I TURNED LEFT AT the bottom of the stairs and headed for the living room.
Ash caught the back of my shirt. “The exit is this way.”
Daniel brushed past us. “Yes, but we’re going to take the extra minute to tell Kit and the others that we’re leaving.”
“Fine, go,” Ash said. “Maya, stay with me.”
I followed Daniel into the living room.
“Hey!” Ash said. “Both of you don’t need—”
The back door banged open. Shoes pounded down the hall as Rafe raced in.
“They’re coming,” Rafe said. “I saw someone around the side of the garage. They shot out the lights on it.”
Daniel was now in the living room doorway, hands braced on either side as he leaned in, talking fast. Then he jogged back to us.
“Daniel!” Kit shouted. Daniel didn’t stop. Kit swung out the door. “Hold on. They’ll have the house surrounded. There’s no place you can run.”
“We’re sure as hell not surrendering,” Ash said.
“No,” Chloe said. “There’s an escape route in the basement.”
“You guys take them down.” Kit pushed Derek, Simon, and Chloe toward us. “I’ll get Tori and Lauren.”
When Chloe and the guys caught up, they started waving us down the hall. Ash didn’t move.
“Come on,” I said. “There’s a way out.”
“You really think so?” He tugged me aside, out of Derek’s path. “A secret escape in the basement? Like hell. It’s a trap.”
“Why would they—?” I began.
“They’re going to use us. Lock us in the basement and negotiate with the Cabals.”
“We wouldn’t do that,” Chloe said.
“Why not?” Derek said. “It’d work.”
“Really not helping, bro,” Simon muttered.
“I’m being honest,” Derek said. “It’s a good plan. It isn’t what we have in mind, but they don’t know that. They don’t know us. I don’t blame them.” He looked at Daniel, then me, his gaze shifting between us. “It’s not a trick. I don’t know how to convince you of that, but we can’t stand here and argue.”
“Split up,” I said quickly. “Ash, if you have another idea, you do that with . . .” I hesitated and looked from Rafe to Daniel to Corey. “Take me. Guys—”
The back-door window shattered. Something dropped, hissing, on the floor, spinning, smoke swirling out.
“Gas!” Ash yelled. “Everyone down!”
We all dropped. I told them to pull their shirts up over their mouths, and a second canister crashed through a front window, then a third someplace else, only the explosion of glass reaching us. Smoke from the first canister filled the hall.
“Stairs,” I said. “Where are the—?”
Fingers clasped my upper arm. It was Chloe, mouth covered, her slitted eyes already tearing up. Daniel reached over and grabbed a handful of my shirt hem.
“Everyone grab somebody,” he called. “We’re moving.”
And so we did, a slow, awkward, blind snake crawling along the hallway. Someone bashed into a wall. I told them to move slowly and hold on—and to make sure whoever had them was still holding on. My words came out slurred, and I could feel myself blinking hard, not just against the smoke, but against a numb, floating feeling.
“It’s a sedative!” I yelled. “Try not to breathe it and try to stay awake. We’re almost there.”
I had no idea if we were really “almost there” until I felt a rush of cool, clean air . . . and nearly toppled headfirst down the stairs. Chloe released my arm and I reached back for Daniel, guiding him onto the steps. We crawled down backward. When Corey tried to stand and walk, he lost his balance, woozy from the gas, and fell onto Daniel. Daniel and I managed to get him downstairs with Hayley’s help.
We ended up in almost a heap at the bottom, everyone hunkered down together, sputtering and wheezing. Gas filtered through the open doorway until Derek—bringing up the rear—closed it and stumbled down the stairs.
I lifted my head and peered around. “Rafe? Where’s Rafe?”
Derek stepped over us. “And where’s Simon?”
No one answered either of us. I sprang up. Derek wheeled toward the stairs. Chloe shot up and grabbed him.
“Simon was beside me when the gas hit,” she said. “He said someone should warn your dad. Rafe said he’d go with him. I said no, your dad would be fine, we just needed to get to the basement. Then I couldn’t see and I thought he was right there.”
“He went for your father,” I said. “And Rafe went to help.”
“And neither of you can go after them,” Chloe said, jumping into our path when we started for the stairs. She turned to Daniel, arm shooting out as he tried to get around her. “None of us can go back. You know you can’t. They’re fine. Simon can take care of himself and he has Rafe. They’ll watch out for each other.”
I looked at Daniel. He rocked there, gaze on mine, ready to go after Rafe if I gave any sign that that’s what I wanted him to do.
I took a deep breath. “Chloe’s right.”
When Derek hesitated, Chloe said, “If you leave, either I go with you and take the same risk or I stay here, with strangers. Without you.”
He scowled at her.
“Yes, it’s a low blow,” she said. “But I’ll use whatever works right now.” She got to her feet, wiped her eyes again, and looked around. “Okay, I’m going to suggest we don’t wait for Kit and the others. We get out of here before the bad guys break in. I’m guessing that’s the plan—knock everyone out with gas, then come in and scoop them up.”
“It’s an old Nast trick,” Ash said. “They won’t wait long to swoop in, either.”
As if in reply, booted footsteps thundered across the hardwood overhead.
“So where’s this escape tunnel?” Corey asked.
“It’s not really a tunnel,” Chloe said as she waved for us to follow. “Beyond the basement is a cold cellar for storing vegetables and preserves. There’s a chute from the barn.”
“Which is now the garage,” I said.
She nodded. “Kit installed a fire-escape ladder. That’s why we rented this place.”
She pulled open a door on the far side of the basement, then reached in and pulled a string. A bare bulb lit a corridor with cement walls and a dirt floor. She waved us in.
“Yeah, right.” Ash caught my arm before I could walk in, then pointed at Chloe. “You first.”
Derek muttered something and shoved past. He headed into the dimly lit hall. We followed. The hallway passed a couple of rooms that must have been for storage at one time, the wooden shelves now rotting and dotted with dusty jars filled with gray preserves.
The hall ended at a rope ladder. Derek gave it a tug, then went up first. When I tried to follow, Ash elbowed me aside and cautiously ascended, peering through at the top before waving us up.
We came out in the barn/garage, as Chloe had said. Derek motioned for silence. I peered around. It was nearly pitch black—the only light coming through a break in the roof. But after being in the cold cellar, my eyes had adjusted. When I could make out a ladder leading to the hayloft, I tapped Derek’s arm—figuring he’d have better night vision than Chloe. I pointed to the ladder and mouthed “safe?” He nodded and led us over to it. We went up.
At the top, mouldering straw covered the floor. I could smell feces. Cat or rat, I wasn’t sure. I just kept my ears attuned for squeaks or hisses as we cleared spots and hunkered down.
Outside, all was silent. Or so it seemed, until we quieted down and I could pick up the distant murmur of voices. Then one grew louder.
“I want to speak to Dr. Inglis.” It was Dr. Fellows. “Are you listening—?”
An outraged squawk, then muffled cries, as if someone had gagged her.
Derek winced. He shot a glance toward Chloe, but she didn’t seem to have heard. He cast a glower at me, as if warning me not to tell her that her aunt had been taken. I wasn’t about to.
A minute later, when I caught a noise below, I shot up, but Derek waved me down and went to the stairs. He leaned out. Then he climbed down a few stairs. A moment later he returned. Kit followed him. As Kit surveyed our faces, Derek headed back down a few steps to look around below. Then, almost simultaneously, they whispered, “Where’s Simon?”
The next few minutes were a flurry of whispers and worries as they each realized Simon wasn’t with the other one. Then I caught his voice in the distance. Derek heard it, too. He told Kit. They whispered together, but there was nothing anyone could do. The Cabals had Dr. Fellows, Tori, Rafe, and Simon.
“They aren’t going to hurt your son,” Hayley said. “Rafe left his sister with them.”
Kit looked ill, but managed to nod. “Yes. They won’t hurt him. Not if they hope to convince us to rejoin the fold.”
Derek snorted. “Like that would ever happen.”
Kit said nothing. But Derek’s head whipped around to face his father.
“Dad?” he said.
“Simon will be fine,” he said. “But if we hope to end this on our terms, we need to get everyone else out of here.”