Page 80 of Strange Lights

“You let us walk in here blind, right into a trap,” Calvin says.

“No, I followed you into a trap that you helped Adele set.” My guilt doesn’t quite blot out my anger.

Calvin swears, drags himself to his feet, and looks for an escape.

“You can’t get out,” Meredith says bitterly. “Trust me. We’ve all tried.”

“We’ve all messed up,” Zara says, “letting Mommy Dearest play her mind games with us. Now pull it together and let’s get the hell out of here.”

I call out in desperation, thinking of Eldi’s watch, lying on the table. “I know you’re not just a watch. If you want to get Eldi out safely, get Doug and Dave. The Winnebago.”

The watch flickers on. I can only hope it can do something.

“Go bags and the antidote to the werewolf suppressant,” Zara says suddenly. She follows my example and speaks to the watch, quickly relaying a set of directions. “Tell them where your bag is, too, Meredith; I know you have one prepared.”

“Are you sure you can trust either of them?” Calvin asks me quietly.

“You’re one to talk,” Meredith snaps at him. “Can we trust you? I was the one who called you, tried to warn you and Reggie. Which I wouldn’t have done if I’d realized you were a double-crosser passing information on to Adele.”

Calvin looks like she’s slapped him. To me he says, “I’m sorry, Reggie. I swear I stopped as soon as I realized what Eldi was.”

“Now isn’t the time,” I say. “Zara’s right. It’s been Adele all along, turning us against each other.”

“You finally figured that out, did you?” Zara says. “I was serious when I offered to help you the other night. That’s why she locked me in here. I didn’t tell her where you were.”

“Right, well, if we’re working together now,” Calvin says, “let’s brainstorm. You know the place best, you know your⁠—you know Adele. How do we leave when Doug and Dave get here?”

“We can’t go out the way we came in,” I say. “She left that option to lure me in. I’m sure of it. That will be the first place she checks, if it isn’t already locked down. Think unexpected, anything ridiculous she won’t have planned for.”

Meredith doesn’t hesitate. “The launch pad, the only entrance she won’t be expecting us to take because there’s nowhere to go. It’s on top of a cliff.”

“Can you fly anything?” Calvin says. “I can’t.”

“No, but you said think ridiculous options,” Meredith answers.

Calvin swears. “Maybe we could climb down, or maybe the robots⁠—”

“The Winnebago can fly if Doug or Dave or the watch can get it here,” I say.

“Of course it can,” Calvin mutters.

“I hope you were listening,” Zara shouts toward the watch. “Tell Doug or Dave. However that works. Who the hell are Doug and Dave, by the way?”

“We have to get out of here, though, if Doug and Dave don’t come for us,” Calvin says.

The door clicks open as Calvin speaks, and Dave appears in the shadows around the doorframe. I’ve never been so thrilled to see him.

“Zara, meet Dave,” I say.

Dave makes quick work of the door locks. Eldi hesitates like a frightened kitten in the back of the cage when I try to coax her out.

“Please, Eldi, it’s me, I promise.” She wordlessly creeps forward with Calvin and Dave, both coaxing her along. It takes everything in me not to scoop her up. Meredith is already grabbing our weapons and the watch from the table. Zara accepts the syringe that Dave hands her with one of his tentacles and steps toward Calvin.

“Nice to meet you, Dave,” she says as she moves toward Calvin with the syringe.

Zara gives Calvin a sardonic look when he glares daggers at her.

“You want your powers back, right? This is the antidote; it will speed things up. Or if you really don’t trust me, you can wait a day or so.” He looks like he wants to argue, but he swears and holds out his arm for Zara to slide in the syringe. He yelps, and Eldi leaps from his arms as he turns into his wolf form and then straight back a few times, a magical shrug into his powers.