Hidden by Sophie Jordan Read Free Book Online Page B

underworld.
    “Jacinda.” Will tugs my arm. “We have to go.”
    “Fine,” I say, “let’s just get out of here before he realizes the doors are open.”
    We flee the room. No one asks for further explanation, and I guess everyone is just satisfied that we’re finally on our way out. I slide Cassian a glance. He runs with one hand wrapped around Miram’s arm, as if he’s somehow afraid he might lose her again.
    Then an awful screech tears through the air. It’s a sound I recognize. Was it only hours ago that I heard that sound, convinced I might die?
    The gray one is free.
    “This way!” Will shouts without having to be told that the unnatural sound comes from a creature we do not want to face.
    We run down another corridor, feet and shoes slapping hard on the tile. I glance at Tamra. Her white hair looks red in the glow of emergency lights suffusing the air. The way it used to look. The way I look.
    Ahead there’s an open threshold and just beyond it a set of wide concrete steps.
    “The stairwell,” Tamra shouts, a smile splitting her face. The first one I’ve seen from her since I persuaded her to join us on this journey.
    I smile, too. We’re almost there. We’ve made it.
    Then the alarm cuts off, along with the automated voice blaring from above. An eerie silence descends—the only sound that of our crashing breaths as we near that first bottom step. The first step to our freedom.
    The sudden plunge into quiet forces us into slow motion, makes us all pause. I hesitate, looking around uncertainly.
    A mistake. Suddenly a large steel door slides shut before us, walling off the stairwell.
    And sealing us in.



6
    I t seems that no one says anything for quite some time, but it can’t be more than thirty seconds. We just stare in a sort of stunned disbelief at the spot where there once were stairs. Stairs that are supposed to lead us out of here.
    “Where’s the elevator?” Tamra blurts, spinning around, her gaze searching as if she’s going to suddenly find it right behind us.
    It’s the only reminder we need. There’s another way out of here. Risk or no risk, climbing into an elevator is our only chance.
    We hurry down the wide halls, our shadows dark and fluid shapes on the red-tinged walls. Draki and human—the combination strikes a chill to my heart, especially in this environment where draki and human don’t blend.
    And then I feel guilty, because I know what I am. I know what Will’s not. And I already decided it didn’t matter. I believe that.
    I shake my head and concentrate on the path before me, the steady pound of my feet, ignoring the whisper in the back of my head. The voice that reminds me those five minutes are almost up.
    We pull to a stop at the elevator. The doors are shut, the silver panels sealed tight. Will pushes the button, hitting hard two times. Nothing. No light. No sign that it’s working at all.
    “They’ve locked the place down,” Cassian announces grimly.
    “What do you mean? What are you saying?” Tamra looks wildly at each of us. “We can’t get out? Like … ever?”
    “It must be procedure to shut everything down when something goes wrong—like us infiltrating,” Will explains. Even without understanding Tamra, he can guess the gist of our conversation.
    “So we’re stuck?” I ask, shaking my head, refusing to believe that. “For how long?”
    “They don’t want to risk any of us escaping,” Lia announces.
    I growl with disgust. We shouldn’t have gone back for the gray one. We would have made it out of here like the other draki, all of whom are probably flying home right now. If we had just kept going, we’d be free. But now we’re stuck down here. With him .
    The flesh at the back of my neck prickles and I shiver, glancing around as though he were there. Ready to pick up where we left off. It’s all in my head. There’s nothing behind us but a hazy red-infused hall. When I turn back, my gaze finds Lia.
    She gives a small shrug of apology,