'The power surge came from this direction… generally,' Adam said. 'I think I'm going the right way, but I just don't know.' He sounded frustrated, as if afraid to let the rest of them down.
'Just keep going,' Isabel said. 'We'll find him.'
'Yeah.' Max's voice was right behind her. 'We have all night.'
'Hey, you guys!' Michael called urgently. 'Wait up a sec.'
'You felt something?' Max asked.
'No, saw something,' Michael said. He shined his flashlight on the damp, loamy path. 'Look. Someone's been back here.'
In the center of the beam of light was a footprint. Isabel's heart jumped to her throat.
'Good work, Sherlock,' Maria joked nervously 'Did you join the Boy Scouts while we weren't looking?'
'It could have been there for a while,' Isabel said, glancing at Max. 'There's no reason to think it's a fresh print. I've got a feeling stuff goes undisturbed back here for decades… maybe centuries.'
'But maybe it's a good sign,' Liz said, pulling her hair back from her shoulders. 'Maybe it's DuPris's footprint.' She paused and glanced around. 'Or would that be a bad sign?'
Adam knelt down beside the shallow, shoe-shaped indentation on the ground. He reached out his finger and lightly touched the center of the footprint.
Isabel felt a tiny surge of energy as the air over the print began to shimmer. She stepped back uncertainly.
In a tiny shimmer of light a holographic image formed, hovering in the tunnels darkness like a phantom.
'Oh my God,' Isabel said with a gasp. 'How did you-' But she didn't finish her sentence. A cold finger of fear traced her spine. The hologram was of Mr. Manes. He was walking through the passage where they were standing.
Isabel looked at her brother and saw a grim expression cross his face as the holographic image dissipated.
'That was not a good sign,' Maria said.
'What was the Major doing back here?' Liz asked. 'Do you think he was looking for DuPris, too?'
'Who knows?' Michael said. 'But after finding those chemical weapon plans in his files, Manes is definitely not someone I want to be trapped in a cave with.'
A long silence hung in the air, suffocating Isabel like a cloud of thick smoke. One enemy had definitely been here. And the other-DuPris-might be very close, too.
'Do we keep going?' Max asked finally.
'We have to,' Isabel said, swallowing her fear. The only route toward rescuing Alex was forward, and for him she could face her demons. Even if one of those demons was his own father.
'We might as well follow the footprints,' Max said, looking at Isabel. 'If the Major was looking for DuPris, he may lead us right to him.'
'Oh, yay,' Maria muttered.
'Let's go,' Michael said.
Carefully Adam resumed picking his way through the convoluted passageways, following Mr. Manes's path. The caves felt infinitely more threatening to Isabel now… now that she knew a Clean Slate agent was somewhere up ahead.
Adam led them through a series of narrow fissures, and then they emerged into a larger cave. For a moment Isabel was glad for the open space.
But then she gasped as a sharp pain sliced through her heart like a saw. Isabel crumpled to the damp ground as fear clenched her lungs. Her throat burned, and she could barely breathe.
Isabel smelled something acidic. Fumes.
Vaguely, through her disorientation, she heard the painful, horrifying sound of Max choking next to her. She looked around wildly but could focus on nothing.
'It's the chemical weapon!' she heard Liz cry from somewhere far, far above her. Liz's voice sounded like it was spinning away, falling into the distance. 'We have to get them out of here!'
And then Isabel heard no more.
TEN
For a split second Liz stood in horrified shock as Adam, Max, Isabel, and Michael crumpled to the ground, one by one. It was like something out of a nightmare, watching their eyes roll back and their bodies go limp as if someone had sucked the life right out of them.
Then Maria screamed, and Liz snapped into crisis control mode. If she and Maria were still standing, the chemical weapon Adam had discovered must be at work. Liz had to help her friends-
'Grab Max's leg,' Liz barked at Maria. 'We need to drag him to clean air.'
Maria was obviously panicked, but she responded to the authority in Liz's voice and did as she was told.
Liz backed up as fast as she could while towing Max. She and Maria back-stepped up the passage they'd come down. Liz hoped that pulling Max to an elevation higher than the ceiling of the poisoned room would keep him safe. She knew most gases were pretty easily trapped at their own level, and she could only pray that the chemical weapon's fumes acted the same way.
For good measure they dragged Max through a few of the fissures in the cave walls that they'd passed on their way in.
Liz had no way of knowing if he would be all right now as she laid him out on the ground. The gas was odorless and colorless, and it didn't affect her at all. Max could be sucking it into his lungs right now.
She stared at Max for a long moment, waiting to see if he'd come to.
'Liz,' Maria said, her voice low and urgent.
Liz jerked her head away from Max. She had to leave him. 'Let's go,' Liz said. She raced back to the others, her flashlight beam bouncing wildly as she ran.
'Isabel next,' she called as she scrambled through one of the fissures.
'But Michael might-,' Maria began, her voice cracking with emotion.
'No buts,' Liz replied sharply without looking back. 'We're pulling them out in order of danger, and Max was the weakest. Michael is stronger than Isabel, and Adam is stronger than all of them put together. Case closed.' Adam's powers were certainly stronger than the rest of her friends'. She could only hope her assumption about his stamina was right.
When she burst into the room where they'd left the others, Liz ordered herself to focus on Isabel. Only Isabel. The only way to get through this was to decide on an action and not think about anything else. Not Max. Not Adam. Not anything.
She dashed to Isabel's side, crouched down, grabbed her ankles. Maria had Isabel's wrists a second later. And they were moving. Through the passage. Through the cracks in the cave wall. And over to Max.
The second Isabel was on the ground, Liz jerked her focus to Michael, flying back through the fissures, flying back down the passage, flying over to Michael's side. She ignored the burning in her lungs. Ignored the pain in her shoulder where an outcropping of stone had ripped through her shirt and what felt like a couple of layers of skin.
All that mattered now was Michael.
'Hurry, hurry,' Maria cried as she grabbed Michael's feet. Liz tried to obey. But Michael was heavy, and it felt like it took years to maneuver him to the spot next to Isabel.
'Only one more to go,' Liz called as she started back through the first fissure. Maria gave a grunt in response.
Adam, Liz thought as she ran. Adam, Adam, Adam. His name thudded through her brain with every footfall until she reached him.
