Page 378 of Hunters and Prey

“Something is wrong,” he said.

Helgi and Bran joined us at the bars, their eyes tracking the Skin as she made her drops.

Dante was the first to move away and station himself on his mattress. “Casual. Remember the cameras.”

Bran moved away, but Helgi and I hovered. Sophia finished with the cell next to us and then it was our turn.

“Power cut at 12:47,” she said. “Check your tray. Most of the collars will unlock once the power is cut. The implement will remove those that don’t. Don’t use the implement until the power goes off.”

My pulse kicked up. “What time is it now?”

“Eleven twenty-three.”

We had just over an hour to wait, and then we could ... Wait. “Weapons.”

She shook her head. “Sorry. They never ... they didn’t have time.” She turned away with a strangled sob. “I have to go. I’m getting out of here.” She ducked her head and wiped at her eyes.

“Why are you crying?” Helgi asked.

She pressed her lips together. “Because—”

The door opened again and another Skin came striding in. Sophia pushed the cart away from us and dropped off unit seven’s tray. The guy at the door kept his eyes on her as she walked away from us and toward him.

“You’re wanted by the commander’s wife,” he said to her.

She nodded and then ducked out of the room. He followed, closing the door firmly behind him.

“What did she say?” Bran asked.

Helgi picked up the tray, and we both turned away from the camera. “It’s in the tray,” Helgi said. “Huddle.”

I locked eyes with Dante. “At 12:47 the power goes out.”

He nodded.

“I don’t understand,” Bran said. “Is this some kind of trick?”

Helgi shook her head. “I think this is the work of some kind of Draco resistance. You remember what Sophia said the other day? About many Bloods being unhappy with Gustov. This makes sense. What better way to strike back at him than by setting us free?”

She was smart, and she almost had the whole story. I couldn’t wait to tell her the rest. Once we were out of here, once we were free, we’d head to the Furtherlands and join the Dreki cause. Dad would be pleased to know he’d been right all along and the kids would be safe.

“We need weapons,” Dante said, but his attention was on me.

The resistance had promised weapons. They’d said they had shit under control, but Sophia hadn’t looked too happy. In fact, she’d looked like she was grieving. Ice trickled into my veins. Oh, God. Had something happened to Buddy and his friend? The impotence of not being able to discuss my suspicions with Dante in front of the others grated on my already frazzled nerves.

Instead, I straightened my spine, injecting confidence into my voice. “We’re going to have to make do without. She was upset. I think there’s stuff she wasn’t telling us, but we can do this. We survived three berserker Wyverns, for God’s sake; knocking out a few Bloods should be no problem.”

Helgi’s eyes lit up. “We can use the trays. The plastic the plates are made from is thick. We can snap it and use those as blades.”

“And I have my blades.” I tapped my boot.

Dante nodded. “We can do this.”

Could we? A shiver of doubt skirted across my mind, but I dismissed it in favor of the pleasant option of victory. Optimism at all costs. Optimism had carried me through the darkest night. It had buoyed me up when the world had been bleak and cruel. Optimism had brought the voice to me. Turning my back on it now wasn’t an option.

“We need to pass the message on to the others,” Bran said.

“They’ll know soon enough,” Helgi said. “Best to keep things normal for the cameras until the power outage. Once the doors open, we can fill them in while we make a break for it.”

Smart. Always thinking ahead, and man, she’d be pissed when I revealed Dante’s true nature and told her about our little excursion. Yeah, she’d be mad for about a minute, but then we’d laugh about it over a cold brew, and possibly knock a few heads together on our journey to the Furtherlands. It would be a tale we’d tell our children.

We had less than an hour to wait and then we would be free. My muscles began to unknot, relaxing under my brain’s command that we had some time. Helgi walked across the cell and sat on the edge of our mattress. Even Bran took a pew. Dante leaned back against the bars, his attention fixed on me and on the tray with the implement to remove the collars hidden inside it.

Minutes ticked by, inching toward the power cut time. How long left now? Half an hour? Twenty minutes?

I traded glances with Helgi to see the light of hope blazing in her eyes. We were getting out of here. In a few minutes we would be free.

And then the intercom buzzed to life and the dreaded monotone voice filled the room.

---