‘I agree,’ said the Inventor.
She looked at him. ‘What now?’
‘We should return to the others, miss.’
Jacob and Thomas rolled the machine back to the counter. Before Carissa left, she snatched up the wonky vision of Rover that Jacob had sketched to take along with her own picture.
12
Anya
Anya looked up to see Jacob, Thomas and Carissa walking past the viewing window. They had used the escape tunnel to return to the Nurturing Centre.
Anya rushed out to meet them, keen to escape the tight space that included a strange child and a cooing June, Vanessa and Alex. Seeing how June’s baby had transformed from a newborn to a three-year-old in a matter of hours unnerved her. Everything reminded her too much of her time in Arcis.
Dom and Charlie went with her. Just beyond the hidden entrance, Dom’s former guard leaned lazily against the wall, surrounded by rebel soldiers. He perked up the second Anya appeared. She rushed past him just as the door to the viewing corridor opened. Jacob stepped through, followed by Thomas and Carissa. Thomas had the backpack containing the maps, plus a few extra sheets of paper in his hand. Carissa was clutching two folded-up pieces of paper. When Anya eyed them, the girl’s eyes widened and she shoved both into the waistband of her trousers.
On a different day Anya might have asked her about it, but her interest lay in what Thomas held. Two things delayed them finding the Beyond: the child in the next room and discovering the coordinates.
At least she had some control over one of those things.
‘What did you find?’ asked Dom.
Jacob’s eyes flicked to the Copy prisoner. He was standing up straighter and appeared to be interested in their progress.
‘You want to have this discussion here?’ the old man asked.
Dom glanced back at his guard. ‘I’m not sure I care anymore. They know we’re here.’
The eight Breeders and four girls they’d rescued from the rooms were sitting in the second area visible from the viewing corridor. They had appeared nervous on the walk back. Four soldiers were keeping an eye on them.
Jacob shrugged lightly, then nodded at Thomas.
Thomas pulled one piece of paper out of the bunch he held and slapped it up against the wall. It was a rough sketch.
Of where?
‘The library,’ Thomas said as if answering her silent question. ‘We only have the layout details the Copies know about. It appears from Carissa’s downloads that they added the extra tunnel we just used plus a hidden room beneath the library.’
Vanessa stood at the entrance to the hidden corridor. How long she’d been there, Anya didn’t know.
Vanessa moved over to Thomas, frowning at the page. ‘The room below ground was off grid for a while. But they definitely knew about it before we escaped the city.’
‘Could there be any additional rooms hidden in the library?’ asked Dom.
Vanessa shook her head. ‘If there were, I would have found them. I spent hours in that place daily.’
‘And we’re certain this Janet person didn’t hide the diary in plain sight?’ asked Charlie.
Anya didn’t think so. To do so would risk discovery. A diary would need to be hidden well. If the Collective had been aware of its existence, she was sure it would have mentioned it during its interrogation practices on the seventh floor in Arcis.
Anya looked at Thomas. ‘What else did you get?’
He set two new pages next to each other on the wall. He nodded at the left page. ‘The medical facility, which includes the tunnel we just used. Beneath that, Jacob’s workshop and’—he nodded to the page on the right—‘the Learning Centre. I have more, but only one set of hands.’
He jerked his head towards the papers nestled in the crook of his arm.
Anya took the other sheets from him. She pinned the Copy accommodation block and the school to the wall.
‘We should rule out any areas the humans didn’t have access to,’ she said.
‘Carissa?’ asked Vanessa. ‘What places were off limits?’
The girl didn’t think about it for long. ‘The Learning Centre, the Copy accommodation, the school.’
‘So we check the areas where the humans had freedom?’ said Anya.
Vanessa blew out a breath. ‘That’s still a lot of area to cover.’
‘Then, we split up.’ The sooner they started, the sooner they would find Janet’s diary. ‘Some of us should search the regular accommodation, some the library. Anywhere else?’
Her knowledge of this city was limited.
‘What about the Business District?’ asked Carissa, her eyes rounded. ‘We didn’t venture there often.’
Jacob looked at Dom. ‘It’s a possibility.’
‘And we could check the storage room there for food,’ added Charlie.
Dom nodded. To Thomas, he said, ‘Do you have schematics of the Business District?’
Thomas rifled through the last few pages and shook his head. ‘It wasn’t available as a download.’
Vanessa said, ‘The Business District has a limited number of shops and everything is above ground. It wouldn’t take much to check if any of the shops has secret tunnels.’
Dom nodded, his gaze flicking to his Copy guard. ‘We check it out. And he comes with us in case we can’t get in anywhere.’
Ω
Anya stood outside the medical facility with Dom, Vanessa, Jacob, Charlie and Carissa. Sheila, Jerome and Imogen joined them. Last out were a dozen armed soldiers who were escorting the Copy prisoner. The remaining rebel soldiers stayed behind to protect June, her baby and the teenage rescues.
Anya shivered at having Dom’s former guard near. If he wasn’t glaring at Dom, he was smirking at him. He gave her the creeps, but she could only imagine what Dom must be feeling, what emotions his presence evoked. If Dom was bothered by it, he wasn’t showing it. His shoulders were back, his face void of emotion. His
