With her a step behind me, we hustled out into the main lab. I still didn’t see anyone, but there were multiple doorways out to the corridor, so Alling and his goons could appear at any moment, surprising us, like bog gnomes leaping from the murk. Usually I had SunSummoner at my back, or BuggyBaby. SirJacksalot would even be great right now.
“Stay behind me,” I told my mom.
I glanced wildly around the big space with all its equipment and computers. Probably there was stuff here that I could use, that my moths could control, but I didn’t have time to figure it out. We needed to get back to the elevator, get up and get out.
I hustled through the central warren of computer cubicles, dragging Mom, when a familiar image caught my eye. I braked so hard Mom bumped into my back, rocking us both.
“What is it?” she hissed.
I backpedaled to peer into the half-walled cubicle. It had three monitors, an aromatherapy diffuser…and a printout of a MageLord standing tall, his sword in one hand and spell book in the other. Brayden as SunSummoner. It was a screenshot of a hero pose from the end of one of our many awesome quests.
It was like seeing an old friend. But he’d been an illusion. A lie in a fancy cloak. Another asshole who’d left me in a lurch.
The sound of footsteps approaching had me diving for his cubicle and crawling, squeezing under the desk with my mom scrunched at my side. Both of us held our breath. Mom’s lips moved in the shapes of a prayer.
But I stared at Brayden, that greedy bastard.Hegot me into this. Poisoned me. No warning, no nothing. And now my life had gone to shit, and my mom was in danger. Nobody fucked with my mom.
My vision burned violet with rage. I was glad the asshole was dead. Right then, I wanted to put a hole in him myself.
My world had gone purple, but a shiny white wafer gleamed on the underside of the white pressboard. If not for my enhanced vision, I wouldn’t have seen anything. Nanobot protected? Cool. I wedged my fingernail underneath the edge and tugged at the adhesive. I broke my nail, but I also broke free the little wafer.
Some sort of recording device, maybe? Or a microchip full of company secrets? A moth-infected girl could hope.
Mom patted my leg softly. Yeah, the footsteps had passed.
With one last glance at the MageLord, I crawled out, my mom at my heels.
We hurried on to the main door. Though the bank of windows on either side of the door showed the empty white corridor beyond, a flicker of shadow brought me to a halt.
“Someone’s there,” I hissed. The person’s height reminded me of Carlo 2.0.
“Where?” Mom’s dark gaze flashed side to side.
“At the elevator.” I tugged Mom out of the line of sight from the windows.
“Maybe they’re just passing by.” Sounded like wishful thinking.
Carlo 2.0 was guarding that exit.
“There has to be a stairwell here somewhere,” I said. “Even evil masterminds of global security threats need a second way out in the case of fire.”
Whirling around, I stared at the computer array on the far wall. Supercomputers were not just energy hogs that pulled a lot of power, they ran super hot and needed a serious cooling system. If they wentboom!would the distraction be big enough for us to make our escape?
I pictured Alling screaming,Oh, no! Not the computers!
My EldWitch had used chaos spells to her advantage more than once. If nothing else, I could start a helluva fire that would trigger the suppression system, maybe even an alarm that would reach the outside world.
One way or another, I was getting me and my mom the hell out of here.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“YOU STAY HERE,”I told Mom. “I’m gonna start some shit.”
She nodded, and I crept out toward the supercomputers, only to feel her creeping right along with me like a shadow.
“I told you to stay!” I whisper-shouted over my shoulder.
“Hun, when people split up in the movies, someone always gets caught.”
