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Cam looks from me to Adrienne. “So the version who put us down here…”
“Shadow self.” I nod, then grimace. “She goes by Popi.”
“Popi,” Cam scoffs the name, then frowns as he scrutinizes the side of my face. “Does that mean the regular version is back in her body now? You think she would help us?”
“If she can,” I all but whisper. “Getting back was only half the problem. Pushing V back out of my body—” I clear my throat. “I hope Calla managed to do it.”
I can’t bear to entertain the alternative.
“You Darkmores are forces to be reckoned with. I’m sure she’ll be fine. But I have a feeling there’s something else that has you so worried.”
I blink up at him, surprised, but he isn’t looking at me. His eyes are locked on the diamond ring on my finger.
“He was with me when I was taken,” I say hoarsely. “I don’t know how many of Westcott’s people were in that ambush, but they outnumbered us. Westcott’s already tried to kill him once.” And the thought of it happening while I’m trapped here and can do nothing to stop it…
I let out a frustrated breath through my nose, trying to force the image of Reid in that body bag from my mind, him staked to the floor, the Russians pinning him to the wall… Why do I feel like I’m always on the brink of losing him?
Cam takes my hand in his, intertwining our fingers, and squeezes. “He’ll be all right. Your sister too.”
A loud screech of metal on metal fills the air, and I cringe. Cam’s the first to his feet, getting as close the bars as his chain will allow to see where it’s coming from.
“What’s going on?” Adrienne stirs, still sounding half asleep, and I hold up a finger for her to be quiet, my heart steadily beating faster in my chest as I stand and join Cam.
Dust swirls in the air in the pockets of light.
“Ugh!” Someone coughs, and high heels click against the cement, drawing closer. “It’s disgustingdown here.”
I stop breathing at that voice.
Oh my…oh myGod.
“Is that…” Cam mutters.
Anya steps in front of our cell, squinting in at us with her nose scrunched. “Oh, it’s even worse in there.” She grabs the bars with one hand and yanks it clear from the wall. Cam and I back up as chunks of dirt and cement explode from the walls and rain down from the ceiling.
Anya tosses aside the bars, and my shoulders slump, that surge of hope quickly souring in the pit of my stomach.
“Anya…”
She beams at me, not realizing. The bars were never what was keeping us in.
She glances at the shackles around each of our ankles. “Oh, are you worried about those?”
She probably thinks she can break those too. But if they’re bound with magic, no amount of strength will be enough. But then she does the unthinkable. From the dainty white purse hanging off her shoulder, she produces a set of keys.
“Where did you—how?” I ask.
“These”—she jangles the keys before getting to work unlocking Adrienne—“were easy. The guards up there went down without much of a fight. There were half a dozen when I first scoped the place out, but it’s down to three right now. So Westcott must have pulled them back for something.”
“The train—the others…?”
“There was so much chaos. I made myself scarce. Turns out all those years of stowing away paid off. There were a lot of them. Way too many to take on myself, especially with how quickly they had everyone unconscious. I don’t know what kind of magic it was, but it waspowerful.I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like it. They left a lot of the backup Marionettes behind and unconscious. But then they were taking you somewhere different than the others, so I followed. Figured I’d have a better chance with their jailbreak if I had some backup.”
“You know where they took them?”
She nods as Adrienne’s chain rattles against the ground as it drops, then she moves on to me. “The compound. All still alive, as far as I could tell. The security is intense. But he wouldn’t have killed them yet. Not with…”
She trails off as she starts to work the key into Cam’s shackle.
