They hadn’t evacuated Alpha yet. A treatment room like this was safer than an ambulance. They were probably leaving her for last. Hopefully, we could make the swap on time. A glance at the clock told me we’d passed Facet’s fifteen-minute mark.
At least the IV in Alpha’s hand looked familiar; the MGA had hooked me up to a couple IVs over the years for tests, so I knew precisely how to take one out.
Once the needle was removed, I leaned over Alpha, watching for any changes. Her hair lay in tangled curls on the pillow. Her face looked relaxed, like she was simply asleep and could wake up any moment if I was too loud.
Elsewhere in the barn, a door slammed. Agitated voices drifted down the hall.
My head snapped up.
The door had a window at its center. Anyone in the hall would be able to spot me.
I fumbled to rest the IV on Alpha’s hand, sticking the tape on without reinserting the needle, then shot over to the wall beside the door.
Right in time. Footsteps stopped just outside the room. I pressed myself against the wall. If they came inside, I was screwed. In a room this small, there was no place to hide.
“. . . the other girls out before that dragon gets even more upset,” a muffled male voice was saying. “I want this one evacuated separately. Don’t let her near the others.”
A moan came from Alpha’s bed. She stirred.
No no no, I mouthed. If she woke up now—if they saw—
“Yessir.” The footsteps resumed, then faded.
I bolted back to the bed. Alpha had turned her head, pressing it into her pillow. Her hand shifted. The movement tugged at the tape I’d hastily reattached.
“Hazel?” I whispered as I removed the tape. She wouldn’t identify with “Alpha” any more than I identified with “Prime.”
Her eyes opened. She recoiled at the light, as dim as it was.
“Hazel, it’s OK. Everything is fine.” That was the biggest lie I’d told in my life—we’d failed at saving the world, and were about to fail again—but after a day and night of being comatose, she’d probably be disoriented. Best to wake her up calmly. I hoped the coma meant she’d at least recovered from her sleepless nights around the trolls.
“Hhhnggh.”
“Give it a few minutes,” I said.
She blinked blearily.
“You’ve been out for a while. It’ll take time to—”
“Where?” she slurred.
I hesitated.
“What . . . happen . . .?” Alpha licked her lips, then tried to push herself up with one arm.
“The Powers That Be wanted us to kill you. To break the connection between you and the trolls.”
She squinted. I couldn’t tell whether she remembered.
“We put you in a coma instead.” I ran a hand through my hair. “It worked. The trolls instantly got weaker.”
“Where?” Alpha repeated.
“West Asherton. We’re in one of the barns. I woke you up because . . .” I was figuring out how to phrase my explanation when her hand shot out. It thwacked against the side of my face. Not hard enough to hurt, but—
Did Alpha just hit me?
“Home?” The word was half shouted, half rasped. “You brought me back to them?”
“Shh!” I looked over my shoulder at the door.
Her hand hit my face again. I hissed. I couldn’t tell whether she’d gone for a punch or a slap, but this one hurt.
Alpha pushed herself up, trying to get a grip on the sheets. She nearly tumbled off the bed. I caught her in time, one hand holding her shoulder, the other gripping her waist, but she shoved me off. The movement sent her into a coughing fit.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to bring you here,” I babbled, “we just—They had doctors, and you needed to stay comatose, and we wanted you to be safe.”
Alpha glared up at me. “You knew. And you brought me back.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “Please be quiet. They might hear you.”
She tried to stand, but sank to her knees instantly. I held her up. This time, she only half-heartedly pushed me away.
“The agency is evacuating the farm.” My voice was soft and urgent. “The rift is in downtown Philadelphia. It’s about to expand by an awful lot. This might be our last chance to close it. Red learned something we weren’t supposed to know, but agents took her before she could tell us. We need her. And we need Neven—the dragon.”
Alpha coughed again. This time, she muffled the sound in her arm and peered at the door as though making sure no one was about to burst in.
When she looked back to me, her glare had lost its venom. “I don’t . . .”
I was tossing too much information at her. I should get to the point. “You need to take my place with the other Hazels,” I told her. “If you impersonate me during the evacuation, it’ll buy me time to free the dragon and Red.”
“Bad plan.” Alpha stumbled across the room. Her legs wobbled with every step. Once she reached the sink, she bent over, opened the tap, and eagerly lapped from the stream of water.
“I know. I’d love to hear a better plan, but if you don’t have one . . . Please.” I checked the clock.
Alpha turned. Her hands gripped the counter behind her. “Maybe I should stay.”
“They’ll put you back into a coma.”
“Maybe they should. There are still trolls; I can feel them. If they reproduce . . .”
If she felt them, Alpha’s coma hadn’t severed the connection. It’d simply suppressed it. Silently, I cursed. “It doesn’t matter. The rift is the bigger danger now.”
Alpha looked me up and down for several long seconds. “You’re right. Let’s try. Scissors?”
“Um—?”
“My hair is longer than yours,” she said impatiently. She opened drawers and rifled through them.
“Oh. I have this knife?” I held it up.
“A hunting knife?”
She’d recognized the type far too quickly. “Please tell me you don’t hunt,” I said.
“Of course not.” Alpha took the knife and positioned herself in front of a mirror over the sink. “Dad hunts. I just skin what he brings back.”
I was so glad
