The dream he’d had earlier filled Reef like a tsunami, and as the redhead from his subconscious flailed at him, her accusations ringing through his ears, Reef fell backward, his head swimming at the devastating loss she’d just witnessed. He couldn’t understand what was happening, but more importantly, he knew he had to keep her quiet before she attracted any more attention to herself.

There was going to be hell to pay when someone stumbled upon five mortals dead in the portal on the Hollows side.

And if anyone sees her here, there will be six.

Without wasting another second, Reef scooped her into his arms, clamping his hand over her mouth, and sprinted from the access door, deeper into the Trenches. He wasn’t sure where he was going to take her. He just knew that he couldn’t bring her anywhere near the palace.

The beings in the Trenches minded their business. If someone did happen to catch a glimpse of the beautiful ginger who had fallen into his territory, the residents here would be a lot less likely to go to the Authority.

You are the Authority, Reef reminded himself, but he was having a hard time focussing as the girl writhed furiously in his arms. He kept his hand firmly over her mouth and ducked through the alleys, noting how the locals averted their eyes. They knew who he was, and seeing him striding through the crooked roads with a capture in his arms was hardly uncommon. They didn’t want any part of what was happening, and they wouldn’t ask questions. At least, that is what he hoped.

Half-flying, Reef finally found himself at the edge of the Trenches, leading into a lower-middle-class neighborhood where he stopped, panting.

“I’m going to take my hand away, but if you scream…” Reef didn’t feel like he needed to finish his thought aloud. The redhead stared at him with terrified eyes, but she managed to nod slightly, and Reef reluctantly removed his hand. To her credit, the girl didn’t scream, though the look on her face spoke of sheer mortification.

“What’s your name?” Reef demanded, wishing he could strike the aghast expression from her face.

“P-Penelope C-Carling.”

“Do you know who I am, Penelope?” She shook her head, her lower lip quivering. Inexplicably, Reef had an overwhelming desire to embrace her and tell her everything was going to be okay. He didn’t, of course, knowing that such an action would lead to more hollering. “I’m Reef Parker. I’m in charge of the Hollows Authority.”

He was met with a blank look. The dread in her eyes, however, was unmistakable.

She has no idea where she is, Reef realized. She wandered into the Hollows without having a clue as to what could happen. How does one convince another to do that?

“You need to answer a few questions for me, Penelope.”

She shuddered and closed her eyes. “This is just a sick joke,” she babbled to herself. “Violet and you and Lotte and Duke… all con artists. You’re just a bunch of sick bastards! I’m getting a refund when I get back, and I’m reporting you to the police! I’m filing charges. This is so wrong, so sick!”

Tears slipped down her wan cheeks, and Reef felt a fission of compassion for her. He couldn’t let her fall apart. “You need to focus, Penelope. How is it that you could get down here, but they died going back?”

“What are you?” Penelope asked in the way of a response. The spark of appreciation Reef had initially seen in her eyes had vanished, and she was staring at him like he was a monster.

Although, to a mortal, I suppose I would be a monster, he thought rationally. For thousands of years, he’d lived among the mortals, well before he and his brothers had gained access to the Hollows. He knew exactly what his mortal counterparts thought of him and his kind. He didn’t know why he was moderately hurt by Penelope’s judging eyes.

“Where do you think you are?”

Suddenly, she gasped, falling back against the brick of the building they had sheltered themselves between.

“Hollow Earth,” she choked, as if she had abruptly realized something she hadn’t thought of before. “I’ve read about this. The Hollows. This can’t be real. This is some David Avocado Wolf rhetoric.”

Reef gritted his gleaming teeth together and tried not to snap at her, realizing that she was trying to process what was going on in a worse way than he was. “Penelope—”

“Can you call me Penny?” she interrupted, turning her head up to stare at him. He was unable to speak when their eyes met again.

She came to me in my dream. I knew her in my dream. Have I met her before? It seemed unlikely, but Reef could not think of another explanation for why the connection he felt to her was so strong.

If she had been anyone else, his instinct would have been to kill her. Wouldn’t it? He didn’t feel remorse about the dead mortals in the access. Reef’s plan all along had been to kill them, and yet the thought of harming the fair, gorgeous ginger in front of him made him almost physically ill.

I hadn’t really wanted the other mortals to die, either, he thought, but better them than her.

“Penny,” he said quietly. “I know this is a lot for you to understand right now, but I need you to stay with me, okay? First, I need you to tell me how you found out about the portal. Who told you about it?”

Penelope— Penny inhaled shakily and eyed him. Reef could see she was debating whether to tell him the truth before she seemed to realize that her options lay directly in his hands.

“Her name is Violet—or, at least, that’s what she said her name was. I doubt it’s real.”

Reef frowned, wracking the Rolodex of his mind for anyone he knew by that name. “What did she look like? Where did you meet her? How did you find her?”

Penny threw up a hand, and Reef bit on his lower lip to contain his impatience. “I— one question at a time. Please.”

“Penny…” He steeled his temper. “I can’t explain to you how much danger you’re in right now. You just have to believe me when I tell you that if I don’t find this Violet and stop her from bringing more of you down here, more of you will die.”

“You sent them back through there!” she protested. “You’re the only threat I see!”

Reef bristled at the words, and he glowered, his face inches from hers. “I just saved your life, and if I’d known the portal would kill your friends, I wouldn’t have sent them through it. Every second you stay down here, you’re asking for trouble.”

“I’m leaving,” Penny muttered. “If you’ll let me. And I’ll take you to Violet, too.”

Relief swept through him, but he was wary about her promise. She didn’t seem to trust him. Nevertheless, she was his best hope at the moment.

“You expect to see her again?” Reef asked, trying to keep the excitement from his voice. “When? Where?”

“Yes,” Penny answered, her voice barely audible as she spoke. “She’s supposed to meet us at the portal at 6:00 to give us another dose of the serum so we can travel back home.”

“So there is a serum,” Reef sighed. “I knew there had to be something. What was in it?”

She stared at him. “I have no idea. I’m not a…” She stopped talking, her jaw locked, and she shifted her eyes away from him. “I have no idea.”

“We have to find out,” Reef told her grimly. “We’ll meet her at 6:00, and I’ll arrest her.”

“What will you do to her?”

“I’ll get the serum from her, and then she will be punished.”

“Punished? How? Why?” Penny demanded, her face paling at the idea. Reef blinked and stared at her in disbelief.

“Why do you care? She’s no friend of yours. She basically sent you here to your death.”

Penny didn’t have an answer, and the energy seemed to slowly drain from her body as she sank further against the wall, her knees apparently failing her.

“Oh, God,” she muttered.

“What?”

“What if she doesn’t show?” she whispered. “What if she comes through the portal and sees everyone dead? What if she doesn’t come back for me?”

Reef’s neck stiffened. “She’ll come back,” he insisted firmly. “And we’ll be there waiting for her.”

“But what if she doesn’t?” A note of near-hysteria filled Penny’s voice. “If no one down here has heard of this serum, and if there’s no other way for me to get home…”

Reef knew what she was thinking, but he refused to entertain it for a second. There is no way she is staying trapped down here, he thought grimly. Because even if I don’t kill her, someone else will for certain.

“We’ll cross that bridge if we get to it,” Reef told her. “But she’ll show.”

Penny stared at him with wet eyes, her complexion almost translucent. “What do we do until then?” she murmured.

“We lay low and we wait,” he responded, and even as he said it, his eyes moved up toward the eye cameras peering down at them.

He’d forgotten that Elsa was watching his every move.