I couldn’t stop my lower lip from drooping and my eyebrows pulling together. “How do you know where I’m from?”
The withheld laugh erupted from Mayor Aldridge and she walked up to me. “Do you think that I don’t have my own informants in the above world? Do you think I would keep myself isolated with no warning of impending problems?” The demeanor of the mayor changed to an angry state. “I have been watching you for a while, Alexandria!”
My eyes grew wide and words struggled to form in my mind as Mayor Aldridge tossed something into my face. Glancing down at my feet, I saw a copy of the business card the private investigator had handed to me weeks ago.
“Yes, the private investigator you encountered was one of my men. There’s no young couple missing in Sunnyville…come on, girl! You have to be smarter than that.”
I pursed my lips and glared at her intently with as much venom as I could muster.
“I know you live with your grandmother during the summers because your mother is a workaholic. I know you found the beach by accident and ran into Dylan there. I know that you’ve been sneaking into my city and mingling among its residents. I know anything and everything there is to know about you, Allie. I know that you will tell about Oceania, even if you promise not to. I won’t risk the safety of an entire city because of the stupidity of a girl who just wanted a friend to spend her summer with!”
With that, the mayor turned and somehow gracefully stomped out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Chapter 23
My gaze was transfixed on the floor, my chin pressing against my chest with every intake of breath. Inside, I felt hollow, dejected…stupid to have not seen this coming. We’d been discovered and now I faced a perilous fate.
Guilt rising in my chest, I peered over at Dylan. He, too, was thoroughly examining the featureless floor, his hands hanging limply from the cuffs around his wrist.
Pity erasing the worry I felt at my own situation, I murmured, “I’m sorry, Dylan. This is my fault.”
Dylan snapped to attention. His eyes betrayed both anger and confusion fighting for control over him. “How in the world is any of this your fault, Allie?”
Returning my eyes to the floor, I shrugged slightly, the cuffs restricting any further movement. “If I hadn’t come here with you to Oceania this wouldn’t be happening.”
“You must have lost too many brain cells while experiencing hypoxia. I worried that you were without oxygen for more than three minutes. You must have gotten permanent brain damage.”
Dragging the left corner of my mouth up in a sad excuse for a smile, I replied, “No, I didn’t. I—”
Craning his neck to face me, Dylan interrupted before I could say anything else. “Allie, I brought you here. I knew the rules and I allowed you to come here anyway. You would have never discovered Oceania without me. All of this is my fault. I’m imprisoned because of my own doing, not yours. Unfortunately, I dragged you along as well. I’m very sorry for that, Allie.”
I still didn’t believe him. I didn’t think it was right to let him shoulder all of the responsibility for our capture. Some of it had to be my fault.
“Don’t feel bad, Allie. Somehow we’ll find a way out of this.” Dylan surveyed the room and uttered under his breath, “Somehow.”
The doors burst open with such momentum that they slammed into the concrete wall, groaning against the rusty hinges. Two guards held up Dr. Wilcox between them, his feet and shins sweeping against the cold concrete floor as they dragged him toward the last remaining set of tethers. Stringy wisps of his gray hair glistened as they passed beneath the single shining light on the ceiling. Based on his drooping head, he was clearly unconscious. One of the guards held him up while the other cuffed him to the wall in the same manner as Dylan and me. Without a word, the guards rapidly made their exit, slamming and locking the door behind them.
“Dr. Wilcox!” Dylan whispered loudly. When the man didn’t respond, Dylan yelled, “DR. WILCOX!”
With a snort, Dr. Wilcox’s body jerked to a straight position, his eyes blinking several times in quick succession. Groggily twisting his head to the side, he glanced up at Dylan with squinting eyes. “Dylan?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Rage welled up inside me as the murky memories from when I first awoke from my near-death experience flooded back to me. “Why did you run away and leave us when we were being captured?” I spat.
“What?” Dr. Wilcox still acted as though he was drowsy. “I didn’t flee merely to escape…I fled to get help. I needed someone to assist us in order to get away. Unfortunately, I had only a half hour before they found and captured me too. I presume they immediately knocked me out and dragged me here.”
“Oh,” I didn’t know what else to say, but I felt the blood rise to my cheeks. I hung my head, ashamed that I would think badly of Dr. Wilcox.
“So, did you find anyone to help us or invent something to get us out of this predicament?” Dylan strained against his bonds to lean closer towards Dr. Wilcox, who was wedged in the gloomiest corner of the room.
Dr. Wilcox opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the door opening once again.
The doorway was cast in shadow and the figure simply stood motionless. At first, I thought it was Mayor Aldridge or a guard, but
