“You don’t even know who the enemy is,” Brandon said, standing his ground and raising his chin. The air crackled between them, electrifying the entire cave and making my skin tingle. For a moment, I worried they might get violent unless someone stepped in. It irked me that the Berserker seemed so close to Astra—one shade too friendly for my taste, especially considering how he’d screwed us over back in the Port dungeons.
Myst gave him a sharp look, her fiery blue eyes sparkling angrily. “Then why don’t you tell me, Brandon? Or have you forgotten your vows as a Berserker? Are you no longer a servant of Order?”
“I’m not going to tell you because one, you wouldn’t believe me, since you’re an expert in denial, and two, I’m still hoping to extract you all from here before we reach an actual confrontation with HQ. If we’re lucky, and we play our cards right, our living friends here will leave this place without having to worry about it ever again.”
Silence weighed heavily between the Valkyrie and the Berserker. I didn’t like the way he spoke to her, but Myst didn’t like him much either. The animosity between them, though it fell short of full hostility, was clearly mutual. They knew each other well, they just had no sympathy for one another.
“You call yourself an ally of these people, yet you keep secrets,” Myst said. “It’s a little sad.”
“Not as sad as a Valkyrie stuck in this nightmarish land,” Brandon replied.
Astra flared pink for a second, displaying her power with enough brightness to draw focus away from their verbal skirmish. “That’s enough,” the young Daughter said. “Brandon has been more helpful than you have, you know. At least he didn’t abandon us to fend for ourselves.” Her words seemed to sting Myst. While I hated to agree with Astra while she sided with Brandon, on this point I couldn’t argue. “Whatever he can tell us about HQ and their location is better than nothing.”
“I wouldn’t let any of you go in otherwise,” Brandon replied.
Though I’d promised myself I’d keep my mouth shut for a little while longer, that got me talking. “You’re not in charge here. You don’t get to decide whether or not we go anywhere.”
“But you must concede that I know more than you do. Enough to keep you all alive,” the Berserker shot back. I had a feeling he thrived on such debates. He took pleasure in poking and prodding us, and we were giving him great satisfaction each time.
“And we appreciate the support,” Astra said. “However, Thayen is right. You and Myst have agreed to help us. It doesn’t mean either of you gets to tell us where to go or what to do.”
The shadow of a smile fluttered across Viola’s face, while Dafne and Soph stifled chuckles of their own. Jericho wasn’t as discreet. He leaned against the cave wall and laughed loudly. “I reckon Astra will be wearing the pants in this particular relationship.”
“I’m not here to give orders, nor do I wish to lead,” Myst said, then took a deep breath. “I only want to make sure that you come out of this alive and with your friends safely back in your group and away from the clones. You have to admit, however, that a Berserker who’s actually ‘sort of’ working for your enemy isn’t the most trustworthy of allies.”
“Hey, I’m the best they’ve got,” Brandon chuckled. A split second later, he put on a serious face, his expression darkening into something hard and steely and impossible to decipher. “And I’m better equipped at navigating the darkness that rules over this place. A Valkyrie is woefully limited.”
“But not useless,” Myst insisted.
“Oh, for the love of…” Viola exploded. “You two are like children, giving their parents white hairs with their constant bickering!” She cast her pink light onto Myst’s drawing on the cave floor, and the entire scheme glowed brightly against the ground. Brandon took a couple of steps back, slightly bothered by the light, but he kept his mouth shut. I’d almost forgotten that an abundance of light could weaken a Berserker, though I wasn’t sure about the proportions. “Tell us what to expect once we get there. Myst, you saw Isabelle, Voss, and Chantal last. You can point us in the right direction. In which of these units are they being held?”
The Valkyrie dropped to one knee and pointed the tip of her sword at the northern quadrant of the alt-Shade’s extension. “In this house, here. This is the holding room sector, where the new clones are held. That much I’ve learned from observing the place for a while.”
“The central area is comprised of labs and storage units,” Brandon added. “The southern quadrant is mostly security and observation rooms. There are eyes almost everywhere on this island, and all the screens are in this place.”
Astra nodded slowly. “And HQ?”
“You’ll need a small team to infiltrate,” Myst told me. I was at the center of her attention once again, and I felt all the blood rushing to my head. And once again, my reactions to her were strange. It wasn’t anything magical, exactly, but rather the effect of her presence, the intensity of her blue stare, and the depth of her honeyed voice. I didn’t dare allow myself to trust Myst, but I appreciated her insights. At least the Valkyrie wasn’t working for HQ in any way.
Brandon bothered me in that sense. Could he be trusted? Truth be told, the Berserker had useful traits, but I knew we weren’t his top priority here. Not by a long shot. He’d already made that clear. I missed the days of theoretical studies back in our Shade, when good was good, bad was bad, allies were friendly, and enemies were evil. All that had gone to hell out here. The Valkyrie didn’t know enough to really help us, and she didn’t come across as fully reliable, either—yet my pulse rushed whenever she was near. On the other
