A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner Read Free Book Online Page B

a thick liquid or a tremendous wind, and he saw Sera looking at him. Still they flew through the wormhole, the rush of noise almost deafening.
    An object was in Dak’s other hand. He knew it by touch: the Infinity Ring. When had his father given it to him? He didn’t have time to think, just gripped it in his fingers. The lights grew brighter, the sound impossibly louder. Dak screamed but the sound of it was lost in the madness.
    Then it all ended. Dak and Sera appeared on the floor of the lab.
    There was no sign of his parents. Anywhere.

S ERA COULDN’T quite process what was wrong at first. She’d just had the craziest ten minutes of her entire life, and now she stood back in the quiet lab of Mr. and Mrs. Smyth. Her mind felt a little bent, as if it had just gone up in an airplane and done loops. Parts of her body were hot and other parts were cold. Dak stood next to her, staring at something in his hands. She followed his gaze and saw that he clutched the Infinity Ring.
    The soldiers were nowhere to be seen — but neither were Dak’s parents.
    He was frozen, his eyes glued to the Ring.
    “Dak,” Sera whispered.
    His free hand shot up, palm toward her, telling her to be quiet.
    She let a few seconds pass but couldn’t stand it anymore. “Dak, what do —”
    “Be quiet!” he yelled. “They’re going to show up any second now.”
    Sera felt a painful thumping in her chest, a mix of panic and aching hurt for Dak. Something terrible had happened, and she wasn’t sure why. But if his parents hadn’t appeared yet, they weren’t going to appear at all.
    “Dak, listen to me. . . .”
    He turned toward her, his face at first full of fire and anger. But it quickly melted into despair. His lips trembled.
    “What happened?” he asked, his voice cracking. “Where are they?”
    “I don’t know.” In that moment she felt responsible — had she messed something up in her calculations? “I’m sorry.” She hated that her words sounded so empty.
    Dak turned on her, thrusting the Infinity Ring into her hands. “Fix this! Help them! Do something!”
    “Dak, we’ll figure this out, but you need to calm down,” she said.
    “Easy for you to say! You have no idea . . .” He started pacing around the room, looking as if he wanted something to kick.
    But before he found anything there was a sudden explosion behind them.
    Sera screamed and fell to the floor, instinctively turning her body to avoid landing on the Ring. Lights danced before her eyes as the huge iron door jumped a couple of feet forward then fell down, its ringing
boom
shaking the entire building.
    Then came the people. They stormed into the lab in the wake of the tremendous crash — people dressed head to toe in black. At least a dozen of them.
    Oh, no,
thought Sera.
It’s the SQ.
    Dak freaked out, punching wildly at the intruders as Sera scrambled to her feet. She was shocked and confused and suddenly terrified that these people were going to put a bullet in Dak’s brain.
    “Dak! Stop it!” she shouted, but he seemed like he’d lost his mind. Several men tackled him to the ground, subduing him roughly.
    Sera didn’t know what to do. Her only thought was that she could use the Infinity Ring to get them out of there, but she’d barely had the idea before people were grabbing her, taking the Ring out of her hands. She kicked and flailed to no avail, screaming at the black-clothed thugs.
    “Both of you calm down!” someone yelled at them. “We’re doing this for your own good!”
    But Sera and Dak didn’t stop fighting as the intruders dragged them through the door and away from the laboratory.

    They finally stopped thrashing once they were locked in the backseat of a car and black hoods were pulled over their heads. Sera fumbled for the door handle, but it was locked tight. It took a while for the two of them to calm their breathing, but silence eventually fell over them as the vehicle drove for miles and miles.
    Dak didn’t make a peep as