Mia shook her head, then stopped. She turned back to Lila’s room and stuck her head in.
Lila was still standing there, engrossed in the book.
“Lila, you need to charge your phone.”
“What?” Lila’s head sprang up, and she stared blankly at Mia. “Oh... No... it’s fine.”
Mia’s brow furrowed. “Then why did you lie?”
“Because we needed to be here at Circle Pond,” Lila said simply. She put the book under her arm and pulled out her phone. “Look.” She walked toward William and Mia, holding up the screen. “Aunt Eve’s car has stopped about two miles from here.”
“There’s nothing in that area,” William told them, frowning. “I know because I’ve just bought that land to expand Circle Pond.”
“Are you sure?” Mia asked, her heart pounding.
William nodded, his frown deepening.
“What about this weird bunker thing?” Lila pulled up some images on her phone. “This guy goes around the States looking for old World War II bunkers or just people who’ve built them because they’re worried about the end of days. He’s called The Bunker Chaser. Look, he posted this last year.” She showed them the screen. “It’s on that land right near Circle Pond.”
“I don’t remember that on the land,” William said, leaning closer to look.
Just then, there was another knock on the front door, and William looked apologetically at Mia.
“Don’t worry, I know where my room is,” Mia assured him.
William nodded and rushed off.
Mia took this opportunity to turn to Lila. “Honey, we need to talk about David.”
But Lila shook her head, her jaw set stubbornly. “We can talk later. Right now, we need to save Aunt Eve.”
“We are not going to do that,” Mia stood firm. “Milly and Nolan and Dan, who I believe is on his way, will do that.”
Footsteps on the stairs distracted them.
They turned to see Nolan and Brian coming up quickly. As they reached Lila’s room, Nolan pushed them all inside, closed the door, and locked it.
“What on earth?” Mia gasped.
“Shh,” Nolan put his finger to his lips. His eyes darted around the room, sharp and alert.
“That dude Calvin arrived,” Brian filled them in, his voice hushed. “Nolan and I were in the kitchen. I was showing him the house while Julie was showing Milly around... William answered the door...” He swallowed hard. “There was a gun. A big gun.” His eyes widened. “Nolan grabbed me, and we came up the back stairs from the kitchen.”
Mia’s blood ran cold.
“If we can get to the basement...” Lila told them, leafing through the David Dare book in her hand. “There’s a tunnel that goes toWilliam’s brother’s house.” She turned the book to show them a cartoon illustration. “I think Gran was writing you a blueprint on how to escape Uncle William’s house.”
“Lila, that’s just fiction,” Mia stated, but something about it rang true. A memory hovered at the edge of her mind, just out of reach.
“Well...” Lila said, her voice matter-of-fact. “The way I see it, we can wait here for the large gun-toting Calvin to find us...” Her eyes scanned the room, then landed on the bathroom. She glanced at the book in her hand, then disappeared into the bathroom. “Found it.” She popped her head out a few moments later. “It’s just like in Gran’s book.”
Mia looked at her daughter in awe. She was having way too much fun in this dangerous situation.
She made a mental note to go over every one of those books her mother had written again.
They went into the bathroom, and Lila had opened the long storage closet, revealing a door behind it.
“I knew from the outside of Uncle William’s house it looked a little bigger than it is when you walk inside,” Lila breathed. “Come on, this way...”
