I shuddered. “What do we do?”

  “Keep moving and pay attention. Sally, can you put a shield around us. Not to make us invisible but one that will keep us from getting hurt if a jungle cat attacks us.”

  “Sure.” I used my magic to create a shield, and we continued. We were nearing the area the facility was supposed to be in when we heard voices. I changed our shield into one of invisibility and grabbed Abby and Cecilia’s hands, keeping them close to me. I doubted whatever was stalking us would attack now that we were close to other people.

  The closer we got, the more noise we heard. As we came out into a clearing, a large gray building took shape. It towered above the people walking around. I saw Tider’s mouth moving and nudged him with my elbow.

  “There are eleven floors,” he said, answering my unspoken question.

  Men and women walked around the base of the building. I saw a couple of people walk through a pair of doors near the center of the first floor. A few minutes later, someone walked out.

  “This has to be it,” I said. “They have complete control of the building.”

  “Yeah, but they haven’t gotten to the basement yet,” Richard said.

  “How do you know?” Abby asked.

  “If they had, they wouldn’t still be here.”

  He was right. The Pulhu would destroy this place the second they got our parents and friends out.

  “Let’s keep walking and try to figure out a way in.”

  The Pulhu were talking as we walked past them, but they didn’t say anything meaningful. We continued around the building. I ran into Richard as he stopped short.

  “What is it?” I asked, looking at a giant tube connected to the ground. There were generators and all sorts of equipment set up around the tube.

  “I think that’s how they have been messing with everyone in the facility. I bet that tube is connected to some underground air shaft or something similar, and they are pumping the potion into the basement.”

  “So, how are we going to get in?”

  “There has to be a way in besides transporting. Chet never would have built something without an escape route,” Adam said. “He was always worried about that. That’s why he had a tunnel built into his shop back in Ireland. He was always prepared.”

  “Why hasn’t anyone found the way in yet?”

  “I bet you have to have a token like the one you were given to help us transport in. With that, we can probably find the way.”

  “Where do you think the entrance will be?” I asked Adam.

  “Probably in the building. I doubt he thought it would be taken over by the Pulhu while they were stuck in the basement with no idea.”

  “Ok, so we need to get in the building and look for secret doors?” Abby asked.

  “Probably. That’s what I would try first. If we can’t find a secret entrance inside, we will have to look out there.”

  We looked around the building at the immense jungle.

  “I hope it’s in the building,” Tider said.

  I agreed. We walked farther around the building noting the windows and doors we passed. None we guarded.

  “It should be easy to slip in unnoticed,” Richard said. “Then, we can start the search on the first floor and make our way up the levels if we need to.”

  We moved slowly toward a door on the side of the building. We didn’t see anyone come in or out, so we were hoping no one was watching it. We reached the door, and I grabbed the handle gently, waiting to see if anything would happen. When everything remained the same, I turned the handle.

  “Richard, can you glamor the door so it appears closed while we sneak inside?”

  “Of course,” Richard replied.

  Once inside, we walked down a long hallway with doors to either side. Each door had a large red piece of tape on it. I glanced at my friends.

  “No idea,” Tider said, shrugging his shoulders.

  “Maybe the Pulhu put tape on the rooms as they checked them,” Adam said. That was the best explanation we could come up with.

  We continued down the hall, searching the entire first floor, but not finding anything interesting. We barely saw any Pulhu on the first floor. When we got to the second floor, many of the doors had green tape on them. A few had red tape like the first floor.

  “I bet this tells the Pulhu what type of room these are,” Adam said, peeking into one of the rooms. We went into each room to see if we could find the secret entrance. So far, all the rooms with red tape were offices and green tape was on living quarters. We continued checking to see if that was actually what the tape was for.

  The second floor was as disappointing as the first. On the third floor, we almost got caught when one of the Pulhu turned the corner into the same hallway as us, while we were going into a room. He saw the door shutting and ran down to the room, throwing the door open. Richard wasn’t glamoring all the doors since we weren’t running into many Pulhu. It would take too much energy. Since we were invisible, the man couldn’t see us. He glanced around the room and then shook his head before leaving the room.

  We were more careful after that. When we reached the fifth floor, we saw more signs of the Pulhu. This was the busiest floor so far. It was hard to search the rooms because the Pulhu were constantly walking around the halls. We saw some yellow taped doors and checked them. They were larger meeting rooms. I saw maps and books everywhere in one of them. The Pulhu were in the process of boxing everything and carrying it out of the facility.

  While we were in the meeting room, one of the Pulhu I had seen before walked in. She had been at Mount Etna with Mr. Damon. I shivered. Mr. Damon must be close if his group was here. I scooted along the wall so I could hear what she was saying.

  “Hurry up. We need to finish this room today. The other rooms need to be packed before we can blow this place up. He wants it finished by the end of the week.”

  “But what about the others? We haven’t found them yet.”

  “We aren’t going to try to find them anymore. He said to blow it up. They will all be killed in the explosion.”

  The younger woman turned pale. “Why?” she asked.

  “Who knows. That is what he wants. I don’t question him. Now let’s get this finished before he shows up.”

  The younger woman nodded and went back to packing. We left the room quickly and snuck into the next empty room.

  “Did you hear that? They are going to kill them all. We need to get them out,” Abby said, tears in her eyes.

  “Don’t worry, we will,” Cecilia said, putting her arm around Abby.

  “We have a few days to figure everything out,” I said. “First, we need to find the door. We can figure out the rest later.”

  We continued checking the rooms until we came to a door near the end of the hallway. It didn’t have any tape on it.

  “What do you think this door is for?”

  “Let’s find out,” Adam said, reaching for the handle. As his hand closed around it, he yelped and pulled his hand back. “There is a spell on this door.”

  I looked at it again. I couldn’t see any magic coming from the door. It looked like all the rest of the doors in this hallway. I reached out carefully for the handle. I stopped a few centimeters away, but nothing happened. I put my index finger on the handle and still didn’t feel anything. As I closed my hand around the handle, a small fission of magic snaked up my arm and into the pendant I wore around my neck.

  “This is it. We found the door,” I said. “Grab hands so no one gets left behind.” I held the door open, and we walked inside. It opened up into a hallway I was familiar with. A few feet away was the door to the potions room in the basement of the facility.

  “I guess you needed the pendant to see the door.”

  “No, we needed the pendant to open the door, but we all could see the door. The Pulhu obviously couldn’t, or they would have found the facility.

  “I couldn’t see the door,” Cecilia said quietly.

  “You couldn’t?”

  “No. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to think I was crazy, but I couldn’t see anything but a bare wall. I bet only people who have been in the facility can see the door.”

  “That’s a sneaky spell,” Adam said. We started walking down the hall, but Abby stopped us.

  “Wait. Let’s go in here first. There are a bunch of potions in here that are already made. I want to see if we can find one to reverse whatever the Pulhu are doing, or it will be difficult to get the people to believe us when we tell them what’s happening.”

  “Good idea,” Tider said and walked into the potions room. We went to the back wall where a variety of potions lined the shelves. Abby looked through them quickly.

  “Do you remember what it’s called?”

  “Yes. It’s called remediose.”

  We spread out, looking for the potion. Cecilia finally found it and called us over. There were only two potions, and Abby took them both. “We will have to decide who gets them.”

  “Let’s go get Jordan first. He definitely needs one since he will have to transport everyone.”

  We walked through the halls. I kept us invisible as we snuck around. We passed a few people, but no one noticed us. Finally, we saw Jordan near the transport room. I waited until he was alone and nodded at Richard.

  Richard bound his arms and legs so he couldn’t move, and I put a silence bubble around him to keep him from alerting anyone. I tried talking to him, but he kept thrashing around, yelling for help.

  “Jordan,” I whispered once he calmed down. “It’s us.”

  “Sally? What are you guys doing here? We’ve been searching for you.”

  “We know. It’s not safe here anymore,” I told him.

  “Yes it is. We have been down here for weeks without any trouble. The Pulhu aren’t even trying to find us. They never figured out that there was a lower level of the facility.”

  “Yes they did, Jordan. They are sending a potion through the air ducts to keep everyone down here calm and relaxed, but now they have decided to blow this place up since they can’t get in.”

  “We would know if there was trouble, Sally,” Jordan said, shaking his head at me. “You are being paranoid.” Jordan glanced at Cecilia. “Who is this? I don’t think I know her.”

  “A friend,” I said. “We are trying to save you, Jordan.” His expression didn’t change.

  I looked over at Tider, who only shrugged. Jordan wasn’t going to believe anything we said.

  “Do it, Abby,” I said.

  “Do what?” Jordan started to say but was silenced by a cloud of blue that enveloped him when Abby threw the vial at his chest. We all took a step back, watching the cloud slowly disperse.

  “What?” Jordan stuttered. “What is going on? I feel like…” He grabbed his head. “Please tell me this is a dream.”

  “It’s not,” Tider said. “We need your help. What do you remember?”

  “Everything. How long have the Pulhu been controlling us?”

  “They aren’t controlling you. They’ve been keeping you in a state of not caring so you wouldn’t bother them while they tried to get to you.”

  “It’s close enough. We need to get out of here,” he said.

  “Yes, but first we need to save everyone else. We only have one more of those potions. We don’t have enough time to make more. We need to decide who to use it on and how to get everyone out.”

  “I would use it on either Chet or Mrs. Sullivan. Everyone listens to them.”

  “How are we going to get everyone out?”

  “I will have to transport them.”

  “How many people are down here?”

  “About fifty,” Jordan said.

  “We have until the end of the week to get everyone out, but I think we should try to finish in three days in case Mr. Damon decides to blow it up early.”

  “Can you get everyone out in that time frame?” I asked Jordan.

  “Yes. It won’t be hard to transport them. The problem is deciding where to transport them and getting them to come. I think if Chet tells them he needs them to search certain areas, they might be more willing to go. Some of the people here don’t leave the facility at all. They won’t want to leave. They think this is the safest place for them.”

  “We will have to force them to. I think once they are away from the facility for a few days, the potion will stop affecting them.”

  “Ok. Let’s go track down Chet,” I said.

  “Follow me.” We followed him, but I put my invisibility shield back up. I wasn’t ready for everyone to know we were here.

  We made it to Chet’s meeting room and stepped inside. He was the only one there, standing with his back to us as he looked over the maps on the wall. He turned when Jordan entered.

  “What can I do for you, Jordan?” he asked. “We don’t have anywhere to go today.”

  “I wanted to ask if you have felt any different lately? Maybe we are too relaxed down here.”

  “Nah, we are doing everything we can to help fight the Pulhu. This is exactly where we should be.”

  “You don’t think we should be doing more to find Sally and her friends?”

  “No. They will be fine. They are strong kids. I’m not too concerned about them.” While Jordan talked to Chet, we made our way closer to him. Abby hit him with another vial, and we watched as the blue cloud surrounded him. When it was gone, he looked as confused as Jordan had.

  “What is going on?” he asked. I let our shield drop, and we quickly explained everything. We didn’t know how long it would take for the potion to start causing them to be relaxed again, so we needed to move fast. I told him Cecilia was a friend too. I didn’t want them realizing we saved Cecilia from the Pulhu yet. They wouldn’t trust her if they knew who she was.

  As soon as Chet heard our plan, he agreed. He even knew a place where everyone could go. It was back on Mount Etna in the little cabin Jordan had been staying at. We would have to transport some of the tents that were stored down here for everyone to sleep in, but it was a remote enough spot that the Pulhu shouldn’t find them.

  “I will start getting groups together right away,” Chet said. “Let me go make an announcement.”

  We stayed silent and invisible as we moved through the halls until Chet came to the largest room in the facility. He pressed a button on the wall and spoke into an intercom. “If everyone could please come to the meeting room, I have something we need to discuss.”

  It didn’t take long for everyone to file in. I watched as my parents walked in behind Mr. Connor. I wanted to rush over and hug them, but we didn’t want to let anyone know we were here.

  “Everyone, sit down,” Chet said when the room was full. “I have some bad news and some good news. The facility has been compromised.” I watched the crowd’s reaction. No one looked surprised or even worried about it.

  “It’s ok,” Mrs. Sullivan said. “They can’t get in here. We are safe.”

  “They will blow this place up in a few days,” Chet said, trying to get everyone to show some sign of worry.

  “No they won’t,” someone shouted from the back of the room. “They want us all alive.”

  “Not anymore,” Chet said.

  “We don’t believe you. You are paranoid. You have been cooped up in that work room of yours too long. You need a break.”

  The crowd nodded. It wasn’t working. Chet realized the same thing and switched tactics.

  “Maybe I do need a break, but we can’t stop our work. I need more volunteers to go out and search the sites we have chosen. I think we could all use a little fresh air too. You don’t want to become paranoid like me, right?” A few people laughed and raised their hands. All of our families were among them. They would be easy to transport out.

  “Everyone who would like to volunteer stay here. The rest of you are free to go,” Chet said.

  I started to say something but Richard stopped me. “I’m sure he has a plan,” he said into my mind. I shut my mouth and watched as half the room emptied out. Chet stood up front, writing something on a pad of paper.

  “I have your names now,” he said, standing up. “If you will come up here as I call your names, I will tell you what time to meet at the transport room.” The next thirty minutes were spent calling out names and then watching people leave the room after Chet gave them the information. Once everyone was gone, Chet looked at the empty room and shrugged his shoulders.

  “It’s a start,” he said. Tider closed the door and I let the invisibility drop. “When do they start leaving?”

  “In an hour. I set them up in groups of five. Jordan can transport them and leave them at the cabin, saying he will be back in a few hours for them.”

  “What about the rest of the people?”

  “We are going to have to force them. Most of the people who chose not to volunteer are here because the Pulhu are trying to kidnap or kill them. They are too scared to willingly go out into the world again. Jordan should be able to get all the groups out today, but then he will need to sleep all evening and night to be ready for tomorrow.”

  “Don’t worry, Jordan, I will share some of my energy with you so you don’t get too tired,” I told him.

  “Thanks, Sally,” he answered, looking relieved. Transporting twenty-five people would be a challenge if I didn’t give him extra energy.

  Jordan took off to go to the transport room and start taking people to the cabin. We went with Chet to pack some of his more important books that he didn’t want the Pulhu to get their hands on. We had multiple boxes that would need to be transported. We stacked them neatly to take up to the transport room after everyone fell asleep. If they saw us taking boxes of stuff out of the facility, they would know something was going on.

  Jordan met us in Chet’s room for a break around lunchtime. I transferred a small amount of energy to him, and he perked up.

  “That is so awesome,” he said. “It’s such a rush.”

  I laughed. “Don’t get used to it. It probably isn’t good for me to give you too much energy.”

  “Yeah, probably not,” he agreed. He told us the transports were going great. So far, he transported everyone close enough to the cabin that they could find it. We were hoping they wouldn’t run into each other until they all made it to the cabin. That’s when they would realize something wasn’t right.

 

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