More movement outside, more laughter, both boys and girls, from the sound of it. Something about these people was really starting to sicken Michael. He didn’t care what kind of Tangents had taken over their bodies; they were still children, running around in harm’s way. Could the adults be using them as bait? It was so confusing, he almost wished he were back in that prison cell.

Finally, Helga’s last comment caught up with him. Except…except what? Her people were looking at her with varying expressions of shock. It seemed something was going on here that Michael and his friends didn’t understand.

“You can’t be serious,” Walter said after a long silence.

“You can’t be serious to question me,” Helga countered. “We’re completely out of options. Do you think they’re going to let us walk out of here?”

“But it’s against everything our alliance stands for.” The eerie laughing hadn’t stopped, filtering in through the windows like something from a haunted orphanage.

A man’s voice suddenly thundered at them.

“Your hour is up! We want your leader to come outside with her hands in the air or we’ll detonate. We see one sign of a weapon and it’s all over.”

Michael thought it sounded like Trae—it was the same lilting accent. Maybe this was a chance to surrender and leave. He looked at Helga, whose eyes made it clear that she didn’t agree.

“We have no choice,” she said, sounding tired. “We have to give them the true death.”

CHAPTER 5

BEDTIME STORIES

1

“I’m coming!” Helga called back. “I won’t have a weapon, and you’ll want to hear what I have to say. We have something that could be very valuable to you.”

Michael turned to his friends and shot them a questioning look. They clearly didn’t know any more than he did. The green glow of the NetScreens around the room shone in their eyes, lighting them up like orbs of kryptonite.

“Enough talk!” Trae yelled back. “You have three seconds to get out here.”

Helga quickly walked to the door, opened it, and stepped outside. Walter twitched with an obvious desire to follow her, but held his place. He had a murderous, angry expression on his face.

“Let’s check it out,” Bryson whispered. He nodded to a window and gestured to Michael and Sarah to follow.

The glass crunched beneath their shoes as they crept up to it. Bryson swiped away the few jagged pieces of glass remaining in the frame and knelt down. Michael got to his knees on Bryson’s left and Sarah crouched to his right. Michael hoped the darkness would hide them from whoever was outside.