Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (49 page)

Cressa reached out instinctively, as if this
were a movie and she might actually have a shot at snagging the
other girl’s arm and saving the day. Unfortunately, this was real
life. Daphne was falling too fast, and was too far away for Cressa
to have a prayer of playing the hero.

You may not be a superhero, but you do have
powers.

Concentrating all of her energy, just as
Madame Gillis had taught her, Cressa reached for Daphne with her
mind. The little canary’s tiny body continued to free-fall.
Panicking, Cressa pushed harder, exerting so much energy that she
started to sweat profusely, despite the cold draft in the air. Just
as she was certain that Daphne was going to slam into the ground,
the younger girl jerked violently. Her spine bowed to the point her
legs were nearly above her little blonde bun. Stomach inches from
the earth, Daphne came to an abrupt halt.

“
Please be okay.”
Repeating the phrase like a mantra, Cressa released her and raced
down the last set of stairs. By the time she reached Daphne, her
friend was on her hands and knees on the ground, dirt and tears
streaking her cheeks.

Cressa knelt beside Daphne and gathered the
little girl in to her arms. “You’re okay. You’re okay,” she cooed,
just as her mother used to do when Cressa was a child.

Overhead, the sirens were still blaring. The
ground vibrated beneath Cressa. Though she was unable to hear the
pounding of the guards’ boots in the outside tunnel, she was sure
that was what was causing the earth to rumble.

“
Get her up. We need to
go, unless you want to see the inside of one of those electric
cages.”

Hartley,
Cressa thought, relieved. Despite his callous
warning to leave Daphne behind, he’d stayed to help
them.

But the figure that emerged from the shadows
beneath the staircase was too short to be Hartley. The golden
wreath of hair encircling his head like a crown was also much
different than Hartley’s close-cropped dark locks.

“
Kev?” Cressa asked
disbelievingly. She’d barely whispered his name, but the star
nodded in confirmation.

“
Yeah, it’s me. Hurry.
They’re coming.”

Kev darted over and pulled Cressa to her
feet, then Daphne. Still shaken from her fall, Daphne was too
shocked to react to Kev’s sudden appearance. By unspoken agreement,
Kev and Cressa each looped an arm around Daphne’s waist and dragged
her towards the entranceway.

Peeking his head through the opening, Kev
looked right and left. He swore under his breath.

“
They’re here. We have one
shot. Follow me.”

Nodding, Cressa helped Kev carry Daphne into
the outer tunnel. There were no sirens out there, so Cressa was
able to hear the guards rushing toward them from both sides, even
though she had yet to see them.

Kev didn’t go far before stopping.

“
Can you hold her on your
own?” he asked Cressa.

“
Yeah, I think so.”
Readjusting to accommodate more of Daphne’s weight, Cressa nodded
decisively. “Yeah, I’ve got her.”

Kev released his hold on Daphne and focused
on the section of wall in front of them. Just like the entrance to
the observation cavern, there were no obvious markings to indicate
there was a secret entranceway before her.

He laid both his hands on the wall and
pushed. The stone gave way under the combine efforts of his mental
and physical strength, moving several inches inward.

The shouts and footfalls of the guards grew
louder.

Cressa’s heart was racing faster than a
Kentucky Derby winner. One of those electric cages had Cressa’s
name on it already—she just knew it.

Kev gave the door another hard shove. With a
groan, the stone slab retreated a full foot this time. He grabbed
Daphne roughly by the arm and forced her through the opening. The
little girl whimpered, but didn’t fight him.

“
Go,” Kev
insisted.

You don’t need to tell me
twice,
Cressa thought, sliding sideways
through the doorway.

Kev was much broader than Cressa or Daphne,
and didn’t fit quite so well in the small space. He got stuck when
he tried to wedge himself through the opening.

Cressa met his penetrating gaze, alarm
flashing in both their eyes.

“
Just go,” Kev told her.
“Run straight, until the tunnel dead-ends. Then, take a right. Pass
the first three turnoffs, then you’ll take another right. That will
dump you in the tunnel that connects to your floor. Got it?” He
spoke so rapidly that Cressa had a hard time understanding his
instructions. But that wasn’t the only reason she
hesitated.

Kev could have run earlier. He probably
would have already been safe and sound back in his own bed, far
away from the tunnels and the guards. Yet, he hadn’t. Not only had
he likely saved Daphne’s life, he’d stayed to make sure both girls
made it out of the observation catacombs.

“
No,” Cressa said
decisively. She grabbed ahold of Kev’s arm and tried to pull him
inside the tunnel with her.

Wincing, Kev twisted and turned to no avail.
“Please, just go,” he pleaded with Cressa.

She considered it, but again refused to
repay his acts with cowardice.

Switching her focus to the partially open
stone door, Cressa took a deep breath and concentrated on moving
the slab with her mind. A sharp stab of pain shot through her head,
and her brain felt like her legs usually did after running the mile
in gym class. Ignoring her own fatigue and discomfort, Cressa
focused harder. She could do this.

It was like she was back in the exam room,
except failure carried much steeper penalties. There wouldn’t be
another chance. From the noise in the tunnels, she knew the guards
were nearly upon them. Only the many twists and turns in the
passageway had kept them from seeing Kev thus far. But as soon as
the first of the Dame’s men rounded the bend, he’d be caught.

“
I can do this,” Cressa
grunted.

With one last shove that made her entire
body shake from exertion, the stone moved just enough for Kev to
wiggle the rest of the way through. To Cressa’s surprise, the door
sprang shut behind him, plunging the trio into utter darkness.

The stone walls were thick, drowning out the
sound of the guards on the other side. Cressa could only hear her
own beating heart and Kev’s panting.

Exhausted, Cressa leaned against the tunnel
wall, letting the cold stone cool her sweaty skin. For several long
moments, no one spoke, all three contemplating how close they’d
come to being the Institute’s newest PDs.

Finally, Daphne broke the silence.

“
Thank you, both of you.”
Her voice was barely above a whisper, yet still echoed in the
passage.

Cressa’s eyes began adjusting to the
darkness, and she was able to make out the silhouettes of the other
two. Daphne was ashen, clearly still shaken from her near-fatal
accident. When she took Cressa’s hand, Daphne’s was damp with
perspiration and trembling.

“
Thank you,” Cressa
replied pointedly, understanding that Daphne must have been the one
to close the door.

“
Oh, well, it’s the least
I could do.” Daphne giggled nervously. “I sort of lost it out
there. If you two hadn’t been there…. Like I said, it’s the least I
could do.”

Cressa found Kev in the darkness. He was
bent at the waist, rubbing his ribs with one hand. “Why were you
there?” she asked accusingly.

“
Huh? Oh, you mean in that
freak show of a room?” Kev shrugged. Even in the dark tunnel,
Cressa could see the smirk that melted so many hearts. “I like to
look around at night—been doing it since I arrived. I knew Hartley
and his lackeys were out for a stroll, so I decided to follow. You
know, see if they’d discovered stuff that I hadn’t. I saw you guys
go in to that observation room, and I followed you.”

“
Good thing you did.”
Cressa glanced sideways at Daphne. “Really good thing.”

“
Yeah, those guys are
jerks,” Daphne added. She was clearly trying to sound annoyed, but
her voice shook when she spoke.

“
You don’t have to tell me
that,” Kev replied. “Hartley’s the worst, and the other two are
just idiots. All three of them have been trying to cozy up to me
since I arrived. Hartley even ratted on his former roommate to make
sure there would be a vacancy when I advanced, so we would live
together.”

“
What? Really?” Cressa had
sort of liked Hartley. His beliefs were a little too radical for
her taste, but at least he hadn’t reveled in the sources’ suffering
like the Jacobs.

“
Yeah,” Kev confirmed.
“His old roommate was the one who discovered the tunnels in the
first place. One night when he went exploring, Hartley reported him
to Gregor. The kid was dismissed immediately.”

“
Did he become a PD?”
Daphne asked.

Kev nodded. “Yep. Didn’t you guys have a
demonstration today in class? Like where you saw an 8P take his
advancement exam?”

Daphne and Cressa exchanged glances, then
nodded in unison.

“
Figured as much. So did
we, and the PD used in ours was Hartley’s old roommate. Man, I hope
that rat gets caught. It would serve him right.” Kev sighed. “Look,
we aren’t in the clear yet. We need to get back to our beds before
the guards go searching the dorms. I can get you back to your
floor, but you’re on your own from there.”

“
Yeah, let’s go,” Cressa
agreed.

It seemed Kev knew the tunnels better than
Hartley and his friends. Even without the added advantage of a
flashlight or the lamps, which apparently didn’t connect to the
same switch that Daphne had turned on earlier, Kev knew the
location of every crack, root, and low-hanging section of
ceiling.

The walk back took three times as long as
the walk there.

“
There are several hidden
passages way that would get us back faster,” Kev explained. “But I
don’t think any of us are up for using telekinesis to open the
doorways. We need to save what little energy we have to open the
entrances to our floors.”

“
Do you think the Dame has
sent Leslie and Gregor to do bed-checks?” Cressa asked. “If so, I
vote for taking our chances down here. One of these tunnels must
lead to the kitchen, if not an exit.”

“
No, we need to at least
try making it back,” Daphne replied. “Gracia told me that a while
back, a group of cadets was caught sneaking out of bed to explore
down here. The Dame didn’t want the whole school knowing about the
tunnels, so she just sent her guards down here to smoke them out.
Like,
literally
smoke them out. According to Gracia, they pumped knockout gas
through the ventilation system. The kids passed out, and then
guards just wandered around until they found their unconscious
bodies.”

“
And you couldn’t have
told me this before I agreed to come along?” Cressa
groaned.

The younger girl shrugged. “I didn’t want to
scare you off. The other girls are all pretty nasty to me, always
making snide comments because I’m so much younger than the rest of
you, and because Gracia is my sister. You’re the only one who has
been nice to me.”

Cressa thought back over the conversations
between Daphne and the other 2P girls. The twins had made several
rude remarks aimed at the little canary. Then again, the twins were
just sort of brats. Daphne wasn’t their only target; they made fun
of everyone. So far, Cressa hadn’t found herself on the receiving
end of their bitchiness, though she knew it was only a matter of
time. And she didn’t doubt they traded jokes about Cressa behind
her back.

“
This is you guys, up here
on the left,” Kev said, interrupting her musings.

Cressa’s gaze followed the direction he was
pointing. There was no obvious opening, just a wall of smooth
stone.

“
Are you sure?” Cressa’s
eyes darted around the tunnel. It didn’t look like the spot where
they’d entered the passage—the bizarre light panel was no where in
sight.

“
Pretty sure. I watched a
few 2P girls go through here a couple of weeks ago. There is
definitely a door there, anyhow.”

Cressa scrutinized the section of wall,
which appeared identical to the rest of the tunnel. “How can you
tell where the doors are?”

Kev grinned. “Look harder. Like, really
hard. Give into your senses.”

Cressa did as she was told, unsure what she
was supposed to see.

Daphne gasped. “Holy sea urchin. I see it.”
Tenderly, as if worried the stone might crumple beneath her touch,
Daphne ran her fingers down a section of the wall. “It’s so
pretty,” she added.

Staring at the wall until
her eyes began to water from the effort of not blinking, Cressa
concentrated with all of her might. Slowly—
very
slowly—the stone began to glow
faintly. The longer Cressa stared, the brighter the surface became,
until she was finally able to see the outline of a doorway. Instead
of the drab, gray wall, the stone was a deep, rich iridescent
blue.

“
Now that you see it, you
won’t be able not to,” Kev told her with a faint smile. “I think it
has something to do with the serum they injected us with. In
addition to giving us talents, it heightens our natural senses and
allows us to see colors outside the normal visible spectrum.” He
tapped his temple. “You just have to know how to use your new
eyesight correctly.”

“
How do you know so much
about this stuff?” Daphne asked. “Did they teach you about it at
movie star school?”