“Holy God,” Sam whispers, taking in the beast’s enormity.

I’m momentarily stunned myself, and all I can do is stare at it: a hulking mass slumped in the room’s far corner. Its eyes are closed and it breathes rhythmically. The beast must be fifty feet tall when standing, and from what I can tell its dark body is shaped like a man’s, but with much longer arms.

“I want nothing to do with this place,” Sam says.

“You sure?” I ask, nudging him so his gaze leaves the monster. “Look.”

There, in the center of the room, at eye level atop a thick stone pedestal, is my Chest. And right beside it sits a second one, almost identical in appearance. Both of them there for the taking. Except for the iron bars around them, which are housed beneath a humming and crackling electrical force field surrounded by a moat of the steaming green liquid. And the slumbering giant.

“That’s not Six’s Chest,” I say.

“What are you talking about? Who else’s would it be?” Sam asks, confused.

“They found us, Sam. In Florida, they found us by opening Six’s Chest.”

“Right, I know.”

“But look at the padlock on it. Why would they put the lock back on a Chest that they probably had a hell of a time getting into in the first place? I think that one’s never been opened.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“It could be any of ours,” I whisper, shaking my head while staring up at them both. “Number Five’s or Nine’s or anyone’s who isn’t dead yet.”

“So they stole the Chest and didn’t kill the Garde?”

“Like they did with me. Or maybe the Mogs caught one of them and they’re being held here like Six was,” I say.

Sam doesn’t get a chance to answer, because just then the alarm on his wristwatch begins to beep. Three seconds later it’s followed by the whine of a hundred sirens echoing off the walls of the cave.

“Aw hell,” I say, turning my head. “I can see you, Sam.”

He nods, a panicked look on his face. He lets go of my hand. “I can see you, too.”

When I look over Sam’s shoulder, the beast’s eyes have come open—blank and white—narrowing in our direction.

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty