I knocked Benny’s arm aside before he could fire.

The motion caught Indigo’s attention. He moved, fluid and graceful, freeing one gauntleted hand to aim it at us—the same gauntleted hand that, earlier, had shot sedative pellets to subdue us.

“Sit down,” he said, quiet but calm.

I pushed Benny’s shoulder until he sat down beside me. Quint had not made it up past her knees, eyes gone round.

Indigo moved his gauntleted hand away from its threatening posture at us to tap at his collar light. White light flashed out in a simple pattern: a quick flutter, a longer hold. Then he angled his arm back out to point at us while he felt around inside the tunnel with his free arm, brows drawn down in concentration.

He seemed to find whatever he was looking for. His movements stopped, his arm went still. Then he took his gauntleted hand back to his throat, dialed the collar-light to green, and flashed a solid burst of light.

The Green Minister writhed her way out of the gap under Indigo’s arm, curly dark hair snagging on metal as she went. I could feel frustration vibrating through Benny. There were two Ministers free now—our chance was gone for good.

Indigo, ignoring us now that Green was there to keep an eye on us, flashed that first pattern again: a quick flutter, a longer hold. Then he shifted again, shoulders flexing, getting his arm in a better position. He lifted up again and I heard metal groan, and then Indigo tapped out a yellow flash on his collar-light. Yellow emerged a moment later.

Red light, green light, I realized. Indigo was telling them stop, quick-flutter-longer-hold, and go, single-flash.

“You had better have a plan, Sean,” Benny said, so close to my ear I could feel his breath on my cheek.

“I’ll make one up,” I whispered back, and made my voice as hard as his.

One emerged last, collar light violet-black. She cast her gaze over the room, taking in the broken stall walls, the ancient toilets, Benny and Quint sitting behind me.

The wall of debris shifted and groaned, crashing down with a wash of dust, as Indigo pulled his arm out of the tunnel and let the whole thing collapse.

No way back.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

One and Two

“Mr. Wren,” One said, calm amidst the dust. “A word.”

I didn’t think of myself as a coward. I had the imp, didn’t I, and the one thing that made the imp come running every time was the whiff of fear. Getting burned wouldn’t beat the candle flame, my mother had warned me, but I’d rather blister than wonder.

“Mommy’s calling,” Benny said, when I did not move from my seat.

I left him without rejoinder and followed her.

There was a little room separated out from the main bathroom. Once it had been a changing room, maybe. It was small, with splintered remains of counters still clinging to the walls, and old mirrors facing each other across the floor in infinite reflection. Our flashlights gleamed in the mirrors like a line of diminishing stars.