t we take a look now?” I urged.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway beyond the lab’s main door, startling us both.

“I say we blow this joint before old man Idrax gets back,” he whispered, running back over to where I stood, still holding the silver box. With Jareth, or whoever it was, loitering outside, I realized we had no choice but to steal it and hope nobody noticed it was gone.

Mort peered down into the passageway below, giving an impressed whistle. “Down the rabbit hole we go!” he enthused, dropping into the underground tunnel.

Where this new allegiance against Orion would lead, I had no clue. I just hoped it didn’t end with us losing our heads.