“Yeah?”
Facet no doubt knew about the knife’s properties, but he couldn’t know it only worked for Prime.
I jutted out my chin. “Try it if you don’t believe me.”
Facet seemed to consider it, then simply reached back to hand me the knife. “I trust you know how to use it.”
I stopped myself from answering. The car went quiet. Would I need to use the knife? Would we even be in time? Facet had sounded so matter-of-fact: If they’re alive. The words spun through my head. I wanted to hug myself, but kept my arms rigidly in my lap, my fingers on the hilt of the knife. Alpha wouldn’t hug herself.
So I just pressed my lips together, watched, and waited.
“Watch out!” Torrance screamed.
The car tires screeched. Facet yanked at the steering wheel. I caught a glimpse of movement as something thudded against the car. We came to a halt with one tire on the sidewalk and the other three still on the street. To our left was a park, the air distorting the trees into muted grays; to our right, a tall building, the metal accents gleaming fiercely enough to hurt.
And sprawled on the road, mere feet from the car, lay Four.
CHAPTER SIXTY
“Four!” I shouted. My voice skipped.
The sudden turn had slammed me into the door. I fumbled with the handle. The door didn’t give.
“Facet. The child lock,” Torrance said.
I pressed my face against the glass, desperate to get a better look at Four. My heart stuttered in my chest. Was she moving? She—Yes, she was moving. Thank God. She tried to sit up, one hand propped behind her, the other pressing against her hip.
Alpha burst around the street corner and beelined for Four. My hair, my clothes, my glasses . . . I couldn’t help a double take.
“Four!” Alpha’s voice was an echo of my own, except hers didn’t skip.
Alive. Both of them.
Agent Valk stepped around the corner.
Right on her heels came two agents—one I didn’t know, and the other the redheaded agent I’d seen on recent research trips.
Valk strode toward Alpha and Four, her gun pointed at the ground. She said something I couldn’t make out, not with them two dozen feet away and the car doors closed.
I jostled the door handle right as Facet hit a button. Click. I tumbled out of the car. I’d barely hit the ground before I sprinted toward the other Hazels.
Alpha crouched by Four, offering an arm for support.
“Get to the car!” Facet called. “I’ll get you out.”
“Hazel—are there any others?” Torrance asked.
Alpha whirled. Her eyes widened. She must not have realized it was us in the car. “No. It’s just us two. Four, come on, we gotta go—”
“No,” Valk said. “We’re going back to the helicopter.”
She sounded the same as ever. Not frantic. Not angry. Her black hair was a mess and her pantsuit was creased and dusty, but none of that dishevelment showed on her face.
Four climbed to her feet, grimacing from pain.
“Now.” Valk’s arm lifted. She wasn’t quite aiming her gun, but the intention was clear.
“Valk?” Facet called. “Care to explain this situation?”
I slid next to Alpha and Four. “You OK?” I whispered. “I thought I might’ve been too late.”
“You would’ve been. We got lucky.” Alpha studied the agents with narrowed eyes, as though planning. But there was little any of us—even Alpha—could do against three armed agents. Agents who thought they were saving the world. They wouldn’t simply back down.
“On the way here, Alpha figured out what they were planning,” Four said shakily. “Then the rift sent out a swarm of . . . something. The helicopter made an emergency landing and we ran.”
Valk and her agents formed a half circle around us from a few feet away. One agent had his gun out, pointed loosely in our direction. Torrance was shuffling closer to them, her steps cautious.
“I’m doing my job,” Valk told Facet. “Our first priority is to protect the world from the rift.”
“I decide what your job is,” he said flatly. “Mine is protecting the world. Yours is protecting the girl. Killing children isn’t the solution—particularly when those children themselves might be the solution.”
“They might survive being put through the rift,” Valk said. “If removing them from this dimension weakens the rift, we’ll know what to do with the other Hazels. Putting our own through might not even be necessary.”
“It’s too big a risk.” Facet jutted his chin toward Alpha. “We’re taking them to safety.”
“Risk?” the redheaded agent said, his voice pitchy. “The sky is literally tearing open! What’s left to risk? They’ll die anyway. We all will.” He shook his gun at us. “All three of you. Move. Start moving!”
The third agent swallowed visibly. “Do as he says. Please. We’re only trying to save lives.”
“It won’t work,” I said. “You have to—”
“You truly think we have nothing to lose?” Facet said. “As dangerous as the rift is now, it can get far worse. The science is clear. It’ll keep growing and growing and growing. Those girls are our best and only lead. If you’re wrong, we lose our one chance at stopping the rift from destroying the rest of the world.”
“Sir, you’re talking to us about science?” the third agent said. Anger seeped into her voice, which didn’t fit her frame, short and thin and nervous. “Hazel is born, the rift opens. More Hazels appear, the rift expands. Occam’s razor, right? Isn’t that what it’s called?”
“Correlation. Causation,” Facet said. “Google it.”
“The research confirmed a connection between the girls and the rift.” Valk cocked her head. “What do you propose, sir? And you, Torrance? Hazel? Does anyone have ideas beyond twiddling our thumbs and letting this happen?” She swept her free hand at the impossibly white sky behind her. “Open to suggestions. Honest.”
“Better make it fast, though.” The redheaded agent shook his gun in our direction again. “I said, move it!”
“No ideas? Thought so. Send us straight to prison afterward if you want. Execute us. I don’t care.” Valk turned toward us. “Do
